Platform Executive

The full version of the article, along with thousands like it, can be found on the following page: LinkedIn allows employees to work fully remote, removes in-office expectation LinkedIn will allow employees to opt for full-time remote work or a hybrid option as offices gradually reopen, Chief People Officer Teuila Hanson told journalists at our partner news agency Reuters. This new policy is a shift from the initial indication last October that Microsoft Corp's professional social networking site would expect employees to work from an office 50% of the time when COVID-19 pandemic restrictions lift. The updated policy, offering the flexibility to work remotely full-time or work at an office part-time, will apply to LinkedIn's global workforce of more than 16,000 employees. "We anticipate that we'll definitely see more remote employees than what we saw prior to the pandemic," Hanson said in a Wednesday interview ahead of the announcement, adding that some job...

The full version of the article, along with thousands like it, can be found on the following page: Amazon sales growth slows in tame start to Jassy’s tenure as CEO Amazon.com Inc has said sales growth would slow in the next few quarters as customers venture more outside the home, a tepid start to CEO Andy Jassy's reign after 27 years with Jeff Bezos at the retailer's helm. Spending growth by Prime members, Amazon.com's most valuable customers, has eased as well, the company said. Shares fell 7% in after-hours trade. More than a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon's financial lustre is fading slightly. When brick-and-mortar stores closed, Amazon posted record profits, drew more than 200 million Prime loyalty subscribers, and recruited over 500,000 workers to keep up with surging demand. Now, the company is facing the tough task of climbing higher still. While revenue surged 44% in the first quarter of this year, that figure dropped to 27% for the period ended J...

The full version of the article, along with thousands like it, can be found on the following page: Canada’s spectrum auction raises record $7.2 billion as firms gear for high-speed internet Canada's auction of 3500 MHz spectrum, which is key for next generation 5G networks, generated a record C$8.9 billion (approximately $7.2 billion), with the country's three dominant telecom companies accounting for more than 80% of the amount raised. Out of 1,504 available licenses, 1,495 were awarded to 15 Canadian companies, including 757 licenses to small and regional providers, Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said in a statement on Thursday. The results would boost competition, he added, a reference to Ottawa's push to open up a market dominated by BCE Inc, Telus Corp and Rogers Communications Inc, known as the big three. Canadian consumers have complained of steep wireless bills, which are among the highest in the world, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's...

The full version of the article, along with thousands like it, can be found on the following page: From Facebook to Twitter, Big Tech sees social commerce driving sales growth Led by Facebook, social media platforms from YouTube to Snap and Twitter are investing heavily in shopping features to drive revenue growth, a major theme that emerged during second-quarter results over the past week. The companies are vying for a piece of the so-called social commerce industry, which relies on users' ability to discover and buy products through social media apps and is expected to balloon to $50 billion from $36 billion in annual sales by 2023 in the US according to research firm eMarketer. The success of social commerce stems in part from product targeting based on user interests, with sales generating more data that can be used for future advertising and merchandise placements. Facebook, widely considered the leader in social commerce, and Google helped retailers bring in sales in t...

The full version of the article, along with thousands like it, can be found on the following page: Beyond the meme: finance gets serious on going viral Ian Rogers used to be in charge of digital strategy for luxury fashion group LVMH. Now he has a new mission: to sprinkle some aspirational glitz on to French cryptocurrency company Ledger. Rogers' new role, to transform Ledger into a consumer brand with viral potential, shows how young consumer finance companies are not only embracing the latest social media channels but also choosing executives and marketing strategies more often associated with lifestyle brands. "The Ledger product is designed well: it has the best and most thoughtful security," said Rogers, who started his career as webmaster for the Beastie Boys' website and later became chief executive of headphone maker Beats. "What it doesn't have is a go to market approach that feels like it was done by Nike or Apple. That's what we need to ...

The full version of the article, along with thousands like it, can be found on the following page: Robinhood, gateway to ‘meme’ stocks, raises $2.1 billion in IPO Robinhood Markets Inc, the owner of the trading app which emerged as the go-to destination for retail investors speculating on this year's "meme' stock trading frenzy, raised $2.1 billion in its IPO. The company was seeking to capitalize on individual investors' fascination with cryptocurrencies and stocks such as GameStop Corp, which have seen wild swings after becoming the subject of trading speculation on social media sites such as Reddit. Robinhood's monthly active users surged from 11.7 million at the end of December to 21.3 million as of the end of June. The IPO valued Robinhood at $31.8 billion, making it greater as a function of its revenue than many of its traditional rivals such as Charles Schwab Corp , but the offering priced at the bottom of the company's indicated range. Some invest...

The full version of the article, along with thousands like it, can be found on the following page: Spotify quarterly revenue beats on paid users, ad rebound Spotify Technology SA beat Wall Street estimates for second-quarter revenue, as the Swedish music streaming company reported a 20% jump in paid subscribers for its premium service driven by demand in Europe and North America. While Europe and North America accounted for more than half of its monthly active users (MAUs), the pandemic raging across several countries in Asia, including India and Indonesia, took a toll. Quarterly MAUs of 365 million missed the company's own forecast along with analysts' expectations of 371.5 million, IBES data from Refinitiv showed. Spotify launched in 85 countries earlier this year, taking its footprint to 180 countries and exposing it to the effects of COVID-19 across the world. "Some markets are now almost back to normal... some of them are still very hard hit by COVID," CEO...

The full version of the article, along with thousands like it, can be found on the following page: Gloomy outlook dulls PayPal’s quarterly profit beat Shares of PayPal Holdings fell 8% on the payment company's downbeat current-quarter profit outlook that outweighed a better-than-expected profit in the second quarter from a pandemic-driven shift to digital spending. EBay Inc's continued transition to its own managed payments platform instead of using PayPal for its e-commerce platform served a blow to the latter's performance view for the remainder of 2021. PayPal has been among the big winners of the COVID-19 pandemic as more people used its services to shop online and pay bills to avoid stepping out. Businesses, forced to move their stores online, also flocked to PayPal. This helped the company process a total of $311 billion in payments in the second quarter ended June 30, up 40% from a year earlier, and added 11.4 million net new active accounts. Total revenue i...

The full version of the article, along with thousands like it, can be found on the following page: Facebook’s slowdown warning hangs over strong ad sales, Facebook Inc has said it expects revenue growth to "decelerate significantly," sending the social media giant's shares down 3.5% in extended trading even as it reported strong ad sales. The warning overshadowed the company's beat on Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue, bolstered by increased advertising spending as businesses build their digital presence to cater to consumers spending more time and money online. Facebook said it expects Apple's recent update to its iOS operating system to impact its ability to target ads and therefore ad revenue in the third quarter. The iPhone maker's privacy changes make it harder for apps to track users and restrict advertisers from accessing valuable data for targeting ads. The company also announced on Wednesday that it would require anyone working at its ...

The full version of the article, along with thousands like it, can be found on the following page: Big tech companies to allow only vaccinated US employees into offices Big tech companies are making it mandatory for employees in the US to get COVID-19 vaccinations before entering campuses, as the highly infectious Delta variant of the virus drives a resurgence in cases across regions. Google and Facebook have said all US employees must get vaccinated to step into offices. Google is also planning to expand its vaccination drive to other regions in the coming months. According to a Deadline report, streaming giant Netflix Inc has also implemented a policy mandating vaccinations for the cast and crew on all its US productions. Apple Inc plans to restore its mask requirement policy at most of its US retail stores, both for customers and staff, even if they are vaccinated, Bloomberg News reported. Apple and Netflix did not immediately respond to requests for comments. Many tech co...

The full version of the article, along with thousands like it, can be found on the following page: WhatsApp privacy case must be decided in a month, EU watchdog says EU privacy watchdog EDPB gave the Irish data protection agency a month to issue a long-delayed decision on compliance by Facebook's WhatsApp after its peers objected to its draft finding. The agency, which leads oversight of Facebook because the company's European headquarters are based in Ireland, has been investigating WhatsApp to see if it complies with transparency obligations specified by EU privacy rules known as GDPR. It sought feedback from its peers in December but was unable to find a consensus regarding its draft decision. The other national watchdogs objected to the type of infringements identified by the Irish, whether the specific data in question was personal data and the appropriateness of the proposed sanctions. The Irish agency said it would not follow the objections and referred them to t...

The full version of the article, along with thousands like it, can be found on the following page: Duolingo enters ‘major leagues’ with $6.5 billion valuation in strong debut Language learning app Duolingo notched a valuation of $6.5 billion after its shares surged nearly 40% in the company's Nasdaq debut, becoming the latest education technology start-up to impress Wall Street. Duolingo's stock opened at $141.4 per share, blowing past the IPO of $102 per share, which crossed the top end of its target range. The stock later pared some gains to trade at $130.92 in the afternoon. The company's flotation comes at a time of increased investor interest in the edtech space, after pandemic restrictions sent students and teachers from the classroom to the web. "Being a public company will allow us to operate at a higher level, and get going from the minor leagues to the major leagues," said Luis von Ahn, co-founder and CEO of Duolingo. Following the IPO, the compan...

The full version of the article, along with thousands like it, can be found on the following page: WeChat suspends new user registration for security compliance WeChat has temporarily suspended registration of new users in mainland China as it undergoes a technical upgrade "to align with relevant laws and regulations", China's dominant instant messaging platform has said. "We are currently upgrading our security technology to align with all relevant laws and regulations," the company said in a statement to journalists at our partner news agency Reuters. "During this time, registration of new Weixin personal and official accounts has been temporarily suspended. Registration services will be restored after the upgrade is complete, which is expected in early August," it added. Weixin is the Chinese name for WeChat . Shares in owner Tencent plunged 9.0% in Hong Kong on Tuesday amid widespread market jitters over Chinese regulatory crackdowns on hig...

The full version of the article, along with thousands like it, can be found on the following page: Alphabet reaches record quarterly revenue, profit in ad boom Alphabet Inc's quarterly revenue and profit surged to record highs, the company reported on Tuesday, powered by a rise in advertising spending as more consumers shopped online. Shares of Alphabet, the world's largest provider of search and video ads, rose 3.3% in extended trading after the results, which handily beat analyst estimates. Shares of Facebook, which competes with Google in web ad sales and reports its own results on Wednesday, rose 1.3%. Overall, it was a stellar day for the big US tech businesses - Apple and Microsoft also reported record earnings. With consumers spending more time online during the coronavirus pandemic, retailers have been pushing to reach them there, whether they're shopping for products using Google search or watching videos on YouTube . The nascent U.S. economic rebound that...

The full version of the article, along with thousands like it, can be found on the following page: Apple says chip shortage reaches iPhone, growth forecast slows Apple Inc has said that a global chip shortage that has bit into its ability to sell Macs and iPads will start to affect iPhone production and forecasted slowing revenue growth, sending its shares lower. Apple executives said revenue for the current fiscal fourth quarter will grow by double-digits but be below the 36.4% growth rate in the just-ended third quarter. Growth will also slow in Apple's closely watched services business, they said. In a conference call with investors, Apple executives also said that while the impact of the chip shortage was less severe than feared in the third quarter, it will get worse in the fourth, extending to iPhone production. Shares of Apple, whose valuation has more than doubled in about three years to nearly $2.5 trillion, were down 1.7% to $144.24 in after-hours trading after the ...