With just over a week left as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Tom Wheeler today accused AT&T and Verizon Wireless of violating net neutrality rules with paid data cap exemptions. But with the FCC about to switch to Republican control after next week’s inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, AT&T and Verizon can likely keep doing what they’re doing without any chance of punishment.
Category: Startups
Wells Fargo’s Post-Scandal Pay Plan Eliminates Sales Goals
Wells Fargo & Co. introduced a compensation plan for retail-bank employees that shifts the focus from sales goals to customer service after the old incentives led to a scandal over the creation of potentially millions of fraudulent accounts.
Don’t Ignore These Great Chip Makers: Cramer’s Top Takeaways
When it comes to the semiconductor sector, why does the market obsess about Nvidia ? That was the question that had Jim Cramer scratching his head on Tuesday’s episode of “Mad Money,” as he called the market’s focus on this single chip maker “repulsive.” As the most recent Consumer Electronics Show just proved, there is a lot of really important technology that relies on chips not made by Nvidia, a stock that rallied 220% in 2016.
Obama Alum David Plouffe Joins Zuckerberg’s Philanthropic Group
David Plouffe, President Barack Obama’s former campaign manager, will lead policy and advocacy for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the philanthropic organization created by Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan. Plouffe, who has been a full-time adviser for Uber Technologies Inc., will step away from his day-to-day duties, but he’ll remain a non-voting Uber board member, the ride-hailing company said.
Ellen Pao returns to investing with new role at Kapor Center
On Tuesday the Oakland-based Kapor Center for Social Impact announced Pao has joined the team as a venture partner and chief diversity and inclusion officer. She started work there last week.
Intel Joule shipments blocked in key countries, pending certification
If you can’t find Intel’s Joule developer boards in your country, it’s because shipments have been held up. Intel’s Joule 570x and 550x are powerful computer boards that can be built as a PC, or be used to build robots, drones, or smart devices.
Mid-Roll Video Ads Could Be Coming to Facebook, Inc.
Publishers will keep 55% of ad revenue, with the remaining 45% going to Facebook. Alphabet ‘s If this report is true, the move would represent a departure from CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s long-standing ban on pre-roll ads, which play at the beginning of a video.
How Fake News Reinforced My Faith In The First Amendment
Even in an era when conspiracy theories can be shared by millions on Facebook, it’s more important than ever to stand up for free expression. I’ve been asking that question ever since the election, but Nat Hentoff’s death on Saturday really made me grapple with its substance.
John Malone on Netflix’s Reed Hastings: “He Really Broke the Mold With His Success”
The media mogul told Lionsgate’s Investor Day that traditional media distributors were “asleep at the switch” as Netflix built scale to go direct to consumer. Billionaire media baron John Malone, fresh from helping engineer the Lionsgate-Starz merger to compete on the content side against Netflix, on Tuesday praised the video streaming giant’s CEO, Reed Hastings.
Yahoo! Set to Thrive Under New Altaba Name Thanks to Alibaba Stake
Yahoo! will rename itself ‘Altaba’ when the $4.8 billion Verizon deal is complete. The stock has benefited from Alibaba’s stunning performance under CEO Jack Ma.
Buy Adobe Now — Plus Jim Cramer’s Take
Adobe is breaking out and is set up well for a fresh rally leg. These charts show why it’s a must-buy.
Futures, Asia Down on Calm Before Earnings Storm
Investors are looking for concrete signs of Trump’s economic policy while waiting for companies to divulge how the fourth quarter went. Futures for U.S. markets were lower late Monday as investors await the latest earnings season and wonder if the Trump rally hasn’t pushed markets too high.
My 3 Biggest Stock Holdings in 2017
With 2017 underway, these three companies account for a larger portion of my portfolio than any other investments: Walt Disney . Here’s aquick overview of why I’m betting on these three companies — and what I consider to be their biggest risks.
Yahoo Plans to Shrink Board, Change Name After Verizon Deal
Yahoo! Inc. Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer is among six directors who plan to leave the board of the investment company that will be left after the closing of the proposed sale of Yahoo’s main internet properties to Verizon Communications Inc. The new company, a shareholder in Alibaba Group Holding Inc. and Yahoo! Japan, will change its name to Altaba Inc. and reduce its board to five members as it looks ahead to its next chapter with fewer ties to the iconic brand, according to a filing Monday. Yahoo agreed to sell its web properties to Verizon in a deal valued at about $4.8 billion, though questions have come up after Yahoo revealed two separate hacks of user data.
Alphabet Said in Talks to Sell Skybox Satellite Business
Alphabet Inc. is in talks to sell the Skybox Imaging satellite business it acquired for $500 million less than three years ago, another sign the technology giant is ratcheting back grand ambitions to blanket the globe with internet service. Planet Labs Inc., a satellite imaging startup, may acquire Skybox, according to people familiar with the situation.
Yahoo Leftovers Will Be Called Altaba, Mayer Will Not Be On Board
Yahoo Inc. disclosed Monday afternoon that the entity that remains after its merger with Verizon Inc. will be called “Altaba,” and current Chief Executive Marissa Mayer will not be on the board. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission , Yahoo said that the new company — which consists of Yahoo’s remaining investment in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Yahoo Japan, as well as cash and a few other assets — will only need five board members, and Mayer as well as Yahoo cofounder David Filo will not be among them.
Intel Corporation PC Chief Talks Manufacturing Strategy
These chips, as would be expected, deliver improved performance and power efficiency relative to the company’s sixth-generation Core processor family. What is interesting about these chips is that they represent a third wave of products manufactured in the company’s 14-nanometer manufacturing technology, which was first used to build the company’s fifth-generation Core processors.
Barracuda Networks Shares Rally After Earnings Beat
Barracuda Networks Inc. shares rallied in the extended session Monday after the cloud-computing company topped Wall Street estimates for the fiscal third quarter. Barracuda shares surged 7.2% to $25.47 after hours.
Photos: The Big Detroit Auto Show has Started and it Already Looks Awesome
Even with the black cloud hanging over the auto industry that is President-elect Trump’s Twitter feed, the Detroit Auto Show was able to shine when it kicked off on Sunday evening. The showstopper by far in the early going is Waymo’s self-driving minivan in partnership with Fiat Chrysler .
A look back at the iPhonea s first decade
“Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone,” Steve Jobs tells the crowd at Macworld on Jan. 9, 2007, “and here it is.’ ‘ And it was off to the races for the humble iPhone that he pulled out to show the audience.
Apple Bosses See Pay Drop in 2016 as CEO Reaps $145 Million
Apple Inc.’s top executives saw their compensation fall last year while Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook had his biggest payout yet from his record 2011 award. Cook’s five top lieutenants received about $22.8 million each for 2016, according to a proxy statement filed Friday.
Apple Bosses See Pay Drop in 2016 as CEO Reaps $145 Million
Apple Inc.’s top executives saw their compensation fall last year while Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook had his biggest payout yet from his record 2011 award. Cook’s five top lieutenants received about $22.8 million each for 2016, according to a proxy statement filed Friday.
Why Workday Inc. Stock Fell 15.9% in 2016
That’s not to say the entire year was painful. In fact, despite plunging early in 2016 along with the broader market’s historically painful start, shares of Workday were up slightly year to date leading into its fiscal third-quarter 2017 report on Dec. 1, 2016.
FBI Releases Documents Related to San Bernardino iPhone
The FBI on Friday released 100 pages of heavily censored documents related to its agreement with an unidentified vendor to hack into an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino, California, shooters, but it did not identify whom it paid to perform the work or how much it cost. The records were provided in response to a federal lawsuit filed against the FBI by The Associated Press, Vice Media and Gannett, the parent company of USA Today.
Will Bots Finally Start To Grow Up In 2017?
The bots we saw in 2016 were tantalizing, but they’ll need another few years to begin to live up to expectations. Last year was big for bots, as the popular definition of the software application shifted in the public’s understanding.
China Chip Policy Poses Risk to U.S. Firms, White House Says
China’s push to develop its domestic semiconductor technology threatens to harm U.S. chipmakers and put America’s national security at risk, the Obama administration warned in a report that called for greater scrutiny of Chinese industrial policy. China’s goal to achieve a leadership position in semiconductor design and manufacturing, in part by spending $150 billion over a 10-year period, requires an effective response to maintain U.S. competitiveness in the industry, according to the report released Friday.
France’s Economy Minister Visits Tesla in Bid to Woo Musk
France is setting out to entice Tesla Motors Inc., boasting the country’s anti-pollution stance and incentives for consumers to go electric. France’s Economy Minister Michel Sapin is due to tour the company’s production site Friday in Fremont, California, to argue that if Tesla is going to expand, it should do so in France, a ministry spokeswoman said.
iPhonea s 10th anniversary: How the Apple product some critics panned changed our lives
Sure, the iPhone was a bright, shiny object, another product that crazed Apple lovers would line up to buy, as they always did. But the phone was a hodgepodge, a Swiss Army knife of functions trying to do too much, critics said.
Nvidia Is Set for a Bull Leg Up
I talked about the fundamental change in demand for the company’s chips. Since then we’ve had the Consumer Electronics Show where Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang detailed partnerships with auto manufacturers such as Audi and auto suppliers like ZF and Bosch to build self-driving cars and supply the automotive industry with technical equipment.
U.S. Creates 156,000 Jobs In December; Unemployment 4.7%
The U.S. added 156,000 jobs in December to cap off the sixth straight year in which the economy created more than 2 million new jobs. Economists polled by MarketWatch had predicted a 180,000 increase in new nonfarm jobs.
Yahoo deletes tweet that included racial slur
Yahoo Finance says it accidentally tweeted out a racial epithet when promoting a story about the cost of President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to increase the size of the U.S. Navy. The headline for the story on Yahoo Finance is, “Trump Wants a Much Bigger Navy: Here’s How Much It’ll Cost.”
SoftBank Fund Said to Draw Up to $15 Billion From Mubadala
Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Development Co. is considering committing $10 billion to $15 billion to partner with SoftBank Group Corp. and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund in a new vehicle to invest in global technology, according to people familiar with the matter.
Tableau Software, Inc. May Have a Tough 2017 Ahead
Shares lost over half of their value, with most of that decline occurring in February when the data-visualization specialist reported disappointing earnings alongside weak guidance. A handful of big-data stocks got crushed that day, as investors feared Tableau’s woes were not isolated to the company itself, but instead potentially spelled trouble for the sector.
Apple says it had its biggest day in App Store history, with sales of …
An image provided by Apple of apps available on the company’s App Store. On Thursday, Apple said it sold $240 million in App Store purchases on New Year’s Day, making it the biggest day in App Store sales history.
Instant Analysis: Mobileye, Intel, and BMW to Deploy Autonomous Vehicles by H2 2017
In a joint press release, the trio said they will put around 40 self-driving cars on the road in a testing program by the second half of this year. According to the three companies, they have “developed a scalable architecture that can be adopted by other automotive developers and carmakers to pursue state of the art designs and create differentiated brands.”
Apple’s App Store Earned $8.6 Billion Last Year
The company puts out a similar release around this time each year. New Year’s Day was the “busiest single day ever,” according to the Mac maker, generating $240 million in sales.
Better Buy: Palo Alto Networks, Inc. vs. Check Point Software Technologies, Ltd.
In many ways, 2016 turned out to be the year that wasn’t for data security providers. Tighter IT budgets and longer sales cycles were the likely culprits.
Jim Cramer — Nvidia Is Far From Done
Nvidia was the top performing stock in the S&P 500 in 2016, rising more than 220% in the year. This growth has been so astounding, some investors are being reminded of the dot-com boom and subsequent bust at the beginning of the millennium, TheStreet’s Jim Cramer, co-manager of the Action Alerts PLUS portfolio , said on CNBC’s “Mad Dash” segment.
Top Takeaways From CES 2017: Nvidia Struts Its Stuff While Intel and Samsung Look for Growth
Intel gave a first-hand look at VR’s potential and Samsung added to its smart home bet, but Nvidia stole the show by announcing impressive new partnerships and initiatives. In their own ways, Intel and Samsung’s big news events on CES 2017’s press day carried with them important subtexts about where growth in their largest businesses has flattened, and how the companies are looking to respond.
Toyota Plans Years of Building Cars Largely Controlled by Humans
Toyota Motor Corp. plans to spend years designing cars in which humans retain a large measure of control, since the goal of turning all driving decisions over to computers seems too dangerous for now. The problem, Toyota said Wednesday, is that society has come to accept 39,000 traffic fatalities a year in the U.S., mostly due to human error, but would never tolerate similar carnage involving cars controlled by computers.