Google-parent Alphabet, which has enjoyed revenue growth rate of over 20 percent for the past five quarters, said on Monday that TAC, or traffic acquisition costs, jumped 28 percent to $5.09 billion in the second quarter. MILAN/PARIS (Reuters) – France's Vivendi has tightened its grip on Telecom Italia by removing its CEO Flavio Cattaneo and paving the way for a joint venture between its own pay-TV Canal and the Italian group, in a boost to the French firm's ambitions to become a southern European media powerhouse. SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Silicon Valley baron Elon Musk insulted rival billionaire Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday, escalating a tech wizard war of words over whether robots will become smart enough to kill their human creators. SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Twitter Inc heads toward its quarterly earnings report on Thursday with a stock that has risen more than 40 percent since April when much of Wall Street was ready to write off the tech company.

Baidu says it will share software technology it is developing for self-driving cars in a bid to catch up with competitors including General Motors and Waymo, the self-driving unit of Google-parent Alphabet Inc. Fox News is preparing to cut ties with its biggest star, Bill O'Reilly, according to people close to the situation. The New York attorney general's office said it reached a $40 million settlement with an Alabama investment firm over the failure of members of an investment management company it sponsored to pay millions in New York state taxes. A consortium of investors including private-equity firm KKR and Australian bank Macquarie Group made an all-cash offer to buy Australian wagering firm Tatts Group, which already agreed to merge with rival Tabcorp Holdings. PetSmart agreed to buy pet products site Chewy.com. Private-equity firms KKR & Co. and Stone Point Capital, in a bet that more investors will want advice from independent financial advisers and less from Wall Street's traditional brokers, will pay $2 billion for a majority stake in Focus Financial Partners.

From January 2005 through February 2015, shares of Apple Inc. closed at a record 264 times. But that run could end this week. Lee Jae-yong will be questioned based on findings uncovered in the past few weeks, the special prosecutor's office said. Verizon Communications will start selling unlimited data plans on Monday, the first time it has offered such a service since 2011 and a sign that intense competition is forcing the nation's largest carrier to respond. In a crowded and broadly successful weekend box office, "The Lego Batman Movie" beat out the sequels "Fifty Shades Darker" and "John Wick: Chapter 2." .

BRATISLAVA (Reuters) – The European Commission wants to reduce national restrictions on where some types of commercial and health data can be stored, Vice-President Andrus Ansip said on Thursday. BRUSSELS (Reuters) – U.S. software company Salesforce called on EU regulators on Thursday to investigate antitrust issues related to Microsoft's 26 billion bid for social network LinkedIn. SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A bill signed into law on Thursday by California Governor Jerry Brown allows a self-driving vehicle with no operator inside to test on a public road, a key step enabling a private business park outside San Francisco to test driverless shuttles. NEW YORK (Reuters) – Unocoin, a Bangalore-based bitcoin startup, has raised 1.5 million in funding from a mix of Indian and U.S. investors, the company announced on Thursday. Silicon Valley is diving into artificial intelligence (AI)and machine learning research, an industry estimated to zoom to 70 billion by 2020 from just 8.2 billion in 2013, according to a Bank of America report that cited IDC research.

Xinhua News Media Holdings Ltd. said Monday it is seeking to raise up to 42.9 million Hong Kong dollars via a share placement and will use the net proceeds for general working capital. Macau Legend Development Ltd., which operates casino and hotels, said Monday Laurence Yuen resigned as executive vice president and chief financial officer effective immediately. Salesforce.com Inc. said it would embed artificial intelligence technology into its software for salespeople, making it the latest in a gaggle of companies racing to enhance workplace tools with human-like abilities. The company will demonstrate the new software at its annual user conference next month in San Francisco. Newcrest Mining Ltd. said it has agreed to sell its 50% stake in a Papua New Guinea gold operation to partner Harmony Gold Mining Co. Ltd. .