News in Brief
China's economy shows gradual recovery
REUTERS – China's economic activity picked up in the first two months of 2023 as consumption and infrastructure investment drove recovery from pandemic disruption, despite challenges of weak global demand and a persistent downturn in the property sector.
China's abandonment of COVID-19 controls late in 2022 has reinvigorated an $18 trillion economy that has suffered one of its lowest growth rates in nearly half a century, with analysts expecting momentum to improve further in coming months.
Hundreds of Google workers walked out
BUSINESS INSIDER – Hundreds of Google workers walked out of its Zurich office Wednesday in protest over mass layoffs that resulted in about 200 people losing their jobs in Switzerland.
The IT union Syndicom, which represents some Google employees, announced the walkout in a blog post, saying employees called on the company to "engage in dialogue with workers to thoroughly and seriously examine alternatives to layoffs."
TikTok considers splitting from ByteDance
BLOOMBERG – TikTok’s leadership is discussing the possibility of separating from ByteDance Ltd., its Chinese parent company, to help address concerns about national security risks.
A divestiture, which could result in a sale or initial public offering, is considered a last resort, to be pursued only if the company’s existing proposal with national security officials doesn’t get approved, sources said. Even then, the Chinese government would have to agree to such a transaction, the people said.