Sina Weibo has signed a potentially huge deal with one of Europe's hottest tech startups | ||
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Socialbakers, the social media marketing management company, is working on a new product with Sina Weibo, the gigantic Chinese microblog platform that has over 500 million users. Socialbakers CEO Jan Rezab announced the deal this morning at Engage 2015, the company's big Prague-based conference. About 1,000 people — mostly from the marketing and media business — are attending the meeting this year. "It's a joint product with Sina Weibo, we're making a Facebook Insight product for Sina Weibo, we're going to build it together," Rezab told attendees. The product will join a new update to Socialbakers' analytics dashboard, which will feature analytics for Instagram and social video. There were few other details available, although Rezab promised they were forthcoming. But the Sina Weibo deal suggests that Socialbakers is trying to open up a huge new business in Asia. The company currently has about 330 employees and perhaps $40 million in revenue, according to Business Insider's ranking of hottest ad tech startups. The company is widely expected to be considering an IPO in the next couple of years. Socialbakers has about 2,700 clients across the globe but most of them are focused on managing their brands in Western-facing social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Kids settle the debate and tell us which is better: an Apple or Samsung phone  | ||
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The 10 things in advertising you need to know today (FB, TWTR, GOOG, CRM, SAP) | ||
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Good morning. Here's everything you need to know in the world of advertising today. 1. This horrific Twitter ad shows why harassment is a threat to growth. It was created by an anonymous troll from 4Chan and slipped through Twitter's automated ad approval process. 2. Google Map searches are turning up some wildly racist and creepy results. Google says it is working to fix the issue quickly. 3. American Eagle is making a huge change to win back teens. It has created a one-size-fits-all clothing brand. 4. Spotify announced new features on Wednesday. Those include a move into video streaming, and a playlist that automatically adapts the tempo to your jogging speed. 5. Facebook's latest acqui-hire hints at its growing online publishing ambitions. The social network acquired Tugboat Yards, a California-based startup that provides tools for small to medium-sized web publishers to accept payments from their readers. 6. There's a new Tumblr that re-imagines "Mad Men" characters working at a digital agency. The funny GIFs are pretty on-point. 7. SAP's CEO says he doesn't think Salesforce will be sold. Bill McDermott thinks the valuation is too large for a sale or merger to happen. 8. Gravity4 has announced it wants to acquire publicly traded ad tech company TradeDoubler for $67.4 million in cash and stock. It comes just a week after Rocket Fuel rejected a takeover offer from Gravity4, saying the bid was "not credible." 9. Target is beating Wal-Mart in the race to get customers back. Target's solid Q1 earnings were in stark contrast with Wal-Mart, which missed Wall Street estimates. 10. Millennials are drinking wine instead of beer. The alcohol industry is freaking out. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Watch the heartbreaking trailer for the upcoming Amy Winehouse documentary 'Amy'  | ||
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The UK government's plan to clamp down on illegal workers has 3 big problems | ||
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The Office of National Statistics (ONS) reported Thursday that 641,000 people immigrated to the UK in 2014, which represents a "statistically significant" increase from 526,000 in 2013. The figures come as Britain's new Conservative government is planning to unveil proposals to clamp down on immigration by giving police the power to seize the wages of illegal workers as the proceeds of crime. But here are the biggest problems with the government's latest plan to control immigration: 1. It doesn't really lower the incentive of migrants to come to or stay in the UK illegallyThe biggest problem I can see with the proposal is that it's likely to fail on its own terms. In the words of Prime Minister David Cameron, the aim is "making Britain a less attractive place to come and work illegally" but this legislation looks more like tough posturing for a domestic audience than a strong disincentive for would-be migrants. That's mostly because those who are working in Britain illegally are already risking arrest and deportation, against which the threat of having their wages seized is unlikely to weigh too heavily. 2. It's poorly targeted — or not really targeted at allNobody has any good idea of just how many people are living and working in Britain illegally at any given time. The London School of Economics estimated that the figure was around 618,000 in 2009, although that figure has a margin of error of 200,000. That is there could have been anything between 400,000 and 800,000 illegal migrants — a huge spread. Of them, the vast majority (around 70% according to the LSE) live in London and around 9/10 entered the UK legally but, for one reason or another, lost their right to remain. So this new piece of legislation would allow the government to target an unknown number of unidentified people, most of whom were allowed into the country through perfectly legal channels in the first instance. Given that most of the work they are likely to be doing will be low paid cash-in-hand work actually enforcing the wage seizures is likely to be incredibly difficult without significantly increasing the amount of money committed to finding them. Even then the cost is likely to significantly exceed any benefits to UK workers. Again, it looks mostly like posturing in place of genuine solutions. 3. If the goal is to tackle exploitation, going after the exploited is poor policyThe motivating factor behind this latest announcement is notionally the impact that illegal labour is having on the wages of low-skilled British workers. The implication is that unscrupulous employers are using illegal workers, who are unable to claim entitlement to a minimum wage and have no recourse to UK employment law, in order to push down the salary costs of their businesses. If that is the case, then improving enforcement of existing employment laws against employers is surely the sensible option rather than going after the modest wages of those that they exploit. Firms can currently be fined up to £20,000 per person for employing illegal workers but, according to a BBC Freedom of Information request, around two-thirds of those fines went uncollected between 2008/09 and 2012/13. The Home Office issued 8,500 penalties totalling £79,300,000 over that period but collected only around £25 million. If you want to find a problem with existing legislation, I would humbly suggest that would be a good place to start. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: This is the hardest part about being President Obama's personal chef  | ||
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Weibo has signed a potentially huge deal with one of Europe's hottest tech startups | ||
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Socialbakers, the social media marketing management company, is working on a new product with Sina Weibo, the gigantic Chinese microblog platform that has over 500 million users. Socialbakers CEO Jan Rezab announced the deal this morning at Engage 2015, the company's big Prague-based conference. About 1,000 people — mostly from the marketing and media business — are attending the event this year. "It's a joint product with Sina Weibo, we're making a Facebook Insight product for Sina Weibo, we're going to build it together," Rezab told attendees. The product will join a new update to Socialbakers' analytics dashboard, which will feature analytics for Instagram and social video. There were few other details available, although Rezab promised they were forthcoming. But the Sina Weibo deal suggests that Socialbakers is trying to open up a huge new business in Asia. The company currently has about 330 employees and perhaps $40 million in revenue, according to Business Insider's ranking of hottest ad tech startups. The company is widely expected to be considering an IPO in the next couple of years. Socialbakers has about 2,700 clients across the globe but most of them are focused on managing their brands in Western-facing social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Kids settle the debate and tell us which is better: an Apple or Samsung phone  | ||
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The eurozone's latest batch of business surveys suggest the recovery might have stopped picking up speed | ||
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It looks like the eurozone recovery took a big of a break this monnth. The bloc's purchasing managers' index (PMI) score for May came in at 53.3 for services, better than expected and 52.3 for manufacturing, worse than expected. Anything over 50 signals growth, and anything below hints at a recession in that sector. This is the "flash" estimate so we'll have to wait for a more detailed country-by-country breakdown. But we did get PMI readings for both France and Germany. Germany's latest PMI figures missed expectations by quite some way. The services sector came in with a score of 52.9 (53.9 expected) and manufacturing came in at 51.4 (52 expected). That's not a bullish sign for the European powerhouse economy. France's figures offer a mixed picture of how Europe's second largest economy is going. Markit's purchasing managers' index (PMI) figures have the services sector at 51.6 (a little weaker than expected) and manufacturing at 49.3 (a little stronger). Analysts were expecting a score of 48.5 for manufacturing and 51.9 for services, improvements on the 48 and 51.4 recorded respectively for April. Perhaps most impressive were the jobs figures — though still fairly weak, they're good news in France, which has been battling with high unemployment. Here's Markit's release: Employment in the French private sector increased for a third successive month in May. Although quickening to the sharpest since December 2011, the rate of jobs growth remained marginal. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Russian return to G7 'unimaginable' for now: Merkel | ||
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Berlin (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday a return of Russia to the Group of Seven major industrialised nations is "unimaginable" as long as it flouts international law in Ukraine. "As long as Russia does not commit itself, and act according to, the fundamental values of international law, a return to the G8 format is unimaginable for us," Merkel, who hosts a G7 summit next month, told parliament. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Britain is abandoning cash | ||
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Britain is abandoning the use of physical money. Payments Council data released today shows that cashless payments overtook the use of notes and coins for the first time last year and cash volumes are expected to fall by a further 30% over the next decade. The industry body, which oversees the system of transactions, said it isn't just the average person on the street that is favouring electronic transactions over physical money. Businesses and financial institutions are all opting for debit and credit card transactions and transfers over cash. In fact, use of cash by consumers, businesses and financial organisations fell to 48% of payments last year. Some 4.4% of Britons said that they "rarely" use cash at all. The Payments Council said there were 18 billion cash payments in the UK in 2014. This is worth around £250 billion (£389 billion). The group noted that cash is still being used 80% of the time in pubs, clubs, and newsagents. However, the Bank of England chief cashier, whose signature appears on the bank notes, Victoria Cleland told the BBC that she severely doubts cash will die. "Absolutely not," she said in response to whether cash will be eliminated. "Since I've started the job I'm seeing a growing demand. I'm seeing a 46% increase of notes in circulation. I think the proportion of cash transactions is coming down, but I'm still seeing a fairly stable value of cash transactions." Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 'The Little Prince' trailer looks better than anything Pixar has made in years  | ||
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Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Luz publishes 'Catharsis' album | ||
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Paris (AFP) - Luz, one of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists to survive January's Islamist attack on the French satirical magazine, on Thursday published an album recounting his life after the massacre. Entitled "Catharsis", the album portrays some of the hardships faced by the cartoonist since the attacks that left 12 dead at the Charlie Hebdo offices: the nightmares and the police escort that accompanies him to his bed. Luz drew the magazine's "survivors' issue" front cover -- a depiction of the prophet Mohammed under the banner "all is forgiven." In the cartoon, the prophet holds a placard that reads "Je Suis Charlie" ("I am Charlie") a rallying call of support for the magazine that went viral and became a symbol for freedom of speech. "One day, the ability to draw left me, at the same time as a whole bunch of friends," writes Luz in a preface to the album, referring to the horror of the events of January 7. "The only difference was that it (writing) came back. Little by little. Both darker and more light-hearted." After the survivors' issue, Luz -- real name Renald Luzier -- said he would no longer draw the prophet. And earlier this week, the cartoonist announced he was leaving the paper but denied his departure was linked to internal problems at the paper that have come to the fore in the wake of the attacks. At the time of the shooting, Charlie Hebdo was struggling to make ends meet, with a weekly circulation of around 30,000. But the survivors' issue sold a staggering eight million, a record for the French press, and the magazine has been inundated with donations. However, the staff have become embroiled in a bitter dispute about how to use the money, with some editorial staff accusing management of not being transparent enough about their plans. Fifteen of the magazine's 20 staff members -- including Luz -- called in April for all employees to become equal shareholders in Charlie Hebdo. Management said on Monday that 4.3 million euros (4.8 million) in donations, raised by 36,000 people in 84 different countries, would be "handed over in full to the victims." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Royal Mail's stock price just tanked despite a rise in sales | ||
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Royal Mail, the former government owned delivery service that launched an IPO in October 2013, revealed a 1% rise in revenue for the full year ending on March 29, 2015. The group also said in its results statement that operating profit also rose to £740 million ($1.14 billion), from £729 million ($1.13 billion) in the previous year. In October 2013, Royal Mail shares started trading in London at 330p per share. The stock price now hovers around the 500p mark, which is nearly 13% above the IPO offer price. Today, the stock opened nearly 3% lower because of the company's "challenging" outlook. "Our continued focus on efficiency resulted in a better than expected UK cost performance, offsetting lower than anticipated UK parcel revenue. At the same time we have delivered a large number of innovations at pace as we transform our business," said Moya Greene, CEO of Royal Mail. "Our trading environment remains challenging, but we are now poised to step up the pace of change to drive efficiency, growth and innovation, while maintaining a tight focus on costs. "At this early stage of the financial year trading is in line with our expectations, but as in previous years our performance will be weighted to the second half and will be dependent on our important Christmas period. We remain committed to delivering value for our shareholders and the Board is recommending an increase in the full year dividend of 5%." Although Royal Mail warned about the "challenging trading environment," it is set to get slightly easier for the group. Its biggest rival Whistl, formerly TNT Post, announced last week that it is cutting door-to-door services in London, Liverpool and Manchester and will instead rely on Royal Mail for what it calls "final mile" delivery - getting letters and parcels from local distribution centres to your letter box. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 'The Little Prince' trailer looks better than anything Pixar has made in years  | ||
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10 things you need to know in markets today | ||
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Good morning! Here are 10 major stories in markets today. European PMIs are coming. The first round of May business surveys for European firms comes out between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. London time (3 a.m. and 4 a.m. New York time). Economists expect a very slight drop in reported output from its May levels, and the figure should be a good signal of the European recovery's strength. George Osborne told the UK's top business lobby his main challenge is boosting productivity. According to the Financial Times, at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) annual dinner, Osborne said he would release a “plan to make Britain work better” with ideas on productivity, ahead of his July budget. The Federal Reserve seems pretty unlikely to raise interest rates in June. The Federal Reserve released the Minutes from its April 28-29 Federal Open Market Committee meeting Wednesday night, which indicated that the Fed is unlikely to raise interest rates in June due to the recent rash of less positive economic data. Greece's creditors are reportedly making pension reform their top priority. According to Bloomberg, Greece's European creditors and the IMF are concentrating on getting concessions on the country's generous pension system, "leaving the door open to compromises on other issues like the country’s minimum wage proposals," in negotiations ahead of an IMF payment Greece probably can't make (without a bailout) on June 5. There may be a problem with the way the US measures GDP. In a statement to CNBC, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said it is "aware of issues" that the way it tabulates gross domestic product and that it is "developing methods to address what it has found." In the first quarter, the first estimate of GDP showed the economy grew just 0.2% to start the year, well below what Wall Street economists had forecast. UK retail sales are coming too. April's numbers are out at 9:30 a.m. London time (4:30 a.m. New York). Economists are expecting a 0.4% boost from March to leave sales up 3.8% from the same month last year. It's the first retail sales number after Q1, when GDP came in at a disappointing +0.3%. China's manufacturing PMI missed expectations. The preliminary reading of the HSBC-Markit manufacturing PMI gauge increased to 49.1 in May, higher than the 48.9 level of April, but yet again below forecasts for an increase to 49.3. Anything below 50 signals contraction. Asian markets are mixed. The Hang Seng is having another down day, 0.26% lower than Wednesday's close, Japan's Nikkei is basically flat, up 0.02%, and the Shanghai Composite is up 1.14%. Ukraine says it is fighting a "real war" with Russia. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko sparked fresh Kremlin fury by warning that his crisis-torn country was fighting a "real war" against Russian aggressors that could escalate at any time. China's premier says the country is confident of its new growth target. Premier Li Keqiang said he was confident China has the ability to meet its 2015 economic growth target of around 7%, the official news agency Xinhua said on Thursday. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Here's how Floyd Mayweather spends his millions  | ||
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