Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, second from left, talks with reporters after an announcement Wednesday, April 27, 2016, in Spring Hill, Tenn., that General Motors will invest $790 million at its plant in Spring Hill and another $118 million in Bay City, Mich. The company said it will create nearly 800 jobs at the plant south of Nashville as part of the new high-efficiency engine program at the factory. With Haslam are Economic and Community Development Commissioner Randy Boyd, left; United Auto Workers local chairman Mike Herron, second from right; and UAW regional director Ray Curry, right. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)Haslam, Boyd recruit businesses from Asia
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and state Economic and Community Development Commissioner Randy Boyd will travel to Asia on an economic development trip to increase foreign direct investment related to the auto, high-tech and advanced manufacturing sectors.
The 10-day business trip is scheduled from May 2 to May 11 and will include stops in Korea, China and Japan. Haslam and Boyd will meet with executives of existing Tennessee businesses as well as work to expand relationships between Tennessee and Asian business communities.
“Last year alone, foreign direct investments totaled $2.25 billion in capital and created more than 7,800 new jobs. This is an excellent opportunity to take the ‘Tennessee Story’ abroad and promote all of the great things that our state has to offer,” Haslam said in a statement. “We’re a low-tax, low-debt, strategically located state that is the first in the nation to offer high school graduates last dollar scholarships to attend community or technical college free of tuition and fees. I look forward to building upon our existing business partnerships and forming new ones that can be mutually beneficial.”
FILE – This Sept. 6, 2012, file photo, shows the Amazon logo in Santa Monica, Calif. Amazon is taking on Netflix and Hulu with a stand-alone video streaming service. Starting the week of April 18, 2016, customers can pay $8.99 a month to watch Amazon’s Prime video streaming service. Previously, the only way to watch Prime videos was to pay $99 a year for Prime membership, which includes free two-day shipping on items sold by the site. The video-only option won’t come with any free shipping perks. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File) Amazon shares soar on strong earnings
SEATTLE – Amazon’s market value surged to near record levels as the company widely beat Wall Street’s expectations in the first quarter.
The tech and retail giant posted profit of $513 million, or $1.07 per diluted share, nearly doubling the 58 cents expected by analysts and swinging from a $57 million loss in the same quarter last year.
Revenue rose 28 percent to $29.1 billion, also surpassing analysts’ expectations of $28 billion.
Other measures also pointed to rapid growth: operating cash flow trailing over 12 months, a key metric, rose 44 percent to $11.3 billion vs. $7.8 billion.
Shares rose to $679.06, or 12.80 percent, in after-hours trading. That’s not far from its peak of $696.44, seen last December, and brings the company’s market capitalization north of the $300 billion mark.
Cellphones are everywhere these days — even in restaurants and around the dinner table. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)Icahn sells Apple stake, citing China worries
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has sold his stake in Apple, citing concerns about the giant tech company’s prospects in China.
Apple’s stock fell 9 percent this week after it reported a sizeable drop in iPhone sales. Icahn, a longtime booster, told CNBC he still thinks Apple is a “great company.” But he said he worries about Chinese regulators, who recently blocked Apple’s online services. Apple has been hoping to expand in China.
Icahn last year called it a “no-brainer” to invest in Apple, predicting the company could be worth $1 trillion. At that point, he owned 53 million shares, valued then at $6.5 billion, nearly 1 percent of the company. The stock has fallen 20 percent since then, but Icahn said he still made $2 billion from selling his shares.
Fiat Chrysler, Google in partnership talks
Fiat Chrysler and Google’s self-driving car project are in advanced talks to form a technical partnership.
The talks were confirmed Thursday by a person familiar with the discussions. The person asked not to be named because the discussions are private.
The partnership would be the first to match an automaker with Google’s 7-year-old autonomous car project, which is now part of the so-called X lab at Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company.
Details haven’t been revealed. But Google has repeatedly said it doesn’t intend to make self-driving cars and would prefer to license its technology to carmakers. Google has been testing self-driving cars on public roads for two years.
“We want to partner to bring self-driving to all the vehicles in the world,” Google co-founder and Alphabet President Sergey Brin told media at a self-driving car event last spring.
Last fall, Google hired John Krafcik, an auto industry veteran and former executive at Ford Motor Co. and Hyundai Motor Co., to be the CEO of its self-driving car project.