This is a response to Daniel Shippen’s blog regarding Snapchat declining Facebook’s $3 billion buyout. Snapchat’s CEO, Evan Spiegel, is not interested in selling his company at the time because he believes Snapchat will be valued even higher in the near future.

Daniel mentions that he believes that Evan Spiegel made a good decision by not selling Snapchat and I agree with him. There are many reasons to believe that Snapchat’s value with continue to grow. Many kids are decreasing their usage of Instagram and instead using Snapchat. What makes Snapchat so unique is that users don’t have to worry about the content they’re sending being held against them in the future. Also, in a span of three months from June to September, the company’s usage has nearly doubled. Last year Facebook had tried to buy Snapchat for $1 billion dollars and as you can see this year its value had tripled to $3 billion.

Snapchat joins a distinguished group of start-ups that have turned down multibillion-dollar offers. This group includes Groupon, Twitter, and Facebook itself. These companies are now worth much more on the public market, which is an encouraging sign for Snapchat. I believe Evan Spiegel will not regret his decision on turning down Facebook and that his company is going to continue to grow.

Response to UBC Blog:

https://blogs.ubc.ca/danielshippen/2013/11/17/snapchat-rejects-facebook/

Article Links:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303789604579196023009484870

http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2013/11/14/should-snapchat-have-accepted-facebooks-3-billion-cash-buyout-offer/

After reading fellow classmate Alanna Hua’s blog about Microsoft being the best place in the world to work, I began contemplating whether she was right. After reading some articles online, I discovered another company, which I believe, surpasses Microsoft as the best place in the world to work: Google.

Google has constantly been ranked number one in Fortune’s 100 best companies to work for list. After reading about what it is like to work there, this comes as no surprise. Alanna mentioned that Microsoft offers its employees medical care and wellness coaching programs. Google, not only offers these same perks but also offers valet parking, oil change and bike repair, free washers and dryers, and free breakfast, lunch and dinner on a daily basis! Alanna also touches upon Microsoft’s policy regarding sickness, which is if an employee does not feels sick in the morning he/she can go home rest and return at night. Google also has a policy regarding sickness that is an unlimited sickness leave.

Google co-founder states that his job is make sure everybody in the company has great opportunities, and that they feel they’re having a meaningful impact and are contributing to the good of society. This is what separates Google from other companies, its employees feel important because they are making differences in the world. Google believes that treating people well is more important than making money and that is why they are the best place in the world to work.

Response to Comm 101 Blog:

https://blogs.ubc.ca/alanna0128/2013/11/14/best-working-place-on-earth/

Article Links:

http://www.ibtimes.com/top-5-reasons-why-google-best-company-work-553844

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/best-companies/

Video on Google Workplace:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505266_162-57565097/inside-google-workplaces-from-perks-to-nap-pods/

JP Morgan has reached a $4.5 billion settlement with its investors who lost money on mortgage-backed securities before the collapse of the U.S housing market. This agreement, which was made with 21 institutional investors, is JP Morgan’s latest attempt to  get over its legal woes. This brings JP Morgan’s total tab up to nearly $20 billion to settle an array of recent mortgage-related lawsuits and investigations.

This large settlement is due to a lack of business ethics on the part of JP Morgan leading up to the financial crisis. JP Morgan, like most other banks at the time, participated in subprime lending. They provided riskier mortgages too less creditworthy borrowers simply out of greed. JP Morgan was in competition with other major mortgage lenders for revenue and market share. This competitive pressure led them to issue shoddy mortgage-backed securities, which wasn’t in the best interest of their investors.

JP Morgan’s lack of business ethics cost them dearly in this situation. JP Morgan provided mortgages to borrowers who were unlikely to be able to pay the bank back, which resulted in them losing their homes. Unfortunately for JP Morgan the mortgage crisis soon followed and eventually the market crashed. This resulted in banks being bailed out by the national government. Many believe the mortgage crisis could have been avoided if there were tighter financial regulations regarding risky loans. JP Morgan trying to take advantage of these loose regulations shows their greed and hunger for money by any means. The largest bank in the U.S didn’t think about the repercussions of its actions and now has to pay a hefty amount because of it.

Does keeping your employees happy have a direct correlation with your company making more money? Many people like to believe that it does and one of these people is Dr. Noelle Nelson. In her book, “Make More Money by Making Your Employees Happy”, she states that when the company take the interests of their employees to heart, then the employees will take the interests of the company to heart.

The companies in “Fortunes 100 Best Companies to Work For” seem to support Dr. Nelson’s argument. For example, Google, who placed first on this list and is widely recognized as a great place to work has seen its stock rise 674% since it went public in 2004. However, there is a counter argument to me made to this claim and it revolves around the question whether companies who treat their employees well do so because they are already successful and can afford it. If a company is struggling, it usually begins laying off or letting go of employees. On the other hand, Google who sits atop $48 billion can afford to keep employees and provide them with perks that a struggling company can not.

Having said that, I believe if you keep your employees happy they will repay you by doing all that they can to help make the company successful. If a company is struggling, having employees who don’t want to be there isn’t going to help. If instead you have happy employees who enjoy working for a particular company, they will feel obliged to do whatever they can to get the company back on track.

Article Links:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2013/02/19/treating-employees-well-stock-price/1839887/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevecooper/2012/07/30/make-more-money-by-making-your-employees-happy/

After the members of PMF joined our class and told us about what the Portfolio Management Fund program is all about, I became very interested in Wall Street. I wanted to know what it was like working at Wall Street and what kind of stuff goes on there. After browsing the internet looking for information, I stumbled upon a very interesting article about the “Wolf of Wall Street.” I knew that it sounded familiar and after googling it, I saw that there was a movie set out to be released based on the story of the “Wolf of Wall Street.”

The real “Wolf of Wall Street” is a man named Jordan Belfort, who was arrested for stock market manipulation and selling questionable stocks to investors. He spent 22 months in prison and is now a motivational speaker. Belfort mentions how he isn’t really a bad guy but instead how Wall Street brings out the greed in some people. In his interview he states how after a while “everyones just a number” and this really showed me a different side of Wall Street. It made me second guess my interest in wanting to work there because that lifestyle isn’t cut out for everyone. Some people are not able to control their own greed and end up doing immoral/illegal things just to make more money. In my opinion, in order to work on Wall Street you need to be ethical to a certain extent. Otherwise you will end up making mistakes similar to the ones Jordan Belfort made and later regretted.

Article Links:

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-07/jordan-belfort-the-real-wolf-of-wall-street#r=hp-ls

http://www.cnbc.com/id/21114268

As social responsibility started becoming a bigger issue ,companies looked for ways to become more sustainable and eco-friendly. Johnson and Johnson was one of these companies and they did so by developing the “Earthwards” program.

Johnson & Johnson’s “Earthwards” is a program designed to promote a more environmental friendly product development in the company. In 2011 Johnson and Johnson developed a set of goals to become greener and to help create a healthier future for 2015. The Earthward process is applied to most Johnson and Johnson products, the products must achieve a ten percent increase in at least three of the twelve Earthwards categories in order to gain Earthwards recognition.

The Earthwards process is a great example of how companies are using social responsibility as motivation t0 come up with new ways to develop products. Not only has Johnson & Johnson continued to make profits but it has also promoted and contributed towards a greener future. This trend towards a healthier global future is one every company should make a top priority similar to how Johnson & Johnson has.

Article Links:

http://www.jnj.com/responsibility/environment/product-stewardship/earthwards

http://www.forbes.com/sites/csr/2013/02/19/from-gaia-to-earthwards-a-front-row-seat-to-sustainability-in-action-at-johnson-johnson/2/

Driving may be getting even more dangerous come 2014.Rogers Communications Inc. is partnering with Sprint Corp. to provide Wifi-enabled cars. This service, which Sprint already introduced in the United States last year, could be available in Canada as soon as 2014.

The “connected car” wireless service will provide Canadians high-speed internet access while on the road. However, only cars which include the Sprint Velocity System such as Chrysler will be able access this service. Users will have access to news, sports scores, weather alerts, driving directions and vehicle diagnostics via an in-dash touch screen. Also, the system enables drivers to use their smartphones to start their engines. This all is made possible by built in wireless modems and SIM cards in cars using this system.

With over 20 million vehicles on the road in Canada Rogers see this as a major opportunity for themselves as they look to capitalize on the need for Canadians to be constantly connected to the internet. The price for the WIFI has not yet been disclosed but Rogers is suggesting that users will be able to connect a car as part of their family plans with the company. The phenomenon of Wifi-enabled cars seems to be a large one, as it is estimated that there will be over 100 million connected cars globally  by 2016.

Article Links:

http://www.bnn.ca/News/2013/9/26/WiFi-enabled-vehicles-coming-to-Canada.aspx

http://www.ctvnews.ca/autos/wi-fi-enabled-cars-coming-to-canada-in-2014-1.1471524

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has a vision of transporting people from San Francisco to Los Angeles in just 30 minutes. The “Hyperloop” received positive feedback after running some simulated tests a few weeks ago.

The idea of the Hyperloop involves shooting passengers 800mph in a pressurized tunnel linking San Francisco and Los Angeles. However, this is far from being a reality as the Hyperloop would need years of testing to ensure that it is safe. Nonetheless the idea of the Hyperloop is very intriguing and could very well be seen in our lifetime.

Musk initially released the idea of the Hyperloop as an alternative to California’s high speed rail system which has been brought up recently. Musk suggests that the Hyperloop is a better, faster, and cheaper way of transportation. It would cost passengers $40 round trip and would cost $6 billion to make, much less than the $70 billion it would cost to produce the high speedrail system.

Although it is his idea, Musk says he isn’t really interested on working on the project as of yet due to his commitment to Tesla and SpaceX. He hopes someone else will take the idea and run with it. However, if no one does try to produce the Hyperloop, Musk may take on the challenge and develop it into a viable service himself in a couple of years.

Article Links:

http://www.plugincars.com/teslas-elon-musk-proposes-half-hour-tube-ride-between-sf-and-la-127974.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/elon-musk-hyperloop-work-computer-simulation-finds-article-1.1461898

http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/12/elon-musks-hyperloop-explained-a-technically-possible-sci-fi-dream-hes-to-busy-to-work-on-right-now/

Hyperloop Video:

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/-hyperloop-life-in-the-fast-lane-WgWIHSm9Rv6mFPUqF6LfWg.html

Twitter’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) filing was made public Thursday, as the social media company looks to go public. Twitter representatives also shared that they would like to raise $1 billion from a share sale.

Twitter has been growing rapidly recently, revenue in 2012 was up 198% to $316.9m. There has also been a large increase in the amount of users as the number increased from 151.4m last year to 218.3m this year. Twitter’s IPO is the most anticipated technology IPO since that of Facebook in 2012 which proved to be a disaster.

However, it isn’t all good news for the seven year old social media company as Twitter advertisers stated that Twitter needs to increase its user base. Though 218.3m users may seem like a tremendous amount, Facebook has more than five times the user base. Advertising made up 85% of Twitter’s total revenue and a failure to increase its user base could be a gigantic problem for the company.

Advertisers still prefer Facebook for advertising opposed to Twitter largely due to its larger user base. However, there are other reasons why I Facebook is preferred, one being that Twitter has yet to become a daily habit for users. Twitter usage spikes up when a major event takes place and this inconsistency is a problem for advertisers. If Twitter wants to take the next step up and challenge Facebook it must find a way to increase its user base.

Article Links:

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/03/twitter-ipo-share-sale

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303492504579115753167390832.html

Twitter S-1 Filing:

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1418091/000119312513390321/d564001ds1.htm

Fabrice Tourre, an ex-Goldman Sachs trader, was found liable for fraud as he cost investors one billion dollars. Tourre mislead investors into investing into a complex mortgage-based financial product, which was designed to fail. Tourre failed to inform clients that hedge fund titan John Paulson helped select the securities underlying the product, which he planned to bet against. Tourre made massive profits from selling these rotten MBS’s that he knew would fail. Tourre’s unethical behaviour doesn’t stop there; he also sent emails to his girlfriend boasting about how he sold toxic mortgage bonds to widows and orphans which he ran into at the airport. Although Tourre was caught and held liable for these charges he wasn’t the only one creating toxic securities and selling them to make profits. In fact other top executives made enormous amounts of money doing the very same thing in the middle of the financial crisis. In all likelihood Tourre will not face any jail time for his actions but may face a lifetime ban from the financial service industries. Tourre’s decision to maximize his profits despite sabotaging his investors at the same time showcases a lack of ethics.

Article Links:

http://business.time.com/2013/08/01/not-so-fabulous-fab-ex-goldman-sachs-trader-found-liable-for-fraud/