Steve O'Hear@sohear /
Over the last few years, Facebook has been busy building out AI capabilities in areas like computer vision, natural language processing (NLP) and ‘deep learning,’ in part by acquiring promising startups in the space.
Understandably, this has seen the U.S. social networking giant look to the U.K. for AI talent, including an acqui-hire of NLP startup Bloosbury AI in 2018, and most recently, acquiring Scape Technologies, a British company using computer vision to offer more accurate location positioning for augmented reality.
Now TechCrunch has learned that a third U.K. acquisition quietly took place this December, seeing Facebook acquire Deeptide Ltd., the company behind Atlas ML, which is also the custodian of “Papers With Code,” the free and open resource for machine learning papers and code.
A regulatory filing for Deeptide reveals that Facebook became a majority owner on 13th December 2019. The same day, Atlas ML co-founder Robert Stojnic published a Medium post titled “Papers with Code is joining Facebook AI,” which went largely unnoticed outside of the machine learning research community.
Terms of the deal — or even that the acquisition took place — weren’t announced by Facebook at the time, beyond Stojnic’s sanctioned post. However, according to my sources within London’s tech community, the ballpark price is thought to have been around $40 million or thereabouts.
Founded in 2018 by Stojnic and Ross Taylor, Atlas ML wanted to “make it easier to discover and apply deep learning research”. The young startup was an alumni of Entrepreneur First (EF) — along with Bloomsbury and Scape — and raised subsequent seed funding from Episode1 and Kindred Capital.
I’ve contacted Facebook for comment and will update this post if and when I hear back. (READ MORE)
Disney also released subscriber numbers for ESPN+ (6.6 million) and Hulu, where it owns a controlling stake (27.2 million for subscription video on-demand only, 3.2 million for SVOD and live TV, 30.4 million total).
This was all part of the company’s earnings for the first quarter of its 2020 fiscal year — its first earnings report since Disney+ launched. So these numbers reflect subscriber counts as of December 28, 2019.
“We had a strong first quarter, highlighted by the launch of Disney+, which has exceeded even our greatest expectations,” said Disney Chairman and CEO Robert Iger in a statement. “Thanks to our incredible collection of brands, outstanding content from our creative engines and state-of-the-art technology, we believe our direct-to-consumer services, including Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu, position us well for continued growth in today’s dynamic media environment.”
During the quarter, Disney says its direct to consumer and international business (which includes streaming) saw revenue increase from $0.9 billion to $4.0 billion year-over-year, while the unit’s operating loss increased from $136 million to $693 million. Disney attributed these growing losses to “costs associated with the launch of Disney+, the consolidation of Hulu and a higher loss at ESPN+.” (READ MORE)
Apparently it’s a bad day when Starboard Value sends you a letter. The activist investor group is well known for impatience and the dramatic demands it makes to the companies it invests in. In fact, Starboard Chairman Jeff Smith was named the “investor CEOs fear most” by Fortune in 2014. The group invests in eBay. And on Feb. 4, eBay got a letter from Starboard amping up its pressure to bring eBay back to its core business by selling its online classified unit.
Starboard was the driving force behind getting eBay to sell off StubHub last year for $4.05 billion. It has been urging eBay’s executives to spin off classifieds for about a year. Rumors abounded last September that German publishing house Axel Springer was making an offer. That never materialized. Starboard is losing its patience even though eBay’s online classified business delivered revenue of $269 million in Q4, up 3 percent on an as-reported basis and up 6 percent on an FX-Neutral basis.
Competition in the global online classifieds market is dominated by local ad powerhouse Naspers Group, eBay, Inc. and Craigslist, Inc. (in the US). Ad spending in the classifieds segment should amount to $2.2 billion in 2020 and is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2020-2023) of 3.2 percent, resulting in a market volume of $2.4 by 2023, according to Statista.
Starboard says the company should focus on its core business to build shareholder value.
“For much of the last year, the Company attempted to rationalize maintaining the current portfolio structure by alluding to the fact that eBay gains ‘a few hundred million dollars’ worth of trade’ by having Classifieds in the eBay portfolio,” the letter stated. “While that is a compelling soundbite, when we apply the core Marketplace take rate to that value, it becomes inconsequential, especially in comparison to the potential value creation opportunity. In fact, an argument could be made that in the current structure, Classifieds is actually owned by a competitive business, hindering both the core Marketplace business and Classifieds. In many markets, Marketplace and Classifieds are competing for the same customers and same product listings. If the businesses were separate, both would be better equipped to attempt to acquire customers and grow without this complication.”
The activist investor group’s letter also refers to “frustration [that] exists across the shareholder base” saying eBay’s share price has “drastically underperformed” the broader markets over any time frame since its spin-off of PayPal in 2015. Starboard says the share price has declined by almost 10 percent since last year, despite broader markets trading up 19 percent to 39 percent during the same period.
eBay has not officially commented on the Starboard letter. Starboard has requested a board meeting to discuss the matter.
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Featured PYMNTS Report:
Individual gig workers can spend days — or even weeks — each year tracking down late payments for work sourced through online marketplaces. That’s why providing faster payouts is not just a perk, but a necessity for gig platforms to thrive. In the January 2020 Gig Economy Tracker, Yunyi Fu, head of product for travel platform kimkim, tells PYMNTS how the company wins the loyalty of its freelance travel experts in 70 countries via faster payments. (READ MORE)
Forever 21 said in a bankruptcy court filing it is seeking approval to name the three as the lead, stalking-horse bidders in an auction.
Rival bidders have until Friday to make any counteroffers, the filing said. If other bids are made, an auction will be held on Feb. 10. Forever 21 is planning to seek approval of the sale by Feb. 11.
Forever 21 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September. The mall-based apparel chain, which caters to younger customers, got into trouble by expanding too quickly inside and outside the United States. Forever 21 has shuttered more than 100 locations since its bankruptcy filing. It still had more than 800 stores globally in September.
The fear for many of America’s mall owners has been that a liquidation of Forever 21 would leave them with too much vacant space. Simon and Brookfield are two of Forever 21′s biggest landlords.
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ETF Spotlight: Retailers rally, Forever 21 to file for bankruptcy
While not common for a real estate company to acquire a retailer, the strategy has been successfully used before.
In 2016, Simon and mall owner General Growth Properties, which is now owned by Brookfield Property Partners, teamed up to rescue embattled teen apparel retailer Aeropostale. The two were part of a group that ultimately won an auction to buy the Aeropostale brand out of bankruptcy court, salvaging its real estate. At the time, Simon had about 160 Aeropostale stores in its portfolio, while GGP had 77. A liquidation would have left them with more than 200 empty shops.
Simon’s malls have nearly 100 Forever 21 stores.
When asked in July about acquiring or investing in more of its own tenants, Simon Property CEO David Simon said: “We’re certainly as good as the private-equity guys when it comes to retail investment. ... And so, I wouldn’t rule it out.”
Authentic Brands in late 2019 bought the rights in bankruptcy court to the Barneys New York brand name. Its retail portfolio includes Nine West and Nautica. (READ MORE)
The Super Bowl is over: Congrats to the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes, who coincidentally carried my fantasy football team to a runner-up this year. But the side story is always the commercials. The big one for those not paying attention to the car market was probably the Hummer EV ad from GM. Cobie Smulders is just likable in Toyota's spot and obviously Hyundai with Captain America, Jim Halpert and Debbie Downer killed it with their Boston accents. Check out the rundown below.
Jeep Gladiator and Bill Murray
Murray reprises his role in Groundhog Day for the Jeep Gladiator, and so did his brother (Brian Doyle-Murray), the mayor of Punxsutawney.
Hyundai Sonata and Smart Park
The Boston—well actually, Massachusetts—natives marvel at Hyundai's new self-parking feature.
Toyota Highlander and Cobie Smulders
Leave no man behind, with the Toyota Highlander.
Hummer EV and LeBron James
Hummer is returning as an electric GMC sub-model, and the Super Bowl was the debut.
Genesis GV80, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen
Genesis puts old luxury on notice with the new GV80 SUV.
Audi Q8 Lets It Go
Audi dumps on everything we love in this commercial, namely gasoline-powered, purpose-built rides, while channeling the first Frozen movie's blockbuster track.
Porsche Taycan and the Museum Heist
This is the extended cut of the Porsche Museum Heist Super Bowl ad. It has a bunch of Porsches ripping around the city and a 992 GT3 cameo—what's not to like? (READ MORE)
Mercedes-Benz, a division of Daimler, is conducting a pilot project that will use blockchain to track CO2 emissions and secondary material along the complex supply chains of its battery cell manufacturers. The company says the data network will also document whether the sustainability standards of Daimler are passed on throughout the entire supply chain.
The company is working with Circulor, a startup specializing in blockchain technology. The project will focus on a single battery cell manufacturer
Mercedes-Benz is working on a fleet of carbon-neutral cars to launch in less than 20 years, which requires detailed knowledge of processes throughout its entire supply chain, the company says.
The project partners first focus on cobalt, which enters the supply chain from recycling facilities. A blockchain-based system maps the production flow of the materials as well as the associated CO2 emissions. The mapping of the material flow also records the amount of recycled material in the supply chain and displays whether Daimler’s sustainability requirements in terms of working conditions, environmental protection, safety, business ethics, compliance and human rights are passed on to all companies involved. Daimler calls on its direct suppliers to comply with these standards and requirements and also carry the provisions into upstream value chains and to monitor their compliance.
With the pilot project, Mercedes-Benz is driving transparency in the supply chain beyond the direct contractual partners.
The company is calling its goal of launching a fleet of carbon-neutral cars Ambition 2039. (READ MORE)
A Far North Dallas shopping center is getting a redo that will include offices and a new public space.
The 133,000-square-foot Prestonwood Place shopping center is on the southeast corner of Belt Line Road and Montfort Drive in Addison, just east of the Dallas North Tollway.
Built in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the retail property is on one of the area’s high-traffic corridors.
Operator Northwood Retail plans to bring 50,000 square feet of new office space to the project plus a 15,000-square-foot park.
Deloitte surveyed 523 executives in 26 countries on their intelligent automation strategies and the impact on their workforces.
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“As we enter a new decade, our team is thrilled to reveal the renovation plans for Prestonwood Place,” Neisha Vitello, general manager of Northwood Retail, said in a statement. “This property is a vital aspect of the Addison community, and we look forward to seeing how these improvements positively affect our tenants and customers.”
Construction will occur in four phases with a completion set for early next year. Shop Cos. is leasing the retail.
Current tenants in the property include Flower Child, Shake Shack, Chipotle, The Great Outdoors, Club Pilates and Orangetheory Fitness.
Northwood Retail leases and manages retail and mixed-use properties in Texas, Colorado, North Carolina and South Carolina.
“The development team at Northwood Retail has been working on the renovation plans for quite some time, and we are excited to finally share them with the community,” said Sandy Spurgin, head of development of Northwood Retail. “The renovations and planned improvements will be transformational for Prestonwood Place and will help transition the project into a vibrant mixed-use environment.”
1/4Prestonwood Place's redo will include new public areas.(Northwood Retail)
2/4The renovations will add 50,000 square feet of offices.(Northwood Retail)
3/4Prestonwood Place was built in the late 1970s and early 1980s.(tracy allyn croysdale | Northwood Retail)
4/4Prestonwood Place is at Belt Line Road and Montfort in Addison.(Northwood Retail) (READ MORE)
Steve Brown, Real Estate Editor. Steve covers commercial and residential real estate in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Big chains and eCommerce operators tend to drive retail innovation — or make the most news when commerce fails — but small, local and even mom-and-pop operations are getting more focus these days via various forms of change, innovation and disruption.
Faire Chief Technology Officer and Co-founder Marcelo Cortes has a plan, as revealed in a recent PYMNTS interview. Cortes had a previous job as engineering lead for Square Cash. Today Square has built a powerful commerce ecosystem around a robust platform of small to medium-sized business (SMB) services, but that is far from where it started. The opening ambition was smaller and highly targeted — and that’s key for mom-and-pop retail in this age of everything getting bigger, and everything getting more digital and mobile.
Square “didn’t go in trying to change a big part of the market. They took a small target: These small business[es] had a need to be able to accept a credit card, but either couldn’t get access or it was very expensive [to] access. So, Square didn’t start at a big change; it started with that small, universal problem for SMBs,” Cortes said.
Not on Amazon
As for Faire, Cortes designed it as a B2B marketplace that matches small merchants and mom-and-pop shops with small makers and manufacturers, Faire, in many ways, is leaving the core of the experience intact, he noted. Buyers aren’t paying more for the goods than they would have otherwise, and sellers are still making the direct connections to the mom-and-pop shops that are the lifeblood of their organizations.
What the marketplace is designed to do, he said, isn’t so much disrupt that relationship, but improve and streamline it for both sides — and add value that simply wasn’t there before, and do so in part by offering goods not sold on Amazon.
B2B marketplace are not the only place of change and potential improvement when it comes to smaller retail operations and the question of whether they will thrive in the coming years. Local business are getting more visible via big search engines, and if that continues, that could play a big role in sparking more mom-and-pop retail success.
Take Google, perhaps, as the prime example. The Alphabet outfit has steadily improved it local search capabilities. Google had previously only let a handful of celebrities, sports teams, sports leagues, movie studios and museums post notes, images, videos, GIFs and text, but has in recent years opened it up to local small business firms. The businesses can post on Google to get the word out about events, their products and services, or photos to Google Search and Maps.
Ready to Buy
More recently, Google has been making shopping-friendly changes to search that could also benefit local and smaller retail operations. According to recent announcements from Google, users will be able to shop at pretty much any Google-associated spot. That will include Search, Google Images, YouTube and a redesigned Google Shopping destination, which is described by Google as “merging the best of Google Express with Google Shopping.”
The idea is both omnichannel — that concept being one of the guiding lights in retail going forward into this new decade — and to make shopping both easier and more accessible via even the smallest local retailers, with an eye toward enabling consumers to more seamlessly find, research and compare goods. And, of course, the aim is to make it easier to buy those goods, how they want, where they want.
“When they’re ready to buy, they can choose to purchase online, in a nearby store and now directly on Google,” the post noted of the expanded contextual commerce play. “For retailers and brands, it brings together ads, local and transactions in one place to help them connect with consumers at the right time.”
It’s folly to count out smaller retailers and mom-and-pop operations, even in his era of bigger, faster, more mobile and more global. But innovations will have to keep up with the challenges. (READ MORE)
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Featured PYMNTS Study:
With eyes on lowering costs to improving cash flow, 85 percent of U.S. firms plan to make real-time payments integral to their operations within three years. However, some firms still feel technical barriers stand in the way. In the January 2020 Making Real-Time Payments A Reality Study, PYMNTS surveyed more than 500 financial executives to examine what it will take to channel RTP interest into real-world adoption. Here’s what we learned.
Amazon has joined the ranks of Flipkart and Reliance Retail, which plan to add kirana stores to their network
Flipkart has been partnering with kirana stores since last year to scale up its last-mile reach
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI : When the world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos, donned the hat of a delivery agent at a kirana store in Mumbai earlier this month, he was sending out a message: the mom-and-pop store is here to stay.
That explains Bezos’ decision to invest $1 billion to bring 10 million small and medium businesses online. “Amazon partners with thousands of kirana stores all over India as delivery points. It’s good for customers, and it helps shop owners earn additional income. Got to visit one in Mumbai. Thank you, Amol, for letting me deliver a package," Bezos had posted on Twitter on 18 January.
Amazon is following in the footsteps of rival, Flipkart (owned by Walmart Inc.), and Reliance Retail Ltd, which has recently piloted its online venture JioMart.
“To become a successful online retailer, one would need to invest in delivery capabilities across formats. That is one of the reasons Flipkart and Reliance Retail plan to connect millions of kirana stores to their network and now Amazon joins the ranks. However, one has to be mindful that kirana store owners are not technology savvy and still prefer to do business the traditional way. Bringing them on board will need a lot of training," an analyst with a domestic brokerage said, requesting anonymity.
Flipkart has been partnering with kirana stores since last year to scale up its last-mile reach. In September, Flipkart announced that it got 27,000 more kirana stores on-board to facilitate delivery.
Reliance Retail, which in 2019 announced plans to connect 30 million kirana stores with its own physical and digital infrastructure, went a step ahead by launching the Jio point of sale (PoS) machine to rope in local kirana store vendors and foolproof its distribution segment before formally launching JioMart.
Jio PoS is a hand-held device connected to Reliance Jio’s network and allows a retailer to accept payments. It also provides retailers the options of billing, procurement, inventory management, and generation of tax reports.
Tapping into mom-and-pop stores not only allows these retailers to avail of their services for delivery of goods, but also to use their shops to store parcels. A bulk of India’s retail trade happens through small mom-and-pop stores who sell everything from goods of daily use to vegetables and apparel.
The rest is split between large modern trade stores and e-commerce, which is swiftly gaining a larger share of consumer spends as cheap data and affordable smartphones help more Indians log on to the internet. With more and more people expected to shop online, companies and startups are now finding merit in developing small shopkeepers, effectively investing in India’s business-to-business market. Over the last few years, startups such as Udaan, ShopX, and ShopKirana have cemented their position in India’s retail business-to-business e-commerce market by digitizing small shopkeepers.
Some of these apps work as distributors or direct sellers of stock to small kiranas and earn a commission by offering them a range of services and tools.
As part of its investments, Amazon will expand the reach of Digital Haats in 100 cities, villages, and communities to help provide services such as e-commerce on-boarding, imaging and cataloguing, warehouse space for small businesses. Amazon will also expand its Amazon Easy programme where it enables kirana shops to set up kiosks to provide assistance to their customers in choosing the right product, placing an order on Amazon and earning a commission on the sales.
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Coimbatore would have been an ideal location for a ‘Make in India’ push. Then, the slowdown changed everything
Coimbatore’s small and medium units will be keenly watching the budget. However, short-term concessions may not help much in the absence of a long-term strategy to revive manufacturing. (READ MORE)
The micromobility market consolidated a bit today in what might be a harbinger of wider contraction. Coinciding with a $75 million extension to Bird’s series D funding round that brings its total raised to $350 million (up from $275 million as of November 2019), the Berlin- and Santa Monica-based electric scooter and bike company confirmed it has acquired escooter operator Circ (formerly Flash) for an undisclosed amount. Over 300 employees from Circ’s offices in Europe will join Bird in its ongoing mission to provide “streamlined, sustainable, and safe” transportation.
“I founded Bird nearly three years ago because we need to change the status quo and take a transformative stance to combat the traffic and pollution that affect our cities and endanger people globally,” said Bird founder and CEO Travis VanderZanden. “To further advance our mission, we’re excited to acquire Circ, which is the clear European leader. We like their laser focus on treating cities as their number 1 customer and their mindset of prioritizing profitability over growth … More than 12 months ago we shifted our focus from growth to profitability, which put us in a position to deliver the strongest unit economics and longest-lasting custom-designed vehicles of any micro-mobility company today.”
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Prior to the acquisition, Berlin-based Circ nabbed €55 million ($60.57 million) in a January 2019 series A (the month it launched in Zurich, Switzerland), but the capital belied challenges. TechCrunch reported last November that the startup laid off about 50 of its employees (10% of its workforce) following a move to swappable batteries and a shift in focus to “efficiency and ops excellence.” At the time, CEO Lukasz Gadowski, who previously founded food delivery service Delivery Hero, cited “seasonality” and “operational learnings” as motivations for the restructuring.
Despite this, Circ claimed it saw “positive unit economics” in 2019 in cities within about one-third of its countries (five out of 14) and said it expected to be “unit economic profitable across the group” this year. And as of late 2019, Circ’s escooters had given 3 million registered customers 10 million rides across more than 43 cities and 12 countries in addition to the United Arab Emirates, up from 1 million rides across 21 cities and 7 countries in June.
“With deep city partnerships and leading technology, we have established ourselves as the micromobility leader in Europe,” Gadowski said in a press release issued this morning. “As a combined company with Bird, we will be able to significantly accelerate our mission throughout Europe to provide safe, available, affordable, convenient, and sustainable rides.”
Investors joining Bird’s existing investors as part of the combined company include Target Global, Team Europe, Idinvest Partners, and Signals Venture Capital.
The Circ purchase follows Bird’s roughly $25 million acquisition of electric scooter and bike operator Scoot Networks, which enabled it to operate in San Francisco. (Bird last December laid off two dozen Scoot employees.) More recently, Bird announced the Bird Two, a $1,299 escooter architected with “industry-leading” battery life; the Bird Cruiser, a miniature motorbike featuring a padded seat that can accommodate up to two riders; and the Scoot Moped, a Scoot-branded edition of the Cruiser. And those unveilings arrived after Bird’s monthly rental program, which for $25 allows customers in selected cities unlimited rides on a personal scooter.
Bird’s customer experience is much like that of its competitors Lime, Spin, and Skip. Using an app, users rent a scooter for $1, plus a per-minute charge of 15 cents to 20 cents depending on the city. After their trip ends, the wheels lock, and a team of gig economy workers collects and recharges the scooters before redocking them. (Half the revenue from each Bird trip goes to these “chargers.”)
It’s a simple enough business model, and indeed, the startup managed to expand its scooter network to over 120 cities and power more than 10 million rides in the two years since its founding. But the execution hasn’t been flawless. As of November 2018, Bird has paid nearly half a million dollars in fines and court fees and had hundreds of its scooters seized. And in March 2019, it laid off between 4% to 5% of its workforce as part of its annual performance review process.
In a bid to bolster profits, Bird said in May it would outsource its ridesharing business to entrepreneurs outside the U.S. and Europe. Franchisees like Bird Canada purchase escooters preinstalled with Bird Brain, a custom software solution designed to simplify fleet and staff management, along with products and technology from Bird. The franchisees cover associated maintenance costs but receive technical support and advice from Bird’s operations team, and Bird takes a 20% cut of each trip fare in exchange.
As The Verge and other publications have noted, Bird’s pivot toward a decentralized model comes as the company struggles to achieve profitability in a cutthroat industry. A recent piece published by Quartz found that Bird escooters in Louisville, Kentucky complete an average of 70 trips over 85 miles and have a lifespan of 23 days. VanderZanden has previously said that Bird’s escooters will need to last at least six months for the company to break even.
Bird lost nearly $100 million in the first quarter of 2019 as its gross revenue shrank to $15 million, according to The Information, down from $40 million in the previous quarter. Bird reportedly told investors in July that it was averaging $3.65 per ride and had 19% gross margins, and it asserted it was on its way to reducing costs per scooter from $551 to $360.
Bird has myriad competitors, but its chief rival might be the aforementioned Lime, which has raised $765 million to date.
San Francisco-based Spin was snapped up by Ford for a reported $100 million last year. Meanwhile, Jump Bikes raked in $10 million last January before it was acquired by Uber in April and expanded into electric scooters. Y Combinator-backed Skip raised $31 million to establish a foothold in San Diego, Austin, Washington D.C., and San Francisco. Dutch startup Dott recently secured $23 million for its fleet of electric scooters and bikes. Sweden’s Voi raised $50 million to expand its electric scooters to more cities across Europe. And Beijing-based Ofo brought in over $2.2 billion to deploy its bicycle and scooter fleet to over 250 cities and 20 countries.
That said, the micromobility sector — which includes shared escooters and bikes — is cooling. A Quartz analysis of Pitchbook data found that it raised $795 million from investors in the current quarter across seven deals, and $1.3 billion last year as of September across 33 deals. That’s compared with $4.8 billion in the first three quarters of 2018 over 48 deals, for a decrease of about 73% in value and 31% in volume.
Under pressure from investors, Lime announced earlier this month it would lay off 100 employees and leave 12 markets with the goal of becoming profitable this year. (READ MORE)