1 Brazil economy contracts for fifth quarter (BBC) Brazil's
economy continued to shrink in the first quarter of 2016, contracting by 0.3%. It
was the fifth consecutive quarter in which the economy has shrunk. However, the
figure was not as bad as the 0.8% contraction that had been predicted by
economists.
As well as its worst recession in decades, Brazil is
grappling with political crisis, following the removal from office of President
Dilma Rousseff pending an impeachment trial. The Instituto Brasileiro de
Geografia e Estatistica (IBGE) also said that Brazil's GDP fell by 5.4%
year-on-year.
Earlier, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD) cut its economic growth forecast for Brazil, citing
political and corruption concerns. The Brazilian economy is now expected to
contract by 4.3% this year, the OECD said. Production fell in all the three
main economic sectors: agriculture, industry and services.
Neil Shearing, chief emerging markets economist at
Capital Economics, said the smaller than expected contraction was only due to a
rise in government spending. Brazil's interim president, Michel Temer, said that
his government would not cut spending on health and education, but warned that
sacrifices were needed to balance the books and restore the economy to growth.
The country has a huge budget deficit and 11 million unemployed.
2 Uber raises $3.5bn from Saudi fund (San Francisco
Chronicle) Uber has said it is getting a massive cash infusion from Saudi
Arabia. The oil-rich nation's sovereign investment fund is putting $3.5 billion
into the global transportation company, and will get a seat on Uber's board of
directors.
Funding for new tech companies has been slowing down
in recent months amid concerns that many startups have been over-valued. But
San Francisco-based Uber has been able to raise billions of dollars as it
pursues ambitious plans to expand around the world.
Uber says its internet-based ride-hailing service
now operates in nine countries of the Middle East, one of its fastest-growing
markets. Eighty percent of its passengers in Saudi Arabia are women. The
country doesn't allow women to drive.
The Saudi money is part of a larger round of funding
by several investors, which valued Uber at $62.5 billion. The company, which
has raised well over $14 billion since its founding in 2009, says it now has
more than $11 billion in cash and available credit to fund its expansion.
Uber's regional rivals have also reported big
investments this year, as on-demand ride services have grown in popularity.
Apple recently invested $1 billion in China's Didi Chuxing, while General
Motors has put $500 million into US-based Lyft.
3 Slow website as the new business threat (Rabiya Shabeeh
in Khaleej Times) Recent studies show that the greatest competition for most
companies today isn't other businesses, but the back button that takes
customers away from their Websites to other businesses. "You're probably
losing more sales to customers leaving your Website because it took too long to
load than you are to competitors," researchers state.
A recent study by Gomez.com shows that slow loading
time is no longer just an inconvenience, it's very bad for business. For every
$1,000 an e-commerce site makes, a one second delay could cost it $25,000 per
year. To put it into perspective, if Amazon slowed down by just three seconds,
it would lose $1.6 billion worth of potential sales that year.
In addition, 40 per cent of people will abandon a
Website if it takes longer than three seconds to load. And nearly 90 per cent
of them are less likely to return to the site after a bad experience while one
of them will also tell others about it. Imperva Incapsula's study on adults who
self-reported their online shopping frequency to be slightly often or more
concludes that only 38 per cent customers are willing to wait for more than
five seconds for an e-commerce Website to load.
And it is not just a company's sales team and
customers who are impacted by the speed of its Website, search engines expect
it to be pretty fast too. Google, for example, claims to be on a mission to
'make the whole Web faster' and ultimately recognises and promotes the best Websites
across all categories with speed being a defining component in its search
ranking formula.
A Website that is functional, effective, and
convenient is no longer just a competitive advantage but an absolute
requirement to every type of business, be it small, big, new, old, or blue
chip. Your Website is your face value. Successful businesses invest well in
Website speed along with every other functionalities because they understand
the benefits it reaps nearly right away.
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