Latest news with #Microsoft
Time of India
an hour ago
- Business
- Time of India
Bill Gates out of world's 10 richest man list as his net worth falls 30% in 7 days; he is replaced by Microsoft‘s former CEO
Bill Gates has dropped out of the top ten on the world's richest list, with his net worth now calculated as less than that of his former assistant and successor as Microsoft's former CEO, Steve Ballmer. This change comes after a recalculation to reflect Gates' substantial charitable giving. Gates' fortune was reduced by about $52 billion, almost by 30% this week. This recalculation shrank his net worth from over $175 billion to $124 billion, moving him from fifth to twelfth place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Steve Ballmer , with a net worth of $172 billion, replaced Gates in the fifth spot. Gates now also trails Alphabet co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin , Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and longtime friend and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett in the rankings. Bloomberg stated that it adjusted the appreciation rates used in calculating his wealth to "better reflect Gates' outside charitable giving and the wealth estimate" that Gates provided in a blog post in May. What Bill Gates said in his blog In the blog post, Bill Gates noted that his net worth was $108 billion and committed to donating nearly all of it through the Gates Foundation over the next two decades. He projected that the foundation would spend more than $200 billion before closing by the end of 2045. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Providers are furious: Internet access without a subscription! Techno Mag Learn More Undo As per the Gates Foundation's website, Gates and his former wife, Melinda French Gates, had contributed a combined total of $60 billion to the foundation by the end of December 2024, while Warren Buffett has donated $43 billion. Gates currently holds about 1% of Microsoft and has received over $60 billion in stock and dividends from the company, Bloomberg reported. The majority of his wealth is now managed by Cascade Investment, a holding firm with interests in real estate, energy, and both private and public companies. As per the report, Ballmer is now wealthier than Gates, which is an unusual feat for a former employee compared to the company's founder. This is largely due to an early compensation deal at Microsoft that transitioned from profit-sharing to equity. Ballmer became CEO in 2000 and left in 2014 with a 4% stake in the company. As Microsoft's stock has surged over the past decade, his wealth has grown significantly. He currently owns the Los Angeles Clippers and once shared about his decision to retain his Microsoft shares while Gates and Paul Allen diversified. iOS 26 Beta 2 Hands-On: Apple Finally Does It AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
ArabGT
4 hours ago
- Automotive
- ArabGT
Forza Motorsport Faces Uncertain Future Amid Major Microsoft Layoffs
In a stunning development that has rocked the gaming world, multiple reports suggest that the long-running Forza Motorsport series may be nearing its end. Following a sweeping wave of layoffs at Microsoft, key developers at Turn 10 Studios—the heart of the Motorsport franchise—have been let go, casting serious doubt over the series' future. A Franchise in Limbo For years, Forza Motorsport set the gold standard for racing simulators, beloved for its realism and precision. Now, that legacy appears to be in jeopardy. Industry insiders report that active development on the series has come to a halt, as Microsoft shifts its priorities toward the more accessible and commercially successful Forza Horizon games. Turn 10 Team Disbanded In July 2025, Microsoft announced a restructuring that saw roughly 9,000 jobs cut across its gaming division. Among the hardest hit was Turn 10 Studios, where the Forza Motorsport team was drastically reduced. Former employees have revealed that the studio is no longer focused on producing new Motorsport titles and is now providing technical support for Horizon projects instead. Silence and Speculation Microsoft has yet to officially confirm the series' fate, but the lack of updates since the last release in 2023—and troubling comments from ex-team members—paint a bleak picture. One developer described the team as 'effectively dismantled,' adding that there's no meaningful effort being made to continue the franchise in its traditional form. Motorsport vs Horizon: The Shift in Strategy The pivot becomes clearer when comparing the two franchises. Motorsport, designed for purists and sim enthusiasts, has struggled to keep up with the soaring popularity of Horizon, known for its open-world appeal and broader player base. With Horizon outselling Motorsport by a wide margin, Microsoft appears to have chosen the safer, more profitable path. Fans React with Frustration Disappointment has poured in from the gaming community. On platforms like Reddit, fans have voiced feelings of betrayal, mourning what they see as the erosion of a legacy. Some have called it 'the end of an era,' accusing Microsoft of abandoning the series' roots in favor of short-term gains. A Legacy in Peril Though no official cancellation has been announced, the signs are grim. With Turn 10's diminished role and a noticeable shift in Microsoft's strategy, the future of Forza Motorsport remains uncertain. Yet, some fans remain hopeful that the franchise could eventually return—perhaps reimagined, but true to its simulation-driven spirit. Has Microsoft truly parked Forza Motorsport for good? Or could the series find a new path forward in the evolving world of racing games? The track ahead is unclear, but one thing is certain: Forza Motorsport's legacy still holds a special place in the hearts of racing purists.
Time of India
4 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Microsoft suspends 3,000 Outlook and Hotmail accounts with…
Microsoft has suspended approximately 3,000 Outlook and Hotmail accounts linked to North Korean IT workers as part of a coordinated crackdown on a sophisticated global fraud scheme. The tech giant's Threat Intelligence Center identified the operation, dubbed "Jasper Sleet," which has infiltrated hundreds of Fortune 500 companies over recent years. The scheme involves North Korean IT workers using fabricated or stolen identities to secure remote jobs in tech companies worldwide. These workers, trained and dispatched by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), have successfully obtained legitimate employment, with some companies reporting that the remote workers were among their most talented employees. DOJ seizes laptops and shuts down 'laptop farms' across US The Department of Justice announced a coordinated takedown alongside Microsoft's account suspensions, seizing hundreds of laptops, 29 financial accounts, and shutting down nearly two dozen websites. Law enforcement searched 29 "laptop farms" across the United States, where accomplices—including Americans—agreed to maintain laptops shipped by companies that unknowingly hired North Koreans for remote positions. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like De geheime hulp bij urineverlies waar niemand over praat Damesondergoed Meer informatie Undo A notable case involves a Maryland nail salon employee who will be sentenced in August after being found to hold 13 remote jobs handled by North Korean IT workers located in China. These positions paid nearly $1 million combined. AI tools help workers evade detection in $600 million scheme The North Korean IT worker conspiracy generates up to $600 million annually, according to UN estimates. The revenue funds Kim Jong Un's nuclear weapons program, making cybersecurity a national security issue. Microsoft reports that the workers are increasingly using AI tools to improve their deception tactics—eliminating grammatical errors, enhancing photos, and experimenting with voice-changing software. The company has developed custom machine-learning solutions using "impossible time travel risk detections" to identify suspect accounts logging in from Western nations and China or Russia simultaneously. While Microsoft hasn't observed combined AI voice and video technology yet, the company warns this could allow future threat actors to conduct interviews directly without relying on facilitators.
Forbes
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Some Developers Turn A Stern Eye Toward Xbox Game Pass After Layoffs
Xbox Game Pass Microsoft sparked about a dozen different headlines when 9,000 person layoffs at the company hit Xbox in part, causing job losses, entire studio closures and game cancellations. That's sparked many debates about the company, its future and its strategies, but it's rare to see the developers in the trenches speak all that openly about it. The ex-founder of the currently Microsoft-owned Arkane Studios and current President & Creative Director of WolfEye Studios, Raphael Colantonio, took to Twitter to point out the 'elephant in the room' when it comes to many issues at Xbox, Xbox Game Pass. Here's what he said about the subscription model, which offers a large number of 'free' games when players subscribe: The conversation drew in Larian (of Baldur's Gate 3 fame), Director of Publishing Michael Douse: Baldur's Gate FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder Douse and Colantonio then launched into a conversation about how Game Pass very much does hurt game sales despite Microsoft previously indicating the opposite. Douse says he prefers Sony's 'lifecycle management strategy.' The idea behind Xbox Game Pass is, at its core, the ability to give players the opportunity to play day one, first-party releases on Xbox if they subscribe. Even in an era of Xbox games moving to PlayStation, those are paid copies or on a time delay, so Microsoft thinks that still holds appeal. That gets more complicated when it's third party developers who are swept into the concept of Game Pass launches, a practice that feels like it's happening with less frequency in time. This is where the 'infinite money subsidization' Microsoft pays to offset lost sales comes in, but many view this as unsustainable, which is now coming up with these layoffs and closures. Microsoft has leaned hard into Xbox Game Pass subscriptions in recent years, pushing the concept harder than its hardware sales, which have declined precipitously. Game Pass experienced a huge surge of sign-ups during the COVID years, but growth has tapered, and a ceiling has to be in sight. Microsoft is still very much viewing Game Pass as its primary appeal, but as you can see, it is starting to get harder and harder to get non-first-party developers on board. We'll see if that can change or if the issues are set in stone. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram. Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Nvidia vs. Microsoft Stock: Which Will Be the First $4 Trillion Company?
Nvidia and Microsoft are knocking on the door of $4 trillion market caps. Nvidia deserves a lot of credit for being the backbone behind AI development. AI has added to Microsoft's investment thesis rather than redefining it. 10 stocks we like better than Nvidia › On Dec. 26, 2024, Apple crossed $3.9 trillion in market capitalization, putting it just 2% away from becoming the world's first $4 trillion company. But it didn't get there. Apple has recovered in recent weeks but remains down big year to date, whereas Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) just made new all-time highs. Here's why Nvidia will likely become the first company to surpass $4 trillion in market value, what Nvidia and Microsoft must do to continue rising in price, and whether either growth stock is a buy now. In less than three years, Nvidia has gone from billions to trillions in market cap. And now, it is the closest company to $4 trillion -- a little over 3% away as of market close on July 3. Nvidia will likely reach $4 trillion before Microsoft simply because it is closer to the threshold, and its stock is more volatile. Nvidia is now up over 18% year to date (YTD), but it was down around 30% YTD in early April during the worst of the tariff-induced sell-off. So it's not unreasonable that the stock could move a few percentage points higher to pole-vault its market cap above $4 trillion. The better question isn't whether Nvidia or Microsoft will hit $4 trillion in market cap but rather what each company must do to justify that valuation. The two biggest drivers of stock-price appreciation are earnings growth and investor sentiment. If earnings are increasing, investors will likely pay a higher price for the company's shares. But if investors expect the pace of earnings growth to accelerate, then they may be willing to give a stock a premium valuation. Nvidia and Microsoft have been such strong performers in recent years because they are growing earnings and investors are willing to pay a premium price for these companies relative to their earnings. Nvidia went from making under $10 billion in annual net income to a staggering $76.8 billion in just a few years. Microsoft has doubled its net income over the past five years, and its stock price has more than doubled as well. For Nvidia and Microsoft to continue being good investments going forward, both companies must demonstrate that their earnings growth is sustainable and not temporary. Nvidia has greatly benefited from the rapid rise of big tech spending on artificial intelligence (AI). Nvidia has a dominant market share in providing high-powered graphics processing units (GPUs) for data centers and associated AI solutions for enterprises. Due to limited supply and high demand, Nvidia can charge top dollar for its AI offerings, which allows it to convert over half of its sales into pure profit. And because Nvidia's customers are some of the most financially secure, big-budget companies in the world (like Microsoft), then Nvidia knows its customers can afford to spend a ton on AI. However, that wouldn't be the case if challenges arise for key Nvidia customers if there is an industrywide slowdown or if competition comes along and erodes Nvidia's margins. Buying Nvidia now is a bet that the company can continue growing its earnings even if its margins gradually decline over time. The good news is that Nvidia doesn't have to double its earnings every year to be a great buy. Even if it grows earnings at, let's say, 25% per year, it could still reduce its valuation over time and be a market-beating stock. Here's a look at how Nvidia's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio would go from over 50 to under 35 in five years if it grew earnings at 25% per year, and the stock price gained an average of 15% per year. Metric Current Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Stock Price (15% Annual Growth) $159.20 $183.08 $210.54 $242.12 $278.44 $320.21 Earnings Per Share (25% Annual Growth) $3.10 $3.88 $4.84 $6.05 $7.57 $9.46 P/E Ratio 51.4 47.2 43.5 40 36.2 33.8 Under these assumptions, Nvidia's stock price roughly doubles in five years, but its earnings triple, so the P/E ratio falls considerably. The key takeaway is that Nvidia doesn't have to sustain its parabolic growth to be a good investment. However, the stock could sell off dramatically if investors believe an unforeseen risk will interrupt its growth trajectory. We got a taste of that in April when Nvidia estimated it would incur multibillion-dollar charges due to tariffs, and the stock price nose-dived in a short period. In sum, investors should only consider Nvidia if they are confident in sustained AI spending and the company's ability to pivot as the market matures. Microsoft may be a better choice for investors seeking a more balanced tech stock to purchase. Microsoft has a lower P/E than Nvidia, and for good reason, because it isn't growing as quickly. However, Microsoft also doesn't need a lot to go right for it to continue growing steadily over time. The vast majority of Nvidia's earnings are directly tied to AI. Microsoft has a diverse earnings profile, encompassing cloud computing, software, hardware, platforms such as GitHub, LinkedIn, and Xbox, as well as other areas. AI is accelerating Microsoft's earnings growth and expanding its earnings, but the company can still do extremely well even if AI investment slows and the industry matures. It's also worth mentioning that Microsoft routinely buys back its stock and has raised its dividend for 15 consecutive years. So it has a more balanced capital-return program than Nvidia, which rewards shareholders by growing the core business rather than directly returning capital. Nvidia and Microsoft are exceptional companies. It wouldn't be surprising to see them both surpass $4 trillion market caps and continue building from there. However, investors should be mindful that both companies are seeing their stock prices rise faster than their earnings are growing, which puts pressure on them to bridge the gap between expectations and reality. Before you buy stock in Nvidia, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Nvidia wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $699,558!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $976,677!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,060% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 180% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 30, 2025 Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Daniel Foelber has positions in Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Nvidia vs. Microsoft Stock: Which Will Be the First $4 Trillion Company? was originally published by The Motley Fool 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
