Two years ago, an unlikely bromance was brewing between GoPro's Nick Woodman and Foxconn's Terry Gou. The chief executive officers lavished praise on one another after signing a deal for Foxconn Technology Group, the Taiwan-based manufacturer of the iPhone, Xbox and Kindle, to invest $200 million in the video-camera company beloved by extreme-sports enthusiasts. Gou was set to join GoPro's board of directors, and his company teased future strategic partnerships. The investment made Woodman, an avid surfer who grew up in California, a billionaire on paper, but the rest hasn't panned out. Gou did not join the board, which would have been his only board membership outside of the companies he's founded, and Foxconn, the biggest contract manufacturer on the planet, hasn't built a single camera for GoPro.
Updated 6 Years ago

Bank of America Corp. is nearing a $16 billion to $17 billion record settlement with the U.S.Justice Department to end probes into sales of mortgage-backed bonds that fueled the financial crisis, according to a person familiar with the matter. Under the proposed terms, the bank would pay about $9 billion in cash and the rest in consumer relief to settle federal and state claims, according to the person, who asked not to be named because the negotiations are private. Details of the proposed accord, such as the relief and a statement of facts, are still being negotiated, the person said.
Updated 6 Years ago

Billionaire Li Ka-Shing’s Cheung Kong Group won a contest to buy Envestra Ltd. (ENV), after a rival bidder for the Australian gas distributor said it would sell its shares in support of the A$2.4 billion ($2.2 billion) bid. APA Group, which owns about a third of Envestra, will support the offer of A$1.32 a share from the group that includes Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Ltd. (1038), the Sydney-based company said today in a statement. APA said it will use the A$430 million in pretax profit from the sale to fund expansion over the next 12 to 18 months.
Updated 6 Years ago

It flagged the matter after discovering that an image involving a young girl had been allegedly saved to the man's OneDrive cloud storage account. According to court documents, the man was subsequently detected trying to send two illegal pictures via one of Microsoft's live.com email accounts.
Updated 6 Years ago

The deleted links include pages about European criminals, a musician and an amateur chess player. The Wikimedia Foundation, which operates the site, said the internet was being "riddled with memory holes" as a result of such takedowns. The action follow a European Court of Justice ruling in May.
Updated 6 Years ago

Moscow plans to ban all US agricultural products, including poultry, as well as EU fruit and vegetable imports in response to Western sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukrainian crisis, according to the country’s agricultural watchdog. All agricultural goods produced in the US and imported into Russia will be halted for one year, the assistant to the head of Rosselkhoznadzor, Aleksey Alekseyenko, told RIA Novosti.
Updated 6 Years ago

Russian flag carrier Aeroflot's low-cost arm Dobrolet has signed a contract with America’s Boeing to deliver 16 new planes, despite suspending flights due to Western sanctions. Beginning in 2017 the company will receive 16 Boeing 737-800 airliners, after a leasing deal for two similar aircraft fell through due to sanctions, Russian media reported Wednesday.
Updated 6 Years ago

Major airlines saw stock shares nosedive on Wednesday, after media reports said that Russia could block flights over Siberia. However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the reports are simply rumors. “I’m not an advocate of using the method of bans and creating real problems for passengers, ordinary citizens who have absolutely no connection to the actions of those who unleashed this war,” Lavrov said on Wednesday.
Updated 6 Years ago

The Economy Ministry figure was lower than many economists forecast and comes after a 1.8% fall in output in May. The ministry said that, after strong output data in the first three months of 2014, weaker growth was expected. It comes as the European Central Bank (ECB) prepares to announce its latest interest rate decision, and a day after Italy fell back into recession.
Updated 6 Years ago

Finally, the N220 billion Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Development Fund launched last year by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is almost ready for disbursement to the sub-sector through eligible financial institutions. The eligible financial institutions are deposit money banks that are responsible for SME loans, private- or state-owned microfinance institutions that access and disburse micro loans, finance houses and cooperative finance agencies; and 60 percent of the fund is for women.
Updated 6 Years ago