How China's Ant Group built a $17 trillion payments machine

London (CNN Business)Ant Group’s highly anticipated IPO has been abruptly suspended following a meeting between the company’s billionaire co-founder Jack Ma and regulators in China.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange said in a statement on Tuesday that it had postponed the company’s listing, which was originally set for Thursday, because of “major issues” that might cause it “not to meet the listing conditions or disclosure requirements.”
The IPO has also been suspended in Hong Kong, according to a statement from Ant Group, which referenced the meeting between Ma and Chinese officials as well as “recent changes” in regulations. The dual listing had been expected to raise $37 billion, making it the biggest share sale in history by a wide margin.

The news comes after Chinese regulators summoned Ma for questioning on Monday. Just over a week ago, Ma publicly criticized Chinese regulators for stifling innovation.
Further details relating to the suspension will be released “as soon as possible,” Ant Group, an affiliate of Alibaba, said in its statement.

Alibaba (BABA)shares listed in New York were down roughly 7% in premarket trading.
— This is a developing story and will be updated.

It’s Election Day. Here Goes Nothing.

By Giovanni Russonello

Microsoft Q1 Results Trump Wall Street View

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Tuesday reported its first-quarter results with both earnings and revenues beating Wall Street analysts’ estimates, driven by its cloud business.

Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft said its first-quarter profit rose to $13.89 billion or $1.82 per share from last year’s profit of $10.68 billion or $1.38 per share. On average, 27 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $1.54 per share for the quarter.

Revenues for the quarter grew 12 percent to $37.15 billion from $33.06 billion last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $35.72 billion for the quarter.

“Demand for our cloud offerings drove a strong start to the fiscal year with our commercial cloud revenue generating $15.2 billion, up 31% year over year,” said CFO Amy Hood. “We continue to invest against the significant opportunity ahead of us to drive long-term growth.”

Intelligent Cloud segment revenues, which includes its Azure on-demand computing services, increased 20 percent to $13.0 billion, with Azure revenues surging 48 percent.

Revenue in Productivity and Business Processes increased 11% to $12.3 billion, with office commercial products and cloud services revenue up 9 percent driven by Office 365 commercial revenue growth of 21 percent.

Revenues in More Personal Computing segment, which includes Windows operating system, increased 6 percent to $11.8 billion.

MSFT closed Tuesday’s trading at $213.25, up $3.17 or 1.51%, on the Nasdaq. The stock further gained $1.07 or 0.50% in the after-hours trade.

Stock Alert: GW Pharmaceuticals Climbs 10% On Narrower Q3 Loss

Shares of GW Pharmaceuticals plc (GWPH,GWP.L) are rising 10 percent or $8.92 in Tuesday’s morning trade at $98.21 after the UK-based biopharmaceutical company reported a narrower loss for the third quarter on strong revenue growth.

Tuesday, GW Pharmaceuticals reported third-quarter net loss that narrowed to $12.18 million or $0.03 per share from $13.76 million or $0.04 per share in the year-ago period. Total revenue surged to $137.05 million from $90.97 million last year.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had a consensus estimate for loss of $0.83 per share on revenues of $127.37 million.

GW Pharmaceuticals also said it has commenced a pivotal Phase 3 program for nabiximols in the treatment of multiple sclerosis spasticity, which provides multiple opportunities for an NDA submission that includes as early as next year.

GW Pharmaceuticals has traded in a range of $67.98 to $141.98 in the past 52 weeks.

Stock Alert: SolarEdge Technologies Down 20% On Sales Outlook

Shares of SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. (SEDG) slumped over 20% on Tuesday morning. Monday, after the bell, the company issued a fourth-quarter outlook, which is below current estimates.

SEDG is currently trading at $213.07, down $54.65 or 20.41%, on the Nasdaq.

SolarEdge’s third-quarter profit rose to $43.8 million or $0.83 per share from $41.6 million or $0.81 per share last year. Adjusted earnings were $1.21 per share, same as in last year. Revenues down 18% to $338.1 million from $410.6 million last year.

Looking forward to the fourth quarter, the company expects revenues of $345 million to $365 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters currently estimate revenues of $389.57 million.

Sweden Adds Restrictions Amid ‘Very Serious’ Covid Resurgence

Swedes face a new wave of restrictions after daily coronavirus cases hit a record, with the government warning of a grim winter ahead.

Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, said his country is facing a “very serious situation” that requires tougher measures if the virus is to be fought back.

The resurgence of Covid-19 across Europe has caught the region off guard after a summer that left many countries assuming they’d brought the virus under control. But as citizens grew complacent and temperatures dropped, the pandemic has returned with a vengeance.

Lofven warned that the latest development is putting Sweden’s health-care system under pressure, as more intensive care beds get filled.

“The brief respite that we got during the summer is over,” he said. “How we act now will determine what kind of Christmas we will be able to celebrate, and who will be able to take part.”

Sweden’s new coronavirus cases hit a record of 4,062 on Friday. As of Tuesday, a total of 134,532 Swedes had been infected with the virus, with 5,969 deaths.

The new measures announced on Tuesday require Swedes to –

• Avoid physical contact with people besides those with whom they share a home
• Avoid indoor spaces in which crowds can form
• Avoid parties, weddings, funerals and similar events
• Employers should ensure that staff who can work from home do so