Shares of technology companies rose on torrid speculation in the sector.

Shares of Microsoft rose, eclipsing Apple as the largest company on the planet as measured by market capitalization. Shares of Microsoft are up 2.9% year to date, amid ebullience about the prospects of its artificial-intelligence technology, including that produced by affiliate OpenAI.

Google laid off hundreds of employees in several areas of the business on Wednesday, a sign of further cost reductions at the search giant as it continues to reverse a pandemic hiring spree.

EBay agreed to pay a $3 million criminal penalty after employees engaged in a harassment campaign against two bloggers for their coverage of the company, including mailing them live cockroaches and a fetal pig.

Amazon.com missed a Wednesday deadline to offer remedies to the European Union over its $1.7 billion acquisition of Roomba maker iRobot, after the bloc had raised concerns that the deal could stifle competition in the robot vacuum cleaner market.


Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-11-24 1810ET