1 Twitter targets $ 1bn in IPO (Dominic Rushe in The Guardian) Twitter revealed details its hotly anticipated initial public offering saying it intended to raise $1bn from a share sale. The seven-year-old social media company now has over 200 million active users who send 500 million tweets a day, according to the prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The share sale will further enrich Twitter's multi-millionaire founders. Analysts have predicted that the company could be worth between $12bn and $20bn when it starts trading.
Jack Dorsey, Twitter's chairman, holds 4.9% of the company's stock, Evan Williams, the former CEO and fellow co-founder, holds 12%. Dick Costolo, CEO, holds 1.6%. Twitter had 218.3 million monthly active users as of 30 June, an increase of 44% from the 151.4 million a year previously. However it warned that growth will slow. "We anticipate that our user growth rate will slow over time as the size of our user base increases," the company said in its announcement.
Twitter's revenues increased by 198% to $316.9m in 2012, according to the filing. But the company posted a $79.4m loss for the year and lost $128.3m in 2011. The company has been spending large sums in order to build up its service and said it intends to carry on spending after it has raised the new money.
In a letter attached to the filing Twitter said: "Twitter was born on March 21, 2006, with just 24 characters. We started with a simple idea: share what you're doing, 140 characters at a time. People took that idea and strengthened it by using @names to have public conversations, #hashtags to organize movements, and Retweets to spread news around the world. Twitter represents a service shaped by the people, for the people. Advertising accounts for 87% of Twitter's revenues.
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/03/twitter-ipo-share-sale
2 In digital age, workers 'rarely out of office' ( LM Sixel in San Francisco Chronicle) It used to be that when you left the office for a week's vacation you switched on the "out of office" button on your computer. But with so many people carrying smartphones, it's become increasingly common to forward e-mails from your beach chair. Or return e-mails without mentioning you're in your fishing boat.
That need
to be constantly available has become part of our culture, even in the typical
8 a.m.-to-5 p.m. corporate world of banking.
For many
people, the lure of a cruise isn't the elegant dining rooms, Broadway-like
shows or tropical drinks with umbrellas. Rather it's the chance to disconnect
because international data charges are so expensive. While that excuse works
for international cruises, it's probably not going to last forever. Someone
will come up with a free international data plan and there will be nothing to
stop you from tweeting from your deck chair. Pretty soon, the only places left
will be remote national and state parks that make it difficult to get Internet
connections.
http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Workers-rarely-out-of-the-office-in-digital-age-4850876.php
3
America's ailing cities (Khaleej Times) Many American cities are hurtling towards a
financial crisis and quite a few could end up like Detroit, which was forced to
file for bankruptcy protection in July after piling up debt of $18.5 billion. And
while Motown has been declining for more than a decade, the new threat is for
some of the largest cities in the US, including Chicago, Los Angeles and even
New York. A recent study by the Center for Retirement Research, a
Boston-based think tank, revealed that are more than 40 American cities and
towns that are financially troubled. The worst affected was California, a state
that has been profligate in its spending, where 10 cities are financially
troubled.
What ails
American cities? The financial crisis of 2008 is to be blamed partly, but a
more significant factor is bloated bureaucracies, soaring healthcare costs and
pension bills, and a sharp decline in manufacturing jobs. Take Detroit, for
instance. The city was the world’s automobile capital, with all the three large
US automakers having a strong manufacturing base there. Today, the city has
just one operating auto unit.
In fact,
Chennai in India today makes more cars than Detroit. And the reason behind this
shift in manufacturing jobs to countries such as India and China is apparent.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, labour costs in India are less
than $1.5 an hour, compared with a high of $35-plus in the US. Not only
is labour expensive in the US, many of the cities have over-stretched
themselves, offering hefty concessions to public employees. About half of
Detroit’s debts can be attributed to pension and healthcare liabilities to
workers on retirement.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-1.asp?xfile=/data/editorial/2013/October/editorial_October8.xml§ion=editorial
4 Samsung forecasts big profits (BBC) Samsung
Electronics, the world's biggest mobile phone and TV maker, has forecast record
profits for the July-to-September quarter. It expects operating profit of 10.1
trillion won ($9.4bn) for the quarter, a 25% jump from a year ago. Samsung has
enjoyed tremendous success with its Galaxy range of smartphones, but there had
been concerns recently that its growth rate may be slowing.
The
success of its Galaxy range of smartphones has seen Samsung become the leading
player in the global mobile phone market. Analysts say the company's policy of
catering to the low and high-end segments of the market has proved particularly
effective. Last month, Samsung said that it is planning to launch handsets with
curved displays.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24393850
If Dr Singh has been severely embarrassed one more time, he has only himself to blame. Pitchforked into office in 2004, he was seen as a reluctant politician. A nuclear deal he pushed through with the US at the cost of parliamentary support from key Leftist allies was seen as proof of his political courage. But Dr Singh in his second term has been a shadow of Version 1. The Gandhi son-in-law gained amazing wealth without being challenged.
Perhaps most hurtful for him is his battered image as an economist. The economy he inherited from the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government was a strong one and he continued to enjoy the lag effects of its policies in his first term. In the crushing words of Ruchir Sharma, Morgan Stanley's head of global macro economics and author of the acclaimed book Breakout Nations, Dr Singh has been "consistently wrong on the economy".
All it takes then is for him to tell Mrs Gandhi that at 80, it is time for him to go. The coalition, he could suggest, will gain from a fresh face leading it into next year's polls, perhaps her own high-minded son. But they also know Dr Singh's favourite saying - if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. And so it's a safe bet that it will be a while before the cavalry leaves his door.
http://www.dawn.com/news/1047177/the-tragedy-of-manmohan-singh
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