Liang Rubo worries that ByteDance as an organization is becoming mediocre. The Toyota Group's global sales reached a record 11.2 million units. Honda will implement large-scale personnel optimization in China. Musk said the first human patient has received a brain implant chip. Express delivery giant UPS plans to lay off 12,000 employees. Pfizer, Starbucks, Diageo, General Motors, UPS, Supermicro, Microsoft, Google announced results. ByteDance held its 2024 annual all-staff meeting. CEO Liang Rubo said that the key word for ByteDance in 2024 is "always start a business and escape the gravity of mediocrity". Liang Rubo included "strengthening the sense of crisis" as an annual goal. He admits that the biggest sense of crisis is the fear that bytes, as an organization, are becoming mediocre and unable to make new breakthroughs. From 2019 to 2021, ByteDance expanded rapidly, increasing the number of employees from more than 10,000 to more than 100,000. Liang Rubo said that many people have reported that now Byte "has all the diseases of large companies". At the all-hands meeting, Liang talked about many of the trends he has observed in the organization of mediocrity, including inefficiency, sluggishness, and low standards.
Italy's privacy regulator said it has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT, alleging that it violated personal data laws. Through an investigation that began in March last year, the agency concluded that OpenAI's popular chatbot may have violated the European Union's privacy laws. The agency temporarily banned the popular chatbot last year.
Japan's NTT will develop optical semiconductors that significantly reduce power consumption by utilizing the core technology of IOWN, the foundation of next-generation communications. NTT is working with semiconductor manufacturers such as Intel in the U.S., and is also coordinating with SK hynix in South Korea. In total, the Japanese government will provide about 45 billion yen in support. Data infrastructure will be key to a digital society. NTT's goal is to establish international standards for data-based technology by the Japan-US-Korea Alliance. IOWN uses NTT's optical technology to exchange large amounts of data with low power consumption. It is expected to be used in the "6G" communication and data infrastructure network, which is expected to be widely used around 2030, and aims to become an international standard.
Toyota Motor has consolidated its position as the world's largest automaker after recovering from a slump caused by the coronavirus pandemic and chip shortages in 2023, after hitting record global sales. Global sales, which include subsidiaries Daihatsu Motor and Hino Motors, rose 7.2% to 11.2 million units last year, surpassing the previous high of 10.7 million set in 2019. Toyota said global car production climbed 8.6 percent last year to a record 11.5 million units. Global vehicle sales in December rose 10% year-on-year to 1 million units, while production increased 7.7% to 906,570 units.
Honda will implement large-scale personnel optimization in China. In the face of declining sales and overcapacity, Honda will reduce fixed expenses and step up preparations for the transition to battery electric vehicles (EVs). In November 2023, Guangqi Honda, a joint venture between Honda and Guangzhou Automobile Group, laid off 900 employees at the plant. Honda plans to start operations at its new EV plants in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, and Wuhan, Hubei Province, by the end of 2024. Due to the overall overcapacity, the main issue this year is how to effectively utilize EV plants while considering the optimization of personnel.
Some influential dealers are urging General Motors to introduce hybrid models, fearing the potential loss of customers who are not ready to switch to all-electric vehicles. In recent years, GM has focused on pure electric vehicles and has largely not considered hybrid vehicles. Hybrid vehicles pair an internal combustion engine with a small battery and electric motor to improve fuel efficiency. GM executives have endorsed the dealership's opinion, but have yet to make any promises about future hybrid models.
Tesla's stock price surged 4.19% on January 29, with a total market capitalization of $606.951 billion. This also makes Tesla CEO Elon Musk worth more than Bernard Arnault, chairman of the luxury goods giant LVMH Group, and regain the richest man in the world.
Volkswagen has postponed plans to seek external investors for its battery division PowerCo due to slowing demand for electric vehicles, and Renault has also canceled plans to go public with its electric vehicle and software division, Ampere. Volkswagen has decided to suspend the listing of its battery division as PowerCo is facing doubts about whether it can produce batteries on a large scale, and the company has no longer prioritized selling its stake or listing its PowerCo business this year or next. Ampere's IPO was originally part of a complex overhaul of Renault's efforts to separate battery-powered vehicle production from its traditional internal combustion engine division.
Government Pension Fund Global, the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, reported on Tuesday that it had made a record 2.22 trillion Norwegian kroner ($213 billion) in profits in 2023, largely thanks to strong returns on its investments in technology stocks. The result marks its highest ever krona return, with the fund returning 16.1% last year. In 2023, its return on equity investment was 21.3%, fixed income return was 6.1%, and the return on unlisted real estate investments was -12.4%.
Some of the bolts used to hold parts of an Alaska Airlines jetliner that had partially detached its fuselage during flight appeared to be missing when it left the Boeing factory. Boeing and other industry officials are increasingly convinced that the aircraft manufacturer's employees did not replace the bolts when they reinstalled the doors after opening or removing the inset doors of the 737 MAX 9 during production. They also pointed out that Boeing's plant in Renton, Washington, had gaps in the company's documentation and processes for work related to the doors in question.
Amphenol, an electronics maker, said Tuesday that it plans to buy Carlyle Interconnect Technologies (CIT), a subsidiary of The Carlyle Company, for about $2 billion in cash. The latter, a company that supplies cables and connectors to defense and industrial end markets, is expected to expand Amphenol's existing product portfolio.
Elon Musk said that the first human patient has received Neuralink's brain implant chip, which is a potential milestone in the development of "brain-computer interface" technology that could one day help patients with debilitating conditions such as paralysis interact with their surroundings. The patient underwent implantation surgery and is currently recovering well, indicating that the surgery was successfully completed with no serious technical problems. Musk also said that preliminary results show that neuronal spike detection is promising, further suggesting that the Neuralink device is detecting signals from individual neurons inside the brain, a potential advancement that could decode higher-quality brain signals.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is poised to gain a blockbuster position with its RSV vaccine, which has been on the market for months, to gain a head start over rival Pfizer and begin to dispel long-standing investor concerns about its product line. In the months since GlaxoSmithKline and U.S. rival Pfizer rolled out the first vaccines nationwide, more than one in five adults over the age of 60 in the U.S. have been vaccinated against respiratory syncytial virus — an infection similar to cold symptoms.
Swiss watch exports hit an all-time high last year as watch makers raised prices and shipments of cheap quartz watches soared, despite a slowdown in the second half of the year. Clocks exports rose 7.6% to CHF 26.7 billion in 2023, but sales growth fell to 3.6% in the second half of the year from 11.8% in the first half, according to data released on Tuesday by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry. The United States remains the largest export destination for Swiss watches, with annual exports up 7% to CHF 4.1 billion, accounting for about 16% of total Swiss watch exports. Exports to China for the year increased by almost 8% to around CHF 2.8 billion, accounting for about 10% of exports.
U.S. delivery giant UPS plans to cut 12,000 jobs and consider selling its Coyote trucking brokerage business. The company is taking these moves to offset the impact of weak demand and rising labor costs for unions. The company also plans to require employees to return to the office five days a week in 2024.
Financial Reporting Information
Diageo, the world's largest spirits company, announced its results for the first half of the 2024 fiscal year ended December 31, 2023. The company's earnings performance was worse than expected due to a sharp decline in demand for expensive spirits in the Americas. Net sales for the first half of the fiscal year were $10,962 million, down 1% year-over-year, operating profit was $3,317 million, down 11% year-over-year, and adjusted operating profit was $3,510 million, down 7% year-over-year.
United Parcel Service (UPS) reports fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 financial results. Fourth-quarter revenue was $24.917 billion, down 7.8% year-over-year, missing analysts' expectations. Adjusted operating profit was $2,787 million, down 27.1% year-over-year. By business, the revenue of domestic parcel business in the United States was US$16.915 billion, down 7.3% year-on-year, the revenue of international parcel business was US$4.606 billion, down 6.9% year-on-year, and the revenue of supply chain and freight business was US$3.396 billion, down 11.4% year-on-year. Full-year revenue was $90,958 million, down 9.3% year-over-year, and adjusted operating profit was $9,873 million, down 28.7% year-over-year.
Pfizer announces fourth quarter and full year 2023 results. Fourth-quarter revenue was $14.249 billion, compared to $24.29 billion in the same period last year, a year-on-year decrease of 41%. Net loss for the quarter was $3.37 billion, compared to a net profit of $5 billion in the year-ago quarter. Revenue in 2023 will be $58.5 billion, compared to $100.3 billion in 2022, a year-on-year decrease of 42%. The net profit for the year was US$2.12 billion, compared to US$31.37 billion in 2022, a year-on-year decrease of 93%.
General Motors reports fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 results. Fourth-quarter revenue was $42.98 billion, compared to $43.11 billion in the year-ago quarter. Net income attributable to shareholders for the quarter was $2.1 billion, compared to $2.0 billion in the year-ago quarter. Total global vehicle sales in the fourth quarter were 1.61 million units. Revenue in 2023 will be $171.8 billion, compared to $156.7 billion in 2022. Net profit attributable to shareholders for the full year was US$10.13 billion, compared to US$9.934 billion in 2022. Cruise, the self-driving car division, posted a loss of $792 million in the fourth quarter and $2.7 billion for the full year.
Super Micro Computer announced results for the fiscal second quarter ended December 31, 2023. Net sales for the quarter were $3,665 million, compared to $1,803 million in the year-ago quarter. Net income for the quarter was $296 million, compared to $176 million in the year-ago quarter.
Microsoft announced results for its fiscal second quarter ended December 31, 2023. Total quarterly revenue was $62.0 billion, compared to $52.7 billion in the year-ago quarter, up 18% year-over-year. Among them, product revenue was $18.9 billion, and service and other revenue was $43.1 billion. Net income for the quarter was $21.9 billion, compared to $16.4 billion in the year-ago quarter. Commercial cloud product revenue grew 24% to $33.7 billion.
Google's parent company, Alphabet, announced its fourth-quarter 2023 results. Total revenue for the fourth quarter reached $86.3 billion, up 13% from $76.0 billion in the year-ago quarter. Net income was $20.7 billion, compared to $13.6 billion in the same period last year. Google services revenue was $76.31 billion, Google Cloud revenue was $9.19 billion, and Google advertising revenue was $65.52 billion.
Starbucks announced results for the fiscal first quarter ended December 31, 2023. Total net revenue for the quarter was $9,425 million, compared to $8,714 million in the year-ago quarter. Net income attributable to the Company for the quarter was $1,024 million, compared to $855 million in the year-ago quarter. In the fiscal first quarter, same-store sales at the company's stores that are more than one year old increased 5%.
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