Page 36 - Microsoft

Microsoft hit with EU antitrust complaint by German rival alfaview

This has significant and permanent impact on competition in the communication software market, alfaview continued

Merger regulations get tougher in crackdown by antitrust enforcers

The changes come on the heels of several bruising defeats for the government in blocking vertical mergers

Microsoft offers free security feature after alleged China cyber hack

Microsoft said its decision was "in response to increasing frequency and evolution of nation-state cyberthreats

Microsoft, Activision Blizzard extend deadline to close $69 bn deal

The deadline for Microsoft's USD 69 billion acquisition of video game company Activision Blizzard has been extended to as the companies seek to close a deal that has been challenged by regulators in the US, as well as by UK's Competition and Markets Authority. Microsoft believes that pushing back the deadline to Oct. 18 will provide enough time to work through the remaining regulatory issues, said Brad Smith, the company's president. We are confident about our prospects for getting this deal across the finish line, Smith said. The extension comes with a bigger termination fee, should the deal be called off, and a number of other new agreements. Tuesday marked an important deadline for the deal announced 18 months earlier. Both Microsoft and Activision had agreed that either party could walk away from the planned merger if it hadn't closed by then, triggering Microsoft to potentially have to pay a USD 3 billion breakup fee unless both sides decided to renegotiate. That termination

Meta opens AI chatbot tech 'LLaMA' for commercial use via Microsoft

Facebook parent company Meta Platforms has built an artificial intelligence system that rivals the likes of ChatGPT and Google's Bard but it's taking a different approach: releasing it for free. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Tuesday that the company is partnering with Microsoft to introduce the next generation of its AI large language model and making the technology, known as LLaMA 2, free for research and commercial use. Much like tech peers Google and Microsoft, the social media company has long had a big research team of computer scientists devoted to advancing AI technology. But it's been overshadowed as the release of ChatGPT sparked a rush to profit off of generative AI tools that can create new prose, images and other media. Meta has also tried to distinguish itself by being more open than some of its Big Tech rivals about offering a peek at the data and code it uses to build AI systems. It has argued that such openness makes it easier for outside researchers to help identify

Microsoft to charge more for AI in office, secure Bing from leaks

The company also said it would make a more secure version of its Bing search engine available immediately to businesses, aiming to address their data-protection concerns, grow their interest in AI

Microsoft, CMA ask UK court for pause to consider activision tweaks

Microsoft Corp. kicked off its hotly-anticipated court hearing with the UK antitrust agency Monday as it moves closer to sealing the $69 billion Activision Blizzard Inc. deal

What is Call of Duty and why are Sony, Microsoft battling over it?

This deal puts an end to the battle between two tech and gaming giants that has been going on since Microsoft announced the acquisition of Activision in January 2022

Microsoft to keep 'Call of Duty' on Sony PlayStation in a 10-year deal

The deal is for 10 years, a Microsoft spokesperson said. Microsoft inked a 10-year deal last year with Nintendo Co. Ltd. for the availablility of Call of Duty

US appeals court denies FTC bid to block Microsoft-Activision deal

Activision climbed as much as 4.4% in after-hours trading, rising to $94 from its close of $90.07. Microsoft gained 1.5%

UK extends Activision deadline after Microsoft's 'complex' proposal

British antitrust regulators on Friday extended their deadline to issue a final order blocking Microsoft's USD 69 billion plan to buy video game maker Activision Blizzard, allowing them to consider the US tech giant's detailed and complex submission" pleading its case. The Competition and Markets Authority had rejected the deal the biggest in tech history over fears it would stifle competition for popular game titles like Call of Duty in the fast-growing cloud gaming market. But the UK watchdog appears to have softened its position after a judge thwarted US regulators' efforts to block the deal. The authority says it has pushed its original deadline back six weeks to August 29 so it could go through Microsoft's response, which details material changes in circumstance and special reasons why regulators shouldn't issue an order to reject the deal. The watchdog's decision could be a good sign for Microsoft and Activision as they battle to close the agreement signed nearly 18 months

China-based hackers breached European govt email accounts: Microsoft

A China-based hacking group has breached email accounts linked to government agencies in Western Europe, Microsoft Corp. says. In a blog post published Tuesday, Microsoft said the group, which it identified as Storm-0558, focuses on acts such as espionage and data theft. The group gained access to email accounts affecting about 25 organisations including government agencies and to accounts of individuals linked to these organisations, and had gone undetected for about a month until customers complained to Microsoft about abnormal mail activity. We assess this adversary is focused on espionage, such as gaining access to email systems for intelligence collection, Charlie Bell, Microsoft's executive vice president of security, said in a separate Microsoft post. The hackers carried out the breach by forging authentication tokens a piece of information used to verify the identity of a user required to access the email accounts. Microsoft has since dealt with the attack and informed ..

China-based hackers breached Western Europe govt email accounts: Microsoft

A China-based hacking group has breached email accounts linked to government agencies in Western Europe, Microsoft Corp. says. In a blog post published Tuesday, Microsoft said the group, which it identified as Storm-0558, focuses on acts such as espionage and data theft. The group gained access to email accounts affecting about 25 organisations including government agencies and to accounts of individuals linked to these organisations, and had gone undetected for about a month until customers complained to Microsoft about abnormal mail activity. We assess this adversary is focused on espionage, such as gaining access to email systems for intelligence collection, Charlie Bell, Microsoft's executive vice president of security, said in a separate Microsoft post. The hackers carried out the breach by forging authentication tokens a piece of information used to verify the identity of a user required to access the email accounts. Microsoft has since dealt with the attack and informed ..

KPMG set to invest $2 billion in AI as part of Microsoft partnership

KPMG will incorporate AI into its core audit, tax and advisory services for clients as part of the five-year partnership. This move is in response to a slowdown in advisory deals

Microsoft cleared to buy Activision in US as UK pauses fight: Report

Microsoft and Activision can't close their deal because of the UK veto, said Tom Smith, a competition lawyer at Geradin Partners

AI4Bharat researchers set to raise $12 mn from Peak XV, Lightspeed: Report

The larger-than-usual seed funding round underscores the growing interest in generative AI, after OpenAI's ChatGPT dazzled users with its ability to engage in human-like conversations

Microsoft India President Anant Maheshwari resigns, Irina Ghose becomes MD

Venkat Krishnan, who was heading partnerships, has been promoted to head the government business unit

Microsoft India prez Anant Maheshwari steps down, COO Irina Ghose elevated

Maheshwari's exit comes amidst the rejig among top-level executives at the software company; COO Irina Ghose has been promoted to managing director of India

AI seen fueling Microsoft to $3 trillion value in Morgan Stanley model

The analysts, led by Keith Weiss, named Microsoft their top pick among large cap software companies, and said that it is the best placed in the sector to benefit from the growth of AI

TCS plans to upskill 25,000 engineers on Microsoft's Azure Open AI

The company also launched its new Generative AI Enterprise adoption offering for clients, making a bet on the rapidly growing artificial intelligence space