Toshiba splits off companies

Toshiba's restructuring announcement was the main story of the international ICT market last week.

At home, it was very quiet.

* A positive trading update from AEEI.
* A mixed trading update from Altron.
* Computicket acquired Entry Ninja, an online start-up that facilitates entries into South African sporting events.
* The appointment of Wayne McCauley as COO of Blue Label SA.

* Mixed quarterly figures from Maroc Telecom, with revenue down but EBITDA up.

Computicket acquired Entry Ninja, an online start-up that facilitates entries into South African sporting events.

* Stock image and design business 123RF acquired Pixlr, a cloud and mobile photo editor. The former is planning to list later this year.
* BICS (Belgium) bought authentication and mobile identity services provider TeleSign for $230 million.
* Entegris purchased Gore's chemical filtration product line for microelectronics applications for $20 million.
* European ride service Gett has bought US rival Juno for $200 million, in a deal that further consolidated the ride-hailing industry.
* HCL Technologies acquired US-based Urban Fulfillment Services for $30 million.
* US buyout firm KKR bought Hitachi's chip-making equipment and video solution unit for $2.3 billion.
* Upland Software purchased RightAnswers, an award-winning, cloud-based knowledge management system.
* Vantiv acquired Paymetric, a firm that automates business-to-business payment workflows within enterprise systems, and processes payments data within those systems to secure customer information and history.
* Softbank made a $1.8 billion investment (20%) in India-based One97 Communications, the owner of electronics payments provider Paytm.
* D"urr and Software AG have formed a strategic partnership to develop new Internet of things (IOT) and industry 4.0 solutions. D"urr's new cloud-ready IOT platform will include best-of-breed digital solutions, technologies and applications from iTAC Software, the company's IOT software subsidiary, as well as Software AG and other partners. The basis of this platform is provided by a jointly developed open IOT framework that defines the necessary capabilities and integration interfaces.
* Software AG has also formed a strategic partnership with application software company OSIsoft. This partnership enables businesses to combine enterprise-wide IT and operations data and tools, together with Software AG's Digital Business Platform, for enhanced analytics, machine learning, integration and rapid IOT solution development.
* Nikon has filed lawsuits against Netherlands-based ASML, the world's third-largest chip equipment maker, and Germany's Carl Zeiss, saying its lithography technology was illegally used by the companies.
* ASML has filed initial legal claims against Nikon for infringement of more than 10 patents related to a broad range of products in the fields of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, flat panel display manufacturing equipment and digital cameras.
* Data analytics and security company Palantir Technologies has agreed to pay nearly $1.7 million to resolve charges regarding its alleged discrimination against Asian applicants for engineering jobs.
* An Indian court has approved the settlement in the Tata/NTT dispute.
* Private equity firm KKR and Japanese government-backed fund, Innovation Network Corp of Japan, will submit a joint offer for Toshiba's memory chip unit.
* Toshiba will split off its four in-house companies into wholly-owned subsidiaries; and it will start to accept bids in June for Landis+Gyr, its Swiss smart meter unit.
* Excellent quarterly results from Mercury Systems, Pixelworks (back in the black) and Western Digital.
* Very good quarterly figures from Align Technology, KLA-Tencor, Macronix (back in the black), Rambus, Rogers, SS&C Technologies and Total Systems Services.
* Good quarterly numbers from Adata Technology, Alphabet, Amazon, America Movil, Apacer Technology, Asia Tech Image, ATN International, AU Optronics (back in the black), AXT, Brooks Automation, Cabot Microelectronics, Canon, Cohu (back in the black), Corning (back in the black), Elan Microelectronics, Entegris, Equifax, Equinix (back in the black), Esker, Fortinet, Juniper Networks, LG Display, LG Electronics, Mitek, Monolithic Power Systems, OSI Systems, SK Hynix, STMicroelectronics (back in the black), Texas Instruments, Tyler Technologies, Ultimate Software and Zix.
* Good year-end numbers from InfiNet Wireless.
* Satisfactory quarterly results from American Tower, Amphenol, Anixter International, AudioCodes (back in the black), Avnet, AVX, Cadence Design Systems, Check Point Software Technologies, China Mobile, Comcast, Crown Castle International, CSI, DST Systems, Etisalat, F5 Networks, Fair Isaac, Flex, Flir Systems, Grupo Televisa, Intel, Iridium Communications, Microsoft, Orange, PayPal, Philips, Roper Technologies, Samsung Electronics, Sanmina, SAP, Seagate Technology (back in the black), Sensata Technologies, Silicon Labs, Skyworks Solutions, Sony (back in the black), Sopra Steria, T-Mobile US, Telekom Austria, TE Connectivity, Teradyne, Trimble, VeriSign, Visteon, Wipro, Xilinx and Zain Saudi Arabia (back in the black).
* Mediocre quarterly results from AT&T, Changyou.com, Chunghwa Telecom, CoreLogic, Coretronic, Gemalto, Interface, PDF Solutions, Silicon Motion Technology, Sinbon Electronics, Super Micro Computer, UMC, Vasco Data Security and Xerox.
* Mediocre year-end numbers from Nintendo.
* Mixed quarterly figures from ASE, with revenue up but profit down; Baidu, with revenue up but profit down; BCE, with revenue up but profit down; China Unicom, with revenue down but profit up; Citrix Systems, with revenue up but profit down; CTG, with revenue down but back in the black; du (UAE), with revenue up but profit down; Euronet Worldwide, with revenue up but profit down; Fiserv, with revenue up but profit down; Forrester Research, with revenue down but profit up; InterDigital, with revenue down but profit up; Iron Mountain, with revenue up but profit down; L3 Technologies, with revenue up but profit down; Logitech, with revenue up but profit down; MediaTek, with revenue down but profit up; Microsemi, with revenue down but profit up; MicroStrategy, with revenue up but profit down; Millicom, with revenue up but profit down; Netgear, with revenue up but profit down; Siliconware Precision, with revenue up but profit down; Synaptics, with revenue up but profit down; Turkcell, with revenue up but profit down; Vantiv, with revenue up but profit down; and Yandex, with revenue up but profit down.
* Quarterly losses from A10 Networks, Amkor Technology, Bottomline Technologies, Cavium, Cimpress, Cree, CyberOptics, Cypress Semiconductor, Digimarc, Ericsson, GoPro, Intelsat, Lantronix, Limelight Networks, Macom Technology Solutions, MDC Partners, Mellanox Technologies, MicroVision, MobileIron, Nokia, Radware, ServiceNow, ShoreTel, Shutterfly, Sohu.com, Sonus Networks, Teradata, Twitter, Unisys, Vocera Communications, Weatherford International and WNS Holding.
* A full-year loss from Allied Minds, Rocket Internet and Sharp.
* The appointments of Roberto Rittes as CEO of Nextel Brazil; and Stephen Waldis as CEO of Synchronoss Technologies.
* The departure of Ronald Hovsepian, CEO of Synchronoss Technologies.
* An IPO filing for Nasdaq by Smart Global Holdings, the largest manufacturer of memory chips in Brazil.
* An IPO filing in Brazil (S~ao Paulo) from Tivit, an IT services provider in that country.
* A good IPO on the NYSE by Cloudera, a company that empowers organisations to become data driven enterprises in the newly hyperconnected world.

Worldwide:
* According to a recent Gartner survey, 42% of CEOs have begun digital business transformation.
* Phone companies shipped a total of 347.4 million smartphones worldwide in 1Q17, according to IDC. In light of what might seem like a slowing market, consumers continue to show demand for smartphones, and OEM flagship hype seems as strong as ever. Worldwide smartphone shipments grew 4.3% in 1Q17, which was slightly higher than IDC's previous forecast of a 3.6% growth.

* JSE All share index: Up 3.1%
* FTSE100: Up 1.3%
* DAX: Up 3.2% (highest weekend close this year)
* NYSE (Dow): Up 1.9%
* S&P 500: Up 1.5% (highest weekend close)
* Nasdaq: Up 2.3% (highest weekend close)
* Nikkei225: Up 3.1%
* Hang Seng: Up 2.4%
* Shanghai: Down 0.6%

International:
* More companies jumping on the listing bandwagon.

South Africa:
* Further news regarding Cell C and Blue Label.

Fortune magazine recently published its 2017 '50 Greatest Leaders' list. From a technology viewpoint, the following were included:

* 2: Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba Group
* 5: Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon
* 33: Strive Masiyiwa, chairman of Econet Wireless Group
* 38: Haruno Yoshida, president of BT Japan
* 41: Randall Stephenson, chairman and CEO of AT&T
* 43: Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com
* 50: Lisa Su, CEO of AMD