Fiat CEO Believes Tesla Model 3 Would Lose

Fiat CEO Sergion Marchionne holds the belief that Tesla would fail to earn a profit from the sale of Model 3

CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Sergio Marchionne has seriously doubted whether Tesla Motors can earn a profit by delivering its new out Model 3 for a price of $35,000. That vehicle, which has 400,000 reservations since launched in March, is the American electric carmaker’s effort beyond its roots in luxury cars.

While Tesla Model 3 might be a large seller, Sergio is not convinced that it will turn into a source of income for CEO Elon Musk after it begins delivering in the next year. “If (Elon) can show me that the car will be profitable at that price, I will copy the formula, add the Italian design flair and get it to the market within a year,” Sergio spoke to a reporter of Automotive News Europe on the sidelines on the annual meeting of Fiat in Amsterdam on April 15, 2016.  

His views, while snarky, foresee what might happen if the push by the organization gains profit and momentum. Big organizations, such as FCA, will wish to imitate that success weakening the EV maker in that process.

The executive of FCA is known for his controversial comments regarding electric automobiles. He used to plead customers not to purchase his Fiat 500e, which is the electric version of its 500 minicar, due to the loss he was making off it. He recognizes the needs for vehicles with zero-emissions in a general manner, but he has continued to be publicly skeptical regarding any business case for EVs.

When Sergio was asked that if he believes that his company is late, he replied, “better late than sorry.” The EV maker clarified that it intends to attain the $35,000 base price of Model 3 by attaining economies of scale in its automobile manufacturing procedure, but also by cutting down its battery cost by 30% with its Gigafactory.

Batteries represent a crucial part of the cost of an EV. While many people would agree that the carmaker could probably sell a new automobile in a year, I am not sure most would agree that the Italian automaker could establish a huge battery manufacturing facility in one year.

CEO of Nissan Motor Company differed with Sergio by reacting in a decent and manner to the launch of Tesla’s mass-market car. According to Automotive News Europe, FCA delivers just few thousand 500e vehicles in some American states. The vehicle is not sold in the European region or other international markets.

The Model 3 will probably be the first Tesla automobile to be equipped with Tesla’s autonomous driving system. Electrek knows that Musk’s organization is possibly thinking about mobility on demand facility depending upon an answer Elon gave while addressing an earnings call in 2015. Analysts at Wall Street are even taking account of potential new business in their valuation models. 

Uber Tries To Justify Surge Pricing To Indian Public

Uber lobbies against the ban imposed by Karnataka government on surge pricing

Uber is personally extending its reach to each user in the Silicon Valley of India, Bengalaru, to elaborate upon how surge pricing is beneficial for them. Surge pricing – defined as increase in prices when demand is higher – is viewed as anti-consumer act because it lets the company take advantage of times when many people simultaneously want to avail rides.

On April 6 2016, the South Indian state government of Karnataka imposed a ban on the practice. Bengaluru is Karnataka’s capital and an important market for ridesharing apps, such as Ola and Uber.

The government of Karnataka said cab service providers in the state cannot charge over 29 cents per km for offering rides in an air-conditioned cab and 22 cents for a non- conditioned one.

This regulation could hit Ola and Uber, which frequently charge 2 to 4 times more for offering a ride because of surge pricing. In personal emails to each user in the city, Uber said it has had a look at the figures and “the government’s proposal to fix prices will cost more overall.”

A calculation sent to Itika Sharma Punit at Quartz revealed that she would have spent an amount of money 30% greater for availing the service since January this year if the new law had been followed. The company didn’t elaborate upon the mathematics explaining this calculation. An email sent by Quartz wasn’t immediately responded.

Surge pricing is not new in the country. It is used actively in other industries like aviation. The state government intervened to check unusual rises in airfares but did not impose a ban on the practice.

Some experts hold the belief that the new policy of Karnataka government on Uber technologies pricing is misdirected. Some experts have asked questions regarding how transporters like Uber and Ola determine surge pricing. Doubts like those are fuelled by reports given by riders who say cabs charged “peak hour charges” to them for offering rides during non-busy hours.

The decision by the American transporter to lobby against the regulation of the government is understood as the legislation might be replicated in the rest of the Indian states.

According to Business Standard, Maharashtra government is already thinking to impose a similar ban. Economic Times revealed recently that Travis Kalanick’s organization and the Indian cab company have lowered down the base fare for taxi rides by approximately 20 to 30% to battle with auto-rickshaws. To deal with higher levels of demand, they even increase fares by five times. 

Facebook Found New Way To Make Money

Facebook introduces Messenger Chatbots to attract businesses towards social network platform to earn money

On April 13, 2016, Facebook introduced its Messenger Chabot platform, but the question is that how it will generate money from it? The answer is by charging companies to send re-engagement messages to people who have already willingly started talking to them.

These “Sponsored Messages” are presently being tested, with a tiny test for advertisers. They are being heavily observed by Facebook to stop them from being spammed. The news confirms the scoop of Tech Crunch from February regarding advertisements coming to Facebook Messenger, after Tech Crunch grabbed a presentation sent by a one of the employees of the organization to a top advertiser, outlining the upcoming marketing product.

The company confirmed it would be also able to generate revenue with “Click to Message” News Feed advertisements that the publication earlier pegged as means to monetize chatbots. Both “Click to Message” advertisements and “Sponsored Messages” could bring users into conservation with the chatbot, which can then try to sell them items.

Think if rather than tapping an advertisement and then guiding yourself on an un-known e-commerce site, one could only tell the bot about his/her preferences and it could then show relevant products.

While bots are developed to give a response to users or act as they asked for, a concern is that Messenger advertisements could weaken the experience. Up till now, when anyone’s Messenger app buzzed, he/she would be sure it was anyone concerned about communicating with them.

This behavior changes with “Sponsored Messages”. VP of Product for Messenger, David Marcus, would be cautious about how Messenger advertisements are utilized to avoid annoying users.

When asked regarding the exact frequency or timing with which “Sponsored Messages” could be sent by businesses, Marcus emphasized that the social organization could monitor their use tightly compared to promotional messages sent to other mediums.

Not every Sponsored Message or bot will necessarily activate alerts, David told Tech Crunch. If the company can persuade these “Sponsored Messages” to endear network users to business instead of annoying them, it might finally find means to monetize 900 million users via Messenger.

According to reports by Silicon Angle, bots on the platform can offer automated content, such as customized content or weather and traffic updates, receipts and shipping information. To look for a bot, one needs to turn the app on and enter the company name in the search bar at the topmost part of the app

Currently, bots are offered to 33 organizations, including CNN, Burger King, Fandango, Staples, Spring and Poncho. 

Verizon Communications Intends To Bid For Yahoo Japan While Google Weighs Offer

Verizon is interested in buying out Yahoo Japan after Microsoft Corporation failed to take over it

Verizon Communications aims to make a first-round offer for the Yahoo web business in the upcoming week. It is interested in purchasing the organization’s Yahoo Japan Corporation share to improve the offer.

Alphabet’s main unit, Google, is also making efforts for the core business of Yahoo. Potential suitors Comcast Corporation and AT&T have taken a decision against bidding, sources revealed asking to be kept anonymous, as the deliberations are not public.

Microsoft Corporation, which was unable to win a hostile bid for the American multinational tech company in 8 years ago, would not offer this time. Time Inc. is yet evaluating an offer, while private equity funds TPG and Bain – among other companies – are also aiming to run at the business, either alone or by supporting a strategic purchaser.

First-round bids for the major Web assets of the company are due April 11. Verizon and its division subsidiary ‘AOL’ are collaborating with at least three financial advisers on the Yahoo offer.

Hiring the services of such a number of banking organizations is a sign that Verizon is seriously concerned with takeover plans – it said since late 2015 that it wanted to purchase all or some of Yahoo. Yahoo is facing problems and its management experienced a harsh time while investors push the company over the edge.

Verizon with a market value of around $213 billion could provide share of Yahoo Japan to its shareholders or sell it. The Californian organization would be interested in spinning off its 35.5% share in Yahoo Japan, valued around $8.5 billion, along with the central business, reported Bloomberg last month. The worth of the total assets would increase difficulties of private equity organizations to fund a bid for both parts.

Representatives for TPG, Verizon, Comcast, Yahoo and AT&T refused to share views. Representatives for Google and Bain did not immediately reply to requests for sharing views. Based on the financial details, Verizon values the core business of Yahoo at a sum lower than $8bn.

Verizon and some private equity companies had a meeting with Microsoft in March to discuss the possible financing for an offer. Microsoft Corporation has not committed any financing and it is not likely to offer anything over a token investment to the successful bidder.

Microsoft’s spokesperson refused to share views. The earnings and projected revenue will decrease by over 20% and nearly 15% this year, revealed a slide deck it launched to possible bidders, reported Re/code on Wednesday. 

SCMP Remove Online Paywall After Alibaba Acquisition

Alibaba completes $3.5 billion takeover of South China Morning Post to dominate the Chinese media sector

South China Morning Post has removed the online paywall from its site following the completion of its takeover by Alibaba. Its PDF editions and physical newspaper will remain subscription based.

Earlier, SCMP imposed a limit on those stories, which non-paying users could read on its site monthly; but currently, that cap has been removed in a measure “paves the way to grow its readership globally,” as revealed by Editor-in-Chief Tammy Tam.

Tammy further claimed that people need “insightful and trusted news” from China – a line similar to what was heard from founder of the Chinese e-commerce company. In December, the online retailer announced plans to purchase the 113-year-old publication. Companies purchasing media always express concern. Executive chairman of Alibaba, Joe Tsai, told at the moment that the company won’t interfere with the methods of the newspaper to work, but rather use its own resources.

That means increased financial efforts from the business perspective through what the organization calls as “e-commerce media ecosystem.” Beyond than three-bundled buzzwords joined together to form a phrase, CEO of the Hangzhou-based organization, Daniel Zhang, claimed the case that media represents a possibly profitable channel for online trading facilities, and those of the organization while also helping media organization earn money.

Besides the publication, Alibaba also invested in ‘Weibo’ (a microblogging website) and is passing through the completion phase of a $3.5 billion takeover of video website ‘Youku Tudou’ to enhance its media profile.

Apart from dropping its paywall, the mobile apps of SCMP is also revamped with deep-linking, personalization, search and other features, since the organization states it is now “a mobile first company” with mobile representing most of its business.

Many doubted the intentions of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos when took over the American publication, Washington Post, but the newspaper seems to be allowed to keep working under own rule. Alibaba can be compared to Amazon in a number of ways, and people can just wait to find out if it can act with patience with its sparkly newly acquired media asset.

SCMP reported that since last night, a reader could read it free of charge and download the new app for Windows, Android and iPhone for easy and speedy reach to the latest news.

Chairman of Alibaba, Jack Ma said, “[With the paywall taken down today] our focus now should not be on finding the right media business model.” The dropping of Paywall differs from the international trend of publications charging readers for articles they read on websites, but Jack is taking a lesson from his Taobao experience. He expressed confidence that with the help of a change-embracing and open-minded approach, the publication would turn itself into a profitable publication and find out its own business model. 

Amazon Moves Fast To Defeat Payment Service Providers

Amazon expanded its payment service to lead the payment industry and lure a large number of shoppers towards its platform.

More buyers would soon find a convenient method to spend online instead of using a credit card, easily entering the password and user name of Amazon.com. On April 4, 2016, the American e-commerce company announced an extension of its payment service, Amazon Payments, as it competes with other payment intermediaries, including Apple Pay and PayPal.

Online traders can already avail the payment facility by typing their account details of the website instead of their payment information, addresses and names. The extended program will turn into “Pay with Amazon”, an option offered to merchants who develop their webpages on e-commerce platforms developed by companies that mostly help merchants run and establish their own e-shops.

In its announcement, Amazon named three participating platforms – Shopify, Japan’s Future Shop and French e-commerce company, PrestaShop SA - though more are registered on the website of the company.

The program could make Payment Service an option for many online sellers. Shopify also reported its network is home to over 240,000 shops. For sellers, permitting customers to spend using just Amazon.com account details, could make checking out easier and quicker, possibly leading to extra sales.

In February, Southwest Airlines announced that it was including a payment service option for entertainment purchases and in-flight Wi-Fi, citing convenience as an important attention.

For Amazon, more sales transactions processed through its financial service lead to more sales revenue. The company charges sellers 2.9% of every transaction – a little over 2.75% charged by Californian organization, Square, along with 30% fee.

Analyst from Wedbrush Securities, Michael Pachter, said the extra fees are appealing to the company because it does not need to develop any new thing to earn them. Amazon has unsuccessfully make efforts to extend its financial service provider before. Two years ago, it launched physical card reader, Amazon Local Register, which connected to tablets and smartphones.

Intended for small conventional shops, the device was a direct rival to Square, which provides a card reader that attaches to cellular devices, but it was unable to succeed, and the company scrapped it in late 2015.

Some sellers have voiced their concern that using the web retailer’s physical card reader would leak out what its customers were purchasing – the same type of data that has currently helped the e-commerce marketplace operator turn into a challenge to offline businesses and juggernaut.

As the financial service extends, it is not clear if online sellers will find the same challenge or if they will add any extra value to the service, says brokerage service provider’s analyst, Robert W. Baird. 

Dell SecureWorks Plans To Launch IPO In April

SecureWorks Corporation is planning to hold IPO in April 2016 to receive funds for growth.

A cyber-security service provider, owned by Dell, is looking to end the tech IPO drought. SecureWorks Corporation, owned by the closely held parent company of Dell – Denali Holding – is looking to unveil its IPO in April 2016 persons close to the agreement state.

The organization could start its “roadshow” to promote the shares to investors throughout the week of April 11. The stock will probably trade on Nasdaq with the symbol “SCWX”, revealed to an earlier securities filing.

If it succeeds, SecureWorks, which allows corporations to lock their systems down and monitor for computer intruders, could be the first tech organization to launch on US exchange in the next year and give an optimistic signal regarding the condition of a market for IPO that has continued to ail amidst market volatility.

No other tech organization has listed stock in the United States following a small Chinese company, which did so on December 15, 2016. People told SecureWorks would probably spin off a comparatively tiny part of itself in the offering due to uncertainty regarding the reception from investors in a tough IPO market.

Cutting down the supply of IPO stock could raise demand and add to the chances they trade well. The cyber-safety service provider could only raise a sum of $150 million. Proceeds and valuation from an IPO are usually in flux unless just prior to the trading of the shares.

The company is planning for a valuation less than $2 billion. SecureWorks had been aiming at $2 billion as of previous summer, but with many of its competitors trading down one-fifth or over, its expectations regarding valuation have fallen down.

Amidst the lack of technology offerings – a significant driver of the new-issue market – the first quarter was amongst the most sluggish on record for IPOs, with just nine contracts that raised only $1.2 billion. Market watchdogs have issued a warning that this part of the year might not bring a lot of relief.

Another factor that has adversely affected the market for IPO concerns a large number of private technology companies with valuations of more than a billion are overvalued. The Georgia based company differs from most of those organizations, as it was established through the last technology boom and is accommodated within a huge, developed corporate parent.

It is similar in one respect – SecureWorks is not profitable. In fact, the losses of the organization have increased alongside its sales revenue. For the financial year ending in January 29, Dell SecureWorks earned revenue worth $339.5 million, a rise by 30% from the past year, while it earned a net loss of $724 million, which was approximately two times as wide, revealed securities filing.