Following the acquisition by Microsoft earlier in the year, GitHub has this week announced a new workflow automation tool, GitHub Actions. In an effort to improve the efficiency of engineers’ ability to complete low-level workflows, Actions will provide a platform for engineers to automate time-consuming workflows run directly from GitHub. Microsoft is slated to acquire GitHub for $7.5 billion, approved by the EU this morning, and gain 31 million engineering users in the process.
In social media news, Facebook has this week been involved in a lawsuit for allegedly misreporting and overrepresenting video viewership data to advertisers. In 2016, Facebook self-reported overestimating the average length of time users viewed video advertisements by 60-80%, however, a lawsuit now filed by anonymous plaintiffs accuses the social media giant of overrepresenting video data by 150-900%. Facebook has asserted there is no validity to the recent claims and added that they updated advertising partners as soon as the discrepancy was discovered. Facebook has filed a motion to dismiss the suit.
The world of E-commerce was filled with news on trade agreements this week as President Trump announced plans to withdraw from a postal treaty allowing Chinese companies to ship small packages to the US at a significant discount. The treaty, which was created in 1874, was intended to even the then international production playing field – today China makes up around 60% of the packages shipped to the United States. News of withdrawal from the treaty comes just a few weeks after the President imposed US tarrifs on $250 billion of Chinese goods. President Trump would not need congressional approval to follow through on withdrawing from the treaty.
New in e-commerce listings this week we have a $114K collector’s dice and accessories business, with years of operational history in a growing niche, steady revenue expansion with earnings reaching a c.23.8% CAGR for the period 2013 to 2017, diversified product base with hundreds of high-quality SKUs, strong website traffic with keyword rankings for thousands of keywords and a robust backlink profile and notable supplier relationships allowing for unique products. If you are interested in either of the above businesses, please follow the link to request a prospectus.
In events news, the FE team had a great time attending SaaStock, where Founder Thomas Smale was invited to emcee for a day of the conference. Next up, FE is sponsoring MicroConf EU October 21-23, where Thomas and the team will be meeting up with yet more successful SaaS entrepreneurs. Also planning to be at MicroConf EU or in Croatia? Reply to this email if you would like to set up a meeting with Thomas and team!
Continue reading below for more on Facebook’s recent lawsuit, GitHub’s launch of GitHub Actions and President Trump’s withdrawal from the Chinese shipping treaty.
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- Notable supplier relationships allowing for unique products
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In The News…
GitHub Launches GitHub Actions
This week, GitHub announced the launch of a new workflow automation tool addition to their platform, dubbed GitHub Actions.
Action was created to make it faster for engineers to run low-level workflows fast, efficiently, and directly from GitHub. Engineers familiar with IFTTT will find the interface recognizable and will be the source for running workflows directly from the GitHub platform. The integration solves for the current need to work with several different platforms to get code into production and where it needs to be. Actions willl allow engineers to automate time-consuming, low-level workflows in order to spend more time focusing on code. Microsoft, which in June announced their intentions to acquire GitHub for $7.5 billion, was approved Friday of this week by the European Commission on grounds that the acquisition would not damage the sector, is set to gain 31 million engineering users from the deal. Indeed, similar to Skype and LinkedIn, this is the inherent value in GitHub, rather than the company’s revenue.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has recently stated that “Every business is a software business,” making Microsoft’s acquisition of most of the world’s engineering users a strategic play by the company.
Facebook Hit With Lawsuit
Facebook has been served a lawsuit for allegedly misreporting video advertising data, on the grounds that they both kept it a secret longer than they initially indicated and misrepresented the extent of the inaccuracy.
Facebook announced in September of 2016 that they discovered videos were being reported as watched for longer than was true, updating their help center and reaching out to partners. When the discrepancy was initially reported, Facebook reported that for two years a calculation error had led to them overestimating the average video advertisement viewing time by 60-80% maximum, and said that they reported the issue as soon as they discovered it was occurring. A lawsuit filed in California by a collection of social media agencies and marketing consultants, however, accused Facebook of inflating ad viewing time averages by as much as 150-900% in actuality. The case filed goes on to say that Facebook did not treat the discovery of inaccurate data reporting as a serious issue for over a year, during which time the company worked out a way to underplay the significance of the issue. From the case filed: “But rather than correct the metrics immediately in January 2015 and tell advertisers, Facebook recognized that ‘a 40% drop will be too significant and might hurt user trust.'” Facebook has maintained that they learned of the problem in August of 2016 before reporting it the following month, and insists they did not overcharge marketers.
Facebook stated the lawsuit is without merit in a statement emailed to CNBC, and has filed a motion to dismiss the claims.
President Trump to Withdraw from Chinese Shipping Treaty
President Trump has this week announced plans to withdraw from a postal treaty with China that allows Chinese companies to ship small packages to the United States for a heavy discount.
The withdrawal is intended to correct for years of “unfair” trade practices that have allowed China to become the dominant player exporting goods to the United States. In a statement, the White House noted that “sufficient progress has not been made on reforming terms” of the treaty and consequently it would initiate withdrawal from the treaty even as it works to “negotiate bilateral and multilateral agreements that resolve the problems.” Created in 1874, the treaty was drafted to set the fees charged by the national postal service to deliver mail and small packages internationally. Beginning in1969, certain countries (including China) were assessed lowered rates in an attempt to foster development in Asia and Africa. Now, however, Chinese companies comprise about 60% of packages received by the United Sates. Certain e-commerce companies even offer free shipping from China in order to remain competitive with customers. The United States’ withdrawal from the treaty will likely mean changes to shipping and pricing structures for many e-commerce companies.
Plans to withdraw from the treaty come just a few days after the United States, Canada, and Mexico were able to agree on a revision of NAFTA, and are expected to inflame the relationship between the United States and China.
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