#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.
Poland aims to break dependence on Russian gas https://t.co/hmoAPPzvPf
— Financial Times (@FT) January 27, 2019
#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.
Hong Kong housing ranked world's least affordable for 9th year https://t.co/D8ewb21c31
— Bloomberg (@business) January 27, 2019
#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.
Airbnb looks to diversify its revenue beyond private home bookings with its latest acquisition https://t.co/PUnN24ehIT
— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) January 26, 2019
#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.
Hedge funds Elliott Management and Starboard Value have taken stakes in eBay and are pushing for changes including the sale of some of the e-commerce firm's businesses. More in this week's tech playlist https://t.co/9dnntVz6yo via the @ReutersTV pic.twitter.com/zPTjNJb3YX
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) January 27, 2019
#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.
Highlight: Apple dismissed more than 200 employees from its autonomous vehicle group, Project Titan: "Tim Cook said the future of Apple was in healthcare, not autonomous vehicles," says @SibileTV.https://t.co/ObzMOMFjVy pic.twitter.com/gkKrjxBPxY
— Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) January 24, 2019
#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.
A flying car made by Boeing completes its first test flight https://t.co/UWjcy2ADPl
— Bloomberg (@business) January 27, 2019
#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.
Israel recognizes Guaido as leader of Venezuela https://t.co/0DhMXNCZru pic.twitter.com/FIIvgVWAWd
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) January 27, 2019
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.