Facebook Wants To Keep Its Employees Close To Itself

Facebook to offering monetary incentives to employees moving close to office.

Facebook Inc. is now making an offer to its employees present at the company’s headquarter situated in Silicon Valley where they will get $10,000 if they move close to the office.

All those employees who wish to get this payment need to rent or buy a house that is within 10 miles of the Facebook campus situated at hacker Way, in Menlo Park. The area is an uninhabited space of land close to a marsh that is almost 30 miles in the south of San Francisco. The massive amount being offered is a clear reflection of the barriers the tech behemoths have to deal with considering the expensive and congested spaces they get in the Bay area of San Francisco.

As per the former and present employees at FB, the social media giant started to offer this incentive a year ago. Those employees that have to support their families can actually get a onetime payment worth $15,000 or even more in certain cases as the housing benefit.

This initiative by the company is quite similar to the offerings being made by other tech giants. This includes Addepar –a company that deals in investment management technology; Palantir- a data company along with the unit of Salesforce.com Inc. known as SalesforceIQ.

Through such initiatives, the tension in the San Francisco region can be eased down to a great extent. The flow of rich and young employees that make their way to Silicon Valley by making use of private transportation make it very difficult for low waged residents to commute.

According to Daily Mail, “But Silicon Valley has a housing affordability crisis of its own, and if Facebook's program gains traction it could further accelerate the gentrification of nearby communities, especially the low-income city of East Palo Alto.”

Many of the local families in the region are destined to get hurt through this initiative. This creates a lot of concerns according to the Chief Executive Officer of Able Works- the East Palo Alto community advocacy group.

However, Facebook at this point of time is not really bothered about social consequences. According to a spokesman belonging to Facebook, “Our benefits at Facebook are designed to support our employees and the people who matter most to them at all stages of life.”

Many skeptics now believe that the initiative taken by the company is to make sure that employees spend more time at work. Also this will also help them to curb on the cost of the luxury bus service. 

Microsoft Might Not Be Able To Redeem Itself In The Smartphone Industry

Microsoft struggle in the smartphone industry seems like their destiny

Smartphones that are equipped with high end features are considered to be a necessity in the modern tech world. Apple Inc. through its flagship smartphone iPhone and Google Inc. through its Android powered smartphones are known for dominating the market with high end features that are offered to their consumers. These companies are presently dominating the smartphone market that causes other companies like Microsoft Corporation to stumble with the sales of its Windows Phones.

The company wishes to come out of the present state of obscurity by launching the Windows 10 smartphones. So by coming up with a new smartphone, the company vowed to cater to all those features which it initially failed to offer to its users previously. So by coming up with Windows 10 Mobile, the company might have dealt with the issues that were pending however, they have certainly not offered anything better to intrigue buyers. Moreover, by not offering the apps that are present on the ecosystem of Google, the company has actually again created a vacuum that needs to be filled.

The app store of Microsoft has succeeding in catching the big fishes like Twitter and Microsoft , however consumers are now spoilt since they are used to the availability of thousands of app on their smartphone. The Windows 10 Mobile certainly has apps that cater to the basic needs of consumers to stay connected. However, it still does not boast of other luxury app that make the entire experience worthwhile.  The app collection of Google Play Store and Apple App Store is far beyond what Microsoft is offering.

As per the recent reports published by IDC, the Windows 10 Mobile is not likely to improve the company’s standing in the operating system fraternity since their market share is quite stagnant. So now it seems like it actually quite late for the company to redeem itself in the smartphone fraternity.

Another issue that is encountered is that the company has failed to make its smartphones readily available in the market. So all those who even would want to get their hands on the Lumia 950 or Lumia 950 XLL might not be successful to do so. Apart from Microsoft’s online stores the smartphones are only available with AT&T. the company has also struggled with giving a tough time to Google and Apple thus their reign is likely to continue for the years to come. It is high time that they realize that its actually not their game.

McDonalds To Come Up With Its Coffee Shop

McDonald's is going to come up with a coffee shop to target caffeine lovers.

McDonalds Corporation has been trying its best to pave its way to redemption. Recently the company has come up with several offerings that are targeted to regain their loyal customers. It recently came up with all day breakfast that is doing quite well. It has also come up with a festive menu to add to the joy and spirit of the holiday season, including other incentives that are targeted to make people crave for McDonald’s all over again.

Clients have now started to become very reticent at any point of time when MCD starts to offer a new experience. However now, the company’s recent endeavor might just be worth the talk. Mickey D’s recently announced of establishing a McCafe in the Canadian market.

However, the McCafe is actually fading away the thin line, which used to distinct McDonald’s from renowned coffee shop Starbucks. Moreover, considering the paradigms of the Canadian market, this is actually a rival to Tim Hortons too.

This initiative is taken by the company to establish its image as a "build on its reputation as a leading coffee brand," which is actually a very charitable self-image. This is actually great news for all those consumers who consider it quite hard to look for a popular chain offering them the instant buzz they require from their coffee. According to Grub Street, “Coincidentally, franchisees might, too: One big complaint of theirs has been the difficulty of operating what's, in effect, a mini coffee shop over at the corner of the counter.”

This is one of a kind standalone McCafe being launched in Toronto, Canada. The café is situated at the transit of the Union Station conveniently. At this point of time, the company is just trying the concept out but another one will also be launched in the fiscal year of 2016.

Since it is a café, McDonald’s menu has to be tweaked where a range of pastries needs to be added. Items like croissants, tarts, cheese danishes, Mini Chocolatine, hot chocolates etc. need to be added to the menu to make it attractive. The company has come up with an affogato, which is derived from the Oreo McFlurry.

Coffee shops are doing quite well in the west since many consumers prefer to have their daily caffeine on the go. Moreover, business meetings, small gatherings are preferred at such locations. The idea of a McCafe is quite intriguing and is likely to disrupt the industry.

Google CEO Approaches Indian Consumers

Google wishes to tap on Indian consumers to increase user base

Alphabet Inc. is a tech behemoth that is reigning all over the globe through Google. The company since a long span of time has been serving the developed parts of the world on their PCs. However, now the company is trying to target a new genre of audience to bolster growth: these are the people using cheap smartphones in economically instable countries.

The search engine giant is now putting in efforts to reach out to the developing countries. The initiative was fueled when Mr. Sundar Pichai, the Chief Executive Officer of Google for the first time made an official visit to India since he has taken charge of the company back in August.

Mr. Pichai was born and brought up in India and now he is scheduled upon meeting the software developers to chalk out ways through which they can enable the masses in the region to come online for the first time. The idea is to provide them a new canvas and then motivate them to make use of services like YouTube and Gmail.

For the trimester that ended in September, the biggest digital advertisement firm across the globe has recorded a $3.98 billion in terms of net income. This has gone up by $2.74 billion in comparison to the same quarter a year back. India however does not contribute quite significantly to the earnings of GOOG. Irrespective of this, the company has been trying its bests to make a mark in India. This initiative is in compliance with their long term goal of capitalizing on the emerging markets.

As per the company’s quarterly earnings report, Google does not chalk out the revenues on the basis of countries particularly. However over the past two years they have been calculating the average according to which sales in United States accumulate to 45%, in United Kingdom its 10% and almost 45% in remaining parts of the world.

According to Wall Street Journal, “The bulk of the world’s four billion people not yet connected to the Internet reside in developing countries, according to the International Telecommunication Union. Consultancy McKinsey & Co. says about one billion people in India alone are still offline.”

This actually indicates that India is a potential market for Google to add on new users since most of the consumers remain untapped. Google has already bid farewell to the Chinese market since the company could not adhere to the nasty censorship laws implanted on foreign companies in the region.

Tesla's Powerwall Paves Its Way To Vermont

Tesla joins hand with GMP to distribute its Powerwalls in Vermont

Green Mountain Power (GMP) is considered to be the pioneer company in terms of utility products and service that has now partnered with Tesla Motors Inc. to distribute the company’s domestic powered batteries to its consumers. The firm has collaborated with Tesla so that the company offers its Powerwalls in a purchase or lease contract.

The electric car giant has come up with a battery product earlier this annum; this will help them in changing the way consumers make use of electricity domestically. GMP wishes to lower the rate of dependency on the grid based electricity thus they are now offering Powerwall products. this will also help them in storing the energy. The consumers can preserve the energy through the solar panels that are installed on the roofs and can be utilized whenever required later. Moreover, the batteries will also be able to save the electricity generated from the grid stations and later be used as a backup whenever required.

Mary Powell who is the Chief Executive Officer at GMP stated in a press release, “This is a game changer that will help fully leverage solar to the benefit of all with cost savings, while empowering Vermonters to generate, store and use energy closer to the home.”

GMP is considered to be a supplier of grid electricity to almost 75% of the local residents in Vermont. At this point of time, the company wishes to initiate the home powering battery initiative at a relatively low scale. The firm is expecting almost 500 of its batteries to reach by January. They are optimistic about running the enterprise with only 10 customers initially in Rutland before they can actually supply it nationwide.

People are now devoted to using the home powered batteries which can be bought by the company at a price of $6,500. You can also get the access to this product by paying around $37.50 in a month with no upfront costs as believed.

Tesla at this point of time is extremely optimistic about its Tesla Energy venture. The company has estimated to gather $45-50 million from the batteries during the fourth trimester of this year. Tesla Energy on its own is expected to lure almost $450-500 million in terms of revenues. This is likely to accelerate to a billion dollars by the fiscal year of 2017.  The estimates were shared by the Chief Executive Officer of Tesla during the second quarter’s earnings call. This will make them a diverse company churning revenues from automotive and energy sector together.

Alibaba Could Acquire SCMP Newspaper Before Christmas

Alibaba merger deal with the South China Morning Post could be completed before this Christmas, as reported by Quartz.

The rumors started to gather pace earlier this year that Alibaba Group Holding is interested in meeting the buyout of Hong Kong based newspaper, The South China Morning Post. The talks went quiet after a while but in the past month or so, it all has been reignited. However both parties declined to comment on these rumors and stated that there is no link in between them as of yet. According to Quartz, the merger deal could be completed as early as Christmas or before that would see the online retailer buying the Hong Kong newspaper company.

A person familiar with the matter stated in an interview to Quartz that the Chinese tech giant and Hong Kong based English newspaper will be signing their merger deal agreement before this Christmas. Alibaba Group is currently looking to bolster its media division. The company entered the entertainment media industry through Alibaba Pictures and now wants to invade the print media industry as well. This acquisition will see the company boosting its media division.

The company will add the newspaper division of the South China Morning Post Group in the list of its other media businesses that include Youku Tudou, CBN, and many other media properties that it owns and runs. This news came from another source that briefed Quartz with his/her information.

It was previously unclear whether the company, Alibaba, is willing to buy SCMP newspaper or the founder, Jack Ma, himself. The person has now cleared it that Alibaba is pushing the deal to happen as soon as possible and it is the driving force behind this merger deal which also has the support of its investment division. It is believed that the editorial side of the South China Morning Post newspaper would still be independent as the Chinese tech giant is not interested.

Quartz further adds, “In addition to the century-old daily newspaper, The SCMP Group also owns the Hong Kong distribution rights to Cosmopolitan and other magazines, an advertising and marketing unit, and a major stake in the Bangkok Post. It is unclear whether Alibaba will purchase these assets as well.”

When the deal is signed between both parties in the coming days, this deal would become the first acquisition of an international China news property by a Chinese owner. It would be exciting to see as of how the business would work out once the acquisition is completed as the status of Hong Kong, which says ‘one country two systems’ is tricky. 

Walmart Sues Puerto Rico For High Taxes

Walmart faces huge tax increases on imports, sues Puerto Rico. Michael Walsh is fired for returning a found cash.

Walmart sued Puerto Rico unit on Friday due to the taxes being shockingly high. It is Puerto Rico largest private employer and brings more sales tax to the island government in comparison to other businesses. The retailers call the taxes to be ‘unfairly high’.

This tax increase faced by Walmart stores Inc. is because of US commonwealth who is seeking to restructure $70 billion of debts, every state of America is the victim of the taxes except for California and New York; however, the government of USA has made a decision this week to look into the matter and reinstate a law. The retail chains complain stated, “to an astonishing and unsustainable 91.5% of its net income.”

The rise in taxes is three times more than before, which pushed the company to sue Puerto Rico. In other news regarding Walmart Wholesale, one of its employees claimed to be fired for giving the cash he found in the parking lot slowly. According to fox news, his name was Michael Walsh and he was 45 years old, the incident took place in Niskayuna, New York on November 6.

The old worker found cash and returned to the manager. The manager called him and showed him the recorded tape through the stores security camera. The recording showed Michael took half an hour after finding the cash to turn it in. After this, the worker was insisted to give his badge and the discounts card offered to workers of 10% off on items in the stores of the company.

Walsh said, “I enjoyed my job, I was a good employee and always got to work on time, I got treated like a common criminal.” This is not the first time the company makes the news due to mistreatment of the workforce, it frequently make reports regarding employees creating problems or reporting them to the public for sympathy and wage raises.

Walsh was a full-time employee making $14.96 per hour, after his recent raise in salary. He found the cash while he was cleaning and taking the garbage out, after finding the money he counted it and found out it was almost $350. He said he heard yelling and went inside and found a woman yelling at the manager for losing her money. He got nervous and gave the cash to the manager, regardless of him returning the money found. Eventually, he was fired.

Walmart stock closed at $59.66, going green by 1.05% on December 4.