10.13.2015
Good to Know: “Make sure it’s something that you love so much that even if you were fired you would do it over and over and over again because you’ll build it differently” – billionaire and Theranos founder’s Elizabeth Holmes’ advice on starting a new venture.
THE SKINNY
Gotta Spend Money to Make Money …
After months of ‘on the low’ meetings, computer company Dell said it’s buying EMC, computer data storage company, for a cool $67 billion. Sort of a big deal.
IS it Worth it?
This is the largest tech buyout … ever (even beating out that time Facebook shocked everyone and bought messaging app WhatsApp for about $22B). Dell is willing to drop major cash and take on some insane debt to get its business back on track. In case you haven’t noticed, many of us aren’t buying up personal computers (PCs) like we used to and sales have been declining for quite a while (14 quarters to be exact). Big risk, big reward?
‘Cuz You Know They’ve Got Bad Blood…
After the announcement, Hewlett-Packard (HP) piped up and said it intends to take full advantage of this time since Dell and EMC will be too preoccupied with this deal to innovate on anything. Previously rumored to be in merger talks with EMC, HP has its own issues. The company laid off thousands of employees and recently announced it’s splitting into two companies (one consumer facing and the other B2B). Michael Dell must’ve gotten wind about what HP had to say and hit back on the issue of potentially downsizing. He says there are no plans for layoffs and added “…other companies are better at reducing headcounts than we are.” Oh, the shade of it all!
Wrap It Up …
The deal will take effect within the next year. Michael Dell will remain the top guy for the merged companies, but EMC’s CEO Joseph Tucci is out. He was planning to retire anyway and wanted this deal to be his legacy. Tucci will likely walk away with about $27 million . We’ll take it!
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
It’s Not Personal, It’s Just Business …
Speaking of layoffs, it’ll be a tough holiday season for about 336 Twitter employees (8% of its workforce). The company is letting them go in efforts to reduce costs as it focuses on bringing in new users. Twitter has had trouble attracting new people to its service, mainly because they say the platform is overwhelming and hard to use. Advertisers aren’t happy with Twitter’s services either (which is a huge problem since advertising is Twitter’s main revenue source). Newly re-minted CEO Jack Dorsey definitely has his work cut out for him. But, he’s up for the challenge and sees this as an opportunity to narrow the company’s focus and create more efficiency.
Making The World A Better Place …
One tech startup at a time. These days, some tech startups aren’t trying to be the next billion dollar business but are simply trying to do some good in this sometimes cold, cold world. Wall Street Journal’s got the story and is highlighting non-profit tech orgs like Stellar.org, a nonprofit trying to help out the 2 billion unbanked people around the globe. Even reputable startup accelerator YC Combinator just opened a new research lab known as YC Research to tackle more long-term projects with a focus on social good. Organizations focusing on social impact more than profits are on the rise, and accelerators, like Google.org and BlackRock Inc.’s Fast Forward, are ready to back them.
Express Yourself …
Or not, in China and Turkey’s case. Over the weekend, Apple had to pull its new Apple News service from China to stay clear of the Chinese government telling them what they can and cannot release over the app. And shortly after the devastating suicide bombs in Ankara, Turkey, Turkish citizens tried to turn to social networks like Twitter, but the government wasn’t having any of it. It was later reported that Turkey’s government put out a media ban, limited people’s access to e-mail, and shut down access to Facebook and Twitter all together. This isn’t the first type the government has done this. Looks like free speech is hard to come by some times …
The Streets Are Talkin’
Stanford University says computer science is now very popular among its female students (about 218 women are enrolled in the major). That’s what we like to hear!
Facebook continues with its plans to take over the world. It’s latest move? Testing out the e-commerce waters. The company is coming out with a “Shop” section and is also trying to figure out how to make it easier for you to make seamless purchases via ads.
Do you want to know what diseases you’re susceptible to? Or, how you’ll react to certain medications? Ancestry.com wants to tell you with its DNA kit. But first, it needs the go ahead from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.
And in other head tilting news, PepsiCo wants to help market smartphones in China.