Sunday, December 22

USA

Read the latest news on startup companies in USA, entrepreneurs, funding, investments, tech news and successful businessman stories on Pixr8.

Jack Ma offers 1 Million Masks to USA
USA

Jack Ma offers 1 Million Masks to USA

Chinese billionaire businessman Jack Ma offered the United States 500,000 coronavirus test kits and a million masks, as the country faces a shortage of kits for diagnosing the potentially deadly disease. In a statement on Twitter, the founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba said, "drawing from my own country's experience, speedy and accurate testing and adequate protective equipment for medical professionals are most effective in preventing the spread of the virus.""We hope that our donation can help Americans fight against the pandemic!" he said in the statement, which was posted by the Jack Ma Foundation.Ma, who is China's richest man, said that over the past weeks, his organizations had helped provide similar supplies to virus-hit countries such as Japan, South Korea, Italy, Iran and Spa...
Bloomberg Smashes Campaign Spending Record
USA

Bloomberg Smashes Campaign Spending Record

AFP, Washington: Presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg, the multi-billionaire former mayor of New York has shattered the record for campaign advertising, spending a staggering $364.3 million and counting, an ad tracker said Friday. The unprecedented amount recently surpassed the previous record spending by Barack Obama's campaign during his entire 2012 re-election effort, Advertising Analytics reported. "Bloomberg surpassed Obama's 2012 spending record of $338.3M, making him the highest spending candidate of all time," the non-partisan group said in a newsletter. The figures include only those for traditional broadcast advertising on television and radio. Bloomberg, seeking the Democratic Party nomination, is also far ahead in digital advertising, and spent $14.5 million on Fa...
Bloomberg would sell Media business if elected US President
USA

Bloomberg would sell Media business if elected US President

Mike Bloomberg would sell the media and other businesses he created in the 1980s which bears his name and made him a multibillionaire if he is elected US president, a top adviser has said. Bloomberg would put Bloomberg LP into a blind trust, and the trustee would then sell the company, adviser Tim O'Brien said Tuesday. Proceeds from the sale would go to Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charitable giving arm that funds causes from climate change to public health and grants for American cities. The only restriction Bloomberg would put on the sale is that it not be sold to a foreign buyer or a private equity company, O'Brien said. Bloomberg, a Democrat, is currently chief executive of the company. "We want to be 180 degrees apart from Donald Trump around financial conflicts of interest,...
US Second Largest Newspaper Group File for Bankruptcy
USA

US Second Largest Newspaper Group File for Bankruptcy

McClatchy, the second largest US newspaper group, announced that it was filing for bankruptcy protection in the latest sign of turmoil for the struggling media sector. The company said it would keep operating its 30 regional newspapers including the Miami Herald and Kansas City Star as it seeks to shed much of its debt and focus on "digital transformation." A reorganization plan included in the bankruptcy filing could hand over ownership of the newspaper chain to the private equity group Chatham AssetManagement and end the McClatchy stock listing. The bankruptcy filing seeks to shed some of the crushing debt acquired by McClatchy, which has a pension shortfall of more than half a billion dollars. "McClatchy remains a strong operating company with an enduring commitment to indepen...
Huawei Exec Arrested in Canada, Can Extradite to US
USA

Huawei Exec Arrested in Canada, Can Extradite to US

Montreal, Jan 12, 2020: Canada Department of Justice said a Huawei executive arrested in Vancouver could be extradited to the United States, because her offense is a crime in both countries, according to documents released Friday. Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, who was originally detained on a US warrant in late 2018, faces an extradition hearing in Vancouver that begins on January 20. The United States accuses Meng of lying to banks about violating Iran sanctions. However Meng''s lawyers maintain that she cannot be turned over to the United States, because in order for that to happen, her offense would have to meet a "double criminality" standard -- meaning it is a crime in both countries. Violating US sanctions against Iran, they say, is not a crime in Canada. ...
US Online Sales Set to Hit New Record on ‘Cyber Monday’
USA

US Online Sales Set to Hit New Record on ‘Cyber Monday’

US online sales are set to hit a new record on this week's 'Cyber Monday', Adobe Analytics said, as e-commerce outlets gear up to lure shoppers in the opening days of the holiday season. Internet purchases are expected to reach USD 9.4 billion, a jump of nearly 19 percent over last year's record-setting USD 7.9 billion take, according to a Sunday estimate from the company, which measures transactions from 80 of the 100 largest US online retailers. US merchants have long viewed the days after the Thursday Thanksgiving holiday as a prime time to part shoppers from their money, particularly during the 'Black Friday' sales following the holiday. This year's expected record-setting shopping comes as Price Waterhouse Cooper found for the first time that a majority of people surveyed sai...
Spending on U.S. Credit, Debit, and Prepaid Cards to Top $10 trillion
USA

Spending on U.S. Credit, Debit, and Prepaid Cards to Top $10 trillion

CARPINTERIA, Calif., Nov. 11, 2019- Spending for goods and services initiated by credit, debit, and prepaid cards issued in the United States, which totaled $7.266 trillion in 2018, is projected to reach $10.086 trillion in 2023 according to statistics released this week from The Nilson Report, the leading card, and mobile payment industry trade publication.  At the end of 2018, there were 6.96 billion credit, debit, and prepaid cards in circulation in the U.S. That total is expected to reach 8.02 billion at the end of 2023. "When nearly 7 billion payment cards generate more than $7 trillion in purchases of goods and services…you have to conclude the state of the card business is very good," said David Robertson, Publisher of The Nilson Report. Credit cards accounted for 54.17% of...
Pentagon awards Microsoft $10 Bn ‘War Cloud’ Deal
USA

Pentagon awards Microsoft $10 Bn ‘War Cloud’ Deal

The Pentagon has awarded Microsoft a USD 10 billion cloud computing contract called JEDI. The contentious bidding process for the contract pitted Microsoft, Amazon, and Oracle, among others, against one another. Bidding for the huge government contract has attracted more attention than usual, sparked by speculation early in the process that Amazon would be awarded the deal. Tech giants Oracle and IBM pushed back with their own bids. Oracle also challenged the bid process in federal court but lost. The resulting system will store and process vast amounts of classified data, allowing the US military to use artificial intelligence to speed up its war planning and fighting capabilities. The Department of Defence emphasized in an announcement that the process was fair and followed p...
Alphabet Drone Service Wing Launched First Commercial Delivery in USA
USA

Alphabet Drone Service Wing Launched First Commercial Delivery in USA

Alphabet owned drone firm Wing started first commercial drone delivery in the Christiansburg, Virginia. With an expanded Air Carrier Certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Wing today became the first company to operate a commercial air delivery service via drone directly to homes in the United States. Wing’s FAA permissions are the first to allow multiple pilots to oversee multiple unmanned aircraft making commercial deliveries simultaneously to the general public, paving the way for the most advanced drone delivery service in the nation. Wing collaborates with logistics services like FedEx Express, Walgreens, and local Virginia retailer Sugar Magnolia in the United States to offer this form of local air delivery to customers. FedEx is completing the fir...
California Launched Early Warning Earthquake app
USA

California Launched Early Warning Earthquake app

California on Thursday launched the country's first earthquake warning system in the hope that residents will be alerted within seconds of a possible impending disaster and can "drop, cover and hold on. The app created by the University of California, Berkeley, and unveiled on the 30th anniversary of the deadly Loma Prieta quake, uses ground motion sensors located across the state to detect the start of earthquakes before humans can feel them. "Nothing can replace families having a plan for earthquakes and other emergencies," Governor Gavin Newsom said in unveiling the warning system. "And we know the Big One might be around the corner. I encourage every Californian to download this app and ensure your family is earthquake ready." The cellphone app called MyShake can provide po...
Apple Produce Future Mac Pro in US, Shift base from China
USA

Apple Produce Future Mac Pro in US, Shift base from China

Apple would keep making its Mac Pro in the United States, after obtaining tariff exemptions for some components in the high-end computers. The California tech giant said it would keep production of the Mac Pro a computer costing some $6,000 in Austin, Texas, following reports it was considering moving the manufacturing from China. Apple said the decision came after the company obtained "a federal product exclusion" from tariffs "for certain necessary components" for the computers. The news comes despite comments from President Donald Trump in July that he would oppose waiving tariffs on components for Apple's devices, commenting in a tweet, "Make them in the USA, no Tariffs." Apple chief executive Tim Cook said in a statement, "the company is proud to be building the new Mac P...
Milestone: OYO Opens 100 Hotels in USA
USA

Milestone: OYO Opens 100 Hotels in USA

OYO Hotels & Homes, the world’s third-largest and fastest-growing hotel chain, is excited to announce hitting the milestone of more than 100 hotels in the USA. This is a major landmark for the young hotel startup and a testament to how the company is continuing to maintain its growth momentum. Since formally announcing its presence in the U.S. market in June, it has established itself in more than 60 cities, almost quadrupling its previous portfolio in a short span. The company’s recent foray into Las Vegas, through the partnership with Highgate, to open the doors to its first 657 room flagship OYO Hotel & Casino, has been a key milestone in its growth journey. OYO Hotels & Homes committed $300 million as an initial investment in the U.S. fueling its rapid growt...