Social platforms under fire 🤥
Layoffs, US death toll over 100K, and some offices are set to re-open.
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Stock market summary:
US - S&P 500 down 0.21% 🔽
India - Sensex up 1.88% 🔼
The President has picked a new fight 👊
US President Donald Trump has launched an aggressive crusade to bring his favorite mouthpiece Twitter to task.
Trump took the platform by storm and gave it new meaning when he launched his presidential campaign in 2016, choosing to bypass traditional channels and connect with users directly. Over time the relationship has stretched limits, with the President taking to the platform to rebuke, reprimand and even embarrass his political opponents and at instances even World Leaders.
However, finally caving into the other side’s pressure, Twitter starting a couple days ago began labeling the President’s tweets for “fact checks” - highlighting whether there is any truth to what the President is saying.
Trump clearly was aghast. Soon after threatening action against the company, and calling out the CEO Jack Dorsey, Trump has now started using the power of his office to hold Twitter to task. In a reported executive order, the Office of the President has threatened to limit power of social platforms to curtail expression. Details are awaited.
Experts on both sides of the aisle reacted differently to the situation. While supporters of the President called Twitter's action a violation of his right to free speech, while his opponents lauded the platform’s move in the direction of limiting misinformation. We are torn.
Famous chef has taken to philanthropy👨🍳
When we think of popular Indian chefs, the first name that pops in our minds is that of Vikas Khanna. The 48 year old New York City based Chef and has had quite an illustrious career, with some of his accolades including cooking for the Obama family and co-hosting shows with Gordon Ramsay.
But food is not the only place where Chef Vikas shines. As the pandemic hit, the chef has shifted his focus towards feeding the poor. While still based in New York City, Khanna set out to look for partners back in India to help get food to the hungry and the homeless, and finally teamed up with National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) deployed on the front-line during emergencies.
Working with the NDRF, Khanna’s initiative has distributed more than 7 million packets of food in more than 100 cities in India. India’s startup darling PayTM recently became a sponsor. A food tech company called Hungerbox has offered its kitchens to cook meals in Mumbai and Noida. Combined, the initiative now serves around 20,000 meals per day.
We have nothing but appreciation for the man and his motivation.
In more job losses, Boeing to lay off workers✈️
After being severely affected by the pandemic, Boeing is set to lay off around 13,000 of its workers in the US in the coming weeks.
Due to the travel restrictions the aerospace giant has seen a drop in demand for its line up of aircraft. Even before the pandemic struck, the company was in a pretty bad shape as 2 of its 737 max planes suffered fatal crashes, and as a result had been halted from production.
Now the pandemic seems to have aggravated the situation. The company was planning on furloughing nearly 10% of its global workforce. Some of the workers in the UK will also be laid off.
With that, total US unemployment stands at 40 million, or nearly 25% of US workforce. The country, and the world is now embracing for a massive follow on recession that is expected to last at least 2-3 years.
Google to open offices🔓
Google is hoping to partially reopen its offices from July 6, starting with 10% of its workforce and later ramping it up to 30% in September if the conditions permit.
The employees that will be returning are the ones whose roles are needed in the office and the rest of them will be allowed to work from home indefinitely. According to Economic Times the company will give $1,000 to the ones working from home to set up necessary equipment and gear.
The workers will be required to come in on a rotating basis. It remains to be seen whether other Silicon Valley companies ask employees to come in, or follow the Facebook styled indefinite remote call. Our bets are on the latter.
Ola Electric acquires European e-bikes company🛵
Ola Electric Mobility, a division of the Indian startup that works on electric bikes has acquired Etergo BV, a company based in Amsterdam that makes electric bikes. As part of its strategy to capture wider share of personal transportation, Ola is planning on launching the bikes in India as well as in international markets.
Etergo was founded in 2014 and its biggest success was the Appscooter. The new two wheeler will be launched in 2021.
We are still unsure whether Ola plans on selling these bikes or renting them out on a per-ride basis through its platform. Bike renting is already catching a lot of wind in India, with a popular company called Bounce raising more than 200 million in venture funding and operating in multiple cities.
What else are we Snackin’🍿
📈 Coronavirus death toll in USA crosses 100,000 mark, with nearly 1.7 million people now infected in the country. But the good news is that infections have started to slow down with measures of social distancing in place
👍 Karnataka seeks permission from Center to resume activities
😢 Disrupted economy renders around 122 million Indians jobless says a reputed Think Tank, mostly low income and daily wage workers as the gap between the wealthy and the poor widens
🌧️ Monsoon to hit Kerala around 1st of June. Authorities are concerned about the impact of the increased humidity on COVID infection rates.
Hope you took a thing or two away from today’s edition. 😀
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