Australia-based world’s biggest mining company BHP Billiton has announced the next steps for its newest spin-off, South32, noting that much less debt would be shelved off to the company when it lists in May. The new company South32’s detailed assets and their performance were announced in a report. The assets including aluminum, manganese, nickel, silver and coal were overshadowed by the growth...

Swiss Holcim’s Board of Directors rejected the terms of the merger with the French Lafarge, as a result of which the largest cement producer in the world would be created. It is said in the companies’ statement. Lafarge announced that it received a letter from the chairman of the Holcim Board of Directors on Sunday, which states that the French company does not want to follow the terms of the...

US-based social media company Facebook has acquired Thefind.com, a personalized shopping engine for customers to search for products on sale for an undisclosed sum. Thefind.com, founded in 2006 as Flatlens Inc, initially offered only ticket discovery service to its visitors. It was launched with its new name and including more product categories. It also helps in giving customized...

The Royal Bank of Scotland is under trial in a case which is part of the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) litigious campaign in the US. The FHFA case, which is undertaken to recover part of the losses to the US government as part of the credit crunch-led recession in 2009, is ongoing in the US. The government has accused Nomura and RBS, as sponsor and underwriter respectively, of selling...

Adding Apple to the Dow’s 30-stock index is likely to positively reduce the decline of its index. A lot is riding on the success of Apple’s much awaited watch. Last week an announcement by the committee that determines the composition of the Dow Jones industrial average said that AT&T has been replace by Apple in the 30-stock index. Naturally this has triggered mass of competing headlines...

Apple overtook Samsung in smartphone sales across the globe. Apple Inc., the tech giant sold the largest number of smartphones in the last quarter of 2014, thereby overtaking Samsung, mainly led by strong demands from China. With a market share of around 20.4%, Apple’s smartphone shipments reached the mark of 74.8 million which was slightly higher than Samsung’s sale of 73.03 million phones. The...

Volkswagen is expected to overtake Toyota and become the largest automaker worldwide in 2015. Volkswagen’s Chairman and CEO Martin Winterkorn is about to accomplish his ultimate goal of making the company, world’s top automaker. Volkswagen has established its top position in China, which will serve as the most vital driver for its growth. With a significant annual production of nearly 3.7 million...

Chinese e-commerce group Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has invested $200 million in US-based app company Snapchat Inc. The Chinese giant which went public last September with the world’s largest IPO at $25 billion, is increasingly looking at US-based companies to invest in. The company’s list includes app search engine Quixey, messaging service company Tango and the mobile game developer Kabam....

Wal-Mart has taken a remarkable step to increase wages for its 500,000 employees. Wal-Mart Stores started experimenting with its business model under the leadership of former CEO Mike Duke. However, his insignificant efforts were unable to turn the tide. Doug McMillon, who became the new CEO of the company in 2014, is expected to adopt aggressive strategies to boost Walmart’s growth. His...