A huge Facebook redesign is coming - but it's far more than a new website - TechRadar

After a brutal 2018 that forced the brand to admit it hasn't got the best reputation when it comes to privacy, Mark Zuckerberg has big plans for the Facebook platform in 2019: Facebook is being redesigned.

Zuckerberg made the announcements during Facebook's F8 event near the company's home turf in San Jose, California, where he addressed the past year of issues with privacy, security and decreasing trust in the platform.

The new version of Facebook, codenamed 'FB5', will be the biggest change the social network has experienced in years: nearly every single aspect is changing in some way. There was a lot of information, but we've gathered everything you need to know right here.

New web and mobile designs

The fifth major redesign of the Facebook app is incoming, codenamed 'FB5', and it will make communities – known as Groups – the focus, featuring a sleek redesign that should make it faster and more reliable, not to mention more visually appealing.

The new Facebook mobile app should now be live too, as a much faster and more immersive experience. 

Facebook has made finding what you're looking for more convenient, and more importantly claims to have made it safer and more secure. This is the biggest change to the Facebook app in five years: even the Facebook logo is being updated for 2019.

There's a new Facebook desktop website, too, and it should be much lighter on system resources, with the same design language as the mobile app. It will be coming in the next few months, with some updates showing up right away. 

All about building community

Mark Zuckerberg made it clear that Facebook's focus is shifting to communities both public and private. This means that Groups are going to be the core focus: there are already tens of millions of active Groups on Facebook.

Groups will be easier to find, and easier to participate in, thanks to a new, redesigned Groups tab. This will show you a personalized feed of all of your groups, so you can focus on your communities in a single place, rather than parsing them out from the rest of your News Feed. 

Users will also notice that Group recommendations will crop up in more places, but they'll be more relevant to what you're doing in the app. For instance, you may see more "buy and sell" groups show up in the Marketplace, and Today in Gaming may suggest a new gaming group for you to join. 

The News Feed will also be redesigned so that you can more easily share content directly to your Groups. But, this new community approach goes beyond Groups.

Facebook is launching Facebook Dating in more countries, along with a new feature called "Secret Crush." The idea here is that you can opt-in to this program, and name up to nine of your friends that you have interest in. 

If they opt-in to the program and name you as one of their secret crushes, then you will be matched. However, if the secret crush isn't mutual, no one will know the names you entered.

Facebook Dating is already live in five countries, and will expand to 14 more today. The service will launch in the US at the end of the year. 

There will also be some new ways to meet friends, through the new "Meet New Friends" feature. This is also an opt-in feature, so that you will only be exposed to people who are open to meeting new people. This feature will also work with your Groups, so you can easily add new friends from your favorite community. 

Everything else

Facebook's Marketplace is also getting some improvements. Namely, you'll be able to both ship products across the continental US, and you'll have the ability to pay for stuff safely and securely through the Facebook app. This should make shopping on the Facebook platform more secure for both sellers and buyers.

The Events tab is also getting a makeover, and it will be easier to explore your city. You can coordinate with your friends, find local businesses and find a new favorite restaurant based on your own personal preferences. 

There are so many Facebook changes coming in the next few months, and it could change the way people use the platform day-in and day-out. At the very least, the hope is for these changes to make the social network grow more secure and less divisive.

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https://www.techradar.com/news/facebook-redesign-2019

2019-05-01 08:58:00Z
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Apple stock falls ahead of earnings as Samsung, Google warn of smartphone issues - MarketWatch

Apple Inc. is about to give its take on smartphone demand, but not before its chief rivals painted a bleak picture of the current landscape.

Both Alphabet Inc. GOOGL, -8.09% GOOG, -8.15%  and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. 005930, -0.65% reported earnings late on Monday, alluding to continued slowdowns in their smartphone businesses.

“Hardware results reflect lower year-on-year sales of Pixel reflecting in part heavy promotional activity industry-wide given some of the recent pressures in the premium smartphone market,” Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat said on the company’s conference call.

She later tried to soften the blow by maintaining that while smartphone sales were down, Google Home smart speakers and other home devices have been demonstrating “ongoing momentum.”

Opinion: Google sales growth is slowing, and it sure would be nice to know why

Samsung predicted a “likely stagnant smartphone market” in the second half of the year and described how it’s had to adjust to changing conditions. Robert Yi, the company’s head of investor relations, explained that “the process of revamping our mass-market lineup amid softer overall smartphone demand” prompted a drop in sales volume for Samsung in the latest quarter.

When Apple AAPL, -1.71%  reports earnings this afternoon, a key focus will be on the company’s performance in China, after challenges there prompted the company to report a disappointing holiday quarter. Apple has cut prices in China as a result, but Samsung’s commentary suggests that the issues in China aren’t product specific, with Vice President Sang-Hyun Lee informing investors that the first quarter marked the start of “weak seasonality” in the region.

Apple earnings: How much of its massive cash pile will go into investors’ pockets?

Analysts are divided on what Apple’s China numbers will show, as Credit Suisse’s Matthew Cabral predicts that the company won’t be able to show “meaningful improvement” until it launches 5G iPhones in 2019. Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty is more upbeat, writing of her expectation that Apple saw “further iPhone stabilization in March.”

Apple shares were down 1.8% in afternoon trading Tuesday, while Alphabet shares were off 8.3%.

Want news about Asia delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to MarketWatch's free Asia Daily newsletter. Sign up here.

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2019-04-30 17:14:00Z
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Facebook F8 developer conference Day 1: How to watch live - CNET

The past three years haven't been easy for the world's largest social network. Facebook has been beset with scandals, largely caused by self-inflicted wounds and years of negligent behavior.

On Tuesday, the company will attempt to chart a path forward. It's expected to discuss new ideas around its messaging services, photo sharing, artificial intelligence and more. 

It's a good bet that CEO Mark Zuckerberg will headline the event, as he has for each of the company's previous conferences. Last year, he discussed new ideas around dating apps, using AI to take on harassment and a new "clear history" tool to increase people's privacy. This year, among other things, it's a safe bet the company will announce the launch date for its newest VR headsets, the Oculus Rift S and Oculus Quest, both of which cost $399.

When it starts

Facebook's developer conference kicks off Tuesday, April 30 at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET). It'll continue Wednesday, May 1, with another keynote at the same time.

Where to watch

We'll be streaming the conference live, on this page.

What we can expect

It's a good bet you'll hear a mix of techno-optimism and some acknowledgment that, despite the "intense year" Facebook had before 2018's F8 conference, this one seems to have been even crazier.

Originally published April 29, 5 a.m. PT.
Update, 9:36 a.m.: Adds details.

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2019-04-30 16:36:00Z
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Elizabeth Warren rips Chase Bank over 'Monday motivation' tweet - Fox Business

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon doesn't see a recession coming

FoxNews.com columnist Liz Peek, former investment banker Carol Roth, former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell (D) and Kaltbaum Capital Management President Gary Kaltbaum on JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon’s claim that the U.S. won’t see a recession for the next few years.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., ripped Chase Bank after the financial institution tweeted a “Monday motivation” tip to customers with low bank account balances.

Continue Reading Below

Chase’s now-deleted post featured a fictional conversation between a person and their bank account, in which the person ignored money-saving tips like making their morning coffee at home instead of buying it at a store. The tweet drew immediate backlash on social media from many critics, including Warren, who saw it as a tone-deaf attack on lower-income Americans.

MORE ON THIS

Mimicking the format Chase used in its original tweet, Warren pointed out that the bank received a $25 billion taxpayer-funded bailout in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The 2020 presidential hopeful also reiterated her common assertion that leading employers don’t pay a living wage to their employees.

A frequent critic of corporate malpractice, Warren emerged as Wells Fargo's staunchest detractors after the bank was linked to a series of scandals related to its sales practices. Warren has identified a breakup of big tech companies such as Amazon and Google as one of her key platform issues for the 2020 election cycle, arguing that the firms have pursued anti-competitive mergers and business initiatives.

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Chase Bank's tweet came weeks after JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon faced tough questions from the House Financial Services Committee over its pay practices for entry-level employees. The institution addressed the criticism of its tweet in a second post.

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2019-04-30 15:32:16Z
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Alphabet had more than $70 billion in market cap wiped out, and it's blaming YouTube - CNBC

Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube.

Michael Newberg | CNBC

Google has a YouTube problem, according to CFO Ruth Porat.

On Monday, after reporting that ad revenue grew 15% versus the 24% it saw a year ago, Google's parent company Alphabet saw its stock punished. It fell nearly 8% Tuesday morning.

According to Porat, YouTube was one of the culprits.

"While YouTube clicks continue to grow at a substantial pace in the first quarter, the rate of YouTube click growth rate decelerated versus a strong Q1 last year, reflecting changes that we made in early 2018, which we believe are overall additive to the user and advertiser experience," Porat said on the company's earnings call Monday.

Porat didn't expand on precisely what changes in YouTube led to the poor ad revenue growth, and Google isn't saying anything beyond her statements from Monday.

But if you wind the clock back a year, it's easy to see what happened.

In the first quarter of 2018, Google began making changes to YouTube's algorithms designed to stop harmful content from appearing in the feed of recommended videos you see on the side of a video page.

The goal was to make it harder to find videos full of conspiracy theories, fake news and all that other detritus that occasionally sent advertisers fleeing from the platform. Instead of YouTube directing you to a conspiracy theory about the latest school shooting, you were shown related videos from "authoritative" news sources the company considered worthy of bringing you accurate information.

On top of that, YouTube has removed millions of channels and videos that violated the company's harmful content policies, most notably Alex Jones.

But all of those garbage videos also kept engagement high. It kept YouTube users tuned in to their feeds beyond the video they came to watch, even if the company said they only made up less than 1% of all videos on the site.

YouTube was literally incentivized to keep its algorithms pumping junk to the top of people's feeds so people would keep watching and the ad dollars would keep flowing. A devastating Bloomberg report earlier this month showed that for years YouTube executives ignored warnings from their own employees that the misinformation and nastiness on the site had gotten out of hand.

For a long time, they chose the money over managing the mayhem.

Today, YouTube says it's serious about cleaning up the issues that have plagued the site for years. But that clean-up appears to have come at the short-term cost of ad revenue growth. (Although it's possible that Porat was referring to other types of changes, or engaging in some selective disclosure to guide investors away from other reasons for the growth slowdown.)

Investors punished the company on Monday by vaporizing more than $70 billion from its market cap.

But if YouTube can fix its content problems and continue to grow beyond its nearly 2 billion users, it has a chance to benefit in the long term.

The new system is still far from perfect, as The New York Times' Kevin Roose pointed out in an interview with YouTube's Chief Product officer Neal Mohan. It's still possible to fall down a rabbit hole of horrible videos on YouTube. But, based on Porat's comments, the changes were effective enough to hurt YouTube engagement.

Still, analysts on Tuesday didn't sound too worried about YouTube's longer term prospects, and cautioned there are other factors playing into the ad growth deceleration.

"YouTube has increased its focus on responsibility and safety, and it adjusted its algorithm in 1Q to reduce recommendations of content that comes close to violating guidelines or is misinformed or harmful," J.P. Morgan analysts wrote in a research note Tuesday morning. They added that, "we don't think there's a single clear answer for Google's [deceleration], but a number of factors are at work."

With billions in market cap gone and analysts already downgrading Alphabet's stock, the biggest question surrounding YouTube today is whether it will continue making improvements to curb the spread of toxic content or be shocked back into inaction for the benefit of its shareholders.

Correction: An earlier version of this story linked to the wrong YouTube blog post announcing changes to content moderation.

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2019-04-30 15:15:55Z
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Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway to invest $10 billion in Occidental Petroleum for Anadarko takeover - CNBC

Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.

David A. Grogan | CNBC

Warren Buffett is getting involved in a rare bidding war unfolding in the energy industry.

Berkshire Hathaway has committed a $10 billion preferred stock investment in Occidental Petroleum contingent on the company completing its proposed takeover of Anadarko Petroleum. Last week, Occidental made a rival bid for the oil and gas driller, challenging Chevron's $33 billion buyout of Anadarko.

Shares of Occidental fell 2% on Tuesday, while Chevron's stock popped 3%. A company's stock price often falls when investors believe it is about to acquire a company. Anadarko's shares fell about half a percent.

The capital injection from Berkshire could make Occidental a more formidable suitor. In pursuing Anadarko, Occidental is going toe to toe with an oil major with a much bigger balance sheet and whose market capitalization is nearly five times its value.

Several analysts initially downgraded shares of Occidental following its bid, with many saying the buyout would carry more risks than Chevron's proposed takeover of Anadarko. Achieving the benefits of the deal depends in part on Occidental's successful divestment in $10 billion-$15 billion in assets and achieving $3.5 billion in savings from the tie-up.

Berkshire's involvement suggests the company believes Occidental is best positioned to wring value out of Anadarko's portfolio. Occidental is focused on Anadarko's acreage in the Permian Basin, the U.S. shale oil region stretching across western Texas and southeastern New Mexico.

Occidental CEO Vicki Hollub has pitched Occidental as a high-performing Permian driller that can enrich Anadarko shareholders by squeezing more oil and gas from the drillers' wells at lower costs.

"We are thrilled to have Berkshire Hathaway's financial support of this exciting opportunity," Hollub said in a press release.

Here's how the Berkshire deal is structured:

• Berkshire will receive 100,000 shares of cumulative perpetual preferred stock with a value of $100,000 a share.
• The conglomerate also gets a warrant to purchase up to 80 million shares of Occidental at an exercise price of $62.50 a share.
• The preferred stock will accrue dividends at 8% annually.

The Oracle of Omaha is an active investor across the energy sector.

Berkshire Hathaway is one of the top shareholders in oil refiner Phillips 66, and the firm took a new stake in Canadian oil and gas company Suncor earlier this year. Through Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Buffett has invested billions in natural gas power plants and pipelines, renewable energy and electric transmission and distribution.

Occidental has offered $76 a share for Anadarko, while Chevron's initial bid was $65 a share. On Monday, Anadarko restarted talks with Occidental after its board determined the offer could be superior to Chevron's bid.

"I think that in a psychological sense a seal of approval so to speak from Buffett may influence how Anadarko's board is thinking about it," said Pavel Molchanov, energy equity analyst at Raymond James.

"But financially, Occidental could have done this deal without this $10 billion dollars, so from a purely financial standpoint, it's not as credible. I still think that more likely than not Chevron will prevail in this bidding war," said Molchanov, who believes neither company should buy Anadarko.

The Berkshire investment helps Occidental with the cash component of the proposed acquisition, said Richard Tullis, energy equity analyst at Capitol One. Occidental's offer is structured as a 50-50 cash and stock deal.

However, Occidental's 8% annual payout to Berkshire is on the high end for an investment grade company, Tullis says. That could increase the combined company's forward debt metrics to a level above and beyond what investors had previously assumed.

"I think that's probably being reflected in the stock reaction today with the stock underperforming," he said.

The dividend payment is "a really sweet deal" for Buffett and a "very expensive piece of paper" for Occidental, said Michael Bradley, managing director for equity sales at investment bank Tudor Pickering Holt.

The market largely assumed that Chevron would put in a slightly higher bid this week and prevail in the battle for Anadarko, according to Bradley. However, the momentum now appears to be swinging in Occidental's favor, largely because Buffett's involvement allows the company to counter with an even higher offer, he said.

"Berkshire's behind them. [Buffett] has the brand name. He has the mystique, and I think that's probably what they need to bring them over the edge," Bradley said.

On Tuesday, Chevron reaffirmed its view that its "signed agreement with Anadarko provides the best value and the most certainty to Anadarko's shareholders." The energy giant would pocket a $1 billion breakup fee if Anadarko backs out of the agreement.

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https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/30/buffetts-berkshire-hathaway-to-invest-10-billion-in-occidental-petroleum-for-anadarko-takeover.html

2019-04-30 13:35:20Z
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GE burns through $1.2 billion but Wall Street is happy it wasn't worse - CNN

Shares of GE (GE) climbed 7% in premarket trading on Tuesday after the company reported profit and revenue that exceeded forecasts. Wall Street is betting the company's recovery remains intact.

GE's struggles continue to be driven by its slumping power division. Profit tumbled 71% in that unit as orders nosedived.

Yet GE is standing by its 2019 guidance for industrial free cash flow to range between negative $2 billion and zero.

"I am encouraged by the improvements we are making inside GE," CEO Larry Culp said in a statement. "This is one quarter in what will be a multi-year transformation, and 2019 remains a reset year for us."

That's despite the emergence of a new risk: the Boeing (BA) 737 Max crisis. A GE joint venture supplies the engines to the 737 Max, which has been grounded due to safety concerns. GE also owns 29 of the 737 Max aircraft through its airplane leasing business, GECAS.

GE said it is working closely with Boeing while conducting "proactive" maintenance on the engines.

"We are confident in the 737 Max aircraft," Culp told analysts during a conference call.

'Long way to go'

GE emphasized that its better-than-feared results were driven by timing. Orders and customer collections arrived earlier than anticipated and GE said this trend should "balance out" later in the year.

"This is a game of inches and we have a long way to go," Culp said.

Culp, who became GE's first outsider CEO last fall, has moved urgently to try to fix the iconic company after years of bad decisions broke its balance sheet. GE slashed its dividend to a penny, accelerated sales of long-held businesses and promised to rapidly pay down debt.

"GE started its 2019 'reset year' with nice momentum," RBC analyst Deane Dray wrote in a note to clients on Tuesday. RBC Capital had been bracing for negative free cash flow of up to $4 billion.

During the first quarter, GE announced the sale of its BioPharma unit to Danaher (DHR), closed the spinoff of its century-old railroad division and cleaned up its financial arm. GE Capital reached a $1.5 billion settlement with the Justice Department to resolve allegations against its defunct subprime lender WMC Mortgage. Last week, WMC filed for bankruptcy.

"We continue to focus on reducing leverage and improving the underlying performance of our businesses," Culp said on Tuesday.

Aviation continues to shine

GE Power sales fell 14% decline as the fossil-fuels division continues to get hurt by the rise of renewables. However, GE said its power business performed better than expected, and it reported a 6% increase in its orders backlog. GE has moved to fix the power division by cutting jobs and closing plants.

Aviation continues to be a bright spot at GE. The jet engine division reported a 12% increase in revenue as orders rose 7% thanks to strong demand from manufacturers. GE shipped 424 LEAP engines during the first quarter, up from just 186 the year before.

GE continues to wind down GE Capital, the financial arm that nearly ruined the company during the 2008 crisis. GE Capital reported a profit of $171 million, up from a loss of $1.8 billion a year ago.

"GE remains focused on shrinking and de-risking GE Capital, including improving its leverage profile," the company said.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/30/investing/ge-earnings-stock/index.html

2019-04-30 13:02:00Z
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