Here is the top trending news from the world of technology. News that we feel every tech enthusiast should keep a track on.
1)
Amazon says it will cut more jobs than initially planned
Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy announced on Wednesday that the ecommerce giant will cut more jobs than it was originally planned. The Jeff Bezos laid company is now likely to cut nearly 18,000 jobs, much more than the 10,000 jobs that it had announced last year. Jassy further added that the company was forced to disclose the unpleasant news as the news already got leaked to the media. Amazon is one of the largest employers in the U.S. and hence its decision to trim more headcounts is surely likely to have adverse impact on the American job market. The e-commerce giant cited reckless hiring during the pandemic as the main reason for its decision to opt for sweeping job cuts.
2)
Meta fined over $400 Mn (Here’s Why)
Facebook & Whatsapp’s parent company Meta has been yet again slapped with a fine. Ireland’s privacy watchdog announced on Wednesday that Meta has been slapped with two separate fines totaling almost $400 Mn. The Irish Data Protection Commission said that Meta has been ordered to pay 210 Mn euros ($222.5 Mn) for the violation of GDPR and a second fine amounting to 180 Mn euro for the breach of GDPR by photo sharing platform Instagram. This latest development won’t bode well for the overall financial health of Meta, which is already reeling under barrage of regulatory crackdowns in Europe as well as back in the U.S. Meta, which recently announced mass layoffs, is also facing tough times as its Metaverse platform has failed to evoke much interest.
3)
Microsoft Shares Downgraded by UBS
Investment bank UBS has decided to downgrade the shares of Microsoft from ‘Buy’ to ‘Neutral,’ citing that the tech giant is likely to witness weak growth in its cloud business in the coming years. UBS also said that Microsoft’s productivity platform ‘Office 365’ is also likely to register lower growth in the ensuing years. The downgrade had a negative impact on Microsoft shares, with the company’s stocks falling by 4% on Wednesday while stocks of most other tech giants had a good day at the stock market. Microsoft has had a good spell under the leadership of Satya Nadella, who many believe has managed to turnaround the company.
4)
Indian HR Tech Startup Drawinbox raises $5 Mn
Hyderabad based HR tech startup Drawinbox, which counts Salesforce as one of its investors, has reportedly raised $5Mn in a fresh funding round. According to startup news portal Entrackr, this is an extension of Series D round and the extension round was solely funded by the banking giant SBI. This is Drawinbox’s first funding round in 2023. The Hyderabad also counts Microsoft as one of its high-profile investors, raising $4 Mn from the tech giant in November 2022. Drawinbox is one of the most funded startups in the HR tech space.
5)
Twitter Employees forced to bring their own Toilet Paper
According to New York Times, Twitter employees are now being forced to bring their own toilet papers. Twitter’s employees have been reportedly forced to opt for this embarrassing action all because of one man. And that man is obviously Elon Musk, who now owns the microblogging company. Due to Musk’s decision to go for sweeping layoffs last year, Twitter is now facing shortage of housekeeping employees. With few and lack of housekeeping employees, toilet at Twitter’s headquarter at San Francisco is now looking outright dirty and reportedly don’t even adequate toilet papers.