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Airbnb lay off nearly 1,900 employees, about 25% workforce

6May By PriyankaNo Comments

News

Airbnb lay off nearly 1,900 employees, about 25% workforce

Airbnb, an online marketplace for homestays said it has laid off near 1900 employees, about 25 percent of the workforce of the company. In a note sent to Airbnb employees, Airbnb Co-Founder and CEO Brian Chesky said, "Out of our 7,500 Airbnb employees, nearly 1,900 teammates will have to leave Airbnb, comprising around 25% of our company. Since we cannot afford to do everything that we used to, these cuts had to be mapped to a more focused business. " These decisions are not a reflection of the work from people on these teams, and it does not mean everyone on these teams will be leaving us. Additionally, teams across all of Airbnb will be impacted. Many teams will be reduced in size based on how well they map to where Airbnb is headed, he added. Due to the Covid19, global travel ...

Gold’s Gym file for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

6May By PriyankaNo Comments

News

Gold’s Gym file for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

GGI Holdings, LLC and its affiliates Gold’s Gym filed for relief under Chapter 11 in an effort to facilitate the financial restructuring of the company. CEO Adam Zeitsiff said the filing will ensure the company’s viability for decades. The chain listed assets and liabilities of between $50 million and $100 million, according to its Chapter 11 petition filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dallas. The company has furloughed most of its 4,600 employees in response to the crisis, per court papers. “Our focus is and always will be on our members around the world, and we look forward to welcoming them back as soon as it is safe for our members, team members and communities,” Zeitsiff said. “Gold’s Gym has been the world’s trusted fitness authority for more than 50 years, and we’re a...

Amazon worker at New York warehouse dies of COVID-19

6May By Ankita SinghNo Comments

News

Amazon worker at New York warehouse dies of COVID-19

An Amazon worker at a warehouse in New York where employees called for greater coronavirus safety measures has died of COVID-19, the e-commerce giant said on Tuesday. "We are deeply saddened by the loss of an associate at our site in Staten Island, NY," Amazon spokesperson Lisa Levandowski said in a statement emailed to AFP. "His family and loved ones are in our thoughts, and we are supporting his fellow colleagues," she added. Amazon has become a lifeline for consumers facing lockdowns and restrictions around the world, and the company is in the process of adding some 175,000 new employees to cope with the surging demand. But the company has also faced protests from warehouse workers and activists who claim Amazon has failed to do enough to keep them safe. More than a doze...

Impact of Lockdown on Dry Cleaning & Laundry Services

30Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

ANALYSIS

Impact of Lockdown on Dry Cleaning & Laundry Services

Dublin, 30th April 2020: A recent survey by ResearchAndMarkets.com said the impact of Covid-19 on Dry Cleaning & Laundry Services Market will be short term and demand for app-based Laundry Services will rise. The global dry-cleaning and laundry services market is expected to decline from $106.2 billion in 2019 to $104 billion in 2020 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of -2.1%. The decline is mainly due to economic slowdown across countries owing to the COVID-19 outbreak and the measures to contain it. The market is then expected to recover and grow at a CAGR of 5% from 2021 and reach $118.3 billion in 2023. Asia-Pacific was the largest region in the global dry-cleaning and laundry services market, accounting for 34% of the market in 2019. North America was the second ...

Spelling Bee canceled for first time since WW-II

22Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

USA

Spelling Bee canceled for first time since WW-II

For the first time since World War-II, the prestigious spelling bee tournament, which has been dominated by Indian-Americans over the years, has been cancelled for 2020 in view of the coronavirus pandemic. The competition, which is only open to students in elementary and middle school, will return on June 1, 2021. However, the eighth graders who qualified this year for their last try at the national title won't be able to participate next year, spelling bee officials said in a statement on Tuesday. "Our hearts go out to the spellers who won't get their final shot at winning because of the pandemic and the difficult decisions it is prompting us to make. They are now part of a widely expanding group of children and adults who are missing out on opportunities due to the coronavirus," s...

16Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

INDIA

After Providing Hydroxychloroquine to World, India is working on Vaccine for COVID-19

Six Indian companies are working on a vaccine for COVID-19, joining global efforts to find a quick preventive for the deadly infection spreading rapidly across the world, says a top Indian scientist. Nearly 70 vaccine candidates' are being tested and at least three have moved to the human clinical trial stage, but a vaccine for the novel coronavirus is unlikely to be ready for mass use before 2021. As COVID-19 infects more than 1.9 million in the world and claims 1,26,000 lives, Indian scientists are also part of the global fight against the disease. While Zydus Cadila is working on two vaccines, Serum Institute, Biological E, Bharat Biotech, Indian Immunologicals, and Mynvax are developing one vaccine each. But it is a complicated process with many stages of testing and many ...

NYC could lose 475,000 jobs, $9.7 bn in tax revenue

15Apr By NitishNo Comments

USA

NYC could lose 475,000 jobs, $9.7 bn in tax revenue

New York City could lose 475,000 jobs over the 12 months, the worst it has faced since the early 1970s, and experience a shortfall of USD 9.7 billion in tax revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a report by New York City Independent Budget Office (IBO) said. In a fiscal brief issued Wednesday, the budget office said the COVID-19 pandemic and the public health restrictions imposed to help limit the spread of infections have delivered a severe blow to the economy, leading to very large and abrupt job losses that are unprecedented in their scope and pace. Given the staggering job losses, IBO said it assumes that the US economy has entered a recession even though official statistics have not yet captured the scenario. In a pared-down economic forecast, IBO projected that that the loc...

15Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

INDIA

Indian Govt App become World’s fastest app to reach 50 mn download

Government's mobile app Aarogya Setu, developed for tracking coronavirus patients, has become the world's fastest app to reach 50 million downloads in just 13 days, Niti Aayog CEO said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to the nation on April 14 appealed to people to download the app. "Telephone took 75 years to reach 50 million users, radio 38 yrs, television 13 yrs, Internet 4 yrs, Facebook 19 months, Pokemon Go 19 days. AarogyaSetu, India's app to fight COVID-19 has reached 50 mn users in just 13 days-fastest ever globally for an App," Kant said in his tweet. The death toll due to coronavirus rose to 377 while the number of cases in the country climbed to 11,439. Aarogya Setu app alerts people if any known or person in their vicinity has tested positive. Distri...

SoftBank CEO Son says will supply 300 million masks per month to Japan

13Apr By NitishNo Comments

News

SoftBank CEO Son says will supply 300 million masks per month to Japan

TOKYO (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp CEO Masayoshi Son said he has secured a monthly supply of 300 million face masks for Japan after reaching a deal with Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD Co Ltd, which has also started producing masks. From next month, SoftBank will supply two different kinds of mask, initially for medical staff, in cooperation with the Japanese government’s “mask team”, set up to tackle shortages due to the coronavirus outbreak, Son said on Twitter. SoftBank, which last month said it was donating 1.4 million masks to New York state, will supply the masks without taking a profit. Addressing the supply crunch is a priority for the Japanese government, which will begin delivering two washable masks to households next week a move that has been widely criticized o...

Google Stop Employees from using Zoom Video Conferencing App

13Apr By NitishNo Comments

News

Google Stop Employees from using Zoom Video Conferencing App

Search engine based company Google ban employees from using popular video-conferencing app Zoom after end to end security flaws. Video-conferencing app Zoom which gained over 200 million users worldwide in March amid shutdown due to coronavirus pandemic has recently been under the scanner after few countries reported security issues. Apart from Google, the Singapore education dept, Taiwan Government, Elon Musk's SpaceX, etc has banned video conferencing app over security concerns. The app has also been banned by New York City officials for schools who were earlier using the app to facilitate remote classes and sessions. As Pixr8 News mentioned in its earlier report that Zoom videos had been exposed on the open web due to end to end security flaws. Also, a data-mining feature o...

Paytm collects Rs 100 cr contributions for PM-CARES Fund

11Apr By NitishNo Comments

INDIA

Paytm collects Rs 100 cr contributions for PM-CARES Fund

Digital payments platform Paytm said contributions for the PM-CARES Fund for the COVID-19 crisis have crossed Rs 100 crore on its platform. Paytm had earlier announced it aims to contribute Rs 500 crore to the PM-CARES Fund. It had said for every contribution or any other payment made on Paytm using the wallet, UPI or Paytm Bank debit card, it will contribute an extra up to Rs 10. "In a little over 10 days, contributions have crossed Rs 100 crores on the Paytm app and the initiative is still going strong," Paytm said in a statement on Saturday. The company said its employees have also come together and contributed their salaries for the fund."Over 1,200 employees have contributed their 15 days, one month, two months to even three months' salary for this noble cause," the statemen...

Donald Trump backed Sanofi will donate 100 million hydroxychloroquine doses

10Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

BUSINESS

Donald Trump backed Sanofi will donate 100 million hydroxychloroquine doses

Paris, April 10, 2020 – French drug firm Sanofi has committed to donating 100 million doses of hydroxychloroquine to 50 countries around the world and has begun to progressively deliver the medicine to authorities that have requested it. In this global health emergency, Sanofi said in a press release that we are ready to assist as many countries as possible, starting with countries where its medicine is registered for currently approved indications as well as countries where there are no hydroxychloroquine suppliers or countries with underserved populations. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, Sanofi has received a growing number of requests from local governments around the world. The company is regularly evaluating its increasing supply capacity and re-assessing how best t...