Business Merger and Acquisition, LinkedIn, Microsoft - Current Affairs Questions and Answers

ANSWER: Rackspace

Explanation:
Cloud services provider Rackspace Hosting Inc said it would be acquired by Apollo Global Management LLC in a deal valued at USD 4.3 billion. The PE firm will boost investments in the technology sector.

• Rackspace’s shares went up 4.3 percent at USD 31.50 in early trading on 25th August.
• Offer represents a premium of 38.2 percent to Backspace’s closing price on August 3, the day prior to reports that the company was in advanced talks with PE firms for a go private deal.
• Rackspace had been reported to earlier be in talks with Apollo
• As part of the deal closing in the 4th quarter, PE firm Searchlight Capital Partners will also make an investment in Backspace
• Apollo with USD 186 billion in assets have been stepping up investments in technology
• Affiliates of the firm in July agreed to acquire Outerwall Inc, the owner of Redox video rental kiosks private in a deal valued at USD 1.6 billion
• Rackspace leases server space and helps corporations store and access data in cloud.
• It has focused on growing its cloud business in the face of rising competition from established players such as IBM Corp, Microsoft and startups in the field
• Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, RBC Capital Markets LLC and Barclays were financial advisors while Goldman Sachs and Co advised Backspace.
• Financing for the deal is being provided by CItigroup, Deutsch Bank, Barclays, Royal Bank of Canada are providing financing for the deal
• Paul, Weiss Rifkind and Wharton & Garrison LLP are legal advisers to Apollo while Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is Rackspace’s Legal Adviser.

ANSWER: Project Brainwave

Explanation:
In a bid to make artificial intelligence more accessible all-round, Microsoft has kicked off a new project which delivers real-time AI via the cloud.

It is utilizing some nifty technology from Intel.

Project Brainwave is described by Microsoft as a deep learning acceleration platform which employs Intel’s Stratix 10 FPGA (field programmable gate array) hardware accelerator to run AI.

This is through the cloud and still deliver near-instant results.

The system is capable of processing and transmitting data with ‘ultra-low latency’, delivering results as fast as that data comes in, and so effectively operating in real-time.

And that’s a clear boon for the sort of applications that need this, from digital assistants through to the likes of autonomous driving.

The system has already shown that Intel’s Stratix 10 tech can exceed 39 Teraflops in terms of performance on a single request.

Microsoft engineer Doug Burger notes that at that level of performance, the Brainwave architecture sustains execution of over 130,000 compute operations per cycle.

It is driven by one macro-instruction being issued each 10 cycles.

Running on Stratix 10, Project Brainwave thus achieves unprecedented levels of demonstrated real-time AI performance on extremely challenging models.

And further gains are expected as Microsoft hones the system over the next year or so.

Project Brainwave supports deep learning frameworks including Microsoft’s own Cognitive Toolkit and Google’s Tensorflow, and the firm is planning to bring it to Azure customers as well.

Powerful real-time AI processing capabilities on tap will be another major string to Azure’s bow.

ANSWER: Thomas Cook India Group

Explanation:
Thomas Cook India Group, the holding company of Fairfax in India, has acquired five destination management companies of Kuoni Group for ₹125 crore.

The acquisition will deliver greater synergies and growth opportunities across inbound, outbound, MICE and corporate travel businesses.

In April, the company had entered into an agreement with Kuoni to acquire these businesses located in Asia, Australia, Middle East, Africa and Americas and the deal closed on June 29, 2017.

The acquisition will enable Thomas Cook India Group to expand its global footprint to 21 countries in 4 continents.

These companies include Asian Trails in Asia Pacific, Allied T Pro in North America, Desert Adventures in Middle East, ATM in Australia and Private Safaris across Southern and Eastern Africa.

With the addition of 17 new countries through the acquisition, Thomas Cook India Group’s travel business network had expanded significantly adding 1,000 crore to the company’s top line and ₹25 crore to profit before tax (PBT).

Prior to this acquisition, the Group’s Thomas Cook (India), SOTC Travel, TCI-SITA and Kuoni Hong Kong had a network spanning 4 countries which include India, Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Hong Kong.

Post acquisition, The Thomas Cook India Group’s employee strength has gone up to 6,500 people in 21 countries. It has a combined revenue of ₹8,700 crore.

The acquisition of a significant part of Kuoni’s Global Destination Management network represents an important milestone for a rapidly growing Thomas Cook India Group.

ANSWER: Dubai

Explanation:
Dubai has become the first city in the world to have its own Microsoft font.

The font will have typeface both in Latin and Arabic script.

It will be made available in 23 languages - Afrikaans, Arabic, Basque, Britannic, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Gaelic, German, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Norwegian, Farsi, Portuguese, Sami, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish and Urdu.

The Microsoft font was launched by the Crown Prince of Dubai Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

The font will be used by UAE’s government bodies and also by 100 million Office 365 users around the world.

UAE has launched the ‘Dubai Font’ in line with its vision of becoming a regional and global leader in innovation.

The country views the launch as a part of its continuous efforts to be ranked first in the digital world.

The country expects the new font and its unique specifications to become popular online and in smart technologies across the world.

The launch of new font is expected to boost the emirate’s competitiveness in smart technology.

Dubai: Know More

• Dubai is the largest city in UAE.
• It has the world’s tallest tower, Burj Khalifa.
• Dubai has been taking a series of initiatives to broaden its appeal by investing in technology and culture.
• Dubai will play host to the six-month Expo 2020 under the themes of sustainability and mobility.

ANSWER: Andhra Pradesh

Explanation:
Government of Andhra has entered into an agreement with technology giant Microsoft to use Microsoft Azure Stack for AP government state data centre.

The chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella signed an MoU during an event called ‘Microsoft Future Decoded’ in Mumbai on 22nd Feb 2017.

Under the MoU, Microsoft Azure Stack for the first time in the world will be used to migrate live applications currently hosted in Hyderabad State Data Centre (SDC) to Vizag data centre.

Government of India helped erstwhile Andhra Pradesh to build a state data centre in Hyderabad with the funding of INR 400 crore.

However, after bifurcation of the state into residual Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, both the states have bifurcated servers and data but they are using the same data centre in Hyderabad.

As per the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, AP has 10 years rights on the data centre but state is gradually planning to move all applications hosted in Hyderabad SDC to Vizag and Vijayawada data centres.

The US-based company has tested this Microsoft Azure Stack in its lab but it has not been physically delivered or commercially used anywhere in the world.

For the first time, Microsoft is doing proof of concept (POC) with Government of Andhra Pradesh to prove its capability.

Currently more than 340 applications of Andhra Pradesh including eSeva, MeeSeva, Core Dash Board are running in Hyderabad SDC.

Under the PoC agreement, state will migrate 15 applications to Vizag data centre.

To migrate, part of the applications will be taken to cloud and from cloud it will be transmitted onto the Azure Stack.

In this process, live applications will move from Hyderabad to Vizag.

Once the box is with government Microsoft will not have access to the data but they will have access to data in the cloud.

The security of the data and application at this stage resides with the Microsoft.

What is Azure Stack?

• A data centre basically has three important components - server, applications and storage.
• The hardware for all three components are different and they are controlled by software also knows as controller.
• For migration of the data centre from one location to other, generally private companies put on-premise data centre into the cloud and then to different location or it remains in the cloud.
• However, governments are highly conscious of data security because they deal with personal data of citizens.
• So, they usually avoid going to cloud and prefer data to be within their boundaries.
• Microsoft Azure Stack which encompasses three key components of the data centre - application, server, and the storage - into one physical box and delivers to the client, ensures 100% control over the box.
• Technically, it is a cloud software that is binding the entire stack together in one environment.

ANSWER: EY

Explanation:
Global leader in advisory services EY and Microsoft on 24th Jan 2017 announced partnership for innovative high-performance intelligence and analytics advisory.

These services will address the requirements of various industry sectors.

This includes financial, life sciences, retail, consumer and packaged goods and government and public sector.

The services will be powered by Microsoft's comprehensive digital and cloud technologies, including:

• Azure Analysis Services,
• Machine Learning,
• Microsoft Power BI and
• Microsoft Cortana Intelligence Suite.

EY's cross-sector advisory experience and the power of Microsoft's data intelligence and analytics offerings will benefit the industry,

Cortana: Know More

• Developer: Microsoft
• Initial release: April 2, 2014
• Operating system: Windows, iOS, Android, Xbox OS
• Available in 8 Languages.
• Type: Intelligent personal assistant
• License: Proprietary

ANSWER: The Eye Tribe

Explanation:
Facebook’s virtual reality-focused Oculus division has acquired eye-tracking technology startup The Eye Tribe based in Denmark for an undisclosed amount.

The Eye Tribe startup was founded in 2011 by four students from the IT University of Copenhagen. It develops software that enables eye control on mobile devices and computers, allowing hands-free navigation.

The acquisition will benefit Facebook’s Oculus to integrate eye-tracking software to its Rift VR (virtual reality) headset, allowing users to control actions by moving their eyes.

Oculus, a virtual reality company, was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for 2 billion dollars. It had rolled out two new features - Parties and Rooms - for Samsung Gear VR.

Oculus

CEO: Brendan Iribe

Founded: 2012, Irvine, California, United States

Headquarters: Menlo Park

Acquisition date: March 25, 2014

Founders: Jack McCauley, Brendan Iribe, Palmer Luckey

Head organization: Facebook, Inc.

ANSWER: Russia

Explanation:
The Russian court on 10th Nov 2016 upheld a decision to block the website of social networking company LinkedIn

• Russia’s Roskomnadzor communications group has said LinkedIn which has more than 6 million registered users in Russia, was violating a law requiring websites which store personal data of Russian citizens to do so on Russian servers
• Moscow indicated that the law introduced in 2014 but never previously enforced, is aimed at protecting Russian personal data
• Critics indicated this was an attack on social networking in a country which has tightened control over the internet in recent years
• Moscow’s Tagansky District Court ruled in August that LinkedIn site should be blocked, but the decision has not come into force pending a company appeal
• While some companies such as online reservation site booking.com has indicated they will transfer data to Russian servers, it is unclear whether others like Google and FB will comply with the Russian law

ANSWER: Essar

Explanation:
Russia’s Rosneft Oil Company along with its partners on 15th Oct 2016 acquired India’s second biggest private oil firm Essar Oil in an all cash deal valued at USD 13 billion

• Rosneft’s partners include Rosneft Oil Company, United Capital Partners and Trafigura
• The acquisition was announced during the 8th BRICS Summit in Goa
• Rosneft will have a 49 percent stake in the refinery, port and petrol pumps of Essar Oil
• The remaining partners will split the 49 percent equity equally
• Remaining 2 percent will be held by minority shareholders after the delisting of Essar Oil
• Deal includes USD 10.9 billion for Essar’s Vadinar refinery and USD 2 billion for the port terminal that feeds the refinery
• It also includes Essar Oil’s debt of USD 4.5 billion and USD 2 billion debt with the port company and power plant
• Rosneft now becomes the third international player after after Royal Dutch and Shell and British Petroleum to enter the Indian fuel retailing market
• Essar Oil a subsidiary of Essar Group is a fully integrated oil & gas company and is among the largest single site refineries in Vainer, Gujarat with the capacity of 20 MT
• Essar Oil has a portfolio of offshore and onshore oil and gas blocks with around 1.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent in reserves and resources
• The company was established in 1969
• Essar Group is led by Shashi Ruia and Ravi Ruia

ANSWER: Reliance

Explanation:
Reliance Communications (RCom) and Reliance Jio (RJio) are working together through a “virtual merger” of their infrastructure such as spectrum and towers and the two companies are reaping the synergies, according to RCom president Anil Ambani.

• “What we have accomplished is a virtual merger between Rcom and RJio. Our spectrum is shared, our network is shared, our towers are shared, our fibre shared, our voice is shared and every effort to reap synergies, every effort to lower our costs, to be capital light has been achieved,”- he said in an official statement.
• RCom has a full 4G LTE long term evolution network on a pan Indian basis without capital expenditure on the balance sheet
• Assets shared and traded with Rjio have ensured RCom does not shell out entire capital expenditure
• RCom is also unlikely to bid at the upcoming spectrum auction given that RJio has deposited Rs.6,500 crore as earnest money deposit,
• The proposed merger with Aircel will create wealth for shareholders
• RCom expects a deal soon for its tower business, he said.