Johnson Controls hikes its 2025 profit forecast
Bengaluru — Johnson Controls International raised its 2025 profit forecast after beating second-quarter expectations on Wednesday, helped by sustained demand from data centres for its building and industrial equipment.
Data centres worldwide have enjoyed a boom in demand as businesses increasingly invest in artificial intelligence technology.
Johnson Controls — which makes liquid cooling systems used for IT equipment at data centres, as well as specialised security and fire systems — has benefited from this trend. Reuters
Uber misses quarterly estimates as growth slows
Bengaluru— Uber Technologies missed quarterly revenue estimates as growth in its ride-hailing unit slowed to its weakest since the pandemic, stirring fears of slowing demand against the backdrop of a murky economic outlook and clouding an upbeat forecast.
Shares of the company fell about 8% before clawing back some ground to be down 5% in premarket trading on Wednesday.
Total revenue rose 14% to $11.53bn in the first quarter, compared with analysts’ expectations of $11.62bn, according to data compiled by LSEG. Reuters
OpenAI dials back significant restructuring plan
Bengaluru — OpenAI has told investors it will share a smaller fraction of revenue with major backer Microsoft as it moves ahead with its restructuring, The Information reported on Tuesday.
The ChatGPT-maker has dialled back a significant restructuring plan, with its nonprofit parent retaining control in a move that is likely to limit CEO Sam Altman’s power over the firm.
In financial projections shared with investors, OpenAI said the percentage of revenue shared with Microsoft would drop by at least half by the end of this decade, the report said.
In an existing deal, OpenAI has agreed to share 20% of its revenue with Microsoft through 2030, The Information reported. Reuters
Vodafone chief takes up CEO offer at Vonovia SE
Bengaluru— Vodafone finance chief Luka Mucic will be stepping down after less than three years in the role, the mobile group said on Wednesday, in a surprise move that could cloud the company’s prospects.
The shift in management comes amid Vodafone’s efforts to revive deteriorating performance in its biggest market, Germany. In February, its shares fell more than 6% and erased gains made in the past 12 months after Vodafone reported another drop in service revenue in Germany.
They have recovered since, but fell 1.4% on Wednesday after Mucic’s move was announced. Mucic has taken up an offer to be CEO of Vonovia SE, as the company swaps out its long-serving CEO in a bid to recover from an industry-wide real estate slump. Reuters
China-made Tesla electric vehicle sales drop 6%
Beijing — Tesla sold 58,459 China-made electric vehicles in April, down 6% from last year, data from the China Passenger Car Association showed on Wednesday.
Deliveries of locally made Model 3 and Model Y vehicles slid 25.8% from the previous month.
Tesla’s Chinese rival BYD, with its Ocean and Dynasty line-up of EVs and plug-in hybrids, last month saw a 19.4% year-on-year jump in passenger vehicle sales to 372,615 vehicles. Reuters
Read the full story: Tesla’s China-made EV sales fall 6% annually in April
BMW warns of ‘notable’ second quarter impact
Frankfurt/London — German premium carmaker BMW on Wednesday confirmed its 2025 outlook and said it expected some US tariffs on car imports to decline from July, but warned the duties will have a “notable” second-quarter impact on its business.
“The geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty has reached a level we have rarely seen before,” BMW’s CFO Walter Mertl told journalists during a first-quarter earnings call, adding that the carmaker was “closely monitoring” the impact on consumer sentiment.
Most of BMW’s rivals, including Mercedes-Benz, Ford and Stellantis, have all pulled their 2025 forecasts, saying it was too difficult to come up with proper guidance in light of far-reaching import tariffs in the US, the world’s second-biggest auto market. Reuters
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