United wants A321XLRs. Good news for Airbus: United Airlines has ordered 50 A321XLRs to replace its aging transatlantic B757s. The largest of the A320 family's single-aisle aircraft, in its ultra-long range version, provides Europe/USA connections at lower costs than current alternatives. Strangely enough, Boeing ignored this segment when its B757 was at the end of its life.

Pichai alone at the controls. A page is turning, as Sundar Pichai, Google's talented CEO, will also lead the Alphabet parent company after co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin decided to step back. Page and Brin were happy to have launched and developed the tech giant, but wanted to step back: "we believe it's time to assume the role of proud parents—offering advice and love, but not daily nagging!" they said together.

The Switch in mainland China. Nintendo's Switch system sold in China from December 10 at CNY 2,099 (USD 298) at Tencent. Pre-orders started today. The Switch Lite will also be launched soon. The price is in the range of that offered in the United States (USD 299) or Europe (EUR 299). The Chinese console is sold with New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe.

Alibaba strengthens his treasure. Alibaba raises an additional $1.68 billion with the option of over-allocating its IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. This brings the amount raised on this secondary line to nearly $13 billion, since the company had chosen to be listed in New York as early as 2014.

In other news. Qualcomm is fined a record $873 million in South Korea for unfair business practices. Salesforce in losses after digesting the biggest acquisition in its history. New tests conducted by Johnson & Johnson conclude that there is no asbestos in her baby talcum powder. Brussels conditionally approved Varta's acquisition of activities sold by Energizer after the acquisition of Spectrum Brands. Kuros raises CHF 12.5 million. Roche Holding obtains FDA approval for an extension of Tecentriq's indication. Bucher Industries acquires the French company Eurovoirie. Ahold Delhaize will buy back €1 billion of shares next year.