Google is expanding account settings to allow users to mute pesky "reminder ads," a new control in Ads Settings, that follow people around the web after they've viewed a product. Users can mute ads from specific advertisers for up to 90 days at a time. Reminder Ads is a new control in Ads Settings.
Why it matters: The efforts are part of Google's push to be user-friendly by weeding out bad ads that aren't relevant or have annoying formats. The tech giant will implement an ad blocker in its Google Chrome search engine in February that are found to have unresolved and repeat violations for annoying ads. Annoying ads is defined by industry standards mapped out by the Coalition for Better Ads.
ESPN is exploring "a variety of options" for Nate Silver's website FiveThirtyEight, including a sale to The Atlantic or integration with another Disney property like ABC News, The Big Lead reports.
Why it matters: The prediction site was first acquired by ESPN from the New York Times in 2013. While rumors of a sale or spinoff are still speculative, the network has undergone a number of changes in the past year in an effort to adapt to a digital-first media landscape.
Comcastannounced 100,000 bonuses of $1,000, while around 500 managers, supervisors, and salespeople were fired. AT&Tannounced 200,000 bonuses of $1,000, while laying off thousands. Walmartannounced minimum hourly wage raises to $11, and offering $1,000 bonuses; on the same day it announced the lay off of "thousands of workers."
Departing American Express CEO Ken Chenault is joining Airbnb's board as its first independent member, the company said on Thursday. This comes just days after Chenault also agreed to join Facebook's board.
In March, Airbnb plans to release its first annual stakeholder report.
Between the lines: Airbnb remains coy about its IPO plans, but it's hard not to see these as anything other than steps toward a public listing.
Oprah Winfrey's speech at the Golden Globes instantly made waves across America, sparking a rush of enthusiasm for her to pursue a presidential bid. But in a newly released InStyle interview, which took place just three weeks before the awards ceremony, Oprah said a 2020 run isn't in the cards:
I’ve always felt very secure and confident with myself in knowing what I could do and what I could not. And so it’s not something that interests me. I don’t have the DNA for it.
Veteran technology CEO Meg Whitman has accepted a new job, leading a new media company focused on short, scripted videos. Jeffrey Katzenberg, who founded and incubated the startup via his new WndrCo platform, will serve as chairman.
Bottom line: Whitman will launch the company with a pretty clean slate, giving her and Katzenberg the opportunity to learn from other platforms that are transitioning away from unscripted viral social videos to more thoughtful, episodic content.
The Presidents Club has made the decision to shut down, per Bloomberg's Joe Mayes, after the Financial Times posted a bombshell report yesterday about the London organization's annual Charity Dinner, a men-only event that raised money via auction for causes like the United Kingdom's preeminent children's hospital. But the FT detailed how the dinner's hostesses were encouraged to drink on the job and faced sexual harassment, groping, and propositioning from some of the U.K.'s wealthiest men — all for a night's wage of £150.
The prior fallout: The U.K.'s Charity Commission announced a probe into the dinner as the head of the trust behind the dinner stepped down from a role with the government's Department of Education. The Bank of England revoked its auction lot of a tea with its head, Mark Carney, while Great Ormond Street Hospital and the Evelina London Children’s Hospital said that they'd return all donations received from the dinner.
Nielsen will add Instagram to its Social Content Ratings® (SCR) platform, which measures social engagement with TV shows. Nielsen already measures Facebook and Twitter engagement with TV shows.
Why it matters: Ratings do not always equal social engagement. SCR ratings help brands and networks understand how their content performs across platforms, which is important given that roughly 70.3% of the total U.S. adult population will regularly use another digital device while watching TV, according to eMarketer.
The Dow rose 100 points at the market open Wednesday morning, hitting a new record high after quarterly earnings beat Wall Street's expectations, reports CNBC. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also hit record highs, both climbing 0.2%.
The bottom line: The Dow continues to crush it in 2018.
Almost 1 million Americans will see their occupations vanish entirely by 2026, and will have to train for a wholesale career change or probably not find equally paid work, according to a report by the World Economic Forum and Boston Consulting. This interactive visual shows what they found.
The bottom line: In all, some 1.4 million Americans will lose their jobs to technological change in the next eight years, including 70 percent whose job type will just disappear. Without new skills, according to the report, 575,000 of them — 41% — will have either minuscule or no chance of finding other work. Women may be disproportionately affected.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said that “trade wars are fought every single day” but “the difference now is U.S. troops are now coming to the ramparts” at the World Economic Forum in Davos, per CNBC.
Why it matters: The comments from Ross — already on the outs with President Trump over his work on China — go directly against those of his boss. At a signing ceremony yesterday to issue tariffs on cheap Chinese imported solar panels and washing machines, Trump told reporters: “There won’t be a trade war, by the way. There will only be stock increases for the companies that are in this country.”
The talk of Davos, ahead of President Trump's Friday speech, from Bloomberg's Matt Campbell:
"As much as they’re exuberant about soaring equities and booming economies, many global executives ... are counting the risks that could bring the party to an end."
"Women have Oscars taking notice: Nominations show signs of Hollywood's tide turning," per USA Today's Maria Puente: "The big name and big news was Greta Gerwig, who was nominated for original screenplay and director for Lady Bird."
"And a first-ever: Rachel Morrison became the first woman nominated for cinematography for her painterly photography in Mudbound, the Netflix tale that focuses on the post-World War II era in the Deep South."
