As the dominant company in China’s e-commerce market and with billions in the bank, Alibaba Group is in a strong position to extend its business operations far around the globe. Its war chest will grow much larger with the Alibaba IPO down the road. Expectations are that the company is looking to sell a 12% stake, which would make the offering around $20 billion, based on its estimated value of $168 billion, according to KraneShares, a
Cognizant Technology Solutions endured a weak IT spending environment, health care industry changes and other issues to post first-quarter sales that just met views and per-share profit 7 cents better than expected. The global information technology consulting and outsourcing firm’s outlook mirrored its Q1 with revenue slightly below views and a per-share profit 4 cents ahead of views. But investors weren’t satisfied. Cognizant Technology
Merck agreed to sell its consumer business to German giant Bayer for $14.2 billion Tuesday, continuing big pharma’s recent flurry of big deals. Merck’s stock fell 2.6% to close at 57.11, while Bayer’s stock dipped 0.8% to 137.88. The two companies also announced a global collaboration to develop and market Bayer’s (BAYRY) line of treatments for pulmonary hypertension. The first of these, Adempas, was approved in the U.S. in October. Merck will pay