Apple is reportedly closing down a 121-person artificial intelligence (AI) team based in San Diego.This group, called Data Operations Annotations, was informed last week that they would be relocating to Austin to merge with a similar team, Bloomberg News reported Sunday (Jan. 15), citing people familiar with the matter.These sources say Apple told workers they have until the end of next month to decide if they want to move. If they choose not to relocate, they’ll lose their jobs April 26.According to Bloomb ...

Goldman Sachs is reportedly increasing its efforts to court ultra-rich clientele.The banking giant has been more focused on lending to private wealth customers — those with an average of $60 million deposited, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Sunday (Jan. 14).In addition, the report said, loans to clients such as hedge funds are on pace to generate the highest revenue for Goldman’s trading partners in at least three years.All told, Goldman’s loans and lending commitments outstanding, not including con ...

Instagram has reportedly told 60 technical program managers that they must find another job at the company or be let go in two months. The Meta-owned social networking app is eliminating a management layer as part of its parent company’s ongoing efforts to boost efficiency, Seeking Alpha reported Friday (Jan. 12), citing a paywalled article by The Information. Instagram also reorganized its product teams to focus on three areas in its Sharing product group, including supporting content creators focused on a ...

Prometeo, a Uruguay-based FinTech infrastructure company focused on financial institutions in Latin America, has raised $13 million in Series A funding. The funding round was led by Antler Elevate with participation from new investors PayPal Ventures, Samsung Next and partners from DN Capital, as well as existing backers, Prometeo said in a Friday (Jan. 12) press release emailed to PYMNTS. The company will use the new capital to expand its multi-banking data and payments offerings in Latin America, accordin ...

Citigroup reported a net loss of $1.8 billion for the fourth quarter, attributing that in part to several “notable items.”The items include a special assessment from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) due to the bank failures in 2023, a reserve build associated with transfer risk in Russia and Argentina, pre-tax revenue impact from a devaluation of the Argentine peso, and a restructuring charge related to the bank’s organizational changes, Citigroup said in a Friday (Jan. 12) press release.Excluding ...

Albertsons Companies is setting its sights on convenient meal occasions with the launch of ready-to-cook meals, a move that comes as grocers increasingly look to gain share of consumers’ food spending from restaurants.The grocery giant, which has more than 2,200 stores across the country, announced Thursday (Jan. 11) the launch of its new private-label frozen food offerings, dubbed Signature Select Mix + Match, including a range of dishes that all cook in the oven at the same temperature for roughly the sam ...

Wells Fargo benefited from a strong economic environment and higher interest rates in 2023.Wells Fargo CEO and President Charlie Scharf said Friday (Jan. 12) during the bank’s quarterly earnings call that the bank also benefited from its continuing focus on efficiency and credit discipline.“We grew net income and diluted earnings per share with higher revenue and lower expenses,” Scharf said during the call. “Revenue growth was driven by strong growth in net interest income as well as higher noninterest inc ...

Bank of America’s digital evolution continues.The company posted December quarter results that showed digital volumes are on the upswing, as active digital users topped more than 46 million, up 4.5% from a year ago.Digital “sales” as a percent of total sales came in at 49%, per the company data.P2P volumes through Zelle gained 25%, to $101 billion.Erica active users and interactions were up a respective 12.1% to 18.5 million and 16% to 170 million.Delving into overarching spending and savings trends, BofA’s ...

Earnings season’s here, with JPMorgan among the most visible names reporting Friday morning (Jan. 12). And the big bank’s metrics are showing evidence that consumer spending is still strong. But as management commentary on the call noted, spending may moderate as it outpaces any momentum in building up deposits. Credit losses are still in a projected range targeted in past earnings commentary. Supplemental materials offered by the company alongside the earnings announcement reported that debit and credit sp ...

From Walmart looking to be a personal shopping concierge to Amazon expanding its Buy with Prime to more platforms and leveraging tech to help consumers manage their healthcare, the two retail giants faced off this week with news of tech with a personal touch that reaches into many parts of consumers’ daily lives.Walmart and Amazon debuted tech at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week in a digital one-upmanship. Both companies are leveraging innovative strategies, partnerships and techno ...