Atos to Launch Reverse Stock Split Amid Investor Confidence Push

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French IT company Atos (ATOS.PA) will proceed with a reverse stock split, set to take effect by May 1, in an effort to restore investor confidence. CEO Philippe Salle confirmed the decision on Wednesday, stating that the board will finalize approval in the coming days before initiating the process. The move follows a major financial restructuring last year, which significantly diluted shareholder value.

The reverse split was overwhelmingly approved at a general meeting in January. Atos shares have plummeted to historic lows, now trading at approximately one-third of a cent, after completing a 233-million-euro ($248.49 million) capital increase.

The company reported an annual revenue decline of 5.4% to 9.58 billion euros, missing previous forecasts. Market weakness and contract terminations contributed to the downturn. However, Atos highlighted a recovery in order intake, securing significant contracts such as a 165-million-euro extension with Eurotower and a deal to construct Finland’s latest national supercomputer.

Atos, once valued at 10 billion euros, now has a market capitalization of 600 million euros following governance instability and a failed restructuring attempt. While the company has not issued a 2025 outlook, Salle is set to outline his vision and mid-term strategy at the Capital Markets Day event on May 14.

The French government remains in exclusive negotiations to acquire Atos’ advanced computing segment, deemed critical for national defense. This division includes supercomputers essential for France’s nuclear deterrence and military communications.

Salle, who took over as CEO last month—Atos’ sixth in two years—reaffirmed that no additional asset sales would take place in 2025. “We’re not going to rip the group apart,” he stated, citing a strong cash position of 2.2 billion euros. He also dismissed any plans to raise the asking price for Atos’ mission-critical systems business, despite increasing military expenditures in Europe.

Google Chrome for iOS to Introduce New ‘Search Screen with Google Lens’ Feature

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Google has announced an exciting update for Chrome and the Google app on iOS, introducing a new visual lookup feature that integrates Google Lens. This enhancement, unveiled on Wednesday, allows users to perform visual searches directly from their devices, without needing to leave the browser or take screenshots. The feature uses artificial intelligence to identify objects on the screen, translate text, or even recognize music playing in the background. Google emphasized that this new tool will also offer AI-generated overviews, providing more in-depth results based on the visual search.

The new “Search Screen with Google Lens” feature will work seamlessly across all web pages in Google Chrome for iOS. By simply tapping, highlighting, or drawing around objects on a page, users can instantly activate the visual lookup. This eliminates the hassle of taking a screenshot and opening the Google Lens app separately. Instead, everything can now be done directly within the browser, making searches quicker and more efficient. Google believes that this integration will make browsing more interactive and intuitive, enhancing the user experience.

Google Lens has been a valuable tool for millions of users, with over 20 billion visual searches conducted each month. The company is expanding this functionality by integrating it into their iOS apps, starting with Chrome. With this update, users will have the ability to perform a wide range of tasks with just a tap. Whether identifying a landmark, translating foreign text, or recognizing an object, this feature aims to simplify and enhance how users interact with the web.

Additionally, Google promises that the visual search tool will not only help identify items but will also offer more detailed AI-driven overviews for a deeper understanding of the objects in question. As this feature rolls out, it represents a significant step forward in merging AI technology with everyday tasks, providing users with more efficient and powerful search capabilities.

WASP-121 b’s Atmosphere Revealed to Have Iron Rains, Jet Streams, and Other Extreme Phenomena

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Astronomers have discovered that the exoplanet WASP-121 b, located around 900 light-years from Earth, experiences some of the most extreme weather phenomena ever observed in space. The planet, an ultra-hot Jupiter, has been found to feature intense atmospheric dynamics, including iron rains and incredibly strong winds that exceed the power of the most intense hurricanes in our own solar system. The planet’s violent weather is attributed to powerful jet streams that move vaporized metals through its atmosphere, creating a volatile and ever-changing climate.

WASP-121 b’s atmosphere has captivated scientists due to its unique and complex weather patterns. A recent study published in Nature reveals that elements like iron and titanium are not only vaporized on the planet’s scorching dayside but are also transported by fast-moving winds to the colder nightside. There, these metals condense and fall as liquid metal rain. Dr. Julia Victoria Seidel, a researcher at Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, highlighted that the planet’s dynamic climate challenges our current understanding of meteorological processes, pushing the boundaries of what we know about planetary atmospheres.

The planet’s proximity to its host star makes it a prime example of an ultra-hot Jupiter, a class of exoplanets that experience extreme conditions. With a mass 1.2 times that of Jupiter, WASP-121 b completes an orbit in just 30 hours, making it one of the fastest orbiting exoplanets known. Because of its close distance to its star, the planet is tidally locked, meaning one side always faces the star, while the other remains in eternal darkness. On the sun-facing side, temperatures soar to extremes, causing metals to vaporize and form a toxic cloud. This heated atmosphere, combined with the planet’s rapid rotation, drives powerful winds that funnel these metal vapors across the planet.

In order to gain a deeper understanding of these phenomena, astronomers used the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile’s Atacama Desert, specifically utilizing the ESPRESSO instrument. By combining light from multiple telescopes, the team was able to map different layers of the planet’s atmosphere, providing detailed insights into its chemical composition. These observations suggest that the complex weather systems on WASP-121 b may hold valuable clues for understanding the atmospheric behavior of exoplanets, further expanding our knowledge of alien worlds.