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☆ McDonald's is betting on its mobile business with new franchisee digital marketing fund
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

McDonald's U.S. franchisees will start paying into a digital marketing fund next year as the fast-food giant looks to expand its booming digital business, according to a memo viewed by CNBC on Thursday. Loyalty program members accounted for more than $6 billion in system-wide sales globally during McDonald's first quarter. The company has 34 million active digital customers in the U.S. By comparison, Chipotle Mexican Grill has 40 million loyalty members, while Starbucks has 32.8 million. In December, McDonald's said it aims to reach 100 million loyalty program members by 2027. Franchisees in the U.K., Canada, Australia and Germany will also pay into the global digital marketing fund.

Persons: Tariq Hassan, Whitney McGinnis, McDonald's Organizations: CNBC, Grill, Starbucks Locations: U.S, Canada, Australia, Germany

☆ Banning TikTok would hit China’s tech ambitions and deepen the global digital divide
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Not only would that deal another huge blow to China’s tech ambitions, it would further deepen the divide between two digital worlds centered around the rival economic superpowers. Congress on Tuesday approved legislation that could compel ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a national ban. That leaves few options for ByteDance to secure the future of TikTok in the US, its biggest market with 170 million users. “This includes everything from who owns and operates data centers, to space-based internet satellites, to undersea cables and, of course semiconductors.”In that sense, the TikTok ban has its silver lining for Beijing. Growing challenges for Chinese appsThe TikTok legislation was included in a wide-ranging foreign aid package meant to support Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.

Persons: Hong Kong CNN —, ByteDance, Joe Biden, TikTok, “, ”, Alex Capri, Richard Windsor, Capri, Biden, Paul Triolo, ” Triolo, Wang Wenbin, CNN’s Marc Stewart, Triolo doesn’t, — CNN’s Wayne Chang, Marc Stewart Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Foundation, National University of Singapore’s Business, YouTube, Google, Radio Free Mobile, TikTok, Technology, Albright, Commerce Department, Commerce, China’s, Foreign Ministry, Facebook, Apple Locations: China, Hong Kong, America, Beijing, Capri, “, Asia, Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, Silicon Valley, American, Bytedance, “ Beijing

☆ A four-day work week could be coming as AI proliferates — and these companies could capitalize
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( Hakyung Kim | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Hedge fund manager and New York Mets baseball team owner Steven Cohen has already begun to invest in a four-day work week. Cohen isn't alone in forecasting a four-day work week. Jefferies thinks artificial intelligence will make workers more efficient and eventually lead to a four-day work week becoming the norm, according to a note from June 2023. Bank of America also expects the changing post-pandemic work landscape may result in a shorter work week. Opposition to change Opponents to a shorter work week, however, argue that such a change is both politically and economically unfeasible.

Persons: Steven Cohen, " Cohen, Cohen isn't, Jefferies, Henry Ford, Ford, Christian Magoon, Cohen, Magoon, It's, David Bahnsen, Bahnsen, I'm Organizations: New York Mets, CNBC, Bank of America, Economic, COVID, Cloud Technology ETF, IVES, Ionos, Broadcom, Cisco Systems, General Dynamics Locations: France, U.S, Nice

☆ In AI rivalry with the U.S., China is behind on a key asset: Its own OpenAI
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-31 | by ( Rebecca Fannin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

In China, which is angling to produce its own chips or get more from Nvidia, no dominant gen AI contender to OpenAI has emerged yet among dozens of Chinese tech titans and startups. Last year, funding of gen AI upstarts accounted for nearly half of $42.5 billion invested globally in artificial intelligence companies, according to CB Insights. "China is at a big disadvantage in building the foundation models for Gen AI," said Rui Ma, an AI investor and co-founder of investment syndicate and podcast TechBuzz China. China does have the tech talent to make a difference in the AI rivalry in the years ahead. Additionally, among top-tier AI researchers working at U.S. institutions, 38% have China as their country of origin, compared with 37% from the U.S.New Chinese gen AI market entries can also reach mass adoption quickly.

Persons: Ernie Bot, OpenAI, Paul Triolo, Jenny Xiao, Rui Ma, Triolo, Sora, Ma, Marco Polo, Baidu's, Ernie, Leong Organizations: Global, Trade, Hangzhou International, Nvidia, tech titans, titans Microsoft, Google, Amazon, U.S, Dentons Global Advisors, Leonis Capital, OpenAI, Paulson Institute, U.S ., Samsung, Apple, Baidu Locations: Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, Washington ,, Silicon, San Francisco, The U.S, U.S, OpenAI

☆ Wendy's is going to start surge-pricing burgers, fries, and more
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Ana Altchek | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Wendy's will start surge pricing menu items as early as 2025 as it rolls out digital menus. Similar to the way Uber and Lyft works, menu items will vary in price depending on demand. That's because Wendy's is going to start surge pricing its menu items by 2025 as it rolls out digital menus, according to its fourth-quarter earnings call. Similar to pricing models at Uber and Lyft, Wendy's menu items will fluctuate in price depending on demand during the time that you order. But with surge pricing in place, that might increase if you order it at 6 p.m. during an evening rush.

Persons: Wendy's, —, Kirk Tanner, Tanner Organizations: Service, BI Locations: Wendy's

☆ Here's why Capital One is buying Discover in the biggest proposed merger of 2024
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Hugh Son | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

It's a chess move by one of the savviest long-term thinkers in American finance, Capital One CEO Richard Fairbank. Fairbank, who became a billionaire by building Capital One into a credit card giant since its 1994 IPO, is betting that buying rival card company Discover will better position the company for global payments' murky future. The deal, if approved, enables Capital One to leapfrog JPMorgan as the biggest credit card company by loans, and solidifies its position as the third largest by purchase volume. By 2027, the bank expects to add at least $175 billion in payments and 25 million of its cardholders onto the Discover network. The Discover network alone would be worth up to $6 billion if sold to Alphabet, Apple or Fiserv , Sakhrani wrote Tuesday in a research note.

Persons: Richard Fairbank, Marvin Joseph, It's, Fairbank, Sanjay Sakhrani, Sakhrani Organizations: Washington Post, Getty, Capital, Discover Financial, U.S, JPMorgan Chase, Independence, Discover, JPMorgan, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, One's, PayPal Locations: Wall, U.S

☆ NFL jersey sales: See whose jerseys were the most popular this season
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-09 | by ( Alex Matthews | Alex Leeds Matthews | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Three of the stars playing in this weekend’s Super Bowl — San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey, quarterback Brock Purdy and Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes — have dominated jersey sales throughout the NFL season. Mahomes’ jersey sales had a strong start this season, following his 2022 NFL and Super Bowl MVP awards. But while punching a ticket to the Super Bowl helps sell jerseys, it’s not the only thing that drove jersey sales. But over the course of the entire season, Travis Kelce’s brother Jason and his Philadelphia Eagles teammate Jalen Hurts’ jerseys consistently ranked higher in jersey sales. Following that first appearance, he ranked in the top 10 jersey sales another six times in the latter half of the season.

Persons: Christian McCaffrey, Brock Purdy, Patrick Mahomes —, McCaffrey, Mahomes, it’s, Travis Kelce’s, Taylor Swift, Seth Schlechter, Jason, Jalen, Jason Kelce’s, CJ Stroud’s, Micah Parsons, Parsons, CeeDee Lamb Organizations: San Francisco 49ers, Kansas City Chiefs, NFL, 49ers, Chiefs, Super, Super Bowl, CNN, Philadelphia Eagles, Houston Texans, Cincinnati Bengals, Dallas Cowboys, Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, Sunday’s Super Bowl

☆ Houthis could cut undersea global internet cables, minister warns
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-05 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

An analyst has warned that the Houthis' next target could be undersea internet cables. That analysis warned of the potential shift in the Houthi's strategy in the Red Sea. Such a move would see the Houthis' strategy shift from targeting shipping — itself deeply disruptive to the global economy — to the global flow of information. In the analysis published last week, analyst Emily Milliken at the DC-based Askari Defense & Intelligence described undersea cables as the Houthi's "next casualty." Advertisement"Even partial damage to the undersea cables could eliminate internet access across vast areas, causing major economic disruptions for entire countries," she wrote.

Persons: —, Moammar, Emily Milliken, Milliken, Yemen's, Jake Epstein, group's Organizations: UN, Service, Gulf International, Askari Defense & Intelligence, Telegram, General Telecommunications Corporation, Guardian, Yemen Telecom, of Telecommunications, Information Technology, US Central Command Locations: Aden, Gulf, Red, Yemen, Gaza

☆ January was great for stocks — here are our top 5 performers for the month
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

We took advantage of the hot streak in stocks, making small sales throughout the month. NVDA YTD mountain Nvidia (NVDA) year-to-date performance 1. PANW YTD mountain Palo Alto Networks (PANW) year-to-date performance 2. META YTD mountain Meta Platforms year-to-date performance 3. CRM YTD mountain Salesforce (CRM) year-to-date performance 4.

Persons: Jerome Powell, Mark Zuckerberg, Jim Cramer, Palo, Cowen, Salesforce, Eli Lilly, LLY, Jefferies, David Ricks, Jim Cramer's, Jim, Brendan Mcdermid Organizations: Dow, Nasdaq, Big Tech, Club, Federal Reserve, Nvidia, Meta, Palo Alto Networks, Microsoft, JPMorgan, Palo, Facebook, CNBC, Traders, New York Stock Exchange Locations: Palo, New York City, U.S

☆ WindCORES cuts emissions by putting data centers inside wind turbines
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | by ( Arya Jyothi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —Accounting for up to 1.5% of global electricity use, data centers are fueling the climate crisis. WindCORES, a subsidiary of German renewable electricity company WestfalenWIND, operates data centers inside wind turbines located in a wind park in the Paderborn district in western Germany, which the company says makes the centers almost carbon neutral. The concept uses existing wind turbines to power data centers on site, while fiber optic cables provide a constant internet connection. WindCORES estimates that the unused electricity generated during this period could power one-third of all German data centers. Zattoo joined windCORES in 2020, when it moved one of its six data centers into a wind turbine in Paderborn.

Persons: ”, Fiete Dubberke, Dubberke, WestfalenWIND, windCORES, Zattoo, Viliyana Ivanova, “, Viliyana, windCORES Dubberke, Zattoo’s, Asim Hussain, that’s, they’ve, ” Hussain, ” WindCORES, Klee Organizations: CNN, windCORES, Green Software Foundation Locations: Paderborn, Germany, “, ”, Lichtenau, Munich

☆ Asia’s tech giants lean toward desperate deals
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Anshuman Daga | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew arrives for a dinner, on the eve of the Paris Peace Forum at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, November 9, 2023. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was feted in Indonesia where it has 125 million monthly active users when he pledged in June to invest billions of dollars in the region. But the global giant failed to anticipate regulatory hurdles in its biggest market for online shopping. TikTok’s viral video app would provide Tokopedia with a powerful new growth avenue for its online shopping and payments business. Yet as tech companies from the People’s Republic to Indonesia pull out all the stops to lift growth amid waning investor support, desperate new alliances are bound to emerge.

Persons: Shou Zi Chew, Gonzalo Fuentes, TikTok, China’s, GoTo, Patrick Walujo, Indonesia’s GoTo, Una Galani, Thomas Shum Organizations: Paris Peace, REUTERS, Rights, Reuters, Companies, Google, Temasek, Bain &, Reuters Graphics Reuters Graphics, Tokopedia, HK, Global Digital, Djarum, Bloomberg, Thomson Locations: Paris, France, Rights SINGAPORE, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Reuters Graphics Reuters Graphics Jakarta, Tokopedia, Lazada, Singapore, Indonesian, Thailand, People’s Republic, China

AI (Artificial Intelligence) letters are placed on computer motherboard in this illustration taken, June 23, 2023. "As European digital industry representatives, we see a huge opportunity in foundation models, and new innovative players emerging in this space, many of them born here in Europe. The signatories, who said just 3% of the world's AI unicorns come from the European Union, backed a joint proposal by France, Germany and Italy to limit the scope of AI rules for foundation models to transparency requirements. They also said the current broad scope of the draft AI rules could clash with existing legislation in certain sectors such as healthcare. The companies also rebuffed calls from creative industries for the AI rules to tackle copyright issues.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, DigitalEurope, Georgina Prodhan, Foo Yun Chee, Sharon Singleton Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Airbus, European Union, Apple, Ericsson, Google, LSE, SAP, Siemens, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, Europe, France, Germany, Italy

☆ Amazon’s advertising revenue tops $12 billion in the third quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

(Photo by Joan Cros/NurPhoto via Getty Images)Amazon's online advertising business continues to boom amid growing investor concerns that the Israel-Hamas War could negatively impact the world economy. Analysts polled by StreetAccount were expecting Amazon's advertising business to generate $11.6 billion in third-quarter revenue. Investors closely monitor Amazon's online advertising unit, which now accounts for 7.5% of the global digital ad market, according to Insider Intelligence. Alphabet is still the digital advertiser leader with 28.4% share of the world online ad market, while Meta accounts for 20.1%, the research firm said. Alphabet reported third-quarter earnings this week and said that its Google advertising revenue jumped 9% year-over-year to $59.65 billion while YouTube ad sales rose 12% year-over-year to $7.95 billion.

Persons: Joan Cros, StreetAccount, Meta, Susan Li, Brad Gerstner Organizations: AMD, Amazon Marketing Services, Mobile, Getty, Intelligence, Meta, Facebook, Google, YouTube Locations: BARCELONA, SPAIN, Barcelona, Spain, Israel, Hamas

☆ European castles, private chefs, and a startup school: These families are ditching the US to live the American dream abroad
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( Simone Stolzoff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

At just shy of 400,000 inhabitants, Sintra is also big enough to absorb the 25 Boundless families without the expats dominating all the local haunts. At school, kids are fed organic meals made by a local chef. After school, kids from different families entertained themselves in the cobblestone streets and parks under light adult supervision. But despite some early success, Boundless Education, like the organization itself, is still very much a startup. On my last night in Sintra, the Boundless families gathered together at Praia de Maçãs, a beach 20 minutes from downtown.

Persons: Shirly, Erez Weinstein, Shirly Weinstein, Ella, Mauro Repacci, Simone Stolzoff, Edward, Jessica, —, Rekha Magon, I've, Repacci, Marcos Carvalho, Rolf E, Carvalho, Lona Alia, Alia, Elina Zois, it's, Andreas Wil Gerdes, Penguin Random Organizations: Khan Academy, Green School, Nordic Baccalaureate, North America, Penguin Locations: United States, Israel, Atlanta, Chiang Mai, Thailand, Portugal, Indonesia, Italy, Greece, Bali, Dominican Republic, Sintra , Portugal, Lisbon, Sintra, Ohio, Seattle, Italy's Tuscany, Montreal, Costa Rica, Europe, Southeast Asia, North, Praia, Maçãs, America, San Francisco

☆ Meet the families who are ditching America to travel abroad as digital nomads
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( Simone Stolzoff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

☆ CNN names former New York Times CEO Mark Thompson as its chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Mark Thompson is stepping in as the next CEO and chairman of CNN. Discovery CEO David Zaslav told staff in a note Wednesday. Before closing the deal, Zaslav had appointed Licht as CNN's CEO, who was previously the chief executive behind the "CBS This Morning" news program and "Morning Joe" on MSNBC. While network executives Amy Entelis, Virginia Moseley, Eric Sherling and David Leavy led CNN since Licht left CNN, Warner Bros. Shortly, we will announce that highly respected news executive Mark Thompson will be joining our leadership team as Chairman and CEO, effective October 9, reporting directly to me.

Persons: Mark Thompson, Thompson, Chris Licht, Thompson's, David Zaslav, Jeff Zucker, –, Andrew Cuomo, Zucker's, Chris Cuomo, Zucker, Zaslav, Licht, Joe, network's, Donald Trump, Kaitlan Collins, Amy Entelis, Virginia Moseley, Eric Sherling, David Leavy, Read, Mark, Amy, Eric, I've, David Read, you've, David Zaslav's, Wagner, you'll Organizations: CNN, Parent, Warner Bros, Discovery, The New York Times, BBC, Warner Bros . Discovery, Max, New York Gov, MSNBC, CNN Worldwide, Times, Tiananmen Locations: U.S, David, Virginia, London, Washington, DC

☆ New Zealand plans digital services tax for multinationals from 2025
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/David Gray/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsAug 29 (Reuters) - New Zealand said on Tuesday it would introduce legislation for a digital services tax on large multinational companies from 2025 after talks for a global rollout did not reach consensus at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). But the proposal was pushed back last month after countries with digital services taxes, with the exception of Canada, agreed to hold off applying them for at least another year. The proposed digital services tax will target multinational businesses that earn income from New Zealand users of social media platforms, search engines, and online marketplaces. The tax would be payable by businesses that make over 750 million euros ($812 million) a year from global digital services and over NZ$3.5 million a year from digital services provided to New Zealand users. The tax would be applied at 3% on gross taxable New Zealand digital services revenue, a similar rate adopted by comparable countries like France and the United Kingdom.

Persons: David Gray, Grant Robertson, Renju Jose, Lincoln Organizations: REUTERS, Organization for Economic Cooperation, Development, Apple, Finance, Kiwis, NZ, Thomson Locations: Wellington, New Zealand, Canada, Zealand, France, United Kingdom, Sydney

☆ PayPal’s stablecoin may be a payments catalyst, but it will face these near-term hurdles, BofA says
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

PayPal 's new stablecoin — known as PYUSD — has the potential to facilitate payments , but it must overcome several headwinds before it takes off, Bank of America said. "Over the longer term, we expect PYUSD to experience additional adoption headwinds as competition from [central bank digital currencies] and yield-bearing stablecoins increases," the analyst added. "Over the longer term, we expect PYUSD to experience additional adoption headwinds as competition from CBDCs and yield-bearing stablecoins increases," he said. "Investors may have been fine holding non-yield bearing stablecoins, such as USDT and USDC, when rates were close to zero, but yield-bearing stablecoins will likely become increasingly available and attractive." Instead, Bank of America expects PYUSD to target the "largely untapped" market for blockchain-enabled asset transfers, payments and remittances.

Persons: —, headwinds Shah, PYUSD, Shah, — CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: PayPal, Bank of America Locations: U.S

☆ From banking giants to lending up-and-comers — here are the world's top 200 fintech companies
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Statista identified 40 firms as top digital payments companies. While digital payments is often the area that draws most investor buzz, lending generates more money in financial services. Statista identified 25 fintech companies that fall into the category of top alternate lending firms. They include American small business lending firm Biz2Credit, Irish e-commerce lending company Wayflyer, and Latvian loan refinancing startup Mintos. Digital business solutions

Persons: Monzo, there's, Statista, Afterpay, It's, Binance, eToro, Equity crowdfunding, hasn't, Peter Hazlehurst Organizations: JPMorgan —, Orange, Digital, U.S, SEC, European, Education, Equity, Republic, Tech, Federal Reserve, Bank of England, CNBC, Solaris Locations: fintech, Europe, Nigeria, Orange, Africa, Terra, U.S, Cayman Islands, American, Latvian, U.K

Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency which aim to keep a constant value and are usually backed by traditional assets such as dollars. Tether's reserves report, signed off by accountants BDO Italia, says Tether's assets rose to $86.5 billion in the three months to June 30, 2023, up 5.7% from the previous quarter and a record high, according to previous reports on its website. Tether is a key cog in global digital asset trading, with many crypto-to-crypto trades denominated in the stablecoin. U.S. regulators have warned banks that stablecoin reserves could be subject to rapid outflows, for example if holders rushed to exchange such tokens back into traditional currency. Tether's holdings of U.S. Treasury Bills hit $55.8 billion, up 5.2% from the end of March, while non-U.S. Treasury Bills rose to $62.9 million, up more than 30% from the previous quarter, the report said.

Persons: Elizabeth Howcroft, Christina Fincher Organizations: BDO Italia, Treasury Bills, U.S . Treasury Bills, New York Attorney, Thomson Locations: . U.S, U.S

OTTAWA, July 18 (Reuters) - Canada sees a path forward in reaching international consensus on digital services taxes, and a decision to not back a global agreement on freezing the implementation of domestic taxes was taken in the national interest, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Tuesday. Last week, most countries with planned digital services taxes agreed to hold off applying them for at least a year longer than what was agreed initially as a global tax deal to replace local taxes was pushed back. Ottawa did not back that deal to extend, saying such a delay would put Canada at a disadvantage relative to countries that have been collecting revenue under their pre-existing digital services taxes. Freeland, in India to attend G7 and G20 meetings, said she had good conversations about finding a path forward on digital services taxes. More than 140 countries were supposed to start implementing next year a 2021 deal overhauling decades-old rules on how governments tax multinational companies.

Persons: Chrystia Freeland, Freeland, Ismail Shakil, Steve Scherer, David Ljunggren, Matthew Lewis Organizations: OTTAWA, Finance, Ottawa, Apple, Thomson Locations: Canada, New Delhi, Freeland, India, Ottawa

☆ Nvidia's chips fuel A.I. — here's why the U.S. worries about China's access
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Jensen Huang, president and CEO of Nvidia, speaks during the Computex Show in Taipei on May 30, 2017. Nvidia's powerful semiconductors have taken on particular importance as their capacity to fuel artificial intelligence has become increasingly sought after. That's why the Commerce Department is reportedly considering new limits on the export of such chips to China, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. Nvidia had already created a version of the A100, its popular AI chip, that it could sell to the Chinese market. But the new limits reportedly being considered by the Biden administration would restrict even those sales without a license.

Persons: Jensen Huang, what's, authoritarians, Eileen Donahoe, Biden Organizations: Nvidia, Human Rights Council, Stanford, Global, NBC, U.S, Commerce Department, Street Locations: Taipei, China, U.S

☆ Why traditional outsourcing is becoming obsolete as AI continues to evolve
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Jampro With Insider Studios | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

But as process automation increases, there's a very real threat that outsourcing companies will gradually lose this original cost advantage: Robots can do it cheaper. Most significantly, third-party digital services providers are now using AI to augment the workforce, allowing employees to focus on higher-value tasks. Clearly, AI is accelerating a transition from low value-added, volume-driven digital services to more sought-after, complex, and creative higher-level digital services such as Knowledge Process Outsourcing and Information Technology Outsourcing. Digital services outsourcing just got better, and AI is responsible. Learn more about the global digital services sector in Jamaica.

Persons: Statista Organizations: Outsourcing, Information Technology Outsourcing, Insider Studios Locations: Jamaica

☆ $5 billion fintech Zepz looks to take on rivals like PayPal with digital wallet, M&A plans
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

With a $5 billion valuation, Zepz is one of the largest fintech companies in Europe, backed by leading investors including Accel, TCV and Leapfrog. The company enables users to send money from a smartphone or computer to people abroad, who can receive it in their bank account, mobile wallet, or as a mobile airtime top-up. Lenhard didn't identify which companies Zepz was looking to buy, but said the sharp slump in private fintech valuations made it an attractive time to kick off M&A exploration. A particular focus for Zepz product-wise in the near term is digital wallets, Lenhard said, with the company planning to launch its first digital wallet "imminently." He added that he hopes the company's upcoming digital wallet product will convince customers to rely more on Zepz, rather than using competing digital banks and other financial apps which have grown their services to offer a much wider range of products.

Persons: Mark Lenhard, Zepz, It's, Lenhard, Sendwave Organizations: Getty, CNBC, Accel, Bank of England, Sky News, PayPal Locations: Europe, Western Union

☆ Alibaba to launch local versions of its China e-commerce site in Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Michael Evans, President of Alibaba Group, said that the firm will bring its Tmall e-commerce site to Europe. Michael Evans, president of Alibaba, said the company will bring one of its China e-commerce services Tmall into Europe. In China, Tmall is an Alibaba site and app that has a big focus on selling foreign brands to Chinese consumers. Launching Tmall in Europe reflects a significant shift in strategy for Alibaba in its international e-commerce operations. However, Evans' suggestion is that Tmall in Europe would focus on selling local brands to local shoppers.

Persons: Michael Evans, PARIS —, Alibaba, Evans Organizations: Alibaba, PARIS, Viva Tech, Shipping, AliExpress, Tmall, Digital Commerce Locations: Europe, China, Paris, France, Spain

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