This archive report was first published on 6 August 2020.
As of Thursday, the global COVID-19 cases had surpassed 18.5 million, with the US, Brazil, and India recording the highest number of cases, according to global health authorities.
On Tuesday, a devastating explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, left at least 137 people dead and 5,000 wounded, with Lebanon's health minister warning that coronavirus cases may rise due to interactions between the wounded and doctors without personal protection equipment, as reported by CNN.
The US Department of Labor announced on Thursday that initial jobless claims for the week ending August 1 declined by 249,000 to 1,186,000 million.
Major Corporate News ¶
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos sold $3.15 billion in Amazon shares, according to a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, leaving him with 54.5 million shares worth $174.6 billion.
Microsoft is set to acquire Chinese short video app TikTok for between $10 billion and $30 billion, with CEO Satya Nadella stating that they will pursue discussions in a matter of weeks and expect to complete the discussion by September 15, 2020, as reported by Kenyan Wallstreet.
However, TikTok's parent firm, ByteDance, has denied these reports, as stated by China's Global Times.
Booking.com announced plans to lay off at least 25% of its staff, affecting around 4,300 employees, citing disruption caused by the pandemic.
Toyota reported its lowest quarterly profit in nine years due to the global pandemic, with its operating profit for the three months ending June falling 98% to $131.73 million, while consolidated global sales fell 50% to 1.16 million units.
BMW reported a $786 million loss before interest and taxes in the quarter ending June, down from a 2.2 billion euros operating profit in the year-earlier quarter.
