The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has reportedly decided to ask a judge to push Alphabet’s Google to sell its Chrome internet browser, as it targets the tech giant’s dominance in the space.
Bloomberg reported that DOJ officials will ask the judge that Google face measures relating to artificial intelligence and its Android smartphone system.
This comes after federal judge Amit Mehta ruled in August that Google’s search and ad businesses had breached competition law, in illegally monopolising the search market.
Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs, reportedly said that the DOJ “continues to push a radical agenda that goes far beyond the legal issues in this case.”
A spokesperson for the DOJ was not available to respond to Yahoo Finance UK‘s request for comment at the time of writing.
Google Chrome is the world’s most popular web browser and gathers data that is important to the company’s ad business.
Shares in its parent company Alphabet were down 1% in pre-market trading on Tuesday morning.
Shares in embattled server maker Super Micro surged nearly 16% in the previous session and were up 40% in pre-market trading on Tuesday, after the company said it had submitted a compliance plan to avoid delisting from the Nasdaq (^IXIC).
The company said its compliance plan shows it is on track to submit delayed filings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and “become current with its periodic reports within the discretionary period available to the Nasdaq staff to grant”.
Super Micro also said that it had hired BDO as its new auditor, after EY resigned in late October.
The company has been dealing with the fallout from a report by short seller Hindenberg Research back in August, which alleged, among other things, “accounting manipulation” at the firm.
Super Micro then delayed its annual 10-K filing to the SEC and last week, also delayed filing its most recent quarterly 10-Q report to the agency.
Shares in Trump Media closed Monday’s session up more than 16%, following a Financial Times report that the company is in advanced talks to buy crypto exchange Bakkt (BKKT).
Trump’s election win has driven cryptocurrencies higher, with bitcoin (BTC-USD) moving closer to the $100,000 mark, trading at $91,681 on Tuesday morning.
Trump has pledged to usher in more supportive regulation around the digital tokens, saying in his election campaign that he wanted to make the US the “crypto capital of the planet” and to accumulate a stockpile of bitcoin.
A spokesperson for Trump Media had not responded to Yahoo Finance UK’s request for comment at the time of writing.
Tobacco giant Imperial Brands posted annual profits that came in ahead of expectations, with the company seeing strong revenue growth from next generation products, such as vapes.
The company logged adjusted net revenue of nearly £8.2bn across tobacco and next generation products, with 26% sales growth in the latter business segment.
Imperial Brands reported that adjusted operating profits had risen nearly 5% on a constant currency basis to £3.9bn for the year ended 30 September, while adjusted earnings per share were up 11% to £2.97.
Shares in Imperial Brands were up nearly 2% on Tuesday morning following the release of its latest results.
Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Imperial is by no means the leader in [next generation products], but it is a challenger and at 8% of the total pie, it’s starting to become more meaningful. But for now, it’s still a loss-making activity.”
“There’s cautious optimism for the year ahead … with tobacco and NGP [next generation product] revenue expected to grow at a slow burn, in the low-single digits and operating profits to land a little further ahead in the mid-single digit range,” he added.
British luxury handbag maker Mulberry reported a decline in profits and widened losses in its half-year results.
Group revenue had slumped 19% to £56.1m, with the biggest fall coming from its Asia Pacific business, where sales had dropped 31% to £9.3m.
Mulberry reported a £15.7m loss before tax, which was up from a loss of £12.8m in the same period last year.
However, Mulberry CEO Andrea Baldo, who took on the role less than three months ago, said that the company had taken “decisive steps to streamline operations, improve margins, reduce working capital, and strengthen our cash position”.
“This has also meant reviewing our internal team structure to ensure we become a leaner, more agile organisation,” he said. “Additionally, we’ve made strategic adjustments to our product, pricing and distribution strategies, and we’ve begun discussions with luxury wholesale partners to ensure we are present wherever our customers shop.”
Shares were up nearly 2% on the back of the results on Tuesday morning.
“Frasers was right when it implied that Mulberry was in a mess,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
“The new boss Andrea Baldo isn’t blind to the problems,” he said. “His response is to cut costs, make the company more efficient, improve margins and rebuild the company’s financial strength. Those things won’t happen overnight. It’s now a waiting game to see if new life can be breathed into the business.”
