GameStop: Sony pulling game cards won’t “have a material impact” on sales
▻https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-04-03-gamestop-sony-pulling-game-cards-wont-have-a-material-impa
Executive chairman Daniel DeMatteo believes PS4 owners will still fund digital purchases by buying currency in-store
Le créneau très haut de gamme des croisières de luxe se porte bien, merci…
MSC Cruises Inks 2 Billion Euro Order for New Luxury Ships – gCaptain
▻https://gcaptain.com/msc-cruises-inks-2-billion-euro-order-for-new-luxury-ships
MSC and Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri have announced the signing of the final contracts for the construction of four luxury cruise ships to join MSC Cruises fleet.
All four vessels will have gross tonnage of approximately 64,000 GT, 481 guest suites, and will feature the latest maritime and environmental technology.
The first of the four ships is expected to be delivered by Spring 2023. The remaining three will come into service at the rate of one per year through 2026.
The announcement follows the signing of a memorandum of agreement between the two parties in October 2018. Fincantieri said the contracts, subject to shipowner financing, have a total value exceeding EUR 2 billion,
The order marks MSC Cruises’ entry into the high-end ultra-luxury cruise sector.
“With this now firm order, MSC is entering a new segment that bears significant potential globally,” said Pierfrancesco Vago, Executive Chairman of MSC’s Cruises Division. “While we already serve the premium market with the MSC Yacht Club featured on MSC Cruises’ fleet, our new true luxury brand will deliver to this separate and fast-growing segment with super-yacht vessels and an experience to match that. Additionally, we are proud to partner again with Fincantieri for the development and construction of yet again another highly-innovative and exclusive class of ships.”
Since starting to work with Fincantieri, in 2014, MSC has also ordered four ships for its contemporary MSC Cruises brand worth a total value of EUR 3.2 billion. The first two of these vessels, MSC Seaside and MSC Seaview, are already in service. The next two vessels will be delivered in 2021 and 2023, with MSC Seashore already under construction at Fincantieri’s yard in Monfalcone.
The Growth of Sinclair’s Conservative Media Empire | The New Yorker
▻https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/22/the-growth-of-sinclairs-conservative-media-empire
Sinclair is the largest owner of television stations in the United States, with a hundred and ninety-two stations in eighty-nine markets. It reaches thirty-nine per cent of American viewers. The company’s executive chairman, David D. Smith, is a conservative whose views combine a suspicion of government, an aversion to political correctness, and strong libertarian leanings. Smith, who is sixty-eight, has a thick neck, deep under-eye bags, and a head of silvery hair. He is an enthusiast of fine food and has owned farm-to-table restaurants in Harbor East, an upscale neighborhood in Baltimore. An ardent supporter of Donald Trump, he has not been shy about using his stations to advance his political ideology. Sinclair employees say that the company orders them to air biased political segments produced by the corporate news division, including editorials by the conservative commentator Mark Hyman, and that it feeds interviewers questions intended to favor Republicans.
In some cases, anchors have been compelled to read from scripts prepared by Sinclair. In April, 2018, dozens of newscasters across the country parroted Trump’s invectives about “fake news,” saying, “Some members of the media use their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda to control exactly what people think. This is extremely dangerous to our democracy.” In response, Dan Rather, the former anchor of “CBS Evening News,” wrote, on Twitter, “News anchors looking into camera and reading a script handed down by a corporate overlord, words meant to obscure the truth not elucidate it, isn’t journalism. It’s propaganda. It’s Orwellian. A slippery slope to how despots wrest power, silence dissent, and oppress the masses.”
It’s unclear whether Sinclair is attempting to influence the politics of its viewers or simply appealing to positions that viewers may already have—or both. Andrew Schwartzman, a telecommunications lecturer at Georgetown Law School, told me, “I don’t know where their personal philosophy ends and their business goals begin. They’re not the Koch brothers, but they reflect a deep-seated conservatism and generations of libertarian philosophy that also happen to help their business.”
Sinclair has even greater ambitions for expansion. In May, 2017, the company announced a proposed $3.9-billion merger between Sinclair and Tribune Media Company, which owns forty-two television stations. The merger would make Sinclair far larger than any other broadcaster in the country, with stations beaming into seventy per cent of American households. The proposal alarmed regulatory and free-speech experts. Michael Copps, a former official at the Federal Communications Commission, told me, “One of the goals of the First Amendment is to make sure the American people have the news and information they need to make intelligent decisions about our democracy, and I think we’re pretty close to a situation where the population lacks the ability to do that. That’s the whole premise of self-government.” He went on, “There are a lot of problems facing our country, but I don’t know one as important as this. When you start dismantling our news-and-information infrastructure, that’s poison to self-government and poison to democracy.”
In subsequent years, Smith took measures to deepen Sinclair’s influence among policymakers, apparently recognizing that the company’s profits were dependent upon regulatory decisions made in Washington. One of Smith’s first notable forays into politics was his support for Robert Ehrlich, Jr., a Republican congressman who represented Maryland from 1995 until 2003. Sinclair became a top donor to Ehrlich and, in 2001, Ehrlich sent the first of several letters on Sinclair’s behalf to Michael Powell, who had recently become the chair of the F.C.C. The commission was investigating a request from Sinclair to buy a new group of stations, and Ehrlich protested the “unnecessary delays on pending applications.” The F.C.C.’s assistant general counsel responded that Ehrlich’s communication had violated procedural rules. Ehrlich sent another message, alleging that the delays were politically motivated and threatening to “call for a congressional investigation into this matter.” He added, “Knowing that you have served as Chairman for a few short months, we would prefer to give you an opportunity to address these concerns.” The proposed acquisitions were approved.
A former general-assignment reporter at the station, Jonathan Beaton, told me, “Almost immediately, I could tell it was a very corrupt culture, where you knew from top down there were certain stories you weren’t going to cover. They wanted you to keep your head down and not upset the fruit basket. I’m a Republican, and I was still appalled by what I saw at Sinclair.” Beaton characterized the man-on-the-street segments as “Don’t forget to grab some random poor soul on the street and shove a microphone in their face and talk about what the Democrats have done wrong.” He said that reporters generally complied because of an atmosphere of “intimidation and fear.”
After Trump’s victory, it looked as though Sinclair’s investment in the candidate would pay off. In January, 2017, Trump appointed Ajit Pai, a vocal proponent of media deregulation, to be the chair of the F.C.C. Pai, formerly an associate general counsel at Verizon and an aide to Senators Jeff Sessions and Sam Brownback, was exactly the sort of commission head that Sinclair had been hoping for. He believed that competition from technology companies such as Google had made many government restrictions on traditional media irrelevant—an argument that echoed Smith’s views on ownership caps and other regulations. Sinclair executives quickly tried to cultivate a relationship with Pai; shortly after the election, he addressed a gathering of Sinclair managers at the Four Seasons in Baltimore. He also met with David Smith and Sinclair’s C.E.O., Christopher Ripley, the day before Trump’s Inauguration.
It’s not unusual for business executives to meet with the chair of the F.C.C., but Pai soon announced a series of policy changes that seemed designed to help Sinclair. The first was the reinstatement of the ultrahigh-frequency discount, an arcane rule that digital technology had rendered obsolete. The move served no practical purpose, but it freed Sinclair to acquire many more stations without bumping up against the national cap.
The F.C.C. soon made other regulatory modifications that were helpful to Sinclair. It eliminated a rule requiring television stations to maintain at least one local studio in licensed markets, essentially legitimatizing Sinclair’s centralized news model. Perhaps most perniciously, Pai took steps toward approving a new broadcast-transmission standard called Next Gen TV, which would require all consumers in the U.S. to purchase new televisions or converter devices. A subsidiary of Sinclair owns six patents necessary for the new standard, which could mean billions of dollars in earnings for the company. Jessica Rosenworcel, the sole Democratic commissioner at the F.C.C., told me, “It’s striking that all of our media policy decisions seem almost custom-built for this one company. Something is wrong.” Rosenworcel acknowledged that many F.C.C. policies need to be modernized, but, she said, “broadcasting is unique. It uses the public airwaves, it’s a public trust.” She added, “I don’t think those ideas are retrograde. They are values we should sustain.”
The F.C.C. and the D.O.J. both warned Sinclair about the dummy divestitures, insisting that the company find independent owners in ten problematic markets. According to a lawsuit later filed by Tribune, instead of taking steps to appease regulators, Sinclair executives “antagonized DOJ and FCC staff” by acting “confrontational” and “belittling.” The company offered to make sales in only four of the markets, and told the Justice Department that it would have to litigate for any further concessions. One Sinclair lawyer told government representatives, “Sue me.” There was no tactical reason for Sinclair to take such a combative and self-sabotaging stance. Instead, the episode seemed to reflect how Trump’s own corruption and conflicts of interest have filtered into the business community. One industry expert who followed the proceedings closely told me that the company clearly “felt that, with the President behind them, why would the commission deny them anything?
Then, in April, the Web site Deadspin edited the broadcasts of Sinclair anchors reciting the script about fake news into one terrifying montage, with a tapestry of anchors in different cities speaking in unison. The video ignited public outrage, and Trump tweeted a defense of Sinclair, calling it “far superior to CNN and even more Fake NBC, which is a total joke.” (In a statement, a spokesperson for Sinclair said, “This message was not presented as news and was not intended to be political—there was no mention of President Trump, political parties, policy issues, etc. It was a business objective centered on attracting more viewers.”)
Behind the Messy, Expensive Split Between Facebook and WhatsApp’s Founders
▻https://www.wsj.com/articles/behind-the-messy-expensive-split-between-facebook-and-whatsapps-founders-152820
After a long dispute over how to produce more revenue with ads and data, the messaging app’s creators are walking away leaving about $1.3 billion on the table
By Kirsten Grind and
Deepa Seetharaman
June 5, 2018 10:24 a.m. ET
How ugly was the breakup between Facebook Inc. FB 0.49% and the two founders of WhatsApp, its biggest acquisition? The creators of the popular messaging service are walking away leaving about $1.3 billion on the table.
The expensive exit caps a long-simmering dispute about how to wring more revenue out of WhatsApp, according to people familiar with the matter. Facebook has remained committed to its ad-based business model amid criticism, even as Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has had to defend the company before American and European lawmakers.
The WhatsApp duo of Jan Koum and Brian Acton had persistent disagreements in recent years with Mr. Zuckerberg and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, who grew impatient for a greater return on the company’s 2014 blockbuster $22 billion purchase of the messaging app, according to the people.
Many of the disputes with Facebook involved how to manage data privacy while also making money from WhatsApp’s large user base, including through the targeted ads that WhatsApp’s founders had long opposed. In the past couple of years especially, Mr. Zuckerberg and Ms. Sandberg pushed the WhatsApp founders to be more flexible on those issues and move faster on other plans to generate revenue, the people say.
Once, after Mr. Koum said he “didn’t have enough people” to implement a project, Mr. Zuckerberg dismissed him with, “I have all the people you need,” according to one person familiar with the conversation.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified about privacy issues and the use of user data before a Senate committee in April.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified about privacy issues and the use of user data before a Senate committee in April. Photo: Alex Brandon/Press Pool
WhatsApp was an incongruous fit within Facebook from the beginning. Messrs. Acton and Koum are true believers on privacy issues and have shown disdain for the potential commercial applications of the service.
Facebook, on the other hand, has built a sprawling, lucrative advertising business that shows ads to users based on data gathered about their activities. Mr. Zuckerberg and Ms. Sandberg have touted how an advertising-supported product makes it free for consumers and helps bridge the digital divide.
When Facebook bought WhatsApp, it never publicly addressed how the divergent philosophies would coexist. But Mr. Zuckerberg told stock analysts that he and Mr. Koum agreed that advertising wasn’t the right way to make money from messaging apps. Mr. Zuckerberg also said he promised the co-founders the autonomy to build their own products. The sale to Facebook made the app founders both multibillionaires.
Over time, each side grew frustrated with the other, according to people in both camps. Mr. Koum announced April 30 he would leave, and Mr. Acton resigned last September.
Big Bet
Facebook paid substantially more for WhatsApp than any other deal.
Facebook’s five largest deals*
WhatsApp (2014)
$21.94 billion
Oculus VR (2014)
$2.30 billion
Instagram (2012)
$736 million
Microsoft† (2012)
$550 million
Onavo (2013)
$120 million
*price at close of deal †approximately 615 AOL patents and patent applications
Source: Dealogic
The WhatsApp co-founders didn’t confront Mr. Zuckerberg at their departures about their disagreements over where to take the business, but had concluded they were fighting a losing battle and wanted to preserve their relationship with the Facebook executive, people familiar with the matter said. One person familiar with the relationships described the environment as “very passive-aggressive.”
Small cultural disagreements between the two staffs also popped up, involving issues such as noise around the office and the size of WhatsApp’s desks and bathrooms, that took on greater significance as the split between the parent company and its acquisition persisted.
The discord broke into public view in a March tweet by Mr. Acton. During the height of the Cambridge Analytica controversy, in which the research firm was accused of misusing Facebook user data to aid the Trump campaign, Mr. Acton posted that he planned to delete his Facebook account.
Within Facebook, some executives were surprised to see Mr. Acton publicly bash the company since he didn’t seem to leave on bad terms, according to people familiar with the matter. When Mr. Acton later visited Facebook’s headquarters, David Marcus, an executive who ran Facebook’s other chat app, Messenger, confronted his former colleague. “That was low class,” Mr. Marcus said, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Acton shrugged it off. Mr. Marcus declined to comment.
Staff at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. Small cultural disagreements between Facebook and WhatsApp staffs, involving issues such as noise, size of desks and bathrooms, created friction.
Staff at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. Small cultural disagreements between Facebook and WhatsApp staffs, involving issues such as noise, size of desks and bathrooms, created friction. Photo: Kim Kulish/Corbis/Getty Images
The posts also prompted an angry call from Ms. Sandberg to Mr. Koum, who assured her that Mr. Acton didn’t mean any harm, according to a person familiar with the call.
When Mr. Acton departed Facebook, he forfeited about $900 million in potential stock awards, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Koum is expected to officially depart in mid-August, in which case he would leave behind more than two million unvested shares worth about $400 million at Facebook’s current stock price. Both men would have received all their remaining shares had they stayed until this November, when their contracts end.
The amount the two executives are leaving in unvested shares hasn’t been reported, nor have the full extent of the details around their disagreements with Facebook over the years.
“Jan has done an amazing job building WhatsApp. He has been a tireless advocate for privacy and encryption,” Mr. Zuckerberg said in May at the company’s developer conference about Mr. Koum’s departure. He added he was proud that Facebook helped WhatsApp launch end-to-end encryption a couple of years after the acquisition.
In many ways, Facebook and WhatsApp couldn’t have been more different. Facebook from its beginning in 2004 leveraged access to user information to sell targeted advertising that would be displayed as people browsed their news feeds. That business model has been hugely successful, driving Facebook’s market value past half a trillion dollars, with advertising accounting for 97% of the firm’s revenue.
A sign in WhatsApp’s offices at Facebook headquarters. Some Facebook employees mocked WhatsApp with chants of ‘Welcome to WhatsApp—Shut up!’
A sign in WhatsApp’s offices at Facebook headquarters. Some Facebook employees mocked WhatsApp with chants of ‘Welcome to WhatsApp—Shut up!’
It is also the antithesis of what WhatsApp professed to stand for. Mr. Koum, a San Jose State University dropout, grew up in Soviet-era Ukraine, where the government could track communication, and talked frequently about his commitment to privacy.
Mr. Koum, 42, and Mr. Acton, 46, became friends while working as engineers at Yahoo Inc., one of the first big tech companies to embrace digital advertising. The experience was jarring for both men, who came to regard display ads as garish, ruining the user experience and allowing advertisers to collect all kinds of data on unsuspecting individuals.
WhatsApp, which launched in 2009, was designed to be simple and secure. Messages were immediately deleted from its servers once sent. It charged some users 99 cents annually after one free year and carried no ads. In a 2012 blog post the co-founders wrote, “We wanted to make something that wasn’t just another ad clearinghouse” and called ads “insults to your intelligence.”
Text MeWorld-wide monthly active users for popularmessaging apps, in billions.Source: the companiesNote: *Across four main markets; iMessage, Google Hangoutsand Signal don’t disclose number of users.
WhatsAppFacebookMessengerWeChatTelegramLine*00.511.52
The men are also close personal friends, bonding over ultimate Frisbee, despite political differences. Mr. Koum, unlike Mr. Acton, has publicly expressed support for Donald Trump.
When Facebook bought WhatsApp in February 2014, the messaging service was growing rapidly and had already amassed 450 million monthly users, making it more popular than Twitter Inc., which had 240 million monthly users at the time and was valued at $30 billion. WhatsApp currently has 1.5 billion users.
The deal still ranks as the largest-ever purchase of a company backed by venture capital, and it was almost 10 times costlier than Facebook’s next most expensive acquisition.
Mr. Zuckerberg assured Messrs. Koum and Acton at the time that he wouldn’t place advertising in the messaging service, according to a person familiar with the matter. Messrs. Koum and Acton also negotiated an unusual clause in their contracts that said if Facebook insisted on making any “additional monetization initiatives” such as advertising in the app, it could give the executives “good reason” to leave and cause an acceleration of stock awards that hadn’t vested, according to a nonpublic portion of the companies’ merger agreement reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The provision only kicks in if a co-founder is still employed by Facebook when the company launches advertising or another moneymaking strategy.
Mr. Acton initiated the clause in his contract allowing for early vesting of his shares. But Facebook’s legal team threatened a fight, so Mr. Acton, already worth more than $3 billion, left it alone, according to people familiar with the matter.
Some analysts in the tech community said a clash was inevitable. Nate Elliott, principal of Nineteen Insights, a research and advisory firm focused on digital marketing and social media, said the WhatsApp founders are “pretty naive” for believing that Facebook wouldn’t ultimately find some way to make money from the deal, such as with advertising. “Facebook is a business, not a charity,” he said.
At the time of the sale, WhatsApp was profitable with fee revenue, although it is unclear by how much. Facebook doesn’t break out financial information for WhatsApp.
David Marcus, vice president of messaging products for Facebook, spoke during the company’s F8 Developers Conference in San Jose on May 1.
David Marcus, vice president of messaging products for Facebook, spoke during the company’s F8 Developers Conference in San Jose on May 1. Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg News
Facebook’s hands-off stance changed around 2016. WhatsApp topped one billion monthly users, and it had eliminated its 99 cent fee. Facebook told investors it would stop increasing the number of ads in Facebook’s news feed, resulting in slower advertising-revenue growth. This put pressure on Facebook’s other properties—including WhatsApp—to make money.
That August, WhatsApp announced it would start sharing phone numbers and other user data with Facebook, straying from its earlier promise to be built “around the goal of knowing as little about you as possible.”
With Mr. Zuckerberg and Ms. Sandberg pushing to integrate it into the larger company, WhatsApp moved its offices in January 2017 from Mountain View, Calif., to Facebook’s Menlo Park headquarters about 20 minutes away. Facebook tried to make it welcoming, decorating the Building 10 office in WhatsApp’s green color scheme.
WhatsApp’s roughly 200 employees at the time remained mostly segregated from the rest of Facebook. Some of the employees were turned off by Facebook’s campus, a bustling collection of restaurants, ice cream shops and services built to mirror Disneyland.
Some Facebook staffers considered the WhatsApp unit a mystery and sometimes poked fun at it. After WhatsApp employees hung up posters over the walls instructing hallway passersby to “please keep noise to a minimum,” some Facebook employees mocked them with chants of “Welcome to WhatsApp—Shut up!” according to people familiar with the matter.
Some employees even took issue with WhatsApp’s desks, which were a holdover from the Mountain View location and larger than the standard desks in the Facebook offices. WhatsApp also negotiated for nicer bathrooms, with doors that reach the floor. WhatsApp conference rooms were off-limits to other Facebook employees.
“These little ticky-tacky things add up in a company that prides itself on egalitarianism,” said one Facebook employee.
Mr. Koum chafed at the constraints of working at a big company, sometimes quibbling with Mr. Zuckerberg and other executives over small details such as the chairs Facebook wanted WhatsApp to purchase, a person familiar with the matter said.
In response to the pressure from above to make money, Messrs. Koum and Acton proposed several ideas to bring in more revenue. One, known as “re-engagement messaging,” would let advertisers contact only users who had already been their customers. Last year, WhatsApp said it would charge companies for some future features that connect them with customers over the app.
None of the proposals were as lucrative as Facebook’s ad-based model. “Well, that doesn’t scale,” Ms. Sandberg told the WhatsApp executives of their proposals, according to a person familiar with the matter. Ms. Sandberg wanted the WhatsApp leadership to pursue advertising alongside other revenue models, another person familiar with her thinking said.
Ms. Sandberg, 48, and Mr. Zuckerberg, 34, frequently brought up their purchase of the photo-streaming app Instagram as a way to persuade Messrs. Koum and Acton to allow advertising into WhatsApp. Facebook in 2012 purchased Instagram, and the app’s founders initially tried their own advertising platform rather than Facebook’s. When Instagram fell short of its revenue targets in its first few quarters, Facebook leadership pushed the founders to adopt its targeted advertising model, and the transition was relatively seamless, according to current and former employees. Today, analysts estimate that Instagram is a key driver of Facebook’s revenue, and its founders, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, remain with the company. The men didn’t respond to requests for comment.
“It worked for Instagram,” Ms. Sandberg told the WhatsApp executives on at least one occasion, according to one person familiar with the matter.
Attendees used Oculus Go VR headsets during Facebook’s F8 Developers Conference.
Attendees used Oculus Go VR headsets during Facebook’s F8 Developers Conference. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Other high-profile acquisitions such as developer platform Parse, ad tech platform LiveRail and virtual-reality company Oculus VR have fallen short of expectations, people familiar with those deals say.
The senior Facebook executives appeared to grow frustrated by the WhatsApp duo’s reasons to delay plans that would help monetize the service. Mr. Zuckerberg wanted WhatsApp executives to add more “special features” to the app, whereas Messrs. Koum and Acton liked its original simplicity.
Mr. Zuckerberg and Ms. Sandberg also wanted Messrs. Koum and Acton to loosen their stance on encryption to allow more “business flexibility,” according to one person familiar with the matter. One idea was to create a special channel between companies and users on WhatsApp to deal with issues such as customer-service requests, people familiar with the matter said. That setup would let companies appoint employees or bots to field inquiries from users and potentially store those messages in a decrypted state later on.
Last summer, Facebook executives discussed plans to start placing ads in WhatsApp’s “Status” feature, which allows users to post photo- and video-montages that last 24 hours. Similar features exist across Facebook’s services, including on Instagram, but WhatsApp’s version is now the most popular with 450 million users as of May.
Mr. Acton—described by one former WhatsApp employee as the “moral compass” of the team—decided to leave as the discussions to place ads in Status picked up. Mr. Koum, who also sat on Facebook’s board, tried to persuade him to stay longer.
Mr. Koum remained another eight months, before announcing in a Facebook post that he is “taking some time off to do things I enjoy outside of technology, such as collecting rare air-cooled Porsches, working on my cars and playing ultimate Frisbee.” Mr. Koum is worth about $9 billion, according to Forbes.
The next day, Mr. Koum said goodbye to WhatsApp and Facebook employees at an all-hands meeting in Menlo Park. An employee asked him about WhatsApp’s plans for advertising.
Mr. Koum responded by first alluding to his well-documented antipathy for ads, according to people familiar with his remarks. But Mr. Koum added that if ads were to happen, placing them in Status would be the least intrusive way of doing so, according to the people.
Some people who heard the remarks interpreted them as Mr. Koum saying he had made peace with the idea of advertising in WhatsApp.
In his absence, WhatsApp will be run by Chris Daniels, a longtime Facebook executive who is tasked with finding a business model that brings in revenue at a level to justify the app’s purchase price, without damaging the features that make it so popular.
Among WhatsApp’s competitors is Signal, an encrypted messaging app run by a nonprofit called the Signal Foundation and dedicated to secure communication, with strict privacy controls and without advertising. Mr. Acton donated $50 million to fund the foundation and serves as its executive chairman.
Corrections & Amplifications
Facebook Messenger has 1.3 billion monthly users. An earlier version of a chart in this article incorrectly said it had 2.13 billion users. (June 5, 2018)
Write to Kirsten Grind at kirsten.grind@wsj.com and Deepa Seetharaman at Deepa.Seetharaman@wsj.com
Norman Foster visits Amaravati | Foster + Partners
▻https://www.fosterandpartners.com/news/archive/2018/05/norman-foster-visits-amaravati
https://www.fosterandpartners.com/media/2637620/hero_2612_fp641290.jpg?width=1920&quality=85 
http://thegoodlife.thegoodhub.com/wp-content/thumbnails/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/foster-partners-andhra-pradesh-insert-vue-hauteur-tt-width-690-height-442-crop-1-bgcolor-ffffff-except_gif-1-unveil-1.jpg 
http://thegoodlife.thegoodhub.com/wp-content/thumbnails/uploads/sites/2/2018/05/foster-partners-andhra-pradesh-insert-vue-hauteur-2-tt-width-690-height-442-crop-1-bgcolor-ffffff-except_gif-1-unveil-1.jpg Aussi ici :
▻https://www.ulyces.co/videos/linde-construit-la-ville-la-plus-ecologique-du-monde
Et là :
▻http://thegoodlife.thegoodhub.com/2018/05/18/amaravati-le-projet-colossal-de-foster-partners-en-inde
Lord Foster met Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his team on his visit to Andhra Pradesh to oversee the next stage of design development of the governmental complex of the new state capital, Amaravati. Foster + Partners is designing the central focus of the 217-square-kilometre city, including the design of two key buildings: Legislature Assembly and High Court Complex, along with several secretariat buildings.
Norman Foster, Founder and Executive Chairman, Foster + Partners, said: “We are delighted to be working with the Chief Minister and the Government of Andhra Pradesh to help them realise their ideas for the People’s Capital and to build a clear and inspiring vision for the governmental complex at Amaravati. The design brings together our decades-long research into sustainable cities, incorporating the latest technologies that are currently being developed in India.”
#architecture #planification_urbaine #norman_foster #urbanisation #ville #urban_matter #villes_futuristes
GameStop CEO steps down after three months
▻https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-05-11-gamestop-ceo-steps-down-after-three-months
Michael K. Mauler resigns for personal reasons, executive chairman Dan DeMatteo takes interim CEO post once more
British ship insurer Steamship opts for Dutch hub as Brexit hedge
▻https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-insurance-shipping/british-ship-insurer-steamship-opts-for-dutch-hub-as-brexit-hedge-idUKKC
British ship insurer Steamship Mutual plans to set up a new Dutch subsidiary to ensure continued access to trade in the European Union in case Britain loses single market access.
“We are about to apply for a licence to establish a subsidiary company in the Netherlands,” Steamship Mutual’s executive chairman Gary Rynsard told Reuters in an email, adding it would opt for the port city of Rotterdam.
Britain dominates the global marine insurance market and losing access to specialist Protection and Indemnity (P&I) clubs could weaken its multi-billion pound shipping services sector.
Steamship Mutual, which employs around 150 people in the UK, is one of 13 major global P&I clubs and Europe represents more than 30 percent of the insurer’s global business.
Alphabet to build futuristic city in Toronto
▻https://www.ft.com/content/5044ec1a-b35e-11e7-a398-73d59db9e399
▻http://prod-upp-image-read.ft.com/64d05ab4-b383-11e7-8007-554f9eaa90ba
Alphabet is setting out to build the city of the future, starting with a downtown district of Toronto, in what it hopes will serve as a proving ground for technology-enabled urban environments around the world.
In a first-of-its-kind project, Alphabet’s subsidiary Sidewalk Labs will develop a 12-acre waterfront district, Quayside, with a view to expand across 800 acres of Toronto’s post-industrial waterfront zone.
Self-driving shuttles, adaptive traffic lights that sense pedestrians, modular housing and freight-delivering robots that travel in underground tunnels might all be part of the new development, according to the winning bid submitted by Sidewalk Labs.
In its proposal, Sidewalk also said that Toronto would need to waive or exempt many existing regulations in areas like building codes, transportation, and energy in order to build the city it envisioned. The project may need “substantial forbearances from existing laws and regulations,” the group said.
Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau announced the deal on Tuesday in Toronto.
“We started thinking about all the things we could do if someone would just give us a city and put us in charge,” said Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Alphabet. “That’s not how it works, for all sorts of good reasons,” he added with a laugh.
For Alphabet, the project presents a chance to experiment with new ways to use technology — and data — in the real world. “This is not some random activity from our perspective. This is the culmination of almost 10 years of thinking about how technology could improve people’s lives,” said Mr Schmidt.
Despite a growing political backlash against big tech in the US, where politicians are grappling with the growing influence of Alphabet, Facebook and Amazon, the company’s city-building effort has been undeterred.
Mr Trudeau described the project as a “test bed for new technologies . . . that will help us build cleaner, smarter, greener, cities”.
“Eric [Schmidt] and I have been talking about collaborating on this for a few years, and seeing it all come together now is extraordinarily exciting,” he added.
Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, with Dan Doctoroff, chief executive of Sidewalk Labs © Bloomberg
One of the challenges for the new district will be setting data policies and addressing concerns over privacy, which are particularly acute because smart city technologies often rely on collecting vast amounts of data to make cities run more efficiently.
In the vision statement submitted as part of its bid, Sidewalk describes a vast system of sensors that will monitor everything from park benches and overflowing waste bins, to noise and pollution levels in housing. The development will also pioneer new approaches to energy, including a thermal grid and on-site generation, and tech-enabled primary healthcare that will be integrated with social services.
Big Tech’s power remains unchallenged
The transportation proposal for the district includes restricting private vehicles, and instead offering self-driving shuttles and bike paths that are heated in the winter, according to the vision document. A series of underground utility tunnels will house utilities like electrical wires and water pipes, and also provide pathways for freight-delivering robots.
Sidewalk Labs, a subsidiary of Alphabet that was founded in 2015 by Dan Doctoroff, a former deputy mayor of New York, will spend $50m on initial planning and testing for the development. As part of the effort, Google will also move its Canadian headquarters to Toronto.
Mr Doctoroff said the group would present a detailed plan in one year, following extensive consultations with the community. “Our goal here is to listen, to understand,” he said. “This has to be a community conversation . . . otherwise it won’t have the political credibility to do things that are quite bold.”
Sans titre
▻http://02mydafsoup-01.soup.io/post/631302452
Must-Read: Best thing I have seen so far on Google, Open Markets, and the New America Foundation:
Ben Thompson: Google and The New America Foundation, Google’s Monopoly, Google’s Stupidity: "From the New York Times... ▻https://stratechery.com/2017/google-and-the-new-america-foundation-googles-monopoly-googles-stupidit
...The New America Foundation has received more than $21 million from Google; its parent company’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt; and his family’s foundation... helped to establish New America as an elite voice in policy debates on the American left and helped Google shape those debates. But not long after one of New America’s scholars posted a statement on the think tank’s website praising the European Union’s penalty against Google, Mr. Schmidt, who had been (...)
The Dumb Fact of #Google Money - The Atlantic
▻https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/08/the-dumb-fact-of-google-money/538458
Washington, D.C., woke up to a humdinger of a story today, a flash portrait that shows the relationship between money, power, and ideas—and highlights the potential for intellectual #corruption that has accompanied the flood of Big Tech money into the capital.
The New York Times reported that the #New_America_Foundation, the digital-savvy center-left think tank, might have pushed out Barry Lynn, a ferocious and influential critic of “platform monopolies” like, for example, Alphabet (née Google). After Google was hit with a 2.42 billion–euro fine by the European Commission in June, Lynn posted a congratulatory note to the regulators and a call for action by American anti-trust officials.
New America, meanwhile, has received more than $20 million since its founding in 1999 from Alphabet companies and the foundation established by Eric Schmidt. Schmidt, currently executive chairman of Alphabet, also previously served as chairman of New America’s board.
Bill Gates forms $1B climate-change tech fund — USA Today
▻http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/12/12/bill-gates-breakthrough-energy-partners-climate-change/95326010
Billionaire philanthropist and technologist Bill Gates is set to announce Monday the formation of a new fund with more than $1 billion to invest in technologies aimed at counteracting climate change.
The Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund “will finance emerging energy breakthroughs that can deliver affordable and reliable zero carbon emissions,” the investors said in a statement.
Gates announced intentions to form such a fund in late 2015, having already secured pledges from a variety of global investors.
[…]
Investors include Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, Kleiner Perkins venture capitalist John Doerr, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son.
The fund is connected to the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, whose five-pronged approach to funding climate-change mitigation efforts focuses on electricity, transportation, agriculture, manufacturing and buildings.
Fentanyl Billionaire Comes Under Fire as Death Toll Mounts From Prescription Opioids - WSJ
▻http://www.wsj.com/articles/fentanyl-billionaire-comes-under-fire-as-death-toll-mounts-from-prescription-op
Before they were arrested last year, Alabama doctors John Couch and Xiulu Ruan were prized customers of Insys Therapeutics Inc., maker of a powerful and highly addictive type of synthetic opioid known as fentanyl.
Drs. Couch and Ruan prescribed a combined $4.9 million of the painkiller, called Subsys, to Medicare patients in 2013 and 2014, among the most of any doctors in the U.S., federal data show.
Insys, based in Chandler, Ariz., went to unusual lengths to keep these high-prescribing doctors happy. Insys Executive Chairman John N. Kapoor, the company’s billionaire co-founder, personally traveled to Mobile, Ala., to attend a business dinner with them, said people familiar with the matter. The doctors were also frequent speakers and consultants for Insys, which paid them $270,700 in combined fees over 21 months, according to government data.
Chinese government to work with Canada on stopping flow of fentanyl - British Columbia - CBC News
▻http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/chinese-government-to-work-with-canada-on-stopping-flow-of-fentanyl-1.3866135
From January 1 to the end of October, 622 British Columbians died of illicit drug overdoses, with fentanyl being detected in about 60 per cent of those cases. There were 397 illicit drug deaths in the first 10 months of 2015.
Trump campaign shakeup - CNNPolitics.com
▻http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/17/politics/trump-campaign-overhaul
Donald Trump’s campaign is undergoing a major staff shake-up with less than three months to Election Day, adding two officials to top posts overseeing his struggling campaign and signaling a shift toward campaigning as a scorched earth outsider in order to win.
Trump has named Steve Bannon, the executive chairman of Breitbart News and a former investment banker, to the post of chief executive and promoted Kellyanne Conway, a senior adviser and pollster to his campaign, to the position of campaign manager, Conway confirmed to CNN early Wednesday morning.
The addition of Bannon — known for his brass-knuckled demeanor and his website’s sharp tone — came hours after reports surfaced that Roger Ailes, the recently ousted head of Fox News, will begin to advise Trump as he prepares for the presidential debates. The influence of both men lays the groundwork for unleashing Trump this fall from the more traditional presidential candidate framework, which Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort’s leadership was brought on to create.
[…]
Instead of Manafort’s attempts to make Trump a more traditional candidate, Bannon will take over as Trump’s top adviser, giving Trump free rein to run as the outsider candidate who won the Republican primaries.
[…]
Notably, he made the decision without input from his adult children who were off traveling during the weekend, sources close to the campaign said.
Donald, Jr., Eric and Ivanka Trump have been influential advisers in the campaign and key mediators between Trump and Manafort, often also guiding their father to mollify his rhetoric and run a more conventional campaign.
#Google and European governments have visited each other EIGHTY times in past decade | Daily Mail Online
▻http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3626126/The-revolving-door-Google-European-governments-spun-EIGHTY-times-past-d
At least 80 people are thought to have transferred in one direction or another between Google and European Union governments in the past decade.
Joanna Shields, a former Google managing director, was made a baroness and minister by David Cameron, while the Prime Minister also appointed Eric Schmidt, Google’s executive chairman, to his business advisory council.
Google has been at the centre of controversy over corporate tax arrangements while the European Commission has accused of abusing a dominant position in the market.
NOAH Internet Conference 2016 | Berlin 08 - 09 June
▻https://www.noah-conference.com
Une rencontre des protagonistes de la disruption à l’européenne se tiendra le 8 et 9 juin à Berlin. Si vous avez envie de découvrir un nid de crabes de casseurs d’aquis sociaux suivez les infos sur cette rencontre digne d’un Bilderberg des économies dites « nouvelles » . On y rencontrera les acteurs représentant les commanditaires principales des nouveaux lois du travail en Europe. La plupart des participants actifs sont des jeunes à la recherche de capital pour leurs startups déjà bien vus par les investisseurs.
The preeminent European event where Internet CEOs, executives and investors gain deep insights into the latest proven concepts, network with senior executives and establish new business relationships.
Now in our 8th year, we are delighted to be hosting two upcoming events with very different underlying themes. NOAH Berlin (8-9 Jun 2016) presents a unique discussion platform for CEOs and founders from established champions and disruptive challengers across a number of key industry verticals. NOAH London (10-11 Nov 2016) is focused on connecting capital with great companies and helping service providers to find relevant customers.
Day 1
Welcome Note
Marco Rodzynek CEO NOAH Advisors Ltd
Jens Mueffelmann CEO Axel Springer Digital Ventures
Keynote
Klaus Hommels CEO Lakestar
Keynote
Carlos Watson Founder & CEO OZY
Home Automation & IoT
Niall Murphy Founder & CEO Evrythng
Ludovic Le Moan CEO Sigfox
Christian Deilmann CEO tado
Andreas Rudyk CEO Smartfrog
Philipp Pausder Managing Director Thermondo
Keynote
Thomas Ebeling CEO ProSiebenSat.1
B2B
Karim Jalbout Head of the European Digital Practice Egon Zehnder
Thomas Bergen Co-Founder & CEO getAbstract
Steve Oriola CEO Pipedrive
Peter F. Schmid CEO Wer Liefert Was
Or Offer CEO SimilarWeb
Andreas Koenig CEO TeamViewer
Torben Majgaard Founder & CEO Ciklum
Mark Schwerzel Deputy CEO Bureau van Dijk
Fintech
Roelant Prins CCO Adyen
Antonio Gagliardi Co-Founder and Managing Director CompareEuropeGroup
Jacob de Geer CEO iZettle
Phil Lojacono CEO Advanon
Jeremias Meier CEO & Co-Founder Bexio
Yoni Assia CEO & Founder Etoro
Oren Levy CEO Zooz
Raffael Johnen Co-Founder & CEO auxmoney
Fintech - Banking Deep Dive
Markus Pertlwieser CDO Private, Wealth & Commercial Clients Deutsche BankAlexander Graubner-Müller CEO & Co-Founder Kreditech
Valentin Stalf Founder & CEO Number26
Who Will Win the Banking Client of the Future? - 2:2
Markus Pertlwieser CDO Private, Wealth & Commercial Clients Deutsche Bank
Dr. Tim Sievers CEO & Founder Deposit Solutions
Alexander Graubner-Müller CEO & Co-Founder Kreditech
alentin Stalf Founder & CEO Number26
Christin Martens Editor-in-Chief Business Insider
VC Panel
Rainer Maerkle General Partner Holtzbrinck Ventures
Yann de Vries Partner, Investments Atomico
Yaron Valler General Partner Target Global
Christian Leybold Managing Director E.ventures
Timm Schipporeit Principal Index Ventures
Luciana Lixandru Vice President Accel Partners
Ankur Kamalia Managing Director – Head of Venture Portfolio Management & DB1 Ventures Deutsche Börse AG
Bo Ilsoe Managing Partner Nokia Growth Partners (NGP)
Fireside Chat
Oliver Samwer Founder & CEO Rocket Internet
Marco Rodzynek CEO NOAH Advisors Ltd
NOAH Top Picks
Dr. Holger Klärner VP Fast Growing Tech McKinsey & Company
Mobility
Hakan Koç Founder & Managing Director Auto1 Group
Harold Goddijn CEO TomTom
Christian Vollmann Patron of smart urban pioneers smart
Nir Erez CEO Moovit
Daniel Ishag Founder & CEO Karhoo
Nicolas Brusson COO & Co-Founder BlaBlaCar
Shahar Waiser Founder & CEO Gett
Simone Menne CFO Lufthansa Group
Keynote
Greg Ellis CEO Scout24
NOAH Top Picks
Rudolph W. Giuliani Former Mayor of New York City Chair Cybersecurity and Crisis Management Practice, Greenberg Traurig LLP Greenberg Traurig
1:1
Peter Terium CEO RWE
Rainer Sternfeld Founder & CEO Planet OS
Marco Rodzynek CEO NOAH Advisors Ltd
1:1
Dr. Mathias Döpfner CEO Axel Springer SE
Henry Blodget CEO, Editor-In-Chief Business Insider
Mobility - 1:1
Travis Kalanick CEO UBER
Dr. Dieter Zetsche Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars Daimler
Music
Thomas Hampson Baritone | Ambassador IDAGIO
Wolfram Rieger Pianist IDAGIO
Day 2
Day 1 Summary
Marco Rodzynek CEO NOAH Advisors Ltd
Company Presentation
Michael Gross Vice Chairman WeWork
Winners Make Winners - The Strong Performance of Interhyp with ING - 1:1
Ralph Hamers CEO ING Group
Michiel Goris CEO Interhyp
Consumer Goods
Olaf Koch Chairman of the Management Board Metro Group
Olivier Marcheteau COO Vestiaire Collective
Jeff Lipkin CFO Harry’s
Robyn Ward Founder Mahtay
Fabian Siegel Co-Founder & CEO Marley Spoon
Daniel Sobhani CEO Freeletics
Luke Waite Co-Founder Titan Black
Consumer Goods - 1:1
Herbert Hainer CEO adidas Group
Florian Gschwandtner CEO & Co-Founder Runtastic
Marco Rodzynek CEO NOAH Advisors Ltd
NOAH Top Picks
Euan Davis Senior Director Cognizant
Credit Suisse: Corporate Private Banking `connecting your wealth
Henrik Herr Head Germany & Austria International Wealth Management Credit Suisse
Florian Gschwandtner CEO & Co-Founder Runtastic
Retail
Tim Stracke Co-CEO Chrono24
Rubin Ritter Member of the Management Board Zalando SE
Dr. Oliver Lederle Founder & CEO MYTOYS GROUP
Niklas Östberg CEO Delivery Hero
Alexander Frolov General Partner Target Global
Dr. Philipp Kreibohm Co-Founder Home24
Thierry Petit Co-Founder & Co-CEO Showroomprive.com
Philip Rooke CEO Spreadshirt
Susanne Zacke Member of the Board Auctionata
Travel & Tourism
Johannes Reck CEO GetYourGuide
Bo Ilsoe Managing Partner Nokia Growth Partners (NGP)
Glenn Fogel Head of Worldwide Strategy and Planning Priceline Group
Hugo Burge CEO Momondo Group
Joachim Hunold Founder Air Berlin
Jochen Engert Founder & Managing Director FlixBus
7 Steps Needed for the Internet Economy in Europe
Clark Parsons CEO Internet Economy Foundation
Advertising
Ragnar Kruse CEO Smaato
Zvika Netter CEO & Co-Founder Innovid
Jürgen Galler Co-Founder and CEO 1plusX
Tim Schumacher Chairman Eyeo
Carl Erik Kjærsgaard Chairman and Co-Founder Blackwood Seven
Healthcare, Science & Education
Mariusz Gralewski Founder & CEO Docplanner
Markus Witte Founder and CEO Babbel
Dr. Torsten Oelke Executive Chairman CUBE
Jessica Federer Chief Digital Officer Bayer
Friedrich Schwandt Founder & CEO Statista
Stanislas Niox-Chateau CEO Doctolib
Fintech - 1:1
Christian Mylius Managing Partner Innovalue Management Advisors
Julian Teicke Founder & CEO FinanceFox
Technology, Media & Gaming
Polina Montano Co-founder and COO JobToday
Klaas Kersting Founder & CEO flaregames
Hermione Mckee Head of Finance Wooga
Hanna Aase CEO Wonderloop
Christian Sauer CEO Webtrekk
Nora-Vanessa Wohlert
Founder and Managing Director EDITION F
Susann Hoffmann Founder and Managing Director EDITION F
Peter Würtenberger CEO upday
Eric Léandri President and Co-Founder Qwant
Lucas von Cranach Founder & CEO Onefootball
What We’re Working on at NOAH: An Outlook for the Next 3 Years
Marco Rodzynek CEO NOAH Advisors Ltd
Les organisateurs se comportent comme une secte extrémiste - même les musiciens du « get together » font partie d’une startup potentiellement disruptive. Comme ca on est sûr de toujours communiquer sur la même longueur d’ondes bien à l’abri des critiques et contestations.
Les conditions générales de vente le disent explicitement :
The event is invitation only and generally tickets are not transferable. However, please contact us with your request and we can review.
...
The ticket price for NOAH16 Berlin is EUR 690 for Internet companies and corporates, EUR 850 for service providers; EUR 990 for small investors, EUR 1,490 for large investors and EUR 3,000 for investment bankers. All mentioned prices are excluding VAT. This price includes two full days including breakfast, lunch, and drinks and cocktail party.
Effectivement.
#Berlin #disruption #startup #économie #politique #capitalisme
Google’s chairman wants algorithms to censor the internet for hate speech
▻http://qz.com/568580/googles-chairman-wants-algorithms-to-censor-the-internet-for-hate-speech
In an op-ed for The New York Times (paywall), Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google, inserted himself directly into the middle of a heated debate about the line between fighting terrorism’s online reach and internet censorship. “It’s our responsibility to demonstrate that stability and free expression go hand in hand,” he writes. “We should build tools to help de-escalate tensions on social media—sort of like spell-checkers, but for hate and harassment.” His words came just after (...) #Google #algorithme #censure #anti-terrorisme
Thoughts on Gender Equality in Tech, Interrupted - Digits - WSJ
▻http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/03/16/thoughts-on-gender-equality-in-tech-interrupted
Google Executive Chairman #Eric_Schmidt had a lot to say Monday about the lack of racial and gender diversity in the technology industry.
In fact, Schmidt had so much to say that he often interrupted and spoke over his co-panelist, Megan Smith, the U.S.’s chief technology officer and a former Google executive. The two appeared on a panel at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Tex.
(...) Toward the end of the session, one woman in the audience asked the two to address how personality biases in men and women affect workplace dynamics. She noted that Schmidt repeatedly talked over his former colleague — prompting applause from a full exhibit hall.
▻http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/apr/21/drones-google-eric-schmidt
Drones should be banned from private use, says Google’s Eric Schmidt.
Google executive chairman says in Guardian interview that technology has potential to ’democratise the ability to fight war’
via @aralbalkan
Je pose ici, malgré la date (avril 2013), car cela résonne avec le rachat récent par google de l’entreprise de robotique militaire Boston Dynamics.
Google’s Schmidt to Visit North Korea - WSJ.com
►http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323374504578218673429427706.html
Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson will be taking Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt on a humanitarian visit to North Korea. The WSJ’s Evan Ramstad tells us why an Internet company would want to visit the most isolated country in the world.
Mr. Schmidt will visit Pyongyang with Bill Richardson, a Democratic politician who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Clinton administration and was governor of New Mexico from 2003 to 2011, and his longtime aide Kun Namkung.
The group will go later this month, according to a person familiar with the plans. Precise details, such as when they will go and who they will see, weren’t available.
par ►http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Eric-Schmidt-plant-Nordkorea-Reise-1776163.html