Tag Archives: Bloomberg L.P.

Technology

Twitch Considering Cutting Streamer Pay to Boost Profits

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Photo: Martin Bureau (Getty Images)

2022 is shaping up to be a rough year for content creators and sellers trying to make living through major tech platforms. Sellers on Amazon and Etsy are already facing increased fees and now new pay cuts may reportedly make their way to Twitch.

A new Bloomberg report citing people familiar with Twitch’s pay planning claims the company wants to incentivize streamers to run more ads in addition to considering reducing the portion of subscription fees allocated to performers. More specifically, the site’s top streamers would reportedly see their share of subscriptions dip down from 70% to 50%, according to Bloomberg. The company is also considering introducing multiple pay tiers with different criteria required to qualify for each. All told, these changes are intended to boost Twitch’s profitability, though it could come at the expense of their community’s most active users.

Twitch did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment.

On the flip side, the sources speaking with Bloomberg said the company may consider easing up on its exclusivity restrictions which would let creators stream on other platforms and potentially raking in some additional income there as well.

The tentative monetization considerations come amid a time of flux at Twitch. On one hand, the company’s riding high on a pandemic induced viewership surge. Some 24% of U.S. internet users between the ages of 16 to 64 said they began watching more live streams during the pandemic, according to GlobalWebIndex data viewed by Insider Intelligence. On the other hand though, even with that uptick in eyeballs, Twitch is simultaneously reeling from what Bloomberg calls a mass “exodus” of employees disappointed in the company’s direction. Some 300 employees reportedly left Twitch last year, with another 60 leaving in the first three months of 2022. Some top creators have left too. In the past year both DrLupo and TimTheTatman, two prominent streamers, left the site for rival YouTube.

Twitch streamers aren’t the only ones bracing for a financial squeeze from their Big Tech bosses.

Earlier this year, Amazon announced it would add a 5% “fuel and inflation surcharge” to third party sellers who use the company’s fulfillment centers as a way to offset increased costs. In a notice to sellers viewed by the Associated Press, Amazon said increased hourly wages, construction costs, and new hires during the pandemic were all to blame for the increased price hikes. Still, Amazon wasn’t exactly struggling as a company during the pandemic, though. In the first quarter of 2021, the company posted a record $108.5 billion in revenue which comes out to nearly triple its revenue from the same time the previous year.

Over at Etsy sellers went on strike and issued a digital boycott over what they viewed as exorbitant increases to seller fees. Etsy recently tried to increase seller transaction fees by 30% which would in effect raise the seller fee from 5% to 6.5%

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Business

Apple Is Reportedly Giving Retail Workers a Raise to Keep Them

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Photo: Mario Tama (Getty Images)

In the era of the Great Resignation and a tighter labor market, it’s common sense to have companies review and increase the benefits they offer their workers, especially when that company is the most valuable one in the world.

Well, it seems like the lightbulb has gone off at Apple, according to a new Bloomberg report published on Friday. The outlet reported that the tech giant was providing raises of between 2% and 10% to its U.S. retail workers, including salespeople, Genius Bar tech support staff, and some hourly employees. Not all employees will receive a pay bump, Bloomberg reported. Apple began informing stores and individual employees of the news this week, meaning that not everyone affected has been informed yet.

The raises will purportedly go into effect this month, according to Bloomberg. Notably, these pay bumps are separate from Apple’s annual wage revisions and wage increases, which are generally carried out in October. If true, the changes are yet another example of Apple’s response the job market’s shifting reality, as well as a possible attempt to address complaints from retail workers. The company has roughly 270 retail stores in the U.S.

Sources with knowledge of the matter who spoke to Bloomberg stated that the wage increases targeted employees who worked at Apple Stores before the pandemic started in 2020. In addition, the raises aim to put the wages of staffers with more seniority on par with newer employees.

Gizmodo reached out to Apple on Saturday to confirm the news about pay raises but did not hear back by the time of publication. We’ll update this article if someone gets back to us.

Apple’s purported wage increases were reported just days after Bloomberg informed that the company would offer more benefits to both full-time and part-time retail employees. The changes, which Apple confirmed to other outlets, will provide double the amount of sick days available to workers and increase employees’ annual vacation days. Part-time employees will also be eligible for up to six paid vacation days for the first time and six weeks of paid parental leave.

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Entertainment

Netflix’s Squid Game Will Reportedly Generate $900M in Value

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Photo: Giuseppe Cacace / AFP (Getty Images)

A look at Netflix’s show data, which is normally held under lock and key and not available to the public, has provided a new information on what the success of South Korean drama Squid Game means to the company. In short, buckets and buckets of money and lots of people sticking around until the end.

Citing confidential data in internal Netflix documents, Bloomberg published a report on Sunday stating that Squid Game will generate roughly $900 million in value for the company. This number doesn’t refer to sales—the company doesn’t sell specific shows—but rather reflects the unique way Netflix determines a show’s contribution to its bottom line based on how many subscribers have watched it.

The number alone would be impressive, but what makes it truly outlandish is the fact that the show only cost $21.4 million to make. Some entertainment executives maintain that producing Squid Game in the U.S., where top talent demands top dollar and studios work according to union production regulations, would probably have cost five to 10 times more.

Bloomberg’s report also provided a detailed look at data the press, investors, Hollywood, and even show creators have been itching to get their hands on for years.

For instance, while Netflix releases data on how many people watched at least two minutes of a show on some occasions, it doesn’t reveal how many people watch more than that or how many people finish a show. Until now, at least.

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According to Bloomberg, Netflix reportedly estimates that 89% of viewers who started watching Squid Game have gone on to watch at least 75 minutes. That translates to more than one episode. For reference, 132 million that have watched at least two minutes in the show’s first 23 days.

When it comes to how many people actually finished watching the show in the 23 days since its premiere, the outlet reports that this amounts to 66% of viewers, or 87 million people.

Overall, viewers have seemingly spent more than 1.4 billion hours watching Squid Game, Bloomberg stated.

The data is illuminating and will likely fuel Netflix’s appetite for even more international content and motivate other studios to look outside U.S. borders for good shows. As a fellow K-drama and international show fan, this makes me happy. There are so many amazing shows being made across the world, and I appreciate the opportunity to find more of them on mainstream streaming platforms.

Netflix isn’t very happy Bloomberg published its confidential internal data, though. The company told Bloomberg through its attorney that it would be inappropriate for the outlet to publish the data in the documents.

“Netflix does not discuss these metrics outside the company and takes significant steps to protect them from disclosure,” the attorney told the outlet.

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Business

Tesla Reportedly Paid $1 Million To Former Employee Over Slurs

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Photo: NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP (Getty Images)

A former Tesla employee has won $1 million from the company after it was found that Tesla failed to act when a supervisor referred to that employee, Melvin Berry, with a racial slur, Bloomberg Law reports.

Berry, who is Black, was hired at Tesla’s plant in Alameda, California in 2015. He recently raised a lawsuit against the company that alleged a supervisor called him the n-word, then, after Berry confronted him, required Berry to work longer hours and perform more physically demanding tasks than his colleagues.

Tesla denied the allegations, but arbitrator Elaine Rushing gave credence to the allegations, saying in a previously unpublished May 12 hearing, “Case law is clear that one instance of a supervisor directing the N-word at a subordinate is sufficient to constitute severe harassment.”

Bloomberg Law notes that cases involving alleged racial discrimination can provide difficulties when it comes to winning a settlement, since it can often be difficult to prove that harassment actually took place. In Berry’s case, for example, it could be difficult to verify that his supervisor actually did require him to undertake more physically demanding work due to his skin color. That a large settlement has taken place suggests there was ample evidence to back up Berry’s claim.

Here’s a little more from the story on how the result of the arbitration, which normally remains confidential, came to light:

While Berry’s arbitration was confidential, which is typical, his victory came to light in a standard petition his lawyer filed in court to enforce the arbitrator’s order. His lawyer, Lawrence Organ, said in a phone interview that his client won’t be taking any further legal action as Tesla has since paid the award.

Three-quarters of the $1.02 million award is for Berry’s attorneys’ fees and legal costs. Rushing also directed Tesla to pay the ex-employee $266,278.50 in damages, including $100,000 to compensate for emotional distress.

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Tesla, for its own part, alleged that Berry had left voluntarily, left no written record of the supervisor referring to him by a slur, and only deserved $148 for economic losses.

This settlement comes after other allegations of racial discrimination at Tesla plants. Marcus Vaughn, also a Fremont plant worker, sued the company in 2017 because he alleged that the company failed to investigate his written report that co-workers and supervisors also called him the n-word. A different lawsuit alleged that Tesla failed to quickly clean up hateful graffiti in common areas.

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