#7. Poland wants to break dependence on Russian gas

Poland has been wanting to break free from the Russian stranglehold on its gas market for a long time. Over the past weeks, Polish energy companies have undertaken several key actions to make this a reality, the Financial Times reports.

Among other things, Warsaw is boosting LNG options and a Baltic pipe project in an attempt to become a regional hub.


#6. Hong Kong's housing market

A questionable number one ranking for Hong Kong: the city has been named as the one with the world's least-affordable housing market for the ninth year in a row, Bloomberg reports. Things even got a little worse compared to last year since the city got further out of reach for most residents.

Vancouver ranked second on the list of most unaffordable housing markets followed by Sydney. 


#5. Airbnb is diversifying

Airbnb seems to be diversifying its revenues. The company, valued upwards of $30 billion, has acquired Danish startup Gaest, TechCrunch reports. Gaest provides people with a marketplace-style platform where they can post and book venues on an hourly or daily basis for meetings and other work-related events like off-sites.

According to TechCrunch, Airbnb's acquisition points to two strategic developments: 1) the company's expansion into services for the business market and 2) providing more value to existing and future hosts on the platform.


#4. Hedge funds take a stake in eBay

Hedge funds Elliott Management and Starboard Value - known for their shareholder activism - have both taken stakes in eBay. They are pushing for eBay to make changes including the sale of some of the e-commerce firm's business, ReutersTV reports.

Both activist investors want eBay to focus on its core business, which is the marketplace where people buy and sell goods.


#3. Apple's future in healthcare

Apple is cutting 200 people from its autonomous vehicles department. The tech giant's decision doesn't come as a complete surprise. CEO Tim Cook has said before that the company's future is in healthcare and not in autonomous vehicles, Yahoo Finance reports. 


#2. Boeing's flying car

Exciting things are happening at Boeing. A flying car meant to transport passengers over congested city streets and dodge skyscrapers completed its first test flight on Tuesday, Bloomberg reports.

Other companies, such as A3, Intel Corp., and EHang Inc. are also rushing rotorcraft vehicles to market. Morgan Stanley analysts estimate that this kind of technology could create an industry worth between $615 billion and $2.9 trillion by 2040, Bloomberg continues.


#1. Israel recognizes Guaido as leader of Venezuela

After the US, Canada, most of the countries in Latin America and countries in Europe, Israel also threw its support behind the Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's leader. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this in a statement on Sunday.



And that's the last week of January 2019 all wrapped up. As always, we'll continue to track Twitter and bring you the top financial micro-messages from the web. See you back here next week.

Source: www.scoopnest.com.