Mike Bloomberg’s flip-flop on Amazon’s second HQ

Rob Williams

Mike Bloomberg: Amazon Deal Is Great for NYC

Amazon Is Getting at Least $1.7 Billion to Come to Queens. Now Comes the Fight Over Whether It’s Worth It.

Former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, praised the deal.

“Amazon’s decision to locate to Long Island City is an affirmation not only of N.Y.C.’s growing tech talent,” Mr. Bloomberg wrote on Twitter, “but also of all the investments — in housing, schools, parks, transportation and culture” made in Long Island City.

Mike Bloomberg Statement on Long Island City Chosen as Amazon’s Second HQ Location
NOV. 13, 2018

Following the Great Recession, we set out to make New York City the technology capital of the world. Today’s decision by Amazon to bring thousands of new jobs to Queens is the latest big step toward that goal. We always believed that the Applied Science competition would help catalyze the city’s tech industry, and that the birth of Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island would help make Long Island City a magnet for start-ups and big companies alike. Amazon’s decision to locate there is an affirmation not only of the city’s growing tech talent, but also of all the investments – in housing, schools, parks, transportation, and culture – that have turned Long Island City into such a thriving neighborhood. Congratulations to Governor Cuomo, Mayor de Blasio and everyone in our administration and beyond who helped make this progress possible.

Mike Bloomberg: Amazon Deal Isn’t Great for NYC….um, someone help me make up my elitist…er, populist mind?

Bloomberg vs. Bezos: Ex-NY mayor knocks subsidies for Amazon

Bloomberg on Tuesday took issue with the $3 billion in incentives the city and state are providing the e-commerce giant, while celebrating Amazon’s decision to open a new headquarters in Long Island City, Queens.

“You read in the paper Amazon opened one of their new two headquarters, or are in the process of doing it, very close to here. It’s just right across the river,” Bloomberg said during a 15-minute address on higher education inside his financial news service’s Manhattan headquarters. “But the reason they came here was not the tax breaks they got, which I didn’t think they needed.”

Elizabeth Warren’s ethnic fraud

Rob Williams

Washington Post: Warren listed race as ‘American Indian’ on Texas bar registration

Elizabeth Warren apologizes for calling herself Native American

Elizabeth Warren’s ‘American Indian’ claim cuts to character

Elizabeth Warren is a fraud — Her lies about being Native American disqualify her from presidency, Senate

A 1986 registration card for the State Bar of Texas for Elizabeth Warren with her Race indicated as “American Indian.” Courtesy of the State Bar of Texas

 

Twitter debuts ‘monetizable’ metric for its 126M daily users

Rob Williams

Twitter for the first time reported monetizable daily active usage (mDAU) in its quarterly earnings report to show how its audience is linked to growing revenue. The social network said mDAU grew 1.6% to 126 million in Q4 2018 from the prior quarter and 9% from a year earlier. Read more…

Additional Reading:

Twitter is among the companies that will have to contend with growing competition from Amazon, the biggest disruptor in the digital ad market. The e-commerce giant’s fledgling ad business reported a 95% surge in revenue to $3.4 billion in Q4, easily dwarfing Twitter’s $791 million. Amazon is a newcomer to the digital ad market, but is already getting some of the blame for lost revenue among ad agencies. Its power to help brands in direct-to-consumer marketing means they have less need for media agencies. “The combination of consumer packaged goods and North America for us points to the rise of Amazon more than anything else, offering a brand new channel for brands to connect directly to consumers,” Mirabaud analyst Neil Campling said in a note cited by Bloomberg.

 

Facebook will soon show users how advertisers target them

Rob Williams

Facebook this month will add a feature to its app and website that lets users see how their contact information is used for ad targeting. Read more…

Other reading:

Germany to restrict Facebook’s data gathering activities

How Facebook’s Tiny China Sales Floor Helps Generate Big Ad Money

Delay, Deny, and Deal Flow: Two New York Times Reporters Cash in on Seven-Figure Facebook Opus

Happy Birthday, Facebook! 15 years today — and what a rollercoaster it has been. We created a friendship anniversary video for Mark Zuckerberg to mark the day.

Twitter’s user base slides to 321 million in fourth quarter

Rob Williams

Key results from Twitter’s fourth quarter 2018:

Monthly active users fell to 321 million from 326 million in the prior quarter. U.S. users slipped to 66 million from 67 million. International users fell to 255 million from 259 million.

Total revenue rose 24 percent to $909 million from a year earlier (up 26 percent on a constant currency basis). Ad revenue climbed 23 percent to $791 million. Licensing revenue increased 34 percent to $117 million.

U.S. revenue rose 24 percent to $506 million. International revenue also rose 24 percent to $403 million (up 27 percent on a constant currency basis).

For first quarter 2019, Twitter forecast:

  • Total revenue to be between $715 million and $775 million
  • GAAP operating income to be between $5 million and $35 million

For 2019, the company forecast:

  • GAAP and cash operating expenses to be up approximately 20 percent from prior year
  • Stock-based compensation expense of $350 million to $400 million
  • Capital expenditures between $550 million and $600 million

Goodbye to romance: Young adults lose interest in Valentine’s Day

Rob Williams

Top reasons consumers aren’t celebrating Valentine’s Day:

  • Over-commercialized
  • Don’t have anyone to celebrate with
  • Not interested anymore

Percentage of People Planning to Celebrate Valentine’s Day

Year Ages 18-34 Ages 35-54  Ages 55 and older
2009 72% 65% 52%
2010 69% 61% 49%
2011 70% 59% 47%
2012 71% 61% 47%
2013 70% 62% 48%
2014 57% 55% 49%
2015 60% 58% 47%
2016 62% 56% 47%
2017 60% 57% 46%
2018 59% 57% 49%
2019 53% 52% 47%

Source: NRF’s 2019 Annual Valentine’s Day Spending Survey, conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics