Energy News  
TRADE WARS
Paypal founder raises $100 mn for new payments startup
by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) Oct 13, 2016


Amazon seeking 120,000 seasonal workers
San Francisco (AFP) Oct 13, 2016 - US online giant Amazon on Thursday announced that it plans to hire 120,000 seasonal workers to help handle an expected crush of holiday shopping.

The Seattle-based internet retail colossus takes such measures every year, but its recruitment goal for this Christmas season represent a 20 percent jump from 2015.

Amazon turned 14,000 of those temporary positions from last year into regular full-time jobs, and hoped to increase that number this time around, according to vice president of global customer fulfillment Mike Roth.

"This is our favorite time of year," Roth said.

"We're excited to bring on more than 120,000 seasonal employees this year to support growing customer demand."

Amazon is not the only retailer to beef up its forces during the year-end holiday shopping season, but seemed more optimistic about demand than some traditional players who plan to keep seasonal hiring unchanged or even lower than last year.

Macy's is hiring 83,000 holiday workers as compared to 85,000 last season. Target increased the number of holiday delivery and shipping related jobs by 1,000 to a total of 7,500, but hiring in retail shops will remain the same as last year -- 70,000 positions.

Shipping service UPS plans to take on 95,000 seasonal workers to meet holiday demands for deliveries.

The US National Retail Federation estimated that spending by US shoppers during the holiday months of November and December could reach $655.8 billion in a 3.6 percent increase year-over-year.

The NRF expected online sales to surge seven to 10 percent to as much as $117 billion.

The research firm eMarketer is projecting a stronger 17 percent jump in online holiday retail sales.

Affirm, a startup led by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, said Thursday it secured $100 million in financing to expand its consumer lending business that aims to disrupt the credit card industry.

The financial tech company said it had obtained the line of credit from investment bank Morgan Stanley.

That brings Affirm's financing to over $400 million, according to the online database Crunchbase.

A company statement said Affirm "will leverage the facility to continue its expansion of consumer-friendly point-of-sale financing at leading online and offline retailers."

The startup "offers consumers an alternative to traditional credit with a straightforward, transparent loan product," according tot he statement.

Consumers can finance purchases through Affirm, which sets interest rates based on "proprietary technology to verify identity and assess credit risk in seconds."

By using more sources of information than conventional credit rating agencies, Affirm can serve "to a broader set of consumers," the company says.

Affirm said it has agreements with more than 750 merchants. It offers retailers an advantage over credit card payments by assuming fraud risk and guaranteeing immediate payment.

Levchin was a co-founder of PayPal, which was sold to eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion and later spun off.

Pinterest tops 150 mln monthly users
San Francisco (AFP) Oct 13, 2016 - Pinterest on Thursday announced that the number of monthly users soared in the past year to top 150 million, with most of that growth coming from outside the United States.

Pinterest grew 50 percent from a year ago, with 80 million of its "active Pinners" not from the US.

Co-founder and chief executive Ben Silbermann said in a blog post that he thought the growth particularly impressive given that Pinterest doesn't consider itself a social network.

"Pinterest is more of a personal tool than a social one. People don't come to see what their friends are doing," Silbermann said.

"Instead, they come to Pinterest to find ideas to try, figure out which ones they love, and learn a little bit about themselves in the process."

People go to Pinterest for inspiration and ideas, and with each new user, software at the service gets more data with which to personalize recommendations, according to the San Francisco-based company.

Pinterest said it serves up more than 10 billion recommendations daily, double the amount delivered a year ago.

The company also boasted being an online venue for more than a million businesses, along with tens of thousands of advertisers.

Pinterest is a virtual bulletin board platform, with users decorating their boards with pictures showcasing interests in a variety of areas, including food, fashion and travel.

Pinterest sees itself as being positioned at the crossroads of social networking and online search, with users consulting it when seeking out products or services.

Instead of coming to Pinterest to see photos of friends, people come with "commercial intent" that puts the site in an ideal position to display native -- or disguised -- advertising for trips, clothing or other offerings, according to company president Tim Kendall.

Pinterest recently introduced video ads as it moved to cash in on a growing appetite for videos at the popular online bulletin board.

In June, the company unveiled new features to facilitate shopping on the site, as the platform pushes to become an e-commerce hub.

The offerings included a virtual shopping bag that users can fill as they cruise bulletin boards.

Pinterest last year dove into e-commerce with "pins" in mobile applications that let people buy items they see on bulletin boards.


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
Global Trade News






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

Previous Report
TRADE WARS
US seeks WTO panel on China trade barriers for raw materials
Washington (AFP) Oct 13, 2016
The United States on Thursday said it was calling for a World Trade Organization arbitration panel to resolve an escalating trade dispute on Chinese export barriers for raw materials. US Trade Representative Michael Froman this year has challenged Chinese export duties and quotas for raw materials, including lead, tin, graphite, antimony, chromium and copper, saying they unfairly disadvantag ... read more


TRADE WARS
NREL releases new cost and performance data for electricity generation

Strong at the coast, weak in the cities - the German energy-transition patchwork

Europe ups energy security ante

NREL releases updated baseline of cost and performance data for electricity generation technologies

TRADE WARS
New cost-effective silicon carbide high voltage switch created

New 3D design for mobile microbatteries

Enhancing the superconducting properties of an iron-based material

Wireless 'data center on a chip' aims to cut energy use

TRADE WARS
Wind turbines killing more than just local birds

Wind turbines a risk to birds living as far as 100 miles away

SeaRoc launches SeaHub for communication and logistic data

U.S. governors want more offshore wind support

TRADE WARS
Nanoscale confinement leads to new all-inorganic solar cell

NREL report shows US solar photovoltaic costs continuing to fall in 2016

X-ray vision reveals how polymer solar cells wear out

Midsummer receives new order for its DUO thin film solar cell manufacturing system

TRADE WARS
Japan nuclear reactor shuttered for safety work

South Africa's nuclear programme kicked into touch, again

Deal signed for giant UK nuclear project

UN trims nuclear power growth forecasts

TRADE WARS
Nano-spike catalysts convert carbon dioxide directly into ethanol

Organic semiconducting polymers can harvest sunlight to split CO2 into fuels

Engineers transform brewery wastewater into energy storage

Harnessing algae for the creation of clean energy

TRADE WARS
Closing windows on Shenzhou 11

Beijing exhibition means plenty of "space" for everyone

Space for Shenzhou 11

Waiting for Shenzhou 11

TRADE WARS
Kigali meeting to tackle super greenhouse gases

Emissions of key greenhouse far higher than thought: study

Climate treaty ratified in race against the clock

Microbes help plants survive in severe drought









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.