Amazon has extended its work from home policy, as the pandemic continues to pick up throughout the country.
Amazon had previously slated October as the month when employees would return to the office. According to Reuters, Amazon has extended that by three months, now allowing employees to work from home until January 8, 2020.
The change is more in harmony with other tech giants, some of whom have instituted permanent work from home policies. Others, like Amazon, have instituted telecommute policies in place for the rest of the year.
The ongoing adjustments to work policies are further evidence of the long-lasting impact the pandemic is having on the economy, as well as fundamental changes it is having on what is considered a “normal” workforce.
“The fact is that COVID has already accelerated everything that was taking place in the marketplace,” says the former co-CEO of Whole Foods, Walter Robb. “Some people say that between 30 and 50 percent of small businesses are going to go out of business. We are going to see disruptions as the COVID turns left or turns right. It’s throwing curveballs at businesses. It’s very difficult to operate in this environment.
Walter Robb, former co-CEO of Whole Foods, discusses how COVID related business closures and restrictions by urban governors and mayors has accelerated the existing trend of retailers closing due to competition with big rivals that have a sophisticated and expansive presence online such as Amazon and Walmart:
COVID Accelerates Retail Closures
The fact is that COVID has already accelerated everything that was taking place in the marketplace. So I think you will see some more (retail bankruptcies). I saw some numbers from the Yelp folks that suggested there would be 150,000 businesses fold. Some people say that between 30 and 50 percent of small businesses are going to go out. We are going to see disruptions as the COVID turns left or turns right. It’s throwing curveballs at businesses. It’s very difficult to operate in this environment.
The main thing is can we keep the economy open in some safe manner? It isn’t whether it’s an essential business or a non-essential business. It’s whether we can keep it open for both the team members and for the customers. It’s going to really determine some of that. Some folks have already thrown in the towel and some folks are going through bankruptcy.
But there are a lot of folks working hard in retail to serve people. It will depend on whether we going to get some sort of support, both in terms of the main street lending facility amendment or in terms of keeping the economy open to let them continue to serve their customers.
Billionaire restaurant entrepreneur and Landry’s CEO Tilman Fertitta has had it with governors and mayors and their inconsistent “yo-yo” shutdown orders on his restaurants and the economy. He notes that despite news reports, hospitals are not even close to being overrun. “We’re not about to run out of hospital beds where we’re going to have people laying on the curve of the hospital.”
Fertitta is exasperated at the apparent lack of compassion that governors and mayors around the country have for the “poor working people of America” right now. “You cannot shut down the economy,” says Fertitta. “You cannot do this to employees. They did it to us again yesterday in California where they shut us down. There is no consideration at all for the poor working people of America right now the way they’re doing the yo-yo.”
Fertitta adds: “The problem is I’ve yet to see an elected official miss a paycheck. Until an elected official misses a paycheck and feels some pain this is going to continue to happen.”
We went through this shutdown a couple of weeks ago and the people were back out this weekend. But remember, restaurants can only operate at 50 percent capacity. There are no bars or clubs and everybody’s being careful and everybody’s wearing face masks. We kind of leveled off at around negative 50 right now. But it’s tough out there.
We hear all these stories about the hospitals in Texas. Let me just give you Texas Medical Center in Houston which is one of the largest in the world. I think it is the largest. They’re in phase two at nine percent (capacity). This is phase two out of three phases. We’re not about to run out of hospital beds where we’re going to have people laying on the curve of the hospital. You got to remember there are 350 million people, only one percent or 340,000 people have had it. That’s less than one percent. This has got to work itself through the community and we’ve got to protect the people that can get it.
Elected Officials Are Not Worried About The Little People
At the same, you cannot shut down the economy. You cannot do this to employees. They did it to us again yesterday in California where they shut us down. There is no consideration at all for the poor working people of America right now the way they’re doing the yo-yo. The problem is I’ve yet to see an elected official miss a paycheck. Until an elected official misses a paycheck and feels some pain this is going to continue to happen.
They’re not worried about all the little people out there that are such hardworking people that make America thrive. They get their paychecks. Get them to give up 50 percent of their paychecks and feel some pain and then they’ll make better decisions for all the working people out there.
We Cannot Continue To Have The Rules Change On Us
The problem is that we’ve got mayors, governors, city, and county judges trying to make decisions. I think it is time for the government to come in and if it’s signing the War Act or whatever and doing something across the board. Remember, how you can be fair is you use percentages. If your county or city or state has this percentage of cases these are the rules you follow. This is what has to be shut down. I do think it should be federally mandated to treat everybody the same.
We cannot continue to have governors and mayors change the rules on us every other week. That is what’s happening right now. It’s totally unfair. Less than one percent of America has gotten COVID and it’s not going away. If you think your kids are going back to school and if you think all these sports are going to be played in a normal season, it’s not going to happen. Somebody’s got to take control of this situation and mandate what we all do.
You Cannot Keep Your Employees At Work Down 54 Percent
Vegas is struggling because you’re not getting all the flights in. Vegas is so built on the convention business and so vegas is struggling. In Atlantic City, there’s nothing open in the restaurant. You can’t take a drink of water and take your mask off unless it’s a health issue where you’re dehydrated and about to pass out. But Lake Charles, Laughlin, Biloxi, all your regional casinos around the country, are doing okay. They really are. But Vegas is struggling and Atlantic City is struggling.
Let’s get into the restaurants. Your higher-end restaurants are doing better right now because you’re in July. Your waterfront restaurants are doing okay. But remember, you get back into your urban areas, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, and there is nobody there. Most of them are just shut down or barely doing delivery to go. Overall, when you look at all my 600 restaurants in the month of July, I’m down 54 percent. You cannot operate at negative 54 percent. You cannot keep your employees at work at 54 percent.
Elected Officials Are Not Worried About The Little People, Says Landry’s CEO Tilman Fertitta
“This is a paradigm-shifting moment for higher ed,” says 2U CEO Chip Paucek. “You have to be intentional about it. You can do something that’s great, that students love, that’s totally engaging, and that also creates the right long-term outcome for the student. But you have to flip the classroom. Then when you go to class you’re in a really robust discussion with your fellow classmates, with your instructor, you are learning at a deeper level.”
Chip Paucek, co-founder and CEO of 2U, discusses how the pandemic has led to a paradigm shift to engaging high-quality online learning for higher education:
The Whole Flipped Classroom Notion Is Key To Our Success
We started the company twelve years ago. We’ve been doing this much longer than what most schools have done online learning. I would say doing online learning well is not only possible it’s very obvious. Not only does it not have to be worse than campus instruction, something the President just said, it actually could be better. I think we’ve proven it over 12 years. You have to be intentional about it. When you do you can do something that’s great, that students love, that’s totally engaging, and that also creates the right long-term outcome for the student. But you have to flip the classroom.
You have to actually give students high-quality content for them to consume on their own time. A single 2U course has more video content than a season of Game of Thrones. Then when you go to class you’re in a really robust discussion with your fellow classmates, with your instructor, learning at a deeper level. That whole flipped classroom notion has been key to our success. We just passed 225,000 students so we’re doing this at a scale that most people haven’t. We hit 800,000 live classes inception to date.
The Great Institutions Have Embraced Online Learning
We build a comprehensive program for a university partner that incorporates high-quality video content, interactive content, and a lot of readings. Books are still really good by the way. When you get the student from the interactive lesson into their live class it’s not just 90 minutes having somebody talk to you. You’re actually fully engaged from a pedagogy standpoint. You need to engage students. Then it’s not just when class ends you have to support students and bring them together in a way that is very possible online.
We did a survey with Gallup that showed 92 percent of our students said they would do it all over again. Honestly, this isn’t new. I feel like we’re all sitting here talking about it as if we all just discovered the internet. I started the company 12 years ago and you can really do something great if you just put your will towards it. We’ve got great schools from all over the world including Yale, Harvard, Syracuse, and Berkeley. They’re great institutions that have embraced it and are doing it really really well.
We Just Experienced A Forced Wave Of Remote Instruction
What we all just experienced in the spring was sort of a forced wave of remote instruction that wasn’t very good but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be great. You really can do something great right if you put your mind to it. It takes real resources and that’s one of the things we’re advising our schools is to invest in high-quality online and really do something great for your students on a go-forward basis.
It’s not easy to do this. I feel like the schools are in a real bind. None of us expected the NBA to have to cancel all of its games. Nobody’s been through this before. I feel like people that are continually dinging higher-ed forget that this is the single best path of social mobility on the planet. I got a Pell Grant to attend George Washington and it completely changed my life. So it’s not easy but it can be done.
This Is A Paradigm-Shifting Moment For Higher Ed
Take our Simmons University arrangement which we announced a couple of months ago, we’re bringing them fully online for the fall, every single course, all 300 courses, and then offering that program to the world in a fully online version that’ll be at about 50 percent of the campus price.
Also, take our Amherst relationship. Amherst College we just announced last week is going online. Think about the prestige of that great liberal arts institution going online. This is a paradigm-shifting moment for higher ed. There is no doubt. You’re going to need to do it if you’re a university president or a provost. We’ve spoken to more university presidents and provost’s in the last four months than we had in our previous 12 years.
2U CEO Chip Paucek: This Is A Paradigm-Shifting Moment For Higher Ed
Used car sales have defied the dire COVID related expectations, says Carvana CEO Ernest Garcia. “When it first hit there was no doubt that there was a huge hit to demand,” says Garcia. “We saw car sales drop 30, 40, 50, and even 60 percent very early on. They started to recover very quickly by late April and they have continued to recover. That was definitely not the baseline expectation heading in”
Ernest Garcia, CEO of automotive ecommerce retailer Carvana, discusses how COVID has surprisingly been a boon to the used car market over the last several months:
Used Car Sales Up Significantly Year Over Year
When COVID first hit there was no doubt that there was a huge hit to demand. We saw car sales drop 30, 40, 50, and even 60 percent very early on. They started to recover very quickly by late April and they have continued to recover. Many retailers including ourselves are actually up year over year, significantly in our case. It has definitely recovered very quickly and that was definitely not the baseline expectation heading in.
The biggest change has been with the decrease in gas prices. There has been a lot of demand for SUVs and a lot of demand for trucks. But there has been a lot of demand across the board. There has been a lot of demand for off-lease vehicles right now as new production starts to spin back up. There is also a lot of demand for older cars that are a little less expensive. I think across the board we are seeing a lot of demand in all of automotive retail.
There Is Both A Pull Toward Used And A Push Away From New
To some degree, it is pulling from new car sales because used cars are a little less expensive. To some extent, there is a push away from new car sales because production has slowed down and incentives are being pulled back as a result. That is likely to continue for the immediately foreseeable future. There is both a pull toward used and a push away from new as well.
Automotive retail is a very interesting market. On the used side there are 40 million transactions per year. On the new side there are 15 million give or take transactions per year. There are about 40,000 dealers out there. This has always been a market that is enormously competitive and enormously fragmented. Dealers have found a way to persevere and have pretty decent margins over the last 75 years.
We Represent A New Kind Of Business Model
What we represent is a new kind of business model. It’s an ecommerce-centric model where a customer goes to our website, they select a car, they go through the purchase process, and we deliver it to their door using first-party logistics. Then they get a seven-day return policy. That business model has a pretty different cost structure than the traditional automotive resale model. As a result of that, we have additional opportunities above and beyond most automotive retailers.
Used car prices have also been an incredibly interesting and volatile place to watch over the last three and a half months. In April, we’ve had the biggest decrease we’ve ever seen in the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index, which is one of the measures of used car prices that are broadly used. In May and June, we saw sequentially probably one of the biggest increases we have ever seen in used car prices. They are now at the highest prices they have ever been.
Future Demand Is Very Difficult To Forecast
That market has spun around quite bit, just like the stock market and other gauges of economic activity. It has been very difficult to forecast and I would not want to forecast where it is going to go from here. On the new side, there are likely to be supply shortages. There is a lot of demand today. Trying to figure out what demand is going to look like over the next six months with increased unemployment (payments) potentially expiring and with less stimulus in the economy is very hard.
Used Car Sales Way Up – Defy Dire Expectations, Says Carvana CEO Ernest Garcia
Amazon released its first quarter results, beating analysts revenue estimates while falling short of their earnings-per-share estimates.
Amazon has been at the center of the coronavirus pandemic, as the e-commerce giant has become a lifeline for many consumers sheltering in place. At the same time, Amazon has struggled to keep up with demand, initially hiring 100,000 extra warehouse workers, only to announce they would hire another 75,000 after that. The company also cut back fulfillment on non-essential items in an effort to keep up.
“From online shopping to AWS to Prime Video and Fire TV, the current crisis is demonstrating the adaptability and durability of Amazon’s business as never “before, but it’s also the hardest time we’ve ever faced,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO.
With their earnings report, the dichotomy of Amazon’s position was made clear. The company reported $75.5 billion in revenue, up from analysts’ expectations of $73.61 billion. However, earnings-per-share were only $5.01, instead of the $6.25 analysts expected.
Even more significantly, the company expects to spend all of the operating profit it will earn next quarter in an effort to deal with the challenges it’s facing as a result of the pandemic.
“Under normal circumstances, in this coming Q2, we’d expect to make some $4 billion or more in operating profit,” Bezos continued. “But these aren’t normal circumstances. Instead, we expect to spend the entirety of that $4 billion, and perhaps a bit more, on COVID-related expenses getting products to customers and keeping employees safe. This includes investments in personal protective equipment, enhanced cleaning of our facilities, less efficient process paths that better allow for effective social distancing, higher wages for hourly teams, and hundreds of millions to develop our own COVID-19 testing capabilities.”
Many tech companies have expressed concern about the next quarter, in spite of doing reasonably well this quarter, and it appears Amazon is no exception, despite how important it has become during these times.
Google has announced a price hike for its YouTube TV streaming service, following its distribution agreement with ViacomCBS.
YouTube TV has garnered mostly positive reviews as one of the premier TV streaming services available. One glaring omission was the lack of some ViacomCBS channels. In May, Google announced it had struck a deal to bring 14 additional ViacomCBS channels to the service.
While many users expected there might be a slight increase in price, thanks to the new channels, it’s probably a safe bet that few were expecting a $15 price increase. Whereas YouTube TV did cost $49.99, effective June 30, the price increases to $64.99.
“We don’t take these decisions lightly, and realize how hard this is for our members,” says the official blog post. “That said, this new price reflects the rising cost of content and we also believe it reflects the complete value of YouTube TV, from our breadth of content to the features that are changing how we watch live TV. YouTube TV is the only streaming service that includes a DVR with unlimited storage space, plus 6 accounts per household each with its own unique recommendations, and 3 concurrent streams. It’s all included in the base cost of YouTube TV, with no contract and no hidden fees.”
One of YouTube TV’s best selling points was the features and channels it provided at an exceptionally good price. With this recent price hike, however, Google may have a hard time distinguishing its service from fuboTV and Hulu.
Watching the effects of people’s psychological reactions to the pandemic can give us clues as to how to save the economy. Early on people were stockpiling toilet paper and hand sanitizer, but why? As the pandemic has worn on, the things people are stocking up on have changed. From toilet paper to guns and ammo, why are people choosing the things they are choosing and what can that tell us about how to save the economy?
When the pandemic first reached the United States, people were buying up things they thought they would need immediately – toilet paper and hand sanitizer. The hand sanitizer is somewhat obvious – officials announced early on that it was effective against the novel coronavirus when soap and water were not available, such as when you are grocery shopping.
But why toilet paper? Think about it this way – we went from spending the majority of our days outside of our homes at work and school to spending all day, every day in our homes. That means more of our, er, daily business is being done at home than usual. Hence the need for more toilet paper. And as the supply chain failed to keep up, it caused people to panic even more about whether they would be able to meet this most basic need for their families.
Within a few weeks, flour and baking yeast were flying off shelves. As yeast became scarce, everyone you know began baking sourdough bread because of the ability to capture and propagate wild yeast. As people began to settle into the idea they might be stuck at home for a while they started to look for creative outlets that also might turn into useful information for future survival. Baking bread fit the bill.
Later came spikes in beverage alcohol sales and hair dye. People wanted to escape reality with a new hair color or cover their gray roots so they didn’t have to think about the fact they are aging. And of course imbibing has long been a staple for people bored at home wanting a diversion.
Soon that diversion turned to panic, however, and people began to stock up on freezers, meat, guns, and ammo. The threat of running out of meat in the stores became real as meat processing plants began to shut down because of massive Covid-19 outbreaks. People needed a place to store their stockpile, so freezers sold out across the country. The threat of fights in grocery store parking lots became real, and people began to plan for the worst.
Then came chickens and vegetable plants. People decided they were probably going to be on their own for food soon and they stocked up on whatever kind of food they could produce themselves.
This all took place within the first several weeks of the pandemic. Over time compliance fatigue grew and people became restless. They began to demand the government allow the country to reopen, which led to a spike in coronavirus cases. Now hospitals are reaching capacity in heavily populated areas, mainly because people were tired of being afraid and wanted to get back to their daily lives.
Understanding this psychology could help us reach a point where it is safe to reopen the economy again. Wearing masks is probably the biggest thing we can do to make it safe to reopen the economy, so encouraging people to wear masks is the first step toward reopening the economy.
Learn more about how human psychology is affecting the economy and how we can move forward from the infographic below.
Investors hoping for a quick turnaround on Apple’s earnings may be in for a disappointment, as analysts are warning the epidemic may impact 2021.
The company is already feeling the effect of the coronavirus in the Chinese market, where it sold 494,000 iPhones last month, down from 1.27 million a year ago. According to The Street, Needham estimated normal supply and demand would resume by June 1.
The concern, however, is what will happen if supply and demand is not restored by then. Since Apple’s fiscal year begins October 1, if supply and demand remains impacted past June 1, financial results for fiscal 2021 will reflect that.
“The longer COVID-19 disruptions continue past June 1, the greater the threat to AAPL’s Sept new product launches (including its 5G phone) and Christmas selling season revenue, which represented about 32% of annual revs in each of the past 3 years,” said Needham analyst Laura Martin to investors and verified by The Street.
Should the coronavirus become a global pandemic, as the World Health Organization warns may happen, Needham’s fears will likely be realized.
The New York Times has become one of the first major media outlet to pull out of its deal with Apple News, citing conflicting strategies.
Apple set out to reimagine the news industry, while at the same time providing a way for beleaguered newspapers to reach new customers in the digital age. Apple News hit the 125 million monthly users milestone earlier this year, and boasts some of the biggest names in news.
Despite the platform’s success, The Times has announced it will be leaving Apple News, effective June 29. The organization wants to focus on its own distribution and direct relationships with customers, rather than working through a third-party.
“Core to a healthy model between The Times and the platforms is a direct path for sending those readers back into our environments, where we control the presentation of our report, the relationships with our readers and the nature of our business rules,” Meredith Kopit Levien, chief operating officer, wrote in a memo to employees. “Our relationship with Apple News does not fit within these parameters.”
It remains to be seen if The Times is a one-off, or if other publishers will follow suit.
They’ve become a familiar sight in shopping malls, but Microsoft has announced it is permanently closing its retail shops.
The company’s announcement reflects the changing retail landscape in the wake of COVID-19. Like most industries, the pandemic forced Microsoft’s retail employees to work remotely, where they focused on helping customers do the same. As a result, and thanks to the success of that initiative, the company will continue to focus on remote sales teams, providing assistance to customers all over the world.
“Our sales have grown online as our product portfolio has evolved to largely digital offerings, and our talented team has proven success serving customers beyond any physical location,” said Microsoft Corporate Vice President David Porter. “We are grateful to our Microsoft Store customers and we look forward to continuing to serve them online and with our retail sales team at Microsoft corporate locations.
“We deliberately built teams with unique backgrounds and skills that could serve customers from anywhere. The evolution of our workforce ensured we could continue to serve customers of all sizes when they needed us most, working remotely these last months,” continued Porter. “Speaking over 120 languages, their diversity reflects the many communities we serve. Our commitment to growing and developing careers from this talent pool is stronger than ever.”
This is a significant change in the company’s operations and it’s unlikely Microsoft will be the last company to reimagine its retail operations.
“One trend that is going to happen is that travel as we knew it is over,” says Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. “It doesn’t mean travel is over, just the travel we knew is over… and it’s never coming back. It’s just not. Not surprising, we’ve spent twelve years building Airbnb’s business and lost almost all of it in a matter of four to six weeks.”
Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb, discusses how COVID has wreaked havoc on the travel industry and Airbnb and how it has literally changed travel as we know it.
Airbnb’s Built Over 12 Years – Gone in 6 Weeks
One thing I’ve learned is not to try to get in the business of predicting the future. Anyone who has made predictions has not done very well in the last few months. What I can tell you is the following. Beginning with March travel was at a standstill, almost virtually stopped. There were 2.5 billion people locked down. Not surprising, we’ve spent twelve years building Airbnb’s business and lost almost all of it in a matter of four to six weeks.
What’s happened over the last three or four months though is something else entirely. People are saying they want to get out of the house but they want to be safe. They don’t want to get on airplanes. They don’t want to travel for business. They don’t want to go to cities and they don’t want to cross borders. What they are willing to do is to get in a car and drive a couple hundred miles to a small community where they are willing to stay in a house.
Now Something Remarkable Has Happened
Because of that, although our business has not recovered, something remarkable happened. At the end of May and early June, we have the same volume of bookings in the United States as the year before… without any marketing. Zero marketing whatsoever. This is just showing that people are yearning for something. They’re yearning for connection. They want to be connected to the communities and to each other. They want to get outside. I think that travel is going to come back. It’s just going to take a lot longer than we would have thought and it’s going to be different.
We have dramatically reduced our costs. We reduced our cost and it was an incredibly difficult and harrowing experience. We said that we don’t know how long this storm will take so I’m going to hope for the best but I’m planning for the worst. So if there is a new shutdown or multiple shutdowns and travel stops again we will be okay because of the changes we’ve made. We’ve cut nearly a billion dollars of marketing. We’ve had to reduce our staff, and we’ve become very lean and nimble.
We’ve also been resilient. We’ve launched online experiences that people can do from home. We have longer term stays. A large percentage of our bookings, almost a fifth, are for stays longer than 30 days. Another thing is that we have not lost any hosts on our platform. We actually have more hosts and homes today than before COVID started. The important thing here is that the market is resilient.
Travel As We Knew It Is Over
One trend that is going to happen is that travel as we knew it is over. It doesn’t mean travel is over, just the travel we knew is over… and it’s never coming back. It’s just not. No one quite knows what it will look like but I have a couple of thoughts. Instead of the world’s population traveling to only a few cities and staying in big tourist districts we are going to see a redistribution of where people travel. They’re going to start traveling because they are going nearby to thousands of local communities.
We have had fairly ambitious real estate expansion plans and we have paused those plans. We are not adding more real estate. I think more people are going to work remotely. Also, working from home can be working from any home, and that’s an opportunity for Airbnb. You are going to see major population redistribution on the table. Not everyone is going to want to live in the same city. That being said, we don’t know the full cost of entire workforces being remote.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky: Travel As We Knew It Is Over
Apple has changed its trade-in policy to accept in-person Mac trade-ins at the Apple Store.
Prior to the change, Apple excluded Macs from in-person trade-ins, forcing owners to use the website option instead. Alternately, users could opt to sell their Mac via Craigslist, Facebook or some other platform.
The company’s site promises a competitive trade-in value, saying: “Just answer a few questions about your device. Based on what you tell us, we’ll offer you a competitive trade-in estimate for an Apple Store Gift Card or instant credit at an Apple Store. Or you’ll have the option to recycle it for free.”
This change is a welcome one for users who want a hassle-free option for applying the value of their existing Mac toward a new purchase.
T-Mobile took another step toward welcoming Sprint customers to the magenta family by giving them access to T-Mobile Tuesdays deals.
T-Mobile Tuesdays is the company’s loyalty rewards program that gives customers free stuff and discounts on popular services every Tuesday. According to the Un-carrier, over the past four years it has given away over $900 million in rewards.
With T-Mobile’s merger with Sprint now complete, the company is officially opening T-Mobile Tuesdays to Sprint customers.
“Four years ago, T-Mobile Tuesdays flipped the script on the traditional loyalty program. We believe customers shouldn’t have to spend more or collect points to be appreciated — especially right now. At T-Mobile, it’s about getting thanked, simply because you’re with us … and we’re with you,” said Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile. “And now, we welcome Sprint customers with our biggest thankings ever this summer. Why? Because thank you. That’s why.”
Sprint customers are already enjoying access to double the number of LTE towers and better coverage nationwide. Today’s announcement is just an added benefit for the latest additions to the T-Mobile family. To take advantage of the rewards program, Sprint customers should download the iOS or Android app.
For the first time, Facebook has added the ability to send and receive money to WhatsApp.
Facebook has been looking for ways to monetize WhatsApp, after buying the messaging platform for $19 billion in 2014. The company had previously looked at including ads in WhatsApp, something its original founders were bitterly opposed to. In fact, they went so far as to change the terms of service to expressly prohibit ads, and make it difficult for Facebook to do so at a later date. Facebook’s ongoing attempts, however, are one of the big factors that led WhatApp’s cofounders to exit the company, leaving behind some $1.3 billion in deferred compensation.
The ongoing backlash seems so have been successful in convincing Facebook to abandon its efforts to include ads and focus on commercial transactions instead. Today’s announcement is a major step in that direction, with the new feature rolling out in Brazil.
The feature is powered by Facebook Pay, which is available in the US via Facebook and Messenger. Integrating it with WhatsApp is sure to be a big hit, given the worldwide popularity of the messaging platform.
Needless to say, this feature will likely be rolling out around the world sooner rather than later.
The jobs numbers keep coming in and it’s far more dire than anyone has yet predicted. An additional 2.5 million jobless claims were filed in May alone, bringing the unemployment rate to more than 18%. In some places it is higher, and those numbers continue to climb every day. The pandemic has taken a toll on workers and businesses alike, shuttering businesses that aren’t essential or safe enough for people to use until the pandemic has passed. Bars and restaurants have been hit especially hard, and many of those businesses will not be able to make a comeback. Unemployment is tricky to navigate for the majority of people who have never needed to do so before, and supporting furloughed and laid off workers is going to continue to be crucial until the economy fully recovers.
Layoffs and furloughs are a little different and require different resources to address. Layoffs are permanent separations from a company with the possibility of being recalled to work. Along with this method of separation, workers also lose any benefits such as health insurance, which means they will need access to COBRA in order to retain their healthcare, of particular importance in a pandemic.
Furloughs are a little different from layoffs. Furloughed employees retain many of their benefits, such as health insurance, during the time they are not reporting for work. They also have the expectation of being called back to work after a given period of time, so their period of joblessness is finite though still unpaid.
There are also other categories of workers who have lost their jobs or some of their income who may qualify for unemployment benefits in their states. Substitute teachers, freelance workers, and others who lack traditional employment structures don’t typically qualify for unemployment benefits, but new rules have allowed them to take advantage of a system they have long been prevented from using. Part time workers and those who had their hours cut have also previously been denied coverage but now also qualify for unemployment benefits in many states.
Most notably, people who had no choice but to quit reporting to work in order to care for children or at-risk adult family members also now qualify for unemployment benefits.
Navigating the unemployment system can be daunting. If you live in one state and work in another, file in the state in which you work. In most places you can file online if you have internet access, but of course if you don’t have internet access or an internet-capable device your options have become severely limited as libraries and coffee shops that typically offer free access have closed down.
Because of the pandemic most states have waived the waiting period to apply for benefits, and the Federal Government is kicking in an additional $600 a month until the end of July.
If you’ve never been unemployed before, it’s nothing to be ashamed about. You will recover from this. Learn more about how to navigate unemployment from the infographic below.
European-based Just Eat Takeaway has entered a definitive agreement to buy Grubhub for $7.3 billion.
In the wake of the coronavirus, online food delivery has seen increased growth as people have come to rely on such services, in lieu of dining in restaurants. Combining the two companies will increase their global footprint. Just Eat Takeaway already is the leading online food delivery service in three of the top markets: the UK, the Netherlands and Germany. Bringing Grubhub into the fold will give the company a commanding presence in the US, the fourth top market.
Jitse Groen, CEO and founder of Just Eat Takeaway.com, said: “Matt and I are the two remaining food delivery veterans in the sector, having started our respective businesses at the turn of the century, albeit on two different continents. Both of us have a firm belief that only businesses with high-quality and profitable growth will sustain in our sector. I am excited that we can create the world’s largest food delivery business outside China. We look forward to welcoming Matt and his team to our company and working with them in the future.”
Matt Maloney, CEO and founder of Grubhub, commented: “Combining the companies that started it all will mean that two trailblazing start-ups have become a clear global leader. We share a focus on a hybrid model that places extra value on volume at independent restaurants, driving profitable growth. Supported by Just Eat Takeaway.com, we intend to accelerate our mission to be the fastest, best and most rewarding way to order food from your favourite local restaurants in North America and around the world. We could not be more excited.”
It should be interesting to see what the combined company can accomplish in the US.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers has unveiled a bill aimed at using more than $22.8 billion to help bring more semiconductor manufacturing to the US.
US officials have become increasingly concerned over the lack of US-based semiconductor manufacturing. In recent decades, the vast majority of the industry has moved overseas. The coronavirus has demonstrated the danger of relying on overseas production for components that are critical to so many industries. As the pandemic took a toll on China, American companies struggled to keep up with demand as a result of impacted supply chains.
One of the first steps toward semiconductor independence was a deal reached with TSMC to build a $12 billion facility in Arizona. As the primary chip provider for Apple’s iPhones and iPads, as well as other tech companies, a US-based TSMC plant would help insulate supply chains from future disruptions.
In the bill unveiled by US Senators John Cornyn and Mark Warner, as well US Representatives Doris Matsui and Michael McCaul, more than $22.8 billion will be used to bring even more semiconductor manufacturing to the US.
“Semiconductors underpin nearly all innovation today and are critical to U.S. communications and defense computing capabilities. While Texas has been a leader in manufacturing this technology and the U.S. leads the world in chip design, most of those chips are manufactured outside the United States,” said Sen. Cornyn. “This legislation would help stimulate advanced semiconductor manufacturing capabilities domestically, secure the supply chain, and ensure U.S. maintains our lead in design while creating jobs, lowering our reliance on other countries for advanced chip fabrication, and strengthening national security.”
“America’s innovation in semiconductors undergirds our entire innovation economy, driving the advances we see in autonomous vehicles, supercomputing, augmented reality, IoT devices and more. Unfortunately, our complacency has allowed our competitors – including adversaries – to catch up. This bill reinvests in this national priority, providing targeted tax incentives for advanced manufacturing in the US, funding basic research in microelectronics, and emphasizing the need for multilateral engagement with our allies in bringing greater transparency and attention to security and integrity threats to the global supply chain,” said Sen. Warner.
Should the bill pass, it should provide a significant stimulus to US semiconductor efforts.
Outside of medical, grocery, restaurant, and retail workers who are doing the hard work to ensure people get what they need during this pandemic, remote workers are keeping the world’s businesses going. Many had to make a shift to remote work suddenly and without much training on how to do it, and early on there were some highly-publicized issues with companies overstepping boundaries during the transition. For companies that have had remote work options for years, this change has not been a big deal because employees are already trained on protocols. But for companies that are new to remote work, the most important thing to remember is the importance of trusting your employees to do their jobs.
The History Of Remote Work
There has always been work that can be taken home with you, but the internet made it more accessible to more workers. Companies were initially reluctant to allow employees to work remotely, fearing espionage, security issues, and more. But as BYOD policies became the norm, the culture shifted to allow for the possibility of work-from-home during rare instances such as inclement weather. But there was still pushback about whether employees could work from home for other reasons or on an ongoing basis, and in some instances companies only begrudgingly agreed to allow it and sometimes even required pay cuts to be able to do so.
As of last year, one in ten Americans worked from home at least once per week, so it has gradually become mainstream. Those workers who work from home have experienced many advantages, including:
But until recently, working from home was reserved for the highest in the ranks and not for the average worker. Disability advocates have long advocated for work-from-home benefits for disabled workers because of office accessibility and transportation issues. In some instances working from home was seen as a prize that people would take a pay cut for. For everyone else, working from home was a luxury not extended to them. Until the pandemic hit, that is.
The Rush To Remote Work
When COVID-19 was first detected in the United States, many businesses began to make preparations to send people home to work. For businesses that had not had a remote workforce before then, the transition was jarring. Even for many businesses that did allow remote work under certain circumstances, the transition was less than smooth.
Early on there were reports of outrageous behavior on the part of managers and companies in their instructions to their newly-remote workforce. It’s easy to understand why this would occur. For many workplaces remote work is uncharted territory. For many managers their success hinges on being able to report numbers to the higher-ups.
If we look at the problem from an abundance mentality, we can see that trusting employees to do the job you hired them for, regardless of the circumstances, should be the expectation. After all, why hire someone if you have to hover over them to make sure they are actually working? This extends to working from home. It shouldn’t matter where someone is physically sitting to do their work if they have demonstrated to you an ability to do that work already. Trusting remote workers just makes sense – as much sense as it makes to trust them when they are in the office.
The Psychology Of Trusting Remote Workers
Trust is a powerful tool for any business owner or manager. Trust is also something that has to be cultivated within an organization. Cultivating that trust can lead to amazing benefits, though, and it is an effort that is well worth it in the long run.
Rather than surveilling employees to ensure they are staying on task, offer them the tools and resources they need to be successful. People want to feel successful, and the choice employers are giving employees is between feeling like they are unable to accomplish their work without supervision or empowering them to figure it out and accomplish it on their own.
Encouraging self-direction can pay off well in the long run. Nearly half of employees would pass up a 20% raise for greater control over their work and how they get it done. What’s more, 76% of employees report that their best days at work are when they make progress toward their goals.
For the most part, achievement is its own reward. Sure, employees do need to be fairly compensated for their work, but outside of that there is greater value in trusting them to get their work done their own way instead of forcing them to do it in a way that doesn’t work for them.
If you want to have the best possible outcome in your workplace, trust your employees to do their jobs, empower them to do those jobs with whatever tools or training they need, and keep the lines of communication open so they can come to you with any needs or concerns.
Trust In Remote Workers Pays Off For Businesses, Too
Remote work doesn’t have to be a temporary setback. It can, instead, be an opportunity for growth as a company. Empowering employees leads to a more productive workplace, and many businesses are discovering that eschewing the office has its own set of perks.
Make sure that employees know they can ask for whatever tools or training they need to be successful. Offer resources for honing and learning skills and make sure employees understand they can take time out of their schedules to learn something new. As the old story goes, training employees just to have them leave for other jobs is a risk, but not training them and having them remain without growing is an even bigger risk.
To build a culture of trust, make sure management is approachable when there’s a problem and that blame is not part of the company vocabulary. Rather, empower employees to bring up problems in an effort to work together for a solution. Additionally, prioritizing work/life balance and acknowledging that people have lives outside of the workplace not only creates trust, but it also makes employees better at their jobs.
Even something as simple as letting employees know they can request a more comfortable chair or that you want to help ensure they have an ergonomic setup for their home office shows you care about them as a person and helps to build trust.
There are monetary benefits to having a remote workforce, too. Giving up office space means more money to pay for talent and grow a business. Even having fewer people in the office on a regular basis can lead to significant savings.
What’s more, embracing remote workers means that you no longer have to limit your potential talent-pool to your geographic area. Managing a team of remote workers can include remote workers from anywhere in the world where there is an internet connection. This also means that those workers aren’t confined to living in places where the cost of living is astronomical.
Workplaces with remote workers have reported not only increased morale but also increased productivity averaging 15%. In short, you don’t have to worry about measuring employee productivity if you cultivate trust and empower them to learn and grow in their positions.
Right Now Is An Opportunity For Growth
Change is always difficult. Many businesses and employees were thrust into remote work without warning during an already stressful time. But as everyone learns the ropes and the stress subsides, many will find that remote work isn’t anything to fear and many will instead embrace the shift, leading to better work/life balance and other benefits. But right now the times are still tough, and the only way to get through them is together. Build your newly remote team on a strong foundation of trust and watch the magic happen.
YouTube is in hot water over claims it engaged in censorship on behalf of the Chinese government.
In a letter to Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Senator Josh Hawley asked for an explanation about the alleged censorship. YouTube has explained the censorship occurred as a result of an error in its enforcement system, but has provided very little information beyond that. Understandably, the explanation is doing little to ease people’s concerns.
In his letter to Pichai, Hawley says “that Google engineers may have changed the algorithms on YouTube to automatically censor certain criticisms of the Chinese Communist Party. In particular, Google engineers appear to have altered YouTube code to automatically block the Chinese terms for “communist bandit” and “50-cent party”—the latter term referring to a division of the Chinese Communist Party whose purpose is deflecting criticism from the Party by using sockpuppet accounts to spread online propaganda. These reports follow in the wake of Google’s purported ‘mis’-translation last year of the phrase ‘I am sad to see Hong Kong become part of China’ to ‘I am happy to see Hong Kong become part of China.’”
Senator Hawley gave Pichai till June 12 to respond. It remains to be seen if Google will provide concrete information on the issue.
Spotify has scored a major win over competitors, securing an exclusive deal with Joe Rogan.
The Joe Rogan Experience is one of the most popular podcasts on the planet, with millions of listeners per episode. The podcast also attracts a bevy of high-profile guests.
In making the announcement on Instagram, Rogan emphasized that this was just a licensing deal, and that Spotify would have no creative control.
“Starting on September 1 the podcast will be available on Spotify as well as all platforms, and then at the end of the year it will move exclusively to Spotify, including the video version,” wrote Rogan.
“It will remain FREE, and it will be the exact same show. It’s just a licensing deal, so Spotify won’t have any creative control over the show. They want me to just continue doing it the way I’m doing it right now.
“We will still have clips up on YouTube but full versions of the show will only be on Spotify after the end of the year.
“I’m excited to have the support of the largest audio platform in the world and I hope you folks are there when we make the switch!”
Spotify has been trying to branch out and show it’s more than a music service. This deal is a big step in that direction.
