HONG KONG (Reuters) - A surge in online consumer spending in the coming years is seen creating $4 trillion worth of new internet companies, billionaire investor Yuri Milner, founder of venture capital giant DST Global, said on Friday.

SAN FRANCISCO/TOKYO (Reuters) - Private equity firm Bain Capital is replacing rival KKR & Co LP in a Japanese government-led consortium that also includes Western Digital Corp to bid for Toshiba Corp's chip unit, sources familiar with the matter said.

(Reuters) - Universal Entertainment Corp, a Japanese maker of slot machines, said on Thursday it was investigating what it suspects was an improper transfer of funds by Kazuo Okada, its founder and chairman, to a company he controls.

(Reuters) - AvidXchange, a software company that helps mid-sized companies automate their invoicing and bill payments, said on Thursday it raised $300 million from investors including Mastercard , Silicon valley investor Peter Thiel and Canada's second largest public pension fund.

(Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc is expected to cut about 2,000 jobs when it completes its $4.48 billion acquisition of Yahoo Inc's core assets next week, a person briefed on the matter said.

(Reuters) - Yahoo Inc shareholders on Thursday approved the company's pending sale of its core internet business to Verizon Communications Inc for $4.48 billion, according to preliminary results from a shareholder meeting.

A sign marks the Microsoft office in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. January 25, 2017. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Boeing Co is looking ahead to a brave new world where jetliners fly without pilots and aims to test some of the technology next year, the world's biggest plane maker said in a briefing ahead of the Paris Airshow.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Addepar, a Silicon Valley-based startup that helps wealth management firms get a more comprehensive view of their clients' assets, has raised $140 million in a round led by Valor Equity Partners, 8VC and investment manager Harald McPike.

(Reuters) - Britain's BT said on Thursday it would drop PricewaterhouseCoopers(PwC), its auditors since 1984, in favor of KPMG after an evaluation done following BT's Italy accounting scandal revealed "areas for improvement" for PwC.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese education authorities have gone high-tech to catch cheaters as millions of high-school students take their "gaokao", the annual university entrance exam seen as key to landing a lucrative white-collar job.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Alibaba Group Holding Ltd expects revenue growth of 45-49 percent in the 2018 fiscal year, said Chief Financial Officer Maggie Wu on Thursday during an investor conference in Hangzhou, China.

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world's largest contract chipmaker, will consider sites in Taiwan before offshore options when it decides the location of a multi-billion dollar foundry early next year, a company spokeswoman said on Thursday.

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish investor Kinnevik said on Thursday it had sold its remaining 6.6 percent stake in German ecommerce company Rocket Internet at 20 euros ($22.50) per share to institutional investors.

HAGA, Japan (Reuters) - Japanese carmaker Honda Motor Co on Thursday spelled out for the first time its plans to develop autonomous cars which can drive on city streets by 2025, building on its strategy to take on rivals in the auto market of the future.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union wants to make it easier for law enforcement authorities to get electronic evidence directly from tech companies, such as Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google, even when stored in another European country.

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc has stepped up lending to third-party sellers on its site who are looking to grow their business, a company executive said in an interview on Wednesday.

(Reuters) - Sirius XM Holdings Inc, the U.S. satellite radio company controlled by John Malone's Liberty Media Corp, is seeking to invest in internet music provider Pandora Media Inc, people familiar with the matter said.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Shares of Toshiba Corp jumped on Thursday after people familiar with the matter said it aims to name a winner for its prized semiconductor business next week.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Tech giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd plans to invest $300 million to build an appliances factory in the United States, the Korea Economic Daily reported on Thursday citing unnamed sources.