Tag: industry

Businesses Investing in AI: An Industry Perspective

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping business operations, from network troubleshooting and cybersecurity to customer service and communications. As investment in AI reaches new heights, organizations must weigh its benefits against cost, environmental impact, ethical concerns, and implementation challenges.

The global system integrator World Wide Technology (WWT) recently hosted a tech talk with leaders from Cisco, Intel, and NetApp to discuss key considerations for adopting AI in business. They examined various AI investment options and outlined an effective AI investment strategy. This included ways to address the skills gap in AI, and tactics for incorporating security and sustainability into an AI strategy. Here are the key takeaways from that discussion.

Transforming Operations & Enhancing Security/Privacy With AI Investment

The impact of artificial intelligence on operational efficiency and security is significant, and its applications are diverse. Cisco leverages AI in security through predictive analytics and pattern recognition. This application of AI allows Cisco to identify potential cyber threats before they can cause harm proactively. By analyzing data patterns and detecting anomalies, Cisco’s AI-driven security approach enables faster response times and improved threat mitigation in networking.

NetApp focuses on AI’s ethical use and deployment to enhance security, particularly in protecting intellectual property (IP) and sensitive data. The company prohibits using public generative AI services within the internal network, having developed its own secure version. This ensures NetApp data, as well as that of its clients, remains protected.

“Looking at Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, I fear that AI can be weaponized,” said Paras Kikani, senior director of solutions engineering at NetApp. “So, we have to be responsible and ensure that we’re not only implementing AI the right way but

Currys rejects takeover bid from US investment group Elliott | Retail industry

Currys has rejected a takeover bid from the US investment group Elliott, saying the offer significantly undervalued its business.

Elliott, which owns the book chain Waterstones and has a controlling stake in the food chain Wasabi, tabled an unsolicited £700m bid for the electrical goods retailer – at 62p a share, a 32% premium to its latest share price. Currys was valued at £533m at the close of trading on the London stock market on Friday.

A deal would heighten fears that London’s status as a premier listings market is under threat, with the number of listed companies shrinking by more than 12% during the past three years, according to the Quoted Companies Alliance.

A spate of takeovers by US and European private equity firms could continue this year while sterling remains weak. Last year, the Swedish private equity firm EQT bought Yorkshire-based Dechra Pharmaceuticals in a £4.5bn deal, while US-based CVC bought the retailer Ted Baker for £300m.

Currys said in a statement: “The board confirms that it received an unsolicited, preliminary and conditional proposal from Elliott regarding a possible cash offer.

“[We] considered the proposal, together with [our] financial advisers, and concluded that it significantly undervalued the company and its future prospects.”

In 2021, Currys shifted its strategy to merge the four brands it operated – which included PC World, Dixons and Carphone Warehouse – into one master brand.

In November last year, Currys struck a £175m deal to sell its Greek business.

During the pandemic, the retailer closed the 531 Carphone Warehouse stores it owned in the UK, with the loss of 2,900 jobs. ​​

Currys now employs more than 15,000 people in the UK, trading from about 300 stores.

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Quebec investment company says battery industry will get another $15 billion in projects


The size of the investments promised in the battery industry could double again in the next few years to reach $30 billion, according to the head of Investissement Québec.


The projects announced in the battery sector represent total investments of nearly $11 billion. To this can be added nearly $4 billion in investments to be announced “shortly.”


“Another $15 billion is being discussed and will be announced over the next few years,” says Guy LeBlanc, President and CEO of Investissement Québec, in an interview prior to a speech he is due to give to the business community in Bécancour on Tuesday. “Essentially, these are phase two and phase three projects to increase the capacity of the plants already announced.”


LeBlanc considers that “the essential part” of Quebec’s battery ecosystem is now complete.


However, the government is planning to add “small missing pieces that we are working on.”


As an example, he spoke about the production of synthetic graphite, which would be added to the graphite production of Nouveau Monde Graphite.


With Quebec’s limited energy capacity, LeBlanc said the government will no longer be courting large cell manufacturers.


“Given the energy limitations at the moment, going out to find another cell manufacturer, for example, would be problematic,” he said.


The battery industry can do without the project by German giant BASF, which was announced in the spring of 2022 and was due to be completed in Bécancour in 2025, said LeBlanc. The project is in limbo while the company looks for partners in the automotive sector.


Even if it doesn’t materialize, BASF’s announcement has done useful work by putting the spotlight on Quebec, argued LeBlanc.


“It was really well received by the international community and by certain players who weren’t

Canada says Google will pay $74 million annually to Canadian news industry under new online law

TORONTO (AP) — Canada’s government said Wednesday it reached a deal with Google for the company to contribute $100 million Canadian dollars annually to the country’s news industry to comply with a new Canadian law requiring tech companies to pay publishers for their content.

The agreement removes a threat by Google to block the ability to search for Canadian news on Google in Canada. Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta already has been blocking Canadian news since earlier this year.

“Google has agreed to properly support journalists, including local journalism,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. “Unfortunately Meta continues to completely abdicate any responsibility towards democratic institutions.”

Pascale St-Onge, the minister of Canadian heritage, said that Google will contribute $100 million Canadian ($74 million) — indexed to inflation — in financial support annually for a wide range of news businesses across the country.

“It’s good for the news sector. If there is a better deal struck elsewhere in the world, Canada reserves the right to reopen the regulation,” St-Onge said at a news conference.

“This shows that this legislation works. That it is equitable. And now it’s on Facebook to explain why they are leaving their platform to disinformation and misinformation instead of sustaining our news system,” she said.

Canada in late June passed the Online News Act to require tech giants to pay publishers for linking to or otherwise repurposing their content online. Meta responded to the law by blocking news content in Canada on its platforms. Google’s owner Alphabet previously had said it planned to do the same when the law takes effect in December.

Meta has said the Online News Act “is based on the incorrect premise that Meta benefits unfairly from news content shared on our platforms, when the reverse is true.”

Meta’s change means that

Premarket stocks: Why the American Whiskey industry is freaking out

A version of this story first appeared in CNN Business’ Before the Bell newsletter. Not a subscriber? You can sign up right here. You can listen to an audio version of the newsletter by clicking the same link.


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The $5.1 billion whiskey industry is big business. While the majority of US-distilled whiskey stays in the country, about $1.3 billion worth was shipped abroad last year, accounting for 62% of all American spirits exports.

But that could soon change. The EU, the largest export market for American whiskey, is set to impose a 50% tariff on imports of the golden liquor next year. Spirit industry advocates say that would be a devastating blow to a growing part of the US economy.

Two decades ago, there were 35 whiskey distilleries in the United States. Today that number has exploded to 2,600.

The move is all part of a retaliatory package of tariffs being imposed on US goods by the EU in relation to a dispute over steel and aluminum.

And this isn’t the first time US whiskey has been subject to this type of retribution. Between June 2018 and December 2021 there was a 25% tax imposed on the spirit, which decreased American whiskey exports by 18%.

Since that tariff’s suspension, the industry has sprung back to life. American whiskey exports to the EU jumped 118% in the first half of 2023 when compared to the same period in 2022.

A senior European Commission official said last week that the EU was aiming to resolve the steel and aluminum dispute by year-end. But US whiskey industry advocates worry that time is running out to find some way to avoid “dramatic” damage.

Before the Bell spoke with Chris Swonger, the president and CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council

Legal cannabis in Canada: Five years in, what’s the industry worth?

Welcome to The Globe and Mail’s business and investing news quiz. Join us each week to test your knowledge of the stories making the headlines. Our business reporters come up with the questions, and you can show us what you know.

This week in business and investing: Five years after the Trudeau government legalized recreational cannabis, the early promise of Canada’s legal recreational market has largely gone up in smoke. The industry’s biggest companies – Canopy Growth, Aurora Cannabis and Tilray – are downsizing and grappling with a longer march to profitability than many once imagined. Other companies have folded, declared bankruptcy or been sold off. Deloitte once forecast a Canadian legal cannabis industry worth more than $22-billion – but what is the state of it now?

Meanwhile, two airlines made waves this week: One walked back its controversial bid to tweak its loyalty program, and another is experimenting with a new approach to boarding (for some, lucky passengers). Plus, more ads, more robots and more job cuts topped the business headlines.

Do you remember these stories? Take our quiz below to test your recall for the week ending Oct. 19.



1Legal weed celebrated its fifth birthday this week. According to Statistics Canada, how much is Canada’s legal cannabis sector valued at?

a. $10.8-billion

b. $6.4-billion

c. $22.6-billion

d. $42.0-billion

a. $10.8-billion. Canada legalized recreational cannabis on Oct. 17, 2018. Yet the early promise of the industry – Deloitte predicted it could be worth $22.6-billion – has gone up in smoke. In its place is a sobering reality: Legalization has fallen well short of expectations.

2Coming soon to a Netflix near you: more ads. The streaming giant recently announced the following:

a. Product placement customized to individual viewers

b. Additional ads for mobile viewers

Canada news industry body backs Google’s concerns about online news law

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Google LLC is seen at the Google Store Chelsea in New York City

The logo of Google LLC is seen at the Google Store Chelsea in New York City, U.S., January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights

OTTAWA, Oct 12 (Reuters) – A Canadian news industry body on Thursday lent support to some of Google’s concerns about a new law that aims to make large internet companies share advertising revenue with news publishers in the country.

Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O) Google has made a “good faith articulation of legitimate concerns” that the Canadian government should address while finalizing rules to implement the law, said News Media Canada (NMC), which represents Canada’s top newspapers, including the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star.

“We are in agreement with many of the issues they have raised,” NMC Chief Executive Officer Paul Deegan said in a statement first reported by the Globe.

The Online News Act, part of a global trend to make internet giants pay for news, passed the Canadian parliament in June and the government is finalizing rules that are expected to be released by a Dec. 19 deadline.

Canada tried addressing tech companies’ concerns about the law in draft rules released in September, but Google and Meta Platforms META.O were not convinced.

Google has raised concerns about the law establishing links to news stories as the basis of payment and said the proposed regulations did not address problems like imposing potentially uncapped liability on the company and limits on how it can support the news industry.

“We are aligned that there should be a firm ceiling, rather than a floor on financial liability,” Deegan said in the statement.

NMC also agrees with Google that eligible news publishers must have an online presence and that non-monetary measures such as training and product can be part of the remuneration, Deegan said.

“We will continue to

Silicon Valley Ditches News, Shaking an Unstable Industry

Campbell Brown, Facebook’s top news executive, said this month that she was leaving the company. Twitter, now known as X, removed headlines from the platform days later. The head of Instagram’s Threads app, an X competitor, reiterated that his social network would not amplify news.

Even Google — the strongest partner to news organizations over the past 10 years — has become less dependable, making publishers more wary of their reliance on the search giant. The company has laid off news employees in two recent team reorganizations, and some publishers say traffic from Google has tapered off.

If it wasn’t clear before, it’s clear now: The major online platforms are breaking up with news.

Some executives of the largest tech companies, like Adam Mosseri at Instagram, have said in no uncertain terms that hosting news on their sites can often be more trouble than it is worth because it generates polarized debates. Others, like Elon Musk, the owner of X, have expressed disdain for the mainstream press. Publishers seem resigned to the idea that traffic from the big tech companies will not return to what it once was.

Even in the long-fractious relationship between publishers and tech platforms, the latest rift stands out — and the consequences for the news industry are stark.

Many news companies have struggled to survive after the tech companies threw the industry’s business model into upheaval more than a decade ago. One lifeline was the traffic — and, by extension, advertising — that came from sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Now that traffic is disappearing. Top news sites got about 11.5 percent of their web traffic in the United States from social networks in September 2020, according to Similarweb, a data and analytics company. By September this year, it was down to 6.5 percent.

American Airlines sues travel website Skiplagged over ticket price ‘loophole’ | Airline industry

American Airlines has filed a lawsuit against Skiplagged, a travel website for cheap flights that shows “hidden-city” ticketing trips.

The lawsuit, which American filed this week in federal court in Fort Worth, Texas, accuses Skiplagged of deception, as the website allows travelers to book a connecting flight that is typically cheaper than a non-stop flight and not flying to the route’s final destination.

According to American, Skiplagged “employs unauthorized and deceptive ticketing practices, entices consumers to participate in those deceptive practices by promising savings, and then doesn’t deliver”.

“Instead, Skiplagged often charges consumers more than if they had booked a ticket directly with American or through an authorized agent of American,” the lawsuit said.

It went on to accuse Skiplagged of deceiving the public into believing that “even though it has no authority to form and issue a contract on American’s behalf, somehow it can still issue a completely valid ticket”.

The lawsuit also alleges that Skiplagged deceives customers into believing that the American fares it displays “will give the consumer access to some kind of secret ‘loophole’.” However, many of the fares shown on Skiplagged are actually higher than what customers would pay if they purchased a ticket directly from American’s website or through an official authorized American agent, it said.

American went on to threaten to cancel every ticket sold by Skiplagged, saying: “Every ‘ticket’ used by Skiplagged is at risk of being invalidated.”

In addition to the lawsuit seeking a permanent injunction requiring Skiplagged to comply with the airline restrictions, it seeks an accounting of all sales of American flights made by Skiplagged, an accounting of all sales of American flights made by Skiplagged through any other travel agencies, statutory damages, as well as all actual damages that American has incurred as a result of Skiplagged’s

Google and Meta pulling news will ‘devastate’ the industry, says Canadian publisher

If Google and Meta pull content from Canadian news outlets it would “devastate” the industry, says Village Media CEO Jeff Elgie.

Village Media runs 25 community news websites, including six in northern Ontario – Sudbury.com, Soo Today, Bay Today, Elliot Lake Today, Timmins Today and Northern Ontario Business.

Elgie told CBC News he has been against Bill C-18, otherwise known as the Online News Act, from the start.

The law, which received royal assent last month, requires tech giants like Google and Meta to pay media outlets for news content they share or otherwise repurpose on their platforms.

In response, both Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, and Google have said they will pull Canadian news content from their platforms when the law comes into effect later this year.

A smiling man wearing glasses.
Jeff Elgie is the CEO of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. based Village Media, which operates 25 local news websites, including six in northern Ontario. (Village Media)

Elgie said about 50 per cent of the traffic to his company’s websites comes from Facebook and Google.

“The whole approach with this bill in our opinion has been flawed from the get go,” Elgie said.

“[It’s] based on the notion that Google and Facebook steal content from publishers, which of course is not at all true. We, since the beginning, have always happily put our content on Google and Facebook because of the tremendous amount of traffic and audience that we get back from that.”

Elgie said losing access to those platforms will make it especially difficult for small publishers like Village Media to expand into new communities.

The company started in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and Elgie said they already have a strong foothold in that community. 

“There’s this behaviour where if anything happens in the city that’s significant, the first thing