Month: January 2024
Raspberry Pi Is Planning a London IPO, But Its CEO Expects ‘No Change’ In Focus
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The business arm of Raspberry Pi is preparing to make an initial public offering (IPO) in London. CEO Eben Upton tells Ars that should the IPO happen, it will let Raspberry Pi’s not-for-profit side expand by “at least a factor of 2X.” And while it’s “an understandable thing” that Raspberry Pi enthusiasts could be concerned, “while I’m involved in running the thing, I don’t expect people to see any change in how we do things.” CEO Eben Upton confirmed in an interview with Bloomberg News that Raspberry Pi had appointed bankers at London firms Peel Hunt and Jefferies to prepare for “when the IPO market reopens.”
Raspberry previously raised money from Sony and semiconductor and software design firm ARM, and it sought public investment. Upton denied or didn’t quite deny IPO rumors in 2021, and Bloomberg reported Raspberry Pi was considering an IPO in early 2022. After ARM took a minority stake in the company in November 2023, Raspberry Pi was valued at roughly 400 million pounds, or just over $500 million. Given the company’s gradual recovery from pandemic supply chain shortages, and the success of the Raspberry Pi 5 launch, the company’s IPO will likely jump above that level, even with a listing in the UK rather than the more typical US IPO. Upton told The Register that “the business is in a much better place than it was last time we looked at it [an IPO]. We partly stopped because the markets got bad. And we partly stopped because our business became unpredictable.” “It’s a good thing, in that people care about us,” Upton said in response to concerned hobbyists and tech enthusiasts. “What Raspberry Pi [builds] are the products we want to buy, and then we sell them to people like us,” Upton said. “Certainly, while I’m involved in it, I can’t imagine an environment in which the hobbyists are not going to be incredibly important.”
The IPO is “about the foundation,” Upton said, with that charitable arm selling some of its majority stake in the business entity to raise funds and expand. “We’ve not cooked up some new way for a not-for-profit to do an IPO, no,” he noted. [He told Ars that Raspberry Pi’s business arm has had both strategic and private investors in its history, along with a majority shareholder in its Foundation (which in 2016 owned 75 percent of shares), and that he doesn’t see changes to what Pi has built. He also noted that the foundation was previously funded by dividends from the business side.]
“We do this transaction, and the proceeds of that transaction allow the foundation to train teachers, run clubs, expand programs, and … do those things at, at least, a factor of 2X. That’s what I’m most excited about.” Upton said there would be “no change” to the kinds of products Pi makes, and that makers are “culturally important to us.” […] “If people think that an IPO means we’re going to … push prices up, push the margins up, push down the feature sets, the only answer we can give is, watch us. Keep watching,” he said. “Let’s look at it in 15, 20 years’ time.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The business arm of Raspberry Pi is preparing to make an initial public offering (IPO) in London. CEO Eben Upton tells Ars that should the IPO happen, it will let Raspberry Pi’s not-for-profit side expand by “at least a factor of 2X.” And while it’s “an understandable thing” that Raspberry Pi enthusiasts could be concerned, “while I’m involved in running the thing, I don’t expect people to see any change in how we do things.” CEO Eben Upton confirmed in an interview with Bloomberg News that Raspberry Pi had appointed bankers at London firms Peel Hunt and Jefferies to prepare for “when the IPO market reopens.”
Raspberry previously raised money from Sony and semiconductor and software design firm ARM, and it sought public investment. Upton denied or didn’t quite deny IPO rumors in 2021, and Bloomberg reported Raspberry Pi was considering an IPO in early 2022. After ARM took a minority stake in the company in November 2023, Raspberry Pi was valued at roughly 400 million pounds, or just over $500 million. Given the company’s gradual recovery from pandemic supply chain shortages, and the success of the Raspberry Pi 5 launch, the company’s IPO will likely jump above that level, even with a listing in the UK rather than the more typical US IPO. Upton told The Register that “the business is in a much better place than it was last time we looked at it [an IPO]. We partly stopped because the markets got bad. And we partly stopped because our business became unpredictable.” “It’s a good thing, in that people care about us,” Upton said in response to concerned hobbyists and tech enthusiasts. “What Raspberry Pi [builds] are the products we want to buy, and then we sell them to people like us,” Upton said. “Certainly, while I’m involved in it, I can’t imagine an environment in which the hobbyists are not going to be incredibly important.”
The IPO is “about the foundation,” Upton said, with that charitable arm selling some of its majority stake in the business entity to raise funds and expand. “We’ve not cooked up some new way for a not-for-profit to do an IPO, no,” he noted. [He told Ars that Raspberry Pi’s business arm has had both strategic and private investors in its history, along with a majority shareholder in its Foundation (which in 2016 owned 75 percent of shares), and that he doesn’t see changes to what Pi has built. He also noted that the foundation was previously funded by dividends from the business side.]
“We do this transaction, and the proceeds of that transaction allow the foundation to train teachers, run clubs, expand programs, and … do those things at, at least, a factor of 2X. That’s what I’m most excited about.” Upton said there would be “no change” to the kinds of products Pi makes, and that makers are “culturally important to us.” […] “If people think that an IPO means we’re going to … push prices up, push the margins up, push down the feature sets, the only answer we can give is, watch us. Keep watching,” he said. “Let’s look at it in 15, 20 years’ time.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Yelp uses AI to look at reviews and businesses can’t edit or opt-out
Yelp began in July 2004 in San Francisco, CA, and was founded by Jeremy Soppelman and Russel Simmons. Today, the
The post Yelp uses AI to look at reviews and businesses can’t edit or opt-out appeared first on ReadWrite.
Yelp began in July 2004 in San Francisco, CA, and was founded by Jeremy Soppelman and Russel Simmons. Today, the company announced over 20 updates for consumers and business owners, and they will deploy artificial intelligence (AI) to “describe what you can expect” at a restaurant or club to generate company summaries. “These unique summaries highlight what the business is best known for based on first-hand reviews from users—such as the atmosphere, service, amenities, value, or a popular dish,” according to Yelp. The company also wants to reward passionate reviewers and has implemented a “Recognitions” program. They have updated the home feed and search experience.
The updated home feed and search interface highlight visually stunning material in an effort to make the discovery process more visually stimulating. Through Yelp Connect postings, users can anticipate relevant images and automatically play videos from companies specializing in food, dining, and entertainment, in addition to Collections from Yelp Elites. The goal is to produce a more interesting investigation of nearby companies. In the upcoming months, it will make its way to Android after initially rolling out on iOS.
Yelp will show recent reviews recommended by the AI software
Since company summaries are “AI generated based on a reliable number of recent reviews that are recommended by our automated recommendation software,” consumers and businesses cannot currently alter them, according to PCMag’s Akhil Kuduvalli Ramesh, SVP of Consumer Product at Yelp. “If a business owner or user believes the summary is inaccurate, they can always report issues by contacting Yelp Support, which will be reviewed quickly by Yelp’s moderators.” These summaries are available on iOS now, and Yelp will roll out to desktop and Android later in 2024.
Very helpful for those looking to find information quickly, Yelp is updating its questions, like the “Request a Quote” feature. Yelp will now take into account what each business offers. The company has rolled out pre-fill and skip questions based on your search, which will significantly speed up the search process.
Yelp will also save your tabs via the new “Projects” feature. It even takes you through a review of your reviews and continues its collections of “Local Picks (in your city) and includes photos of a dish or entrée you mention in your review.
Featured Image Credit: Kampus Production; Pexels
The post Yelp uses AI to look at reviews and businesses can’t edit or opt-out appeared first on ReadWrite.
Arc Search iPhone App Uses AI to Answer Your Query. Here’s How to Use It – CNET
Instead of pointing you to a number of news links, Arc Search summarizes their information.
Instead of pointing you to a number of news links, Arc Search summarizes their information.
YouTube TV starts testing customizable 2×2 multiview options
YouTube TV has been promising customizable multiview for 10 months.
Enlarge / For the NBA YouTube launched “Multiview,” which is coming to Sunday Ticket. It’s four games in a split screen. (credit: YouTube)
YouTube TV may finally get a configurable split-screen mode. Google’s cable TV replacement service launched a 2×2 “multiview” feature in 2023, but it relied on pre-made choices cooked up by some person (or maybe AI) inside Google. It’s 10 months later, and now some users on Reddit are seeing a “Build a multiview” option that would let you pick which four channels you want to watch. Cord Cutters News got confirmation from Google that the feature is now being tested.
The current multiview is a fun way to stay on top of multiple games, but getting the games you want is an awkward experience. I’ve been watching NFL Sunday Ticket through YouTube TV this year, and there will be times when there are nine games on simultaneously, and you get only a handful of pre-made multiview options to sift through. Is your desired combination of four games in one of those multiview options? You’d better hope so! The canned combinations only get more awkward as the day goes on: one game ends early, and the station cuts to coverage of another game, and now two of your four windows have duplicate games. If an early game runs long and you want to watch the end next to an already-started late game, that was never an option either. The canned options were always four NFL games, too. If you wanted to watch the NFL and some non-NFL content, you were out of luck. You were easily looking at hundreds of multiview possibilities, so canned selections don’t scale well at all.
The Reddit user claims to have access to the feature and says that, during NBA games, the feature is limited to only selecting other NBA games, but at least that is better than scrolling through random pre-made combinations.
Elon Musk won’t get his $55 billion pay package after all
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images
Elon Musk isn’t going to get that $55 billion pay package after all, a Delaware Court of Chancery judge has ruled. The ruling means Tesla’s board will need to come up with a new proposal.
The ruling threatens Musk’s fortune if it makes it through an appeal, Bloomberg reports. Without the options in that package, Musk may only be the third-richest man in the world.
Tesla shareholders approved the package in 2018, which gave Musk incentive to hit specific milestones, including a market valuation of $650 billion, which was more than 10 times Tesla’s value at the time. The trial hinged on a specific question: did Musk mislead the shareholders when he gave them the plan?
Tesla shareholders approved the package in 2018
Greg Varallo, attorney for the investor who sued, Richard Tornetta, said the investors weren’t told that Musk himself came up with the plan or that the board’s members were beholden to Musk. Last February, Judge Kathaleen McCormick called this argument a “kill shot.”
“Defendants were unable to prove that the stockholder vote was fully informed because the proxy statement inaccurately described key directors as independent and misleadingly omitted details about the process,” McCormick wrote in her decision. “The defendants proved that Musk was uniquely motivated by ambitious goals and that Tesla desperately needed Musk to succeed in its next stage of development, but these facts do not justify the largest compensation plan in the history of public markets.”
One of the big questions in the case was how much of Tesla Musk controlled — and not just through his shares. “Musk wielded the maximum influence that a manager can wield over a company,” McCormick wrote.
The board of directors consisted of a lot of people who had close relationships with Musk:
Elon Musk.
Antonio Gracias, a member of the compensation committee and friend of Musk’s who has amassed a great deal of wealth from investing in Musk’s companies as far back as PayPal.
James Murdoch, another Musk buddy who vacationed with Musk across the globe.
Musk’s brother, Kimbal.
Ira Ehrenpreis, one of the members of the compensation committee, acknowledged to the court that his relationship with Elon and Kimbal Musk had “significant influence on his professional career.”
Brad Buss, another member of the compensation committee who “owed 44 percent of his net worth to Musk entities.”
Robyn Denholm, a member of the compensation committee whose compensation as a Tesla board chair was more money than she made from other sources.
Linda Johnson Rice, who appears to have been truly independent.
Steve Jurvetson, who had a prolonged period of absence during this incident and wasn’t considered a major player by the judge.
“Ultimately, the key witnesses said it all — they were there to cooperate with Musk, not negotiate against him,” McCormick wrote.
“They were there to cooperate with Musk, not negotiate against him.”
Musk has demanded more control over Tesla lately, posting on X earlier this month that he wanted at least 25 percent ownership of the company in order to pursue artificial intelligence work. That would roughly be double his current ownership stake of around 13 percent.
Musk said in follow-up posts that he was waiting for a ruling in the shareholder lawsuit before taking his proposal for a larger ownership stake to the board. “The reason for no new ‘compensation plan’ is that we are still waiting for a decision in my Delaware compensation case,” he wrote on January 15th. “The trial for that was held in 2022, but a verdict has yet to be made.”
He added, “I put ‘compensation plan’ in quotes, because, from my standpoint, this is primarily about ensuring the right amount of voting influence at Tesla.”
Minutes after today’s ruling, Musk posted: “Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware.”
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images
Elon Musk isn’t going to get that $55 billion pay package after all, a Delaware Court of Chancery judge has ruled. The ruling means Tesla’s board will need to come up with a new proposal.
The ruling threatens Musk’s fortune if it makes it through an appeal, Bloomberg reports. Without the options in that package, Musk may only be the third-richest man in the world.
Tesla shareholders approved the package in 2018, which gave Musk incentive to hit specific milestones, including a market valuation of $650 billion, which was more than 10 times Tesla’s value at the time. The trial hinged on a specific question: did Musk mislead the shareholders when he gave them the plan?
Greg Varallo, attorney for the investor who sued, Richard Tornetta, said the investors weren’t told that Musk himself came up with the plan or that the board’s members were beholden to Musk. Last February, Judge Kathaleen McCormick called this argument a “kill shot.”
“Defendants were unable to prove that the stockholder vote was fully informed because the proxy statement inaccurately described key directors as independent and misleadingly omitted details about the process,” McCormick wrote in her decision. “The defendants proved that Musk was uniquely motivated by ambitious goals and that Tesla desperately needed Musk to succeed in its next stage of development, but these facts do not justify the largest compensation plan in the history of public markets.”
One of the big questions in the case was how much of Tesla Musk controlled — and not just through his shares. “Musk wielded the maximum influence that a manager can wield over a company,” McCormick wrote.
The board of directors consisted of a lot of people who had close relationships with Musk:
Elon Musk.
Antonio Gracias, a member of the compensation committee and friend of Musk’s who has amassed a great deal of wealth from investing in Musk’s companies as far back as PayPal.
James Murdoch, another Musk buddy who vacationed with Musk across the globe.
Musk’s brother, Kimbal.
Ira Ehrenpreis, one of the members of the compensation committee, acknowledged to the court that his relationship with Elon and Kimbal Musk had “significant influence on his professional career.”
Brad Buss, another member of the compensation committee who “owed 44 percent of his net worth to Musk entities.”
Robyn Denholm, a member of the compensation committee whose compensation as a Tesla board chair was more money than she made from other sources.
Linda Johnson Rice, who appears to have been truly independent.
Steve Jurvetson, who had a prolonged period of absence during this incident and wasn’t considered a major player by the judge.
“Ultimately, the key witnesses said it all — they were there to cooperate with Musk, not negotiate against him,” McCormick wrote.
Musk has demanded more control over Tesla lately, posting on X earlier this month that he wanted at least 25 percent ownership of the company in order to pursue artificial intelligence work. That would roughly be double his current ownership stake of around 13 percent.
Musk said in follow-up posts that he was waiting for a ruling in the shareholder lawsuit before taking his proposal for a larger ownership stake to the board. “The reason for no new ‘compensation plan’ is that we are still waiting for a decision in my Delaware compensation case,” he wrote on January 15th. “The trial for that was held in 2022, but a verdict has yet to be made.”
He added, “I put ‘compensation plan’ in quotes, because, from my standpoint, this is primarily about ensuring the right amount of voting influence at Tesla.”
Minutes after today’s ruling, Musk posted: “Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware.”
Microsoft’s legal department allegedly silenced an engineer who raised concerns about DALL-E 3
A Microsoft manager claims OpenAI’s DALL-E 3 has security vulnerabilities that could allow users to generate violent or explicit images (similar to those that recently targeted Taylor Swift). GeekWire reported Tuesday the company’s legal team blocked Microsoft engineering leader Shane Jones’ attempts to alert the public about the exploit. The self-described whistleblower is now taking his message to Capitol Hill.
“I reached the conclusion that DALL·E 3 posed a public safety risk and should be removed from public use until OpenAI could address the risks associated with this model,” Jones wrote to US Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA 9th District), and Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D). GeekWire published Jones’ full letter.
Jones claims he discovered an exploit allowing him to bypass DALL-E 3’s security guardrails in early December. He says he reported the issue to his superiors at Microsoft, who instructed him to “personally report the issue directly to OpenAI.” After doing so, he claims he learned that the flaw could allow the generation of “violent and disturbing harmful images.”
Jones then attempted to take his cause public in a LinkedIn post. “On the morning of December 14, 2023 I publicly published a letter on LinkedIn to OpenAI’s non-profit board of directors urging them to suspend the availability of DALL·E 3),” Jones wrote. “Because Microsoft is a board observer at OpenAI and I had previously shared my concerns with my leadership team, I promptly made Microsoft aware of the letter I had posted.”
A sample image (a storm in a teacup) generated by DALL-E 3OpenAI
Microsoft’s response was allegedly to demand he remove his post. “Shortly after disclosing the letter to my leadership team, my manager contacted me and told me that Microsoft’s legal department had demanded that I delete the post,” he wrote in his letter. “He told me that Microsoft’s legal department would follow up with their specific justification for the takedown request via email very soon, and that I needed to delete it immediately without waiting for the email from legal.”
Jones complied, but he says the more fine-grained response from Microsoft’s legal team never arrived. “I never received an explanation or justification from them,” he wrote. He says further attempts to learn more from the company’s legal department were ignored. “Microsoft’s legal department has still not responded or communicated directly with me,” he wrote.
Engadget reached out to Microsoft and OpenAI, but neither company responded immediately. We’ll update this article if we hear back.
The whistleblower says the pornographic deepfakes of Taylor Swift that circulated on X last week are one illustration of what similar vulnerabilities could produce if left unchecked. 404 Media reported Monday that Microsoft Designer, which uses DALL-E 3 as a backend, was part of the deepfakers’ toolset that made the video. The publication claims Microsoft, after being notified, patched that particular loophole.
“Microsoft was aware of these vulnerabilities and the potential for abuse,” Jones concluded. It isn’t clear if the exploits used to make the Swift deepfake were directly related to those Jones reported in December.
Jones urges his representatives in Washington, DC, to take action. He suggests the US government create a system for reporting and tracking specific AI vulnerabilities — while protecting employees like him who speak out. “We need to hold companies accountable for the safety of their products and their responsibility to disclose known risks to the public,” he wrote. “Concerned employees, like myself, should not be intimidated into staying silent.”This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsofts-legal-department-allegedly-silenced-an-engineer-who-raised-concerns-about-dall-e-3-215953212.html?src=rss
A Microsoft manager claims OpenAI’s DALL-E 3 has security vulnerabilities that could allow users to generate violent or explicit images (similar to those that recently targeted Taylor Swift). GeekWire reported Tuesday the company’s legal team blocked Microsoft engineering leader Shane Jones’ attempts to alert the public about the exploit. The self-described whistleblower is now taking his message to Capitol Hill.
“I reached the conclusion that DALL·E 3 posed a public safety risk and should be removed from public use until OpenAI could address the risks associated with this model,” Jones wrote to US Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA 9th District), and Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D). GeekWire published Jones’ full letter.
Jones claims he discovered an exploit allowing him to bypass DALL-E 3’s security guardrails in early December. He says he reported the issue to his superiors at Microsoft, who instructed him to “personally report the issue directly to OpenAI.” After doing so, he claims he learned that the flaw could allow the generation of “violent and disturbing harmful images.”
Jones then attempted to take his cause public in a LinkedIn post. “On the morning of December 14, 2023 I publicly published a letter on LinkedIn to OpenAI’s non-profit board of directors urging them to suspend the availability of DALL·E 3),” Jones wrote. “Because Microsoft is a board observer at OpenAI and I had previously shared my concerns with my leadership team, I promptly made Microsoft aware of the letter I had posted.”
A sample image (a storm in a teacup) generated by DALL-E 3
Microsoft’s response was allegedly to demand he remove his post. “Shortly after disclosing the letter to my leadership team, my manager contacted me and told me that Microsoft’s legal department had demanded that I delete the post,” he wrote in his letter. “He told me that Microsoft’s legal department would follow up with their specific justification for the takedown request via email very soon, and that I needed to delete it immediately without waiting for the email from legal.”
Jones complied, but he says the more fine-grained response from Microsoft’s legal team never arrived. “I never received an explanation or justification from them,” he wrote. He says further attempts to learn more from the company’s legal department were ignored. “Microsoft’s legal department has still not responded or communicated directly with me,” he wrote.
Engadget reached out to Microsoft and OpenAI, but neither company responded immediately. We’ll update this article if we hear back.
The whistleblower says the pornographic deepfakes of Taylor Swift that circulated on X last week are one illustration of what similar vulnerabilities could produce if left unchecked. 404 Media reported Monday that Microsoft Designer, which uses DALL-E 3 as a backend, was part of the deepfakers’ toolset that made the video. The publication claims Microsoft, after being notified, patched that particular loophole.
“Microsoft was aware of these vulnerabilities and the potential for abuse,” Jones concluded. It isn’t clear if the exploits used to make the Swift deepfake were directly related to those Jones reported in December.
Jones urges his representatives in Washington, DC, to take action. He suggests the US government create a system for reporting and tracking specific AI vulnerabilities — while protecting employees like him who speak out. “We need to hold companies accountable for the safety of their products and their responsibility to disclose known risks to the public,” he wrote. “Concerned employees, like myself, should not be intimidated into staying silent.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsofts-legal-department-allegedly-silenced-an-engineer-who-raised-concerns-about-dall-e-3-215953212.html?src=rss
iCloud Down: What’s happening and when will it return?
Some users can’t log into iCloud’s email service and some other apps
Apple’s iCloud service is encountering service disruptions across at least one of its major services, with users expressing their frustration on X (formerly Twitter), with some TechRadar staff being locked out as well.
So what’s going on and when will iCloud be back to full service? We’ve reached out to Apple for answers and are covering the outage so you can find out when you’ll be back to business as normal on Apple’s popular cloud service.
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Apple iCloud services are down for at least some of TechRadar’s US staff, with widespread reports online from frustrated users who cannot access Apple’s iCloud email server.
Users have taken to X (formerly Twitter) to express their frustration with the iCloud outage, with Downdetector reporting at least 1,499 reports of trouble as of 4:06PM EST.
Is anyone else iCloud email down?January 30, 2024
Anyone else having trouble with @apple #iCloud mail? 😕 sos I’m unreachable 😏January 30, 2024
(Image credit: Downdetector)
The major services that appear to be hit are iCloud mail, which Apple reports as a total outage, with some partial outages being reported for other apps.
Ok, who broke iCloud? https://t.co/xDlfldtKpL pic.twitter.com/nzRTtPzftOJanuary 30, 2024
(Image credit: Downdetector)
It seems the UK is also experiencing similar issues with iCloud as the US, though in the UK, it’s likely that fewer users would be impacted since it’s after business hours. For anyone trying to get some personal work done, however, the outage is likely to be just as frustrating.
(Image credit: Apple)
According to Apple, all services have been restored to good working order, so we’ll monitor online activity and Downdetector for any new reports of ongoing iCloud issues.
(Image credit: Downdetector)
As of about 15 minutes ago, there were only 113 reports of issues with iCloud’s email service, so the storm, as it were, has likely passed. If you’re still experiencing issues, they will likely be cleared up within the next 15-20 minutes.
PayPal is laying off 2,500 employees
PayPal is laying off nine percent of its workforce, the company’s CEO Alex Chriss told staff in a letter on Tuesday that PayPal made public hours later. The decision will impact about 2,500 employees, who will find out their fate between today and the end of the week, Bloomberg reported earlier. PayPal’s layoffs come almost exactly a year after the company fired more than 2,000 workers to keep costs down.
Despite thousands of job cuts in 2023, layoffs at tech companies have continued into 2024. On the same day as PayPal’s latest layoffs, Jack Dorsey’s Block, the company that owns Cash App, Foundational, and Square, conducted its second round of layoffs in two months, cutting nearly a thousand people. Earlier this month, Google laid off more than a thousand workers in its Assisstant and hardware divisions, with CEO Sundar Pichai warning employees to brace for more cuts through the year. Discord, eBay, Riot Games, TikTok, Microsoft, iRobot, Amazon, Unity, and Duolingo, among others, have collectively cut thousands of jobs in January
PayPal was one of the earliest companies in online payments industry, but in recent years, rivals like Zelle and tech companies with deep pockets like Apple, have entered the space. The competition in the payments industry is putting pressure on PayPal. Bloomberg noted that four analysts have downgraded the company’s stock this month. The company will “continue to invest in areas of the business we believe will create and accelerate growth,” Chriss said in the letter.
PayPal’s layoffs are happening despite the company’s strong growth throughout 2023. The company’s revenue as of September 2023 was $7.42 billion an increase of more than eight percent compared to its revenue a year before. It beat earnings expectations and reported a “double digit growth” in the number of transactions that happened over its platform. The Information noted that Chriss, who took over as the company’s CEO in September 2023, said in PayPal’s last earnings call in November 2023 that its costs were “too high” and were “slowing us down.”This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/paypal-is-laying-off-2500-employees-214628203.html?src=rss
PayPal is laying off nine percent of its workforce, the company’s CEO Alex Chriss told staff in a letter on Tuesday that PayPal made public hours later. The decision will impact about 2,500 employees, who will find out their fate between today and the end of the week, Bloomberg reported earlier. PayPal’s layoffs come almost exactly a year after the company fired more than 2,000 workers to keep costs down.
Despite thousands of job cuts in 2023, layoffs at tech companies have continued into 2024. On the same day as PayPal’s latest layoffs, Jack Dorsey’s Block, the company that owns Cash App, Foundational, and Square, conducted its second round of layoffs in two months, cutting nearly a thousand people. Earlier this month, Google laid off more than a thousand workers in its Assisstant and hardware divisions, with CEO Sundar Pichai warning employees to brace for more cuts through the year. Discord, eBay, Riot Games, TikTok, Microsoft, iRobot, Amazon, Unity, and Duolingo, among others, have collectively cut thousands of jobs in January
PayPal was one of the earliest companies in online payments industry, but in recent years, rivals like Zelle and tech companies with deep pockets like Apple, have entered the space. The competition in the payments industry is putting pressure on PayPal. Bloomberg noted that four analysts have downgraded the company’s stock this month. The company will “continue to invest in areas of the business we believe will create and accelerate growth,” Chriss said in the letter.
PayPal’s layoffs are happening despite the company’s strong growth throughout 2023. The company’s revenue as of September 2023 was $7.42 billion an increase of more than eight percent compared to its revenue a year before. It beat earnings expectations and reported a “double digit growth” in the number of transactions that happened over its platform. The Information noted that Chriss, who took over as the company’s CEO in September 2023, said in PayPal’s last earnings call in November 2023 that its costs were “too high” and were “slowing us down.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/paypal-is-laying-off-2500-employees-214628203.html?src=rss