[ News ]

[ Online sales reach $10.8 billion on Cyber Monday, the biggest U.S. e-commerce day ever, Adobe says ]

Holiday shoppers went online Monday and spent $10.8 billion, setting a record for the largest U.S. internet shopping day ever, according to Adobe Analytics data. Cyber Monday spending rose 15.1% year over year, according to Adobe, which analyzes website transactions from 80 of the top 100 U.S. online retailers. That came in short of Adobe’s original forecast of $12.7 billion. The firm had been revising its Cyber Monday estimate downward in recent days.
Adobe cut its online sales forecast...

Posted: 12/01/20 [ Read More... ]

[ Salesforce deal to buy Slack expected to be announced Tuesday after market close ]

The deal is expected to be about half cash and half stock, the sources said, and will price Slack at a premium. Salesforce is set to report quarterly earnings on Tuesday. Slack’s market cap was more than $24 billion as of Monday morning. Shares of Slack rose about 4% Monday on the news. Salesforce shares were down more than 3%. Talks between the two companies were first reported last week by The Wall Street Journal and confirmed by CNBC, sending...

Posted: 11/30/20 [ Read More... ]

[ What’s Next for Section 230? A Roundup of Proposals ]

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act has long provided internet platforms like Twitter and Facebook with immunity from claims based on third-party content that appears on their platforms. The statute, codified at 47 U.S.C. § 230, forces individuals unhappy with third-party content to sue the party directly responsible for such content—that is, the user who posted it. This immunity has fostered the free flow of ideas on...

Posted: 10/28/20 [ Read More... ]

[ Shenzhen: inside President Xi’s surveillance city ]

Within living memory Shenzhen was a sleepy fishing village. Now, with Huawei at its heart, it is a digital metropolis that has set alarm bells ringing in America and Europe.

If the past is a foreign country, then the future for China’s Communist Party is the city of Shenzhen.

Hailed by President Xi during a visit this week as a model...

Posted: 10/16/20 [ Read More... ]

[ Covid Pandemic Turns America Into a Nation of Freelancers ]

More than a third of the American workforce did at least some work on the side this year as the Covid-19 pandemic decimated jobs and wages. That translates to 59 million people, or 2 million more than in 2019, according to the Freelance Forward report released Tuesday by Upwork, a firm that helps businesses find labor.
 “There is this really long tail of people who participate a couple of times a month and even...

Posted: 10/05/20 [ Read More... ]

[ In Evolving Consumer Products Space, Data Fills COVID-19 Gap ]

Consumer products companies are increasing their use of data analytics to gain insights that are otherwise hard to obtain in the era of COVID-19.

The global pandemic has upended what many consumer products companies understand about their businesses, customers, risks, and opportunities. As these organizations work to transition to a “next normal” state, the ability to harness data around the rapidly shifting environment has become an important differentiator. Technology to gather and analyze data can help provide insights that...

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[ 11% of Americans have already subscribed to Walmart+ ]

Early September, Walmart announced the launch of Walmart+, a membership program that offers a host of benefits to the company's retail customer base. At $98 per year or $12.95 per month, the service has inevitably been compared to Amazon Prime. A new survey shows that Walmart's new program has hit its mark.

Piplsay Research conducted an online survey of 20,179 Americans earlier this week, which found that 11% of respondents had already subscribed to Walmart+,...

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[ With TikTok deal, Walmart could gain ‘a front row seat to the next generation of consumers’ ]

Brick-and-mortar giant Walmart may seem like an odd match for TikTok, an algorithm-driven social platform known for hosting memes and viral dance challenges. But a closer look at Walmart’s e-commerce and digital media moves shows that TikTok could help it blend the in-store and online shopping experience, while giving it an edge with young Americans. Walmart said Saturday that it has tenatively agreed to take a 7.5% stake of a newly created company based in the U.S. called TikTok Global. Walmart CEO Doug...

Posted: 09/22/20 [ Read More... ]

[ Chime is now worth $14.5 billion, surging past Robinhood as the most valuable U.S. consumer fintech ]

Chime, the start-up that delivers banking services through mobile phones, has closed a fundraising that values the company at $14.5 billion, CNBC has learned exclusively.
 That lofty figure makes Chime the most valuable American fintech start-up serving retail consumers. Robinhood, the popular free-trading app, raised money last month at an $11.2 billion valuation. The moves show that even as investors punish the shares of established U.S. banks — the KBW Bank Index has lost...

Posted: 09/21/20 [ Read More... ]

[ Square Becoming a Bank Is Brilliant. Here’s WhyThe last time any new type of bank appeared was 2010. ]

It may seem surprising that the fintech disruptor Square is reverting to an old format and become a bank. Square has helped so many small businesses expand their payment methods, embracing fintech ahead of other disruptors.

However, there is much more to this story. In fact, this strategic decision could be one of the best moves the company has made. Square's decision could start a revolution and revamp the entire financial institution structure to address the changes...

Posted: 09/18/20 [ Read More... ]