Naspers affiliate Tencent picked up millions of new gamers during the global coronavirus outbreak. That helped the company gain $25-billion of market value up to 5 March, before a global market rout torpedoed the stock.

Airbnb has rolled out a full refund policy for reservations across the globe, including South Africa, in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday night declared a “national state of disaster” and announced sweeping interventions, including closing schools, to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Late on Friday, co-founder and original CEO Bill Gates, the man most closely identified with Microsoft, said he will leave the company’s board to devote more time to his charitable foundation

Apple is closing all stores outside Greater China until 27 March in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The firm said the most effective way to minimise risk of the transmission is to “reduce density and maximise social distance”.

Apple has cancelled the in-person aspects of its annual developer conference in response to the Covid-19 outbreak. The conference had been due to take place in San Jose, California, in June.

SpaceX aborted a planned launch of a Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday after an abort command occurred at the point where the engines were to ignite.

Telkom warned shareholders on Friday that R1.5-billion in restructuring costs will hit its earnings in the financial year to end-March as it moves to get rid of as many as 3 000 employees in the first phase of a restructuring process.

Microsoft has cancelled the in-person aspect of its annual developer conference in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. The technology giant has said it will instead hold a “digital event”.

The Information Communication Technology Union has called on employers in the sector to allow their employees to work from home amid the coronavirus outbreak in South Africa.