Twitter cracks down on trolling; A billion dollar buyout for Dollar Shave Club, and more news.
Isabelle Roughol
Building news organisations where people love to work｜Journalist & media executive｜Public historian
Unilever will spend $1 billion to acquire Dollar Shave Club, the 5-year-old startup that delivers razors to its 3 million subscribers with a healthy dose of irreverent marketing. (You must have seen the Facebook ads.) The company isn't profitable tough it vows to be shortly. It's a competitive move for the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant, which does not own a razor brand unlike its rival Procter & Gamble (Gillette.) And it's one man's victory: “We weren’t looking to be acquired... but (Unilever North America chief Kees Kruythoff) did a really great job convincing us of a few things,” DSC founder Michael Dubin told recode.
Not so fast. The Justice Department will try to block two giant health insurance mergers in the works — the $37 billion Aetna-Humana and $48 billion Anthem-Cigna deals — according to The New York Times. The industry went into a merger frenzy last year, but regulators worry this would destroy any semblance of competition in the health insurance market. If the deals pass, there would be just 3 major insurers in the US.
Not so high. The IMF cut its global growth outlook for the year to 3.1%, on par with 2015. The Fund pointed to geopolitical instability from the UK to Turkey or Brazil, as well as the threat of terrorism, as major risks and warned that the economy could be further affected if Brexit talks were delayed or difficult.
"Brexit has thrown a spanner in the works."
Maurice Obstfeld, IMF chief economist
Trolls not welcome. Twitter banned Breitbart tech editor Milo Yiannopoulos, aka @nero, who had been inciting a racist and sexist online mob against comedian Leslie Jones. (Twitter said it disciplined several users but hasn't named them.)
It wasn't the first time Yiannopoulos, who dubbed himself "the most fabulous supervillain on the internet," was warned for his behavior on Twitter, where a debate about how far freedom of speech should stretch was reignited. Twitter said it is reviewing its policies.
We know many people believe we have not done enough to curb this type of behavior on Twitter. We agree.
Twitter statement
A Tory but not a Thatcher. Fidelity, one of the UK's biggest fund managers, has backed up Theresa May's proposal to make shareholder votes on executive pay packages binding, rather than just advisory. The conservative British prime minister has also called for more protectionism, for more transparency on bonuses and for companies to reveal the pay ratio between their CEO and average workers. The New York Times' Steven Davidoff Solomon explains her economic policy: "When it comes to the corporate world, she can sound more like Bernie Sanders than Margaret Thatcher."
Photo: Leslie Jones at the 'Ghostbusters' premiere on July 9 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Gregg DeGuire/WireImage)
Director of Quality and Food Safety
8 年#FREEMILO
Actor - Teacher - Director - Producer
8 年Leslie is not only a stalwart talent but a great support to other women in comedy. I know this to be true.
Remote
8 年When you become famous don't read the media and keep making that money! Because the media is so harsh they will make you want to disappear off the face of this earth..
Production Buyer at dormakaba
8 年amazing some think so highly of themselves they need to attempt to terar another down.
Project Manager with the GSA in the office of Design & Construction
8 年Since the early part of 1990, there has been a considerable amount of effort by the health insurance Corperations to squeeze out competition thru merger after merger. Ever single merger has been fallowed by double ditgit increases in premiums and higher out of pocket expenses. More and more there is story after story of people being out premiumed into less effective policies. In 1990 as a government employee our choices during open enrollment was no less the 12 different H.M.O.'s with equal P.P.O.'s. Premiums were within reach and there was virtually no out of pocket expenses. What do we have now? No choices, and even less options with a huge increase in out of pocket expenses. So much so that most of us are left with a choice, pay the car payment or get treatment that will cost hundreds of dollars. Doctors are making less treatment option available through their office's and more expensive referrals for tests when the solution is sometimes as simple as talking to a pharmacy. When will it stop? When open enrollment is no longer open?