BUSINESS NEWS MARCH 10TH, 2016
TRUMP’S MODELING AGENCY PROFITING FROM FOREIGN WORKERS
Throughout his campaign, Donald Trump has made one thing very clear: that he will bring jobs back to American workers. He has repeatedly slammed the United States’ H-1B visa program for highly skilled workers. Trump went on to say that foreign workers have abused the H-1B program in order to substitute American workers at lower pay. However, recent studies have shown that Trump’s own modeling agency has been using the H-1B program for years. The agency is currently embroiled in a lawsuit by Jamaican model Alexia Palmer, who is accusing Trump Model Management of lying about wages and defrauding the U.S. government on the issue of H-1B visas.
FCC FIGHTS FOR INTERNET PRIVACY
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a statement on Thursday that the FCC wants to implement a plan that would make it harder for Internet Service Providers to share their users’ information without consent. He went on to add that assuring user security and privacy was the FCC’s top priority. The proposal would allow ISP’s to share your information, but the regulations would be much stricter. In order to prevent your information being shared, you would have to opt out of the service. Cable companies have slammed the proposal, saying that it would be overly restrictive and not allow them to function in the way that they always have.
OIL COMPANIES SELL TO RAISE CASH
The record breaking oil plunge has led desperate oil companies to sell stock in order to raise cash, bringing to light the fear surrounding the oil industry at the moment. Rumors of oil bankruptcy have been few and far between, but recently, they have started to grow, and this desperate sell-off seems like an attempt to quiet those whisperings. Since 2013, oil company stock offerings have gone up nearly $5 billion, from $6 billion in 2013 to $10.5 billion in 2016. Jeff Schlegel, co-head of the global energy practice at the law firm Jones Day, says that the worse your balance sheet looks, the harder it is to created a fix. Oil companies are doing what they have to do.
23 YEAR OLD COLLEGE STUDENT GIVEN PARENTAL ULTIMATUM
Akash Nigam was a junior at the University of Michigan when he, along with some friends, released the group messaging app Blend. A few months later, over half the undergraduate population of his school was using it. Nigam told his parents that he wanted to drop out to pursue the project full time. His father, Pavan Nigam, understood the allure of the entrepreneurial world, having founded the medical site WebMD, along with some colleagues. However, he also wanted Akash to finish college. Pavan decided to draw up a contract with Akash, saying that if he managed to raise $3 million from the venture capitalist world by a certain date, he could drop out to pursue Blend. Was Akash able to meet the deadline? What is Blend?