DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Alibaba to split into 6 units and explore IPOs; shares pop 7%
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Each business group will be managed by its own CEO and board of directors. These are the groups:Cloud Intelligence Group: Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang will be head of this business which will house the company's cloud and artificial intelligence activities. Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang will be head of this business which will house the company's cloud and artificial intelligence activities. Taobao Tmall Commerce Group: This will cover the company's online shopping platforms including Taobao and Tmall. Yu Yongfu will be CEO and the business will cover Alibaba's food delivery service Ele.me as well as its mapping.

☆ Facebook owner Meta planning lower bonus payouts for some employees- WSJ
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 28 (Reuters) - Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) is planning to lower bonus pays for some employees, and assess staff performance more frequently, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing an internal memo. The bonus multiplier for that grade has been cut to 65% from 85% earlier, WSJ said, adding that the company will also restart assessing staff performance twice a year. "We are making changes to our performance process, taking into account learnings and feedback over the last year while optimizing for the future. These changes are not related to workforce restructuring," a Meta spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters, without giving any further details. Reporting by Shubhendu Deshmukh in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Lavanya Ahire; Editing by Varun H KOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/3] A 3D printed Meta logo is seen in front of displayed Google logo in this illustration taken on November 2, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoBRASILIA, March 28 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) and Alphabet Inc's Google (GOOGL.O) defended before the Supreme Court on Tuesday a Brazilian law that holds Internet platforms are not responsible for content posted by users unless they are subject to a court order. If upheld, their appeals could establish jurisprudence that will apply to future cases concerning the responsibility for Internet content, at a time when social media companies are under pressure in Brazil due to a surge in the spread of political disinformation. Google Brasil lawyer Guilherme Sanchez said the company does not wait for court orders to remove content from its platforms. By contrast, in the same period Google received just 1,700 requests for the removal of content from its products.

☆ Housing market in tech hubs cooling faster than other parts of US - report
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 27 (Reuters) - Housing markets in tech hubs are cooling more rapidly than other parts of the United States amid a wave of layoffs in the technology sector and elevated mortgage rates, according to real estate broker Redfin Corp's (RDFN.O) report on Monday. Seattle, San Jose, Austin and Phoenix are among metros that have been affected the most as high mortgage rates, turmoil in the tech sector and unavailability of homes deter buyers, the report stated. Redfin agents report that uncertainty around the stability of the banking and tech industries is exacerbating nerves in some buyers and sellers. The New York metro area is likely to feel the impact of banking turmoil as many of its residents work in the financial sector, according to the report. "Banking instability could dampen homebuying demand in the area as finance workers worry about their industry," the report added.

☆ U.S. and China wage war beneath the waves – over internet cables
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +28 min

Three of China’s state-owned carriers – China Telecommunications Corporation (China Telecom), China Mobile Limited and China United Network Communications Group Co Ltd (China Unicom) – had committed funding as members of the consortium, which also included U.S.-based Microsoft Corp and French telecom firm Orange SA, according to six people involved in the deal. China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom and Orange did not respond to requests for comment. China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom were resolutely behind HMN Tech, which had come in with a bid of around $500 million. China Telecom and China Mobile threatened to walk off the project, taking tens of millions of dollars of investment with them. Among them is China Telecom, which had previously won authorization to provide services in the United States.

☆ TikTok congressional hearing: CEO Shou Chew grilled by US lawmakers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

TikTok, which has more than 150 million American users, was repeatedly hammered in the ongoing hearing where no lawmaker offered any support. PARENTS UNHAPPYRepresentative Diana DeGette, a Democrat, said TikTok's efforts to prevent the spread of misinformation on the platform were not working. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein 1 2 3 4 5"You gave me only generalized statements that you're investing, that you're concerned, that you're doing work. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives on Twitter said, "TikTok CEO testimony so far we would characterize as a 'mini disaster' for this key moment for TikTok. TikTok is now poster child of the US/China tensions and lawmakers have a lot of q’s with not enough concrete answers."

Xbox Game Pass vs. PlayStation Plus: GamesHorizon: Forbidden West is the latest high-profile game to hit PlayStation Plus. Horizon Forbidden West / SonyThe main selling points of Game Pass and PlayStation Plus are their Netflix-style libraries of downloadable games. That said, there are a handful of Game Pass titles that are only available on console or PC, not both. Game Pass members get a 10% discount when buying games that are already on Game Pass, so you can always get a deal before a game leaves the service entirely. That 10% discount also applies to downloadable content and add-ons for Game Pass games, which aren't always included with the base version.

☆ TikTok CEO set for grilling in House hearing. But U.S. lawmakers also face questions
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +15 min

U.S. tech platforms including Meta's Facebook and Instagram, Google's YouTube , Twitter and Snap's Snapchat have raised similar fears for lawmakers and users. Evaluating a potential banThere's little appetite in Washington to accept the potential risks that TikTok's ownership by Chinese company ByteDance poses to U.S. national security. The interagency panel tasked with reviewing national security risks stemming from ByteDance's ownership has threatened a ban if the company won't sell its stake in the app. Trahan said members should ask about national security risks of the app, but those questions should be substantive. Bowman noted lawmakers haven't received a bipartisan congressional briefing from the administration on national security risks stemming from TikTok.

☆ Scientists at DeepMind and Meta Press Fusion of AI, Biology
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Steven Rosenbush | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Members of the AlphaFold team in front of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany. AlphaFold was trained on public data resources, including those managed by the EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute. Meta Platforms Inc.’s new tool predicting the structure of hundreds of millions of proteins is the latest example of a breakthrough in computational biology that began several years ago at an Alphabet Inc. subsidiary. Some scientists expect the new class of artificial-intelligence systems to accelerate work in the life sciences, particularly drug development.

☆ Trump-backed blank-check firm Digital World ousts CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Helen Coster | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 22 (Reuters) - Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC.O), a blank-check firm that is set to merge with former U.S. President Donald Trump's media and technology company, said on Wednesday it had ousted Chief Executive Patrick Orlando. In October 2021, Trump’s newly formed media company, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), announced a deal to go public by merging with DWAC. TMTG’s fortunes are inextricably tied to Trump, who is billed by the company as the chief traffic driver. He posted to Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) YouTube and Meta Platforms Inc's (META.O) Facebook on March 17, the same day YouTube restored his channel. Trump’s Twitter account was reinstated in November by the platform's new owner Elon Musk, but Trump has yet to post there.

☆ Job search platform Indeed to cut 2,200 jobs
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 22 (Reuters) - U.S.-based job search platform Indeed said on Wednesday it will cut about 2,200 jobs, or 15% of its workforce, joining a host of companies rationalizing their labor force following a pandemic-fueled hiring boom. Chief Executive Chris Hyams, who will take a 25% cut in base pay, said future job openings in general were at or below pre-pandemic levels and that the company was too large. Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) have announced a second round of layoffs as they look to cut costs. Indeed's revenue from human resource technology will decline in fiscal 2023 and 2024, Hyams said, adding that U.S. job openings will likely fall to pre-pandemic levels of 7.5 million or even lower in the next two to three years. Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Shounak DasguptaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Companies Meta Platforms Inc FollowMarch 21 (Reuters) - A new lawsuit accuses Mark Zuckerberg and other Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) executives and directors of failing to do enough to stop sex trafficking and child sexual exploitation on Facebook and Instagram. Given the board's failure to explain how it tries to root out the problem, "the only logical inference is that the board has consciously decided to permit Meta's platforms to promote and facilitate sex/human trafficking," the complaint said. "We prohibit human exploitation and child sexual exploitation in no uncertain terms," it said in a statement on Tuesday. Zuckerberg, Meta's billionaire co-founder and chief executive, told Congress in 2019 that child exploitation was "one of the most serious threats that we focus on." Meta, based in Menlo Park, California, has long faced accusations that its platforms are a haven for sexual misconduct.

[1/4] The Amazon.com logo and stock price information is seen on screens at the Nasdaq Market Site in New York City, New York, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File PhotoMarch 20 (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) on Monday said it would axe another 9,000 roles, piling on to a wave of layoffs that has swept the technology sector as an uncertain economy forces companies to get leaner. The layoffs will affect Amazon's streaming unit Twitch as well, following cuts that began in November focused on the company's devices, e-commerce and human-resources organizations. Amazon's stock fell 2%. The company has scaled back or shut down entire services like its virtual primary care offering for employers in recent months.

☆ Startup behind Stable Diffusion releases AI system for generating videos from text
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Anna Tong | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SAN FRANCISCO, March 20 - Runway, the startup that co-created the popular Stable Diffusion AI image generator, has released an AI model that takes any text description – such as “turtles flying in the sky” – and generates three seconds of matching video footage. Citing safety and business reasons, Runway is not releasing the model widely to start, nor will it be open-sourced like Stable Diffusion. The text-to-video model, dubbed Gen-2, will initially be available on Discord via a waitlist on the Runway website. Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) and Google (GOOGL.O) both released research papers on text-to-video AI models late last year. However, the difference is that Runway’s text-to-video AI model is being made available to the general public, said Cristobal Valenzuela, Runway’s chief executive.

☆ These 74 stocks across 5 categories of AI are the top picks from the sector's leading fund managers.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Laila Maidan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

These 74 stocks are picked by AI ETF managers. What she believes is unique about her fund is its heavy focus on quantum computing technology, making up 41.22% of the fund. While big data is used for different technologies, it enables AI to work with massive data sets in its machine-learning process. TipRanks, a financial technology website that uses AI to analyze financial data, created a stock list for what they deem are the best AI stocks based on popularity. TipRanks' list of nine of the best AI stocks have large market caps and are likely to remain relevant for a long time.

☆ 'I'm back:' Trump returns to YouTube and Facebook after two-year ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The posts on his Facebook page and YouTube channel, which were titled "I'M BACK!," show a CNN video announcing Trump's election as president in the 2016 race against Hillary Clinton. Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) had reinstated Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts earlier this year. His Twitter account was reinstated in November by the platform's new owner Elon Musk but Trump has yet to post on Twitter. Trump's campaign team did not immediately respond to a request for comment. YouTube banned Trump in 2021 for violating its policy of inciting violence after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress was certifying Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election.

☆ Facebook, Instagram Users in U.S. Can Pay for a Verified Blue Check Mark
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Joseph Pisani | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

‘Meta Verified’ subscribers can get a blue check mark on Facebook or Instagram for a monthly fee if they provide government identification. Adults in the U.S. can soon have a blue check mark on Facebook and Instagram—as long as they pay and show identification. Meta Platforms Inc., which owns Facebook and Instagram, said Friday it is rolling out its verified subscription service in the U.S. after testing it in Australia and New Zealand last month.

☆ Meta launches subscription service in US
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 17 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) on Friday launched its subscription service in the U.S., which would allow Facebook and Instagram users pay for verification in the same vein as Elon Musk-owned Twitter. The Meta Verified service will give users a blue badge after they verify their accounts using a government ID and will cost $11.99 per month on the web or $14.99 a month on Apple's iOS system and Google-owned Android, Meta said in a statement. The service, which Meta said it was testing in February, follows in the footsteps of Snap Inc-owned (SNAP.N) Snapchat as well as messaging app Telegram and marks the latest effort by a social media company to diversify its revenue away from advertising. After a $44 billion buyout by Musk last year, Twitter had rolled out its Blue subscription service which lets people pay for the blue check mark previously limited to verified accounts of politicians, journalists and other public figures. Reporting by Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra EluriOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Brazil looks to regulate monetized content on Internet -official
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Victor Pereira | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SAO PAULO, March 17 (Reuters) - The Brazilian government is studying whether to regulate Internet platforms with content that earns revenue such as advertising, its secretary for digital policies, Joao Brant, said on Friday. The idea would be for a regulator to hold such platforms, not consumers, accountable for monetized content, Brant told Reuters. Platforms would not be held responsible for content individually, but for how diligent they are in protecting the "digital environment," he said in an interview. Brant did not detail what the regulatory body would look like, but said the government wants to regulate monetized content and prevent the platforms from spreading misinformation. Meta questioned its responsibility for removing content without a court decision in a case involving a fake Facebook profile.

☆ Courts Side With Big Companies Including Amazon and Experian in Privacy Appeals
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Catherine Stupp | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Big companies are winning appeals to overturn regulatory decisions that allege they violated European privacy rules, potentially carving out a path for more businesses to challenge similar sanctions. Courts in the U.K., Spain, Italy and Germany sided with companies including Experian PLC, Amazon. The court rejected the regulator’s argument that collecting personal data to create profiles for marketing purposes intrudes on privacy rights. The court said the regulator had “fundamentally misunderstood” the implications of how Experian used data, and that there were no negative effects for individuals. These recent wins will likely embolden other companies to appeal GDPR violations, said Mr. Machin of Ropes & Gray.

☆ Meta AI Unlocks Hundreds of Millions of Proteins to Aid Drug Discovery
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Eric Niiler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Meta AI researchers produced this digital representation of one million proteins using a new artificial-intelligence tool known as ESMFold. Facebook parent company Meta Platforms Inc. has created a tool to predict the structure of hundreds of millions of proteins using artificial intelligence. Researchers say it promises to deepen scientists’ understanding of biology, and perhaps speed the discovery of new drugs. Meta’s research arm, Meta AI, used the new AI-based computer program known as ESMFold to create a public database of 617 million predicted proteins. Proteins are the building blocks of life and of many medicines, required for the function of tissues, organs and cells.

☆ U.S. FTC asks social media, video streaming firms info on misleading ads
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Thursday issued orders to eight social media and video streaming firms including Meta Platforms Inc (META.O), Twitter, TikTok and YouTube seeking information on how the platforms screen for misleading advertisements. The companies did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. "Social media has been a gold mine for scammers who tout sham products and other scams that have cost consumers enormously in recent years," said Samuel Levine, director of the FTC's consumer protection bureau. "This study will help the FTC ensure that social media and video streaming companies are doing everything they can to keep scammers and deceptive ads off their platforms." read moreReporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju SamuelOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Wall Street ends green as inflation cools, bank jitters ebb
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Stephen Culp | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Financial stocks clawed back some losses, with the S&P 500 Banks index (.SPXBK) coming back from its steepest one-day sell-off since June 2020. Bank contagion fears were allayed on Tuesday as reassurances by U.S. President Joe Biden and other global policymakers vowed the crisis would be contained. Even so, inflation has a considerable way to go before approaching the central bank's average annual 2% target. [1/4] Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., March 14, 2023. The S&P 500 banking index (.SPXBK) reclaimed territory lost to Monday's plunge, its biggest one-day drop since June 2020.

Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.4% in February from 0.5% in January as Americans faced persistently higher costs for rents and food. On a yearly basis, the CPI rose 6% in February, compared with 6.4% the previous month. The S&P 500 banking index (.SPXBK) rose 2.9% after recording its biggest one-day percentage drop since June 2020 in the previous session. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 6.05-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 3.52-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P index recorded two new 52-week highs and five new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 18 new highs and 79 new lows.

Data showed that U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.4% in February versus 0.5% a month ago. Traders held on to bets of a 25-basis-point rate hike at the Fed's next meeting in March, with odds of a pause in hikes slipping a bit to 17%. The S&P 500 banking index (.SPXBK) rose 3.9% after recording its biggest one-day percentage drop since June 2020 in the previous session. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 7.92-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 4.87-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P index recorded no new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 9 new highs and 36 new lows.

Search resuls for: "Platforms Inc"

25 mentions found