Zoom

Zoom Video Communications announced a US$14.7 billion (S$20 billion) all-stock deal to buy cloud-based call centre operator Five9 in its largest acquisition, as competition intensifies in its core video-conferencing sector.

The teleconferencing services provider has become a household name and investor favourite in the year since the coronavirus pandemic, and is now shifting focus to its two-year-old cloud-calling product Zoom Phone and conference-hosting product Zoom Rooms as bigger players Facebook and Alphabet's Google amp up their video products.

REUTERS

Bosch

Robert Bosch is considering closing a plant in Munich that makes components for cars powered by internal combustion engines, local newspaper Merkur said on Sunday. Germany's coming transition from combustion to electric cars will lead to "considerable overcapacity and the need for adjustment", according to a company spokesman cited by Merkur.

Demand for the plant's products, which include electric fuel pumps and injection valves, will decline in the next couple of years, weakening the site's competitiveness, according to an internal document quoted by Merkur.

BLOOMBERG

McLaren

McLaren Group obtained US$760 million (S$1 billion) in funding from investors, including Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, as the supercar maker and racing team owner tries to recover from the impact of Covid-19.

McLaren, controlled by Bahrain's Mumtalakat, has been hit by the pandemic, which has delayed the Formula 1 racing series and forced it to halt automotive production. In April, it sold and leased back its headquarters in Woking, near London, and agreed to sell as much as a third of its racing unit to a consortium of US-based investors.

BLOOMBERG