Photo by Eric Ward on Unsplash
The relationship between SoftBank and WeWorks is crumbling and it is extremely interesting to watch this situation implode.
As more information comes to light about how WeWork operated and their overall strategy of real estate manipulation, you can’t feel bad for either company’s failure (at least I don’t). Manipulate. Overvalue. Cash Out. I hope investors and reputable banks learn from this mess (hello Uber).
Meanwhile, Foxconn might actually use those manufacturing plants in Wisconsin for something useful… making respirators.
Acquisitions/Investments
- Friendship Ended With SoftBank, Now Lawsuits Are WeWork’s Best Friend
SoftBank’s reasoning for backing out includes concern about regulatory probes into WeWork and more technical details concerning an exchange of shares that SoftBank sabotaged in order to prevent this deal. WeWork is suing SoftBank, claiming that concern over regulatory troubles are not grounds for backing out because WeWork has been controlled by SoftBank for nearly half a year now. In WeWork’s own words:
“The investigations were not a surprise, given Neumann’s conduct and the Company’s loss of billions in value. SoftBank had complete knowledge of the facts underlying the investigations when it executed the [Master Transaction Agreement]. … All of the investigations were known to SoftBank at the time that it signed the December 27, 2019 amendment to the MTA. But SoftBank did not raise the investigations as a basis not to consummate the Tender Offer until recently, as the approaching April 1, 2020 closing date caused it to become increasingly desperate.”
- German security firm Avira has been acquired by Investcorp at a $180M valuation
The financial terms of the acquisition are not being disclosed in the companies’ joint announcement, but the CEO of Avira, Travis Witteveen, and ITP’s MD, Gilbert Kamieniecky, both said it gives Avira a total valuation of $180 million. The deal will involve ITP taking a majority ownership in the company, with Avira founder Tjark Auerbach retaining a “significant” stake of the company in the deal, Kamieniecky added.
Avira is not a tech startup in the typical sense. It was founded in 1986 and has been bootstrapped (in that it seems never to have taken any outside investment as it has grown). Witteveen said that it has “tens of millions” of users today of its own-branded products — its anti-virus software has been resold by the likes of Facebook (as part of its now-dormant antivirus marketplace) — and many more via the white-label deals it makes with big names. Strategic partners today include NTT, Deutsche Telekom, IBM, Canonical and more.
Artificial Intelligence/Robotics
I mentioned it a few weeks ago, but it is very strange how there has been almost no news about AI and automation for the last 6 weeks.
Once would assume with people being unable to work, there would be some talk of automation (even if it is an uncomfortable topic with people out of work), but… crickets.
Software/SaaS
- Our Government Runs on a 60-Year-Old Coding Language, and Now It’s Falling Apart
The Government Accountability Office has repeatedly warned about the use of legacy programming languages for critical systems. In 2019, the GAO issued a report summarizing 10 federal computing systems that were in desperate need of an overhaul. For instance, the Department of Education’s system for processing federal student aid applications was implemented in 1973. It takes 18 contractors to maintain the system, and since it’s written in COBOL, it requires specific hardware and is difficult to integrate with newer software languages.
GAO considers COBOL a legacy language, which means agencies have trouble finding staff that knows how to write the code at all. And when they can, the specialist contractors charge a premium.
It also means that when a system breaks, there might not be somebody there to fix it. And that’s where New Jersey finds itself now, with a sagging system and lack of qualified engineers.
- SAP the first of the enterprise software vendors to pre-announce
- FRS Cloud Revenue Up 29% €2.01 billion €2.01 billion
- Non-IFRS Cloud Revenue Up 27% €2.01 billion
- Software Licenses Revenue Down 31% to €0.45 billion
- Total Revenue Up 7% to €6.52 billion
- IFRS Operating Profit Up More Than 100% to €1.21 billion
- Non-IFRS Operating Profit Up 1% to €1.48 billion
The decline in software licenses is steep but not wholly unexpected. SAP has all but stopped selling licenses and is moving rapidly to a subscription model.
The question of just how fragile the ERP market has become will be the subject of much commentary on the earnings call. For the moment, SAP believes decisions are being ‘postponed,’ anticipating that conditions will remain very difficult through Q2 with a gradual recovery in Q3-4.
https://diginomica.com/sap-first-enterprise-software-vendors-pre-announce
- Microsoft thinks coronavirus will forever change the way we work and learn
While usage continues to rise, Microsoft is releasing a new remote work trend report to highlight how work habits are changing.
Naturally, more people are using the video and meetings capabilities of Teams, and Microsoft has seen a new daily record of 2.7 billion meeting minutes in a single day. That’s up 200 percent from 900 million minutes in mid-March, around the time many businesses shifted toward remote working. Unsurprisingly, people are turning on video in Teams meetings two times more than before, with video calls usage in Teams growing by more than 1,000 percent in March. Microsoft found that people in Norway and the Netherlands are more likely to turn on video with around 60 percent of calls including video, compared to 38 percent in the US and 47 percent in the UK.
- Google’s Hangouts Meet is now just Google Meet
In an email to The Verge, Google confirmed that it has officially changed the service’s name. Google also confirmed that Meet is an independent part of G Suite, the portfolio of business services that also includes brands such as Gmail, Docs, Sheets, and Drive. Hangouts Chat, the text-messaging arm of the Hangouts brand, is also part of the suite.
The rebrand still appears to be a work in progress. As of this writing, the service is still called Hangouts Meet by Google in the iOS App Store, and its G Suite landing page also retains the old name. And while G Suite’s website lists “Meet” as an included service at the top of the page, “Hangouts Meet” is still referenced in a list lower down.
The rebrand comes at a time when Google Meet has seen explosive growth as the COVID-19 pandemic forces workplaces to move their meetings online. Google Meet’s usage is currently 25 times what it was in January, Google revealed late last month, and the service is gaining more than 2 million new users a day.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/8/21214059/google-hangouts-meet-rebrand-video-chat-conferencing
Ugh… Google’s message tool strategy frustrates me so much.
Other
- Foxconn will produce ventilators at its controversial Wisconsin plant
Medtronic’s CEO was unable to share the numbers of ventilators that Foxconn will produce during his interview with CBNC. However, in a statement provided to Reuters, Foxconn said that it’s hoping to speed up production time so that the ventilators can be produced as soon as possible, and that medical and technical personnel from the two companies were working closely together. The partnership came about after Medtronic open-sourced the design for its PB-560 ventilator, which has been downloaded 70,000 times, according to Ishrak.
- End of an Era: Microsoft Word Now Flagging Two Spaces After Period as an Error
The change was received with mixed reactions by the user community, but many believe that using just one space after a period is something that makes total sense.
“Consistency and efficiency won. Two spaces after a period is a relic of the typewriter world,” someone says. “There should always be two spaces unless you need to cut down to fit in the 280 limit. Readability improves with two spaces,” another Twitter user, who this time suggests we should all stick with two spaces after a period, explains.
The new approach is without a doubt controversial, but while change is hard, it’s all just a matter of time until everyone adapts to the one-space rule.