Political Ad Policies, Saudi Oil, and the Drop of "We"
Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!
Hope your week has been filled with rest, family+friends and carbs! Here are a few happenings that I've been chewing on, along with my turkey, this week...
1. The (previously) largest start-up in the US, "The We Company" (formerly, and probably better known as: WeWork), dropped from a $64b market cap, down to under $8b in the last couple months (seemingly, overnight). "The Daily Podcast" put together a great, succinct summary of how the rise and fall happened. And last week, "We" laid off 2,400 employees.
2. One of The We Company's largest investors, SoftBank, gave CEO, Adam Neiman, over $1b to leave the company, leaving SoftBank with around 80% ownership, after their latest check of $9.5b this month.
3. Softbank has also been highlighted a lot lately for giving money through their “Vision Fund” - the largest venture capital fund ever created, at $100b. They have also invested in Uber, Slack and many others.
However, as of late, SoftBank has been accused of setting up businesses that take advantage of contract-workers. The comments on this Tweet help show the polarized views of folks on the outside, and the workers themselves (also, arguing both sides).
4. In other billion-dollar-news stories... Saudi Aramco, a massive oil company in Saudi Arabia (2nd largest producer of oil, to be exact), announced it will go public in 2020, deciding to use Japan's public market, TSE (Tokyo Stock Exchange). This would make it the largest public offering in history - their hope: take it public at a $2 trillion valuation!
5. Finally, as elections continue to heat up, Twitter has announced they are banning all political ads. Google also followed suit. However, Facebook has decided to take the other extreme and continue allowing political ads. This article by Vox, challenges what debate we should actually be having on the issue... it will be interesting to watch how it all unfolds, and technology's part in the story.
Have a great weekend, wherever your travel may, or may not, have taken you this week!
Cheers,
Brendan