BUSINESS

Finnish telecommunications equipment maker Nokia warned Thursday that it expects another tough economic environment in the first half of this year after its net profit sank in 2023.

Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble painted a mixed picture in its earnings report Tuesday, as price hikes supported revenue growth but customers appeared to pull back in some purchases.

Netflix added 13 million subscribers in the final three months of last year, the company said on Tuesday, despite price hikes at the leading streaming service.

France's data protection agency said Tuesday it had fined Amazon's French warehouse management unit 32 million euros ($34.9 million) for an "excessively intrusive" surveillance system to monitor staff performance.

League of Legends maker Riot Games said Monday it will cut around 530 jobs worldwide, describing the layoffs as "a necessity."

Swedish telecoms equipment giant Ericsson warned Tuesday that it expected further market decline outside China this year after booking a sizeable loss in 2023 due to a write-down and restructuring costs.

South Korean entrepreneur Do Kwon's Terraform Labs, whose cryptocurrencies crashed dramatically in 2022, is seeking bankruptcy protection in the United States, according to court documents filed Sunday.

Sony "terminated" on Monday the $10-billion merger of its Indian operations with local rival Zee Entertainment that would have created a new streaming giant in the world's most populous nation.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai has warned employees that more layoffs are in store at the search engine giant as it focused on new priorities, including artificial intelligence.

The Anglo-Dutch group Just Eat Takeaway said Thursday that it would wind up its Paris subsidiary that employs riders on labour contracts but that it will continue to operate its delivery service in the French capital.

New car sales in Europe rebounded by 13.9 percent in 2023 as electric vehicles overtook diesel for the first time, an industry group said on Thursday.

US retail sales accelerated more than anticipated in December, closing out a year marked by resilient consumption, government data showed on Wednesday.

India's newest airline, Akasa Air, said Thursday it has ordered 150 Boeing 737 MAX planes as it looks to bolster its fleet and kick off international operations.

Ryanair on Tuesday welcomed improved quality controls at US aircraft manufacturer Boeing and announced its own enhanced checks, after a major safety issue.

A US federal judge on Tuesday ruled against JetBlue's $3.8 billion takeover of low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines, saying that the deal would reduce competition.

Google on Tuesday confirmed it is eliminating "a few hundred" positions from its global ad team, amid a push to use artificial intelligence for efficiency and creativity.

For more than a century, Marc Bernhardt's family has been running a dairy farm in eastern Germany's Saxony region.

China's economy likely grew at its weakest annual rate for more than three decades in 2023, data is expected to show Wednesday, as it was battered by a crippling property crisis, sluggish consumption and global uncertainties.

The world's wealthiest five men have more than doubled their fortune since 2020, the charity Oxfam said on Monday, as it called on nations to resist the ultra-rich's influence over tax policy.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced Thursday it is launching a safety probe into Boeing following last week's near-catastrophic incident on an Alaska Airlines-operated 737 MAX. "This incident should have never happened and it cannot happen again," the FAA said in a statement, after a panel known as a "door plug" blew out of the plane over the western US state of Oregon.

European planemaker Airbus said Thursday that it secured 2,094 net plane orders last year, a record for the group as airlines prepare for further global passenger growth and seek out more fuel-efficient planes.

Hertz said Thursday it will sell one-third of its electric vehicle (EV) automobiles to resize its fleet in line with slowing demand growth for emission-free transport.

Indian IT giants TCS and Infosys both signalled weak revenue growth in quarterly results Thursday as a client spending slowdown deepened a seasonally weak time for the sector.

Xiaoyu Fan smiled as she looked around a bustling China Pavilion at the Consumer Electronics Show Wednesday as gadgets like bladeless fans were displayed and deals were being made.

Google suffered a legal blow at the European Court of Justice on Thursday when the body's adviser recommended that a 2.4-billion-euro ($2.6-billion) fine levied on it for anti-competitive practices be upheld.

US securities regulators gave the green light Wednesday to a group of bitcoin exchange-traded funds, a keenly anticipated decision expected to boost the cryptocurrency.

Honda on Tuesday unveiled a new electric vehicle series to launch commercially in 2026, revealing a futuristic concept car at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Technology, in particular artificial intelligence, is making it possible to fulfill beauty wishes like never before, Guive Balooch, global vice president of L'Oreal's Tech Incubator, told AFP.

Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun took responsibility on Tuesday for a near-catastrophic Alaska Airlines incident last week, vowing "complete transparency" as the aviation giant tries to pivot from its latest crisis.