Author: Habiba Tahir

Snap Inc., developer of the infamous social media app Snapchat, lost 1% of its users in the third quarter of 2018. Its stock also declined by 17.5% on Friday, before clawing back up to negative 10%. Snapchat currently entertains 186 million users, with more than 200 billion Snaps (images) saved by users in their Memories.

Snapchat’s Decline After a Controversial Redesign

In the second quarter of 2018, 3 million users left Snapchat for various reasons. The majority of these people voiced their frustration with the redesign of the app in November 2017.

Prior to the update, Instagram had introduced Stories for its users as well. However, it wasn’t able to attract many people until Snapchat revamped their app.

While people were trying to familiarize themselves with the redesign, various celebrities took to social media to criticize the app. On February 2018, Kylie Jenner, reality TV star and owner of Kylie Cosmetics, asked her followers on Twitter whether she was the only one who wasn’t opening Snapchat anymore.

sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore? Or is it just me… ugh this is so sad.

— Kylie Jenner (@KylieJenner) February 21, 2018

Due to her tweet, Snapchat’s stock went down by 7.2% and it lost over $1.3 billion in market value.

The nightmare didn’t end there. Snapchat came under scrutiny for allowing an ad which asked users whether they would “Slap Rihanna” or “Punch Chris Brown.”

Famous singer Rihanna took to Instagram to criticize Snapchat for making fun of domestic violence victims and urged her fans to delete the app altogether.

Snap Inc. Struggles to Remain Relevant

According to the third quarter report published by Snapchat, the company’s revenue has increased to $298 million. Snapchat has also partnered with media companies such as CNN to deliver news and added 21 different shows on Discover. Snap Inc. is also introducing a desktop app for Windows and MacOS.

Another interesting feature is a result of the partnership with Amazon, whereby users will be able to buy products by simply taking a picture of them from the Snap camera.

Hooked, an app that provides stories in the form of texts has also joined hands with Snapchat to release a science fiction and thriller series Dark Matter. The story was made available on Discover on October 26 and will be updated on October 30.

Last week, Snap Inc. announced that former Amazon and Huffington Post executives, Jeremi Gorman, and Jared Grusd, were welcomed to the roles of chief business officer and chief strategy officer.

The announcement came after the ex-chief strategy officer Imran Khan left his position in September 2018. Khan’s salary was recorded to be $441,923 in 2017. The company also gave him a ‘stock performance award‘ worth $100 million in the same year.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

The US is now home to the first sign language store of Starbucks, as reported by the Washington Post yesterday. With 24 deaf, hearing impaired, and hearing employees, even the logo is spelled out in American Sign Language (ASL).

Starbucks Supports the Deaf Community

Rossann Williams, the US retailer’s executive vice president, first announced this news in July 2018. US employees were tasked with visiting Starbucks signing store in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to observe the signing branch and create new ideas for the store in Washington, D.C.

Instead of calling out customers when their drinks are ready, the new store has a screen that displays the names as well as the number of the drink.

Starbucks has launched the signing store with the aim of providing more job opportunities for the deaf community. In fact, hearing customers are also encouraged to learn sign language by looking at Sign of the Week words on top of the register.

We’re proud to introduce our first U.S. Signing Store. Now open in Washington, D.C. 💚 #StarbucksSigns pic.twitter.com/ZLGeKVGFJ7

— Starbucks Coffee (@Starbucks) October 23, 2018

Employees wear an apron that shows Starbucks written in sign language as well as an I Sign pin. A mural is also painted on one side of the store by a deaf artist and professor from Gallaudet University.

According to Camille Hymes, the regional Vice President of Operations at Mid-Atlantic, DC was chosen because the city has always supported the deaf community. Reports also show that DC. has the largest deaf population in the entire US.

Howard Rosenblum, CEO of the National Association of the Deaf, said that the employment and underemployment rates of deaf people are as high as 70%. Since it’s rare to see deaf people in high-level jobs, Starbucks plans to break this barrier and allow these people to succeed in every way possible. Kylie Garcia, a shift supervisor at DC’s first signing store, said:

The manager is always a hearing person because there’s a perception of limited ability with deaf people.

She previously worked at the coffee shop’s branch in Target. However, her job was to make the drinks while the rest of the employees would deal with the customers. Even though customers are still getting used to the new design, the store plans on collecting reviews and improving their structure.

Featured image from Starbucks.

The world’s seventh largest automobile manufacturing company, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCA), has sold its subsidiary, Magneti Marelli, to Japanese automotive company, Calsonic Kansei Corporation, for $7 billion.

According to the official press release, Calsonic Kansei’s holding company CK Holdings Co., Ltd. has bought Magneti Marelli and has changed its name to Magneti Marelli CK Holdings.

With a combined revenue of $17.49 billion, the combined company plans to become one of the largest suppliers of automotive parts in the world. The new company will work from 200 different facilities, and research and development centers located all around the world.

Beda Bolzenius, president and CEO of Calsonic Kansei Corporation, will be appointed as the head of the company while Ermanno Ferrari, CEO of Magneti Marelli, will join the Magneti Marelli CK Holdings team.

Bolzenius expressed his delight in teaming up with a company that has been placed in the top 10 automotive companies of the world. He said:

“Together, we will benefit from complementary geographic footprints and product lines, while our respective customers will benefit from an increased investment in people, processes and innovative new products.”

Ferrari called it a “transformative day” for both Fiat Chrysler and Calsonic Kansei Corporation. He added that the combined company will be secure, confident and ambitious in achieving its goals.

After the news of the merger broke, the shares of Fiat Chrysler leaped by 5% in Milan. Mike Manley, CEO of Fiat Chrysler, said that the merger is an “ideal opportunity” for Magneti Marelli to pursue the growth it promised to its customers.

Manley, who served as the CEO and president of the Jeep brand since 2009, replaced Sergio Marchionne as the CEO a few days before his death. Marchionne is remembered for pushing Fiat Chrysler to success after it suffered huge losses before 2004.

Under his leadership, Fiat Chrysler’s value became ten times higher than its original value. However, he had planned on leaving his position in 2018. He even told Automotive News in an interview in 2015 that he had trained his “crew of kids,” Manley and other executives, extremely well.

Earlier this month, Manley made headway in his plans to improve the performance of Fiat Chrysler in Europe by revealing the new management team.

Pietro Gorlier was appointed as the COO of Europe, Middle East and Africa region after Alfredo Altavilla left his position at Fiat Chrysler.

Manley also sent a letter to his employees telling them about the difficulties that will be faced by the company in the coming five years. However, he said that they will be able to tackle all the problems as well as the competition with “laser focus.”

Featured image from Shutterstock.

The European Union (EU) has given its approval to Microsoft for purchasing the software web-hosting service GitHub for $7.5 billion. The commission has also stated that it firmly believes that GitHub will continue to exist as an open platform.

Should Developers be Worried?

When the acquisition was announced in June 2018 by Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, many developers weren’t happy with a ‘corporate entity’ taking over an open source platform. Some developers mentioned that the takeover was impossible to avoid while others simply deleted their GitHub accounts.

In the official announcement, Nadella wrote that developers are responsible for creating a cloud-based world. Since each industry will be disrupted by these new technologies in the future, developers will increase in numbers.

These builders will require a platform where they are able to share codes and solve problems together. Thus, Microsoft, being one of the 28 million developers on Github, will help the software developing company in achieving their goals.

Nadella also added that Microsoft will support the open source ecosystem. Nat Friedman, corporate Vice President of Microsoft, will become the CEO of GitHub. He concluded the post by stating that the company will work hard to empower developers and create a healthy environment.

GitHub Chose Microsoft Over Google

CNBC reported that insiders revealed that Google and Amazon were both interested in acquiring GitHub. According to sources, GitHub chose Microsoft not only because it outbid Google in the auction but also because GitHub’s founder, Chris Wanstrath, knew Nadella. He also appreciated Nadella’s efforts to support open-source platforms.

According to the press release published on Friday, the EU believes that competition between GitHub and Microsoft, and other software companies would continue regardless of the merger.

The commission also believes that GitHub will remain open-source since Microsoft has no motive to change this feature. The statement also added that Microsoft understands that developers can easily turn to other open-source platforms.

Analysts: Microsoft’s Profits Will Surge Past 11% in 2018

Microsoft will publish the next quarter’s earnings on October 25. Analysts predict that the company will see a profit of 11% this year. Even though their stocks fell by 10% last week, the company was able to bounce back slowly.

If analysts are correct, the share prices could end up at $125. Profits are also expected to increase by 16% in 2019 and 18% in 2021.

Featured image by Pixabay.

Procter & Gamble (P&G) stocks have surged by 5% since Friday morning, as reported by CNBC. P&G announced that its beauty products are responsible for driving sales and helping the company in surpassing the expected revenue in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2018.

Wall Street was expecting earnings per share (EPS) to be $1.09 and revenue to be $16.46 billion. However, P&G’s report shows an increase in both these numbers–$1.12 for the former and $16.69 for the latter.

Compared with beauty products, P&G’s fabric and home-care brands sales jumped by 2%, while grooming, health care, baby, feminine, and family care dropped by 1%, 3%, and 3% respectively.

In this year, P&G’s shares slumped by 11%; the company now has a market cap of $202 billion.

Even though P&G faces competition from other rising startups, the company is positive that the current boom in revenue will “hold up.”

On October 16, Nasdaq published a post anticipating the results from the fiscal fourth quarter. The report stated that net sales would rise by 4% due to P&G’s beauty, fabric, and healthcare products. They predicted that Q4’s sales would come from baby, feminine and family care products. However, these categories are the ones that dropped the most in the latest quarter.

P&G Has Some Fierce Competition

P&G’s biggest competitor in the grooming industry is the Dollar Shave Club, which was acquired by Unilever in 2016. In an interview with Cincinnati Business Courier, Jon Moeller, the chief financial officer of P&G, said that grooming and baby products were:

“the two sales growth challenges.”

He added that the company was developing and funding ideas to support Gillette. Moeller also said that the stakes were higher since competitors are now expanding their products into Europe.

An online subscription program called Gillette on Demand was also launched by the company. It offers three different packages compared to the two packages offered by the Dollar Shave Club.

Gillette has been around since the 1980s but Dollar Shave Club has managed to attract more attention due to advanced marketing tactics. Currently, P&G expects its organic sales to fall between 2% to 3%, EPS between 6% to 8% and all-in-sales growth by approximately 3% in fiscal 2018.

Meanwhile, David Taylor, P&G’s CEO, recently launched 2019’s CEO Challenge where students solve various business problems. The finals will take place in May 2019 in Dubai.

Last year’s challenge was won by a group of industrial engineering students from Saudi Arabia. These students were also offered jobs in the company. This year, the real-world business problems students will solve are based on its grooming brand Gillette.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

Airbnb and Uber, along with other digital services websites, will be required to pay a 3% tax as per the Spanish Finance Ministry’s new tax rules.

These digital companies are responsible for opening new doors for businesses and investors alike. However, until now, innovative startups such as Just Eat have reaped benefits due to the lack of regulation for digital platforms.

María Jesús Montero, Finance Minister from the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, said:

“There are businesses we all know that are dedicated to services and are generating billions in economic activity, yet do not pay appropriate taxes, because the current tax laws do not recognize this type of activity.”

Currently, the tax applies to digital advertisement and brokerage services, and Sale of Data (SoD) websites, that earn over $3.44 million revenue in Spain and $860 million globally.

According to Spanish Newspaper El País, Airbnb published an official statement claiming that the company pays tax in every country it operates in, including Spain.

Tax Rules for Airbnb in the US

Spain isn’t the first country to create a new tax structure for online platforms. On October 1, New Jersey applied a 5% tax of “hotel occupancy fee” for Airbnb and travel website VRBO. Since the law exempted realtors from this tax, visitors can avoid this situation by getting in touch with real estate agents.

Meanwhile, Huntsville doesn’t plan on following New Jersey anytime soon. The city applies a lodging tax on Airbnb hosts and believes that it’s sufficient for the time being.

Last month in Colorado, various residents requested authorities to change the category of Airbnb rentals from residential to commercial. This would increase the tax figure from 7% to 29%. Since a lot of people rent out their properties and earn their income through the digital platform, this move would result in a loss. Some people even rent a portion of their houses and share it with strangers to make ends meet. According to Molly Weedn, Public Affairs manager of Airbnb US West:

“This proposed change could mean much of this important supplemental income would go to state coffers, rather than helping a host pay their bills.”

Thus, on October 3, it was finally revealed that Colorado had decided against implementing this tax rule.

France and UK Weigh in on the Situation

Last month, French politician, Ian Brossat, submitted a proposal which explained that Airbnb should be banned from Paris. He also raised a question regarding Airbnb’s tax activities, “Why does Airbnb pay as much tax in France as a neighborhood bakery?”

Earlier today, Financial Times reported that Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) reached out to Airbnb to discuss tax regulations applied on the company. However, Airbnb’s official statement added that these are just “routine checks.” The company was previously criticized for paying only £379,075 in tax from the profits earned in 2017 and £188,000 in 2016.