Author: Richard Atkins

Richard Atkins is a senior contributor at Tech Insider covering online media, online travel, and video games. Richard has been with Tech Insider covering companies in these industries since 2011 and has authored numerous industry reports, including "Internet Video: Field of Dreams or Nightmare on Elm Street," "The Next Leg of Online Travel," and "Pwned: How Casual Games Changed The Gaming Landscape." Atkins was recognized as the No. 2 stock picker and earnings estimator in the 2011 Financial Times / StarMine Internet & Catalog Retail category and was ranked in the 2010 Wall Street Journal "Best On The Street" for the Leisure Goods & Services category.
BioTech, Finance

Biotech Stock in Focus: Bayer Continues Progress with Eylea

Bayer’s (BAYRY) has progressed well with its newly launched products in the last few quarters. Drugs like Eylea (Eye), Stivarga (oncology), Xarelto (anticoagulant), Xofigo (oncology) and Adempas (pulmonary hypertension) posted sales of €598 million in the first quarter and are expected to contribute around €2.8 billion in 2014. The company is looking to get these products approved for additional indications as well. Last week, Bayer … Continue reading Biotech Stock in Focus: Bayer Continues Progress with Eylea

Richard Atkins
Finance, Software

Major Bitcoin Firm Payza Launches Bitcoin Buying Options in 190 Countries

Global online payment processor Payza has announced it is now offering customers in 190 countries the ability to buy bitcoin via bank transfer. Payza took to its official blog to reveal the news, though this formal announcement followed preliminary tweets from both Payza business development consultant Charlie Shrem and the London and Montreal-based company itself.

In its formal remarks, Payza hinted that the bitcoin buying option will allow it to pursue larger goals in the bitcoin and digital currency space, stating: “This is our first step into the exciting space of cryptocurrency, currency that exists solely in the digital world. At Payza, we’re very interested in bitcoin and cryptocurrency, and we have big plans to expand the way bitcoin can be used on our platform.”

Payza first detailed its plans in the digital currency space in a May blog post that discussed bitcoin’s potential as a payments tool. This interest was further made evident in July, when Payza confirmed rumors to the The Wall Street Journal that Shrem was serving the company in an advisory role.

News on Bitcoins

Shrem elaborated on Payza’s goals, suggesting that the company’s biggest opportunities may be in catering to bitcoin’s merchant space. He explained that, unlike popular alternatives such as BitPay and Coinbase, Payza could become a one-stop solution for new merchants that want to capitalize on bitcoin but offer multiple payment methods. “[Payza will] be the only company where if a merchant actually wants to accept both credit card and bitcoin, they only need to work with one company,” he said.

Shrem indicated that Payza does not charge users to deposit funds into their accounts, but that a 2% charge for users who buy bitcoin via the platform applies. Buyers lock in the price of bitcoin upon purchase, however, the withdrawal process can be expected to take up to three days. Given that users are not charged to send funds through Payza, Shrem also remarked that the offering could position the company to become a player in the remittance space, adding:

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Richard Atkins
BioTech, Finance

Biotech Stocks Weekly Roundup

PRevious Few Days have been very eventful for the Biotech Stocks. Last week, earnings remained in focus with several companies reporting their second quarter results. While Amgen’s (AMGN) results remained impressive, Vertex (VRTX) posted a wider loss. Meanwhile, Regeneron (REGN) missed earnings expectations by a pretty wide margin though Eylea sales continued to impress. Among all this, the Ebola outbreak is also making headlines and … Continue reading Biotech Stocks Weekly Roundup

Richard Atkins
Finance, Software

Dell Gets a Positive Bitcoin Response

Less than a month after it first began accepting bitcoin, Dell has received 85 BTC (over $50,000) for a PowerEdge server order. NewsBTC first reported the story after Dell CEO Michael Dell tweeted the following:”Recieved PowerEdge server order @ http://dell.com for more than 85 #bitcoin (~$50K USD) #Dellbitcoin”

It’s not known exactly who placed the order, but since Dell’s off-the-shelf Poweredge servers range from $299 into the thousands, someone likely now has a whole farm acquired with bitcoin. Dell became the largest public company to go private last year when original founder Michael Dell closed a $25bn deal to regain its leadership. According to the company’s last public filing, it earned $56.9bn in 2013, with the largest gain in revenue increase in its enterprise solutions and services business.

While Overstock’s bitcoin customers have bought mainly sheets, cell phone accessories and audio-visual equipment, the nature of Dell’s core business meant some serious hardware purchases were more likely.

News on Bitcoins

The Texas-based computer hardware giant also marked its digital currency debut with a 10% discount for anyone purchasing its gaming-oriented Alienware machines with bitcoin. The company accepts bitcoin payments for US customers on any item on its Dell.com store site.

Dell’s CIO Paul Walsh hinted last month that Dell may pursue more extensive involvement in the bitcoin space, adding that accepting bitcoin was part of the company’s overall plan to align itself with technological innovation. He continued that he expected many other merchants to join in soon, indicating a growing legitimacy for bitcoin among companies in the mainstream economy. For now, Walsh said the company’s main goal for its bitcoin program will be to remove friction during the customer purchasing process and make it easier for its existing customer base to transact with Dell.

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Richard Atkins
Finance, Internet

Active Stock: Google (NASDAQ GOOG) CPC is Worrying

Google Inc (NASDAQ GOOG) released an earnings report that impressed the market on Thursday afternoon, but not all of the company’s numbers were positive. The firm’s Cost Per Click, or CPC, is a key measure of the quality of its advertising, but the metric contracted in the second quarter. Though analysts were expecting the declines, it’s still a worry for those following Google business. Google … Continue reading Active Stock: Google (NASDAQ GOOG) CPC is Worrying

Richard Atkins
AAPL NASDAQ AAPL Apple
Finance, Mobile

Apple Products Banned in Chinese Markets

Apple (NASDAQ AAPL) is the latest technology company to fall victim to government restrictions in China. The Chinese government has removed ten Apple Inc. NASDAQ:AAPL products from its official government procurement list, including the iPad, iPad Mini, Macbook Air and Macbook Pro. The full list of exclusions has not yet been released, but will presumably include the iPhone too. Last month Chinese state television aired … Continue reading Apple Products Banned in Chinese Markets

Richard Atkins