Latest news with #techgiants
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Exclusive-Meta, X and LinkedIn appeal unprecedented VAT claim by Italy
By Emilio Parodi MILAN (Reuters) -U.S. tech giants Meta, X and LinkedIn have lodged an appeal against an unprecedented VAT claim by Italy that could influence tax policy across the 27-nation European Union, four sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Monday. This is the first time that Italy has failed to reach a settlement agreement after bringing tax cases against tech companies, resulting in a fully-fledged judicial tax trial being launched. According to the sources, this came about because the case went beyond agreeing on a settlement figure and sought to establish a broader approach focused on how social networks provide access to their services. Italian tax authorities argue that free user registrations with X, LinkedIn and Meta platforms should be seen as taxable transactions as they imply the exchange of a membership account in return for a user's personal data. The issue is especially sensitive given wider trade tensions between the EU and the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. Italy is claiming 887.6 million euros ($1.03 billion) from Meta, 12.5 million euros from X and around 140 million euros from LinkedIn. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, Elon Musk's social network X and Microsoft's LinkedIn filed their appeals with a first instance tax court after mid-July, when the deadline for responding to a tax assessment notice issued by Italy's Revenue Agency in March passed. According to several experts consulted by Reuters, the Italian approach could affect almost all companies, from airlines to supermarkets to publishers, who link access to free services on their sites to users' acceptance of profiling cookies. It could also eventually be extended across the EU where VAT is a harmonised tax. In a statement to Reuters, Meta said that it had cooperated "fully with the authorities on our obligations under EU and local law". It added that the company "strongly disagrees with the idea that providing access to online platforms to users should be subject to VAT". LinkedIn said it had "nothing to share at this time". X did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters. ROME SEEN SEEKING EU ADVISORY It is uncertain whether a full trial of the matter, which involves three levels of judgement and takes an average of 10 years, will go ahead. Following discussions with the three companies, Italy is preparing as a next step to seek an advisory opinion from the European Commission, the sources said. The Italian Revenue Agency will have to prepare specific questions, which the Economy Ministry will then send to the EU Commission's VAT Committee, which meets twice a year. Rome aims to submit its questions for the meeting scheduled to be held by early November, in order to receive the EU's comments in time for the following meeting in spring 2026. Italy's Economy Ministry and Revenue Agency declined to comment. The EU Commission's VAT Committee is an independent advisory group. While its assessment will be non-binding, a "No" could prompt Italy to halt the case and ultimately drop the criminal investigation by Italian prosecutors, according to the sources. The dispute is one of several between Europeans and U.S. Big Tech. On July 11 Reuters exclusively reported that Meta would not be tweaking its pay-or-consent model further despite the risk of EU fines. According to a Financial Times report on July 17, the European Commission has stalled one of its investigations into Musk's platform X for breaching its digital transparency rules while it seeks to conclude trade talks with the U.S. ($1 = 0.8588 euros) Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump's antitrust cops are OK with new mergers. Old tech monopolies, not so much.
President Trump's antitrust cops are friendlier thus far about mergers than their predecessors, but they are refusing to let up on one prominent priority of the Biden administration: monopoly prosecutions of the nation's best-known tech giants. Six months into Trump's second term in office, his antitrust regulators have already given the green light to more than 100 merger transactions, feeding the optimism of Wall Street bankers that new dealmaking will have widespread support in Washington, D.C. In June, antitrust enforcers gave a go-ahead to three deals worth a combined $63 billion, including candy giant Mars' $36 billion takeover of Kellanova (K), and the DOJ announced a settlement with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) allowing it to acquire software developer Juniper. This month, the DOJ announced that it closed a major investigation into telecom giant T-Mobile's (TMUS) $4 billion acquisition of USCellular assets that allowed the tie up to proceed. Administration officials claim the approvals are not a free pass because many have required pre-merger divestments or licensing requirements. Yet at the same time, Trump's DOJ and FTC have shown no plans to relent in a series of high-stakes government prosecutions targeting the competitive tactics of Google (GOOG), Amazon (AMZN), Meta (META), and Apple (AAPL). Nor have they shown any signs of unwinding investigations into Nvidia (NVDA), Microsoft (MSFT), and OpenAI ( That's despite efforts by the CEOs of these companies to curry favor with Trump, with many showing up in person for the president's inauguration in January. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg tried unsuccessfully this spring to stop a government trial against his company from going forward. 'The criticism coming into this administration is that all of these Big Tech CEOs that were at the inauguration were going to get sweetheart deals; that they were going to settle these cases for pennies on the dollar," said Slade Bond, former principal deputy assistant attorney general in the Biden administration's Office of Legislative Affairs. "And that just hasn't happened." The Trump approach to new mergers, however, is "different," Bond said, explaining that Trump's regulators have made it clear that they're more open to structuring deals in a way that Biden's DOJ antitrust head Jonathan Kanter and former FTC chair Lina Khan were not. Arnold & Porter said the latest approvals clearly demonstrate the administration's willingness to negotiate. The approach with mergers is "a noteworthy shift away from the prior administration," according to a recent note published by the Washington D.C.-based law firm. And the shift demonstrates the administration's willingness to negotiate, it added. "FTC and DOJ Antitrust leadership resisted pre-litigation merger settlements during the Biden administration, choosing to litigate to challenge deals instead of accepting remedies." But "the new Trump administration leadership appears willing to accept divestitures to resolve its competitive concerns, providing an opportunity for merging parties to avoid litigation to get deals done." 'The world knows we're going to be very serious' The more flexible approach to mergers is not stopping Trump's enforcers from pressing ahead with dozens of prosecutions and investigations into the ways that dominant Big Tech companies are hanging onto their market power. The DOJ, along with a group of US states, is waiting for judges to rule on their requests to force Google to break up its empire, after prevailing in two landmark cases against Google in 2024 and April this year. In each case — one filed during Trump's first term in office and one brought by the Biden administration — the DOJ and states have pushed for remedies that would remake Google's search engine and online advertising empires. In another ongoing case that Trump's FTC took to trial against Meta in April, regulators are awaiting a California federal judge's decision on their claims that the social media titan leveraged its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp to box out competitors. Amazon and Apple are also in the new administration's antitrust crosshairs. In two federal lawsuits brought by the Biden administration and inherited by Trump's FTC, regulators allege that Amazon illegally maintained its monopoly in the markets for online superstores and online marketplace services, and deceived customers into renewing Amazon Prime subscriptions. Biden's DOJ accused Apple of violating antitrust laws in an ongoing federal case in New Jersey, now under the direction of Trump's DOJ. The complaint alleges that the iPhone maker abused its dominance in the smartphone market. One top Trump antitrust official, Roger Alford, said in May that Trump's regulators were focused on prosecuting anticompetitive behavior that impacts everyday Americans. In addition to the cases against Big Tech, he applauded Biden-era antitrust lawsuits filed against private equity firm Thoma Bravo's real estate management software developer RealPage and event promoter and ticket distributor Live Nation Entertainment's Ticketmaster (LIV). Alford said to expect the administration's regulators to focus on protecting competition in markets where average Americans spend their money, like housing, transportation, insurance, and entertainment. "So bring cases in those kinds of categories," he said. "I think the world knows we're going to be very serious about antitrust enforcement." Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow Alexis on X @alexiskweed. 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CNN
4 days ago
- Business
- CNN
ChatGPT can now ‘think' and ‘act' for you after a new update
Source: CNN OpenAI on Thursday announced a new feature for ChatGPT that allows the popular chatbot to execute actions on a user's behalf. It's part of an industry-wide push to change the way people get things done on the Internet: Tech giants hope that instead of bouncing between apps and manually searching the web, users might be able to one day rely on agents to do it all. ChatGPT's new agent mode, which begins rolling out immediately, is another sign that tech giants are doubling down on digital helpers that demonstrate significantly advanced capabilities. It also heightens the race between OpenAI and Google, which is pursuing similar ambitions with its Gemini helper. OpenAI said on Thursday that ChatGPT's new agent mode 'thinks' and 'acts' using its own virtual computer, enabling it to handle complex action-oriented requests. For example, users will be able to issue command such as 'look at my calendar and brief me on upcoming client meetings based on recent news' or 'plan and buy ingredients to make Japanese breakfast for four,' the company said in a blog post. In a video demonstration, OpenAI employees wrote a long and detailed prompt asking the agent to help the user prepare for a wedding. It included a set of specific instructions such as 'find an outfit that matches the dress code,' adding that it should propose five options, along with hotels that can accommodate a couple of buffer days around the event. The new feature is available for those who subscribe to a Pro, Plus or Team plan. It builds on and combines capabilities from the ChatGPT Operator and Deep Research tools OpenAI already offers; Operator browses the web, while Deep Research analyzes online resources to do things like compile reports. The update is another step in OpenAI's efforts to turn ChatGPT in a more comprehensive universal assistant. At the same time, the broader AI industry is also grappling with how to address important shortcomings and privacy concerns around the technology. AI models are still prone to hallucinations and bias and can act in unpredictable ways, as xAI's Grok chatbot demonstrated last week when it spewed antisemitic content after being prompted to do so. In a blog post, OpenAI acknowledged that ChatGPT's new functionality presents new risks. It said it has limited the data the model has access to, and certain tasks – like sending an email – require the user's oversight. The model is also trained to refuse 'high-risk tasks' like bank transfers, the company says. 'I would explain this to my own family as cutting edge and experimental; a chance to try the future, but not something I'd yet use for high-stakes uses or with a lot of personal information until we have a chance to study and improve it in the wild,' OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a post on X announcing the agent. He advised users to be cautious when giving ChatGPT access to personal information. For example, granting access to a calendar to coordinate a group dinner might make sense, but the agent wouldn't need calendar access to shop for clothes on a user's behalf. The announcement comes as tech giants are increasingly pushing to develop AI agents as they seek to win the AI race. Google made a flurry of AI-related announcements during its developer conference in May, including an agent that can make restaurant reservations and buy event tickets, among other tasks. Apple is working on a more advanced version of Siri that can use apps on a user's behalf, although that update is delayed indefinitely. See Full Web Article
News.com.au
4 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
EU readies retaliatory list targeting US services
The EU executive is preparing a list of proposed restrictions on US services companies -- including tech giants -- should Brussels fail to strike a trade deal with Washington, European diplomats said on Thursday. US President Donald Trump blindsided the European Union earlier this month by threatening to slap 30 percent tariffs on the bloc's goods, despite months of talks to get an agreement. If they don't clinch a deal by August 1, Brussels has warned it will have no choice but to retaliate against Trump's steep levies because of their economic impact, and has drawn up two lists of US goods to target. The European Commission, steering trade policy for the 27-country bloc, is also working on a list of American services -- including financial services -- it could hit with restrictions, for example on public procurement, EU diplomats said. It could also mean excluding certain suppliers, one diplomat said, adding that the commission had not yet put forward any list to EU member states. Any action on services would be in addition to two sets of retaliatory tariffs on goods: one put forward this week that targets 72 billion euros ($83 billion) of US products, and another worth 21 billion euros, drawn up in response to steel and aluminium tariffs. One EU diplomat said the bloc could retaliate step-by-step, hitting the United States with first the smaller, then the larger counter tariffs on goods -- before potentially escalating to services. The official also stressed the EU had yet to even approve the measures by vote and that they could still change, but another diplomat said Brussels would have no choice but to respond "forcefully". Most EU member states want to keep options on the table but have backed the commission's attempts to try once again to get an agreement before firing off retaliatory measures. The EU's top trade negotiator, Maros Sefcovic, jetted to Washington on Wednesday for talks with his US counterparts but the commission did not provide details on meetings. There are questions over Europe's appetite for a damaging fight with Trump if he slaps on the 30-percent levies as promised. But France has been pushing for Brussels to take a harder line and consider deploying its most powerful trade tool, known as the anti-coercion instrument, if negotiations with the United States end in disappointment. Even if Brussels were to activate this so-called trade "bazooka", it could take months before any measures were taken, according to the rules. First, the commission would have four months to investigate the third country it accuses of detrimental trade policies -- then member states would have eight to 10 weeks to back any proposal for action. Only then would the commission have a green light to prepare measures, to take effect within six months.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Rigetti shakes up quantum computing with bold advance
Rigetti shakes up quantum computing with bold advance originally appeared on TheStreet. Quantum computing is arguably entering its make-or-break era. It's no longer an experiment, with tech giants, startups, and national governments shelling out billions to crack problems traditional computers struggle with. 💵💰💰💵 Moreover, it's not about who's the loudest, but who's the most consistent. Progress is gauged in terms of qubits, fidelity gains, and architectures that don't break. Naturally, once the hype settles, investors will separate the wheat from the chaff in the quantum computing space. However, just as some thought momentum might stall, one quantum computing stock quietly surged, stunning everyone in the process. Why quantum computing matters now Quantum computing may sound like sci‑fi to many, but it's already flipping the script on the world's toughest problems. By simultaneously harnessing qubits representing 0 and 1, algorithms that once took millennia can finish in seconds. These qubits allow quantum computers to efficiently crunch far more possibilities at the same time. It's all thanks to crazy quantum effects like superposition and entanglement. The catch, though, is that they're super sensitive. Even the slightest of errors can wreck results. That's exactly why gate fidelity comes in, which serves as a score of how clean and accurate each operation fidelity means lower error rates and a more useful output. Lowering error rates also cuts through the need for heavy error correction, so you gain greater power from the same hardware. Each jump in fidelity turns a theoretical promise into a practical possibility, reminding everyone how swiftly the quantum era is accelerating. And despite the early‑stage risks, the market is set for massive long-term expansion. McKinsey's latest quantum technology monitor forecasts the sector to hit $100 billion within a decade, led by hardware advances and quantum‑as‑a‑service models. From supercharging drug‑discovery simulations to optimizing supply chains, quantum applications efficiently cover every corner of business and science. Nonetheless, the challenges remain. Qubit stability, cryogenic cooling expenses, and error‑correction costs still pose a hurdle to widespread deployment. More Tech Stock News: Elon Musk's xAI is already shockingly massive Cathie Wood drops bold message on Apple, Tesla stock Unsung AI stock pops after joining S&P 500 Every step forward in fidelity and architecture chips away at those barriers, though, bringing real quantum advantage even closer. Fidelity milestone lifts Rigetti stock and reshapes roadmap Rigetti Computing () just gave its investors a new reason to pay attention. It announced a head-turning 99.5% median two-qubit gate fidelity on its modular 36-qubit system, a critical step that cuts error rates by 50% compared to its earlier 84-qubit Ankaa-3 chip. That 99.5% figure isn't just a figure, but a key signal to the quantum space that Rigetti's modular approach is working. Wall Street got the message, with Rigetti stock jumping 30% Wednesday, trading at $16.56. The breakthrough system is built on four 9-qubit 'chiplets,' using Rigetti's tailor-made modular chip the company's latest effort in developing larger and more robust quantum machines. Rigetti is looking to launch the 36-qubit platform publicly on August 15. That launch serves as both a product debut and validation as the company looks toward a more ambitious goal of a 100+ qubit modular system delivering the same high-fidelity performance. A lot of it is about timing, too, as Rigetti previously set this mid-year milestone, and hitting its target boosts confidence in its 2025 roadmap. If it can achieve a 100+ qubit platform by the end of next year, that's likely to be a major leap in an industry where decoherence and error rates often slow real-world adoption. It would also help Rigetti close the performance gap with better-funded rivals like IBM and IonQ. It also raises the stakes for commercial traction. High-fidelity qubits are critical in running longer algorithms and solving critical problems that matter to enterprise users. For now, Rigetti's progress gives it new credibility in a race where results are now driving investor shakes up quantum computing with bold advance first appeared on TheStreet on Jul 17, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jul 17, 2025, where it first appeared. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
