Local governments often try to solve problems using old technology. A U.S. Senate bill aims to fund small tech teams to help state and municipal governments update and rebuild government systems. Deana Mitchell takes a look at the impact on one program that is serving the needy.
…
Kenyan innovators are betting on digital technologies to attract young people to agriculture currently dominated by an aging population. With 98 percent mobile phone penetration, according to the latest data from the Communications Authority of Kenya, the cellphone is proving to be an important source of extension services in areas where such services are not available. Sarah Kimani reports for VOA from Kinoo, Kenya.
…
While many people have office jobs, working inside an office is not for everybody. And these days in the U.S. more people are turning to gig work — temporary jobs that allow them to work from home, hold multiple jobs and have flexible hours. More gig workers are now using smartphone apps to find jobs that set them free of office work. VOA’s Mykhailo Komadovsky spent time with one gig worker in Washington.
…
Switzerland’s top prosecutor defended his handling of a high-profile investigation into soccer corruption on Saturday amid scrutiny of closed-door meetings he has held with FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
Michael Lauber, who faces re-election by parliament in June as attorney general, has described two meetings with Infantino as ways to help coordinate his investigation, which treats the global soccer body as a victim rather than a suspect.
But media reports of a third confidential meeting prompted a preliminary investigation by the watchdog that oversees Lauber’s agency. The head of the watchdog said this week that Lauber had denied any other such meetings as attorney general.
In an interview with SRF radio, Lauber conceded that there must have been a third meeting that he could not recall.
“We assume based on internal documents we have seen — diary entries and SMS texts — that it took place,” he said, but insisted this would not derail his bid for re-election.
“I reject accusations of lying or keeping silent and I see no reason to withdraw my candidacy,” he said, noting that Infantino was at no time a target of the FIFA probe.
Lack of records criticized
The watchdog found no fault with Lauber for meeting Infantino in what it calls a complex case, but criticized him for not properly documenting meetings that could one day become subject of lawsuits. Its probe could lead to disciplinary proceedings against Lauber.
Lauber’s office has been investigating several cases of suspected corruption surrounding Zurich-based FIFA after it filed a criminal complaint in November 2014, when the soccer body’s president was Sepp Blatter.
FIFA has the status of a private plaintiff in the probe into suspected breach of trust, fraud, embezzlement and money laundering. Lauber’s office is conducting around 25 criminal investigations alongside 15 foreign law enforcement agencies.
More than 40 entities and individuals have been charged by U.S. prosecutors in connection with the FIFA investigation. Lauber’s office has filed no charges yet in the case.
In a statement, FIFA said it was interested in the outcome of the investigations and was keen for those who damaged the organization to be held to account.
“The fact that the FIFA president met the general prosecutor in open circumstances and in full transparency to discuss these matters is simply an illustration of FIFA’s willingness to cooperate and to assist the Office of the Attorney General with its work,” it said.
FIFA said Infantino, who also did not recall a third meeting with Lauber, and other senior FIFA officials were willing to meet authorities in Switzerland and other countries as many times as necessary until the investigations wrap up.
…
U.S. President Donald Trump urged Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to have Japanese automakers produce more vehicles in the United States, according to a readout of their recent meeting provided Saturday by the U.S.
ambassador to Japan.
The two discussed recent public announcements by Japanese automakers, including Toyota Motor Corp.’s decision to invest more in U.S. plants.
“We talked about the need to see more movement in that direction, but I think the president feels very positive that we will see such movement because all the economics support that,” said Ambassador William Hagerty.
Trump has prodded Japanese automakers to add more jobs in the United States as the White House threatens to impose tariffs of up to 25 percent on imported vehicles, on the ground of national security.
Trump said Friday that it was possible that the United States and Japan could reach a new bilateral trade deal by the time he visits Tokyo in May, but he and Abe cited areas where they differ on trade.
“We want to ensure that the U.S. has trading terms with Japan that are no less favorable than any other nation,” Hagerty said in a phone call with reporters.
He added that Trump is planning to attend the summit of the Group of 20 industrialized nations set to take place in Osaka, Japan, in June.
Separately, Trump was optimistic trade talks with China would be successful, the ambassador said.
…
In these days, when so much of the news is of fighting and mistrust, it’s nice to hear a story of care and compassion between two groups who are not known to be friends. Here’s Faith Lapidus.
…
All too often what looks like haze is actually tiny particles in the air that are so small you can breathe them in, and they can be dangerous. Now a group of citizen scientists with help from the National Science Foundation is creating a network of sensors that could warn people when the air they breathe turns bad. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.
…
Предложение для предпринимателей, производителей, коммерсантов!
Рекламная сеть SeLLines объединяет более 200 сайтов разнообразной информационной тематики, которые ежедневно публикуют свежые, интересные и актуальные статьи. Среди них могут быть ваши рекламные сообщения, которые могут cодержать:
наш email: sellines@i.ua
наш skype: isgnet
Больше информации на сайте SeLLines
Продаю Chrysler Prowler Roadster Candy Red в Киеве!
Финальный (последний) выпуск – всего 300 автомобилей было випущено в этом цвете!!!
Единственный в мире хот-род, который выпускался серийно! Алюминиевый кузов и алюминиевая рама!
Без пробега по Украине! 100% таможня в Украине! Состояние нового автомобиля!
Спортивный алюминиевый двигатель 3.6л мощностью до 400 л.с. (предыдущие выпуски Prowler имели обычный железный двигатель!).
Автомобиль собран вручную на заводе Conner Avenue Assembly Plant (CAAP) в городе Detroit штат Michigan в 2002 году. Расход: 11л/100км.
Самая полная комплектация: спорттроник, сабвуфер, AM/FM stereo, кассетный плеер, круиз-контроль, мультируль, 20“ хромированные диски, бортовой компьютер на зеркале и т.д.
Успешно используется в рекламе, шоу-бизнесе.
Возможен обмен.
телефоны: +38 050 3892259, +380 93 0075667
Больше информации на сайте продавца
Ваша реклама в сети SeLLines
Внедорожник / Кроссовер, 5 дверей, 5 мест. Родной пробег 60 тыс. км. Двигатель 2л (150 л.с./110 кВт), бензин, коробка передач автомат, привод полный, цвет: золотистый металлик. Куплена в салоне, одна хозяйка, эксплуатировался очень аккуратно.
Состояние автомобиля: хорошее. Двигатель, коробка, мосты и ходовая в идеальном состоянии. Салон: чистый и ухоженный. ТО проходилось по регламенту. Не бит! Не крашен! Абсолютно все исправно и все работает.
Комплектация: помощь при спуске, двухзонный климат-контроль, подогрев сидений, мульти-руль, складывающиеся зеркала, автосвет, омыватели фар. Задние парктроники. Вложений никаких не требует. В машине не курили, не сорили. Центральный замок, подушки безопасности (Airbag), ABS, иммобилайзер, сигнализация, галогенные фары, усилитель руля, эл. стеклоподъемники, бортовой компьютер, кондиционер, климат-контроль, круиз-контроль, задние парктроники, подогрев сидений, омыватели фар, подогрев зеркал, электропакет, мультируль, мультимедиа, магнитола, акустика, CD, тонирование стекол.
телефоны: 093-0075667, 050-3892259
Больше информации на сайте продавца
Ваша реклама в сети seLLines
Uber Technologies Inc., the world’s largest ride-hailing company, plans an initial public offering that values the company lower than the startup’s insiders had hoped, between $80.5 billion and $91.5 billion.
The valuation, outlined in a regulatory filing Friday, is less than the $120 billion that investment bankers told Uber last year it could fetch, and closer to the $76 billion valuation it attained in a private fundraising round in 2018.
This reflects the poor stock performance of its smaller rival Lyft Inc. following its IPO last month. Lyft shares ended trading Thursday down more than 20 percent from their IPO price, amid investor skepticism over its path to
profitability.
Lyft completed its IPO at a valuation of $24.3 billion, which corresponded to around 11 times its 2018 revenue. By comparison, the top end of Uber’s valuation target is around eight times revenue last year.
“We believe that recent price reductions for both Uber and Lyft may be indicative of investor hesitance to invest in highly capital-intensive, deeply unprofitable and untested business models at this late stage of the economic cycle,” PitchBook analyst Asad Hussain said.
In the filing, Uber set a target price range of $44 to $50 per share for its IPO. The company will sell 180 million shares in the offering to raise up to $9 billion, with a further 27 million sold by existing investors for as much as $1.35 billion.
Reuters reported this month that the combined value of Uber shares sold in the IPO would be around $10 billion.
The Uber IPO would rank as the largest in the United States since that of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in 2014.
Road show
The updated public filing comes as Uber begins its 10-day investor road show, in which management will pitch Uber to public markets investors.
Uber executives kicked off the IPO road show in New York on Friday. They will host an investor presentation in London on Monday, before returning to the United States for visits to New York a second time, Boston, San Francisco and the Midwest.
Uber expects to price the IPO on May 9 and then begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange the following day, people familiar with the matter have said.
Of the stock being sold in the IPO by existing Uber investors, 6.86 million shares are from Uber co-founders Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp, meaning the two men could jointly pocket $343 million if the IPO prices at the top end of its current range.
Uber will face a host of questions from investors, including when it will turn a profit, how it will navigate the transition to autonomous vehicles, and whether its business model can support higher driver costs from minimum wage rules.
Underscoring the company’s ability to generate revenue but also the scale of its losses, Uber reported in the filing a net loss attributable to the company for the first quarter of 2019 of around $1 billion on sales of roughly $3 billion.
“When it comes to Uber, we believe there are still questions over the current car-sharing model, the economics of which are not immediately or obviously attractive for sustainable, long-term investment,” Mark Hargraves, head of Framlington Global Equities, wrote in a note.
Uber also said PayPal had agreed to purchase $500 million of stock in a private placement at the price the IPO eventually settles at. The two companies also said they were extending an existing partnership to “explore future commercial payment collaborations.”
This is similar to when Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal invested $500 million in Snapchat owner Snap Inc., around the time of the latter’s IPO in 2017.
Conservative valuation
Two other IPOs this month, those of online scrapbook company Pinterest Inc. and video conferencing company Zoom Video Communications Inc., have performed much better than Lyft.
Uber, however, has chosen to still value itself conservatively. One advantage Uber will likely seek to emphasize to investors is that it is the largest player in many of the markets in which it does business, and the fact that it operates
around the world.
Analysts consider building scale crucial for Uber’s business model to become profitable.
Unlike Lyft, Uber also has a restaurant delivery business, Uber Eats, which generated $1.5 billion in revenue last year and competes with the likes of Grubhub Inc. and DoorDash.
During Uber’s IPO road show, Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi will be also tasked with convincing investors that he has successfully changed the company’s culture and business practices after a series of embarrassing scandals over the last two years.
Those have included sexual harassment allegations, a massive data breach that was concealed from regulators, use of illicit software to evade authorities and allegations of bribery overseas.
The Uber IPO is being led by Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs & Co. and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
…
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and Foxconn Technology Group officials are talking about making changes to the contract signed in 2017 that was based on constructing a larger display screen manufacturing facility than is now proposed.
But neither side is giving details. So how might the deal be changed? And what’s at stake for each side?
Here are five areas to watch as talks continue, based on interviews with people familiar with the Foxconn deal and others like it:
Jobs: It makes sense that Foxconn would want to open up the deal because it appears unlikely to meet the original jobs targets, said Bob O’Brien, president of U.S.-based Display Supply Chain Consultants, which tracks the global flat-panel industry.
Foxconn already came up well short of its first-year target of 260 jobs, costing it $9.5 million in tax credits. This year’s jobs goal has doubled to 520, and the 2020 goal — when Foxconn says production will begin — is nearly 2,000 jobs.
Starting in 2027, it must have at least 10,400 workers to qualify.
It makes sense that Foxconn would want to renegotiate to lower the threshold to qualify, O’Brien said.
The current contract awards Foxconn up to $1.5 billion in tax credits if it hires 13,000 people by 2023 making an average salary of $53,875.
Alan Yeung, Foxconn’s leader for strategy in the U.S., this week suggested there’s no way to predict whether Foxconn will meet the jobs target.
“Who has the crystal ball to predict if 13,000 jobs will be created by the year 2032? Esp in April `19,” he tweeted. Yeung later told reporters Foxconn remained committed to hiring 13,000 people.
“We’re not changing the deal … especially the 13,000 jobs,” he said.
Size of factory: Foxconn could get another $1.35 billion in tax credits if it spends $9 billion on capital investments, primarily building construction and the purchasing of machinery and equipment.
The original contract has Foxconn building what’s called a Generation 10.5 facility. But Foxconn now plans to build a Generation 6 plant, which will make smaller display screens for cellphones and other devices.
Opponents have said that wording referring to a Generation 10.5 plant puts the entire contract in jeopardy if Foxconn builds a different-sized factory.
But Evers, in an interview, discounted that concern.
“I think that we’re past that point and I don’t think anybody would have ever called them out and say we’re going to negate this deal because of that,” Evers said.
Level of credits: While Foxconn may want to lower minimum job-creation numbers to get credits, the state may want to make the benefits less generous.
The credits for job creation and capital investment are much richer than for most economic development projects, a point that critics repeatedly point to as a fault with the contract.
Foxconn is currently eligible for a 15% capital investment credit for expenditures on land and buildings, more than the typical 10%. It’s eligible for a 17% credit on wages, more than double the usual 7%.
Wisconsin went with the larger incentive payments because of the enormous promised scale of the project, which was projected to have massive ripple effects across the state’s economy. President Donald Trump heralded it as the “eighth wonder of the world” and said it was a sign of a resurgence in American manufacturing.
But with the scale of the project reduced, and hiring numbers in question, there will be pressure on the state to lower its commitment.
Changes in leadership: The project has been in flux almost from the moment it began. The election of Foxconn critic Evers as governor, followed by the announcement earlier this month that Foxconn CEO Terry Gou plans to run for president of Taiwan, has added uncertainty.
Gou was personally involved in the Wisconsin deal, traveling to the state multiple times to negotiate with then-Gov. Scott Walker and his administration and meet with Trump.
There are more changes to come. In September, Evers will be able to appoint a new leader to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., which wrote the contract.
New requirements: Renegotiating the contract would give Evers a chance to insert new environmental safeguards, but those would come at a cost that Foxconn would surely want to mitigate elsewhere. Evers could also attempt to put in place new requirements forcing Foxconn to do business with Wisconsin companies and hire workers from the state. The state may also want to include protections for local communities, which have already spent about $190 million on the project, O’Brien said.
To me it's a partnership and we're going to be working together to solve it,'' Evers said.I suppose at some point in time we might not agree and then it becomes somewhat of a negotiation. But I truly believe that the changes that are made will be reasonable to all sides. Of course, you go in knowing it might not be.”
…
Sunshine and Santana: Both will be welcome sights on the second day of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
There have been some disappointments in the run-up to the 50th annual Jazz Fest. Both the Rolling Stones and Fleetwood Mac had to cancel for health reasons. Storms then delayed Thursday’s opening, though not for long: By closing time, fans were two-stepping in the mud and a huge crowd was on hand for Earth, Wind & Fire.
Among them was Zack Buda, 25, of Manhattan who came to New Orleans with his parents, Scott and Hillary Buda, and their friends, Amy and Jamie Bernstein of Brooklyn.
“They’re exposing me to the music of their time,” said Buda, who used binoculars for a better view of the stage.
Friday’s forecast called for warm, dry weather for the dozens of acts playing on 10 stages, with Santana closing out a main stage in the evening.
Other highlights include high school choirs raising spirits in the Gospel Tent, Grammy winner Terence Blanchard at the WWNO Jazz Tent and home-grown R&B artist P.J. Morton, known for his solo work and his keyboarding with Maroon 5.
…
Marvel Studios superhero spectacle “Avengers: Endgame” hauled in a record $60 million at U.S. and Canadian box offices during its Thursday night debut,
distributor Walt Disney Co said.
Global ticket sales for the film about Iron Man, Hulk and other popular characters reached $305 million for the first two days, Disney said.
…
As Notre Dame Cathedral burned, a posting on Facebook circulated – a grainy video of what appeared to be a man in traditional Muslim garb up in the cathedral.
Fact-checkers worldwide jumped into action and pointed out the video and postings were fake and the posts never went viral.
But this week, the Sri Lanka government temporarily shut down Facebook and other sites to stop the spread of misinformation in the wake of the Easter Sunday bombings in the country that killed more than 250 people. Last year, misinformation on Facebook was blamed for contributing to riots in the country.
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others are increasingly being held responsible for the content on their sites as the world tries to grapple in real time with events as they unfold. From lawmakers to the public, there has been a rising cry for the sites to do more to combat misinformation particularly if it targets certain groups.
Shift in sense of responsibility
For years, some critics of social media companies, such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, have accused them of having done the minimum to monitor and stamp out misinformation on their platforms. After all, the internet platforms are generally not legally responsible for the content there, thanks to a 1996 U.S. federal law that says they are not publishers. This law has been held up as a key protection for free expression online.
And, that legal protection has been key to the internet firms’ explosive growth. But there is a growing consensus that companies are ethically responsible for misleading content, particularly if the content has an audience and is being used to target certain groups.
Tuning into dog whistles
At a recent House Judiciary Committee hearing on white supremacy and hate crimes, Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia, a Texas Democrat, questioned representatives from Facebook and Google about their policies.
“What have you done to ensure that all your folks out there globally know the dog whistles, know the keywords, the phrasing, the things that people respond to, so we can be more responsive and be proactive in blocking some of this language?” Garcia asked.
Each company takes a different approach.
Facebook, which perhaps has had the most public reckoning over fake news, won’t say it’s a media company. But it has taken partial responsibility about the content on its site, said Daniel Funke, a reporter at the International Fact-Checking Network at the Poynter Institute.
The social networking giant uses a combination of technology and humans to address false posts and messages that appear to target groups. It is collaborating with outside fact-checkers to weed out objectionable content, and has hired thousands to grapple with content issues on its site.
Swamp of misinformation
Twitter has targeted bots, automatic accounts that spread falsehoods. But fake news often is born on Twitter and jumps to Facebook.
“They’ve done literally nothing to fight misinformation,” Funke said.
YouTube, owned by Google, has altered its algorithms to make it harder to find problematic videos, or embed code to make sure relevant factual content comes up higher in the search. YouTube is “such a swamp of misinformation just because there is so much there, and it lives on beyond the moment,” Funke said.
Other platforms of concern are Instagram and WhatsApp, both owned by Facebook.
Some say what the internet companies have done so far is not enough.
“To use a metaphor that’s often used in boxing, truth is against the ropes. It is getting pummeled,” said Sam Wineburg, an education professor at Stanford University.
What’s needed, he said, is for the companies to take full responsibility: “This is a mess we’ve created and we are going to devote resources that will lower the profits to shareholders, because it will require a deeper investment in our own company.”
Fact-checking and artificial intelligence
One of the fact-checking organizations that Facebook works with is FactCheck.org. It receives misinformation posts from Facebook and others. Its reporters check out the stories then report on their own site whether the information is true or false. That information goes back to Facebook as well.
Facebook is “then able to create a database now of bad actors, and they can start taking action against them,” said Eugene Kiely, director of FactCheck.org. Facebook has said it will make it harder to find posts by people or groups that continually post misinformation.
The groups will see less financial incentives, Kiely points out. “They’ll get less clicks and less advertising.”
Funke predicts companies will use technology to semi-automate fact-checking, making it better, faster and able to match the scale of misinformation.
That will cost money of course.
It also could slow the internet companies’ growth.
Does being more responsible mean making less money? Social media companies are likely to find out.
…
Social media companies such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook are not legally responsible for the content that users upload to their sites. That legal protection has been key to their explosive growth, but there is a growing consensus that companies must do more to root out misleading content. Michelle Quinn reports, the companies may be taking action in the hope of avoiding stricter government regulation.
…
“Avengers: Endgame” marks the culmination of Marvel’s superhero universe since its first “Iron Man” film in 2008. Critics have hailed the three-hour movie as a super spectacle and a befitting ending, harkening back to the beginnings of the Avengers franchise. VOA’s Penelope Poulou spoke with critics and industry insiders about the significance of the film, about its franchise and the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
…
John Havlicek, the Boston Celtics great whose steal of Hal Green’s inbounds pass in the final seconds of the 1965 Eastern Conference final against the Philadelphia 76ers remains one of the most famous plays in NBA history, has died. He was 79.
The Celtics said the Hall of Famer died Thursday in Jupiter, Florida. The cause of death wasn’t immediately available. The Boston Globe said he had Parkinson’s disease.
Gravel-voiced Johnny Most’s radio call of the 1965 steal – “Havlicek stole the ball! Havlicek stole the ball!” – helped make the play one of the most enduring moments in NBA history.
“John Havlicek is one of the most accomplished players in Boston Celtics history, and the face of many of the franchise’s signature moments,” the Celtics said in a statement. “He was a champion in every sense, and as we join his family, friends, and fans in mourning his loss, we are thankful for all the joy and inspiration he brought to us.”
Nicknamed “Hondo” for his resemblance to John Wayne, Havlicek was drafted in the first round in 1962 out of Ohio State by a Celtics team stocked with stars Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, K.C. Jones, Sam Jones, Tom Sanders, Tom Heinsohn and Frank Ramsey.
Boston won NBA championships in his first six years with the team.
Then, as the veteran players gradually moved on, Havlicek became the team’s elder statesman and moved up to become a starter. The team won championships in 1973-74 and 1975-76 with Havlicek leading teams that included Dave Cowens and Jo Jo White.
Havlicek went on to win eight NBA championships and an NBA Finals MVP award, setting Celtics career records for points and games. He was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History and enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1984. At Ohio State, he helped lead the Buckeyes to the 1960 national championship.
As much as his deadly jump shot or his heroics in Boston’s triple-overtime NBA finals victory over Phoenix in 1976, Havlicek was known for his durability. He played at least 81 games in each of his 15 seasons with the Celtics and he didn’t just play: He was on the run constantly and was perpetually in motion.
In his NBA career he scored 26,395 points in 1,270 games. He seldom rested.
“The Boston Celtics are not a team, they are a way of life,” Red Auerbach once said. And no one personified the Celtic way more than Havlicek.
His No.17 was raised to the rafters in old Boston Garden and now resides in TD Garden, retired soon after he retired in 1978.
Born April 8, 1940, in Martins Ferry, Ohio, Havlicek became a standout athlete at Bridgeport High School in a small coal-mining town of 2,500 near Wheeling, West Virginia.
The 6-foot-5 Havlicek was also an outstanding football and baseball player in high school and was given a tryout by the Cleveland Browns after graduating from college.
As a sophomore at Ohio State, he scored 12.2 points a game as the Buckeyes won the national championship, beating California 75-55 in the final. His junior and senior years, Ohio State again won the Big Ten titles and made it to the NCAA title game but lost to Cincinnati each time. During Havlicek’s three years at Ohio State, the Buckeyes went 78-6, dominating most games unlike any team up to that time.
All five starters from Ohio State’s title team in 1960 – which included Jerry Lucas and future Celtic teammate Larry Siegfried – played in the NBA. Backup Bob Knight went to a Hall of Fame coaching career.
Havlicek remained in Boston after his retirement, managing investments. He later split time between New England and Florida. He occasionally returned to Ohio State for reunions of the championship team and Celtics events. His Ohio State number was retired during ceremonies in the 2004-2005 season.
…
Amazon.com Inc plans to deliver packages to members of its loyalty club Prime in just one day, instead of two days, part of a spending ramp-up that might curb future profits after a blockbuster first quarter.
Shares rose as much as 2% in after-hours trade on Thursday on the faster shipping announcement for customers around the globe and as Amazon’s first-quarter profit trounced estimates thanks to soaring demand for its cloud and ad services. Amazon will spend $800 million in the second quarter on the goal.
The announcement adds pressure to rivals Walmart Inc and others already racing to keep pace with the speed and benefits of Amazon’s Prime program.
Amazon’s first-quarter net income more than doubled to $3.6 billion, while analysts were only expecting $2.4 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Second-quarter operating income will be as much as $3.6 billion, but analysts had been expecting $4.2 billion, according to FactSet.
Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said Amazon was still reaping rewards from prior years of hiring and investments in warehouses and other infrastructure.
“We’re banking the efficiencies of prior investments, continued into Q1,” he said on a call with reporters. “There’ll be times when we have to invest ahead to build out warehouse capacity, but right now we are on a nice path where we are getting the most out of the capacity we have.”
Olsavsky also said earlier that the company would spend more later this year to roll out more benefits to international Prime members.
Investments mean lower profits
The news marks a familiar refrain for the world’s largest online retailer. For years, Amazon has made expensive bets on new technology and programs, like its $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods Market in 2017 to become a player in the U.S. grocery business.
Amazon’s investments had long meant lower profit. However, its steady, often successful marches into new industries have been lucrative to shareholders, including its founder Jeff Bezos, who had become the richest man in the world.
The luster of these bets still shined brightly on Thursday. The company’s loyal customer base has drawn merchants to sell and increasingly advertise through its site in exchange for fees, helping Amazon transform from a largely low-margin retail business to a more and more lucrative marketplace.
Revenue from seller services jumped 20% to $11.1 billion in the first quarter, while ad and other sales surged 34% to $2.7 billion, the company said.
Meanwhile, Amazon’s cloud unit kept growing as more enterprises moved data and computing operations to the technology company’s servers. Sales for Amazon Web Services (AWS) rose 41% to $7.7 billion in the first quarter.
More hiring, spending to come
Some analysts noted that these growth figures, while impressive, were lower than what Amazon had posted in prior quarters.
“Amazon delivered slower growth in all key segments,“ (AWS, advertising and e-commerce) “but margins skyrocketed, seemingly driven by less aggressive investment,” said Atlantic Equities analyst James Cordwell.
Amazon suggested that spending indeed was on the way, and with that smaller growth in profit.
‘Lord of the Rings’ prequel
The company has been building warehouses around the world to ensure its edge in delivering goods to customers the fastest. It is spending more on video, from live sports to a planned prequel series to “The Lord of the Rings,” to draw more people to log on to its website, watch, and while they are there, buy socks. Hiring will pick up from the 12 percent increase Amazon posted in the past 12 months, Olsavsky said.
And the company is delving into even less familiar terrain.
It recently announced investments in self-driving and electric car companies, teasing how it thinks these high-tech, capital-intensive businesses could pay dividends potentially in the form of autonomous deliveries in the long run. Amazon has not described in detail its thinking behind the bets.
In China, where the company had long struggled to compete with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, Amazon said this month it would close warehouses and its domestic marketplace in July. There were silver linings for investors, however.
Amazon’s Olsavsky said the company saw no material impact in India from actions the company took to comply with new regulations there affecting foreign investment in the e-commerce sector, something Amazon had voiced concern about in the past.
Prime signups on rise in India
Prime member signups in India, one of Amazon’s most important growth markets, continue to be rising the fastest in the company’s history.
Bezos, who many regard as a management guru, also settled his closely watched divorce such that he will retain full voting control of his family’s stock, sparing Amazon a boardroom battle. However, his fortune, which has been the largest of any married couple in the world, will be divided.
The company forecast net sales of between $59.5 billion and $63.5 billion for the second quarter, the midpoint of which was below analysts’ average estimate of $62.37 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
…
A 17th century Geneva Bible, one of the hundreds of rare books authorities said were stolen from a Pittsburgh library as part of a 20-year-long theft scheme, is back home.
The Bible, published in 1615, was traced to the American Pilgrim Museum in Leiden, about 45 miles (70 kilometers) from Amsterdam in the Netherlands, said FBI agent Robert Jones.
It was among more than 300 rare books, maps, plate books, atlases and more that were discovered missing from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh last year. A former archivist at the library and a rare book dealer are accused of stealing books valued at more than $8 million.
The Bible “is more than a piece of evidence” Jones said Thursday at a news conference in Pittsburgh. “I am happy to say it has finally made its way back to its rightful owner here in Pittsburgh.”
There are several similar Bibles, Jones said afterward. “From a dollar-figure sense, it is not priceless,” he said. “From a history perspective, it is priceless.”
The Dutch museum had paid $1,200 for the Bible, District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr. said.
The first edition of the Geneva Bible was published in 1560. This particular edition, published in London four years after the first King James version, is similar to a Bible known to have been brought over by the Pilgrims in 1620, Jones said.
The FBI will hand over the Bible to Allegheny County prosecutors, who will return it to the library, Zappala Jr. said.
After charges were filed last year, Zappala said, the director of the Dutch museum contacted police in The Hague and the Carnegie Library, which in turn contacted the FBI in Pittsburgh.
The FBI in The Hague worked with the museum and then shipped the Bible to FBI offices in Pittsburgh, said FBI agent Shawn Brokos.
Wearing blue latex gloves, she displayed the Bible, carefully opening its weathered pages.
The FBI hopes news of the recovery of this Bible will prompt others to look at their collections for any possible items stolen from the Pittsburgh library. “Some probably are in private collections,” he said.
Prosecutors in Pittsburgh have so far recovered 18 of the books stolen from the library, Zappala said. They have been found in the U.S. and abroad.
One copy of Isaac Newton’s “Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica,” a watershed of science valued at $900,000, and John Adams’ “A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America,” valued at $20,000, are among the items prosecutors have recovered, Zappala’s spokesman said.
One of the books not yet recovered is “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations” the magnum opus by philosopher Adam Smith, valued at $180,000.
The room at the Carnegie Library where the stolen items were on display remains closed. Zappala said he will discuss with the Carnegie Library on displaying this Bible to the public.
…