Ambani: Google latest US tech giant to invest in India's Jio

The Alphabet-owned search engine has agreed to pay $4.5bn (£3.6bn) for a 7.7% stake in Jio Platforms.

Reliance's billionaire owner Mukesh Ambani says the two companies will develop phones for 4G and
5G networks.

Google joins a list of new investors in Jio that includes Facebook, Intel and Qualcomm.

"Google has empowered millions of Indians to access helpful information and, like Jio, is a force for
change and innovation," Mr Ambani said in a statement to shareholders.

Google's chief executive Sundar Pichai said: "The pace and scale of digital transformation in India is
hugely inspiring for us and reinforces our view that building products for India first helps us build better
products for users everywhere."

Earlier this week Google also said the company would invest about $10bn in India over the next five to
seven years.

In April Facebook said it would invest $5.7bn for a 9.99% stake in Jio, making it the cut-price Indian
mobile internet provider's largest minority shareholder.

The investment arms of US technology giants Intel and Qualcomm have also bought smaller smaller
stakes in the company.

"Shopping spree"

Mr Ambani has been on a shopping spree, managing to hook 11 big investors in the last three months
and raising over $20bn.

Not only has it helped him remove his net debt of $21bn, he is now looking to expand in the e-commerce
space to rival giants like Amazon in India.

His online venture Jio Mart wants to tap into Facebook-owned Whatsapp's 400 million users in India to
connect customers with their nearest mom and pop stores - hugely popular in India.

This is why the $6bn Facebook investment in April becomes even more significant.

Mr Ambani also said his company had developed a fully home-grown 5G network. This is important for
two major reasons.

First, it fits the script of Prime Minister Modi's repeated push for a self-reliant India.

Second, and more importantly, it seriously damages prospects of tech giants like China's Huawei, which
was looking to participate in India's 5G trials.

In the aftermath of the recent border standoff between India and China, the government has been
reconsidering all major business engagements with China.
Jio, which is India's newest major mobile operator, grew rapidly to take the number one spot late last
year.

Since launching in September 2016 the low cost service has attracted almost 400m subscribers and aims
to increase that figure to 500m in the next three years.

In January Reliance announced that it would launch a grocery delivery service that aimed to compete
with Amazon in India.

US technology companies see India as a key market for growth, with the number of internet users there
seen rising to more than 850m in 2022, according to consultancy firm PwC.

Mr Ambani, who is the chairman and managing director of Jio's parent company Reliance Industries, is
now the world's ninth-richest person, with a net worth of $68.7bn, according to Forbes.

Huawei: Trouble overseas but boom time in

China

Jun Yu can't resist gadgets.

More than 20 smartphones, old tablets and other devices lurk in a

corner of his Beijing home - an ever-growing tech junkyard.

His apartment also boasts a Google Home smart assistant and an

Amazon Echo.

"I take three phones out with me every day. I use a phone for
Chinese apps, I use my iPhone for Gmail and western apps, and I
use my Google Pixel phone for work," says the 34-year-old tech
entrepreneur.

His obsession has paid off though. In 2009, he bought the first
phone to use Android, the software that now runs more than 80%
of smartphones.

A year later, the physics graduate, founded his own company

creating content for Chinese Android users. By 2016 he had sold
the company for an undisclosed amount to Alibaba, the Chinese e-
commerce giant.

Now he is excited about the next generation of technology, known

as 5G. It promises lightning fast internet connections for your
mobile phone - fast enough to download movies in a matter of
seconds, or to stream high definition TV.

In October, Jun Yu pre-ordered a 5G-ready smartphone, made by

China's Xiaomi.

"4G has enabled many things like mobile video, more immersive
gaming. I know 5G will too. But I don't exactly know how yet," he
says.

But in the US and UK the rollout of 5G networks has been

hampered by an international row over one of the most important
suppliers of 5G equipment, China's Huawei.

The US has banned the use of Huawei equipment in 5G networks

over security fears, and has encouraged its allies to do the
same. It also maintains a tight control over what US companies
can sell to Huawei, which has disrupted sales of Huawei phones
overseas.

Industry analysts like Edison Lee, an analyst from financial

services group Jefferies, see the US pressure on Huawei as an
attempt to break China's potential dominance of the global 5G
market.

"The tech war is based on America's argument that China's

technological advances have been built upon stolen intellectual
property rights, and heavy government subsidies, and their belief
that Chinese telecom equipment is not safe, and is a national
security threat to the US and its allies," he says.

"As Huawei and [fellow Chinese firm] ZTE increasingly dominate

the global telecom equipment market, the western world will be
more vulnerable to Chinese spying," Lee adds.

Huawei has always strongly denied that its technology can be

used for spying.

While western nations worry about one of the key suppliers of 5G

technology, China is racing ahead with its 5G rollout.
On 31 October Chinese telecom companies launched 5G services
in more than 50 Chinese cities, creating one of the world's largest
5G networks.

Huawei has built an estimated 50% of the network.

The Chinese Ministry of Information claims that in just 20 days the

country registered more than 800,000 subscribers. Analysts
predict China will have as many as 110 million 5G users by 2020.

And China's tech sector is busy coming up with uses for the new
tech.

On a large plot of land in northern Hong Kong, researchers are

developing 5G powered autonomous vehicles.

Researchers at Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology

Research Institution are working in partnership with China Mobile,
the largest telecom company in China.

They see 5G as being particularly useful for self-driving cars,

allowing the cars to build an accurate picture of what's going on
around them, by communicating with other vehicles, traffic signals
and sensors in the road.

"For consumers, 5G will possibly transform how we interact with

other. For the government, 5G will transform roads and road
infrastructure to enable new applications like enhanced assisted-
driving and eventually autonomous driving," says Alex Mui, a
researcher on the project.

China is not the first country to roll out 5G. But it is building one of
the world's biggest 5G markets very quickly.

While Huawei and ZTE are doing well from that expansion, they
would still like to break into lucrative overseas markets like the
US.

Speaking at a 5G convention in Beijing in November, China's

minister for industry and information accused America of using
cybersecurity as an excuse for protectionism.
"No country should ban a company in its 5G network rollout by
using the unproved allegations of cybersecurity risks," said Miao
Wei.

Industry analysts are not confident that the row between China
and the US will be sorted out anytime soon.

"We see the current tensions as a technological Cold War, as tech

nationalism intensifies," says Ben Wood, chief of research, at CCS
Insight.

"With the Chinese government firmly committed to establishing

China as a world-leading 5G nation, the opportunity for Huawei in
its home market is immense.

"However, the rest of the world can't afford to get left behind, and
without access to Huawei infrastructure US mobile network
operators in particular will need to rely on alternative suppliers
who may be more expensive and less advanced with 5G."

The medieval knight who went into space

The BBC's weekly The Boss series profiles different business leaders from around the world. This
week we speak to Richard Garriott, computer games veteran, and space tourism pioneer.

Blasting into space on a Russian Soyuz rocket, Richard Garriott says it was "the most intense eight and a
half minutes" of his life.

Launched from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan, it took just that amount of time for the rocket
to hit 28,000 km/h (17,000mph) and reach orbit.

This was back in October 2008, when Richard became only the sixth person to go into space as a paying
traveller. He spent 12 days on the International Space Station. "It was a truly profound and life-changing
experience," says the 58-year-old.

The trip was the fulfilment of a lifelong ambition for Richard, who, thanks to making a fortune in the
computer games industry, could afford the price - a whopping $30m (£23m). It also allowed him to
follow in the footsteps of his father Owen, an astronaut who twice went into space with Nasa, in 1973
and 1983.

Richard had wanted to join Nasa, too, as a younger man, but his ambition was blocked because his
eyesight was not good enough. Instead he started to design computer games as a teenager.
Raised near Houston, Texas, Richard remembers his high school getting its first computer in the mid-
1970s. As he was an excellent science student, he says that the teachers let him use it as often as he
liked.

"They basically said 'well, we have this computer that we don't know what to do with - it's yours, do
what you want with it'."

Discovering that he was something of a natural at computer programming, he started to design his own
games. In 1979, aged 18, one of his games was released commercially.

Working part time in a computer store, Richard had shown his role-playing game - Akalabeth: World of
Doom - to his manager. The man was so impressed that he asked Richard to make copies that he could
sell from the shop.

It caught the eye of one of the first gaming distributors, who said he wanted to ship them nationwide.
Some 30,000 copies were sold, from which Richard was paid $150,000 in royalties "for a few weeks of
afterschool time at high school".

That amount of money was nearly three times his father's annual Nasa salary. "I sat down with the rest of
the family, who said 'well, this is a good idea, maybe you should do more of these', and I started my
career."

His parents did, however, insist that he still went to university, and so he enrolled on a degree at the
University of Texas at Austin. While at college he released the first instalment of his fantasy world, role-
playing game series Ultima. Think dungeons and dragons, medieval knights, and wizards.

With Ultima 1 selling 50,000 copies, Richard ultimately dropped out of college to focus on making
computer games full time. And together with his brother he set up a business called Origin Systems to
release the later versions of the game.

The Ultima series went on to sell millions of units, and gained a dedicated following within the growing
gaming community. Richard would connect with devotees by going to fan conventions dressed in
medieval costume, as a character from the game called Lord British.
However, on one occasion things took a dark turn when a crazed fan broke into his Texan house,
and Richard had to fire off warning shots from his Uzi machine gun to defend himself before the
police arrived.

In 1992, Richard and his brother sold Origin to gaming giant Electronic Arts for $35m. Richard stayed
with Electronic for eight years, before leaving to create a new business called Destination Games. A
number of other gaming firms then followed, with his current company - Portalarium - formed in 2008.

Considered a pioneer within the gaming community, it is widely accepted that Richard was the first
person to use the term "avatar" to apply to the on-screen representation of a person playing a computer
game.

He says he still loves working in the industry. "I am a very light-hearted person," he says.

"I'm a devout believer in work should be fun. If work is not fun, you are doing the wrong work.

"Maybe that's idealistic, and it's not fair to presume everyone in life can have that opportunity. [But] if
you can enjoy the work you're doing, it makes life better, and so that's one of the markers of success,
being able to do that."
To help get himself into space, Richard co-founded a company called Space Adventures in 1998. Unlike
the continuing efforts of Virgin Galactic and Elon Musk's Space X, Space Adventures didn't set out to
build its own spacecraft. Instead it would arrange for its customers to hitch a ride on the flights of the
Russian space agency Roscosmos. Nasa was also asked, but said "no".

The first person to get into space thanks to Space Adventures was American businessman Dennis Tito,
who in 2001 became the world's first space tourist. Richard's trip came seven years later, and although
he co-owns the company he still had to pay the full price. Space Adventures has so far put seven people
into space.

Fred Schmidt, a Texan technology consultant, says that "Richard's number one trait in his ongoing
entrepreneurial journey is how his boundless imagination plays in tandem with his insatiable curiosity".

Meanwhile, Richard Wiese, president of the Explorers Club, a professional society that promotes
scientific exploration, says that Richard "is often the smartest and most creative person in the room".

He adds: "The idea that Richard would figure a way to get himself into space when ordinary paths
proved impossible speaks volumes on how he views the possible. I often wonder if Richard gets the
proper credit for being one of the first pioneers in private space."

Looking ahead, Richard says he wants to return to space. "I dream about my past and future space
flights," he says. "Having travelled once to space only deepens your desire to spend more time there.

"I experienced what many astronauts refer to as 'the overview effect', which makes your bond and care
of the Earth greatly deepen."

How a serious accident led to business success

It was in the wake of a terrible skiing accident that Susanne Najafi
embarked on her path as a serial entrepreneur.

While racing down the slopes of a Swedish ski resort in 2009, she
fell and broke her neck.

"I was trying to get up, but I'm like, 'Oh, I can't move my arms.'
And that's when I realised it was a bit more serious.

"The doctor said that I was one millimetre from the nerve getting
cut off," she recalls. "They were like, 'This was really, really
lucky.'"

Despite facing months of recovery wearing a neck brace, the then

28-year-old's outlook was positive. "I was like, 'Wow, I got another
shot.' For me, this was a turning point. I realised that life is too
short not to follow your path, to do the things that you're
passionate about."
So the Swede decided to leave a promising marketing career with
consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble.

"I quit my job, and I started to write a lot of pitches," she says.
"I'm like, 'Okay, I'm going to start an e-commerce business,
because I know a lot about consumer products and data.'"

Within four years she was running a Swedish beauty products

company that had a turnover of 130m Swedish kronor ($13.4m;
£10.3m), and today she is the co-owner of successful investment
firm Backing Minds.

Born in Sweden, Susanne's early years were spent in Rinkeby, a

mostly-immigrant neighbourhood of Stockholm. Her parents had
moved there from Iran, following that country's 1979 revolution.

She recalls races with her dad as a young child. "He would run like
Usain Bolt, even though he was 35 and I was five," she says.
"When I came to the finishing line he would say, 'You will not get
anything for free, you really win when you win for real.'"

Though a little tough, she credits his influence for her drive to
succeed in life. "That sparked a very competitive side of me."

Her first taste of entrepreneurship came during an internship with

Swedish cosmetic brand Oriflame, while studying at the Stockholm
School of Economics.

Eager to explore her Iranian roots, aged 23, she spent almost a
year in Tehran, setting up a subsidiary.

Armed with simply a "to-do list", Susanne says she realised that
starting a company was "not harder or bigger than that".

After four years at Procter & Gamble, and then the accident, her
earliest business ventures included a perfume company and a
haircare brand, but soon she had her fingers in many pies.

Selling her apartment to raise funds, her other enterprises

included a contact lens company and a 3D-printed jewellery firm.
It was while playing poker that Susanne met her first major
investors. She won games at tournaments for investors and tech
start-ups, which helped to boost her profile.

One venture capital firm gave her 15m kronor, while further
investment came from another.

However, not all her early ventures were successful, such as a

pharmacy business. "The timing was wrong," says Susanne.
"Everything that shouldn't happen, happened.

"During those years, I actually started seven companies. A lot of

them failed. Some of them went very well."

By 2012, her main business was Unity Beauty Group which went
on an "aggressive expansion". It bought beauty chain Parelle,
launched a web store and a year later merged it with online beauty
platform Eleven.

With a combined turnover of 130m kronor, things then moved fast.

A new warehouse opened, and within a couple of years, the
number of staff jumped to 30.

Then in 2015 Susanne sold her stake, with the aim of instead
becoming an investor in a number of companies. A year later she
launched her investment firm, Backing Minds, together with
business partner Sara Wimmercranz, a founder of Swedish online
shoe retailer Footway.

When the pair met a decade ago, also playing poker, they learned
they were among the few women securing investment in the
country.

This prompted a closer look at the statistics on who gets funding,

and who doesn't. "That's when the whole idea for Backing Minds
was born," says Susanne. It invests in start-ups that are often
overlooked, such as those led by women, immigrants, or people
living outside Stockholm.

As the first female-founded venture capital firm in the Nordic

countries, it has been a trailblazer. "In Sweden it's more common
to be called Johan or Hendrik than to be a woman, in venture
capital," says Susanne.
A report last year highlighted the extent of the gender bias
problem not just in Sweden, but across the wider Nordic region. It
found that out of €2bn ($2.2bn; £1.7bn) of venture capital invested
in Nordic countries in 2018, 87.5% went to start-ups with male founders,
10.5% to mixed gender teams, and only 1% to female-run firms. Such statistics
are mirrored around the world.

Susanne adds that while three-quarters of Swedish companies lie

outside Stockholm, they get "less than 8% of the investment".
Meanwhile, founders with an immigrant background see "a
fraction".

"Instead of seeing this as a problem, we're like, 'This is a big

business opportunity,'" says Susanne.

Backing Minds has so far backed eight companies. One is money

transfer firm Transfer Galaxy, based in Vivalla, a mostly-immigrant
community, in western Sweden. The team had pitched to more
than 100 investors without success. Now it sends 100m kronor
through its platform each month.

Another firm that Susanne and her team has backed is a DNA
diagnostic testing business, Dynamic Code. "[The founder] was
told that she was too old to start a tech company," she says. "She
was 50."

Check Warner is the founder of Diversity VC, a UK-based pressure

group that aims to promote and encourage more diversity in the
investment sector. She says that it is "very encouraging" to see
the work of Backing Minds, and other investment funds, which
"exist to seek out and provide opportunities to founders that would
otherwise struggle to raise money from traditional venture capital
firms".

Susanne says that Backing Minds now plans to expand outside of

the Nordics to other parts of Europe.
After more than a decade as an entrepreneur she says: "I am
actually proud of both my successes and failures, because they
have equally led me to where I am."

The man who sells 700 million sandwiches a year

The BBC's weekly The Boss series profiles different business leaders from around the world. This
week we speak to Patrick Coveney, chief executive of convenience food group Greencore.

When you are the UK's largest maker of pre-packaged sandwiches the coronavirus lockdown is a
significant problem.

With everyone except key workers being asked to stay at home from 23 March, Greencore suddenly saw
a vast drop in customer numbers.

Supplying own-brand sandwiches to all the major supermarkets, and staff canteens - overnight there was
hardly anybody in the UK's offices and other workplaces, to pop out in their lunch-break and buy a BLT
or egg mayo.
As a result, Greencore says its main "food to go" division, which usually sells 700 million sandwiches
per year, plus salads and sushi, saw sales slump by 70% over the following month and a half.
Patrick, who has led the Dublin-based and London-listed company since 2008 says it has been a "period
of unprecedented uncertainty". And in an interview with Irish broadcaster RTE, he said it made
previous worries about Brexit "seem very trivial.

In response to coronavirus, Greencore has shut three of its 16 UK facilities and furloughed 4,000 of its
11,500 employees. Patrick and his fellow board members have cut their own pay by 30%.

He says he is proud of the staff that have remained in work, making sandwiches that include the
"thousands" given for free to NHS workers across 20 UK hospitals.

"Our people have been working around the clock to ensure that we can continue to provide high quality,
fresh prepared food to both consumers and frontline workers during the pandemic."
Born in the Republic of Ireland in 1971, the 49-year-old is from a celebrated Irish family that is
sometimes referred to as "the Kennedys of County Cork". Patrick's late father Hugh was a
government minister in the 1990s. His brother Simon is the current tánaiste or deputy prime minister.

After school Patrick gained a degree in commerce from the University College Cork. He then went to
Oxford University, for a masters in management studies. He played rugby at both universities, and says
the sport helped teach him "the importance of building and working in great teams".

Oxford was followed by spending a decade at management consultants McKinsey, before he joined
Greencore in 2005, as chief financial officer.

Greencore had been set up in 1991 following the privatisation of the former state-owned Irish Sugar. It
moved into convenience foods in 2001 before completely exiting the sugar business in 2006. In 2011 it
switched its primary listing from the Irish Stock Exchange to London.

While making sandwiches is the bulk of its business, it also produces a range of chilled prepared meals -
everything from curries, to quiches and soups. The company says sales of these in first six weeks of the
lockdown were higher than last year as people did more cooking at home. However, the rise was only as
much as 5%.
Although coronavirus is a challenge for Greencore, it is not the first major problem Patrick has had to
deal with at the company. In 2008, only three months after he was promoted to chief executive, a £15m
fraud was discovered at the company's Scottish water subsidiary Campsie.

Patrick sacked three senior managers over the scandal. It was, he says, "the most challenging moment"
of his professional life, and that it made him "stronger and more determined as person and as a leader".

Retail analyst Nick Widdowson, founder of Shopper First, says that looking forward, a major issue
facing Greencore and other makers of convenience food is how to reduce or remove the plastic
packaging.

"Providing ethically fresh, authentic, locally sourced product, together with sustainable packaging, will
be key to any producer of convenience foods seeking to meet their consumers' changing expectations,"
he says.

Patrick agrees. "Two years ago I could make a balanced and consumer-friendly argument that packaging
prolongs the life of food and produce items. [But] the world has moved on, plastic is seen as a problem,
and so we need to find alternatives that are better for the environment."

While Greencore's 2020 revenues and profits will inevitably be down on 2019's £1.5bn and £56.4m
figures, the company says that sales of its pre-packaged sandwiches have now started to recover in
recent weeks as more people have returned to work.
It also said that a survey of 7,000 customers showed that many were now "bored and frustrated" with
having to making their own lunches at home.

"Greencore has an absolutely critical role to play in keeping the UK fed... and there is a powerful sense
of commitment, skill, spirit, and purpose across the Greencore workforce in performing this role," says
Patrick.

Carly Fiorina's journey from secretary to CEO

The BBC's weekly The Boss series profiles different business

leaders from around the world. This week we speak to Carly
Fiorina, US business leader, political figure and philanthropist.

It should give hope to any young person striving to reach the top,
knowing that Carly Fiorina started her business career as a
humble secretary.

"I spent my time greeting visitors, answering phones, typing

memos," she says. "But I was really committed to the job, arriving
early, and leaving late."
Mrs Fiorina, 65, is looking back on her 21-year-old self, who in
1976 got her first full-time job at a small property company in Palo
Alto, California.

From that modest start she went on to become the first female
chief executive of a Fortune 50 company (the 50 largest firms in
the US). This happened in 1999 when, aged 44, she was appointed
to the top job at computer group Hewlett-Packard.
Fortune magazine subsequently named her the most powerful
woman in US business five years in a row, with the publication
declaring that "Carly Fiorina didn't just break the glass ceiling, she obliterated
it".

However, her time at HP was not universally regarded as a

success, with much criticism of her decision to merge the
business with rival Compaq in 2001. And in 2005 she resigned after
a disagreement with her fellow board members.

Mrs Fiorina subsequently entered the political arena, first as an

adviser to the late John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign.
McCain went on to lose the election to Barack Obama.
Eight years later, she herself ran to become the Republican Party
candidate for the 2016 presidential election. She dropped out after
nine months, due to low polling numbers, with Donald Trump going
on to win both the candidacy and, of course, the presidency. She
said at the time that she was "horrified" by Trump.

Born in 1954 in Austin, Texas, her family moved around a lot, due
to her father's job. Her dad, Joseph Sneed, was a law professor
who went on to become US deputy attorney general. Her mother
was a painter.

She got a degree in philosophy and medieval history from Stanford

University in California, before gaining a Master of Business
Administration from the University of Maryland.

In 1980 she entered the technology sector when she joined US

giant AT&T as a management trainee. Her rise at the company
was meteoric. By 1990 she was the firm's first female vice
president, and by 1995 she was a senior director at AT&T spinoff
Lucent Technologies.
It was also while at AT&T that she met her husband Frank, and
they were married in 1985.

Mrs Fiorina's success at the telecoms giant caught the attention

of HP, who were looking for a fresh start after missing nine
quarterly profit targets in a row. She was appointed to the top job
at the company in July 1999.

"When I arrived at HP I purposely brought no-one new in at the

beginning," she says. "I did that for a very explicit reason, which
was to send a very clear message to the organisation that we
could, and we would, figure out what the problem was, and we
would fix it.

"[However], I was brought in by the board to transform the

company. Those were the words they used."

Under Mrs Fiorina's leadership, costs were reduced, and

eventually 30,000 jobs were removed from the combined 145,000
HP and Compaq workforce. A further 80,000 employees took pay
cuts at a business which at its peak was worth $87bn (£71bn).

"Of course it is incredibly difficult to have to fire people, to have to

lay people off," she says. "In that very difficult circumstance, the
best I could do was to fully explain why.

"Why are we having to lay people off? Because if we don't, we will

go out of business like many of our peers."

When the merger between HP and Compaq went ahead in 2002, it

was the biggest ever in the technology sector at the time, and
created the world's largest seller of personal computers.
Whether the merger was a success, however, is still hotly
contested. Tech website ZDNet said in 2016 that HP and Compaq's
coming together was "the worst merger ever". By contrast, the Huffington
Post called it "the merger that worked".

What is certain is that the HP board were unhappy with the profits
and share price of the combined business, and Mrs Fiorina was
asked to resign in 2005. Her severance package was reportedly
worth $21m.
"We did, in fact, restore a great company," she says. "[But] we had
a dysfunctional board. It was dysfunctional when I arrived. It was
dysfunctional when I left."

If leading HP wasn't enough of a battle, Mrs Fiorina jumped into

politics for a decade from 2006. After working for John McCain,
she went on to stand as the Republican candidate in the 2010 US
Senate election in California, but lost out to the Democratic Party
incumbent.

Mrs Fiorina then worked for the American Conservative Union, a

right-wing lobbying organisation, before running to be the 2016
Republican presidential candidate. Looking back on this campaign,
she says that "the process itself is insane".

She adds: "Meaning, when you think about the process the
candidates go through, does it really help someone to be a better
leader? Does it help us to decide a better leader? I don't think so.

"It is a really crazy process that goes on for far too long. It is far
too driven by a media spectacle."

But with another US presidential election due to be held this

autumn, what does she think of President Trump after his four
years in office? She declines to comment.

While the worlds of politics and business can be tough, Mrs

Fiorina's biggest fight came in 2009 when she was diagnosed with
breast cancer, and subsequently required a double mastectomy.

She says the experience taught her a great deal. "While I hope to
never go through cancer again, it was a very important part of my
journey, and for that I'm grateful.

"I learned and grew so much during this time - learned about love
and friendship, grew in my faith, and valued the kindness of
strangers."

Technology firm boss Mihai Ivascu says that Mrs Fiorina is an

"inspirational leader".
"She does not limit herself to what she is expected to do," says Mr
Ivascu, who runs London-based M3 Holdings, and was included on
a "Forbes 30 Under 30" list of leading young entrepreneurs. "And
as she has said, leadership is about changing the status quo when
it needs changing."

In recent years Mrs Fiorina, who lives with her husband in

Washington DC, has dedicated most of her time to her charity
work. This includes being the chair of Good360, which helps
companies give their surplus merchandise to various charities, and
running Unlocking Potential, which helps the bosses of charities
improve their leadership skills.

Looking back on the start of her career, and her days as a

secretary, she says: "I was going to be the best secretary out
there. I had no idea where it would lead."
'I used to hate road cycling, now I design biking gear'
By Will SmaleBusiness reporter, BBC News

The BBC's weekly The Boss series profiles different business leaders from around the world. This
week we speak to Remi Clermont, co-founder and co-owner of cycling clothing company Cafe du
Cycliste.

When Remi Clermont was a teenager, he was embarrassed that his father liked going road cycling.

By road cycling, he means riding around on the type of bike you see in the Tour de France - "drop
handlebars" that sweep downwards, and thin tyres.

Despite Remi being born and raised in the Alsace region of eastern France, and road biking being one of
the country's most popular sports, his young self just didn't like it.

"My friends and I, all the kids, were into mountain biking at the time (the early 1990s)," says the 44-
year-old. "Road biking was seen as very boring. I was almost ashamed when I told friends that my dad
was into it."

Little did teenage Remi know, he would go on to catch the Lycra and tarmac cycling bug himself in his
20s. And then, at the age of 33, launch what is today one of the fastest-growing road cycling clothing
companies - Cafe du Cycliste.

Founded in 2009, in Nice on the French Riviera, the firm says it now sells €4m (£3.6m; $4.5m) worth of
jerseys, shorts and other clothing items per year, with 50% year-on-year growth.

"You can certainly say I changed my mind," jokes Remi.

However, before we return to cycling, we need to go to the world of competitive kayaking. Remi took up
kayaking when he was nine, and went on to be a member of the French national team for six years in his
20s.

"My speciality was white water kayaking," he says. "Sadly the discipline is not an Olympic sport, so I
never got to go to one of them, but it was great to represent France in international competitions.

"And it was the reason I got into road biking. Because you couldn't kayak in the winter when it was too
cold, I'd cycle to keep my fitness up."

Then when he retired from the water sport at the age of 28, he kept up the cycling.

As he was not paid for his kayaking, Remi had also needed to hold down a full-time job in his 20s. After
getting a business degree from the École Supérieure de Commerce de Paris, he worked in the sporting
corporate hospitality sector. This included working at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.

A year later he got a job in the marketing department of the European arm of a US IT firm.

"I wasn't a great fit for the role as I knew nothing about IT," says Remi. "But it had one massive thing
going for it - it was based in Nice, which really is cycling paradise. The hills behind Nice [which lead up
to the Alps] are just wonderful."

Remi was soon spending weekends cycling with a workmate called Andre Stewart. Then Andre quit to
buy and run a cafe in a small village to the north west of Nice, naming it Cafe du Cycliste.

Two year later, in 2009, Remi also left the IT firm to join his friend at the cafe business. His plan was to
design and launch a range of upmarket road cycling clothes that they could sell to all the riders who
stopped for a drink and a bite to eat.

Specifically, Remi wanted to produce the cycling jerseys that he says you couldn't buy in France at the
time - plain and understated ones that wouldn't look out of place in a posh menswear store.

"The only cycling jerseys you could buy at the time in France were racing ones with big logos and
sponsors, that made you look as if you were competing in the Tour de France," he says. "I wanted to
produce something completely different."

There was a catch, however, in that Remi had no knowledge of or experience in the clothing sector. But
undeterred, he says he set to work.

"I started to learn everything I could," he says. "I had some friends in Paris who were working in
clothing and fashion, so I got some tips and helpful mentoring from them.

"And I started going to all the trade shows, and asking millions of questions, and contacting plenty of
factories in Italy."

A few months later, a manufacturer in Italy agreed to make Remi's first design for a cycling jersey, and
the fashion side of Cafe du Cycliste was up and running.

Sales from the shop were stubbornly slow, however, so Remi launched a website to target online
customers, especially from overseas. With little to no money for advertising, he would send free samples
to cycling journalists in various countries.
They would then write enthusiastic reviews, and sales quickly took off, particular in the UK and Japan.

"Cyclists in the UK and Japan were really open to what we are doing," says Remi. "And that remains the
case, still only 10 to 15% of our sales are in France. Many cyclists here still want to look as if they are
taking part in a race all the time."

British cycling journalist and commentator Rebecca Charlton says that brands like Cafe du Cycliste and
the UK's Rapha, Le Col and Assos have led the way over the past decade in offering upmarket, stylish
cycling clothing. This has coincided with a big increase in the number of people taking up the sport,
leading to booming sales at the firms.

"The trends, cuts and designs of modern cycling kit are a far cry from the extremely limited options I
had as a young girl," she says.

"And the psychology isn't to be underestimated either - when you've got a new cycling outfit you feel
that bit more motivated to get out of the door, and you feel good. When it flatters, and fits perfectly, the
ride feels more comfortable, and it definitely adds morale."
Back at Cafe du Cycliste's head office in Nice, Remi says that recent sales have mirrored the industry-
wide increase as a result of coronavirus, with more people taking up cycling either to get some exercise
or avoid public transport.

His dad is also a fan of the clothing, which Remi continues to design himself, and is manufactured in a
number of European factories. However, his father initially wasn't impressed back in 2009.

"When I first started out, he wouldn't wear it, because it was too different to the race jerseys he was used
to," says Remi.

The gaming boss who gets addicted to the games

By Will SmaleBusiness reporter, BBC News

The BBC's weekly The Boss series profiles different business leaders from around the world. This
week we speak to Andrew Day, chief executive of computer games developer Keywords Studios.

Andrew Day knows from personal experience just how addictive some computer games can be.

"I have one of those horrible personalities, that if I open a game, I find, before I know where I am, that I
have spent tens of hours on it," says the 56-year-old.

"Back in 2013... I went for a little break, I was lying beside a swimming pool with nothing to do. So I
picked up my phone and started playing Candy Crush.

"That was in June. I had to give it up in my New Year's resolutions the following year, because I was
just losing so much time on the game. So yes, I have to be a little bit careful."

Andrew is chief executive of Irish company Keywords Studios. Even if you are an avid gamer, you
might not have heard of the Dublin-based firm.

However, the business has helped make many of the world's most popular games - from Fortnite, to
Clash of Clans, League of Legends, and Assassin's Creed.
"The full list of games we have worked on is slightly infinite," says Andrew.

Keywords employs 7,500 people at 59 offices around the world, from Montreal to Tokyo, and in 2019 it
had annual revenues of €326.5m ($369m; £295m).

The business remains under the radar because it doesn't release games under its own name. Instead it is
employed by the world's largest gaming companies to help them make their products.

It does everything from produce whole games, to parts of them, or handling the transfer from one
platform to another, such as making an Xbox game work on a PlayStation.

Or it will design and make all the visual aspects of a game, everything you see, such as the characters,
the buildings and weapons. "All of those are digital assets, and they get produced by artists, and we are
the largest providers of video games art in the world," says Andrew.

In addition, Keywords offers a testing service for nearly completed games, to check that they work
correctly. And it has an audio business whereby actors - famous or not so famous - provide a game's
voices and dialogue, and it adds all the music and sound effects.

Further, the company is the world's largest provider of games translation services - converting games
into 50-plus languages.

Then after a game has been released, Keywords has staff who offer customer support under a client's
name. So if you phone a gaming company demanding help to get you to the next level, you may actually
be put through to Keywords employees.

It is a big operation for Andrew to lead, and while coronavirus has temporarily clipped his wings, he
typically spends "half my time" travelling around the world.

It is a far cry from Keywords' humble beginnings in 1998, when a friend of Andrew's, Giorgio Guastalla,
set up a small firm in Dublin offering translation services to business software providers. It grew slowly
until Andrew was asked to join and lead the company in 2009, by which time it was solely operating in
the gaming sector.

"He had been asking me for a number of years, he thought I could really grow and make something of
the business," says Andrew. "At the time it was just 50 people in an office in Dublin."

Andrew was born and raised in South Africa. He and his family moved to the UK when he was 16,
settling close to London. After gaining a management degree from Bradford University, he then had a
varied career in business.

He started working for cigarette firm Rothmans, before moving into mergers and acquisitions in a
number of industries, and then finally specialising in the technology sphere.

Andrew's plan for Keywords was big expansion, helped by using his knowledge of organising takeovers
to buy firms, which would allow the business to expand the services it could offer gaming companies.
His joining the business also happily coincided with the huge growth in popularity of computer games
over the last decade.
To accelerate its growth and acquisitions, in 2013 Andrew floated Keywords on the London Stock
Exchange's AIM market, which raised some £30m.
"It has been a rare example of spotting an opportunity, having that vision, then creating a business plan
and following it religiously," says Andrew.

Technology sector analyst Patrick O'Donnell of Irish stockbrokerage Goodbody, says, "Andrew Day has
been critical for Keywords.

"Keywords has completed over 40 acquisitions under Andrew's leadership, and is now clients to 23 of
the top 25 global video gaming publishers, and all top 10 mobile game developers," he says.

Boeing to support NASA

with ISS operations
1 MIN READ
through 2024
FILE PHOTO: The Boeing logo is displayed on a screen, at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in
New York, U.S., August 7, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

(Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N) said on Wednesday it

would support International Space Station (ISS)
operations through September 2024 as part of a $916
million contract extension with NASA.
Under the contract valued at about $225 million annually,
Boeing will provide engineering support services,
resources and personnel for activities aboard the ISS and
manage the station’s systems.

NASA selected Boeing as the prime contractor for the ISS

in 1993.

The U.S. planemaker and aerospace major said recent

analysis showed the spacecraft was safe and mission-
capable

Facebook’s Long Slide toward Irrelevance

The social media giant has long been losing young and
progressive users. Now those users have persuaded
advertisers to join them.

FACEBOOK IS BLEEDING revenue as a growing list of companies

say they'll stop advertising on the platform as part of a boycott
campaign over the social media giant's handling of political
misinformation and hate speech, and its permissive stance on
President Donald Trump's posts.

The company has faced backlash before for a string of

controversies dating back years and involving user privacy,
objectionable content and misinformation, yet it has continued to
grow its massive Rolodex of advertisers whose money powers the
platform.

The scale and prominence of the recent boycott have Facebook

finally reckoning with issues and policies that have been
scrutinized by both the public and lawmakers for years. But the
damage to the company, while certainly not fatal, may at least
prove irreparable.

The recent campaign is the most forceful and coordinated

repudiation of Facebook to date, born out of the intersection of
two trends: Companies – especially those courting a younger
customer base – are eager to publicly position themselves as
supporters of social justice causes like gay rights and Black Lives
Matter.

The advertising boycott comes amid renewed focus on the way

social media companies handle content, including racist speech
and conspiracy theories, in the wake of events surrounding George
Floyd, a black man who was killed in police custody.

MarketWatch on Wednesday speculated on the benefits for

corporations of taking on Facebook at this time.
"There is a perfect storm of corporate responsibility during
coronavirus and Black Lives Matter, and a need to contain costs
during a recession," John Marcinuk, head of marketing at Blue
Fountain Media, told the site. "Whether you're spending a dime or
$20 million on a platform, if you have a stand to take, now is the
time to do it."

At the same time, Facebook has shed its It Girl status. As it has
aged, newer social media sites have peeled away younger people
amid mounting controversies, and its image is increasingly
tarnished by how people use – and are allowed to use – the
platform.

While still the most-used social media platform with some 2 billion
users globally, a torrent of surveys has documented the flattening
of Facebook's growth curve as it loses share – especially among
crucial younger U.S. consumers – to newer and more fashionable
sites like Instagram (which is owned by Facebook) and Tik Tok.
The platform lost 15 million users between 2017 and 2019,
according to a study last year by Edison Research.

"The survey didn't specifically ask, 'Why are you using Facebook
less?' or 'Why have you stopped using Facebook?' among those
who say that they have. There's tons of other information out
there, whether it be the politically related aspects to Facebook,"
Edison President Larry Rosin told Marketplace at the time.
"There's conjecture about as Facebook has become more popular
among older people, whether that's affected younger people."

Complicating its public image were a series of missteps that were,

at least in part, its own making.

Facebook Fined $5B, Ordered to Implement New Privacy

Protections ]
The site will forever be connected with the Russian campaign to
spread disinformation during the 2016 presidential election, which
prompted a larger cultural examination of the power of social
media. And its initial dismissal of the scheme when it was
exposed cost it with both the public and lawmakers, who have
since called to break up the company amid investigations by the
Justice Department and Congress.
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder and chief executive officer,
has been hauled in front of lawmakers several times in the last
few years and questioned during a series of appearances about
controversies and policies, including the platform's involvement in
and effect on elections and voting. The latest such appearance
was announced just Friday and will address antitrust issues
before the House Judiciary Committee near the end of the month.
And the company's failure to protect millions of users' private data
from collection by the third-party political consulting firm
Cambridge Analytica in 2018 soured many users. The site that
same year took high-profile criticism over the presentation of its
trending topics section, which at times featured posts from
questionable sources and forced it to rethink its handling of news.
Underlying that controversy was a neutral stance the company
adopted in its approach to political content, in part because
leaders reportedly felt that removal of right-wing messages that
accounted for much of the objectionable material would make it
look as if they were disproportionately targeting Republican
posts.

Despite employing legions of content moderators, Facebook has

taken a largely hands-off approach to moderation, particularly
when it comes to political speech. It does not fact-check political
advertisements or posts from prominent politicians – a decision
Democrats argue benefits the right.

In a speech last year, Zuckerberg touted the company's

commitment to "free expression" and called the platform's
services a "fifth estate" that allows individuals to share their
views.

The decision had the effect of heightening an association in the

public eye between Facebook and right-wing causes.

That led to attacks initiated last year from the progressive end of
the political spectrum that condemned the company for allowing
users to traffic widely in conspiracy theories and share fake news
at a dizzying speed without moderation. Hate speech has festered
on the platform, particularly in private groups that are harder to
moderate.

Former Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren led a

blistering criticism of the company and its leaders, with public
appeals last year during her campaign for the Democratic
presidential nomination to hold Facebook accountable for its
decision not to regulate political speech.

"They've decided to let political figures lie to you – even about

Facebook itself – while their executives and their investors get
even richer off the ads containing these lies," Warren wrote on
Twitter. "Once again, we're seeing Facebook throw its hands up to
battling misinformation in the political discourse, because when
profit comes up against protecting democracy, Facebook chooses
profit."

To illustrate her point, Warren ran an ad with intentionally false

information, alleging that Zuckerberg and Facebook had endorsed
Trump for reelection. It was not flagged by the site's moderators.

The steady drip of disclosures and accusations has coincided with

a tumbling of public opinion that saw Facebook record the biggest
decline in reputation of any corporation in America, according
to an annual survey released last year by The Harris Poll.

But none of that seemed to affect the company's bottom line with
advertisers who recognized that its reach was continuing to
extend across the globe and into older demographics.

And without that, the company that generates some 98% of its
nearly $71 billion in revenue from ads, has had little incentive to
reconsider its behavior.

Until now.

The boycott campaign gained widespread attention in mid-June

when Patagonia, REI and North Face – outdoors companies that
have made values-based consumerism part of their brands – joined
the effort. Some of the companies involved – like Ben & Jerry's,
Starbucks, Luluemon and Vans – have younger, progressive
customer bases, or at least present themselves that way.

It's been joined by more mainstream marketing giants like Ford

Motor Co., Coca-Cola, Unilever and Pfizer. Now, 250 companies
have signed on, according to a running tally kept by the Anti-
Defamation League, with some companies pausing marketing
efforts on other social media platforms, like Twitter, as well.

A coalition of civil rights groups including the ADL and the NAACP
is spearheading the campaign, which has been dubbed "Stop Hate
for Profit." The effort, perhaps ironically, spread across social
media with a hashtag, rapidly becoming a cause celebre.

Companies are taking varied approaches to the campaign. Some

are pausing advertising for the month of July, while others have
announced a suspension through the end of the year.

Feds Feud With Twitter Over China Claim ]

It's unclear if the boycott will meaningfully impact the company's

bottom line – more than 8 million entities advertise on Facebook,
Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said in April – but
investors are taking notice. Facebook stock slid last week after
Unilever, one of the biggest advertisers in the world, said it would
stop running ads on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter through the
end of the year, citing a "polarized election period" and noting that
"continuing to advertise on these platforms at this time would not
add value to people and society." Breathless headlines earlier this
week noted that the company had lost $60 billion in market share
in just two days as a result of the actions.

Many companies that have pulled ads from the platform have
referenced Facebook's approach to hate speech and misleading or
fake content.

The chief marketing officer of Levi Strauss & Co. said in a blog
post about the company's decision to stop its Facebook
advertising that Facebook's failure to stem hate speech and
misinformation "fuels racism and violence and also has the
potential to threaten our democracy and the integrity of our
elections." The Clorox Co. said it was pausing Facebook spending
because it feels "compelled to take action against hate speech."
And chocolate manufacturer Hershey's said it was joining the
boycotts after conversations with Facebook earlier in June about
its handling of hate speech failed to produce results.

"Despite repeated assertions by Facebook to take action, we have

not seen meaningful change," Hershey's said.

Just last month, the company again saw controversy over

President Donald Trump's posts about mail-in ballots and fraud.
While Twitter decided to label the posts as misleading, Facebook
determined that they did not violate its policies. Facebook also
declined to take action on a widely decried post from Trump that
said, "when the looting starts, the shooting starts," referring to the
widespread protests over the death of Floyd. Twitter, on the other
hand, hid that post for glorifying violence.

The positions have led to speculation about Trump's relations with

Zuckerberg, whose company has largely steered clear of the
types of threats of regulation or investigation that the president
has levied against tech companies like Amazon that have drawn
his ire in the past. Reports in recent days hint at a
coordination between the two on the handling of Trump's
inflammatory social media messages that has sparked a crisis of
confidence among the company's employees.

Facebook has responded to the boycott defensively. It said it has

invested billions of dollars into technology and employees that
moderate content and pointed out that it has banned 250 white
supremacist organizations from both Facebook and Instagram.

But the company also admitted that work remains to be done,

starting with a series of policy tweaks, when it took its first tepid
steps toward publicly disavowing controversial posts from the
president or his supporters.

Zuckerberg last week announced Facebook would remove posts

that contained false information about voting and would create a
new label for content that is "newsworthy" but that otherwise
violates its policies. And he explicitly said that no politician would
be exempt. Facebook also committed to banning a broader range
of hateful content in ads, Zuckerberg said. On Monday, the
company agreed to an outside audit by the Media Rating Council.

And while it appears to be yielding to those who say it does not do

enough to limit hateful content, stop the spread of misinformation
or fact-check political posts, it is now also coming under fire from
those on the right whom it was initially reluctant to alienate and
who increasingly say the company censors free speech.

But without further action on hate speech, it is "starting down a

long slippery slope to being irrelevant," David Jones, a top
advertising executive, told The New York Times. Jones is a
founding member of Facebook's client council, a group of
marketing executives who advise the company.

"Their intentions are good, but their judgment is poor," he told the
paper.

American Airlines Warns 25,000 Workers They

Could Lose Jobs
American Airlines is telling 25,000 workers that they could
lose their jobs in October because of the sharp drop in air
travel during the virus pandemic.

American Airlines is notifying about 25,000 workers that their jobs

could be eliminated in October because of plunging demand for air
travel, adding to the toll that the virus pandemic is taking on the
airline industry.

American's top executives said Wednesday that the number of

furloughs could be lower if enough workers take buyouts or accept
partially paid leave for up to two years.
The airline's two top officials said they thought American might
avoid furloughs because they believed demand for air travel would
“steadily rebound” by Oct. 1 as the virus outbreak weakened.

“That unfortunately has not been the case,” CEO Doug Parker and
President Robert Isom said in a memo to employees. ”And with
infection rates increasing and several states reestablishing
quarantine restrictions, demand for air travel is slowing again."

Air travel plunged 95% from early March to mid-April, then grew
slowly until leveling off in July as virus cases surged in the South
and Southwest.

U.S. airlines accepted up to $25 billion in federal aid to help cover

payroll costs in exchange for not cutting jobs until October.
American received $5.8 billion in cash and loans, Delta got $5.4
billion and United Airlines received $5 billion. The aid likely only
delayed massive job cuts throughout the airline industry.

Last week, United told 36,000 employees that they could lose their
jobs in October. Delta has sent notices to more than 2,000 pilots.

American's cuts would fall most heavily on flight attendants, with

nearly 10,000, or 37%, getting notices of potential furloughs — the
industry's preferred term for layoffs of workers who have rehiring
rights. About 4,500 ground workers, 3,200 mechanics and 2,500
pilots will get notices.

“It's brutal,” said Dennis Tajer, a pilot and spokesman for the union
of American's pilots. “This puts the number on how serious the
virus is for airlines and our economy.”

Several airline unions are lobbying for another $25 billion in federal
payroll aid through March. American's pilots want the government
to buy billions of dollars worth of seats per month — creating more
space between passengers — until the pandemic ends.

Separately, Delta Air Lines said Wednesday that it expects to take

a charge of $2.7 billion to $3.3 billion to cover the cost of early
retirements and buyouts for employees as it shrinks in response to
a sharp decline in air travel.
The airline said this week that 17,000 employees have agreed to
depart.

Delta said in a regulatory filing that $500 million to $600 million of

the charge would go toward cash payments to pilots, flight
attendants, ground workers and other departing employees in the
July-September quarter. Employees who agree to leave get
payments, health insurance and, in some cases, retiree health
care benefits.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian said the airline hopes to carry out the “vast
majority of the head count changes we need” through voluntary
departures, “minimizing, if not eliminating, the need for involuntary
furloughs.”

Nissan takes on Tesla in China's electric car

market

Nissan has unveiled the first of its new electric vehicles as part of
a turnaround strategy for the loss-making company.

The Japanese carmaker is hoping its new all-electric sports utility

vehicle (SUV) Ariya will sell well in China.

But it faces tough competition from Tesla which has a strong

presence in the world's largest car market.

Electric cars are a cornerstone of Nissan's four-year plan to get it

back to profitability.

The Ariya was launched online on Wednesday from the company's

headquarters in Yokohama, Japan. Nissan chief executive Makoto
Uchida referred to the all-electric SUV as the "flagship of the new
Nissan".

By 2023 Nissan plans to launch more than eight new electric

models, and sees China as a core market. The Chinese
government offers generous incentives for buyers of electric cars
below a certain price.
In 2019, just over 20 million cars were sold in China, compared to
17 million in the US.

Nissan was regarded as one of the early front-runners in electric

vehicles (EV) but experts say it has lost momentum since it
launched its all-electric Leaf back in 2010.

"The Ariya will be a brand builder for Nissan which has historically
been an EV leader," said Nobuhito Massimiliano Abe, a principal at
market research firm Kearney's Automotive Practice.

But its newly-launched model could face tough competition from

Tesla which became the best-selling new energy vehicle in China
in May.

Elon Musk's firm is currently expanding Teslas's "Gigafactory" in

Shanghai to build more Model Ys - its own all-electric SUV.

"Clearly out in front is Tesla at the moment. It's got the EV

cachet," said Calum MacRae, head of automotive R&A at
GlobalData. "But given the sheer size of the Chinese market and
technological lead that market could yet spawn a global
competitor to Tesla."

In May, Nissan reported an operating loss of 40.5bn yen ($380m;

£303m) for the year ending 31 March. It was the company's worst
performance since 2009 - the height of the global financial crisis.

The brand has also been damaged by the controversial departure

of former chairman Carlos Ghosn who fled Japan after being
detained on financial misconduct charges last year.

Nissan has announced its Barcelona factory will close at the end
of this year as part of its restructuring, but its UK factory will
remain open.

DAN MULLAN

The UK's inflation rate rose to 0.6% in June as the coronavirus

lockdown began to ease.
The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) picked up slightly from May's
four-year low of 0.5%, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Food and alcohol prices fell, but prices for clothing and games
rose, the ONS said.

Despite the slight increase in the rate, inflation remains below the
Bank of England's 2% target.

Jonathan Athow, deputy national statistician for economic

statistics at the ONS, said: "The inflation rate has increased for
the first time this year, but remains low by historical standards.

"Due to the impact of the coronavirus, clothing prices have not

followed the usual seasonal pattern this year, with the normal falls
due to the start of the summer sales failing to materialise.

"Prices for computer games and consoles have risen, but food
prices, particularly vegetables, have fallen."

Inflation has fallen sharply during the coronavirus crisis as

consumer demand has slumped.
In June, men's clothing in particular rose in price, with increases
coming "across almost the full range", the ONS said.

Women's clothing showed "a more mixed picture across the

different products", but with the overall effect still upward.

Games, toys and hobbies, particularly computer games and

computer games consoles, made the biggest contribution to the
inflation rise, the ONS said.

"It is possible that prices have been influenced by the coronavirus

(Covid-19) lockdown changing the timing of demand and the
availability of some items, particularly consoles," the ONS added.

U.S. consumer prices increased by the most in nearly eight

years in June as businesses reopened, but the underlying
trend suggested inflation would remain muted and allow
the Federal Reserve to keep injecting money into the ailing
economy.

The Labor Department said on Tuesday its consumer price

index increased 0.6% last month, the biggest gain since
August 2012, after easing 0.1% in May. The increase, which
ended three straight months of declines, was driven by
rises in the prices of gasoline and food.

In the 12 months through June, the CPI climbed 0.6% after

gaining 0.1% in May, which was the smallest year-on-year
rise since September 2015.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the CPI

increasing 0.5% in June and advancing 0.6% year-on-year.

Businesses have reopened after shuttering in mid-March to

slow the spread of Covid-19. But new cases of the
respiratory illness have surged in large parts of the
country, prompting some states to dial back or pause
reopenings.

The economy slipped into recession in February.

The Fed is pumping money into the economy through

extraordinary measures, including large-scale asset
purchases and funneling loans to firms. Separately, the
government has provided nearly $3 trillion in fiscal
stimulus, contributing to a record monthly budget deficit in
June.

There have been fears that the unprecedented stimulus

could stoke inflation. But with a record 33 million people on
unemployment benefits, economists expect inflation is
likely to remain benign.

Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the CPI

rose 0.2% in June after slipping 0.1% in May. Increases in
the costs of apparel and healthcare were offset by a
moderation in rental inflation.

The so-called core CPI had dropped for three consecutive

months for the first time since the series started in 1957. In
the 12 months through June, the core CPI increased 1.2%,
matching May’s gain.

The Fed tracks the core personal consumption

expenditures (PCE) price index for its 2% inflation target.
The core PCE price index increased 1.0% on a year-on-year
basis in May, the smallest advance since December 2010.
June’s core PCE price index data will be released at the
end of this month.

China's economy shrank for the first time in decades in the first quarter of the year, as the virus
forced factories and businesses to close.

The world's second biggest economy contracted 6.8% according to official data released on Friday. The
financial toll the coronavirus is having on the Chinese economy will be a huge concern to other
countries. China is an economic powerhouse as a major consumer and producer of goods and services.

Last year, China saw healthy economic growth of 6.4% in the first quarter, a period when it was locked
in a trade war with the US.
In the last two decades, China has seen average economic growth of around 9% a year, although experts
have regularly questioned the accuracy of its economic data.

Its economy had ground to a halt during the first three months of the year as it introduced large-scale
shutdowns and quarantines to prevent the virus spread in late January. As a result, economists had
expected bleak figures, but the official data comes in slightly worse than expected.

Among other key figures released in Friday's report:

 Factory output was down 1.1% for March as China slowly starts manufacturing again.

 Retail sales plummeted 15.8% last month as many of shoppers stayed at home.

 Unemployment hit 5.9% in March, slightly better than February's all-time high of 6.2%.

Analysis: A 6% expansion wiped out

Robin Brant, BBC News, Shanghai

The huge decline shows the profound impact that the virus outbreak, and the government's
draconian reaction to it, had on the world's second largest economy. It wipes out the 6%
expansion in China's economy recorded in the last set of figures at the end of last year.

Beijing has signalled a significant economic stimulus is on the way as it tries to stabilise its
economy and recover. Earlier this week the official mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party,
the People's Daily, reported it would "expand domestic demand".

But the slowdown in the rest of the global economy presents a significant problem as exports
still play a major role in China's economy. If it comes this will not be a quick recovery.

On Thursday the International Monetary Fund forecast China's economy would avoid a
recession but grow by just 1.2% this year. Job figures released recently showed the official
government unemployment figure had risen sharply, with the number working in companies
linked to export trade falling the most.

China has unveiled a range of financial support measures to cushion the impact of the
slowdown, but not on the same scale as other major economies.

"We don't expect large stimulus, given that that remains unpopular in Beijing. Instead, we think
policymakers will accept low growth this year, given the prospects for a better 2021," said
Louis Kuijs, an analyst with Oxford Economics.

Since March, China has slowly started letting factories resume production and letting
businesses reopen, but this is a gradual process to return to pre-lockdown levels.

China relies heavily on its factories and manufacturing plants for economic growth, and has
been dubbed "the world's factory".
Stock markets in the region showed mixed reaction to the Chinese economic data, with China's
benchmark Shanghai Composite index up 0.9%.
Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped 2.5% on Friday, although this was largely due to gains on Wall
Street after US President Donald Trump unveiled plans to ease lockdowns.

U.S. retail sales increased more than expected in June, but the budding
economic recovery is being threatened by a resurgence in new Covid-19
infections and high unemployment.

The Commerce Department said on Thursday retail sales rose 7.5% last
month. That was on top of the 18.2% jump in May, which was the biggest
gain since the government started tracking the series in 1992.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales advancing 5% in
June.

Retail sales have rebounded as businesses resumed operations after

being shuttered in mid-March in an effort to slow the spread of the
coronavirus. But new cases of the respiratory illness have exploded,
especially in the densely populated South and West, forcing some
authorities in these regions to either close businesses again or pause
reopenings.

The uncertainty sparked by the spiraling Covid-19 cases is chipping at

the recovery, which started in May, and could worsen already
astoundingly high unemployment. The economy had already slipped into
recession in February, before the coronavirus-related shutdowns began
in the United States.

Retail sales in June are expected to have gained 5.2% as the economy
reopened, but sales could have trailed off towards the end of the month
as the virus outbreak worsened.

According to Dow Jones, economists expect sales rose 5% when

excluding vehicle sales. May sales jumped by a surprising 17.4%, and
17.2% excluding automobiles, as states first reopened their economies.

“They’re backward looking, and I’m afraid we might get a decline in

July,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton. She expects
sales increased by 5.5%, and the number would have been stronger were
it not for a slowdown by consumers who stayed home in the second half
of the month.
“That was before states went into reversing lock downs. Foot traffic in
malls declined,” she said. Some states have moved to once more restrict
indoor dining, bars and movie theaters, after opening up several weeks
ago.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said he expects sales

increased by 6%, and he said business spending data collected by
software firm Cortera confirms that it was strong. Cortera analyzes
business to business spending, and it is a barometer for spending
activity by consumers.

“The strongest categories were a big increase in clothing stores,

furniture, electronics and appliance stores and sporting goods stores,”
he said.

However, he said in hot-spot states, spending clearly slowed toward the

end of the month, as there were fewer restaurant bookings.

The retail sales number is important because it shows how the

consumer is faring, but now it’s also important to see where the activity
is because so many millions of Americans in the services sector are out
of work. “Retail sales don’t include all the services. It’s just a piece of
the pie. A much larger part is travel and tourism,” she said.

Zandi said the pickup in retail sales in May and June has been
encouraging even if there was a likely tapering off. For June, on a
seasonally adjusted basis, he expects retail sales would total $515
billion, virtually flat with last June’s $519 billion.

“Given where we were two months ago, this feels like a miracle,” he
said. “This is a little backward looking, so I wouldn’t count on retail
sales getting back to where we were in July and August.”

He said the burst of business after states first reopened clearly showed
up in the economic data. “By the first weeks of June, everything felt
really good, including the jobs number. In the second half of June, first
half of July, things have gone flat, and have flatlined for the last five or
six weeks,” he said.

The course of the economy will depend on the course of the virus, and
how long activities will be shut down or how long Americans will simply
avoid them. There were more than 60,000 new cases reported
Wednesday.
For instance, TomTom, a leading location technology specialist saw no material
impact on its Enterprise revenue. While its location technology revenue from
Automotive decreased from €65.1 million in Q1 of 2019 to €49.8 million in
Q1 of 2020, its Enterprise revenue saw an increase from €37.8 million in
Q1 of 2019 to €41.5 million in Q1 of 2020 (10% higher). The gross margin
for the quarter was 78% compared with 72% in Q1 of 2019. The company’s gross
margin continues to improve for the company as a result higher proportions of
higher margin software and content revenue.

Tomtom’s Chief Executive Officer, Harold Goddijn, shared, “Our Automotive

revenue arises principally from customer vehicle sales, which are sharply impacted
by factory closures. Our Consumer revenue is impacted by a steep decline in
demand arising from retail stores being closed, retailers reducing their inventory
levels, and people not driving. Recovery will depend on how quickly economic
normality is restored, including vehicle production and end-customer demand,
which is currently uncertain. The year has started well for Automotive and
Enterprise orders, including new business, expansions and extensions to existing
deals. Our investments to improve our location technology products are delivering
to plan, enabling us to continue executing on our business strategy.”

Hexagon AB, a global leader in sensor, software and autonomous geospatial

solutions, also recorded an organic growth in its software portfolios in the first
quarter of 2020. Geospatial Enterprise Solutions (GES) net sales amounted
to €453.8 million as compared to €448.7 million in Q1 of 2019. The
company recorded negative organic growth in China and Western Europe whilst
the rest of the world grew organically by 4 per cent. The Manufacturing
Intelligence and Geosystems divisions were most impacted, recording -14
per cent and -11 per cent organic growth respectively. The PPM and Safety
& Infrastructure divisions were more resilient; with PPM recording 8 per cent
organic growth, fuelled by solid demand in design and asset information
management solutions, and Safety & Infrastructure recording 24 per cent
organic growth, supported by a strong demand for its new public safety and
geospatial mapping solutions.

On the announcement of the results, Ola Rollén, President and CEO, Hexagon
AB, rightly commented, “It is without a doubt a challenging and uncertain
environment we experience and it changes daily. Fortunately, Hexagon’s strong
financial position enables us to continuously develop revolutionary solutions that
drive our customers efficiency, productivity and quality.”

Singapore

On a year-on-year basis, performance was mixed among the industries. The Recreation & Personal
Services industry reported a drop of 24.1% in revenue, due mainly to firms in the attractions
segment. Similarly, business receipts of the Transport & Storage Services industry declined by
4.7%. In particular, the air transport segment reported a decrease in revenue due to global travel
restrictions as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak. On the other hand, the Education Services and
Financial & Insurance Services industries reported an increase in revenue of 5.7% and 3.7%
respectively. Similarly, the Information & Communications Services industry recorded a growth of
2.8%, due mainly to firms engaged in computer programming & consultancy services as well as
web hosting and web portal services.

America’s housing market is behaving oddly. Residential property—worth $35trn, slightly

more than America’s stockmarket—seems strangely oblivious to the economic carnage
around it. House prices in May were 4.3% higher than a year earlier. That rate of growth is
only marginally below the average since the end of the housing crash a decade ago. Prices
in even the costliest places, such as San Francisco, where the average pad sets you back
$1.1m, continue to march upwards. Many economists still expect house prices to fall over
the whole of 2020—but such forecasts are looking increasingly shaky.
At first glance this is surprising. House prices typically nosedive during recessions. A rising
number of mortgage defaults leads to more properties being put up for sale. Falling
household incomes reduce buyers’ purchasing power. In the recession of the early 1990s
house prices dropped by 10% in real terms; they fell by three times that in the downturn
that followed the financial crisis of 2007-09. The fall in gdp associated with the coronavirus
pandemic, and the rise in unemployment, is unprecedented. Despite that, there is little sign
so far that America’s housing market is about to subside.

China’s world-beating growth rate of...3.2%

Its economic rebound is impressive but uneven

At the start of the year no one would have predicted that China would crow about such slow
growth by its lofty standards. Yet on July 16th it proudly reported that gdp grew by 3.2% in
the second quarter compared with a year ago, rebounding from its coronavirus lockdown
(see chart 1). This makes it, by far, the best-performing big economy.
Retail

will – giving instructions – memo

Innovation

Passive – presentations –promotional new products

Money/Negotiation

1st and 2nd conditional – negotiatons –late payers

Market Research/advertising

Relative clauses –indirect questions -report

Investment

Reported speech – meetings

3rd conditonals
How Coca-Cola Is Thriving
Despite Declining Soda
Consumption
Coca-Cola has been able to grow revenue organically and
inorganically at an impressive pace. Earnings are growing even
faster than revenue.
Consumers around the world are becoming more health conscious. Recent studies
show that people are drinking less sugary drinks in favor of healthier options,
and some governments have even started taxing sugary drinks in an effort to
nudge consumer behavior.

Last year, Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) generated 69% of its worldwide unit volume from
sparkling soft drinks. Most of this volume is from the signature Coca-Cola brand
soda. Despite the difficult market environment for soft drinks, the company has
been able to show organic revenue growth and even faster profit growth. The key
to Coca-Cola's recent success can be attributed to pricing power, margin-
enhancing restructuring efforts, and expanding into attractive new beverage
categories.

Check out the latest Coca-Cola earnings call transcript.

IMAGE SOURCE: COCA-COLA.

Pricing Power
Coca-Cola has a stated goal of achieving long-term organic sales growth of 4% to
6%. The table below shows that the company has been within striking distance of
this goal but is a bit shy.

Metrics 2015 2016 2017 9 Months YTD 2018

Organic Sales Growth 3% 3% 3% 5%

Unit Volume 1% 1% 0% 2%

Price / Mix 2% 3% 3% 2%

SOURCE: COCA-COLA FINANCIAL REPORTS.

Unit volume and price/mix drive Coca-Cola's revenue trends. Unit volume for Coca-
Cola refers to how many cases of bottled beverages it sells. Price/mix refers to price
per unit, which can vary depending on the type of beverage or packaging. The
standard way of raising prices involves simply adding a few cents to the unit price;
however, price and mix can take several forms. Certain beverage categories,
organic teas for example, generally have higher unit prices. So if Coca-Cola sells
relatively more premium beverages, it is said to benefit from its sales mix shifting
to higher priced units. Another way Coca-Cola has "raised prices" is by packaging
classic Coke in smaller cans but keeping the prices the same.

Sales unit volume has been flat globally despite falling soft drink consumption in
the US. Coca-Cola generates more than half of its revenue outside of the United
States, where soft drink consumption is trending upward as a result of rising
disposable incomes in many developing economies. In developed economies,
Coca-Cola has been able to offset volume declines in sugary drinks with healthier
options like tea and water.

Price/mix has been the leading driver of organic growth. Coca-Cola's brand
strength is legendary, allowing the company to increase prices without losing share
in its soft drinks. Outside of soda, the company has focused on niche categories
that lend themselves to "premiumization". Tea, water, and juice are examples of
beverage categories where consumers are willing to spend more money for valued-
added attributes such as natural ingredients or fewer calories.

Revenue growth driven by price increases leads to profits growing faster than sales,
all things being equal. This operating leverage will help the company maintain an
attractive level of earnings growth in coming years.

Corporate Restructuring
In addition to driving revenue growth, Coca-Cola has cut costs and restructured to
improve margins. In 2014, the company launched a massive program to reduce
headcount by 1% and improve earnings $3 billion annually by 2019. Based on a
steady rise in gross and operating margins over the past few years, these measures
have been successful.
KO Operating Margin (TTM) data by YCharts

The company has also restructured itself by selling its bottling operations. In recent
years, Coca-Cola has sold its bottling businesses in the U.S., Europe, China, and
Africa. Bottling is a capital intensive and low-margin business. Separating bottling
from marketing has made the company leaner and more focused, giving the
business a higher-margin, asset-light operation that generates a higher return on
equity.

Coca-Cola now has its highest level of operating margins in years with additional
improvement expected in 2019. The company's focus on costs is a boon to
shareholders who will be rewarded with greater cash flow for dividends,
repurchases, and acquisitions.

Expanding to New Beverage Categories

Finally, Coca-Cola has been diversifying itself away from sugary drinks with
acquisitions into new categories. M&A is nothing new for the company, but the
pace of M&A has picked-up in recent years.

Coke's largest and most recent deal was the $5 billion acquisition of Costa Coffee.
This transaction gives Coke meaningful exposure to the global coffee market for
the first time. Costa generates most of its sales through a bottled coffee drink sold
in retail stores and vending machines in the UK. Costa also sells coffee beans and
operates a chain of coffee shops consisting of nearly 4,000 stores in 31 countries.
The company can significantly expand Costa's bottled coffee drink through its
distribution network and experiment with its physical store footprint. It will be
interesting to watch what the company does with this new brand in coming years.

Coca-Cola has made many smaller acquisitions as well, entering categories such as
Kombucha and natural fruit juices. The company even hinted it was exploring CBD-
based drinks. One particularly interesting deal was Coke's minority investment in
sports drink BODYARMOR, a Kobe Bryant-backed company that more than
doubled its revenue and signed a deal to become an official sponsor of the NCAA
in 2018.

Acquisitions, both small and large, allow Coca-Cola to enter new markets and
diversify itself away from unhealthy products. As consumer tastes shift, Coca-Cola's
multi-pronged brand strategy will help keep the company relevant.

A Lot to Like About Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola is thriving despite the challenging market for soft drink sales. The
company has several powerful business levers in the form of pricing power, cost
controls, and astute M&A. These business levers have kept the company growing
and its product relevant. Furthermore, Coke's management team has shown their
ability to steer the ship when the tides are changing. Investors can expect the
company to continue delivering strong financial results for years to come.
Luis Sanchez has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position
in any of the stocks mentioned. The Mo

Better Buy: Nike vs. Coca-

Cola
When the economy recovers, will consumers buy new sneakers
or refreshing drinks?
Nike (NYSE:NKE) and Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) are strong brands that most of us
recognize. Nike sells us athletic gear -- and the dream of jumping as high as basketball
legend Michael Jordan when we buy the latest pair of Air Jordans. Beyond its eponymous
drink, Coca-Cola is also the name behind Innocent and Minute Maid juices, Fuze Tea, and
more recently Costa Coffee.
The coronavirus pandemic put the brakes on revenue at Nike and Coca-Cola, and troubles
aren't over. But I'm optimistic about both companies in the long term. Which one is the best
buy today? Let's find out.

IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.

Nike's digital growth

Nike's recent strength has been in its ability to grow its direct-to-consumer and digital
segment. Digital is the fastest-growing part of Nike, representing about 20% of business.
And it helped the retailer generate sales first in China and then throughout the world as the
coronavirus outbreak spread -- even as Nike closed most of its stores. For example, in the
third quarter of fiscal 2020, Nike's online sales rose more than 30% in Greater China --
evan as about 75 of its stores were closed there. Across regions, digital sales climbed 36%.
Nike applied lessons learned in China to its business elsewhere during the crisis and put the
focus on staying in touch with customers and promoting fitness. The company offered Nike
Training Club (NTC) Premium for free in the U.S. for 90 days. The NTC Premium app
includes workouts and expert tips -- and for Nike, making it free was a great way to keep
customers and potential customers connected and thinking of Nike during the crisis.
The company's third quarter ended on Feb. 29, which means much of the effect from the
coronavirus outbreak in Europe and North America will be seen in the fourth-quarter report
scheduled for June 25. I'm expecting digital will help offset the effect of store closures in
this quarter, but sales figures likely won't be a slam dunk.
And in the coming weeks, the weakened economy may weigh on sales at Nike. People who
have lost jobs or have seen their income decline will be less likely to spend on discretionary
items. Still, I think the investment in digital will keep Nike growing once consumers are
able to spend more.

Coca-Cola, the aristocrat

Coca-Cola is a dividend aristocrat, meaning it is an S&P 500 company that has raised its
annual dividend for 25 straight years or more. In Coca-Cola's case, we're talking 58
consecutive years. And even in recent times when free cash flow was lower, the company
still lifted its dividend. That's reason for optimism about potential dividend increases into
the future.

IMAGE SOURCE: YCHARTS.

As for revenue, Coca-Cola started to feel the effects of the coronavirus crisis in the first
quarter ending March 27, and said effects on the second quarter will be "material." Though
Coca-Cola benefited from consumer stockpiling at grocery stores, it lost out as restaurants
temporarily closed their doors. Away-from-home sales account for about half of Coca-
Cola's revenue, so we shouldn't expect brilliant numbers when Coca-Cola reports earnings
for the current period.
And as an established company that's been around for 134 years, Coca-Cola is unlikely to
match younger companies when it comes to growth and expansion in the future. Coca-Cola,
which makes about 4,700 products, already sells its beverages in more than 200 countries
and territories.
Still, the company has made efforts to serve transforming tastes by creating products with a
lower sugar content or more nutritional benefits. Of the 1,000 new products introduced last
year, about 400 were either sugar-free or low in sugar. The acquisition of U.K. coffee shop
and brand Costa offers access to another solid market. The sugar-free food and beverage
market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 9%
through 2024, while the coffee market is set to grow at a nearly 6% CAGR through 2025,
according to reports by Mordor Intelligence.

Nike or Coca-Cola?
Coca-Cola is less expensive than Nike, trading at almost 20 times trailing 12-month
earnings, while Nike trades at more than 35. Coca-Cola shares are down about 17% so far
this year, while Nike has recouped much of its loss and now is down about 5.5%.
While valuation and dividend make Coca-Cola a better buy, I think Nike will rebound more
quickly when it comes to sales growth once the economy strengthens. At that point, fans
will return to the stands and make buying new gear a priority -- digitally or in store. And
that's why, in my opinion, Nike wins this game.
Adria Cimino has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and
recommends Nike. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Motley Fool Returns

STOCK ADVISOR
Retail sales shattered already-lofty expectations for May as consumers
freed from the coronavirus-induced lockdowns began shopping again.

The 17.7% headline gain including food sales easily topped the record
6.7% from October 2001 — a month after the 9/11 terrorist attacks — and
beat the 8% estimate from economists surveyed by Dow Jones.
Retail sales alone powered 16.8% higher from a month earlier, more than
double the estimate of 8% from Dow Jones and reversing from a revised
14.7% plunge from the previous month. Clothing and accessories stores
reported the biggest percentage gain at 188% while sporting goods,
hobby, musical instruments and book stores rose 88.2%.

The government numbers, released an hour before the start of stock

trading, added to an upbeat mood on Wall Street, with Dow rising more
than 900 points in the premarket. By late morning, stocks were up more
than 500 points.

Better Buy: Amazon vs.

Walmart
The e-commerce behemoth is still a force to be reckoned with,
but the world's biggest brick-and-mortar play seems to have
finally adapted to some new retailing realities.

They say every contest eventually turns into a two-horse race. Given how the soda
wars have been whittled down to Coke and Pepsi, U.S. political parties have been
pared down to just Democrats and Republicans, and most hardware purchases
happen at either a Lowe's or a Home Depot, the adage seems to be true.

On the consumer goods retailing front, the two remaining titans are, of
course, Walmart (NYSE:WMT) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN). The former had a
clear head start, but the latter has made good use of technology to become the
powerhouse it is today. Amazon's investors are certainly more enthusiastic about
its future than Walmart's shareholders seem to be, and for good reason. The e-
commerce giant has become something of a lifestyle company, quietly ingrained
into our everyday lives. That's exactly where a company wants to be.
During the next lap of this particular horse race, however, Walmart is well-
positioned to regain some lost ground.

IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES

Step 1: Triage
Think back to 2013. It was a time when unstocked Walmart shelves weren't
uncommon, and neither were customer service complaints. Employee morale at the
retailer was in the gutter. And it had no e-commerce platform worth speaking of.

Amazon took advantage of all of those weaknesses, boosting its U.S. retail revenue
from $34.8 billion in 2012 to $170.8 billion in 2019. That's nearly five-fold growth in
just seven years.

To its credit, Walmart responded by making some changes. Naming Doug

McMillon as CEO in early 2014 was a big one. He's turned up the heat on the
company's online efforts, which has paid off -- its U.S. e-commerce sales grew 40%
last year. Sweeping pay increases put into place in 2015 and 2016 not only led to
improved morale, but seemed to suggest the company had begun to view payroll
as an investment rather than an expense. Curbside pickup of online grocery orders
is now available at most of the company's U.S. stores, and at all of its Sam's Club
locations.

In sum, these shifts suggest that Walmart has finally become what it should have
been aiming to be all along. However, with all these initiatives already underway,
there doesn't appear to be a sales-boosting, efficiency-extracting next act in the
cards.

Except there is.

Step 2: Think like your customer

Walmart's past few years have been dominated by its evolution. In the next few,
however, it looks to be preparing for something of a paradigm shift into a modern-
retailing mode that focuses on convenience and lifestyle.

Case in point: Earlier this month, Recode reported the company appeared to be
moving forward with a subscription-based service that will offer same-day delivery
of online grocery orders. Discounts on gas and other goods would be among the
program's amenities, along with early access to certain products.

If that sounds a lot like Amazon Prime with a physical retail component, it should.
While Walmart hasn't said as much (technically, it hasn't even confirmed that such
a subscription program is on the way), there's little doubt that the more than 150
million Prime members Amazon says it serves across the globe ultimately represent
lost opportunities for the world's biggest brick-and-mortar retailer. More than that
though, the subscription service will fit neatly within the convenience-minded
movement now shaping the consumer landscape.

Walmart is also wading deeper into the healthcare sector.

That effort started in earnest in September, when the company opened its first
standalone healthcare clinic, which offered dental services, lab work, and even the
ability to get X-rays taken in addition to the usual primary-care options. Since then,
Walmart has expanded on the idea of becoming a major healthcare player,
confirming just a few days ago it will begin offering health insurance to customers.
The move will make even greater use of its growing network of care clinics.

Again, it's all part of a broader lifestyle initiative to make the retailer a more
integral part of consumers' daily lives.

Walmart is also making strategic behind-the-scenes moves its customers won't see,
yet will still enjoy. For instance, rather than continuing to rely on third-party
 transportation services that may or may not be able to provide the exact solution
the retailer needs, it's now handling more of those duties in-house. In March, it
announced it would be expanding its corps of truck drivers with an additional 500
people, Walmart is also hiring its own local drivers to ferry groceries and other
goods from nearby stores to shopper's homes, finally realizing outsourcing that
work was more complicated and less reliable than it was worth. Both hiring
initiatives bring the retailer closer to complete self-sufficiency.

Looking ahead
None of these are developments Amazon can't counter, if it hasn't already. It also
remains to be seen to what extent (or even if) Walmart will be able to capitalize on
closer relationships with its customers and its improved logistics. That's not been in
Walmart's wheelhouse, historically speaking.

This is clearly not your father's Walmart, though -- in a good way.

As Amazon figured out long ago, simply existing as a shopping option isn't
enough. A company has to cultivate consumer habits, and delight its customers
without them even realizing how well they're being served. The brick-and-mortar
giant's stock is the better pick at this time simply because 2020 looks likely to mark
Walmart's pivot into becoming just such a lifestyle company. As omnipresent as
Amazon may be, it doesn't really have an encore like this to drive new, unexpected
growth right now.

Disney Plus vs Netflix: who will win?

By Henry St Leger March 25, 2020
In what world is Disney the underdog?


Disney Plus (Image credit: Future)

Disney Plus or Netflix? Now that the Disney streaming service has made its way to the US,
Canada, UK, and much of Europe, the question of whether Netflix or Disney Plus is the
right choice for you has never been more pressing.
Of course, you may well have a number of TV streaming service subscriptions already, and
Disney Plus may seem like one too many for your current intake of online TV shows and
films. While Netflix carved the way, the likes of Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO Now and
more have flooded the market, giving viewers more avenues for on-demand content than
ever.
A lot of you may wonder whether Disney Plus will be worth an additional subscription fee,
or switching over entirely from your Netflix account. That will probably come down to
your budget and the sort of titles you’re after – both services will scratch different itches,
after all – but if you just need a hand comparing Netflix vs Disney Plus, with a mind to
picking one over the other, here's everything you need to know about the pair of them.

Disney Plus vs Netflix: basic overview

Netflix and Disney Plus are both on-demand streaming services for watching TV shows
and films. Netflix is the one to beat for any new challenger entering the fray, with a
whopping 140 million subscribers worldwide and a hugely broad content library.
There are now plenty of other streaming services online (Hulu, HBO Go, Amazon Prime
Video), but none have carved out quite as much of the market as Netflix, which has become
a home for original drama, comedy specials, kids’ TV and animation, and a wide range of
other genres.

The Witcher is one of Netflix's biggest original shows (Image credit: Netflix)

Netflix has however relied on a lot of classic TV shows which get increasingly expensive to
license – Friends, The Office, etc – and is having to lean more on its own attempts at
original programming, with billions plunged into its Netflix Original productions
like Stranger Things, The Witcher, and Master of None.
The rise of Disney Plus has also meant the removal of a lot of Disney-owned content from
the service, such as any films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Netflix’s
 popular Marvel TV shows (Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist). Disney
makes serious money (an estimated $300 million) putting its films and properties on Netflix
and other services, so it must have pretty high profit forecasts for its own service to so
goodbye to those earnings.
We spoke to analyst Stephan Paternot, CEO of film finance marketplace Slated, for his take
on Disney's prospects, and we're told "Disney will probably utterly dominate across the
board", due to the strength of its various subsidiary services like ESPN.
"It’s simply breathtaking how well positioned they are with ESPN (leader in live sports),
Disney+ (a deep, and growing library of the biggest family friendly franchise brands of all
time), and Hulu (which is the closest thing to Netflix and is slowly gaining on them, in part
thanks to live and ad-supported tiers)."

Paternot also commented on Disney's ability to "cross-monetize" its various brands and
assets between film, TV, music and merchandizing giving it a competitive price advantage
over Netflix, and therefore the freedom to take bigger financial risks.

Disney Plus vs Netflix: price and availability

To start, Disney Plus definitely undercuts Netflix on price. Disney Plus costs $6.99 per
month ($8.99 CAD / £5.99 / €6.99 / $8.99 AUD / $9.99 NZD) per month or $69.99 per
year ($89.99 CAD / £59.99 / €69.99 / $89.99 AUD / $99.99 NZD) in the US. That's a
decent amount under Netflix’s $8.99 (£7.99 / AU$9.99) per month Basic plan.

If you want to find out more about the Disney Plus pricing make sure you check out
our Disney Plus price guide.

Image Credit: Shutterstock (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Netflix has three total price tiers, with the Standard plan allowing HD viewing and up to
two screens being watched at the same time – while the Premium plan ups this to four
screens and UHD / 4K resolution viewing. See our guide to Netflix plans for all the pros
and cons for each one.
Disney Plus, however, only has one price tier, with access to 4K and HDR content available
to all subscribers – provided they have a 4K TV, of course. Disney is describing this as
"high-quality viewing" rather than 4K, though, and the resolution will depend on your
internet connection – as well as restrictions on streaming quality across Europe amid the
huge demand for data in these self-isolating times.
Disney's ownership of and stakes in other platforms is also coming in very useful, with a
bundle option to get subscriptions for Hulu and ESPN+ thrown in alongside your Disney
Plus account (in the US, at least).
 Which Netflix plan is right for you?

Disney Plus vs Netflix: features and user interface

Now that the streaming service has been out in the wild some time now, you can read all
our thoughts in this Disney Plus review.
Nothing in the interface will particularly surprise you, with horizontal rows of content and
recommended sections that algorithmically show you content likely to be of interest to
you.

Unlike Netflix's genre-based categories for comedies, action, or drama, though, Disney Plus
also has buttons for five distinct 'channels' – Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and
National Geographic – alongside a jumble of content from the channels beneath them. You
also get seven user profiles for Disney Plus, up from just five on Netflix.

(Image credit: Future)

Like Netflix, we know Disney Plus will be available on the usual round of mobile, laptop,
and smart TV apps – though a recent Disney presentation also let slip plans to come
to Nintendo Switch, which Netflix is still curiously absent from.
Disney Plus vs Netflix: content
The reduced price is largely down to the small content library Disney have so far. Disney’s
CEO Robert Iger stated that “our plan on the Disney side is to price this substantially below
where Netflix is. This is in part reflective of the fact that it will have substantially less
volume."

While Disney has access to a lot of high-profile franchises (Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, etc),
it won't have the endless library of content we expect from Netflix (around 6,000 titles).

We hoped that we would get every Disney film ever made on the service – such as
everything from the original Snow White and Aladdin movies to the Star Wars films and
entirety of Pixar - but this only been the case for original properties from the "Vault". Other
films owned by Disney, like Home Alone and Dr Doolittle, have disappeared from the
platform since launch. New Disney films, however, should be added to the service within
the following year after a theatrical release.
Despite the thin start in terms of content, there's plenty of new stuff on its way to prevent
you from hitting that cancel button. WandaVision joins The Falcon and The Winter
Soldier in 2020 for Marvel fans, plus a Lizzie McGuire show and Phineas and Ferb film for
younger viewers. The Mandalorian season 2 will also follow up on the success of Jon
Favreau's live-action Star Wars meme generator.
There's clearly plenty of scope for Disney to leverage its existing IP beyond the big screen,
while its recent purchase of 20th Century Fox means you also watch the entire Simpsons
catalogue and more on the service.

Image Credit: Disney (Image credit: Disney)

 Therein lies Netflix's greatest problem: franchises. Netflix licenses a lot of classic shows
like the Office, Friends, and Arrested Development, but is trying to build up a library of
original content to avoid difficult licensing negotiations and hefty distribution fees.

Paternot suggested Netflix would do fine "in the short to medium run, but were likely to be
pushed into a "narrower content lane" as they lose out on Disney-branded franchises.

With titles like Orange is the New Black, Master of None, Bojack Horseman, and GLOW
on the Netflix platform, however, there are still some real must-watch titles not going
anywhere. Not to mention over 100 Emmy nominations for various shows, and recent
Oscars for last year's incredible Roma.
Netflix as a whole can feel like a matter of quantity over quality, but there are enough high-
profile shows and variety to ensure most viewers will remain catered for.

 Star Wars on Disney Plus: old movies, new shows, and everything else to come

Takeaway
It's clear that Disney's streaming service has a lot going for it, with mammoth franchises
like Star Wars, Marvel, and more creating a true pop culture entertainment hub.

The monthly subscription price is already pretty attractive, and gives you a month's worth
of content for the price of buying a standalone Disney movie off iTunes or Rakuten TV. Of
course, not everything from Disney's big franchises are here already – only 16 Marvel
movies at launch, for instance, and the Sony Spider-Man movies likely never to join them –
but we do know that the service won't have a rotating slate of licensed content like Netflix.
It's likely that Netflix will keep the edge with its sheer number of titles, and therefore more
likelihood of having something for each of its users. Even with Disney's various
acquisitions, Disney Plus is likely to be more of a niche proposition, and if you're not a die-
hard Marvel fan or a parent needing some distracting Disney cartoons, it's hard to see
Disney Plus becoming part of your daily routine in the same way as Netflix.

But if you've been persuaded by Disney Plus, here's how to cancel your Netflix
subscription, once and for all.

Excited to hear about a new iPhone? The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro are both expected to
debut in a couple of months as we're currently expecting the new handsets to be announced
in September.

While September is the normal time when we hear about new iPhones, the Covid-19
pandemic may change things for the iPhone 12 release date. A delay is always possible, and
there are a variety of debates on whether we'll have to wait longer for the new handsets.

What are we expecting from the new iPhone series? Well, this time there may even be four
members of the family. There's the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max, all
of which would be direct successors to the iPhone 11 range, but then we're also hearing talk
of an iPhone 12 Max - a big screen handset without the Pro credentials.
 Plus, with talk of both 4G and 5G variants of some models, the selection of phones could
be vast by Apple's standards especially alongside this year's iPhone SE. The number of
phones we see may not be the only big change; leaks suggest this may be the biggest design
change to Apple's handset since the iPhone X.
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So this could be one of the most exciting iPhone launches in years, and we have a very
good idea of what to expect, as many of the specs and details have leaked - though of
course they're not yet confirmed, and some things are still unclear. We do know it's set to
have iOS 14, and we know a lot about that new software upgrade now.
We've recorded everything you need to know about the new iPhone below - it's all split into
easy to read sections about the design, specs and more - plus we're constantly keeping it
updated with the latest new iPhone leaks and rumors.

 Will the iPhone 12 be Apple's first 5G phone?

Latest iPhone 12 news: Yet again we've heard the Pro model will come with 6GB of RAM
while the standard phone will just be on 4GB. Plus, one leak suggests we may know the
battery sizes for the range, and it's not a positive picture.
iPhone 12 key details
 What is it? The new iPhone family from Apple
 When is it out? Probably September, but it might be delayed
 What will it cost? Expect $649 / £700 / AU$1,200 and up

RELEASE DATE

When will the iPhone 12 come out?

The exact iPhone 12 release date is a confusing topic; nothing has been made official yet,
but we're almost certain Apple will be unveiling its new iPhones before the end of 2020.

September is likely to be when Apple unveils all four products, and in past years it has
often been the second week of the month. It's almost always unveiled on a Tuesday, and
we'd put our money on it being revealed on either September 8 or September 15.

In previous years, you've then been able to pick up the phone for yourself 10 days later.
That'd mean it may land on September 18 or September 25, but that's looking less and less
likely.

We can't be as confident of these dates as in previous years as there is a good chance that
the Covid-19 pandemic has had a serious impact on the production of the next iPhone.

The iPhone 11 Pro Max (Image credit: Future)

One of the latest rumors states that mass production of the iPhone 12 range was between
four weeks and two months behind schedule, which could mean a big delay, though Apple
is apparently doing everything it can to minimize the delay.
Other rumors suggest Apple will have finished its final testing by the end of June, and will
enter mass production in July. If true then the range could be announced and even go on
sale in September, but it might be that only some models land on day one, with a longer
wait for others.
Staggering the release date of models is something suggested by respected analyst Ming-
Chi Kuo, who says it would likely be the larger models of the phone that would come later
than September.
Another recent release date rumor meanwhile suggests November is likely when the
handsets would go on sale, but that we may see the phones unveiled before that.
An executive at Broadcom (a manufacturer expected to supply components) has also
suggested a delay is likely, while one report in The Wall Street Journal also suggested
production of the iPhone 12 has been delayed by around a month.
Some sources even say it could slip into 2021 with Reuters also claiming a delay could be
likely.
OTHER PHONES WE EXPECT TO SEE IN 2020:
Samsung Galaxy Note 20
Google Pixel 4a
OnePlus Z
OnePlus 8T
Huawei Mate 40
Google Pixel 5
All of this said, we've also heard reports that had suggested that development would be
unaffected, and there are other sources saying that the main manufacturing factories are
fully staffed up. Plus, an executive at Foxconn (the main manufacturer of the iPhone) has
said that the company aims to make up for lost time.
So, when will you get your iPhone 12? We can't say for certain. For now our best guess is
that's it's likely (though far from guaranteed) that the phones will be announced in
September, but that you may have to wait a little longer than normal after the
announcement before you can buy them.

PRICE

How much will the iPhone 12 cost?

The iPhone 12 price is something that leaks have made a little clearer than the release date,
and from what we're hearing it's likely to stay broadly in line with 2019's iPhone range.

For reference, the iPhone 11 started at $699 / £729 / AU$1,199, the iPhone 11 Pro starts at
$999 / £1,049 / AU$1,749, and the iPhone 11 Pro Max starts at $1,099 / £1,149 /
AU$1,899.
Prices for the next iPhone range probably won't be exactly the same though, as you can see
in the chart below, which contains information taken from one big leak from YouTuber Jon
Prosser. We've also included information from another leak, which suggests there will be
4G variants of the first two phones noted below.
 What will the iPhone 12 look like?
The iPhone 12 design looks set to be a big change from the latest few generations
of Apple’s handset. Remember the iPhone 4 and iPhone 5? Reports suggest that the
iPhone 12 range will be in part inspired by those phones, and there's supposedly
even some elements of the iPad Pro 2020 mixed in.
Before we dig further into the design, you need to know that you'll have four
models to choose from, and that means several different sizes too. According to
the most recent information on models, the phones below will be included:

 iPhone 12 with a 5.4-inch display

 iPhone 12 Max with a 6.1-inch display
 iPhone 12 Pro with a 6.1-inch display
 iPhone 12 Pro Max with a 6.7-inch display
If this is accurate then we'd be seeing a non-pro 'Max' model for the first time in the
form of the iPhone 12 Max. It looks set to have a larger screen size than the
standard iPhone 12, designed for those who don't want to spend lots on an iPhone
12 Pro Max model but want a larger phone.

That said, the size is actually in line with the iPhone 11, so rather than making a
bigger basic iPhone, Apple has seemingly shrunk the standard model, and if this
information is right then you still only have three sizes to choose from, with the
iPhone 12 Max supposedly being the same size as the iPhone 12.

A separate leak has suggested the standard iPhone 12 looks smaller than the iPhone
7, but isn't as small as the original iPhone SE. You can see a video comparing those
three phones here. Jon Prosser - a Twitter leaker who revealed information on the
iPhone SE ahead of launch in early 2020 - shared this information, and you can
see some of the specs below.

Netflix warns of slowdown after subscriber

surge

Netflix has seen a surge in sign-ups due to the coronavirus

lockdown, but has warned investors that subscriber growth will
slow.

The streaming giant added more than 10 million subscribers in the

three months to July, bringing the total of new subscribers to 26
million in 2020.
In contrast, Netflix saw 28 million new subscribers for the whole
of 2019.

"Growth is slowing as consumers get through the initial shock of

coronavirus and social restrictions."
Netflix shares dropped in after-hours trading as investors
digested the firm's quarterly update.

The streaming service's revenue increased almost 25% to $6.1bn

(£4.9bn), while profits rose to $720m in the quarter, up from $271m
a year go.

The subscriber additions were far higher than analysts had

expected.

While, some people might still end up quitting the service, "the pandemic has clearly shown that Netflix
is an indispensable part of viewers lives," said Paolo Pescatore, analyst at PP Foresight.

Sophie Lund Yates, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said the streaming service will have to
continue to spend heavily on new shows and movies to keep its audience.

"While Netflix is still the biggest fish in the tank, if it wants to keep it that way, there is work to be
done," she said, adding that it should focus on markets outside the US where there is more growth
potential.

Netflix also announced it was promoting chief content officer Ted Sarandos to co-chief executive.

"This change makes formal what was already informal - that Ted and I share the leadership of Netflix,"
chief executive Reed Hastings told investors.

Netflix gets 16 million new sign-ups thanks to

lockdown

Netflix has seen subscriber numbers surge this year, as lockdowns

around the world keep people at home where they want to be
entertained.

Almost 16 million people created accounts in the first three

months of the year, the firm said.

That is almost double the new sign-ups it saw in the final months
of 2019.
However, the streaming service, which is behind some multi-
million dollar productions, said shutdowns have halted "almost all"
filming around the world.

And sharp declines in the value of many currencies has meant new
subscribers outside of the US, where Netflix is based, are not
worth as much to the company as they would have been before the
crisis. And that has hurt its international revenue growth.

Nevertheless, the home-entertainment giant's share price has

climbed more than 30% this year as investors bet on its ability to
benefit from people spending more time indoors.

Tiger King

"Netflix is and will continue to be the media company least

impacted by Covid-19," said eMarketer analyst Eric Haggstrom.
"Their business is a near perfect fit to a population that is
suddenly housebound."

Demand for streaming has been so high that Netflix last month
said it would reduce the quality of its videos in Europe to ease
strain on internet service providers. The firm also hired an
additional 2,000 customer support staff to handle the increased
interest.

Netflix said some 85 million people had watched its original movie,
Spenser Confidential, for at least two minutes - the cut-off it uses
for viewing figures. Meanwhile, the documentary series Tiger King
reached 64 million households.

The firm expected to add another 7.5 million members in the three
months to the end of June - above analyst expectations. But it
warned investors that viewers and growth would decline as
governments lift lockdowns around the world.

"Given the uncertainty on home confinement timing this is mostly

guesswork," it said.

Netflix said it expects to stick to its release schedule through

June and has been acquiring other movies to keep its offering
fresh. But it said future membership growth could be hurt by
delays to upcoming seasons and shows.

Paolo Pescatore, analyst at PP Foresight, said production delays

would hurt subscriber growth at all streaming companies in
coming months.

"Arguably, Netflix should fare much better with its broad

catalogue," he said.

Analysis
by Zoe Thomas, BBC News Technology Reporter

Netflix's early subscriber growth certainly caught the attention of

Wall Street investors. But spectacular growth in a period where
most of the world's internet users are under orders to stay at home
is a bit less impressive.

The bigger question for Netflix is can it retain those paying

customers after Covid-19 lockdown measures are eased.

The company is facing increasing competition from the likes of

Disney Plus and Amazon Prime, which both boast of large archives
of content to attract new subscribers.

Meanwhile, newly-launched short-form streaming service Quibi

spent billions to release content with top Hollywood talent. And
later this year HBO Max and NBCUniversal will launch Peacock in
the US.

In the streaming world, content is king and more rivals mean

Netflix will need to shore up its lineup. That's where coronavirus -
a positive when it comes to driving subscriber growth - becomes a
possible negative. Netflix had to pause the production of new
shows during the lockdown.

Its rivals face the same challenge. But big brands like
NBCUniversal and Disney are also pulling popular shows they had
leased to Netflix and showing on their own services instead.
Europe, the Middle East and Africa accounted for the largest
number of new members with almost 7 million new subscribers.
Growth in the US and Canada, which has lagged in recent
quarters, also jumped, with 2.3 million new members joining the
service, compared to just 550,000 in the final months of 2019.

The firm now has more than 182 million subscribers worldwide.

Netflix said revenue increased to $5.76bn, up more than 27%

compared to the same period in 2019. Profits almost doubled, from
$344m in the first quarter of 2019 to $709m.

What Is Cryptocurrency? Here’s What You Should Know

Cryptocurrencies let you buy goods and services, or trade them for
profit. Here's more about what cryptocurrency is, how to buy it and how
to protect yourself.
JAMES ROYAL, PH.D. & KEVIN VOIGT

June 18, 2019

Like any currency, cryptocurrencies can be used to buy goods and services. But
unlike other currencies, cryptocurrencies are digital and use cryptography to
provide secure online transactions.

While cryptocurrencies can be used to buy things, much of the interest in these
unregulated currencies is to trade them for profit, with speculators at times driving
prices skyward.

Here are seven things to ask about cryptocurrency, and what to watch out for.

1. What is cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrency is a form of payment that can be exchanged online for goods and
services. Many companies have issued their own currencies, often called tokens,
and these can be traded specifically for the good or service that the company
provides. Think of them as you would arcade tokens or casino chips. You’ll need to
exchange real currency for the cryptocurrency to access the good or service.
 Cryptocurrencies work using a technology called blockchain. Blockchain is a
decentralized technology spread across many computers that manages and
records transactions. Part of the appeal of this technology is its security.

2. How many are out there, and what are they worth?

More than 2,200 different cryptocurrencies are traded publicly, according to

CoinMarketCap.com, a market research website. And cryptocurrencies continue to
proliferate, raising money through initial coin offerings, or ICOs. The total value of
all cryptocurrencies on June 6, 2019 was about $246 billion, according to
CoinMarketCap, and the total value of all bitcoins, the most popular digital
currency, was pegged at about $136 billion.

3. Why are they so popular?

Cryptocurrencies appeal to their supporters for a variety of reasons. Here are some
of the most popular:

 Supporters see cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin as the currency of the future and are
racing to buy them now, presumably before they become more valuable
 Some supporters like the fact that cryptocurrency removes central banks from managing
the money supply, since over time these banks tend to reduce the value of money via
inflation
 Other supporters like the technology behind cryptocurrencies, the blockchain, because it’s
a decentralized processing and recording system and can be more secure than traditional
payment systems
 Some speculators like cryptocurrencies because they’re going up in value and have no
interest in the currencies’ long-term acceptance as a way to move money
Back to top

4. Are they a good investment?

Cryptocurrencies may go up in value, but many investors see them as mere

speculations, not real investments. The reason? Just like real currencies,
cryptocurrencies generate no cash flow, so for you to profit someone has to pay
more for the currency than you did.

That’s what’s called “the greater fool” theory of investment. Contrast that to a well-
managed business, which increases its value over time by growing the profitability
and cash flow of the operation.

For those who see cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin as

the currency of the future, it should be noted that a
currency needs stability.
As NerdWallet writers have noted, cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin may not be that
safe, and some notable voices in the investment community have advised would-
be investors to steer clear of them. Of particular note, legendary investor Warren
Buffett compared bitcoin to paper checks: “It’s a very effective way of transmitting
money and you can do it anonymously and all that. A check is a way of transmitting
money too. Are checks worth a whole lot of money? Just because they can
transmit money?”
For those who see cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin as the currency of the future, it
should be noted that a currency needs stability so that merchants and consumers
can determine what a fair price is for goods. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies
have been anything but stable through much of their history. For example, while
bitcoin traded at close to $20,000 in December 2017, its value then dropped to as
low as about $3,200 a year later. In May 2019 it topped $8,000.

This price volatility creates a conundrum. If bitcoins might be worth a lot more in
the future, people are less likely to spend and circulate them today, making them
less viable as a currency. Why spend a bitcoin when it could be worth three times
the value next year?

5. How do I buy cryptocurrency?

While some cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, are available for purchase with
U.S. dollars, others require that you pay with bitcoin or another cryptocurrency.

To buy cryptocurrencies, you’ll need a “wallet,” an online app that can hold your
currency. Generally, you create an account on an exchange, and then you can
transfer real money to buy cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin or ethereum. Here’s
more on how to invest in bitcoin.
Coinbase is one popular cryptocurrency trading exchange where you can create
both a wallet and buy and sell bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Also, the online
broker Robinhood offers free cryptocurrency trades (Robinhood Crypto is available
in most, but not all, U.S. states).
Back to top

6. Are cryptocurrencies legal?

There’s no question that they’re legal in the United States, though China has
essentially banned their use, and ultimately whether they’re legal depends on each
individual country. Also be sure to consider how to protect yourself from fraudsters
who see cryptocurrencies as an opportunity to bilk investors. As always, buyer
beware.
 7. How do I protect myself?

If you’re looking to buy a cryptocurrency in an ICO, read the fine print in the
company’s prospectus for this information:

 Who owns the company? An identifiable and well-known owner is a positive sign.
 Are there other major investors who are investing in it? It’s a good sign if other well-known
investors want a piece of the currency.
 Will you own a stake in the company or just currency or tokens? This distinction is
important. Owning a stake means you get to participate in its earnings (you’re an owner),
while buying tokens simply means you’re entitled to use them, like chips in a casino.
 Is the currency already developed, or is the company looking to raise money to develop it?
The further along the product, the less risky it is.

If you’re looking to buy a cryptocurrency in an ICO, you

should read the fine print in the company’s prospectus.
It can take a lot of work to comb through a prospectus; the more detail it has, the
better your chances it’s legitimate. But even legitimacy doesn’t mean the currency
will succeed. That’s an entirely separate question, and that requires a lot of market
savvy.

But beyond those concerns, just having cryptocurrency exposes you to the risk of
theft, as hackers try to penetrate the computer networks that maintain your assets.
One high-profile exchange declared bankruptcy in 2014 after hackers stole
hundreds of millions of dollars in bitcoins. Those aren’t typical risks for investing in
stocks and funds on major U.S. exchanges.

REMOTE CONTROL | COVID-19

The reason Zoom calls drain

your energy
By Manyu Jiang22nd April 2020

Video chat is helping us stay employed and connected. But what

makes it so tiring - and how can we reduce ‘Zoom fatigue’?
Your screen freezes. There’s a weird echo. A dozen heads stare at you. There are the work
huddles, the one-on-one meetings and then, once you’re done for the day, the hangouts with
friends and family.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, we’re on video calls more than ever before – and many
are finding it exhausting.

But what, exactly, is tiring us out? BBC Worklife spoke to Gianpiero Petriglieri, an
associate professor at Insead, who explores sustainable learning and development in the
workplace, and Marissa Shuffler, an associate professor at Clemson University, who studies
workplace wellbeing and teamwork effectiveness, to hear their views.

Is video chat harder? What’s different compared to face-to-face communication?

Being on a video call requires more focus than a face-to-face chat, says Petriglieri. Video
chats mean we need to work harder to process non-verbal cues like facial expressions, the
tone and pitch of the voice, and body language; paying more attention to these consumes a
lot of energy. “Our minds are together when our bodies feel we're not. That dissonance,
which causes people to have conflicting feelings, is exhausting. You cannot relax into the
conversation naturally,” he says.

Silence is another challenge, he adds. “Silence creates a natural rhythm in a real-life

conversation. However, when it happens in a video call, you became anxious about the
technology.” It also makes people uncomfortable. One 2014 study by German academics
showed that delays on phone or conferencing systems shaped our views of people
negatively: even delays of 1.2 seconds made people perceive the responder as less friendly
or focused.

An added factor, says Shuffler, is that if we are physically on camera, we are very aware of
being watched. “When you're on a video conference, you know everybody's looking at you;
you are on stage, so there comes the social pressure and feeling like you need to perform.
Being performative is nerve-wracking and more stressful.” It’s also very hard for people
not to look at their own face if they can see it on screen, or not to be conscious of how they
behave in front of the camera.

How are the current circumstances contributing?

Yet if video chats come with extra stressors, our Zoom fatigue can’t be attributed solely to
that. Our current circumstances – whether lockdown, quarantine, working from home or
otherwise – are also feeding in.

Petriglieri believes that fact we feel forced into these calls may be a contributory factor.
“The video call is our reminder of the people we have lost temporarily. It is the distress that
every time you see someone online, such as your colleagues, that reminds you we should
really be in the workplace together,” he says. “What I'm finding is, we’re all exhausted; It
doesn't matter whether they are introverts or extroverts. We are experiencing the same
disruption of the familiar context during the pandemic.”

Then there’s the fact that aspects of our lives that used to be separate – work, friends,
family – are all now happening in the same space. The self-complexity theory posits that
individuals have multiple aspects – context-dependent social roles, relationships, activities
and goals – and we find the variety healthy, says Petriglieri. When these aspects are
reduced, we become more vulnerable to negative feelings.

“Most of our social roles happen in different places, but now the context has collapsed,”
says Petriglieri. “Imagine if you go to a bar, and in the same bar you talk with your
professors, meet your parents or date someone, isn’t it weird? That's what we're doing
now… We are confined in our own space, in the context of a very anxiety-provoking crisis,
and our only space for interaction is a computer window.”

Shuffler says a lack of downtime after we’ve fulfilled work and family commitments may
be another factor in our tiredness, while some of us may be putting higher expectations on
ourselves due to worries over the economy, furloughs and job losses. “There's also that
heightened sense of ‘I need to be performing at my top level in a situation’… Some of us
are kind of over-performing to secure our jobs.”

But when I’m Zooming my friends, for example, shouldn’t that relax me?

Lots of us are doing big group chats for the first time, whether it’s cooking and eating a
virtual Easter dinner, attending a university catch-up or holding a birthday party for a
friend. If the call is meant to be fun, why might it feel tiring?

Part of it, says Shuffler, is whether you’re joining in because you want to or because you
feel you ought to – like a virtual happy hour with colleagues from work. If you see it as an
obligation, that means more time that you’re ‘on’ as opposed to getting a break. A proper
chat with friends will feel more social and there will be less ‘Zoom fatigue’ from
conversations where you’ve had a chance to be yourself.

Big group calls can feel particularly performative, Petriglieri warns. People like watching
television because you can allow your mind to wander – but a large video call “is like
you're watching television and television is watching you”. Large group chats can also feel
depersonalising, he adds, because your power as an individual is diminished. And despite
the branding, it may not feel like leisure time. “It doesn't matter whether you call it a virtual
happy hour, it's a meeting, because mostly we are used to using these tools for work.”

So how can we alleviate Zoom fatigue?

Both experts suggest limiting video calls to those that are necessary. Turning on the camera
should be optional and in general there should be more understanding that cameras do not
always have to be on throughout each meeting. Having your screen off to the side, instead
of straight ahead, could also help your concentration, particularly in group meetings, says
Petriglieri. It makes you feel like you’re in an adjoining room, so may be less tiring.

In some cases it’s worth considering if video chats are really the most efficient option.
When it comes to work, Shuffler suggests shared files with clear notes can be a better
option that avoids information overload. She also suggests taking time during meetings to
catch up before diving into business. “Spend some time to actually check into people's
wellbeing,” she urges. “It’s a way to reconnect us with the world, and to maintain trust and
reduce fatigue and concern.”

Building transition periods in between video meetings can also help refresh us – try
stretching, having a drink or doing a bit of exercise, our experts say. Boundaries and
transitions are important; we need to create buffers which allow us to put one identity aside
and then go to another as we move between work and private personas.

And maybe, says Petriglieri, if you want to reach out, go old-school. “Write a letter to
someone instead of meeting them on Zoom. Tell them you really care about them.”

The brief life cycle of Quibi, from promising start to

industry laughingstock
July 7, 2020 at 7:00 a.m. GMT-3

It takes a lot to break into the news cycle nowadays. But for Quibi, the mobile-
friendly streaming platform launched in April, catastrophic failure seems to have
done the trick. Veteran executives Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman waged an
astonishing $1.8 billion in investments on what initially seemed an okay idea:
short, digestible entertainment starring famous actors, designed to be watched on
the go.
Unfortunately for Quibi, a portmanteau of “quick bites,” nobody was hungry.
Especially with the number of onetime commuters now glued to their couches,
more people have probably read articles explaining Quibi and its unfortunate
beginnings than have actively engaged with the app itself. (Those who remember
Juicero, the widely mocked Silicon Valley start-up, will find this dynamic familiar.)
The New York Times reported in May that, a week after its launch, Quibi no longer
ranked in the top 50 most downloaded free iPhone apps. Out of the 3.5 million
people the company said downloaded the app — a third party quoted 2.9 million,
per the Times — only 1.3 million were active users.
Like clockwork, the Quibi conversation picked up again this week thanks to a
thoroughly reported piece published by Vulture: “Is anyone watching Quibi?” it
asked. Below, in an attempt to uncover why the company’s struggles are so difficult
to look away from, especially when its content is not, we explore the platform’s life
cycle, from its promising inception to a presumed reckoning.
Inception
Quibi owes its existence in part to the success of “The Da Vinci Code,” according to
Vulture, which stated that Katzenberg viewed the 105-chapter format as “validation
of the thesis that consumers want entertainment in small chunks.” As the former
Walt Disney Studios head and DreamWorks co-founder, Katzenberg had earned a
level of trust that even Dan Brown skeptics couldn’t take away.
The idea, to be fair, made sense on paper. Spanning five to 10 minutes each, Quibi
episodes would be easily watched on phones while in transit. Celebrities such as
Chrissy Teigen and Anna Kendrick, or creators such as Steven Spielberg and
Guillermo del Toro, would attract viewers with their names alone. The app would
be easily navigated, its episodes viewable in both portrait and landscape mode,
depending on preference.
Even with stay-at-home orders in place, Katzenberg remained optimistic.
“I don’t think we lost the in-between moments,” he told The Washington Post in
April. “The virus has just changed them, made them different. You’re not
commuting to work or standing in line at Starbucks. But you actually probably have
more in-between moments than you did six weeks ago.”
Launch
Quibi launched in early April with dozens of shows and immediately reached the
No. 3 slot on Apple’s App Store. The service granted new users 90 days free, after
which they could pay either $4.99 per month (with ads) or $7.99 per month
(without ads). T-Mobile offered its customers a free year of Quibi.
While critics didn’t entirely pan Quibi’s initial lineup, the shows’ lack of traction
may speak for itself. Given that the name alone has to be repeatedly justified to the
public — you’re right, “Quibi” isn’t any quicker to say than “quick bites” — the
launch largely hinged upon star power and perceived convenience. Some theorized
the platform might have been more widely watched had it piqued curiosity on
social media early on, and that the lack of screen shot capabilities was “detrimental
to its success.”

To be fair, a clip from Sam Raimi’s “50 States of Fright” did go semi-viral about a
week after Quibi’s launch, if only for its extremely bizarre story. In the episode,
Emmy winner Rachel Brosnahan plays a woman obsessed with her golden arm. She
winds up in the hospital, diagnosed with something called pulmonary gold disease,
but refuses to remove the metal arm poisoning her body: “I can’t take off my golden
arm, ever!” she says sternly. Cut to a scene where she lies in bed, her every breath
raspy.
Failure
Katzenberg changed his tune about a month after Quibi’s launch, telling the Times
that he attributed “everything that has gone wrong to the coronavirus.” In response
to iPhone users wondering why they couldn’t watch Quibi on their TV sets —
therefore rejecting the mobile-only platform premise — Katzenberg and Whitman,
the former Hewlett-Packard chief, acquiesced.
And yet, the shows still haven’t managed to catch on. Vulture noted that figures as
prominent as Jimmy Kimmel have joked about the failure: “Here I am, standing
here like a … fool with nobody watching,” he said at an online version of Disney-
ABC’s television upfront. “I feel like every show on Quibi right now.”
In a depressingly comical turn, Quibi’s social media team has joined the mockery.
Sharing an article in June about the serialized film “Most Dangerous Game,”
starring Liam Hemsworth, the platform’s official Twitter account wrote in tiny
letters, “see guys we have a good show.” On Sunday, quote-tweeting someone
asking whether anyone had signed up for Quibi, the account wrote, “Asking for a
friend.” The next day, it announced three new shows in a Twitter thread, but only
shared the basic premises — no official titles, no visuals of any sort. “Just give up
bro,” a user replied, amassing more likes than Quibi’s original tweet.
Recall the $1.8 billion and shudder.
Reckoning
Where will Quibi go from here? Investors somewhat miraculously haven’t started
to flail yet, according to Vulture, and the platform continues to push out new
content. Variety described its DIY take on “The Princess Bride,” made by celebrities
at home, as “a bright shiny chunk of diversion that amounts to a bait-and-switch —
and, just maybe, a paradigm that could point the way to the short-film app’s
future.”
Meanwhile, however, Quibi remains the car crash from which we cannot look away.

Quibi: Everything to know about

the $5 short-form video service
Quibi is a mobile-first subscription video service in the US and Canada, and yes, this is yet
another new streaming service vying for your money. But Quibi is a little different than the
rest. Quibi is staking $1.75 billion on ultraexpensive, star-studded, short-form videos -- all
of which are brand new and designed to be watched on your phone.
Quibi, which launched April 6, rolled out its a mobile-only concept just a couple weeks after
the pandemic locked large swaths of the US population in their homes. People can watch
it at home on their phones, but its bet on exclusively mobile, short-form video was based
on the premise that people would gobble up these "quick bite" episodes while they're out
and about. After it launched without any support to watch Quibi's programming on
televisions, the company scrambled as users complained about not being able to watch its
shows on the biggest screen in the house.
The company reportedly had about 1.5 million subscribers at the end of May and was on
pace for less than 2 million paying subscribers by the end of the app's first year, below its
target of 7.4 million, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Its founder Jeffrey
Katzenberg, who was the head of Disney's movie division in the '80s and '90s and co-
founded Dreamworks Animation, initially said the coronavirus' effect on people's viewing
habits would be neutral to Quibi. He later blamed the pandemic for "everything that has
gone wrong" with its rough start.
But CEO Meg Whitman, the former chief of eBay and Hewlett-Packard, said before launch
that Quibi was willing to change if customers demand it, which could include television-
streaming support or release episodes in a bingeable bunch all at once like Netflix. (Quibi
releases new episodes of each series every weekday.) And as it struggled to sign up
people in the numbers it hoped, some of those changes are becoming reality.
The most significant change is widening its device support beyond mobile devices. The
company added support for Apple's AirPlay in May to stream its programming on some TV
screens, and earlier in June, Quibi updated its Android and iOS apps to cast to Google's
Chromecast and Chromecast-integrated TVs. It's reportedly in talks to have apps for Roku
and Amazon Fire TV devices, Variety reported.
Quibi also ramped up in the middle of a wave of new streaming services, as tech and
media giants all rush to be the one shaping the future of video. That means it will be
competing for your subscription dollars against heavy-duty upstarts like Disney Plus, Apple
TV Plus, Peacock and HBO Max, as well as established players like Netflix. And of course,
this new company faces a Goliath in YouTube, the pioneer of online short video that draws
in more than 2 billion viewers every month.
Still, Quibi believes its unconventional strategy -- very expensive, star-packed
programming released in 10-minute-or-less episodes that you can watch only on mobile
devices like your phone -- will hit a sweet spot. It has the backing of all the major
Hollywood studios and a seemingly endless litany of film, TV, music and sports stars
making shows. It's also brought T-Mobile on board to offer free subscriptions to some
wireless customers.
Quibi has recruited a who's who of stars to work on its programming, including Chrissy
Teigen, Lebron James, Dwayne Johnson, Reese Witherspoon, Chance the Rapper, Kevin
Hart, Jennifer Lopez, Idris Elba, Zac Efron, Tina Fey, Liam Hemsworth and husband-and-
wife combo Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner (but on different shows), along with a bazillion
others. It's also lured in big-name filmmakers like Steven Spielberg, Guillermo del Toro,
Antoine Fuqua, Catherine Hardwicke and Ridley Scott to make series. Whitman has said
Quibi has enough content built up to last until late November, despite the virus shutting
down TV and movie productions worldwide.
OK, but what is a quibi?
Quibi with a capital "Q" refers to the service, and all-lower-case quibi is the word the
company invented for its short-form episodes, which all run about 10 minutes or less.
It's a mashup of the words "quick bites," since the videos are supposed to be bite-size
morsels of video.
But don't pronounce the end of quibi like the beginning of "bites." If you can rhyme it with
the word "alibi," you're pronouncing this made-up word totally wrong. You're supposed to
pronounce the end of quibi with a long e, like the end of "wasabi." Obviously.