Enterprise

Jeff Bezos says Amazon should treat its workers in a better way

His final letter to shareholders before stepping down as CEO

Published

April 19, 2021

Shivam Vahia

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos used his final letter to Amazon shareholders to focus on employee well-being and its significant carbon footprint. The transition is closely watched by everyone as the legendary co-founder hands over the reigns to Andy Jassy.

The e-commerce giant has always been customer-centric, which was the prime reason it was able to garner trust and support. Now, Bezos thinks it time to put the company’s workforce on priority.

Jassy, the former head of Amazon Web Services, is taking over the top job so that Bezos can step back from day-to-day responsibilities. It’ll now be his responsibility to ensure Amazon continues its growth trajectory and sustains the pandemic-induced boom.

It’s currently hounded by regulators, labor unions, and activists around the world. There are multiple allegations — unfair treatment of warehouse workers, stifling competition, discouraging unionization, and shortchanged partners. It’s a long list, and the pressure keeps mounting as the company’s stock increases in value.

Bezos also talked about creating wealth for shareholders, the fact that climate change is real, the recent warehouse union vote in Bessemer, Alabama, US. Among his proposals are new staffing rotations to reduce physical stress at warehouses. He said that 40 percent of Amazon’s work-related injuries are musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), such as strains and sprains from repetitive motions. These injuries tend to occur in the first six months of an employee’s tenure.

The founder also touted the company’s decision to increase Amazon’s minimum wage to US$ 15 per hour, a rate that labor groups have been advocating for the longest of time.

When it comes to workers who can’t consistently meet the company’s expectations, he says Amazon provides coaching to them, with 82 percent of it being “positive.” He also added that less than 2.6 percent of the staff was fired for not meeting the job expectations.

Amazon is also trying to cut down its carbon emissions and has pledged to have 100,000 electric delivery vans by 2030. Bezos has personally committed US$ 10 billion in grants for climate-oriented companies and organizations.

Read Also: Everything you need to know about the congressional big tech hearing

Enterprise

NVIDIA briefly becomes a US$ 1 trillion company

Right in the middle of Computex 2023

Published

May 31, 2023

Luigi Leonardo

Arguably, NVIDIA is one of the top contenders for MVP during this year’s Computex 2023. Though the brand didn’t exactly add anything new to its iconic GeForce RTX lineup, it made a lot of significant strides in the technical and entrepreneurial aspects of technology. It’s a strategic lineup of announcements. For a brief moment, NVIDIA has briefly breached US$ 1 billion in valuation in the middle of Computex 2023.

Right as the annual trade show started, NVIDIA wasted no time in announcing a new partnership with MediaTek for an upcoming slate of automotive processors. Then, days later, the company unveiled a bombastic set of announcements during its own keynote presentation. One such example is an advanced AI engine which can generate fluid conversations as an NPC in a video game.

It went beyond artificial intelligence, too. The keynote saw the introduction of the NVIDIA GH200, a “superchip” that the company calls “Grace Hopper.” The unbelievable processor comes with 72 cores, 96GB of HBM3 memory, and 576GB of GPU memory.

Supercomputers and artificial intelligence are on page one of NVIDIA’s playbook this year. It looks like the strategy is working. On Tuesday, the company’s share price peaked at US$ 419.38 per share. As a result, the company’s value bumped up to US$ 1 trillion, placing it in an esteemed club with others like Apple.

It was a short-lived victory, though. The day ended with the share price settling back down to US$ 401.11. The valuation closed at around US$ 992 billion.

Besides the Computex keynote, NVIDIA has been on a roll over the past few years. The company’s GPUs skyrocketed in popularity during the pandemic, helping profits today.

SEE ALSO: NVIDIA develops an AI for NPCs

Enterprise

Meta faces record-breaking US$ 1.3 billion fine

Over cybersecurity concerns

Published

May 23, 2023

Luigi Leonardo

Lately, Chinese companies, such as TikTok, found themselves in a tizzy over alleged cybersecurity issues in the United States. Cybersecurity isn’t a localized concern, though. All over the world, tech companies are finding themselves under the microscope for the same issue. Recently, Meta was on the receiving end of such a policy in Europe.

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission has announced a record-breaking US$ 1.3 billion fine against Meta, via The Verge. The fine, which has been in the making for ten years, is in response to the company’s transferring of European data to its servers in the United States. Lawmakers are adamant that the handling of data opens up cybersecurity concerns in the European Union.

Meta alleges that its current method of handling data is within the legal framework agreed upon by both the European Union and United States. The former claims that the current framework does not handle the privacy of European citizens with care. Of note, the claims only affect Facebook, not Meta’s other companies.

As a result, the European Union is ordering Meta to stop the transfer of data and to delete data currently stored in the United States. This is, of course, in addition to the hefty fine, which is currently the largest one of its kind. Though the fine is record-breaking, it’s still an unknown whether it will lead to a change for Meta, which bags multiple billions on a regular basis.

To prevent future incidents, the European Union and the United States are working on a new framework for data transfers between the territories.

Enterprise

TikTok sues US over ‘unconstitutional’ ban

Allegedly against right to free speech

Published

May 23, 2023

Luigi Leonardo

Last week, the state of Montana executed the first official ban against TikTok in the United States. Of course, no one expected the popular app to just stay down. Today, the company is suing the state over the attempts to ban the app.

The already signed bill tackles the issues put forth by the government years prior. According to the bill, TikTok is too risky as a security threat to allow into the country’s digital space. Should the bill go unopposed, TikTok will be effectively forbidden in the state starting next year, taking it away from app stores.

Now, the opposition is pretty clear. Via CNN, TikTok’s case alleges that the ban is unconstitutional and violates the right to free speech. Likewise, the company claims that the state of Montana should not have the right to ban the app. Since the issue is about national security, only the federal government should have that right.

Notably, TikTok’s own case isn’t the only opposition against the ban. A few days after the ban was announced, creators on the platform also sued the state. Their specific case tackles the issue of free speech especially among those who use the app in the state.

Even without the state’s localized ban, TikTok is already busy fighting off a statewide ban from the federal government. The company’s CEO even issued a call to arms, asking users to tell the government how much the app is valued in the United States. In Montana, the company now has another battle to wage. And, as mentioned before, a lot of parties are certainly looking at the results of the legal battle.