Tech Companies Not Infected Despite COVID-19 Outbreak

News on COVID-19 will not stop in the near future but tech companies know that life goes on and deals keep on coming. On Tuesday, Vivendi closed the sale of a 10 percent stake in Universal Music Group (UMG) to a Tencent-led consortium in a deal that valued UMG at US$33 billion. 

Following its footsteps, Japan Display said it has finalized a deal to raise US$200 million from “an overseas customer,” which sources have said is Apple. “The US$200 fund will come in the form of the customer purchasing equipment at Japan Display’s main smartphone screen factory in central Japan,” the company said in a statement.

Within sight is also Alibaba Group, which plans to buy at least 10 percent of Yunda Holding, marking the e-commerce giant’s fifth investment in a large courier, reported Reuters. At the current market price, the stake would be worth at least US$790 million.

More news below: 

• Google releases user location data in 131 countries. Governments can use the information to assess the effectiveness of social distancing rules. The tech giant said the data will be “aggregated and anonymized.”

• Apple’s orders for 1Q20 are likely to drop 18 percent compared to the previous year. The production ramp-up for new phones that work with next-generation 5G networks has been postponed. However, it is still possible that 5G phones could be launched in the fall, as scheduled.

• Apple doubled its donations to China’s efforts to fight COVID-19 to over US$7 million, CEO Tim Cook posted on Weibo. This comes after the company said it had reopened all its 42 stores in one of its largest markets.

• Zoom saw daily users swelling up to more than 200 million in March from a previous maximum total of 10 million, the video conferencing app’s head Eric Yuan said on Wednesday.