Hoffman backs
startup hub
The venture capital firm led by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman has invested in Entrepreneur First, a London hub for startups, alongside Mosaic Ventures and Founders Fund.
Greylock Partners led the $12.4 million funding, which also included Lakestar Capital, and Demis Hassabis and Mustafa Suleyman, the founders of DeepMind.
Hoffman will also join the board of Entrepreneur First. The backing of Hoffman is a significant boost to Entrepreneur First, which finds technical and business talent, from computer scientists to banking analysts, and brings them together to create startups.
Hoffman is a partner at Greylock, and in March joined the board of Microsoft, which had acquired Mountain View’s LinkedIn three months earlier. Hoffman is also on the board of San Francisco’s Airbnb.
Founded in 2011 by Alice Bentinck and Matt Clifford, Entrepreneur First is similar to Y Combinator, the Mountain View company that has backed Airbnb, Dropbox and Reddit. At the British company, accepted candidates receive a monthly stipend, followed by a small investment in return for an 8 percent stake.
Toys
Hall of Fame
finalists named
No-frills toys including the paper airplane, sand and play food are among 12 finalists vying for a place in the National Toy Hall of Fame.
The contenders for the Class of 2017 were announced Tuesday.
Also up for the honor are board games Risk and Clue, the Magic 8 Ball, Matchbox cars, My Little Pony, the Pez candy dispenser, Transformers, the card game Uno and Wiffle Ball.
Two or three toys will be inducted Nov. 9 into the Strong Museum in Rochester, N.Y., where the hall is located. Anyone can nominate a toy. The inductees are chosen on the advice of historians, educators and others for their longevity and success and ability to inspire creative play.
The winners will join 63 items in the Hall of Fame, including the dollhouse, dominoes, bubbles and Big Wheels.
Acquisitions
Murdoch’s Sky
deal delayed
British government officials have dealt a setback to 21st Century Fox’s pending deal to take over European pay-TV service Sky.
The takeover will be examined by the Competition and Markets Authority, which will determine whether the acquisition gives the Murdochs, who control 21st Century Fox, too much influence over British media. The family already owns a number of major newspapers in the country, including the Times of London.
While the Office of Communications, Britain’s broadcast regulator, has deemed that the Murdochs were found to be “fit and proper” owners of Sky, Culture Secretary Karen Bradley raised concerns regarding adherence to broadcast standards. Bradley also made the call on having further scrutiny of the deal’s impact on media concentration in Britain.
Inquiries by the Competition and Markets Authority can take up to six months to complete. The company said the $15 billion deal to acquire the 61 percent of Sky that it does not own is now scheduled to close in June.
Economy
Job openings
at record level
Job openings posted by U.S. employers reached an all-time high in July, suggesting that the steady hiring of the past year will endure.
The Labor Department said that openings edged up 0.9 percent from June to 6.2 million, the highest on records dating to 2000. Hiring also increased, but the record number of openings show that employers have jobs to fill but are still searching to find qualified workers at the pay levels being offered.
The number of people who quit their jobs also rose, a trend that generally means workers are leaving for jobs that pay better.
More openings were posted in construction and manufacturing, along with health care, professional and business services, and the information sector.
Chronicle News Services
Read again Business News Roundup, Sept. 13 : http://ift.tt/2jlLtSmBagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Business News Roundup Sept. 13"
Post a Comment