[ News ]

[ DTC sees renewed investments after pre-covid skepticism ]

What cooled the DTC market? In short, low barriers to entry, high customer acquisition costs, and the need to generate venture-sized returns brought the entire D2C investment model into question. However, investors seem to be turning their attention back toward the D2C space as we slowly...

Posted: 04/08/21 [ Read More... ]

[ Wall Street Won’t Intimidate Walmart This Time ]

The retailer’s fintech partnership — and poaching of Goldman Sachs leaders — signals it’s serious about encroaching on Wall Street’s turf. For two years before the 2008 financial crisis, Walmart Inc. was embroiled in controversy over a plan to open its own bank, eventually withdrawing amid pressure from regulators and Wall Street lobbies. Some 14 years later, the retail giant is gearing up for an even more serious fight.
Walmart announced in January that it formed a partnership with Ribbit...

Posted: 03/02/21 [ Read More... ]

[ Salesforce announces permanent remote work for most employees ]

The largest private employer in San Francisco announced today that more than half of its workforce will continue working remotely or on a flexible schedule after the pandemic is over. Salesforce introduced its “Work From Anywhere” strategy, estimating that more than 65% of employees will adopt the new system, based on a company survey. For those that will be coming into an office, the current spaces will be redesigned to accommodate more of a “community hub” feel, focusing on collaboration and breakout...

Posted: 02/10/21 [ Read More... ]

[ Robinhood Crisis Reveals Hidden Costs in Zero-Fee Trading Model ]

For all its benefits, the “democratization” of the stock market can quickly devolve into recklessness. Turns out, no-fee stock trades can exact a very high price after all. Not only for the retail traders sitting on deep losses speculating on meme stocks, or for Robinhood, which faces recriminations for “gamifying” the frenzy that spun out of control and was forced to scramble for billions in fresh cash, but also for the stock market itself, which must reckon with the wild...

Posted: 02/03/21 [ Read More... ]

[ Could California’s Shopping Centers Be a Housing Fix? ]

A trio of bills propose plugging the state’s huge housing gap with commercial-to-residential conversions of strip malls. New research suggests it could work. El Camino Real is a 600-mile historic thoroughfare that once linked Spanish missions in California, running from San Francisco to San Diego. Between Daly City and San Jose, the road is a nearly 45-mile corridor of suburban offices, fast-food outlets, auto parts stores, and other businesses slicing through Silicon Valley, tying together some of the nation’s priciest residential neighborhoods. Like so...

Posted: 01/21/21 [ Read More... ]

[ Microsoft, Oracle and Salesforce join forces to build a COVID-19 vaccination app ]

If you're one of the lucky 10.8 million who have received the COVID-19 vaccine (that's roughly one in every 30 Americans), then all you have to show for it right now is a piece of paper, but that may soon change. A coalition of tech companies and health organizations announced Thursday that they are working on the development of an app that will enable people to share their immunization status, reports the New York Times. The companies, including Salesforce, Oracle,...

Posted: 01/14/21 [ Read More... ]

[ San Francisco board rebukes naming hospital for Facebook CEO ]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Supervisors in San Francisco overwhelmingly approved a resolution Tuesday condemning the naming of the city's public hospital for Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, in 2015 after the couple gave $75 million toward a new acute care and trauma center. The nonbinding resolution does not have the force of law and does not require the hospital to do anything. The hospital was the first in San Francisco to administer vaccines protecting against the...

Posted: 12/16/20 [ Read More... ]

[ EU reveals plan to regulate Big Tech ]

Big tech firms face yearly checks on how they are tackling illegal and harmful content under new rules unveiled by the European Commission.
Fresh restrictions are also planned to govern their use of customers' data, and to prevent the firms ranking their own services above competitors' in search results and app stores.
The measures are intended to overhaul how the EU regulates digital...

Posted: 12/15/20 [ Read More... ]

[ U.S. and States Say Facebook Illegally Crushed Competition ]

Regulators are accusing the company of buying up rising rivals to cement its dominance over social media.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Trade Commission and more than 40 states accused Facebook on Wednesday of buying up its rivals to illegally squash competition, and they called for the deals to be unwound, escalating regulators’ battle against the biggest tech companies in a way that could remake the social media industry.

Federal and state regulators of both parties, who have investigated...

Posted: 12/10/20 [ Read More... ]