Twitter chief steps down

The resignation of Twitter's CEO was the main happening in the international ICT market last week.

At home, Telkom's annual financial results and its restructuring plans dominated the local ICT news.

* Mixed year-end figures from Telkom SA, with revenue up 1.6% but profit down 17.4%.
* A positive trading update from Labat Africa.
* Net 1 UEPS Technologies made a 25% investment in Nigeria-based One Credit, a consumer finance provider.
* A renewed JSE cautionary by Huge Group.
* A withdrawn JSE cautionary by Labat Africa.
* The appointment of Hamilton Ratshefola as SA country manager for IBM.
* The departure of Abraham Thomas as country Manager of IBM SA

* China Telecom has established an operating unit to manage its business in the MEA region.
* The appointment of Richard Warley as MD of CenturyLink for the EMEA region.

* AMETEK acquired the Surface Inspection Systems Division of Cognex Corporation for $160 million.
* Parade Technologies, a leading supplier of video displays and interface ICs, bought Cypress Semiconductor's TrueTouch Mobile touch-screen business for $100 million.
* Synopsys purchased Atrenta, a privately held provider of SOC realisation solutions for the semiconductor and consumer electronics industries.
* Telekom Austria acquired Amis, a provider of fixed-line telephony, broadband and IPTV services in Slovenia and Croatia.
* Uphill Investment (China) bought chipmaker Integrated Silicon Solutions for $667 million.
* ViaSat purchased Engreen, a privately-held company focused on network virtualisation.
* TeliaSonera made a $115 million investment in Spotify.
* The following patent and lawsuit activity:
* Rovi has prevailed in a patent infringement proceeding in Italy.
* InterDigital, a mobile technology research and development company, has settled its patent case involving Arima Communications.
* ADP is suing Zenefits for defamation.
* HP has agreed to a $100 million settlement with shareholders over the Autonomy deal.
* Mixed year-end figures from Asustek, with revenue up but profit down.
* Quarterly losses from Alcatel-Lucent, GK Software (although revenue up 40%) and Volt Information Sciences.
* The appointments of Nigel Clarkson as MD of Weve; and Jack Dorsey as interim CEO of Twitter.
* The resignations of Michael Combes, CEO of Alcatel-Lucent (moving to Altice); and Dick Costolo, CEO of Twitter.

* Worldwide:
* The worldwide security appliance market continues to grow in Q115 as cyber attacks become increasingly sophisticated, with factory revenue and unit shipments both up, according to IDC. Worldwide vendor revenue increased 7.5% year-over-year to $2.3 billion, and unit shipments expanded to 526 767, up 9.4%.

* JSE All share index: Up 0.3%
* Nasdaq: Down 0.3%
* NYSE (Dow): Up 0.3%
* S&P 500: Flat (marginally up)
* FTSE100: Down 0.3%
* Nikkei225: Down 0.3%
* Hang Seng: Up 0.1%
* Shanghai: Up 2.9%
* Top SA share movements: Amecor (+7.3%), Ellies (-10%), Labat Africa (+13.9%), Net 1 UEPS Technologies (+12.8%) and Telkom SA (-9.9%)

* International:
* The outcome of the talks regarding asset swaps between Vodafone and Liberty Global.
* A possible acquisition by Diebold of its troubled German rival Wincor Nixdorf.
* South Africa:
* Further developments regarding the restructuring of Telkom SA and its deal for BCX.

The latest Forbes Global 2000, a comprehensive list of the world's largest, most powerful public companies, as measured by revenue, profit, assets and market value, has recently been published. A composite score is used, which weighs the four metrics equally, as one barometer alone would present a biased and incomplete account.

This year's Global 2000 companies hail from 60 countries and account for combined revenue of $39 trillion, profit of $3 trillion, with assets worth $162 trillion, and a market value of $48 trillion. Thanks to a bull market, the total market value of Global 2000 companies grew 9% year-over-year, the most among the four metrics.

From a technology perspective, the list included the following in the top 100:
* 12: Apple (up from 15)
* 18: Samsung (up from 22)
* 20: China Mobile (up from 28)
* 22: Verizon Communications (up from 26)
* 25: Microsoft (up from 32)
* 27: AT&T (down from 23)
* 39: Google (up from 52)
* 40: Vodafone (down from 38)
* 44: IBM (down from 35)
* 46: Comcast (up from 57)
* 58: NTT (up from 61)
* 62: Softbank (up from 73)
* 67: Intel (up from 78)
* 70: Deutsche Telekom (up from 145)
* 76: Cisco (up from 82)
* 86: Telefonica (down from 68)
* 88: Oracle (up from 94)
* 96: HP (down from 80)

Further reflections/rankings will be included next week.