WASHINGTON - Online travel giant Expedia will cut 3,000 jobs worldwide after what the company called a "disappointing" performance in 2019, US media reported Monday.
The firm, which operates its flagship travel site as well as Hotels.com, Hotwire, Travelocity, Cheaptickets, Egencia and CarRentals.com, said the decision was made after determining it had been "pursuing growth in an unhealthy and undisciplined way," according to an email sent to staff.
"I am confident that simplifying our business and clarifying our focus by making these difficult changes, our teams can get back to working on the projects and priorities that make the most sense for us, our customers and our partners," said Expedia chairman Barry Diller in a statement to The Seattle Times.
During a Feb. 13 earnings call, Diller called the organization "bloated" and said many employees didn't know what "they were supposed to do during the day."
Diller also said he was aiming for savings of $300-500 million in 2020.
Over the course of 2019, sales increased by 8 percent, net income by 4 percent and earnings per share by 6 percent.
By the end of December, the company had 25,400 employees around the globe. The job cuts will eliminate about 12 percent of the workforce.
But company leadership revealed that in the last quarter, net profit had gone down 4 percent and earnings per share had gone down 1 percent.
In early December, Expedia announced the immediate departures of chief executive Mark Okserstrom and chief financial officer Alan Pickerill after what the company termed "disappointing" third-quarter results.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON, United States—Instagram on Monday announced new features aimed at curbing online bullying on its platform, including a warning to people as they are preparing to post abusive remarks.
"It's our responsibility to create a safe environment on Instagram," said a statement from Adam Mosseri, head of the visually focused social platform owned by Facebook.
"This has been an important priority for us for some time, and we are continuing to invest in better understanding and tackling this problem."
One new tool being rolled out is a warning generated by artificial intelligence to notify users their comment may be considered offensive before it is posted.
"This intervention gives people a chance to reflect and undo their comment and prevents the recipient from receiving the harmful comment notification," Mosseri said.
"From early tests of this feature, we have found that it encourages some people to undo their comment and share something less hurtful once they have had a chance to reflect."
Another new tool is aimed at limiting the spread of abusive comments on a user's feed.
"We've heard from young people in our community that they're reluctant to block, unfollow or report their bully because it could escalate the situation, especially if they interact with their bully in real life," Mosseri commented.
A new feature called "restrict" that is being tested will make posts from an offending person visible only to that person.
"You can choose to make a restricted person's comments visible to others by approving their comments," Mosseri added.
"Restricted people won't be able to see when you're active on Instagram or when you've read their direct messages."
The move by Instagram is the latest in a series of actions on cyberbullying by social networks to deal with hate speech and abusive conduct, which can be especially harmful to young users.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON - The lobby group for some of the most powerful US tech firms said Friday it would join the legal challenge to the planned rollback of "net neutrality" rules requiring internet service providers to treat all online traffic equally.
The Internet Association -- a group which includes Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft, among others -- announced it would support legal efforts to block the rollback voted last month by the Federal Communications Commission.
The association gave no specifics but suggested it would seek to intervene in lawsuits expected by several attorneys general, including from Washington and New York states.
Internet Association president Michael Beckerman said the FCC action voted December 14 "defies the will of a bipartisan majority of Americans and fails to preserve a free and open internet."
He said the association "intends to act as an intervenor in judicial action against this order and, along with our member companies, will continue our push to restore strong, enforceable net neutrality protections through a legislative solution."
Last month's vote capped a heated partisan debate and is just the latest twist in a battle over more than a decade on rules governing internet service providers.
FCC chairman Ajit Pai, who pushed the latest effort, has argued that the neutrality rule enacted in 2015 served to stifle investment and innovation in a fast-evolving sector.
But net neutrality backers have argued that clear rules are needed to prevent internet service providers from blocking or throttling services or websites for competitive reasons, and that the rollback would increase the power of a few dominant providers to control what users see online.
Lawsuits could not be filed until the FCC's order was published, which occurred this week. Some lawmakers have also begun efforts to invalidate the FCC's action.
The battle over net neutrality has raged for over a decade in the FCC and the courts, with both sides contending they represent "internet freedom."
The 2015 net neutrality rules were backed by then-president Barack Obama and endorsed by a 3-2 Democratic majority at the time. But the election of President Donald Trump reversed the FCC party majority and it quickly reversed course.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
