Profits up at Facebook; no impact from privacy scandal

Agencies

April 26, 2018

Washington, Apr 26: Facebook today reported a sharp jump in profits in the past quarter, with gains in its user base and strong ad growth as the social network appeared to see no impact from a controversy on privacy.

Profit in the first quarter of 2018 jumped 63 percent from a year ago to USD 5 billion, and total revenues increased 49 percent to USD 11.97 billion, Facebook said in an earnings update which topped most analyst forecasts.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, who has spent most of the past month on the fallout from the revelations on the hijacking of personal data by a political firm, sought to reassure investors in the latest update. "Despite facing important challenges, our community and business are off to a strong start in 2018," Zuckerberg said.

"We are taking a broader view of our responsibility and investing to make sure our services are used for good. But we also need to keep building new tools to help people connect, strengthen our communities, and bring the world closer together." Facebook shares climbed more than 4.7 percent to USD 167.33 in after-hours trades that followed the release of the earnings figures.

The number of people using Facebook monthly climbed 13 percent from last year to 2.2 billion as of the end of March, despite concerns that users would abandon the network.

The earnings results "should give the bulls finally something to hang their hat on after the company (and its investors) have just gone through the darkest chapter in Facebook's history," GHB Insights analyst Daniel Ives said in a research note.

Facebook's strong earnings report comes as it grapples with a data privacy scandal that strikes at how the huge social network makes money from what it knows about people.

Zuckerberg two faced questioning in congressional panels about revelations that personal data was harvested on 87 million users by Cambridge Analytica, a consultancy working for Donald Trump's 2016 campaign. Whether the scandal is taking a toll on membership or advertising at the online social network was not likely to be revealed in earnings numbers from the first three months of this year, and the topic was expected to come up during a routine call with financial analysts.

Using information about people's lives to target advertising is a standard internet business model, and any effort to rein it in could ripple through the industry.

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Parties should not give tickets to candidates with criminal background: ECI to SC

Agencies

January 24,2020

New Delhi, Jan 24: The Election Commission of India on Friday told the Supreme Court that its 2018 direction asking poll candidates to declare their criminal antecedents in electronic and print media has not helped curb criminalisation of politics. The poll panel suggested that instead of asking candidates to declare criminal antecedents in the media, political parties should be asked not to give tickets to candidates with criminal background.

A bench of Justices R F Nariman and S Ravindra Bhat asked the ECI to come up with a framework within one week which can help curb criminalisation of politics in nation's interest.

The top court asked the petitioner BJP leader and advocate Ashiwini Upadhyay and the poll panel to sit together and come up with suggestions which would help him in curbing criminalisation of politics.

In September 2018, a five-judge Constitution bench had unanimously held that all candidates will have to declare their criminal antecedents to the Election Commission before contesting polls and had called for a wider publicity, through print and electronic media about antecedents of candidates.

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What about those criminals who were already in parliament and vidahan sabhas? shall the ECI cancel their positions?

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RIL's rights issue to make a debut on BSE, NSE next week

Agencies

June 12,2020

Mumbai, Jun 12: Following an overwhelming response for the mega rights issue of Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries, the partly paid-up rights shares are set to debut on stock exchanges on June 15.

The biggest ever Rs 53,124 crore rights issue was subscribed 1.59 times and received bids worth Rs 84,000 crore on June 3.

Reliance said the rights issue saw a huge investor interest, including from lakhs of small investors and thousands of institutional investors, both Indian and foreign.

In 2019, Ambani said in the Reliance's annual general meeting that the company will be net zero debt by March 2021. The company is on course to achieve its target ahead of the deadline.

"In spite of the COVID-19 crisis and the lockdowns, the due-diligence by Saudi Aramco for the planned investment in the O2C business is on track as both the parties are committed and actively engaged," he said recently.

"With a strong visibility to these equity infusions, Reliance is set to achieve net zero debt status ahead of its own aggressive timeline. We believe rights issue was a part of the company's strategy of deleveraging its balance sheet," said Ambani.

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Kota: Infant death toll in JK Lon Hospital rises to 107

Agencies

January 4,2020

Kota, Jan 4: Following the death of an infant in the morning, the death toll in JK Lon Hospital here has risen to 107, officials said on Saturday.

A three-member state government committee of doctors, who was sent to investigate the matter on December 23 and 24, found that Kota's JK Lone Hospital is short of beds and it requires improvement.

However, the committee gave a clean chit to the doctors for any lapses over the recent death of infants admitted there.

A Central government team reached the hospital on Saturday to take stock of the situation.

As per the government report, at least 91 infants lost their lives at the government hospital in December last year.

Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to Chief Secretary of Rajasthan to submit a detailed report within 4 weeks about the steps being taken to address the issue.

The Commission also asked the Chief Secretary to ensure that such deaths of the children do not recur in future due to lack of infrastructure and health facilities at the hospitals.

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