fortune--2020-05-06--Now is the time to invest in preschool education. Here’s why

Endeavor , hit hard by the coronavirus , to sell part of stake in Fortnite maker Epic Games

The U.S., like most of the world, is in the throes of a pandemic that has led to collapsing stock prices, plunging retail sales, and surging unemployment. With COVID-19 threatening the lives of millions and impacting every aspect of our daily lives and the global economy, is this the time to think about public investments in the education of young children?
The answer is yes.
Educational opportunities prior to kindergarten lay a foundation for later success in school and life. Attending preschool can have significant long-term benefits, such as higher educational attainment, less delinquency and crime, greater lifetime earnings, and better adult health. But access to these and other early learning opportunities is highly unequal. By kindergarten entry, children in low-income families are 12 months behind children from families with higher incomes in reading and math. High-quality public preschool education—programs that have highly-trained teachers who engage children in well-planned interactions—can greatly offset these income-related disadvantages by an estimated 41% in reading, and 27% in math.
Unfortunately, many children lack access to early education. While preschool participation is near universal for children in higher-income families, it is far less common for children in low- and middle-income families. In 2016, Head Start, a federal preschool program, reached just four of 10 children in poverty. While state-funded prekindergarten programs serve many more children, 55% of 3- and 4-year-olds in families with incomes below $30,000 did not attend any preschool program in 2018.
If history is any indication, the pandemic’s economic impact will threaten the already precarious state support for early education. States responded to the Great Recession with deep cuts to preschool programs: Average state spending per child fell from $5,191 in 2008 to $4,348 in 2014. Progress on enrollment came to a standstill, shutting the door to preschool for countless children across the U.S. just as the Great Recession drove up child poverty rates and increased the number of children eligible for public preschool programs.
Preschool education has yet to fully recover. While state spending per child increased in 2019, it remained below the 2007 levels (prior to the funding cuts).
If we fail to learn from history, millions of children living through the pandemic will again be denied a high-quality preschool education, permanently stunting long-term progress for many. State-funded preschool programs, which now serve more than 1.6 million children a year, will not only need to expand to meet increased demand as recession causes families’ incomes to decline, they’ll also need to ensure their programs deliver the educational quality required for long-term benefits to children and taxpayers.
States and the federal government can take three steps now to avoid the mistakes made 12 years ago.
First, the federal government must provide funding to stabilize and expand state preschool programs. This should be conditional on the programs meeting high-quality standards with proven effectiveness and the maintenance of the same level of state funding so that federal dollars do not lead to an even greater reduction.
An investment of around $1 to 2 billion this year and next can help preserve quality preschool education. It also will put more people to work providing a future benefit to business and taxpayers. Around 90% of each prekindergarten dollar goes back into the workforce, according to a 2018 report.
Second, improve policy coordination between federal and state preschool programs to actively recruit and better serve preschoolers living in poverty. A 2016 survey revealed that 40% of children in families with annual incomes below $10,000 did not attend even one year of preschool, public or private. Children in low-income families, especially those living in deep poverty, should have access to a high-quality early education that prepares them for future success. For example, Head Start and state preschool programs could coordinate on the location of new providers to target underserved communities and ensure those in poverty are served before moving on to serve others.
Third, both federal and state governments should jointly plan and develop remote learning curricula, summer catch-up programs, and designs for the new normal when classrooms reopen. During this pandemic, many teachers have been left entirely on their own to develop remote education for young children and plan for the future—but they shouldn’t be.
These are hardly giant steps. The necessary investment is less than 1% of the $500 billion for state and local government proposed by Senators Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.).
Moreover, there is no investment with a higher long-term potential payoff—if we get it right.
Steven Barnett is an economist, Board of Governors Professor of Education, and founding co-director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at the Rutgers Graduate School of Education.
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fortune--2020-05-06--3 things to know about Facebook’s appeals court for controversial content

Now is the time to invest in preschool education .
Here ’ s why

Facebook has appointed 20 members to an independent board that will serves as a type of appeals courts for users who disagree with the social network’s decision to remove their content from its site because it violated policies against things like hateful content, bullying, or harmful misinformation.
The board, which will begin making its first decisions later this year, is made up of former politicians, current and former journalists, academics, and human rights experts worldwide.
The group, which will eventually grow to 40 members, is led by four co-chairs: Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the first woman to serve as prime minister of Denmark; Jamal Greene, a Columbia University law professor; Michael McConnell, a former U.S. federal circuit judge and now Stanford law professor; and Catalina Botero-Marino, formerly appointed to the Freedom of Expression of the Organization of American States and now dean of law at the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia.
“Each of our members has chosen to participate in the board because they believe there is no single company that can solve most of the challenging online content decisions to date and a new model of platform of governance is needed,” Thomas Hughes, director of the oversight board administration who was appointed in January, said on a call with the media on Wednesday.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced plans for the independent board in 2018 to help the company to deal with content moderation decisions that critics had complained were arbitrary, misguided, or a result of political bias. The board is designed to take heat off of Facebook for its decisions and, in theory, give an outside body the final say over removing posts that may include false information to incite political violence, for example. Zuckerberg has said he is committed to fully abiding by the board’s “binding” rulings.
The board members, who are supposed to operate as an independent unit of Facebook, are, technically, employed by Oversight Board. And while the entity is separate of Facebook, it is ultimately financially dependent on the company, which committed $130 million to its funding over six years.
Earlier this year, Facebook released new details about how the oversight board is expected to operate. Now that half of the members are in place, the co-chairs provided more insight about their plans.
The new board members
Board members were selected to represent a broad set of regions and currently hail from Asia Pacific, Central and South Asia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, the U.S., and Canada. They also come from a diverse set of ideological backgrounds, a move that is intended to avoid accusations of political bias, according to the board’s leadership.
“Naturally we do not agree on everything,” said Botero-Marino. “But it’s precisely through discussions who think differently that it’s possible to reach decisions that take all points of view seriously.”
The members have expertise in digital rights, religious freedom, content moderation, digital copyright, internet censorship, and civil rights. Among them are a former judge of the European Court of Human Rights, editor in chief of a major newspaper in Indonesia, a civil rights and social justice advocate, and a prolific Facebook user with millions of followers.
The board expects to add the next 20 members later this year and into next year, said Hughes.
Only a “tiny fraction” of cases will be reviewed
The board expects to get “hundreds of millions” of requests for review, but it will likely handle only a “tiny fraction” of them, said McConnell.
“The sheer volume of decisions that are going to face the oversight board are going to make it impossible for the board to decide every case,” McConnell said. “We’re going to have to select just a few.”
The board expects to create a selection committee, which will choose which cases will be reviewed. The cases that are likely to get priority are those that either affect a large number of users, have a major impact on public discourse, or may raise significant policy questions on Facebook. This means that though not every case will be reviewed, a decision by the board could ultimately impact similar posts that requested review.
Review and enforcement may be bumpy
Once a specific case is selected for review, it will be passed to a panel of five board members, one of whom is expected to have ties or knowledge about the specific region from where the post originated. After debate, a decision will be made that is supposed to be disclosed online and in an annual report. Previously released documents show the board has 90 days to make a ruling, and Facebook has seven days to implement it.
But McConnell said this process is somewhat of an “experiment,” and that users will have to be patient about the timeline.
“There’s a lot we don’t know,” he said. “We will make mistakes. All I can promise is we will do our best to learn from our mistakes.
When it comes to enforcement, the board expects its transparency reports, bylaws, and commitments from Facebook to be enough to ensure that decisions are implemented.
“Facebook would have a very high reputational cost if it were not to carry out the decisions of the body that it itself has created precisely to resolve the most thorniest problems,” a translator said on behalf of Botero-Marino, who spoke in Spanish.
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fortune--2020-05-06--Biden feels heat from left to drop Larry Summers as an adviser

More than two dozen progressive groups asked Joe Biden on Wednesday to remove former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers from his campaign and to promise not to include him in any future Biden administration.
The Working Families Party, Greenpeace and MoveOn are among the groups that signed a letter to Biden citing Summers’s record on economic policy and gender issues as reasons why he should not be on the presumptive Democratic nominee’s team.
In particular, the groups called Summers’s record on climate issues “abysmal,” pointing to his efforts during the Obama and Clinton administrations to slow efforts to curb carbon emissions and against using spending in the 2009 stimulus to build green infrastructure.
Summers is one of dozens of economic advisers to Biden’s campaign. He has no chief economist on his team and has not released a list of economic advisers.
“Summers has put the interests of large corporations ahead of working families in the United Statesand around the world, fueled the climate crisis, and undermined efforts to ensure gender equality. In short, it is hard to imagine a worse person than Larry Summers to guide the next president toward an economy that works for all,” the groups said in their letter.
The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but has said it is in touch with a “very large and well-rounded” group of informal advisers and “looks forward” to engaging with progressive leaders on the economy and other issues.
The groups ask that Biden “seek the advice of economists that put people first, recognize the need for social and environmental justice, support the large public investment we know will be needed for the energy transition, and have a proven record advancing an equitable economy that works for all.” They did not offer any names in the letter.
Other groups that signed the letter include Sunrise Movement and Justice Democrats, which launched a petition against Summers’s role after Bloomberg News reported it, as well as the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. Sunrise Movement and Justice Democrats backed Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary while the PCCC has close ties to Elizabeth Warren.
Summers was Treasury secretary in the Clinton administration and now teaches at Harvard. He works as a commentator on Bloomberg Television and its “Wall Street Week” program.
Since Warren and Sanders dropped out of the Democratic race, Biden’s team has worked to build support from progressives and listen to their advice. Biden’s campaign wants to assuage suspicionsthat Biden is beholden to Wall Street, even as Biden continues to seek the donations, support and advice of people with Wall Street ties.
Besides his economic policy positions, the groups also mention Summers’s 2005 comments about women lacking the aptitude for math and science as well as his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, who Summers cultivated as a donor to Harvard University, when he was the school’s president.
“He lacks the integrity, judgment and temperament needed in a Biden administration,” the groups said.
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fortune--2020-05-06--Emerging from lockdown, the euro zone faces an economic collapse of ‘historic proportions’

Barely a decade after the euro-area sovereign debt crisis threatened to blow up the currency zone, the pandemic has put Europe’s south back in the eye of the storm.
Italy, Spain and Greece all face economic contractions of more than 9% this year, according to the European Commission. Spending on rescue programs will bloat already stretched public finances, widening the gulf between northern and southern countries and straining the bloc.
The risk was underlined by the commission Wednesday as it warned that the EU faces the deepest downturn in its history. The bloc’s executive body was blunt: Without some form of common rescue plan, distortions call into question the stability of the region.
“Such divergence poses a threat to the single market and the euro area—yet it can be mitigated through decisive, joint European action,” Economy and Financial Affairs Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said in a statement.
The euro-region economy as a whole is forecast to shrink 7.7% this year, forcing up unemployment and public debt, after governments took drastic steps to contain the spread of the virus.
The dismal numbers, and growing doubts on the bloc’s future, pressured the euro this week. The shared currency dropped for a third day Wednesday to touch $1.0782, its lowest level against the dollar in about two weeks before trading at $1.0812. The euro has lost more than 3.5% against the U.S. currency this year and analysts forecast further weakness.
The continent-wide hit is bad enough, but the greater devastation in the Southern European nations that have less fiscal room to respond is stoking fears that the euro area could fragment.
Political Tensions
The wear and tear is now evident in domestic politics, as embattled leaders try to maintain control amid tensions within ruling coalitions and pressure to get people back to work.
There’s speculation about how long Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte can survive after he was forced to apologize for delays in delivering aid. In Madrid, Pedro Sanchez faces a vote in parliament Wednesday afternoon to extend his emergency powers. While the Spanish premier is likely to prevail, a close result will show that the broad support he enjoyed in the early days of the lockdown has evaporated.
Spain and Italy suffered most from the virus, which overwhelmed their medical systems, infected more than 400,000 people and claimed in excess of 50,000 lives.
Figures published earlier Wednesday showed the extent of the regionwide economic damage from lockdowns that shut businesses including hotels and restaurants. Activity at services companies plunged in April, while sales and employment both dropped.
Greece’s response to the disease was seen as a model as authorities acted quickly to contain the virus and recorded few fatalities—yet the nation’s dependence on tourism means that it too will take a serious hit from travel restrictions, social rules and fear of infection.
Precarious Finances
The pandemic has underscored the precarious state of Southern Europe’s finances just as those nations were struggling to get them in order. Italy’s debt-to-GDP burden is seen as high as 159% this year, and in Greece it could be closer to 200%.
The European Commission’s forecasts show how rapidly the outlook has deteriorated. Three months ago, it predicted euro-area growth of 1.2% this year, with the caveat that the pandemic was a downside risk. The new projection, which is broadly in line with IMF data, is still subject to a high level of uncertainty.
While countries including Spain, Italy, Germany and Austria have started easing restrictions, parts of their economies including cafes and restaurants will remain shut because of the risk of a renewed surge in infections.
Such a setback could reduce output by another 3 percentage points, according to Maarten Verwey, the commission’s chief economist. The European Central Bank previously said that the economy could shrink by as much as 12% this year, depending on the course of the pandemic.
To keep businesses afloat and keep a lid on unemployment, governments have deployed trillions of euros in stimulus. The response has been uneven across the bloc, however, and attempts to broker a joint approach are mired in disputes over burden-sharing.
Leaders have asked the commission to present a recovery plan that builds on the bloc’s common budget as a way of funding an economic recovery. Countries are split on whether aid should be in grants or loans, with Italy and Spain arguing for European solidarity. Germany and the Netherlands have led opposition to joint debt.
That’s put a huge burden on the ECB, which plans to buy more than 1 trillion euros of bonds this year to prop up the economy.
Even the central bank’s role, though, is subject to some doubt after a ruling Tuesday by top German judges on the nature of its aid. The uncertainty widened the premium of Italian debt over its German equivalent by eight basis points this week, ahead of a Friday review by Moody’s Investors Service, which rates Italy one notch above junk.
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fortune--2020-05-06--The Coronavirus Economy: The mother-daughter flower business that keeps on trucking

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Diane Hill and Courtney Clark are the mother and daughter duo who run Dahlias Flower Truck, popping up at birthdays, bridal and baby showers, weddings, and corporate events all over central Florida. When customers book the flower truck, it will come fully stocked with flowers for the event theme, and Hill and Clark assist guests with building their own bouquets to go home.
The pair launched this business approximately a year and a half ago after both Hill and her husband lost their jobs, and had been trying to figure out how to earn an income while wanting to do something creative.
“As we sat at our dining table, dreaming up what could be, we settled on the fact that we wanted to spread joy to our community,” Hill recalls. “We believed, wholeheartedly, that small acts of kindness and thoughtfulness could make a difference. We have never felt our mission come more alive than in this past month. Our customers care, thoughtfulness and kindness to family, friends and neighbors has been inspiring.”
Fortune spoke with Hill for a new series, The Coronavirus Economy, to ask about how the outbreak of COVID-19 has affected her and her daughter, their plans for the future, and to get a sense of how she has been handling this news, both emotionally and financially.
Courtney Clark and Diane Hill are the mother and daughter duo who run Dahlias Flower Truck in central Florida.
Fortune: How does the flower business normally fare this time of year?
Hill: This is normally our busy season of corporate events, floral workshops, and flower orders for spring and Mother’s Day.
When did you realize that COVID-19 would affect your boutique? How has it so far?
We realized that our small business would be affected the first week of March when we had our first corporate event cancel. Within the next week, we had all of our events up to Mother’s Day either postponed or cancelled.
How have bouquet sales fared since the outbreak commenced? What are your day-to-day operations like at the moment?
It’s been about a month since we have had the flower truck out in the public, so all of our normal operations have stopped. However, in the midst of all the crazy, we asked our customers if they would be interested in flower delivery or pick-up. They responded with an astounding yes, so we have adapted an entire new business model than before. Our local SBA suggested if small businesses can do delivery, pick-up, or sell gift cards to stay open, then do it!
We follow the CDC guidelines when delivering and stay informed of any updates from our governor. We’ve been blown away by peoples desire to help support our small business, and to spread a little joy and kindness to their friends and family since they can’t be there in person. Being able to help people connect and share a little joy in these times has been the best part of our job.
Have you been pushed to make any budget cuts or layoffs? Have you applied to the Paycheck Protection Program for assistance?
It’s our goal during this time to give our employees as many hours as we possibly can. Instead of hiring a third-party driver, we are using our employees. We have already applied to the Paycheck Protection Program and hope to be getting approved for sufficient funds to keep our business open.
Have you found delivery or long-distance orders shift at all? It seems like flowers would fill a void for people who want to show their affection or sympathy for loved ones while they can’t be somewhere else in person right now.
Before this, we had very little demand for deliveries, and now we are driving all around the greater Orlando area. Flowers have always been a simple gesture to show our loved ones that we’re thinking of them and that they are loved, but now, flowers are one of our only ways of doing that. Our hearts have broken for the messages we hear of people losing jobs, deaths, etc.
But our hope in our community has never been stronger. People care. They are kind and they are being intentional with their words and actions by staying home and sending little love notes of flowers across Orlando.
What are your future plans as the pandemic continues?
Our short-term plan is operating in a day-to-day mode with deliveries. Our hope is that, long-term, we will be able to go back to normal with booking the truck for events, pop-ups, and plan to keep deliveries on as well.
On a personal note, how have you been faring amid all this?
It’s been hard. There’s been a lot of anxiety of when or if we will have to shut down, and worrying about how long we would be able to go without any income. We also are constantly monitoring and following CDC recommendations to keep our employees, customers, and ourselves safe while we are open.
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fortune--2020-05-06--How to choose a video chat app? Grade it on privacy

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In Techland, everyone loves a good rivalry. There are the smartphone wars (iOS vs. Android). The ride-hailing rumblings (Uber vs. Lyft). The music match-ups (Spotify vs. Pandora). The video-streaming vendettas (Netflix vs. Quibi—lol, just kidding!).
Virtual conferencing software, somewhat amazingly, bucks the trend. While Zoom has rocketed to prominence during the time of quarantine, people are just as likely to use one of the many other options on the market: Apple’s FaceTime, Facebook’s WhatsApp, Microsoft’s Skype, the list goes on.
How do they all stack up against each other? Since the U.S. National Security Agency published its report assessing the security of various video chat apps, two respected non-profits have followed suit. Consumer Reports, known for its independent product testing and reviews, and the Mozilla Foundation, the group behind the Firefox web browser, surveyed the privacy implications of some of the most popular options.
The privacy policies leave much to be desired. That was the standout finding from Consumer Reports, which looked at the legalese behind Cisco’s WebX, Microsoft Teams and Skype, and Google’s Meet, Duo, and Hangouts.
The terms of service for these services’ data collection and sharing remain unclear. To quote the report, all three companies “reserve the right to store information on how long a call lasts; who’s on it; and everyone’s IP, or internet address,” data they can then combine with other information to build profiles of people. In an accompanying statement, Katie McInnis, Consumer Reports’ policy counsel, demanded that the companies manage this information with care and “ensure that they are respecting the digital rights of users.”
The surprise finding from the Mozilla report was that Zoom has really stepped up its game since security researchers pointed out its flaws in recent weeks, while other apps, like Houseparty, seem mostly to have gotten a pass on scrutiny. That latter app, owned by Fortnite-maker Epic Games, apparently continues to accept weak passwords like “12345,” and lets people “sneak” unnoticed into contacts’ virtual rooms. Since Houseparty caters a younger demographic, the security and privacy of the service matters even more.
Because there is so much variety in the video-chatting category, narrowing down the selection can be difficult. Safety seems as good a grading criterion as any.
Robert Hackett
Twitter: @rhhackett
Email: robert.hackett@fortune.com
THREATS
Under COVID of darkness. The UK's foreign minister, Dominic Raab, is warning that hackers are using the cover of the COVID-19 pandemic to perpetrate data breaches. Britain's cybersecurity chief describes how people's attention has been pivoting to the healthcare and biopharma industries as well as research institutions. Meanwhile, Mark Esper, the U.S. Defense Secretary, warned that China and Russia are using the pandemic as a way to gain influence around the world by trying to send acutely afflicted countries, like Italy, aid.
Suit up. There were some developments in the Facebook WhatsApp lawsuit accusing Israeli spyware maker NSO Group of helping to spy on WhatsApp users. WhatsApp says the defendant's law firm has a conflict of interest because it previously represented WhatsApp in another suit. Shortly afterward, NSO Group disputed some of WhatsApp's allegations, including that it used computer servers in the U.S. hosted by L.A.-based QuadraNet to target WhatsApp users. Meanwhile, an unrelated lawsuit filed by Apple is said to be "chilling" cybersecurity research.
*Slides eye-level slot and asks for password* Two-thirds of respondents to a recent survey admitted they "always or mostly use the same password or a variation," even though 90% acknowledged they knew the practice was risky. Aware of people's bad habits, the folks behind the web browser Mozilla Firefox updated its password manager, Firefox Lockwise, to alert people when they're using a password that is known to have been compromised. Another welcome, though long overdue update: Google Nest security cameras are going to start requiring people to use two-factor authentication.
Cat got your tongue? Open source investigative news site Bellingcat recently published a number of fascinating security-related stories. There's the recent attempted coup in Venezuela by a private company in the U.S., Silvercorp USA, that has run security at Trump campaign rallies. Then there's the story of Russian citizen Dmitry Badin, who Germany just indicted for allegedly hacking the Bundestag, Germany's parliament. (In 2018, the U.S. indicted the same guy for allegedly helping to hack the Democratic National Committee.) Plus, there's a deep dive into a recent pro-China propaganda campaign on Twitter.
Caught with pants down. Web domain host GoDaddy recently disclosed a data breach affecting as many as 28,000 customers. The breach started in October, it said, noting that it had reset people's passwords as a result. Also, CAM4, an adult website, potentially exposed a whole heap of information—nearly 11 billion records—in an unprotected online database containing people's email addresses, hashed passwords, and correspondences with the company.
Is Kim Jong Un planning a pool party?
ACCESS GRANTED
We all know by now: Social media allows misinformation to run amok. But Guillaume Chaslot, a former Google engineer, knows better than most exactly how and why this happens. Britain's The Daily Telegraph interviewed the anti-tech crusader about how YouTube, in the quest for engagement and advertising profits, prioritizes provocation and extremism over accuracy.
Just after midnight on Good Friday, firefighters were called to tackle a 70ft blaze that had engulfed a telecoms mast in Solihull’s Chelmsley Wood. Days later, engineer George Davis and his team were threatened with broken bottles and bricks while working on a telecoms line in Putney. “The gentleman thought we were installing 5G,” says Davis. “He’s not the first person to threaten us… people just look at things online and believe it.”
FORTUNE RECON
Airbnb to cut nearly 2,000 employees due to the coronavirus pandemic by Danielle Abril
California to sue Uber and Lyft for classifying drivers as contractors by Joel Rosenblatt
Apple’s WWDC developers conference will be livestreamed on June 22 due to coronavirus by Jonathan Vanian
Photo essay: What life looks like in Europe as the continent starts to reopen by Mia Diehl and Katherine Dunn
Cord cutting is speeding up as the coronavirus pandemic squeezes consumers by Aaron Pressman
Goldman Sachs doubts there will be a Round 3 of PPP loans for small businesses by Anne Sraders
Uber’s (potentially) twisty Lime deal by Lucinda Shen
ONE MORE THING
The National Cybersecurity Centre in the UK has decided to stop using the terminology "blacklist" and "whitelist," opting instead for the more neutral "deny list" and "allow list." The reasoning, the government group says, is to avoid "casually pejorative wording" with potentially racist overtones. "No, it's not the biggest issue in the world—but to borrow a slogan from elsewhere: Every little [bit] helps."
The choice reminds me of something I do when reciting my favorite poem by the short-lived, 19th-century writer Stephen Crane, "Should the wide world roll away." In my own reading, I like to swap "black" for "bleak" and "white" for "warm."


fortune--2020-05-06--Airbnb lays off staff even as it raises money from investors

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Before the coronavirus, startups raised more funding and spoke of expanding their teams.
Now the equation is being turned on its head, with startups raising more funding but cutting headcount in the hopes of outliving the pandemic’s uncertain economic impact.
Most recently, home-sharing company Airbnb is laying off 1,900 employees, or about 25% of its workforce. It’s also skinnying down by pausing investments that don’t support the “core” business, including in transportation and a studio intended to produce original entertainment related to travel, and reducing funding for a high-end rental service, Luxe.
“Airbnb’s business has been hit hard, with revenue this year forecasted to be less than half of what we earned in 2019,” CEO Brian Chesky said in an internal memo. “We are collectively living through the most harrowing crisis of our lifetime, and as it began to unfold, global travel came to a standstill.”
The cuts come after Airbnb recently raised $2 billion in debt and equity from the likes of Silver Lake, Sixth Street Partners, BlackRock, and more.
Other startups have bulwarked their cash pile while simultaneously hosting layoffs: Think Carta, which builds software that manages equity in other startups, or People.ai, which raised a debt round while also letting go of about 18% of its staff. Read more
PPP fix: Lawmakers prioritized speed when rolling out the Paycheck Protection Program funding aimed at propping up small business in the middle of an economic meltdown—which left plenty of room for loopholes and issues as the coronavirus drags on.
Now there is a bipartisan push to change PPP guidelines as Congress considers a third round of funding. Restaurants and businesses have been expected to use the money within eight weeks after receiving the loan—which many businesses complain is too short of a time period, especially as the program began roughly four weeks ago.
One proposal from Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) seeks to finesse the terms, giving businesses 16 weeks instead of eight to spend the funding as long as they show over a 25% revenue loss during the period.
What’s also of note for this proposal: It suggests the Senators believe the impact of the coronavirus will be much, much longer. The duo has proposed loan funding to cover the next six months of payroll, benefits, and fixed operating expenses for companies that have taken a “substantial revenue hit” from the coronavirus. Part of the loan will be forgiven, while the remainder can be repaid over a 7 year period.
Lucinda Shen
Twitter: @shenlucinda
Email: lucinda.shen@fortune.com
VENTURE DEALS
- RWDC Industries, a Singapore-based biotech startup addressing single-use plastics, raised $133 million in Series B funding. Vickers Venture Partners and Flint Hills Resources co-led the round. CPV/CAP Pensionskasse Coop and International SA also participated.
- LetsGetChecked, a New York-based at-home health testing company, raised $71 million in Series C funding. Illumina Ventures and HLM Venture Partners co-led the round, and was joined by investors including Deerfield, CommonFund Capital, and Angeles Investments. Existing investors Transformation Capital, Optum Ventures, and Qiming Venture Partners USA also participated.
- Pulmonx Corporation, a Redwood City, Calif.-based provider of a minimally-invasive treatment for patients with severe emphysema, raised $66 million in funding. Ally Bridge Group led the round, and was joined by investors including Adage Capital Management, HealthQuest Capital, Partner Fund Management, and Rock Springs Capital.
- Zeitgold, a Berlin-based fintech seeking to automate bookkeeping for SMBs, raised $29.2 million (€27 million) in Series B funding. Vintage Investment Partners led the round, and was joined by investors including Battery Ventures, HV Holtzbrinck Ventures, Saban Ventures, btov Partners, AXA Innovation Campus, and Deutsche Bank. Read more.
- Jellyfish, a Boston, Mass.-based engineering management platform, raised $12 million in funding. Investors include Accel and Wing Venture Capital.
- GigaSpaces, a New York-based startup developing in-memory computing for AI workloads, raised $12 million in funding. Fortissimo Capital led the round, and was joined by investors including Claridge Israel and BRM Group. Read more.
- Monogram Health, a Nashville, Tenn.-based kidney disease care management company, raised $7 million in Series A-1 funding. Frist Cressey Ventures and Norwest Venture Partners co-led the round.
- Knock, a Seattle, Wash.-based sales and marketing SaaS platform for residential property management companies, raised $12 million in Series B funding. Madrona Venture Group led the round, and was joined by investors including Lead Edge Capital and Seven Peaks Ventures.
- Wellth, a New York-based platform for behavioral treatments, raised $10 million in Series A funding. yabeo and Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF) co-led the round.
- Limbix, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based developer of digital therapeutics for adolescent mental health disorders, raised $9 million in Series A funding. GSR Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Sequoia Capital, Storm Ventures, NextGen Venture Partners, and BIXINK Therapeutics.
- Treasury Prime, a San Francisco-based API for banking, raised $9 million in a Series A funding. Investors included Amias Gerety (QED), Jason Lemkin (SaaStr), and Hans Morris (NYCA Partners).
- Postal.io, a San Luis, Obispo, Calif. sales and marketing automation platform, raised $9 million in Series A funding led by Mayfield.
- Emtrain, a San Francisco-based platform that helps companies prevent bad workplace culture, raised $8 million in funding. Education Growth Partners led the round.
- Boosted.ai, a New York and Toronto-based distributed machine learning platform for investment professionals, raised $8 million in Series A funding. Portag3 Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Dunamu & Partners and Polar Equity Partners.
- First Dollar, an Austin-based t health care savings platform, raised $5 million in seed funding. Next Coast Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Meridian Street Capital.
- SVT Robotics, a Norfolk, Va.-based provider of software for the deployment of industrial robotics, raised $3.5 million in seed funding. Cowboy Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Dynamo Ventures, Schematic Ventures, Ludlow Ventures, and NRV.
- Sleuth, a delivery deployment tracker, raised $3 million in seed funding. CRV led the round, and was joined by investors from New Relic, Atlassian and LaunchDarkly. Read more.
- Scoota, a London-based maker of automated omni-channel digital branding, raised £2 million ($2.5 million) in funding. Notion Capital, the Angel CoFund, and VentureFounders.
- Every Mother, a New York-based fitness program for pre and post-natal women, raised $1.5 million in seed funding. Courtside Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Serena Williams’ Serena Ventures and Techstars Ventures.
- Magic Leap, the is in talks to raise additional funding, per the Information. The company has reportedly signed a term sheet with a “major health care” company. Read more.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- Adare Pharmaceuticals, backed by TPG Capital, acquired Orbis Biosciences, a Lenexa, Ks.-based pharmaceutical tech company. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Brook and Whittle Holdings, a portfolio company of Snow Phipps Group, acquired Croydon, a Croydon, Penn.-based maker of shrink sleeve labels formerly known as Gilbreth Packaging. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- CVC Capital Partners and Blackstone Group are in separate talks about investments in Italy’s Serie A soccer league, the Financial Times reports. CVC is in talks to buy a 20% stake in the league for 2 billion euros ($2.17 billion), valuing the league at 10 billion euros. Read more.
- Colony Capital (NYSE: CLNY) recapped Beanfield Metroconnect, a Canadian telecommunications infrastructure provider. The recap includes C$255 million ($181 million) of financing.
- Community Medical Services, a portfolio company of Clearview Capital, acquired Restorative Health and Recovery, a Kent, Oh.-based office-based opioid treatment provider. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- RLG Capital and Trinity Private Equity Group invested $38 million eLearning Brothers, an American Fork, Ut.-based learning solutions company.
- Sovos, backed by Hg, acquired Taxweb, a Brazil-based provider of tax determination software for enterprises. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
OTHERS
- Cognizant (NASDAQ:CTSH) agreed to acquire Collaborative Solutions, a Reston, Va.-based consultancy specializing in Workday enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources management. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Franklin Templeton acquired AdvisorEngine, a digital wealth platform for advisors. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
PEOPLE
- HOF Capital hired Tala Al Jabri as a Partner. She was formerly at the SoftBank Vision Fund.


fortune--2020-05-06--Uber is laying off 3,700 and signals more cuts to come

Uber Technologies Inc. will eliminate 3,700 jobs and permanently close 180 driver service centers, the first in a series of cost-cutting measures to be announced in the next two weeks as a response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The reductions will affect 14% of staff around the world, mainly those in support and recruiting, Dara Khosrowshahi, the chief executive officer, wrote in an email to employees Wednesday. Ridership is down significantly, and the company is maintaining a freeze on hiring, Khosrowshahi wrote in the email, which was reviewed by Bloomberg.
Of the more than 450 driver centers Uber operates worldwide, 40% will shut down. The locations, called Greenlight Hubs, are used to sign people up to drive for Uber, teach them how to use the app and address issues that arise on the job. In March, as the virus was spreading in North America, Uber said it was temporarily closing all hubs in the U.S. and Canada.
Khosrowshahi signaled that more “difficult adjustments” would be put forth in the next two weeks. “Days like this are brutal,” he wrote.
This sort of painful day is becoming commonplace. Tech companies have eliminated more than 38,000 jobs in the past two months, according to Layoffs.fyi, which tracks the job market. Lyft Inc., the main alternative to Uber in North America, said last week it was dismissing 17% of staff, furloughing more and reducing salaries. Their longtime peer in the sharing economy, Airbnb Inc., said Tuesday the company was cutting a quarter of its workforce.
The job losses are sudden for many, but at Uber, they may seem drawn out. After a disappointing initial public offering a year ago, Uber dismissed more than 1,000 employees over multiple rounds of cuts that extended from July to what Khosrowshahi described as a “last wave” in October. They were part of a drive toward profitability, which was expected to arrive by the end of this year.
Uber has seen its landscape shift considerably since then. It instituted a hiring freeze in March, withdrew its financial forecast and wrote down some $2 billion worth of investments in April and said Monday it would shutter food delivery operations in seven countries.
As of May 2, Khosrowshahi waived his salary for the remainder of the year, the company said. In 2019, he was eligible for a salary of $1 million and a bonus of $2 million, according to a securities filing. Uber is scheduled to report first-quarter financial results Thursday.
The challenges posed by the virus could be matched by a new one this week from Uber’s home state. California sued Uber and Lyft Tuesday for allegedly flouting a state law designed to give gig-economy workers the benefits of employees. If the case is successful, the companies could be on the hook for substantial new costs that further jeopardize their business models.
More must-read tech coverage from Fortune:
—Remote work, online grocery shopping, cord cutting: What coronavirus trends will stick
—How T-Mobile shifted 12,000 employees to work from home in less than two weeks
—Coronavirus patient data stored in electronic health records found difficult to study at scale
—The startup founder in India striving to improve mass transit through the pandemic
—Listen to Leadership Next, a Fortune podcast examining the evolving role of CEO
—WATCH: Zoom’s ups and downs since the coronavirus crisis
Catch up with Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily digest on the business of tech.


fortune--2020-05-06--Google and Gates Foundation to help spread  digital payments in developing countries

For more than a decade, Kenyans from the bustling capital of Nairobi to far-flung farms have had access to a digital payments service that was ahead of its time. M-Pesa, introduced in 2007 by Vodafone and Kenya’s Safaricom mobile provider, lets users send and receive money on their mobile phones, providing bank-like services for millions who had relied on cash and informal networks.
By 2012, Kenyans had registered 17 million accounts. And by making saving easier and small businesses more efficient, M-Pesa had helped lift 194,000 Kenyan households out of poverty, a study in 2016 concluded.
Now, a coalition of nonprofits and tech companies including Google and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation want to repeat those outcomes worldwide by making it easier for developing countries to build real-time digital payments systems. On Wednesday, they announced the formation of the Mojaloop Foundation, which will develop and promote a free, open-source real-time payments platform intended for nations and central banks. The Mojaloop Foundation’s founding sponsors also include the Rockefeller Foundation, the philanthropy and investing group Omidyar Network, and the financial technology startups Coil and ModusBox.
The initiative would help tie together a growing array of digital financial services. M-Pesa, which has expanded from Kenya to countries including Ghana, Egypt, and India, has inspired hundreds of imitators worldwide. But these largely privately-run systems are fragmented.
“Systems [like M-Pesa] are silos,” says Kosta Peric, deputy director of financial services for the poor for the Gates Foundation. That can mean friction and high fees to transact between systems. “Imagine a mobile phone system where you can only talk to people connected to the same provider. It’s useful, but only so much.”
But national payments systems based on Mojaloop, as the new platform is called, may be even more beneficial because they would connect many different banking and payments systems. That could allow M-Pesa to interact seamlessly with other digital wallets, traditional bank accounts, or remittance services like Western Union, likely enhancing the value of existing payments services rather than competing with them.
Beyond individual impacts, expanded digital payments could also boost the global economy. A 2016 McKinsey study concluded that widespread and affordable digital finance tools could grow the economies of developing nations by 6%, or a total of $3.7 trillion, by 2025. That would be the equivalent of adding another Germany to the world economy.
Mojaloop is modeled on digital fast-payment systems such as the U.K.’s Faster Payments Service and Australia’s New Payments Platform. Building those systems, however, often involves big up-front technology development costs and politically difficult negotiations among a variety of players. Those challenges have slowed or stalled digital banking advances not just in developing countries, but even in the United States.
Mojaloop is meant to reduce such roadblocks by providing a standard digital-payments blueprint. The software, which is publicly available via Microsoft-owned software repository GitHub, includes a directory for identifying account holders, a transfer system for routing payments, and a clearing and settlement layer that transfers funds among users’ financial institutions. The routing system relies partly on a technology called Interledger that was originally developed by Ripple, a company that aims to use Bitcoin-derived blockchain technology to connect banks.
Providing that technology isn’t a magic bullet, though. Building systems also requires navigating national regulations, training staff, and making sure new financial tools are accessible to people who need them, according to ModusBox CEO David Wexler. So in addition to the software, the Mojaloop Foundation will connect experts with countries and development agencies to tackle problems and help guide government policies that promote privacy and other user-protection measures.
Mojaloop-based systems are intended to be hosted by each country’s governmental or financial authorities. But because they use a shared standard, Peric says the systems could eventually become interoperable across borders, further easing the global flow of funds.
Rodger Voorhies, president for global growth at the Gates Foundation, says the current pandemic shows how powerful expanding fast-payments infrastructure could be. “In times of crisis, [poor people are] pushed deeper into poverty.” That’s often answered by local and international charitable donations, but the coronavirus is disrupting international relief and conventional remittance payments.
But digital payments can rapidly deliver funds directly to people in need. “You [would] have a way for social engagement,” says Voorhies, “You could send money to protect people in times of crisis, really rapidly.”
More personal finance coverage from Fortune:
—What to do if you can’t pay your bills this month
—Stimulus checks are depositing: How people are spending the money
—Stuck in the unemployment benefit backlog? What you should know
—What you should know about mortgage forbearance and skipping payments
—Furlough vs. layoff? What to know about your rights and benefits
—Listen to Leadership Next, a Fortune podcast examining the evolving role of CEO
—VIDEO: 401(k) withdrawal penalties waived for anyone hurt by COVID-19
Subscribe to How To Reopen, Fortune’s weekly newsletter on what it takes to reboot business in the midst of a pandemic


fortune--2020-05-06--Dads as primary caregivers: The pandemic’s potential to reshape gender norms

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Michelle Obama will address the class of 2020, the special election for Katie Hill’s seat is set to provide some insight into November, and we examine the pandemic’s potential effect on gender equality. Have a nice Wednesday.
– COVID’s division of labor. The Broadsheet has written a lot in recent weeks about how the coronavirus crisis is hurting women—from spikes in domestic violence, to the potential rollback of diversity initiatives, to the considerable share of women thinking of quitting their jobs. Today we have more promising news.
Research by the National Bureau of Economic Research last month examines how the COVID-19 pandemic will impact gender equality. Indeed, there are some sobering conclusions: overall, “the COVID-19 shock is likely to place a disproportionate burden on women.”
But the working paper also offers some hope: a few “counteracting forces,” it says, “may promote gender equality during the recovery from the current crisis.”
The “force” that caught my eye was the division of household labor, as delegated by the pandemic. Widespread lockdowns, in which children and “non-essential” workers are home, is requiring some fathers to shoulder additional childcare and home-schooling duties. In some cases, they’ve even become the primary care provider; 9% of U.S. households feature a wife who’s in a “critical occupation,” like a medical doctor, and a husband who’s not.
What will come of this kind of arrangement? The paper says past research on paternity leave provides some clues. In Spain and Germany, the introduction of paternity leave led to a persistent increase in fathers’ involvement in childcare.
You might recall that the division of household labor is a trouble spot when it comes to reaching equality, with the share of unpaid labor carried out by young men and women largely reflecting that of past generations; women still do too much at home, men still do too little. The disparity harms other aspects of women’s equality, with the extra time women spend on such duties contributing to gender pay and promotion gaps.
We’re years way from understanding the trickle-down effects of the pandemic, but the researchers are hopeful it’ll move the needle in this regard. “[E]ven while women carry a higher burden during the crisis,” the researchers write, “it is still highly likely that we will observe a sizeable impact of this forced experiment on social norms, and ultimately on gender equality, in the near future.”
History, for one, is on their side. They draw a parallel to World War II, “the last major shock to women in the labor market” that saw millions of women enter the workforce. The WWII experience “suggests that temporary changes to the division of labor between the sexes have long-run effects.”
Claire Zillman
claire.zillman@fortune.com
@clairezillman
Today’s Broadsheet was produced by Emma Hinchliffe.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Get well soon. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is in the hospital after undergoing treatment for a benign gallbladder condition. She's calling into oral arguments from the hospital and expects to be home in one or two days. CNN
- Special election. The special election to fill former Rep. Katie Hill's seat in California is set for May 12, with the race playing out during the state's lockdown. Democratic candidate Christy Smith is competing against the Trump-endorsed Mike Garcia; the contest is seen by some as a preview of what to expect in November. New York Times
- Class of 2020. It's the battle of the commencements! With Oprah Winfrey set to address the class of 2020 on Facebook, Michelle and Barack Obama will now deliver speeches that will air on YouTube and several television networks. The virtual celebration will follow today's premiere of the Michelle Obama Netflix documentary Becoming, in which Sasha and Malia Obama give their first interviews.
- Tinder uptick. In the first full-quarter earnings report of CEO Sharmistha Dubey's tenure, Match Group said it's seen "a noticeable increase in activity among users, especially those under the age of 30" on Tinder during the time period including quarantine. But Tinder users aren't spending as much on purchases and higher-priced plans during the economic downturn. Marketwatch
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Manulife Investment Management's Emily Chew heads to Morgan Stanley Investment Management as global head of sustainability. Moore Philanthropy founder Yvonne Moore will serve on Comic Relief U.S.'s board of directors. Mary Becker joins Vantage Leadership Consulting as client partner, business development.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
- Couples counseling. Has there ever been a time when the world was more in need of Esther Perel? The couples therapist weighs in on "what happens to couples under stress" in this interview. The New Yorker
- Navajo Nation outbreak. The coronavirus outbreak outside the Navajo Nation—the country's largest Indian reservation—is so severe that New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham invoked the state's Riot Control Act to fully lock down the entire city of Gallup. The city is just outside the boundaries of the reservation and is an economic center for its residents; people's refusal to follow social distancing orders there had created tension with tribal leadership attempting to control the spread. New York Times
- Lifestyle guru. Joanna Gaines is known for Fixer Upper, but one achievement has slipped under the radar: she's the first Asian-American woman to have a mass-market lifestyle brand. New York Times
ON MY RADAR
The burnout effect Zora
The new Natalie Wood documentary doesn't have the answers The New Yorker
Is this pandemic the end of perfection? Refinery29
PARTING WORDS
"I want to deserve to be here, and that’s part of what keeps me up at night."
-Issa Rae


fortune--2020-05-06--How the film industry is planning its post-pandemic return

The effects of the coronavirus pandemic are felt in every type of industry, but the way it shut down film and television production was particularly abrupt.
Countless productions, from big budget to indie fare, have gone on hold around the globe. Some remote work continues behind the scenes, and some countries are considering allowing shoots to resume. In the meantime, those in film production are thinking hard about what comes next.
To save time while in isolation, production companies have focused on tasks like polishing scripts and connecting with writers, actors, and directors whose schedules were too busy before the pandemic hit. In some cases, video casting and contracts for future locations are being taken care of as well, says Michael Jackman, vice chair of the New York Production Alliance and executive vice president at FilmNation Entertainment (Arrival, The Big Sick).
“We’re starting to hear industrywide, that people are hoping for mid-July, late July, August, September to get back into pre-production or production,” Jackman tells Fortune. “It will obviously be subject to the realities of the world.”
“Readily available testing that is fast and accurate” would probably be most helpful to get productions back to work, Jackman says. Some, including the BBC and Tyler Perry, have thrown around the possibility of quarantining cast and crew together for productions—an idea that Jackman acknowledges might be more complicated, though not entirely out of the question.
“It will involve more sacrifice on the part of the cast and crew not seeing their families for a longer period of time, but we will treat it like we are on a film shooting in a remote location and isolate for the prep and shoot,” he says.
But testing and quarantining wouldn’t be the only practices in place as production resumes. There will likely be a number of small-scale changes on set that could even stick around permanently.
“Studios are obviously having these conversations—everything from what will people be wearing, what will makeup and hair artists… be wearing while they’re working on actors?” Jackman says, adding that those doing construction on set will likely be given their own tool sets to avoid sharing equipment.
Catering and craft service spreads will also see a change. Instead of lining up to make oneself a plate at a buffet, those on set will probably receive individually prepared meals, likely handed out by caterers in protective gear, Jackman says.
And forget being able to grab a handful of M&Ms from a craft services table. “That’s not going to happen that way anymore,” he says. “It’s going to be a much more—call it a curated process for all the little things that just sort of might be antithetical to protecting people from potential virus exposure. We’re looking at everything.”
There’s a good chance that even the practice of hiring extras will change.
“When we need 200 people, are we going to have 200 people in the crowd, or are we going to do 20 people in that crowd and start looking at CGI?” he says. “A lot of it is really evolving.”
Other possibilities under consideration include limiting the number of essential crew on a set while others monitor activity remotely; partially using virtual reality headsets for tech scouting locations; and using a cleaning crew to sanitize sets before, during, and after a shoot. And producers are also looking into which practices would serve different locations best—as Jackman points out, what works in New York City may not work in L.A.
Jackman hopes that some things, such as congregating in groups, can eventually go back to how they were pre-pandemic. Testing would also likely stop once the virus becomes less of a threat or a vaccine is developed, but other practices could remain in place in the long run.
“Hopefully the ability to gather in groups goes back to normal, and I think [the industry] would follow that,” he says. “But I definitely think a lot of these practices are going to stay because then you don’t have to enact them when you have a situation like this again.”
Jackman and his company are eager to get things moving as soon as they’re able. One project—The Map of Tiny Perfect Things—just barely completed filming before pandemic-induced shutdowns, after they worked overtime to finish ahead of schedule. Another, Misanthrope, was in pre-production in Montreal when it was shut down, but the company is staying in touch with the crew.
Though there are concerns that resources—from locations to specific crew members—will be in high demand as various delayed productions try to restart their work, Jackman says his company is small enough to be able to pivot and move quickly.
Plus, he points out, it would be a “good problem” for the industry, which has seen many of its freelance production workers suddenly unemployed, to have.
For now, everyone just has to wait, while planning carefully for the future.
“I think that this situation forces everyone to figure out how to be adaptive, how to be nimble, how to be smart, how to be creative, how to support each other, how to help each other through the complexities of this,” Jackman says. “And I think that’s important.”
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—How CBS legal drama All Rise made its virtually produced coronavirus episode
—Billions creators on releasing season five of the New York drama in uncertain times
—AMC is at war with Universal Pictures. Is it a fair fight?
—Mike Schur talks Parks and Recreation coronavirus episode
—Hollywood artists are creating PPE for the medical community
Subscribe to Outbreak, a daily roundup of stories on the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on global business, delivered free to your inbox.


fortune--2020-05-07--As accusations about source of COVID-19 grow, WHO says it will consider a new mission into virus’ or

As accusations about source of COVID-19 grow, WHO says it will consider a new mission into virus’ origins

17 % of unemployed workers aren ’ t looking for work—and that ’ s warping the official unemployment rate

The World Health Organization is considering a new mission to seek the source of the coronavirus in China, amid growing controversy over the origin of a pandemic that has killed more than a quarter of a million people.
“Without knowing where the animal origin is, it’s hard to prevent it from happening again,” Maria Van Kerkhove, a WHO epidemiologist, said at a press briefing Wednesday. “There is discussion with our counterparts in China for a further mission, which would be more academic in focus, and really focus on looking at what happened at the beginning in terms of exposures with different animals,” she added.
Van Kerkhove in February participated in a previous mission to China, which concluded that the virus was zoonotic in origin. Bats appeared to be the “reservoir” for the virus, but an intermediate host could not be determined, the report said.
At a briefing on Thursday, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying didn’t directly answer when asked if China would allow the WHO mission. She repeated that the origin of the virus needed to be determined by “scientists and professionals.”
“The Chinese government and the WHO have seen good communication,” Hua said. “We would like continue our cooperation to deal with the pandemic.”
Talk of a new mission comes as debate grows over the source of the outbreak, which was first identified in Wuhan, China, more than four months ago. U.S. President Donald Trump‘s administration has said the virus likely escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which runs a laboratory that studies dangerous pathogens. Some intelligence agencies are casting doubt on that theory, and China has repeatedly denied the claim.
The WHO has come under fire from Trump, who has moved to cut off funding to the Geneva-based United Nations agency, saying it was overly deferential to China as the virus spread in that country and beyond. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on Wednesday asserted that China covered up the origins of the virus even as he eased off earlier claims of “enormous evidence” that the virus escaped from a Wuhan laboratory.
Pompeo repeated the U.S. allegation that China is still refusing to share virus samples or details about the start of the pandemic and on “patient zero,” the first victim. And he said other countries are starting to see it the U.S. way.
“Our truth-telling and calls for transparency aren’t about politics, it’s not about bullying, it’s not about blame,” Pompeo said. “It’s about the ongoing need to save American lives. This is an ongoing threat.”
On Wednesday, in response to calls from the likes of Australia and the European Union for investigations into how the previously unknown pathogen made the jump from animals to humans, China’s foreign ministry said Beijing would support a review about the origins of the virus at an “appropriate time.”
“We will continue supporting the WHO and support looking back and summarizing the experience at an appropriate time to support global health cooperation and so we can better deal with pandemics like this in the future,” Hua said. “What we oppose is the presumption of guilt under the pretext of an investigation, or using the epidemic for political purposes.”
Hua also dismissed Pompeo’s claims the virus escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan.
Xi Seeks Reform
“Mr. Pompeo cannot present any evidence because he does not have any,” Hua said. “This matter should be handled by scientists and professionals instead of politicians out of their domestic political needs.”
China has come under fire over its early handling of the virus, which has pushed the global economy toward recession as it spreads around the world. Authorities had reprimanded doctors including Li Wenliang, who later passed away, for sharing warnings about the coronavirus infection risk in WeChat groups in late December.
President Xi Jinping called for reform of China’s disease control system at a meeting of the Politburo on Wednesday, an apparent acknowledgment of lapses in the nation’s response. The country’s top leaders agreed to boost epidemic monitoring and early-warning capabilities, revamp public health emergency laws and regulations and enhance the response to major epidemics, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
–With assistance from Claire Che and Sharon Chen.
More coronavirus coverage from Fortune:
—The Rebuild Program: A project to help small businesses reopen amid a pandemic
—The pandemic makes the case for more transparent layoffs
—Reopening of Shanghai Disneyland is a proving ground for pandemic-era theme parks
—Photo essay: What life looks like in Europe as the continent starts to reopen
—Goldman Sachs doubts there will be a Round 3 of PPP loans for small businesses
—Most college students won’t get stimulus checks—but they should
—How the film industry is planning its post-pandemic return
—PODCAST: How Marc Benioff is helping out during the coronavirus pandemic
—WATCH: Fortune’s top 10 heroes of the coronavirus pandemic
Subscribe to How To Reopen, Fortune’s weekly newsletter on what it takes to reboot business in the midst of a pandemic


fortune--2020-05-07--17% of unemployed workers aren’t looking for work—and that’s warping the official unemployment rate

Sheryl Sandberg : The coronavirus pandemic is creating a ‘ double double shift ’ for women .
Employers must help

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett predicted the unemployment rate for April could be between 16% to 20% when it’s released Friday. That would be its highest level since the 1930s.
But the unemployment rate that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics releases this week will significantly undercount the actual level of joblessness.
That’s because of the way the BLS numbers are compiled. Only people without jobs who are also looking for new positions are actually categorized by the BLS as unemployed and included in the jobless rate. But a Fortune-SurveyMonkey poll of 4,717 U.S. adults* between April. 25-28 finds that 17% of workers who recently lost their jobs aren’t currently looking for work.
Some laid-off workers may be waiting for the stay-at-home orders to be lifted before starting their job search. Others may prefer to stay home and receive the boosted jobless benefits at a time when a deadly pandemic is raging the country. While economists have speculated this would happen, the Fortune-SurveyMonkey poll is the first to put a figure on the share of unemployed who are being undercounted.
“With entire swaths of the economy shuttered in April, it is unrealistic to think that most laid-off workers will be actively looking for work, as there may not be anywhere to look,” wrote Dante DeAntonio, an economist at Moody’s Analytics this week.
Those receiving unemployment benefits (UI) have historically been required to search for work, DeAntonio wrote, but most states have completely eliminated those requirements during the current crisis. That makes it even less likely those receiving UI benefits will look for work and be included in the jobless rate. And the generous additional $600 weekly UI benefit provided under the CARES Act, could further disincentivize looking for work, the economist wrote.
The April unemployment rate will jump into the double digits from the 4.4% rate in March, a calculation that runs through March 13. But the May rate will be even higher, given that millions more are still filing jobless claims each week—including 3.8 million last week which is outside the reporting period for the April jobless rate.
If the nation’s 30.3 million initial jobless claims over the past six weeks were added to the already 7.1 million unemployed Americans as of March 13, it would equal more than 37 million unemployed, or a real unemployment rate of 23%.
*Methodology: The Fortune-SurveyMonkey poll was conducted among a national sample of 4,717 adults in the U.S. between April 25-28. This survey’s modeled error estimate is plus or minus 3 percentage points. The findings have been weighted for age, race, sex, education, and geography.


fortune--2020-05-07--Hong Kong Exchange CEO Charles Li to step down amid protest, economic headwinds

Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Charles Li said he’s stepping down after 10 years, adding his departure to the rising challenges for the bourse at a turbulent time for the financial hub.
The 59-year-old will continue to lead the exchange until his contract expires in October next year, or leave earlier if a replacement is found, according to a filing. HKEX Chairman Laura Cha praised his leadership and thanked him “for giving us as much time as possible to ensure a smooth transition.”
Li doubled revenue since taking over, earning the moniker “Mr. China” for tying the bourse closer to the mainland. Still, a failed bid to takeover the London Stock Exchange last year stands as a misstep. The Asian exchange now faces mounting headwinds with political unrest and a deep economic slump in its home city. A push by China to build up its own exchanges is a challenge to Hong Kong’s role as the main financing hub for Chinese companies.
“He has done very well in building our foundation,” said Christopher Cheung, a lawmaker for the financial services sector. “His leaving will certainly bring a shock to HKEX in this turbulent time, with unfinished tasks to lure U.S.-listed Chinese stocks to come back to Hong Kong, and the challenge from Macau to develop a financial center.”
A former banker, Li has championed several key market reforms as well as pursued acquisitions. Before falling short in his attempt to buy the LSE in 2019, he engineered a deal for the U.K. capital’s metal exchange in 2012. He was instrumental in linking the exchange with bourses in Shanghai and Shenzhen, allowing stock trading with the mainland, a program that now contributes about 10% of its revenue.
The shares have returned 8% a year since he took over, almost double the return on the city’s benchmark index. HKEX shares dropped as much as 4%, and were down 3.3% at HK$245 as of 2:30 p.m. in Hong Kong.
The bourse on Thursday reported a 13% drop in net income to HK$2.26 billion, missing an estimate of HK$2.77 billion. Still, core revenue rose 19% amid a trading boom and it retained its top spot globally for the number of initial public offerings. The severe market turmoil drove its investments into the red, after a $882 million gain a year earlier.
But trading is already cooling. And as volatility fades, there could be a “sharp reduction” in revenue and earnings for the exchange, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in a report last month. Declining volatility and reduced income from investments will be “double headwinds for revenue” this year, the U.S. bank said.
China’s increasingly assertive stance toward Hong Kong is raising doubts about the exchange’s push to expand its landmark Stock Connect program, which allows trading of stocks between the city and Shanghai and Shenzhen. Li said in February that one needs to “be realistic” on expecting progress on big market initiatives due to virus outbreak.
One sticking point is whether to include in the Stock Connect shares like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., which are dual listed and allowing weighted voting rights.
The program delivered record revenue for the exchange of HK$404 million, up 74% from a year earlier as both northbound and southbound trading jumped to all-time highs.
The CEO in November was forced to apologize after saying the civil unrest that gripped the city last year had exposed a fault in the former British colony’s “one country two systems” framework for the city’s return to Chinese rule in 1997. He said he had been misinterpreted, calling himself “the biggest supporter” of the system.
Born in Beijing, Li grew up in the northwestern Gansu province during the Cultural Revolution. He worked on an oil rig and then studied English Literature in China and later earned a law degree at Columbia University. A few years of working at law firms, were followed by 16 years in banking: first at Merrill Lynch & Co. and then JPMorgan Chase & Co., where he was China chairman when he joined HKEX in 2009.
He was both the first Chinese national and the first investment banker to lead the bourse. Besides the links to China, Li also pushed through major listing reforms to allow companies with weighted voting rights and biotech companies still in the research stage to list. HKEX is now the second largest listing hub for biotechnology firms. The reforms brought Chinese tech giants like Xiaomi Corp., Meituan Dianping and Alibaba to the city.
In a memo to staff, Li said that his tenure was “simply the most exciting and most rewarding time of my life.”
He decided to notify the board with more than one year’s time left so that “clarity of direction can help maintain confidence and continuity.”
Speculation will now grow on what his next move will be. There’s plenty of opportunity for experienced Chinese executives with a foot on Wall Street as China this year is opening its financial market fully to foreign ownership, with the likes of Goldman and JPMorgan piling in with capital.
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fortune--2020-05-07--Sheryl Sandberg: The coronavirus pandemic is creating a ‘double double shift’ for women. Employers m

Sheryl Sandberg: The coronavirus pandemic is creating a ‘double double shift’ for women. Employers must help

As accusations about source of COVID-19 grow , WHO says it will consider a new mission into virus ’ origins

This op-ed is the first in a series by LeanIn.org co-founders Sheryl Sandberg and Rachel Thomas about the impact of the coronavirus crisis on women in the workplace.
Before the coronavirus crisis hit in the U.S., many women already worked a “double shift,” doing their jobs, then returning to a home where they were responsible for the majority of childcare and domestic work. Now, homeschooling kids and caring for sick or elderly relatives during the pandemic is creating a “double double shift.” It’s pushing women to the breaking point.
According to recent surveys by LeanIn.org and Survey Monkey conducted in April, one in four women say they are experiencing severe anxiety with physical symptoms like a racing heartbeat. One in 10 men say the same. More than half of all women are currently struggling with sleep issues. Women, especially black women, were more likely than men to worry that they wouldn’t be able to pay for essentials in the next few months.
And 31% of women with full-time jobs and families say they have more to do than they can possibly handle. Only 13% of working men with families say the same. Our research indicates that this disparity is not because men are simply shouldering equally heavy burdens with greater ease. Instead, women are disproportionately feeling overwhelmed because they are disproportionately the ones working day and night to keep households afloat.
Consider the coronavirus-era schedule of a typical woman who works full time and has a partner and kids. She’s now spending 71 hours every week on housework and caregiving, including the new responsibilities of the pandemic, according to our survey data. That’s nearly two full-time jobs—before she starts doing her actual full-time job. Meanwhile, men in the same situation are doing 20 fewer hours of labor every week. For women of color and single moms, the demands are even greater.
Employers must work to relieve this stress. We know companies are under tremendous financial pressure during this economic downturn, but helping their teams avoid burnout and illness needs to be a priority. That is how they’ll get the best out of their employees amid all this disruption and retain those workers when the crisis is over.
Only 40% of employees say their companies have taken steps to increase flexibility since the pandemic began, and fewer than 20% say their employer has rejiggered priorities or narrowed the scope of their work. That’s not enough. Leaders and managers should move any deadline that can be moved, take a second look at targets set before the pandemic, rethink the timing of performance reviews, and remove low-priority items from the to-do list.
At Facebook, we suspended our usual performance ratings—instead, all employees will receive bonuses as if they exceeded expectations for the first half of the year—and created an extended childcare benefit and new leave options for caregivers. We’ve also allowed managers across the company to reshuffle priorities on a case-by-case basis. Not every employer can or should follow these exact steps, but finding ways to lighten your employees’ loads can make a big difference.
This is the time for managers to become leaders by giving their teams much-needed emotional support. Fewer than a third of employees—and fewer than a quarter of essential workers—say someone from their company checks in on their well-being these days. If employees are homeschooling kids or worrying about a parent in the hospital, their managers should know that and adjust work plans accordingly. Companies of all sizes can take a cue from the start-up playbook and hold regular “stand up” meetings—named because they’re so short, you don’t sit down for them—to let people quickly share what they’re working on, flag problems, readjust priorities on the fly, and ask for help.
Of course, supporting workers through this pandemic can’t be the responsibility of employers alone. We need national solutions, including paid leave, a higher minimum wage, and affordable childcare. And on the home front, men need to step up. Many have taken on more responsibility at home during this crisis, but if you go from doing 20% to 30% of the housework, it’s still less than half even if it feels like a lot. Evenly sharing the increased domestic burden—splitting the double double shift—will help ensure women emerge from this period with their jobs and health intact.
Women are maxing out and burning out. Getting through this crisis means helping women get through it too. All of us—employers, managers, elected officials, and spouses—need to help lighten their loads.
Sheryl Sandberg is COO of Facebook and co-founder of LeanIn.Org. Rachel Thomas is co-founder and CEO of LeanIn.Org.
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—Coronavirus is making clear there is no solidarity in the EU
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—When government fails businesses, communities can step up to help them thrive
—Listen to Leadership Next, a Fortune podcast examining the evolving role of CEO
—WATCH: CEO of Canada’s biggest bank on the keys to leading through the coronavirus
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fortune--2020-05-07--6 great wines to sip on this spring

6 great wines to sip on this spring

Springtime is finally here, and as winemakers start to plot the next season’s harvest, it’s also time to open new bottles after a long period of hibernation (and fermentation).
Below are a number of wines ideal for drinks inside or al fresco (where appropriate and when minding social distancing) as the temperatures warm up, carrying you into the inevitably rosé-drenched days of summer.
The 2018 Joel Gott Pinot Noir. Courtesy of Joel Gott
Joel Gott Pinot Noir 2018: It might be off-putting to lead a spring wine list with a red, but bear with us. A Central Coast blend sourced from vineyards in Santa Barbara County and Monterey, the marine layer plays a significant role in the long ripening of the red fruit flavors that burst upon the first taste, followed by soft, velvety tannins on the mid-palate, and a long, elegant finish. Also expect aromas of cherries and cola balanced by notes of pine and savory herbs. SRP: $20.
Cakebread Cellars Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc. Courtesy of Cakebread Cellars
Cakebread Cellars Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2018: Perfect on its own or with food, this Sauv Blanc boasts fresh aromas of white flowers, ripe melon, and citrus fruit followed by rich, zesty flavors of pink grapefruit, melon, and guava. That all leads to a crisp finish buoyed by bright acidity and refreshing citrus mineral tones. Ideal with seafood, poultry, vegetables, and salads. SRP: $30.
Cakebread Cellars Napa Valley Chardonnay. Courtesy of Cakebread Cellars
Cakebread Cellars Napa Valley Chardonnay 2017: This is not your average heavy-oaked California Chardonnay. Instead, this is a soft wine with a zing on the finish. Expect a floral nose with a sampling of fruit—especially fresh citrus, orange blossoms, and white peach. On the palate, it is weighty on the tongue yet well-balanced with acidity. It’s all topped off with a clean finish and lingering minerality, intertwined with pear and apple lemon. Pair with roast chicken, salmon rillette, or crab cakes. SRP: $40
Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte Sakura Réserve Exclusive Rosé. Courtesy of Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte
Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte Sakura Réserve Exclusive Rosé: You shouldn’t always judge a book by its cover or a wine by its label. But with Nicolas Feuillatte, you can generally be rest assured that the contents will always delight. Thus, the limited edition Sakura Réserve Rosé is a prime gift choice for springtime with its dreamy, vibrant pattern flowering branches and delicate petals against a blue sky. This wine offers layered red fruit aromatics with elegant bubbles as it’s made up of 45% Pinot Noir, 45% Pinot Meunier, and 10% Chardonnay. SRP: $45.
Mayacamas 2018 Chardonnay. Courtesy of Mayacamas
Mayacamas Chardonnay 2018: The aromatic and fresh Chardonnay features acacia blossom, lemon zest, marzipan, and green pear notes underpinned by lingering salinity. While you can absolutely drink it now, the winemaker predicts it will continue to make for a mouthwatering finish over the next 15 years. SRP: $50.
Nyetimber Classic Cuvée. Courtesy of Nyetimber
Nyetimber Classic Cuvée: Produced in West Sussex in the south of England, Nyetimber’s signature wine is a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. After aging in the cellar for three years, the result is a pale golden-hued sparkling wine with toasty and spicy aromas and a palate of honey, almond, pastry and baked apples. Overall, it’s a well balanced bottle of elegance and intensity. SRP: $60.
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—WATCH: Can San Francisco Be Saved?
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fortune--2020-05-07--Britain’s banks are facing $99 billion in bad debt due to pandemic, Bank of England warns

The U.K.’s banking industry has the financial strength to withstand the coronavirus pandemic, even though the central bank projects credit losses of about 80 billion pounds ($99 billion) in its latest stress test.
The Bank of England said lenders could suffer impairments worth 3.5% of their loans to households and businesses by the end of 2021, if the economy deteriorates sharply. However, it emphasized that Britain’s banking system “is in a stronger position due to the regulatory reforms implemented after the 2008 financial crisis,” with enough capital to absorb losses and extra state support introduced during the pandemic to help borrowers and the economy.
The BOE and regulators around the world have raced to help banks withstand the financial strains of the virus outbreak by reducing capital requirements, delaying new rules and making it easier for employees to work from home while complying with rules.
Under the BOE’s stress test model published Thursday, corporate defaults could account for 19 billion pounds of losses despite a swath of government support programs, while consumer credit losses could spike and a 4 billion-pound hit from mortgage losses would be tempered by the payment holidays introduced in March.
Trading desks could face 7 billion pounds of losses under this stress scenario, although the BOE noted that banks’ trading books are much smaller now than they were in the 2008 crisis.
British lenders have already begun to brace themselves for the pandemic’s effects, last week setting aside billions of pounds to cover soured loans as the lockdown sends the U.K. economy into steep recession. They also warned of tough times ahead as the pandemic and its aftershocks cripple corporate clients in entire industries.
The test included Barclays Plc, HSBC Holdings Plc, Lloyds Banking Group Plc, Nationwide, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Santander UK and Standard Chartered Plc.
The central bank offered further relief on Thursday, announcing that it was cutting the capital requirement known as Pillar 2A to a “nominal amount” as volatility was making estimates difficult.
More must-read finance coverage from Fortune:
—Saving lives vs. saving the economy is a false tradeoff, economists say
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—Inside the chaotic rollout of the SBA’s PPP loan plan
—Listen to Leadership Next, a Fortune podcast examining the evolving role of CEO
—WATCH: Why the banks were ready for the financial impact of coronavirus
Subscribe to How To Reopen, Fortune’s weekly newsletter on what it takes to reboot business in the midst of a pandemic


fortune--2020-05-07--Who said M&A was dead? Telefonica’s O2 and Liberty Global merge to create a $38 billion telecoms gia

Who said M&A was dead? Telefonica’s O2 and Liberty Global merge to create a $38 billion telecoms giant

Telefonica SA and Liberty Global Plc have agreed to create the U.K.’s largest phone and internet operator, threatening their rivals and marking another industry-defining deal for billionaire John Malone.
The deal values the new company at 31 billion pounds ($38 billion), with Telefonica’s O2 being valued at 12.7 billion pounds and Liberty’s Virgin Media valued at around 18.7 billion pounds. The companies, which started negotiations in December, said in a statement Thursday there are 6.2 billion pounds in synergies.
The joint venture, first reported by Bloomberg, is a chance for both parent companies to rework two mid-tier rivals into a fully-fledged competitor to BT Group Plc in so called converged services, which combine fixed and wireless phone, broadband and television. It is also one of the largest deals since Covid-19 was declared a pandemic in early March.
Telefonica’s share rose as much as 4.4% as the announcement overshadowed mixed earnings, while BT revealed that it is canceling its dividend, causing shares to fall over 11%.
Telefonica will receive an initial payment from Liberty Global of about 2.5 billion pounds and another 5.7 billion pounds in future recapitalizations, and both companies will have equal stakes in the new venture. Each company will name half of the 8-member board, which will have a chairman who will rotate every two years. The deal is set to be completed in mid-2021.
The announcement is the latest deal for John Malone, Liberty’s billionaire chairman, who has been on a relentless M&A spree since selling cable provider Tele-Communications Inc. to AT&T Inc. for $48 billion in 1999. His track record took a knock late last year when his effort to sell UPC Switzerland for $6.4 billion fell apart.
For Telefonica Chairman Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete, it’s also an opportunity to signal to investors he’s committed to restructuring the debt-laden company.
Investors have punished Telefonica stock since Pallete became chairman four years ago, as the Madrid-based company failed to deliver clear prospects for growth and cutting debt. The shares are down 30% so far this year, even after he introduced in November a strategy to focus on Spain, Brazil, the U.K. and Germany, which generate the bulk of sales, and place other Latin America activities into a separate division.
Key Terms
O2 will be debt-free, while Virgin Media comes with 11.3 billion pounds of net debt
Any cash flow generation and financing needs will be divided equally between Telefonica and Liberty Global
The new unit will service over 46 million video, broadband and mobile subscribers
Banks have underwritten 4 billion pounds for financing for O2 business
The companies have yet to announce who will lead the new unit, with the board equally split, and the chairman to rotate every two years, first going to Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries.
Both sides will have the right to kick off an IPO three years after the deal closes
By partnering with Liberty in the U.K., Telefonica puts Vodafone Group Plc in a difficult position. It deprives it of a potential partner which could have set it on the road to offering consumers fixed-line services wrapped into lucrative bundles at a national scale. And Virgin will no longer need to pay it for mobile wholesale access. That’s something Liberty would have needed to keep doing to capture potential new revenue streams from the next generation of wireless technology, such as the proliferation of smart devices. Analysts have not ruled out a fightback from the Newbury, England-based carrier.
While a potential IPO could provide “transparency” on the value of the new venture, the two companies aren’t “entering the deal with the idea of leaving,” Mike Fries, CEO of Liberty Global said. He added the transaction is a huge vote of confidence in the U.K., in spite of the uncertainties surrounding Brexit, which will “occur, and everyone will manage their way through it.”
The tie-up comes at a crucial moment for Virgin. Rival BT is the only U.K. operator to own both a mobile and fixed network, and it’s been investing to upgrade to fiber optic broadband. This threatens one of Virgin’s key selling points — the speed of its internet services. It also gets a partner with significant experience in convergence and building and operating fiber networks.
However, the merger means O2 can grow beyond the mobile-only market in which it currently operates.
Speaking in an earnings call Thursday, BT CEO Philip Jansen said the deal wasn’t a surprise. “Personally I think the industry needs consolidation,” he said.
Telefonica was one of the first European carriers to make the shift to convergence: offering fixed- and mobile-phone services, along with broadband and television. The company is also Europe’s leading operator of fiber-optic broadband, a crucial type of infrastructure which the U.K. is still struggling to roll out.
But it hasn’t always been able to take a leading market position with this know-how. In 2018 it was left as a mobile-only carrier in Germany, reliant on buying wholesale access from rivals in order to offer fixed and broadband services, after Liberty sold its cable business there to Vodafone.
“We think this deal will trigger a ripple effect on the UK market,” said Kester Mann, analyst at CCS Insight. “Vodafone, Three, Sky and TalkTalk will all be assessing their positions and further deal-making can’t be ruled out.”
More must-read finance coverage from Fortune:
—Saving lives vs. saving the economy is a false tradeoff, economists say
—Exxon Mobil’s CEO is banking on a return to normal, but most others aren’t so sure
—Cybercriminals adapt to the coronavirus faster than the A.I. cops hunting them
—How cannabis purveyors are coping during the pandemic
—Inside the chaotic rollout of the SBA’s PPP loan plan
—Listen to Leadership Next, a Fortune podcast examining the evolving role of CEOs
—WATCH: Why the banks were ready for the financial impact of the coronavirus
Subscribe to How to Reopen, Fortune’s weekly newsletter on what it takes to reboot business in the midst of a pandemic.