Silicon Valley Tech News Roundup – February 13th
NFT marketplace Cent halts all NFT trading – 2/11
In an interview with Reuters, Cameron Hejazi (the CEO and co-founder of Cent, an NFT marketplace) announced the company is temporarily suspending most transactions due to plagiarized and fake tokens. It stopped users from buying and selling NFTs on February 6th.
Hejazi elaborated Cent tried to ban scammers. However, it proved almost impossible. Hejazi said: “Every time we would ban one, another one would come up, or three more would come up.” Likewise, Hejazi stated in the interview: “There’s a spectrum of activity that is happening that basically shouldn’t be happening – like, legally.”
In January, another NFT marketplace OpenSea said more than 80% of the tokens created via the company’s free minting tool included plagiarized content, spam, and fake collections. The company stated it is working on deterring scammers after numerous photographers and artists complained to the company for not addressing the issue of plagiarism.
Tesla sued for racial discrimination in California – 2/11
The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) is suing Tesla for alleged systemic racial discrimination and harassment after conducting an investigation into the company’s practices. The agency claims it received hundreds of complaints from workers employed at the Tesla Fremont factory. In the lawsuit, DFEH claims individual workers were subjected to racial slurs “as often as 50 to 100 times a day”.
The Director of the DFEH, Kevin Kish, stated the agency’s investigation: “found evidence that Tesla’s Fremont factory is a racially segregated workplace where black workers are subjected to racial slurs and discriminated against in job assignments, discipline, pay and promotion.”
Meanwhile, Tesla published a blog post on the company’s website calling the lawsuit “misguided.” Furthermore, the company stated: “Tesla strongly opposes all forms of discrimination and harassment and has a dedicated Employee Relations team that responds to and investigates all complaints… Over the past five years, the DFEH has been asked on almost 50 occasions by individuals who believe they were discriminated against or harassed to investigate Tesla. On every single occasion, when the DFEH closed an investigation, it did not find misconduct against Tesla. It therefore strains credibility for the agency to now allege, after a three-year investigation, that systematic racial discrimination and harassment somehow existed at Tesla.”
Apple giving raises to its retail workers – 2/11
Bloomberg reports Apple is raising the salaries of its U.S.-based retail workers. Genius Bar Tech Support staff, salespeople, and some hourly employees will receive raises ranging between 2% and 10%. Based on the report, the company started informing the employees this week, and salary bumps will go into effect this month.
Apple usually carries out its annual wage revisions and increases every October. However, these wage increases are separate. A source who talked to Bloomberg said the raises are for the employees who started working for the company before the pandemic.
The latest news comes after the report Apple is planning to offer more benefits for its part-time and full-time retail employees. Apple confirmed workers would get more annual vacation days and double the number of sick days. Likewise, part-time employees will be eligible for six weeks of paid parental leave and paid vacation days.
Didi shares drop after Tencent news – 2/11
In pre-market trade on Friday, the shares of Didi, the Chinese ride-sharing company, fell in the United States after Tencent clarified it did not buy additional shares in the company.
On Thursday, a regulatory filing seemed to suggest Tencent purchased another 1.7 million shares of Didi, which would bring its stake in the company to 7.4%. The news caused Didi shares to go up by 8%. However, Tencent’s spokesperson clarified the situation on Friday. The spokesperson stated these shares were previously undisclosed, and the company did not purchase any more of Didi stock.
Days after Didi went public on the U. S. stock exchange, Chinese regulators opened up a cybersecurity investigation into the company. Didi shares lost 70% of their value since their initial IPO. Because of all these factors, Didi announced it would delist from the New York Stock exchange and list in Hong Kong instead.
