Financial Times (May 4)
EU policy makers’ now have their “sights have fixed upon ‘Gafa’ — the acronym used to denote Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon.” The regulators do not hate technology. “They understand that digital services invigorate the economy. But…. Europe has recently felt itself to be more on the losing side; however measured, not one of the world’s largest internet companies is European.”
Tags: Amazon, Apple, Digital services, Economy, EU, Facebook, Gafa, Google, Technology
The Telegraph (October 16)
“Instead of changing a structure of employment that clearly does not work for women, Apple and Facebook are offering employees the chance to freeze their eggs and have children later.” Egg freezing and storage is the latest Silicon Valley perk designed “to attract more female employees” and “tackle the Gender Pay Gap.” But to some, this sounds surreal. “Women freeze the source of life itself? That’s not a perk, it’s an outrage.”
Tags: Apple, Children, Eggs, Employment, Facebook, Freezing, Gender, Outrage, Pay gap, Perk, Silicon Valley, Women
Wall Street Journal (December 5, 2013)
Chinese “leaders are attempting to create an innovation ecosystem whereby government ministries funnel money through universities, think-tanks, businesses of all sizes, cities, real-estate developers and venture-capital investors.” Despite massive governmental support, “China still has trouble retaining its best and brightest talents onshore…. A growing number of Chinese scientists who had returned to China from the West are now leaving again.” While there are many reasons, including environmental pollution, the stifling political environment seems to be the largest factor. Innovative people generally don’t want to live where “they can’t network on Facebook or voice freewheeling opinions on any topic, business or political, under the sun.”
Tags: China, Chinese, Environment, Facebook, Government, Innovativon, Investors, Ministries, Network, Opinions, Politics, Pollution, Real estate, Scientists, Talent, Think-tanks, Venture-capital, West
Institutional Investor (February Issue)
“For those who build and manage market and trading technologies, 2012 was punctuated by trouble. High-profile system malfunctions marred the BATS Global Markets and Facebook IPOs in March and May, respectively, and brought down market maker Knight Capital Group in August. These too were good new/bad news incidents, not as catastrophic as the still-reverberating ‘flash cash’ of May 6, 2010, but reminders that such technological snafus happen too frequently for comfort. All of this casts a pall over the industry and profession.”
Tags: BATS, Facebook, Flash crash, IPO, Knight Capital, Malfunctions, Technology, Trading
Washington Post (May 23)
“Mr. Zuckerberg will want to notice that his company’s stock will be finding its way into the portfolios of real investors.” Then he will be able to “appreciate that one of the best reasons for a public listing is the one seldom mentioned: The continual feedback from savvy investors about management’s strategies and execution.”
“Mr. Zuckerberg will want to notice that his company’s stock will be finding its way into the portfolios of real investors.” Then he will be able to “appreciate that one of the best reasons for a public listing is the one seldom mentioned: The continual feedback from savvy investors about management’s strategies and execution.”
Barron’s (July 25)
There is a social media bubble. “Investor enthusiasm for social-media stocks is way overblown.” To illustrate Barron’s points out that 8 social media companies (Facebook, Groupon, Zynga, LivingSocial, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pandora Media and Zillow) with recent or potential IPOs only earned combined revenue of $3.5 billion. Alone, the Washington Post earned $1 billion more than the eight companies combined, but the market value of the Post is just $3.4 billion. In contrast, Twitter has been valued at $8 billion and Facebook’s theoretical value is $100 billion. While these may be great companies, they appear to be bad stocks for investors.
Tags: Bubble, Facebook, Social media, Twitter, Washington Post
Boston Globe (December 12)
Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, is among the latest to commit to the Giving Pledge. Warren Buffet and Bill Gates launched the Pledge, which asks the rich to donate at least half of their fortunes to charity. The Globe finds it “reassuring that many of America’s wealthiest business people seem willing to step up and answer the call.”
Tags: Buffet, Facebook, Gates, Giving pledge, Zuckerberg
