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Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian is married to tennis champion Serena Williams
Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian has resigned from the tech firm’s board and urged the company to replace him with a black candidate.
The tech entrepreneur has also pledged to use future gains on his Reddit stock to “serve the black community.”
In a series of tweets, he said he was doing it “as a father who needs to be able to answer his black daughter when she asks: ‘What did you do?’”
It follows days of US protests against police brutality and racial inequality.
Mr Ohanian, who is married to black tennis champion Serena Williams, said he would be donating $1m (£800,000) to Know Your Rights Camp, a non-profit started by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
“I believe resignation can actually be an act of leadership from people in power right now,” he said in a video. “To everyone fighting to fix our broken nation: do not stop.”
Mr Ohanian founded social media website Reddit 15 years ago with his college roommates Aaron Swartz and Steve Huffman.
He stepped down from daily duties in 2018 but has retained a seat on the company’s board until now.
Reddit promoted its first female board member, Porter Gale, last year.
But the website has come under fire for hosting forums that promote racist content. The company has banned groups like r/blackpeoplehate and alt-right r/MillionDollarExtreme. It has also “quarantined” a pro-Trump forum, r/TheDonald, ensuring that its content does not appear in website searches or recommendations.
Earlier this week, several popular Reddit forums switched their access rights to private, or banned new posts entirely, to protest against the company’s hate speech policies. Ex-chief executive Ellen K Pao also lambasted her former employer in a tweet, saying: “You don’t get to say [Black Lives Matter] when reddit nurtures and monetizes white supremacy and hate all day long.”
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Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are rivals in a race to make space travel more affordable
Elon Musk has called for the “break up” of tech giant Amazon, following a dispute about a coronavirus e-book.
The entrepreneur came to the defence of an author after Amazon’s Kindle publishing division rejected his book about the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Musk tagged Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos in a tweet, saying the decision was “insane”, adding: “Time to break up Amazon.”
Amazon said the book had been removed in error and would be reinstated.
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The author of the book, Alex Berenson, caught Mr Musk’s attention by tweeting a screenshot from Amazon, which told him that his book about the pandemic did not meet its guidelines.
“They censored it!” wrote Mr Berenson. “It is based entirely on published government data and scientific papers. It doesn’t say coronavirus isn’t real or doesn’t kill people.”
Mr Musk has been a critical of government policies during the coronavirus pandemic.
He has previously described shutdown orders as “fascist” and threatened to move Tesla’s headquarters out of California when a production facility was not allowed to reopen.
Mr Musk and Mr Bezos are rivals in a race to make space travel more affordable.
Mr Musk founded SpaceX eight years before Mr Bezos started his rocket firm Blue Origin.
Last year, Mr Bezos criticised Mr Musk’s hope of creating a Mars colony.
According to Business Insider, he said: “My friends who want to move to Mars? I say do me a favour: Go live on the top of Mount Everest for a year first and see if you like it because it’s a garden paradise compared to Mars.”
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Victoria’s Secret fashion shows were cancelled in 2019 as they were branded as “sexist” and “dated”
The UK arm of Victoria’s Secret has fallen into administration, putting more than 800 jobs at risk.
The chain, famous for its fashion shows, has 25 shops in the UK, all of which have been shut since the virus lockdown started in March.
Administrator Deloitte said there would be no immediate redundancies as it tries to find a buyer for the chain.
Rob Harding of Deloitte said it was “yet another blow to the UK High Street” amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
But the chain had already been hit by changing consumer tastes and weakened spending.
The UK arm made an operating loss of £170m in the year to February 2019, according to the most recent filings available.
Outdated?
Last year, its annual fashion show was cancelled, with the company blaming poor television ratings.
The show launched in 1995 and was once a major pop culture event, drawing millions of viewers each year to watch its so-called “angels”.
In 2018 it saw its lowest ratings ever, drawing criticism that it was sexist, outdated and lacked diversity.
The brand’s parent company L Brands said it was important to “evolve” its marketing strategy at the time.
Image copyright Getty Images
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The annual Victoria’s Secret fashion show launched the careers of several supermodels
The firm had already furloughed 785 workers in the UK before appointing administrators.
Deloitte described the administration as “light touch”, meaning the management are allowed to keep running the business.
It will now attempt to find another buyer for its assets, or re-negotiate rents on its High Street stores in a bid to improve the firm’s financial situation.
All its UK shops will remain shut, but none will, for the moment, be closed permanently.
The administration process also excludes its online business, which will continue trading.
Retail woes
Mr Harding added that this was a “further example of the impact the Covid-19 pandemic is having on the entire retail industry.”
“The effect of the lockdowns, combined with broader challenges facing bricks and mortar retailers, has resulted in a funding requirement for this business, resulting in today’s administration.”
Several other High Street brands have been struggling in recent weeks due to lockdown measures introduced in March to stop the spread of the virus.
Image copyright Getty Images
Both fashion firms Cath Kidston and Laura Ashley, for example, have called in administrators since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak.
However, Victoria’s Secret has arguably been eclipsed in recent years by brands such as Savage X Fenty, the lingerie line by singer, actress and businesswoman Rihanna, whose events showcase a range of body types.
There was also a furious response to an interview in Vogue with then chief marketing officer Ed Razek. He suggested “transsexual” people should not be a part of the fashion show. He later left the company.
Qing Wang, professor of marketing at Warwick Business School, said: “If the UK arm of Victoria’s Secret is to be saved, it needs a new start and a major overhaul of its brand and marketing strategy.
“It needs to be brought up to date to reflect the values of gender equality, sustainability, and diversity that appeal to today’s shoppers and compete with the brands that have overtaken it.
“It has not kept pace with the strong values of millennials and post-millennials, who should now be the company’s target customers,” she added.
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German chemicals company BASF borrowed more than £1bn
The government has been criticised for handing out more than £16bn in cheap loans to well-known firms such as John Lewis and Tottenham Hotspur.
Of that, £1bn was lent to a German chemicals giant, while the UK’s biggest airlines have borrowed almost £2bn.
But senior Labour MP Margaret Hodge has called the loans “a flagrant abuse of public money”.
In response, the Treasury said the loan scheme was helping to protect hundreds of thousands of jobs.
The Bank of England’s Corporate Covid Financing Facility (CCFF) was set up to help large firms with a big impact on the UK economy through the crisis. It is one of a number of schemes designed to lend money to businesses affected by the pandemic.
The list of 53 firms that have used the facility includes some household names such as M&S, Asos and Nissan.
Airlines Ryanair and EasyJet each borrowed £600m, while British Airways owner IAG and Wizz Air were lent £300m each.
That has prompted complaints from environmental campaigners who say the money should have been lent with conditions attached.
Image copyright Getty Images
“Airlines have been given exactly what the chancellor, the prime minister, economists and the public said they should not be given – billions in cheap and easy loans to keep them polluting, without any commitments to reduce their emissions or even keep their workers on the payroll,” said Fiona Nicholls from Greenpeace.
BA plans to make 12,000 staff redundant, Ryanair has said it will cut 3,000 jobs and 4,500 roles could be axed at EasyJet.
The biggest single loan was handed to German company BASF, which is the world’s largest chemicals producer, although it only employs around 850 people in the UK.
“We should see a lot more public benefit from all this public money,” Ms Nicholls said.
‘Taken for a ride’
Dame Margaret said supporting businesses to protect jobs was the right thing to do.
“But I have huge doubts on whether splashing billions of pounds of government finance on large corporations represents good value for money for hard-working taxpayers,” she said.
She said a lot of companies that had accessed the scheme were based abroad or owned by billionaires. Others, she said, were “shockingly” due to hand out dividends this year.
She called the scheme “a blatant misuse of the public purse”, adding: “The taxpayer has been taken for a ride.”
A Treasury spokesman said: “The Corporate Covid Financing Facility is a key part of [coronavirus] support, directly protecting hundreds of thousands of jobs, supporting some of our biggest companies’ cashflows and enabling then to support their suppliers.”
Luxury carmaker Bentley is to cut 1,000 jobs in the UK, about a quarter of its workforce.
The company, which makes its cars in Crewe, is expected to offer workers the chance to take voluntary redundancy.
The move comes as the car industry faces a sharp drop in sales due to coronavirus. Bentley has also struggled to be profitable in recent years.
Bentley, which is owned by Volkswagen, declined to comment but is expected to make a formal announcement on Friday.
Last month, boss Adrian Hallmark said that a quarter of the company’s workers had been furloughed due to the lockdown while another quarter were working from home.
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As first reported by ITV, the carmaker has since restarted production at its Crewe factory, but with only around half the usual number of staff.
Bentley, which was founded in the UK in 1919, increased its worldwide sales by 5% to 11,000 cars in 2019 but has struggled to be profitable in recent years.
It completed a turnaround plan last year but now appears to have been hit by the sharp fall in demand for new cars caused by coronavirus.
This has seen car manufacturers, suppliers and showrooms closed for weeks, with consumers holding off on big-ticket purchases.
The SMMT trade body said only 20,000 new cars were registered in the UK last month – down 89% year-on-year – the worst May performance since 1952.
Car dealership Lookers announced on Thursday it would cut up to 1,500 jobs with the closure of more showrooms in the UK.
And Aston Martin, the luxury British carmaker famed for kitting out James Bond, also announced 500 redundancies on Thursday, a week after naming a new chief executive.
Clothing retailer Gap has reported a loss close to $1bn due to store closures because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The company was $932m (£740m) in the red for the three months to May, compared with a profit of $227m in the same period last year.
It comes as Gap wrote off the value of the goods it holds by more than a quarter of a billion dollars.
The firm’s shares were down by more than 8% in after-hours trade.
With net sales falling 43% in the period, Gap’s chief executive Sonia Syngal said they continued to reflect “material declines in May as a result of closures” but added that online demand was improving.
Retailers of non-essential goods, especially clothing, have been hit hard by restrictions aimed to help slow the spread of Covid-19.
Shops have been shut across much of the world as retailers were forced to limit their businesses to online operations.
San Francisco-based Gap, which operates almost 2,800 stores in North America, said that more than half of its company-operated stores in the US have now reopened.
Separately, Gap is is being sued by America’s largest shopping mall operator for refusing to pay rent for stores temporarily closed during the coronavirus pandemic.
Simon Property Group said in a lawsuit filed this week that the clothing retailer owes three months of rent, totalling $65.9m.
Gap has more than 390 stores at Indianapolis-based Simon’s malls, including its namesake brand, Old Navy and Banana Republic.
Simon Property Group temporarily closed all of its properties in March after major retailers at its malls, such as Gap, Macy’s and Nodstrom’s, shut their stores.
Large retailers, including Gap and sports shoe seller Foot Locker, have said they wouldn’t pay rent for stores that were forced to close due to the pandemic.
Gap did not directly mention the lawsuit during Thursday’s earnings conference call but chief financial officer Katrina O’Connell said “We’re just knee-deep in landlords today.”
“It’s very hard to say how long it will take, but I do know that one of our primary objectives is to use this opportunity to partner with our landlords to come up with a better profitability for the company.”
AstraZeneca said it will be able to supply two billion doses of a potential virus vaccine following two new deals.
Last month, AstraZeneca said it could manufacture one billion doses, that it is developing with scientists at Oxford University.
On Thursday, it signed two deals, including one backed by Bill Gates, allowing it to double production.
The British drug maker has agreed to supply half of the doses to low and middle-income countries.
One of the new partnerships is with the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines by volume. The other is a $750m (£595m) deal with two health organisations backed by Bill and Melinda Gates.
The two charities, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and GAVI vaccines alliance, will help find production facilities to produce and distribute 300 million doses of the vaccine. Delivery is expected to start by the end of the year.
AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot said he expects to know by August if the AZD1222 vaccine is effective, while CEPI chief executive Richard Hatchett said there is still a possibility the vaccine may not work.
AstraZeneca’s licensing agreement with India’s SII is to supply one billion doses for low and middle-income countries, with a commitment to provide 400 million before the end of 2020.
Mr Soirot said the company is building a number of supply chains across the world “to support global access at no profit during the pandemic and has so far secured manufacturing capacity for two billion doses of the vaccine”. He has described the coronavirus pandemic as “a global tragedy” and “a challenge for all of humanity”.
AstraZeneca has already agreed to supply 300 million doses of the potential vaccine to the US and a further 100 million to the UK, with the first deliveries expected in September.
Governments around the world have pledged billions of dollars for a Covid-19 vaccine and a number of pharmaceutical firms are in a race to develop and test potential drugs.
“A vaccine must be seen as a global public good – a people’s vaccine, which a growing number of world leaders are calling for,” United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a video message on Thursday.
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Scott Wilson-Laing’s first job out of university was at a call centre. He now owns a distillery business
Graduates face even tougher competition for jobs this summer because of the coronavirus pandemic.
About 400,000 students finishing their degrees in 2020 have seen opportunities evaporate overnight.
Twelve years ago, graduates faced similar anxiety when the global financial crisis threw much of the world into recession. Banks collapsed, businesses went under, and millions of people lost their jobs.
But what can the Class of 2008 teach the Class of 2020? We asked three graduates from 2008 what advice they would give to their younger counterparts.
Lindsay Cash, 35: ‘Try new things and use it to your advantage’
Image copyright Lindsay Cash
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Lindsay moved thousands of miles from Birmingham to Australia where she now works as an IT manager
I think I’m one of the lucky ones from 2008.
I studied law at Warwick University. I was finishing my legal practice course (LPC) when law firms started contacting people to defer their training contracts. My friends and I were all in the same boat. So when the phone rang, I already knew what they’d say. My training contract was deferred for two years, but luckily the firm offered me a job as a paralegal.
The salary was about £6,000-a-year lower, but I was working in insolvency and litigation at the time so I was always busy.
By the time I qualified in 2012, they were still making people redundant. There weren’t any jobs in the area I wanted to go into, so I left my law firm and decided to see the world. I ended up in Australia, where I’ve been working ever since, first in financial services and now in IT as a commercial manager.
Image copyright Lindsay Cash
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Lindsay Cash in 2008. She took a job as a paralegal when her training contract was deferred for two years
People have challenged me about my longevity in a job. I’ve been asked: am I a flight risk? And I just say that my CV is a product of the financial crisis.
I took roles that helped me to build skills that I would use in the future. I never sat waiting to be given something. And when you explain that, it resonates with people, especially the older generation.
There’s a great speech by Steve Jobs (the co-founder of Apple) who said, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward.”
When I look back I realise that things don’t always work out. But you have to regroup and say: what do I need to do to move forward?
Scott Wilson-Laing, 33: ‘Stay positive, all work experience matters’
Image copyright Scott Wilson-Laing
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Scott Wilson-Laing in 2008. He worked in many different jobs before setting up his own business
I was 11 years old when I knew I wanted to become a pilot. I even thought about applying to the Royal Air Force straight after finishing A-levels. But my careers adviser told me a university degree would look better on the application form. I’d get paid more and be promoted more quickly. So I went to the University of Wales to study ancient history and archaeology.
By the time I graduated in 2008, the opportunities were already drying up. The RAF recruitment office told me they weren’t recruiting for certain roles like pilots. I couldn’t even wait a year to apply again because I’d be too old. I was gutted.
There weren’t any graduate jobs left where I’m from in Sunderland. So I used a scattergun approach to apply for anything going. In the end I spent a year working at a call centre. After that, I worked at a lighthouse for six months and then a steel factory. For six years I worked my way up from the production line to sales and operations, before moving to an IT company.
By then I’d spent a decade working for other people. I have a daughter who’s 10 years old now. Little things like having to ask for a day’s holiday just to see her school play made me rethink my career. So I used my experience to set up WL Distillery in County Durham last year. We crowdfunded our first batch of premium gin.
Image copyright Scott Wilson-Laing
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Scott now makes hand sanitiser for local businesses during the lockdown
And then the pandemic hit. The Chinese factory making some of our equipment was mothballed so we couldn’t make gin. But we saw there was a massive hand sanitiser shortage, so we decided to use our ingredients to make small batches for the NHS, local schools and businesses.
My advice to recent graduates is to stay as positive as you can and stop fixating on things that don’t work out. I thought my life was mapped out: go to university, get a job, stay for life, and get a nice retirement package at the end with a watch. And that’s not the world we live in anymore.
So be open to opportunities that you may not have planned for. Working in a call centre was where I learned the right way to treat and talk to staff. It’s amazing the skills you pick up in jobs that you don’t even realise.
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Harriet now works for a digital consultancy
I’m ashamed to say it now, but when I graduated in 2008 I thought people would throw opportunities at me. I knew there was a financial crisis going on, but I believed the market almost owed me a job. I had a history degree from Oxford University and was always a high achiever. I also lacked humility in a very big way.
At the time I was gunning for graduate schemes at consumer goods giants like Unilever and Reckitt Benckiser. When I didn’t get anywhere, I started applying to advertising agencies, and big retailers like Tesco. I think I filled in about 110 applications. I got about five interviews.
Image copyright Harriet Nicholson
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Harriet Nicholson in 2008. She worked as a receptionist when she couldn’t get on any graduate schemes
After four months of trying and no job to show for it, I ended up moving back home to Southampton where I took a job as a medical receptionist.
I felt embarrassed and had lost confidence. That job made me realise I wasn’t as good as I thought I was. So many people I worked with could do my job better than me.
After that I got an internship at Oxfam. This was instrumental because I made a lot of contacts and eventually did a masters degree in management. That got me on the career path I’m on now, which led to my current job at a digital consultancy. It’s also where I met my husband!
In retrospect, I held graduate schemes in really high esteem, which was actually a bit silly. For example, when I didn’t succeed at Unilever, I simply gave up. I didn’t think about looking for an entry-level job to get a foot in the door there.
I’d say to recent graduates: don’t be afraid to ask for help, and take advantage of the things you take for granted. Back in 2008, we were entering the job market as the early users of Facebook and Twitter, so we could educate companies on how to use those platforms.
Businesses today are still trying to figure out TikTok, so don’t underestimate the power of your digital knowledge.
Debenhams is to reopen its first stores in Northern Ireland on Monday, followed by 50 shops in England the week after.
It says three stores with street access in Belfast, Newry and Rushmere will be able to open following updated guidance from the NI Executive.
Debenhams collapsed into administration for the second time in a year in April after coronavirus ramped up the pressures facing the business.
It has struck deals with landlords to keep 120 stores open.
However, 17 stores will remain closed for good when coronavirus lockdown restrictions are lifted. It is still in discussions over a “handful” of others.
The future of its five main stores in Wales has been secured after it reached agreement on business rates. Debenhams had threatened to close them if it did not get the same level of support enjoyed by its stores in England.
Steven Cook, managing director of Debenhams, said: “We are delighted to be welcoming customers back to our stores in the coming weeks.
“From the installation of perspex screens at till points to the roll-out of social distancing procedures and PPE, we have been working hard to ensure our colleagues and customers can work and shop with confidence.
“Our reopening plans follow the successful conclusion of lease negotiations on 120 stores, meaning that the vast majority of our stores will be reopening.”
‘Why couldn’t they keep us furloughed?’
Debenhams strikes deals to rescue most stores
Meanwhile, the administrators have written to creditors with an update.
When Debenhams collapsed into administration, the business owed £155m to creditors, including many suppliers.
It is still unclear how much will be paid and to whom.
Debenhams has also been cutting jobs at its head office and closing the majority of its store cafes in a bid to cut costs and become a leaner business.
A total of 4,000 jobs will be lost as a result of these changes, as well as the 17 store closures.
The key question now is whether the chain can be rescued from administration as a going concern.
It is in what is being described as a “light touch” administration, where the current management has remained in place.
Its lenders are said to remain supportive. They took control of the chain after it collapsed into administration last year, after struggling for years to keep up with the competition.
The business may not exit administration until the new year.
Administrators and lenders will no doubt want to see how the business performs post-lockdown, as well as the crucial Christmas trading period, in order to be confident it has a viable future in its current form.
Future store closures are still possible.
Debenhams will be back in business on the High Street along with its rivals this month, but it still has a long and difficult journey ahead.
The owner of British Airways, IAG, has refused to attend a meeting with Home Secretary Priti Patel on Thursday to discuss the UK’s new quarantine plans.
From 8 June the government will require all travellers to the UK to quarantine for 14 days or face a £1,000 fine.
But BA, which is under huge financial strain due to the pandemic, has called it “another blow to our industry”.
IAG did not give a reason for not attending and has declined to comment further.
EasyJet and Virgin Atlantic, as well as the owner of Heathrow Airport, are among the aviation businesses that have agreed to meet the Home Secretary and junior aviation minister Kelly Tolhurst.
BA has faced heavy criticism in parliament in recent days over a plan to slash jobs while accessing the government’s furlough scheme.
In April, BA said it would cut 12,000 roles and weaken terms and conditions for its remaining staff, just weeks after it had put 30,000 workers on the job retention scheme, which pays workers’ wages.
The airline has defended the cuts as necessary, but on Wednesday Ms Tolhurst suggested BA should be held to account for what one MP called a “breach of faith”.
“The [furlough] scheme was not designed for taxpayers to fund the wages of employees only for those companies to put the same staff on notice of redundancy during the furlough period,” Ms Tolhurst said.
Tourism ‘blow’
The government insists the new quarantine rules will help contain the spread of coronavirus.
But the move has been criticised by the UK’s tourism industry, which has all but ground to a halt due to the pandemic.
The boss of the UK’s biggest airport services company, Swissport, said on Thursday that the plan could deliver a “killer blow” to the tourism sector.
Michael O’Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, echoed those concerns, saying the requirement to self-isolate would “significantly reduce European visitors”.
The manufacturing industry has added to the criticism, warning fewer flights will restrict imports and exports.
On Monday, a group of 200 travel companies wrote to Ms Patel asking for the plans to be scrapped.
The letter suggested travel should be possible for people – without quarantine – between destinations “deemed safe from coronavirus”.
So-called air bridges would allow visitors from countries where coronavirus infection rates are low into the UK, without having to self-isolate for two weeks.
The BBC has contacted the Home Office for a comment.
