Filed under: Technology, Market News, Job Market, Entertainment Industry, Scandals and Lawsuits
Facebook just came out with its staffing report and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg would have to agree it's "pretty depressing."
Facebook (FB) is the latest tech giant to release its diversity or lack of diversity statistics. Almost 70 percent of Facebook's employees are men and 57 percent are white. Asians represent 37 percent of the company but Hispanics only account for 4 percent of staff and African Americans account for 2 percent. Tech companies like Google (GOOG), LinkedIn (LNKD) and Yahoo (YHOO) have become more forthright about their diversity statistics only recently under pressure from civil rights activist Jesse Jackson and the reports so far have shown a distinct lack of diversity in Silicon Valley. Facebook says it has formed partnerships with groups to find more women and minorities to add to its staff.
Network news is about to lose its only remaining female anchor. Diane Sawyer will be stepping down from the anchor seat at ABC's World NewsTonight as of August. Fill-in anchor, David Muir, will take her spot. It is just one part of a major staffing shuffle at ABC News, a unit of Disney (DIS). George Stephanopoulos will become the lead anchor for breaking news and election night effectively outranking Muir. Sawyer will continue at ABC doing investigative pieces and high profile interviews -- a role once reserved for ABC's Barbara Walters who retired from the network earlier this year.
In its ongoing crackdown on high-frequency trading the New York State Attorney General's office is suing Barclays for allegedly misleading investors about high frequency traders in its so called "dark pools" -- off-exchange venues where institutional investors like to make big trades away from the public eye in the hope of avoiding having part of their buy or sell order picked off before the entire trade is completed. But the AG says Barclays actively sought to attract high-frequency traders in its dark pools. In a statement it said, "Barclays' dark pool was full of predators -- there at Barclays' invitation."
And finally, GoPro is ready for its closeup today. The company is going public trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker GPRO. Shares priced on the high end of its range at $24 apiece. The company raised $427 million in the offering. Demand was hot and it's no surprise. According to its filing, GoPros were the No. 1 selling camcorders in the U.S. in 2013.
-Produced by Karina Huber.