Wednesday, October 30

BUSINESS

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BUSINESS

EBay CEO steps down amid ongoing operating review

Wenig took over EBay following its split with PayPal in 2015 and promised to return the marketplace to prominence. EBay Inc. Chief Executive Officer Devin Wenig is stepping down amid the company's ongoing operating review. Scott Schenkel, EBay's chief financial officer, was appointed as interim CEO, the company announced Wednesday. The company said it will seek a permanent CEO and consider internal and external candidates. EBay shares fell 1.6% in early trading in New York. Wenig, 52, has been under pressure from activist Paul Singer, who has been pushing the company to spin off some of its businesses, including StubHub and the Classified Group. In March, EBay reached an agreement with Singer's Elliott Management Corp. and Starboard Value to appoint two new d...
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BUSINESS

Pressure mounts on WeWork CEO Adam Neumann as board weighs coup

The co-working space has been plagued by concerns over its CEO's controversial style and control of the company. Adam Neumann has said his mission as WeWork's chief executive is to elevate the world's consciousness. Members of his board are now discussing a plan to elevate someone else to run the company and salvage its troubled initial public offering. The board plans to meet on Monday, people familiar with the situation said. There, some directors are expected to raise the prospect of Neumann stepping down as CEO and becoming non-executive chairman, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. With the drama of a palace coup, Neumann has found himself at odds with WeWork's largest investor, SoftBank Group Corp. Masayosh...
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This female in tech is changing the way businesses view workplace communication
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BUSINESS, TECHNOLOGY

This female in tech is changing the way businesses view workplace communication

Females in the tech industry are still a minority, but for one woman, she is paving the way with solutions for workplace communication and standing up for women in tech. Although “females in tech” is a phrase commonly used to reference the low number of women in STEM fields, “males in tech” is rarely used as they make up the majority. Females will no longer be pushed aside in board meetings — instead they show up to have their opinions heard and valued. For Saumya Bhutnager, she’s the epitome of strong and successful females in tech. Bhutnager positions herself independently from others in career by standing out instead of blending in and holding true to her values. She doesn’t ask for praise in her work, but hopes to make a difference. Her company, InvolveSoft, is a workplace community p...
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BUSINESS

Burning retail market lights up Canada’s cannabis vape race

Canada's major tobacco companies are aiming high in the cannabis e-cigarette market. Ontario will triple its pot-store count beginning in October, just two months before the introduction of new product formats that are expected to significantly boost sales in Canada's most-populous province. While chatter about the next wave of legalization in Canada tends to focus on products like edibles and beverages, many of the biggest players entering the space say consumers will opt for the more conventional format of vapes. The Canadian market for vapes could be as big as C$600 million ($451 million) by 2021, according to Tim Pellerin, Pax Labs Inc.'s general manager of Canada. San Francisco-based Pax, which split from e-cigarette company Juul Labs Inc. in 2017 to focu...
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BUSINESS

Months after IPO, Uber’s quarterly loss tops $5bn

The ride-sharing company racked up 100 million customers by July, but for every dollar brought in, it lost roughly $1.65 Uber Technologies Inc., in its financial report Thursday, failed to surpass analysts' expectations in the way its hometown rival did the day before, sparking a selloff in after-hours trading. Uber's second-quarter adjusted sales fell short of estimates, and it posted an eye-watering $5.24 billion net loss. Most of that loss was attributed to stock-based compensation associated with the initial public offering in May, a routine expense for newly public companies. The adjusted loss—a more commonly used metric for ride-hailing companies, which excludes interest, tax and other expenses—more than doubled to $656 million but wasn't as large as the $...
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BUSINESS

Bayer CEO: Roundup settlement could be in the cards

Company struggles with mounting legal claims from many thousands of Americans who say the herbicide caused their cancer. Bayer AG Chief Executive Officer Werner Baumann said he'd consider a "financially reasonable" settlement of litigation over the weedkiller Roundup as the caseload swells and the company's shares slump anew. The number of lawsuits from people in the U.S. who say the herbicide caused them to develop cancer rose by about 5,000 to 18,400, Bayer said in a statement. The company also revealed more troubles at its crop-science division on Tuesday after bad weather curbed demand from farmers. Quarterly sales and earnings missed estimates and the German company questioned its ability to meet its full-year forecast. The shares fell as much as 4.7% in F...
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BUSINESS

Slack now valued at more than $19bn in successful IPO

The company debuted on the New York Stock Exchange and expects revenue growth this year, but at a slower pace. A parade of initial public offerings from Silicon Valley this year has garnered a mixed reception from investors. Slack Technologies Inc. took a different route on Thursday, and saw its shares soar as it went public without an IPO. Slack opened at $38.50 on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday, well above the reference price of $26 that was set for the shares in the direct listing. The stock closed at $38.62, giving the company a market value of $19.5 billion. That’s a huge increase from Slack’s last private funding round in August, which valued the company at $7.1 billion. Thursday’s debut makes Slack the second-most valuable technology company to...
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