Here are today’s Top 5 News & Events from Around the World. Take a look!
#5
Paytm Raises $1 Billion, Led By T Rowe Price On $16 Billion Valuation
Fearing the competition from the giants such as Google, Walmart, and Facebook, the Indian financial services provider Paytm has raised a billion dollars to expand its business. The funding round, dubbed as round G was led by the US-based asset manager T Rowe Price. It includes Ant Financials (contributing $400 M), SoftBank (contributing $200 million), and Discovery Capital. Up till now, Paytm has raised $ 3.3 billion in total. With a $16 billion valuation, the company is now valued more than other high profile Asian startups such as Grab and Gojek. According to Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the latest funding will focus towards adding small and medium-sized businesses to its fold. Link.
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#4
Major Tech Firms Paid $0 In Federal Income Taxes, How Much Did You Pay?
According to reports, major firms Amazon to GM paid $0 in taxes last year. All these firms made profits ranging from several million dollars to billions of dollars but paid not even a single penny in taxes. Trump administration’s 2017 policy has helped these firms to avoid income taxes altogether. Effectively, these firms are paying negative income tax. Link.
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#3
Israel Is High-Flying On High Tech Exports
Israel heavily depends on its technology export for its economy. Now, that same sector is looking at a massive increase this year. According to reports, Israeli tech exports will hit $114 billion by the end of 2019. The exports amount for 30% of Israel’s economy. A major chunk is exported to the European countries and the US. While the exports to China and Japan has shrunk this year. Link.
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#2
Microsoft Gets The License To Trade With Huawei
According to Bloomberg, Microsoft has obtained the license to sell mass-market software to Huawei. It isn’t clear what mass-market software means but it seems it includes Microsoft office and Windows OS. This might have come as a relief for the heavily blacklisted Chinese tech firm Huawei, which is at present dealing with the US sanctions. Link.
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#1
Facebook’s Facial Recognition App For Identifying Employees
According to reports, Facebook back in 2015 and 2016 had made an app to recognize employees and their friends. It helped the employees to retrieve information such as name and basic profile info. The app has been discontinued though, it shows how serious Facebook is about privacy. Link.
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