Facebook launches Facebook Stories site; LinkedIn’s latest earnings beat Wall Street’s expectations.
Facebook has no friends: Stock slides below $20 [CNNMONEY]
As Facebook’s stock continues to bleed, institutional investors are beginning to unload their stakes. Fidelity Investments, which owns both public and private shares of Facebook, sold more than 1.9 million public shares in June across 21 different mutual funds, according to Morningstar data.
Facebook Stories: a Facebook site with collected stories and infographics [ABCNEWS]
Facebook Stories, a site located at FacebookStories.com, collects stories around different themes. The first month’s? Remembering. “The project started as a result of our seeing a number of stories coming into the company from different channels, including stories we would read about in the media,” Tucker Bounds, a Facebook spokesperson, told ABC News. “We wanted to create a place where we could celebrate great stories.”
‘BlackBerry is not in a trough’ – RIM CEO Thorsten Heins interview [THE TELEGRAPH]
Heins claims simply, “our platform isn’t burning”. He adds, “I’ve been kind of surprised by the credit that Windows Phone already gets.” He points at meagre sales and ask “What are the proof points for its ‘success’?”
How Microsoft will profit off webmail without reading your inbox [WIRED]
Microsoft is taking a direct swipe at Gmail, which scans emails to target users with ads related to the content of the messages. The practice has alienated some potential users ever since Gmail launched in 2004, despite Google’s assurances that the automated process doesn’t compromise their privacy. By promising not to read your email, Microsoft clearly sees greater privacy as a selling point to lure those put off by what they see as Gmail’s prying eyes.
LinkedIn Q2 earnings beat the Street: $228.2 million in sales; EPS of $0.03 [TECHCRUNCH]
LinkedIn says that it now has 174 million members, up from 116 million a year ago and 161 million in Q2012. ComScore puts the unique visitors for the quarter at 106 million, meaning it has a pretty strong rate for active users. Pageviews were down slightly to 9.3 billion from 9.4 billion the quarter before.
Trying to be nimble, Knight Capital stumbles [THE NEW YORK TIMES]
In a bid to keep a grip on its customers, Knight pushed to introduce a new system that would position it competitively amid market changes that took effect on Wednesday, according to people briefed on the matter. Unlike rivals that hesitated, Knight Capital’s presence on Day 1 would ensure bragging rights and extra profits. But in the rollout of the system that morning, Knight created a blizzard of erroneous orders to buy shares of major stocks. The orders caused wild swings that affected the shares of more than 100 companies, including Ford Motor, RadioShack and American Airlines.
