The software group is feeling negative exchange rate effects. Also: Elon Musk’s office ultimatum is met with resistance in Germany and Pinterest is taking over the online fashion marketplace The Yes.
Good morning! While you slept, work continued elsewhere in the digital scene.
The top topics:
Microsoft revised its forecast for the fourth quarter downwards. According to a statement, the technology group now calculates sales of 51.94 to 52.74 billion US dollars in the last quarter of the current financial year. So far, 52.4 to 53.2 billion dollars were recognized. As a reason, the group cited negative effects of exchange rates in the order of 460 million dollars. Net income guidance was lowered by $250 million, to $16.85 billion to $17.43 billion.
The dollar has risen sharply compared to many currencies due to the turnaround in interest rates in the USA. In the previous quarter, the strong cloud business had helped Microsoft to significantly increase sales and profits. Microsoft CFO Amy Hood had already warned of the negative effects of price fluctuations in April. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt, Wall Street Journal und CNBC]
On Gründerszene you read today: Many startup employees have just lost their jobs from one day to the next. How do I know if I’m a good severance offer got? What rights do I have and what obligations do I have to comply with? And what’s the point of a lawsuit? An employment lawyer explains the most important questions. [Mehr bei Gründerszene+]
And here are the other headlines of the night:
The ultimatum of TeslaBoss Elon Musk, employees would have to go back to the office for 40 hours a week or could go, is met with resistance in Germany. Birgit Dietze, district manager of IG Metall Berlin-Brandenburg-Saxony, said that anyone who wanted to defend themselves against Musk’s demands had the power of the trade unions behind them in Germany. A works council was set up at the Tesla plant in Grünheide in February, and some representatives are IG Metall members. This sets the plant apart from others that the automaker operates without union representation in the US and elsewhere. Tesla employs around 4,000 people in Germany and plans to expand the workforce to 12,000. [Mehr bei Reuters]
Pinterest takes over the online fashion marketplace The Yes for an undisclosed sum. The news comes just months after Pinterest failed in its attempt to buy social shopping marketplace Verishop. Founded in 2018 by Julie Bornstein and former Google engineer Amit Aggarwal, The Yes runs a Spotify-like app and website that showcases merchandise from popular brands to customers. When customers purchase goods on The Yes, the order is fulfilled through the brand’s website. [Mehr bei Techcrunch und The Information]
The Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe found for the first time that Internet platforms such as Youtube may be sued for damages due to copyright infringement by their users. In the future, the operators can also be obliged to provide information as to who committed the infringements. The BGH did not make a final decision on liability in the seven cases at hand and the proceedings were referred back to the lower courts. The lawsuit against YouTube revolves around music tracks and concert recordings by singer Sarah Brightman. These were uploaded to the platform without authorization in 2008. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt]
The venture capital company Ten Eleven Ventures has raised $600 million to invest in cybersecurity startups. This brings the company’s total assets under management to more than $1 billion. Ten Eleven plans to use the new fund to make more investments in Europe, Israel and Australia. [Mehr bei The Information]
Amazon is closing its Kindle bookstore in China. This is the latest withdrawal of a US technology company from the Middle Kingdom. There, the demand for e-readers has fallen sharply. An Amazon spokesman said government pressure or censorship was not the reason behind the decision to end sales of the Kindle on June 30, 2023, which had relatively low sales compared to local competitors. [Mehr bei Wall Street Journal und The Information]
Our reading tip on Gründerszene: Vantik wants to motivate people via app and bank card to save for old age. But now the fintech is facing financing problems. [Mehr bei Gründerszene]
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Your Gründerszene editors
Source: https://www.businessinsider.de/gruenderszene/business/microsoft-senkt-quartalsprognose/
