• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 618 4351
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Equipment Reports

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Business

PayPal Hikes Merchant Fees On Some Of Its Products And Services In America; New Policy To Be Implemented From August 2

July 8, 2021 by Samuel

Merchants will now have to pay more fees to PayPal. The financial service provider has announced to increase fees that it charged to merchants. The hike is, however, applicable to some of its products. It is limited to the United States only. The increased merchant fees will come into effect from August 2. According to PayPal, it is making changes to fees as per the company’s pricing policy. It said that the revised rates are aligned with the services and products it offers. The rates are as per the value of the offerings. PayPal is a global digital payments platform. It is based in San Jose in California. The company is among the largest online payment processors in the world.

PayPal in a statement said that the company is committed to transparency in its services. It will inform the customers about revised rates. It has so far maintained a flat rate for sellers processing payments. The firm charged 2.9 percent of the transaction price. This is in addition to a 30-cent fee. The company underlined that the new rates will only apply to a portion of merchant customers. PayPal will charge higher rates for the newer products which include Pay with Venmo and PayPal Checkout. The company believes that 60 percent of the consumers using PayPal as a payment method convert than consumers who do not choose the platform for payments.

According to PayPal’s market assessment, the chances of consumers using the platform increases when PayPal is available at the time of checkout. It said that consumers use the platform three times more to complete the purchase. The recently announced Buy Now, Pay Later solutions also pushed the payment volume for business by more than 15 percent. Meanwhile, a US consumer watchdog has launched a probe into Venmo’s alleged unauthorized funds’ transfer. Venmo is a money transfer app. It is owned by PayPal. PayPal claims that it has approximately 392 million accounts that are active.

Filed Under: Business

Burberry Chief Executive Marco Gobbetti Announces Resignation, To Take Top Job At Ferragamo

June 29, 2021 by Prashant Marane

Burberry chief executive officer Marco Gobbetti has announced his resignation from the British fashion brand. Gobbetti has been credited with reviving the brand. He has announced his resignation four years after joining the company. The announcement comes as a shock for many. He will officially say goodbye to the company, known for its trademark trench coats, at the end of the year. Shares of the company dropped more than 8 per cent following the news. Gobbetti has resigned to take over the top at Ferragamo in his native Italy. The luxury goods group is famous for shoes worn by famous Hollywood celebrities like Audrey Hepburn. Gobbetti has been leading the company since 2017. He had replaced Burberry veteran Christopher Bailey. He is famous for making several changes at the company. As a result, the shares have so far gained 37 per cent since his appointment.

Commenting on his decision, Gobbetti said that it was the right time for taking such a decision. “Burberry is set on a strong growth path and I feel it is the right time for me to resign from the top post,” he said. With the decision to join the Salvatore Ferragamo, the 62-year-old CEO has got an opportunity to return to Italy and work while being closer to his family members. Commenting on the development, Burberry chairman Gerry Murphy said that he is disappointed by the decision of Gobbetti but respects his desire to go closure to his family. “The board, including me, was disappointed with the development. But we have to respect his strong desire of returning to Italy. Gobbetti has worked abroad for almost 20 years,” Murphy said. Murphy added that the decision taken by Gobbetti during his 4 years of tenure had a transformative impact on the company. “He had a clearly defined purpose and used to develop a strategy accordingly. With the support of an outstanding team, he created a strong brand momentum.”

Before joining the company, Gobbetti worked as chairman and chief executive at luxury leather group Celine. He was associated with the company from 2008 to 2016. Earlier to this, he worked at Givenchy and Moschino. Under the leadership of Gobbetti, Burberry moved to new heights and was giving tough competition to rivals. Be it the launch of more expensive products or closing of stores that were not close enough to high spending shoppers of Burberry. He brought in creative chief Riccardo Tisci that helped him introduce a new range of collections. The fashion industry gave thumbs up to the menswear collection launched by Tisci last week. But the sales of Burberry were impacted pandemic because of the global coronavirus pandemic. Most of the big brands had to opt for new strategies to deal with the situation. However, the company last month said that sales saw an increase that resulted in the 32 per cent year on year increase in the fourth quarter store sales.

Filed Under: Business

World’s Largest Meat Supplier JBS Admits Paying Equivalent Of USD 11 Million To Hackers After Cyberattack

June 18, 2021 by Sherry

Food processing company JBS USA Holdings has admitted that it paid an equivalent of USD 11 million to hackers. The company paid the amount was paid in Bitcoin after the plants of the company were knocked out by cybercriminals last week. The plants that were under attack by hackers process roughly one-fifth of the meat supply of the United States. According to the chief executive of the company, the payment was made to stop further disruption at JBS meat plants. The other important reason why the company decided to pay the ransom is that it wanted to limit the potential impact on grocery stores and restaurants that rely on meat products of the company, said Andre Nogueira. “It is very hard to pay the criminals. But we believe that it was the right thing for our customers,” Nogueira told a media house. He added that the company ensured that the payment is made only after the majority of JBS plants were back to normal and running again.

JBS has factories in Australia, American, and Europe. It is the largest meat company in the world by sales. The company process bee, poultry, and pork. JBS is the biggest processor of beef in the United States and the top supplier of pork and chicken. Pilgrim’s Pride Corp is the subsidiary of the JBS and was also the victim of a cyber attack.  Pilgrim’s Pride Corp is the second-largest poultry processor in the United States, with the first being Tyson Foods Inc. The attack on JBS was part of the ransomware attack where hackers take control of the operating systems of companies to demand multimillion-dollar payments. Hackers had recently adopted the same procedure to demand about USD 4.4 million from Colonial Pipeline. The recent attacks show how attackers have shifted their target from data-rich companies to these businesses.

According to Nogueira, the company learned about the cyberattack on May 30, Sunday. They came to know about the attack after some company employees of the technology department notice irregularities in the functioning of some servers. Soon after that, they received a message demanding a ransom to regain access to the servers. Nogueira said that he got a call from the chief financial officer at around 5 am in the morning and was informed about the cyber attack. The technology team of the company swung into action and started shutting down systems to slow the attack’s advance. According to Nogueira, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was alerted immediately about the cyber attack. The FBI has attributed the attack to criminal ransomware gang REvil.

Filed Under: Business

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Planning Bitcoin Hardware Wallet For Square Customers

June 14, 2021 by Sherry

Cryptocurrency is the new fashion and Bitcoin is the most popular in recent times. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has expressed keen interest in Bitcoin. Dorsey has said that he is planning a Bitcoin wallet for Square customers. Square is a digital payments services company. It is based in California. It was funded by Dorsey in 2009. He said that Square will create a non-custodial hardware wallet. It means that the wallet will be built entirely in the open. Dorsey is a staunch supporter of cryptocurrency. He has expressed a keen interest in virtual currency. It is secured by cryptography. This makes it very difficult to be counterfeited.

Bitcoin wallets can be stored at currency exchanges both in the form of online and offline. These exchanges act as platforms where people can buy and sell Bitcoin for the exchange of traditional currencies. Dorsey and popular American rapper Jay-Z have announced that they will make an investment of 500 Bitcoins in an endowment. This money will be used to fund the development of Bitcoin. Dorsey said that Bitcoin is like poetry. He believes that Bitcoin will be the future. It will bring a sea of change in the world. Notably, in a non-custodial wallet, people have control over private keys. They can control the currency. In a custodial wallet, the private keys are controlled by another party. These wallets are mostly Web-based exchange wallets.

Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency in the world by market value. It plunged after Tesla CEO Elon Musk halted accepting Bitcoin from people for new purchases and called for promoting other currencies. He has favored setting up a Bitcoin Mining Council. It will look into the energy consumption in mining and promote transparency. He stopped accepting Bitcoin as a payment mode citing harm to the environment in its mining. The value since then took a nosedive to hover around USD 38,000. Musk has also dropped hints that he could create his own cryptocurrency.

Filed Under: Business

HSBC To Sell Most US Retail Banking Locations To Citizens Bank and Cathay Bank

June 10, 2021 by Sherry

HSBC Holdings PLC has decided to exit the bulk of its US retail banking business. The British bank took this decision apparently after several failed attempts to revive the struggling business. The bank will sell most of its retail banking locations to Citizens Bank and Cathay Bank. The bank started thinking about it last year when it tried to dispose of its consistently loss-making division in order to make saving worth USD 4.5 billion. It was even planning to cut 35,000 jobs. After months of consideration, the bank has now decided to sell most of the branches on the east and west coast. HSBC said that is closing most of the US business so that it can shit focus on richer clients.

With this, the footprint of the bank will reduce to 25 branches in the country from the existing 148. The bank said Citizens Bank has agreed to take over 80 of its branches. It will also acquire USD 2.2 billion of outstanding loans along with USD 9.2 billion of deposits. On the other hand, 10 branches on the east coast will be acquired by Cathay bank who will take over 800 million of loans and USD 1 billion of deposits. Some other branches, the bank said, will be wound down. The remaining branches in the country will be converted into international wealth management centers. “While the bank will remain in America, the remaining branches will now concentrate on ‘international banking and wealth management. To be specific, the focus will be on serving affluent and high net worth clients,” the bank said in a statement.

The bank has been repeatedly warning that it will have to take cost-cutting measures. Especially in the United States as it has been struggling for a long to gain a foothold among everyday consumers. And this is why the pullback was widely anticipated. Commenting on the decision of the sale of the domestic mass market in the United States, Chief Executive Officer Noel Quinn said that they were good business the bank lacked the scale to compete. “The next in the presence of the bank in the United States will be about team shifting its focus towards our competitive strength. We will be involved in wealth management of clients around the world,” Quinn said.

Filed Under: Business

United Airlines Launches ‘Your Shot to Fly’ Sweepstakes To Offer Free Flights To Vaccinated Loyalty Members

June 9, 2021 by Samuel

United Airlines has joined the list of companies that are encouraging people to get vaccinated against COVID-19. In a bid to this, the airline has launched a “Your Shot to Fly” sweepstakes. Under this, the airline will award vaccinated loyalty program members free flights. The company said that selected people will get to travel free of cost for one year. The free flights will be available for the selected loyalty program member and a companion. However, the number of people who will be selected for this scheme has been fixed to five. So, five lucky people who have got inoculated against COVID-19 will get to travel for free for one year.

In order to be part of this scheme, passengers who are members of United Airlines’ MileagePlus program will have to vaccination certificate on the mobile app of the company. The proof of vaccination can also be uploaded on the website of the airline. The company has announced that passengers will have to do this before June 22. The company will randomly select five customers on July 1. The selected passengers will win the grand prize of free flights of United Airlines for a year. “Free flights will be in any class of service and selected passengers can choose to go anywhere in the world United flies,” the company said. Also, United Airlines said that it would roundtrip tickets to 20 passengers who will participate in the sweepstakes. The eligibility criteria set by the airline is that the passengers should be a resident of the United States and must be above the age of 18 years. A random selection for roundtrip tickets will be done in June, the company added.

United Airlines said that the sweepstakes have been launched with the aim of supporting the Biden administration’s push to a large number of Americans vaccinated at the earliest. United CEO Scott Kirby said that they are proud to be part of the initiative and doing their part to incentivize people to get vaccinated. “It is important for travel point of view. More and more destinations are opening because of the vaccine. Customers are eager to fly and getting vaccinated is the only way forward. Through the sweepstakes, we are giving people one more reason to get vaccinated. This will help them reunited with their family and friend. Moreover, they can take the much-awaited vacation.” Health officials have been urging people to get vaccinated in large numbers and the White House is joining hands with different companies to encourage people for vaccination.

Filed Under: Business

Boeing-Backed Aerion To Cease Operations As It Faced Challenges In Securing Capital

May 23, 2021 by Sherry

Supersonic jet developer Aerion Corporation has decided to cease all operations. The company said it took the decision as it failed to secure enough money to start the process of making aircraft. Founded by Texas billionaire Robert Bass, Aerion had the backing of Boeing. The company was working on business jets that would be capable of flying twice as fast as other commercial aircraft and that too silently. “In the current financial environment, it is becoming extremely difficult to arrange scheduled and required capital for starting the production of supersonic jet AS2,” the company said. Aerion Corporation said that it is taking steps considering the financial environment.

Ever since the pandemic hit, Aerion was founding it difficult to arrange the necessary funds to take AS2 private jet to production level. It is worth mentioning that the company had said in March this year that it is hopeful that output of first planes would start in next 2-3 years. It said that the production would start at a factory in Melbourne, Florida. By 2027, it was hoping to start its first commercial delivery. Aerion had joined hands with Boeing and General Electric for this project and had amassed more than USD 11 billion in orders. It had recently got an order from NetJets which is a unit of American investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.

The coronavirus pandemic has heavily affected aerospace manufactures. This is because the passengers were not willing to fly and this stopped airlines from buying new planes. Boeing was hit really hard. It was already reeling from the grounding of 737 Max following two fatal crashes. Boeing had announced its backing to Aerion in 2019 and had pledged to provide all engineering and manufacturing support. But it had to dissolve its Boeing NeXt investment because of one of the worst financial crises in aviation history. “We are disappointed with the development. However, we would continue to work with creative and innovative partners,” Boeing said. Earlier, Aerion was in talks to go public. Aerion was working on AS2 that was being designed to travel with a speed of more than 1,000 miles per hour. In other words, around 1.4 times faster than the speed of sound.

Filed Under: Business

Bank of America Raises Minimum Wage, To Give Hourly Minimum Wage Of USD 25 By 2025

May 19, 2021 by Sherry

Bank of America has announced a rise in hourly wage for its employees. The nation’s second-largest bank said that it has decided to increase the minimum wage of employees working in the United States to USD 25 an hour. However, the bank said that it would be implemented in a phased manner by 2025. “It would cost a few hundred million dollars every year. But this will be an investment,” CEO Brian Moynihan was quoted as saying by some media reports. Moynihan added that it is about maintaining a “great standard of living.” The bank has just completed the last year task of giving a minimum hourly wage of USD 20.

“Paying employees more helps give them a ‘career mindset.’ This in the long run breeds loyalty. The important thing is that big companies like ours need to set a standard. According to me, it is part of sharing our success with everyone working for the company,” Moynihan said. This is not the first time when the bank has raised the minimum wage for employees under the leadership of Moynihan. The bank is run by Moynihan as the chief executive officer since 2010 and has announced several such measures. The bank had announced in 2017 that the minimum hourly wage of the bank employees would be raised to USD 15. Just two years later, Bank of America said that it would lift that level of USD 20 in the next 24 months. The bank did it ahead of schedule and around 200,000 workers were benefitted from the hike.

Bank of America also said that vendors will have to pay USD 15 an hour to workers. This will impact around 2000 vendor firms and 43,000 workers employed by them. According to Moynihan, around 99 per cent of vendors are already paying USD 15 hourly minimum wage. Meanwhile, other banks too are announcing raise, but not that aggressively. JPMorgan Chase had announced in 2018 that it would increase the hourly wage of around 22,000 employees to USD 18, depending on the local cost of living. Similarly, Citigroup announced in 2019 that raise the hourly minimum wage to USD 15 in 2019.

Filed Under: Business

Schools In The US Might Not Make Vaccination Compulsory For Children Attending In Person Classes

May 17, 2021 by Sherry

The COVID19 vaccine developed by Pfizer has been authorized for emergency use in Children in the US recently. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given a green signal to the vaccine that is going to be used in children who are as young as 12 years.  However, it seems that the schools in the US might not make vaccination mandatory for children to attend in-person classes anytime soon. Considering vaccine hesitancy among people and communities and political snags, schools might not require shots for children, said the experts. A law professor, Dorit Rubinstein Reiss from the University of California-Hastings has said that for the most part, state governments can mandate that a vaccine is required for children who are attending K-12 public schools. Dorit Rubinstein Reiss has been studying school mandates and legal issues related to vaccines. He has said that all states must pass a full legislature to be added to the compulsory vaccine list. She has informed that no state government has yet made vaccination mandatory for schools.  Dorit Rubinstein Reiss has said that it is very dubious that state governments will push towards making COVID19 vaccination mandatory for children who are attending schools this year. She has said that it is a political gambit and the legislature will not even try for making the COVID19 vaccine mandatory for children as young as 12 years until they are done with kids who are 5 years and above, as authorities do not want to go through the whole process twice.

There are clear signs that proponents of vaccination mandate might face strict opposition. As per the report, even before the COVID19 vaccine for children has been authorized for kids and teenagers in the US, many Republican lawmakers from dozens of statehouses filed petitions to halt COVID19 immunization mandates stating that shots are too new to compel people to take against their wish. Republican state Senator Mark Steffen who is also an anesthesiologist has made a bill that can strip the state’s health department of its authority to add a new vaccine to the current list of mandatory shots. However, the bill is still under review by the committee. During a hearing on the bill, Mark Steffen has said that it is an experimental vaccine that can be gene-altering. He has said that it can shoot up long-term risks that will not be known for decades. Experts from Harvard, Northwestern, Northeastern, and Rutgers Universities have done a survey in April that has included around 22000 people across the country. The survey has found that over a quarter of mothers have been extremely hesitant about vaccinating their kids. Harvard, Northwestern, Northeastern, and Rutgers Universities are part of the COVID States project as well. The president of the American Federation of Teachers union, Randi Weingarten has said that considering rising hesitancy and reluctance about vaccination, education leaders should not concentrate on making vaccines mandatory. She has said that at this time, people should be educated about the efficiency of vaccines. She has claimed that parents from minority ethnic communities should be educated about the efficacy of the vaccines, as they have faced the brunt of the pandemic the most.

Randi Weingarten and her colleagues have accepted the fact that vaccines are vital for normal school experience. Randi Weingarten has been representing school leaders and staff. Experts have said that the Los Angeles Unified school district that is the second largest in the US accommodating around 650000 students has been most upbeat on vaccinating their students. As per the report, nearly 15 vaccination sites are located in Los Angeles schools. Superintendent Austin Beutner has said that a vaccine should be accessible to all middle and high school students as soon as possible. There are some private schools that are going ahead with the vaccine mandates. St. Luke’s School in Connecticut, New Canaan has said that students who are in 5th to 12th grade must take the COVID19 vaccine to attend school in the fall. The head of St. Luke’s school, Mark Davis has said that the decision has been taken after consulting with a health task force that includes parents who are doctors. He has said that the school has made vaccines mandatory after considering the guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It says that people who are fully vaccinated do not require isolation even if they are exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It means that kids can remain in the classroom in case of exposure to the virus if they are vaccinated with two doses.  Most parents and around 600 students have come forward in support of the mandate. However, there have been four or five families that have been a little hesitant about vaccinating their kids. Davis has said that he is well aware of the long history of mandated vaccines for ailments such as whooping cough and polio and the advantages of in-person learning. Many experts have said that it is shameful that some people have politicized the issue of vaccination in the US.

Filed Under: Business

ViacomCBS, Former CEO Les Moonves Resolve Dispute Over USD 120 Million Severance Package

May 16, 2021 by Sherry

A dispute between ViacomCBS and former CBS chief executive officer Les Moonves over the severance package has been mutually resolved. Moonves had to leave the company in 2018 following allegations of sexual harassment and assault. Moonves had resigned from the post of CEP and chairman of the CBS group. He was denied the severance package after a board of the company investigated allegations and concluded that Moonves had violated company policies. The CBSE board said that he not only breached his employment contract but intentionally did not cooperate with the ongoing investigation. Following the outcomes of the month-long investigation, Moonves decided to challenge the company’s decision in 2019. USD 120, which was meant as the severance package, has been held in a grantor trust since then. Now the amount will be transferred back to ViacomCBS. It must be noted that CBS was merged with Viacom in 2019.

A joint statement issued by Moonves and ViacomCBS said, “The dispute between parties – Moonves, CBS, and a contractor of CBS – has been resolved. According to people familiar with the development, law firm Covington & Burling will pay the cost of the settlement fees to Moonves. However, the amount has not been disclosed. In the joint statement, Moonves said that the settlement amount will be donated to charities. For the uninitiated, Covington & Burling and Debevoise & Plimpton were hired by the company to investigate the allegations against Moonves and find out whether he violated the terms of his employment.

After the investigation, CBS’s board of directors had said that “there are ground to terminate.” “He not only violated policies of the company and breached his employment contract but also willfully failed to cooperate with the investigation.” Moonves was accused by several women, during the span of several years, of sexual misconduct and how he used his authority to retaliate if someone resisted. However, he always denied any wrongdoing. Moonves was one of the highest-paid executives in the United States for several years. There were times when he earned more than USD 50 million in a year. He was also one of the most powerful figures in the entertainment industry for over 30 years. According to Forbes, his estimated net worth in 2015 was at USD 700 million. After the merger with Viacom, the company became ViacomCBS and is now controlled by chairman Shari Redstone.

Filed Under: Business

Biden Administration Reverses Trump Era Order, To Remove Chinese Smartphone Giant Xiaomi From Blacklist

May 13, 2021 by Sherry

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has reached an agreement with the Biden administration. The US Department of Defense has agreed to remove Xiaomi from the list of blacklisted firms. This will undo a decision by the Trump administration that blacklisted over 40 Chinese companies. This had barred Americans from investing in the Chinese giant. The US government had designated Xiaomi as a Communist Chinese military company. It had also blocked the company from doing business in the country. The decision was taken in January ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration as the President of the United States. Xiaomi had in January filed a lawsuit against the ban.

The decision to delist Xiaomi from the blacklisted firms saw its shares jumping over 6.5 percent. The company in a regulatory filing confirmed the pact. It said that parties have agreed to resolve the litigation. They don’t want contested briefing. It added that Xiaomi and Pentagon will together work on a joint order. The order will be submitted to the court by May 20. The latest agreement comes after Xiami’s partial relief from the court in March. A court had in March ordered to temporarily halt the ban slapped on Xiaomi. The company had expressed confidence that will win a full reversal in the court. Xiaomi had said that it is a publicly-traded and independently managed corporation. It had categorically denied any link to the Chinese military.

Xiaomi had in March said that it only manufactures and offers consumer electronics products. Its products and services are for civilian and commercial use. The company said that it is committed to following international rules and working with global partners. It vowed to offer innovative technology to the world. Xiaomi said that its objective is to help people spend a better life with the adoption of innovative technology. It wants to make people’s life easier by bring new technologies. Xiaomi said that it is committed to guarding the interests of its customers and shareholders as well. In July 2020, dozens of Chinese telecom firms were tagged as a threat to America’s national security and its communications networks. The firms included Huawei, ZTE, and others.

Filed Under: Business

German Regulator Issues Emergency Order Prohibiting Facebook From Processing WhatsApp User Data

May 12, 2021 by Sherry

WhatsApp has been ever since it announced a new controversial privacy policy. Facebook, which owns WhatsApp, even faced criticism for forcing users to accept the new policy. It recently extended its May 15 deadline but told users that they will start losing features if they don’t accept the new term. Now Facebook has been asked by a German regulator to stop processing any data from WhatsApp Users. The Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, or HmbBfDI has issued an emergency order in this regard. The order prohibits the social media giant’s European operations from processing data from WhatsApp for its own use for three months. There are around 60 million users of WhatsApp in Germany. It said that new policies of WhatsApp are illegal under European privacy law.

Mark Zuckerberg-owned company has been looking for ways to monetize WhatsApp. In January this year, WhatsApp announced a new privacy policy. The new policy of the instant messaging app gives the company more power to share the data of users with its parent company Facebook. The social media giant had acquired WhatsApp for USD 19 billion in 2014. WhatsApp told users that they will have to ultimately accept the new norms if they wish to continue using the app. Some reports suggest that WhatsApp has been sharing some data with Facebook since 2016. But it now wants to share payment and transaction data as well. Due to this privacy policy, its competitors like Signal and Instagram have seen a sudden surge in the number of users.

According to Johannes Caspar of the HmbBfDI, the updates are not legal. “The three-month order has been passed with the intent to safeguard the rights and freedom of millions of WhatsApp users in Germany. It is very important to stop the damage associated with such black box procedure,” he said in a statement. Caspar said that incidents like Cambridge Analytica shows that data of social media users are at risk. Commenting on the order, a WhatsApp spokesperson said that the order has no legitimate basis as it is based on a fundamental misunderstanding. “We are fully committed towards the safety of our users’ data and will continue to private communications for everyone.”

Filed Under: Business

Pentagon Mulling To Suspend USD 10 Billion JEDI Cloud Contract Amid Charges Of Influence

May 11, 2021 by Sherry

Amid all the controversies over the USD 10 billion JEDI cloud computing contract, the Pentagon is mulling to ‘pull the plug.’ According to reports, the officials are wary of recent complaints and legal cases from other companies. This is also being considered as some lawmakers too suggested that the Pentagon should stop the project. They even asked officials to spread the multi-billion project to different vendors. The project has faced several roadblocks ever since the contract was won by Microsoft. The project is all about migrating the computing infrastructure and data of the Pentagon to the cloud. The contract was given to Microsoft in the year 2019. Amazon, which was one of the frontrunners for the project, has mounted a legal battle since then.

The e-commerce giant has accused former US President Donald Trump of improperly influencing the contract process. Amazon has made several other acquisitions related to the project. The Department of Defence (DOD) sent a memo on January 28 in this regard. The memo, sent to Congress, suggested that the lengthy deposition would make the cloud computing project untenable. Also, a federal judge has refused to dismiss allegations that the former US president interfered with the contract. The judge allowed the e-commerce giant to pursue the case in court.

It must be noted that the US Defense Department initiated a comprehensive re-evaluation after the allegations were raised. However, after evaluating its contract proposal the Department of Defense determined that the proposal given by Microsoft was still of the best value for the government. Commenting on the project, Microsoft said that it is fully prepared and ready to work on the JEDI project but is being pulled back because of the litigation battle. “We totally agree with what the US Defense Department said. This legal battle is harmful and is delaying the process of giving the technology to our military which needs it.” For the uninitiated, Microsoft has been working closely with the US Army for around the past two years.

Filed Under: Business

Norwegian Cruise Line Not Happy With Vaccine Passport Ban, Threatens To Boycott Florida Ports

May 9, 2021 by Sherry

There are various guidelines being issued to curb the spread of coronavirus infection. One such guideline introduced required people to show proof that they are vaccinated before using a business or service. However, the Florida governor has ordered banning businesses from asking customers to provide what some call ‘vaccine passport.’ Unhappy with the decision, Norwegian Cruise Line has now threatened that it will boycott Florida port unless the regulation is rolled back by the state. Norwegian CEO Frank Del Rio said that he would stop sending cruise ships if the order from Governor Ron DeSantis remains in force.

The treat from the Norwegian Cruise Line came just days after the Governor signed the legislation that bars government and businesses from asking for so-called vaccine passports. “If by any chance we are not able to operate in Florida, there are other states from where we can continue our operations. We can even operate from the Caribbean,” said Del Rio. Norwegian Cruise Line Holding is responsible for operating not only Norwegian Cruise Line but also Oceania Cruises, and Regent Seven Seas. Del Rio reiterated that every passenger and crew member onboard will be vaccinated against Covid once operations restart. Cruises are already on hold since March 14 when a No Sail Order was passed on March 14, 2021.

The legislation signed by Governor DeSantis will go into effect from July 1. Earlier in March, DeSantis openly opposed the move of making vaccine passports necessary. He had signed an executive order at that time. He had said that it was being done for the time Legislation could be drafted. The governor is of the view that Americans should be allowed to make their own decisions. Some states, which are ruled by Republicans, have followed the suit and have banned the passport visa. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has also announced that his administration was not in favor of making passport visas compulsory and therefore would ban such requirements in his state.

Filed Under: Business

Atlanta Hartsfield–Jackson Loses Title Of World’s Busiest Airport

May 1, 2021 by Sherry

Pandemic impacted almost everything last year. The one industry that is most affected is apparently aviation. Most of the airports wear a deserted look most of the time in 2020. Amid this, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport lost its title of being the world’s busiest airport to China. The airport in the biggest city in Georgia has now fallen to the second position in the list of busiest airports. According to a report of 2020 by Airports Council International World, a Chinese airport is on the top of the list now. As per the report, Guangzhou Bai Yun International Airport emerged as the busiest airport of 2020. It received the maximum number of passenger flights during the year when the coronavirus pandemic hit the world.

Reports suggest that Atlanta was on the top of the list for almost 22 years. But it lost around 61 percent of its passengers in 2020 when compared to the previous year. This downfall in passenger traffic was primarily because of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. “The coronavirus pandemic brought the movement of passengers to a virtual standstill last year. Most of the airports faced an existential threat,” said ACI World Director General Luis Felipe de Oliveira. Felipe said that the finding of the report suggests that the impact was uneven. “Different regions witnessed different challenges. They even required different policy decisions,” he said.

Atlanta saw the biggest fall in the number of passengers. ACI said that the airport received 42.9 million passengers last year. This was less than half of 110.5 million in 2019. Guangzhou too saw a decline in passenger numbers. But the Chinese city logged 43.7 million passengers last year. The airport was at 11the position in the 2019 list. It received 73.3 million passengers that year. ACI in the report said that passengers at the 10 busiest airports globally decreased by around 48 percent. Overall, the decline in the number of passengers was more than 65 percent.

Filed Under: Business

Texas Federal Jury Tells Apple Inc. To Pay USD 308 Million For Infringing A Patent

March 24, 2021 by ketan ketan

Apple has been asked to whopping USD 308.5 million for infringing a patent. The tech giant has been asked to pay the amount to Personalized Media Communications LLC (PMC). The decision is related to the digital rights management of the company. The company has been directed by the jurors to pay a running royalty to it. The royalty is usually based on the sales of a service or product. Personalized Media Communications is a licensing firm and had sued Apple in 2015. The firm alleged that iTunes of the tech giant infringed seven of its patents.

Apple had challenged the case filed by the PMC at a patent office in the United States. But in March last year, an appeals court paved the way for the trial by reversing the decision. The iPhone has not immediately commented on the development. However, Apple told a media organization that it was disappointed by the ruling. The company is reportedly planning to appeal against the ruling. The tech giant said that cases like these not only stifle innovation but also harm consumers. “It is very discouraging. When companies like these, which neither make nor sell any products file cases, it ultimately harms consumers. This needs to be checked for the overall benefit of our consumers,” Apple was quoted as saying in a report.

It is worth mentioning that Texas-based Personalized Media Communications has an infringement case pending against several other companies. These companies include Google, Netflix, and even Amazon. Earlier in January last year, Apple and Broadcom were ordered to pay USD 1.1 billion for infringing patents on Wi-Fi technology of the California Institute of Technology. According to lawyers for CalTech, Apple had to pay USD 837.8 million. Broadcom was ordered to pay USD 270 million. These technology companies were sued over a range of patents. These patents were related to wireless data transmissions. Reports suggest that it was the sixth-largest patent verdict ever.

Filed Under: Business

Volkswagen Plans Thousands Of Job Cuts In Next Two Years By Offering Early Retirement

March 18, 2021 by ketan ketan

Despite things returning back to normal, job cuts are something that many sectors are still witnessing. The latest job cuts have been announced by Volkswagen. The German automaker has said that it will cut thousands of jobs in Germany by offering older employees partial retirement. People privy with the development said that positions would be cut across various plants of company in Germany. This would be done under the retirement plan that was announced by Volkswagen earlier. Earlier there were some reports that the carmaker is planning to cut at least 5,000 jobs.

The carmaker said that a plan has been agreed upon with the work council. The company in a statement also said that it would offer partial early retirement to those employees who were born from 1956 to 1960. The early retirement plan will cost Volkswagen hundreds of millions of euros. The carmaker has not disclosed any figures and refused to comment on the development. A person privy with the development said that it would cost around USD 598 million to Volkswagen. The German car manufacturer said that around 900 employees are expected to the offer of early retirement.

The company said that according to its estimate, a few thousand will go for partial retirement. There are reportedly 120,000 people working in plants of the carmaker in Germany. Volkswagen also that the hiring freeze would continue and has been extended to the end of 2021. Earlier, it had announced that it would continue till the end of the first quarter. The development comes days after the carmaker lost the number 1 position in the world of being the largest carmaker to Toyota. The company reportedly sold around 9.5 million vehicles globally in the last year to grab the first. This was slightly more than 9.3 vehicles sold by Volkswagen in the same period. For the uninitiated, Volkswagen has 12 brands which include Seat, Audi, and Porsche.

Filed Under: Business

Netflix Begins Test To Clamp-Down On Streamers Sharing Password

March 16, 2021 by ketan ketan

Taking serious note of password sharing, Netflix has started a new test that tells borrowers to create their own accounts and sign in using them. The test is fully blocking users from using the shared account. The testing is meant to stop people from sharing passwords with people who are not members of the same household. The message sent by Netflix reads, “You must sign in from your account to continue watching Netflix if you are not living with the owner of this account.” The message promoted users to sign up for ‘free today.’ Commenting on it, a company spokesperson said that Netflix keeps doing ‘hundreds’ of such tests every year with select customers.

The streaming giant in a statement said that these tests are being done to make sure that people using Netflix accounts are authorized to use it and have not borrowed it from anyone else. The test could simply be a part of account security and may not lead to a crackdown on those using the passwords of others. According to a research firm, there is around 33 percent of users share their login passwords with at least one another person. Netflix does not give the option of screen sharing in its basic plan. However, the standard plan of the company allows users to watch Netflix on two screens simultaneously. While the basic plan costs USD 8.99 per month, the standard plant can cost USD 13.99.

So far the company has not done anything to stop users from sharing passwords. This is because the huge growth in subscribers along with the growing stock price is enough to offset any concern related to loss of revenue. Earlier this year, Netflix announced that it has topped over 200 million subscribers. The growth is despite the strong competition from other such platforms including AT&T’s HBO Max, Disney+, ViacomCBS’s Paramount+, and NBCUniversal’s Peacock. This is extremely important for the company as most of the players started making their presence felt during the lockdown.

Filed Under: Business

Google, Microsoft At Loggerheads Over Pay For News Legislation

March 16, 2021 by ketan ketan

Goggle and Microsoft are loggerheads over the bill that would make media organizations make a deal with teach giants over how their content is distributed. The search engine giant has now accused Microsoft of undercutting a rival by ‘breaking the way the open web works.’ This has reignited the long-dormant row between the two companies. Microsoft has cleared its stand over the matter and said that it is full-heartedly supporting the proposed Australian law. The tech giant made it clear that its stand on the law is not going to change even if Facebook and Google oppose it. Also, Microsoft president Brad Smith recently appeared for a hearing over the content distribution law.

Smith, in a lengthy blog post, argued that it has become extremely difficult for media organizations to monetize the traffic as most of the profit is take away by Google. “Google has in a sense transformed itself into the main destination for news. This has helped Google owning the relationship with the reader and also relegating available news content to a commodity input,” he said in the post. Responding to it, Google senior vice-president of global affairs Kent Walker said that the move by Microsoft is nothing but ‘naked corporate opportunism.’ Walker accused Microsoft of doing everything to break the way the open web has been functioning. “It is doing so just to undercut a rival,” he said.

The two companies are known rivals for years and often fight through antitrust cases. But both the companies reached an agreement in 2016 and agreed to withdraw all competition complaints. At the moment, these companies are competitors on fronts like search, cloud computing, video conferencing, and email, among other areas. The companies have once again locked horns as the bipartisan bill has been reintroduced. The bill seeks to shift commercial power from tech platforms to the struggling news organization. The bill has been introduced weeks after a similar law was approved by Australia. The bill has been supported by Microsoft.

Filed Under: Business

Some Biggest US Airlines Cancel Thousands Of Furloughs After COVID-19 Relief Package

March 15, 2021 by ketan ketan

Some of the biggest airlines in the United States have decided to cancel thousands of furloughs after the House passed the stimulus package earlier this week. The landmark package has earmarked a fixed budget for them. The package has averted thousands of job losses that were eminent because of the pandemic. The support will help airlines to pay employees their payments. American Airlines has informed around 13,000 employees that the furlough warning issued last month has been canceled. The information shared in a form memo circulated by president Robert Isom and chief executive officer Doug Parker.

“This is for or 13,000 colleagues who received notification regarding worker adjustment and retraining last month. We are delighted to say that those are happily canceled. You can now tear them up!” the leadership of the airline said in the memo. Similarly, United Airlines has withdrawn furlough notices issued to 14,000 employees. The furloughs were supposed to into effect next month. The announcement regarding the furloughs was made by airlines in 2020. They made the announcement in anticipation that the CARES Act won’t be renewed as there was a leadership change in the United States. But with the stimulus package announced by Congress, these airlines have now a ray of hope and are taking measures to makes sure that no one losses a job.

As part of the relief bill, the airline industry will get USD 1 billion for the eligible contractors and USD 14 billion to support workers. The relief bill makes sure that these companies won’t fire any employees through September 30. Airlines have been at the receiving end ever since the coronavirus pandemic struck. The pandemic-led lockdown grounded all the flights which resulted in huge losses to the industry. International Air Transport Association has estimated that the global revenue losses for the industry in 2020 were something between USD 63 billion and USD 113 billion. The IATA also said that the industry will take at least three years to reach pre-pandemic levels.

Filed Under: Business

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar


  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • +1 718 618 4351
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Survey No. 51/14 First Floor, Office Number 4, Vishwa Arcade, Near Navale Lawns, Pune, Maharashtra, India 411041

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2023 · The Equipment Reports. All Rights Reserved.