American brands

The Development Ministry has imposed fines totaling €5.5 million on eight multinational companies for overpricing violations identified during a recent audit. The investigation, which examined 443 product codes from 26 companies, revealed violations in 191 of them.

Petrolina has successfully acquired ExxonMobil Cyprus Limited, the company behind the Esso brand in Cyprus, for 48.6 million euros. This deal, which was finalized on Wednesday through PHL's fully owned subsidiary, Med Energywise, marks a significant expansion for Petrolina in the local oil market.

Microsoft is set to reduce its video game division, Microsoft Gaming, by approximately 8%, leading to the layoff of around 1,900 employees from the recently acquired gaming giant, Activision Blizzard, as well as Xbox.

Microsoft joined Apple on Jan. 24 as a $3 trillion company, as its big bet on artificial intelligence continued to impress Wall Street.

Now second to Apple as the world's biggest company by market capitalization, Microsoft's shares were up 1.31 percent at $404.

Development Minister Kostas Skrekas on Wednesday announced the imposition of fines on two more multinational companies, which, as in the two previous cases a few days earlier, are active in the categories of personal hygiene, personal care and beauty, as well as in the category of household items (cleaners, detergents etc).

The European Union yesterday unveiled a list of digital giants, including Apple, Facebook owner Meta and TikTok parent ByteDance, that will face tough new curbs on how they do business, but the move could trigger a wave of legal battles.

Netflix will work with Microsoft to launch a cheaper subscription plan that includes advertisements, the firms said have said, as the streaming giant fights to attract customers.

Amazon has reported its profit doubled to $14 billion in the crucial holiday quarter, giving a boost to jittery markets that expected less due to higher labor, sourcing and delivery costs.

The e-commerce colossus said its net sales climbed to $137 billion, and its profit benefited greatly from a return on investment in electric vehicle maker Rivian, which went public in November.

Microsoft beat market expectations on Jan. 25 with strong quarterly performance in cloud computing and software, still benefitting from the pandemic's online shifting of work, play, shopping and learning.

Microsoft's $69 billion deal to buy video game powerhouse Activision Blizzard is expected to win out with regulators despite vows in Europe and the United States to rein in tech titans.