For most of the 25 years since Walt Disney bought ESPN, the cable sports network has been a major profit engine of the company, thanks to robust subscriber growth, high advertising rates and the industry-leading fees it charges cable providers. But like the wider US cable television business, its subscriber numbers have been steadily shrinking…
Read more
This article is an on-site version of our #techFT newsletter and is usually available only with a Premium subscription. Are you currently a Standard subscriber? Click here to switch your subscription to Premium. Not yet a subscriber? You can take out a Premium subscription here Netflix has suspended its streaming service in Russia, Activision Blizzard,…
Read more
The writer is international policy director at Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center Russia’s invasion of Ukraine marks a turning point in history and has thrown existential questions before the democratic world. Soul-searching is also needed by technology companies. Silicon Valley-based firms played a prominent role in the run-up to the war and during the Russian…
Read more
Earlier this year, Visa revealed during its last earnings call that consumers made $2.5 billion worth of transactions using their crypto-linked cards, during its fiscal first quarter of 2022. Back in July, Visa reported crypto-linked card usage reached $1 billion for the first six months of 2021. The 2022 Q1 numbers represent a 70% increase…
Read more
On Tuesday, a man with the moniker “Ukraine solider” [sic] posted a live video on TikTok shot from a window showing blocks of flats in the blazing sun, sirens wailing in the background. Speaking in English, he thanked tens of thousands of followers for sending virtual gifts that can be converted into cash. But in…
Read more
Didi Global’s abrupt reversal of its decision to shut its ride-hailing unit in Russia reflects pressure in China to publicly stick by Moscow as the government there comes under widespread sanction for its invasion of Ukraine. Didi, which posted a loss of Rmb49.16bn for the first nine months of 2021, has been struggling to stem…
Read more
Somewhere in the ether between their Tokyo headquarters, a fraught debate must now be crackling between two of Japan’s greatest companies. If their planned joint venture succeeds in creating an electric vehicle champion to challenge Tesla, should the new power couple be known as Sonda or Hony? Either way, the announcement last Friday that Sony…
Read more
This article is an on-site version of our #techFT newsletter and is usually available only with a Premium subscription. Are you currently a Standard subscriber? Click here to switch your subscription to Premium. Not yet a subscriber? You can take out a Premium subscription here Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is presenting a new threat to…
Read more
Yandex, the company often referred to as “Russia’s Google”, has become increasingly isolated as Western investors and key partners abandon it in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. More than 75 per cent of the company’s value has been wiped off in the past six months, while plummeting dramatically as Russian forces began…
Read more
Does it seem as though Web3 sprang into existence just a few months ago? It is the same here in San Francisco. All of a sudden a mythical digital utopia is being referenced in earnest by some of the biggest companies in the world. This is not by accident. Web3 was willed into being by…
Read more