Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) to Battle Alphabet Inc (GOOGL) for Class Crown

MSFT stock could get a boost from Windows 10 Cloud, but we won't know for a while

Next week, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) will host a spring hardware event in New York City to showcase its latest and greatest new devices, as well as unveil the Windows 10 Cloud edition of the company’s iconic operating system.

The interesting part, though, is not anticipation of a new device or expectancy of some revolutionary program rollout.

Rather, the focus is expected to heavily surround the Windows 10 Cloud OS and management’s intentions to shift significant attention to the education market.

CEO Satya Nadella will, apparently, be allocating a larger portion of the company’s resources to wage war against tech behemoth Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the classroom arena. Both Microsoft and Google each sport their own classroom services that offer teachers and students alike the opportunity to learn, work and collaborate using a variety of tools designed to increase efficiency and cultivate a productive environment.

However, despite having equally robust and functional Classroom products, MSFT has struggled to gain ground against GOOGL since the official release of Microsoft Classroom in April 2016. Comparatively, Google Classroom has been around since August 2014 and, for the most part, it has been very well-received across the country by professors and teachers as well as students ranging from elementary school-age up through universities and grad schools.

PayPal Holdings Inc (PYPL) Hopes Partnership Will Make It the King of Mobile Payments

PYPL is No. 1 online, but not in-store. Partnering with GOOGL may fix that.

Source: Gregory Gambone

Earlier this week, it was announced that PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) and Google parent company Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL, NASDAQ:GOOG) will be partnering up to integrate PayPal’s mobile payment options into Google’s NFC-enabled smartphone payment app, Android Pay.

No specific details of the arrangements were revealed, but according to Fortune, “PayPal’s chief operating officer, Bill Ready, said that his company’s partnership with Google will be implemented in the coming weeks.”

Executives at both GOOGL and PYPL hope that the addition of PayPal as a funding source for Android Pay will serve to increase the number of smartphone owners who actively use Google’s digital wallet, while also making PayPal a more common choice for consumers making in-store purchases.

Big Tech Goes to War Over Toshiba Corp (TOSBF) Flash Memory

While Toshiba drowns in debt, sharks are circling the water

Last week, shareholders of Toshiba Corp (USA) (OTCMKTS:TOSBF) voted to approve the separation of the company’s NAND flash memory business, with the intention of attracting outside companies and initiating what amounts to, essentially, an auction of its most valuable asset.

In early February, Barron’s reported that Toshiba execs were apparently considering the sale of the NAND business to offset the company’s debt. At the time, “Toshiba’s equity [had] dropped to negative $1.7 billion, so it needs to come up with at least that much cash to stay afloat.”

That negative equity was the result of a $6.3 billion write-down, which apparently stemmed from “accounting regularities” and “overstated profits” of more than $1.2 billion and ultimately led to the resignation of the company’s chairman.

Initially, Toshiba attempted to auction off a 20% stake in its NAND business, but nothing came of that, likely because “the serious proposals probably all required the investor to get majority control of the business.”

With no alternative options, the proposal to completely sever and sell the flash memory business was put to a vote, with more than two-thirds of shareholders approving the proposal.