While the new coronavirus-spurred stimulus law offers help to all kinds of companies, startups may be barred from tapping into one of its more generous provisions.The law sets aside some $350 billion for loans to small businesses — companies with 500 or fewer employees — that come with low interest and the prospect of forgiveness for companies that maintain their workforces.The vast majority of startups would seem to qualify for the loans, because they have fewer than 500 employees.But they may get tripped up on rules that look not just their own workforces but those of affiliated companies, which may include other startups with the same venture backers.Click here for more BI Prime stories.

The $2 trillion stimulus package President Trump just signed has provisions designed to help businesses ranging from sole proprietorships to giant corporations weather the coronavirus crisis. 

But people representing Silicon Valley and the venture-capital industry are worried the law could leave one class of businesses at a big disadvantage — startups.

The package offers payroll tax relief and loans to small businesses — defined as companies with 500 or fewer employees — at low interest rates and the prospect of forgiveness. Many startups would seemingly qualify for those loans; some 97% of those for which employment information was available had fewer than 500 employees, according to date from the National Venture Capital Association and PitchBook. But such companies may in fact be ineligible due to existing rules governing how businesses must calculate their number of employees.

"We're very worried that a lot of startups and workers at startups are going to fall through the cracks here," said Justin Field, senior vice president of government affairs at the NVCA.

The financial assistance would be especially welcome by some startups which lack the cash flow and reserves of larger, established tech companies. Several startups in Silicon Valley have begun laying off staff in recent weeks.

The stimulus package allows businesses of all sizes to defer paying their payroll taxes for this year for as much as two years. More importantly, though, it sets aside some $350 billion in loans for small businesses. The loans, which can be for as much as $10 million per company, can be used to pay workers, rent, mortgages, or utility bills. The law caps the amount of interest that can be charged on them at 4% and will forgive loans to companies that maintain their workforces through June 30.

Startups may have to count other startups' employees as their own

The problem for startups comes from the fact that the loans are due to be administered by the Small Business Administration and are subject to the agency's rules. Under its existing loan eligibility regulations, the SBA requires that companies include not only the workers they employ directly but also those employed by any companies with which they are affiliated.

Here's where things get dicey for startups. The SBA considers a company to be affiliated with a second company if the second company owns a controlling stake in the first company or if an investor owns a controlling stake in both. Under the SBA's rules, an investor can be considered to have a controlling stake if it owns as little as 20% or so of a company, if it is the largest investor or one of only a handful of investors with similarly-sized positions. A company that is controlled by an investor or another company would have to include in its employee count not only its own workers, but those of its controlling investor and those employed by any other company the investor controlled.

At least nominally, many venture-backed startups are likely to run into problems with those affiliation rules. Many startups are controlled by one or two investors, or at least they would be considered to be under SBA rules. And many of those investors have controlling stakes — as defined by the SBA — in lots of other companies. Thanks to such arrangements, a startup that may have 50 or fewer employees could, under the SBA's rules, be considered to have well in excess of 500, when its own workers are combined with all those who are employed by all the other startups in its investors' portfolios.

Silicon Valley is hoping for waivers

Unless something changes, "many startups with under 500 employees but who have equity investors will not qualify for emergency relief to deal with payroll, paid sick leave, and other operational challenges due to the coronavirus," Natalie McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for TechNet, an organization that represent Silicon Valley and the venture industry in Washington.

TechNet and the NVCA are pushing for the SBA to issue waivers from the affiliation rules to allow startups to qualify for the loans. Alternatively, Congress could address the issue in follow-up legislation.

Regardless, many startups would seem to need the help. Numerous startups have had to lay off staff in recent days and weeks as the pandemic-triggered downturn has worsened. Earlier this week, for example, TripActions, a corporate-travel startup laid off nearly 30% of its staff.  Compass, a real-estate brokerage backed by SoftBank, laid off 15% of its staff this week. 

In addition to loans targeted specifically at small-businesses, the stimulus package offers loans to companies of all sizes. But those loans don't come with the promise of forgiveness and place certain restrictions on companies such as limiting how much they can pay their executives and high-salaried workers.

Got a tip about startups or the venture industry? Contact this reporter via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., message him on Twitter @troywolv, or send him a secure message through Signal at 415.515.5594. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

Original author: Troy Wolverton

Airbnb is pumping the brakes on new hires and freezing its marketing spending as its losses from the coronavirus fallout mount, according to a report Friday from The Information.

The home-sharing startup gave teams a directive to halt or severely limit most hiring late last week, and confirmed the changes in a company all-hands on Thursday, according to the report, which cites an anonymous source. 

The changes were implemented earlier this month as the startup, last valued at $31 billion, began assessing the damage caused by coronavirus-related cancellations. Airbnb decided to offer its customers in affected areas a full refund as more states implemented bans on travel and city-wide shelter-in-place orders became more common.

Airbnb, which once stood out among the crop of sharing economy startups for being profitable, is now losing hundreds of millions of dollars, The Information reported. 

Technical and essential roles at Airbnb are still open and moving through the process on a case-by-case basis, a source close to the company told Business Insider.

An independent analysis of open job listings at Airbnb by data analytics firm thinknum showed that technical and contingent roles dropped sharply starting in January, and have continued to fall. Product and marketing were among the hardest hit, but it was not clear if the roles were filled by candidates already in the hiring pipeline or whether the roles were removed entirely.

The travel industry has been among the hardest hit as markets fell, with airlines and other tech companies like Uber and Lyft taking a brunt of the selloffs. In conversations with Business Insider, multiple venture capital investors speculated that Airbnb, Uber, and Lyft may not make it out of a pending recession at all. 

In September, Airbnb published a blog post signaling its intention to go public sometime in 2020, and many believed it would do so via a direct listing because of its ample cash reserves and name-brand recognition. Companies that opt to go public via a direct listing don't raise money, as is the case for a traditional IPO, but employees and company insiders are able to sell their stock on the open market on the first day of trading.

"I think it's definitely going to impact timing," Torch Capital founder and managing partner Jon Keidan told Business Insider. "Everything will be pushed back. You just can't do that with uncertainty, and Airbnb is going to be heavily, heavily impacted. It will be tough. There will be a big delay at the least, and they might rethink strategy entirely."

Airbnb now joins Uber in implementing a hiring freeze, although rumors of freezes abound on Silicon Valley anonymous chat apps and message boards. Other tech giants like Google and Amazon have halted employee reviews and delayed promotions in an attempt to get a handle on the whiplash in public markets.

For Airbnb, the move comes on the heels of a CNBC report that the home-sharing startup was taking meetings with private investors to secure emergency funding in lieu of going public. Multiple investors who spoke with Business Insider claimed the formerly planned direct listing was off the table now that the company needed to raise funds, and it now looks like even an IPO could be delayed in favor of additional private financing.

Airbnb has raised $4.4 billion in venture capital since it was founded in 2008 and is privately valued at $31 billion, according to Pitchbook data. An Airbnb spokesman declined to confirm the details of this report, but said that the startup "is resilient and built to withstand tough times and we're doing all we can to strengthen our community and our company."

Do you work at Airbnb and want to share your story? Contact this reporter via encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 (331) 625-2555 using a nonwork phone, email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or Twitter DM at @megan_hernbroth.

Original author: Megan Hernbroth

Disney is one of the media companies most threatened by the coronavirus because of its large theme park and theatrical businesses.Wall Street analysts at Bernstein, Needham, Rosenblatt Securities, and UBS have started crunching the numbers to figure out how much of a hit the company could take from the outbreak. Disney's usually stable theme-park business risks nearly $2 billion in revenue if the company is forced to close its parks worldwide for a full month.Two of the company's most profitable theme parks, Disney World and Disneyland in the US, are now closed "until further notice" due to the pandemic, the company said on March 27.Disney's streaming services could theoretically benefit from more people staying at home, but they're so new that it's hard for analysts to estimate how that will play out.Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Disney is thought to be the media company most-exposed to the threat of the coronavirus pandemic. The conglomerate generates much its revenue from theme parks, movie releases, and advertising.

The company is being forced to shut down its theme parks around the world, and is starting to push the release dates for its upcoming films, including the live-action "Mulan."

On March 27, Disney took the rare step of extending "until further notice" the closures of two of its most profitable parks, Disney World and Disneyland in the US, because of the pandemic. The company previously said those parks would shut down from mid-March through the end of the month.

"While there is still much uncertainty with respect to the impacts of COVID-19, the safety and well-being of our guests and employees remains The Walt Disney Company's top priority," the company said in the latest announcement.

Wall Street analysts, meanwhile, have been crunching the numbers to figure out how much the coronavirus could cost Disney's business.

No one knows how long the outbreak will weigh on Disney and the broader economy. But here are some of the calculations that analysts are using to estimate the outbreak's impact.

Disney's usually stable parks business is most exposed to coronavirus

Disney's usually stable park, experiences, and products business, which contributed roughly $6.8 billion in operating income in 2019, is its most exposed to the threat of coronavirus.

The company has closed the gates of its theme parks around the world including its most-profitable locations, Disney World and Disneyland, because of the virus.

Analysts at UBS estimated on March 10 that Disney could take a nearly $2 billion revenue hit in 2020, or about 2.5% of what the analyst firm forecasted the company would generate that year, if it were forced to shut down all of its theme parks for 30 days.

Closing Disney's US theme parks, alone, for 30 days could cost the company $1.5 billion in revenue in 2020, and $803 million in operating income, the UBS analysts estimated.

Analysts at Bernstein are also trying to forecast how long the park closures, and a possible decline in attendance after the parks reopen, could weigh on Disney's business.

So far, Disney has said Disney World and Disneyland will remain closed "until further notice," and that it will continue to pay its hourly cast members there until April 18. Disneyland Paris also shut its gates in mid-March. Disney's parks in Asia are expected to close for two months, the company estimated on its last earnings call.

The Bernstein analysts estimated in a March 9 note:

Base case: Worldwide closures for 45 days; quarterly growth declines through the end of this fiscal year.Lower segment income, before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, through fiscal year 2021.Worst case: Worldwide closures for 60 days; quarterly growth declines through the first half of next fiscal year.
Lower segment income, before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, through fiscal year 2022.

Bernstein's estimates also include other aspects of Disney's parks, experiences, and products division, like its cruise lines. The virus has spread on at least two cruise ships, not operated by Disney, since the outbreak began. And Disney is canceling new cruise departures through the end of March.

"Certainly the COVID-19 [virus] will severely dampen demand for cruises in the near-term, even if those ships continue to operate," the Bernstein analysts wrote.

The studio business could also take a hit if theaters close in more international markets

Disney's studio business could also take a hit if movie theaters in more regions close. Theaters in countries like China, Korea, France, and Italy are already closed.

The company has so far postponed the releases of "Mulan," "The New Mutants," and "Antlers," which were due out in March and April. 

Analysts at Needham said, in a March 13 note, that postponed films may face more competition when they're released from other postponed titles and the movies originally scheduled for those months. The firm lowered its estimates for the film division's 2020 earnings, before interest, taxes, and amortization, by 2%, to $3.1 billion.

Bernstein lowered its estimates for the segment's income, which were higher than Needham's, by 19% this fiscal year.

Many analysts expect the impact to Disney's film business will be short lived.

But the bigger, long-term question is whether the coronavirus, especially if followed by a recession, could drive people away from movie theaters in greater numbers.

The biggest threat to Disney's media networks would be a recession, spurred by a coronavirus pandemic

Analysts are also keeping an eye on Disney's cable networks, especially ESPN, as more sporting events get cancelled or delayed around the world.

Disney's overall media-network business, which includes its broadcast and cable channels, brought in $7.5 billion in operating income in 2019, and was the company's largest profit center.

If ESPN, a big contributor to those profits, can't air previously scheduled events and have to find other ways to fill those programming hours, advertising revenues could fall and costs could increase. The specific threat to Disney's networks is unknown at this point, because it hinges on the networks' contracts with rights holders.

Needham lowered its 2020 estimate for Disney's cable profits by 6%, bringing its forecast for the overall media-network segment to $7.7 billion in earnings, before interest, taxes, and amortization.

Other analysts say the damage could be greater if the coronavirus pandemic spurs a recession.

Advertising spending also generally declines during a recession, and analysts have been anticipating that the next recession could also speed up the cord-cutting trend. When money is tight, expensive cable packages could be one of the first things customers cut, given the plethora of streaming alternatives out there. 

Disney, of course, has been preparing for this with the launches of its Disney Plus and ESPN Plus streaming services, and by taking control of Hulu.

Bernstein anticipates: 

Base case: Quarterly advertising growth slows by a few percentage points this fiscal year.Worst case: Quarterly advertising growth slows through the first half of fiscal year 2021, and affiliate revenues decline faster as more subscribers cut the cord.

Disney's streaming business would likely be better off than other segments, but it's too new to tell

The analysts didn't estimate what could happen to Disney's direct-to-consumer and international segment during the coronavirus outbreak. There's so much uncertainty around the business that it's hard to tell. 

In theory, Disney's streaming services, like Disney Plus, could benefit from people staying home and looking for cheaper alternatives to television. But, Disney Plus is so new, having launched in the US and a few other markets in November, that it's unclear if that scenario would play out.

Disney's ad-supported platforms, including ESPN Plus and Hulu, could also be at risk during a recessionary downturn in ad spending.

"Given all the uncertainty that already exists, we have no conviction on whether the incremental positives offset the negatives, or vice-versa," the Bernstein analysts wrote. "Hence, we leave our forecast and valuation unchanged."

Original author: Ashley Rodriguez

The coronavirus disease has transformed life in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as elsewhere in the world.San Francisco declared a state of emergency in February, was one of many Bay Area cities to enter a three-week shelter-in-place order on March 17, and now the city is gearing up for an expected surge in cases.There are now 279 confirmed cases of the virus in the city. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

San Francisco now has 279 confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease, known as COVID-19, as the respiratory illness continues to spread across the country and the world.

The World Health Organization officially declared the virus a pandemic as it has infected more than 94,000 in the US, surpassing China as the world's largest outbreak.

The state of California has 4,588 confirmed cases as its cities, including San Francisco, prepare for a surge in cases of the infectious disease.

Here's how San Francisco has addressed the coronavirus pandemic and is gearing up to continue fighting the virus.

Original author: Bryan Pietsch and Katie Canales

Amazon is inviting sellers and vendors to submit deals for this year's Prime Day, its annual mega shopping event, despite the supply chain issues it's facing amid the coronavirus outbreak.One email said vendors should be ready to ship their Prime Day inventory to Amazon warehouses by May, as purchase orders will be placed from as early as March 31.For special Lightning Deals, limited-time offers that get featured on Amazon's deals page, the deadline to submit is May 8 and an extra $500 per deal is required, one of the emails said.The invitations show some parts of Amazon is already working on future events, signaling anticipation of its supply chain possibly normalizing within a few weeks.But some sellers are skeptical of Prime Day taking place as scheduled and expect it to be pushed back to a later date, as they are still dealing with a number of supply chain issues that aren't expected to be solved right away.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Amazon Prime Day, the company's annual shopping extravaganza marked by frenzied sales of TVs, sneakers and other items, would seem like an event destined to be scrapped amid the deadly coronavirus outbreak, alongside industry conferences, film festivals, and the Summer Olympics.

But according to Amazon's message to merchants, it's full speed ahead. 

Amazon has been inviting merchants to join this year's Prime Day, which traditionally takes place in mid-July, and instructing some of its top partners to be ready to ship Prime Day inventory to Amazon warehouses by May, according to recent emails obtained by Business Insider. The preparations for the massive consumer sales event come as Amazon scrambles to respond to the pandemic, overhauling its supply chain to prioritize essential items and shuttering warehouses in which workers have tested positive for COVID-19.

A spokesperson for Amazon declined to comment on the emails and said, in a statement, that Amazon has not made "any announcements about Prime Day."

"We remain focused on ensuring the safety of our associates and serving our customers, while naturally evaluating future plan," the statement said. 

Still, the emails to merchants viewed by Business Insider suggest the company is moving forward with plans for a July Prime Day, even if it might ultimately decide to postpone or cancel the event. 

Holding the event in July would be a massive undertaking for Amazon at a time when the pandemic has strained its operations. And Prime Day's celebration of unfettered consumption amid the hardships of the coronavirus risks creating bad optics for the company.

On the other hand, Prime Day could provide a much needed boost for businesses if the spread of the disease has abated by the summer. And with worries of a virus-triggered recession mounting, Amazon's Prime Day could provide an early indication of the resilience of the consumer and the economy.

"All deal inventory should be ready to ship"

Amazon often calls Prime Day the biggest shopping event of the year. In 2019, it sold over 175 million items, surpassing the combined sales of the previous year's Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

The way the event works is that suppliers wholesale their products to Amazon, which resells the goods at a markup. For third-party sellers, they can directly sell their products on Amazon's marketplace.

A worker assembles a box for delivery at the Amazon fulfillment center in Baltimore, Maryland, US, April 30, 2019. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File Photo

In emails sent as recently as this week, Amazon told its suppliers, known as first-party vendors, that they should be ready to ship their Prime Day inventory to warehouses by May. Amazon will start placing orders for those products from as early as March 31. 

"Amazon is carrying on as if Prime Day will still happen in mid-July as it has for the past few years," said Jared Bucci, founder of marketing agency Stay Hungry Digital.

In a separate email last week, Amazon attached a note titled "Amazon Prime Day 2020 Vendor Operational Preparedness," which says all deals for Prime Day should be submitted by April 17. For Prime Day Lightning Deals, a limited-time promotion that gets featured on Amazon's deals page, the deadline is May 8 and an extra $500 fee per deal is required. 

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Perhaps because of the logistics issues caused by the coronavirus, Amazon said that vendors will get eight extra days to ship Prime Day products to Amazon warehouses this year "due to the increase in order volume."

"All deal inventory should be ready to ship by mid-May to reduce risk of out-of-stock on Prime Day," one of the emails said.

Meanwhile, another note posted on Amazon's internal message board for third-party sellers this month, seen by Business Insider, says "Prime Day is quickly approaching," with instructions for sellers to submit deals for the event.

Some sellers expect Prime Day will be delayed

Prime Day has taken place in early to mid July every year since it began in 2015. The first event lasted for 24 hours but Prime Day was extended to 48 hours last year.

REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

It's unclear when exactly this year's event will take place. In one of the emails to sellers, Amazon said this year's Prime Day will be held around the same time it was in previous years, without specifying an exact date.

"We have not confirmed or announced the date of Prime Day, however we expect that it will take place within a similar time frame as years past," the email said. "A definitive date will be announced as we get closer to the event."

Some sellers expect Prime Day to get pushed back this year. Bucci said he wouldn't be surprised if Amazon delayed it, given all the challenges facing the company. Besides the shipping delays and inventory restrictions, Amazon is also dealing with a growing number of coronavirus cases at its warehouses, leading to some facility closures. If the current pandemic goes on for longer than expected, it's hard to imagine many sellers and vendors being ready for the July event, Bucci said.

Multiple sellers have told Business Insider that Prime Day is the last thing on their minds right now. While demand for emergency products, like hand sanitizers and toilet paper, are jumping through the roof, sellers of most non-vital products are seeing steep declines in sales as discretionary spending has dropped. The recent shipment delays and restrictions around inventory are making some sellers worried about even staying in business.

Alan Adams, who runs an e-commerce consulting agency called Navazon, said the Prime Day invitations seem ill-timed. He said it's possible there's a disconnect between Amazon's upper management and rank-and-file employees, as the whole company is scrambling to get through the coronavirus. 

"I think mid-level employees are not in sync with senior management on Prime day communication," Adams said. "Prime Day is likely on hold."

In a letter to employees last week, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos warned "things are going to get worse before getting better." He said he'll be spending most of his time on solving the biggest challenges related to the coronavirus.

"My own time and thinking is now wholly focused on COVID-19 and how Amazon can best play its role," Bezos wrote.

A test case for economic recovery

Even with infections yet to peak in the US, there are signs that some parts of Amazon already appear to be preparing for normal operations — signaling possible supply chain improvements within a few weeks. 

On Friday, for example, Amazon told sellers that it's loosening the restrictions put on products coming into its warehouses, just 10 days after saying it would give priority to more vital items, like medical supplies and household staples, to make storage space for them.

AP

This year's Prime Day has the added significance of serving as a potential testing ground for the broader economy's purchasing power. Since the event typically takes place in July, the volume of sales it generates would be a good indicator of the level of economic recovery the country sees by then.

To make Prime Day a success this year, Amazon appears to be readying for a massive marketing blitz. In one of the emails, Amazon said that sellers should expect a variety of marketing and promotions.

"This year Amazon will supply a wide-range of marketing, both on-site and off-site, for Prime Day that could drive customers and sales to your truly amazing deals," the email said.

That means this year's Prime Day could be a huge opportunity for Amazon sellers to make up for some of the lost revenue and momentum caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to Gabe Ray, cofounder of Evolved Commerce. 

"I can see Amazon using Prime Day as more than just 'Christmas in July' this year," said Ray. "Sellers and vendors need to be aware of the opportunities to help recover."

Original author: Eugene Kim

Instacart workers are planning to strike on Monday until the company gives them hazard pay and safety gear. The workers are asking the company for an additional $5 per order and an automatic tip of 10% of the order total, as well as safety gear like hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, and soap. Instacart said any Shopper impacted by a mandatory quarantine will receive up to 14 days of pay. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Instacart workers are planning to strike on Monday until the grocery delivery company meets their demands for provisions like hazard pay and safety equipment. 

The workers are asking Instacart for an additional $5 per order and a default tip of at least 10% per order, they said in a statement, along with the Gig Workers Collective. 

"For the past several weeks, Instacart Shoppers and Gig Workers Collective have been urging Instacart to take proper safety precautions," the statement said. "We have been ignored."

The group is also asking Instacart for safety provisions like hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, and soap, as well as expanded paid leave for people with preexisting conditions or those who are required to self-quarantine. They're seeking an extension of the paid leave past April 8, when they said it is set to expire. 

"Instacart has turned this pandemic into a PR campaign, portraying itself the hero of families that are sheltered-in-place, isolated, or quarantined," the group said. "Instacart has still not provided essential protections to Shoppers on the front lines that could prevent them from becoming carriers, falling ill themselves, or worse." 

Instacart told Business Insider in a statement that it would extend paid leave to May 8 and would include people put in mandatory quarantine by public health authorities in the leave policy. Impacted Shoppers will receive up to 14 days of paid time off.

The company also said it would offer a $25 to $200 bonus for workers dependent on the hours worked between March 15 and April 15. Shoppers can also expect broader access to hand sanitizer and other supplies in the coming weeks.

"Our goal is to offer a safe and flexible earnings opportunity to Shoppers, while also proactively taking the appropriate precautionary measures to operate safely," Instacart told Business Insider. "We want to underscore that we absolutely respect the rights of Shoppers to provide us feedback and voice their concerns. It's a valuable way for us to continuously make improvements to the Shopper experience and we're committed to supporting this important community during this critical time."

The strike comes as Instacart seeks to hire 300,000 additional workers to deliver groceries to people during the coronavirus epidemic. 

"The last few weeks have been the busiest in Instacart's history," Instacart CEO Apoorva Mehta said in a blog post on Monday announcing the hirings.

While Shoppers may get individualized pay increases, depending on factors like region or customer demand, it's unclear if Instacart will meet the strike's specific demand of hazard pay. That would likely differ from Shoppers receiving a bonus based on the number of batches they complete on a given shift.

Vanessa Bain, one of the strike's leaders, told Business Insider that Shoppers have been organizing for 4 years. In that time, Instacart has "never so much as met with us once," Bain said.

Bain told Vice's Motherboard, which first reported the strike, that while Instacart's corporate employees have "health insurance, life insurance, and paid time off... [gig workers] are afforded none of these protections." 

"Without [us], Instacart will grind to a halt," she said. "We deserve and demand better." 

Original author: Bryan Pietsch

With one in three Americans now under some form of lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, the travel industry is taking a beating. That includes Airbnb, which has seen bookings tank around the world as people are forced to cancel trips.

But Airbnb properties in some rural parts of the country seem to have defied that trend so far, and some even saw an uptick in business last week, according to vacation rental data company AirDNA.

As major cities like New York and San Francisco see an explosion of COVID-19 cases, residents are departing for their smaller hometowns or neighboring communities in an attempt to stay safe, spread out, or be closer to family — even though that could mean carrying the virus into new parts of the country and burdening already ill-equipped healthcare systems.

"Alongside the advent of social distancing, we've noticed a similar trend in U.S. vacation rental markets: travelers fleeing urban centers and heading towards homes just outside the city," the company said in a blog post published Monday.

Approximately 73% of Airbnb revenue in the first half of March was made outside of large urban centers, while rural listings were the only ones that saw a "significant" gains from the same period last year, compared with urban and suburban listings, according to AirDNA.

The US is still several weeks behind many other countries in terms of when cases first began appearing, meaning it the full impact likely hasn't been seen yet. But the analysis suggests a small, if temporary, bright spot for Airbnb — and some hosts, who have been particularly hard hit by travel slowdowns.

As the pandemic has escalated, Airbnb has gradually expanded its policies to allow more guests to call off trips and still get full refunds. But in doing so, it overrode hosts' own cancellation policies, leaving many angry that they've had to bear the bulk of the financial cost of those refunds.

Airbnb has been trying to strike a delicate balance between the interests not just of guests and hosts, but also of investors, who had concerns about Airbnb's reported losses even before the virus hit that have intensified now that the company's plans to go public this year could get delayed.

While the spike in rural bookings likely won't make up for Airbnb's other losses, it does offer some insight into how Americans across the country have responded to the virus and what that means for hosts.

Original author: Tyler Sonnemaker and Ruobing Su

At 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday, SAP Vice President Richard Primm got a text from a client asking him for help with finding 500 hospital beds. Primm used SAP's Ariba marketplace to connect the company with a vendor within just 30 minutes, a startlingly fast timeline for such an in-demand product. It's just one example of how digital upgrades are drastically changing how companies can respond to crises like the coronavirus pandemic.Follow all of Business Insider's latest updates on the coronavirus here. Click here for more BI Prime stories.

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At 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Richard Primm, a vice president at the German software giant SAP, received a text message requesting the seemingly impossible.  

Heath Layfield, the chief digital officer of Ram Tool and Supply, was seeking 500 beds for a temporary hospital that the Alabama-based construction company was helping build outside New York City to treat patients with the coronavirus. 

At first, Primm told Business Insider, he doubted it was even possible, given the rush across the US to find such products. "My initial thought was: There's absolutely no way if you gave me three months that I would be able to find this," he said. 

Then he turned to Ariba Discovery — SAP's global, cloud-based marketplace that's available for free to both buyers and sellers during the crisis. 

He started with a simple search term: hospital beds. And surprisingly, up popped Joerns Healthcare, a medical-equipment supplier and a client of Primm's. It was one of the few vendors nationally that had the capacity to help out. 

Within the next 30 minutes, Primm had executives from the two companies connected. Ram Tool and Supply ordered the beds that night, and they are expected to arrive on Monday — a startlingly fast timeline for such an in-demand product.

"Completely improbable. It just was jaw-dropping to me that this happened," Primm said. 

Digital platforms are powering the pandemic response 

That's just one example of how new digital platforms are changing the way companies are able to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. 

There are many obvious cases, like more corporations pivoting to online chat tools such as Slack and Microsoft Teams — as well as broader use of videoconferencing platforms like Zoom.

But some are less clear to the public eye. 

Cloud-based platforms provided by firms including SAP now allow businesses to get a holistic view into different aspects of the enterprise — like human resources and regulatory compliance. For many, it's the first time they've ever had such visibility. 

Others, like systems offered by Honeywell, let companies increase the efficiency of their products. One of the industrial-software giant's systems, for example, autonomously controls energy consumption in buildings, based on factors like the time of the day and the weather. 

Such insights can help lead to significant cost savings. And it's one reason why the pace of adoption could quicken as a result of the outbreak. 

"When times are good there are always many things you can do. When times are tough, you have to extract that extra value," Que Dallara, the president and CEO of Honeywell Connected Enterprise, said. 

Digital tools could also be a major differentiator between the companies that come out of this pandemic on solid footing and those that will struggle to sustain operations amid the expected economic downturn. 

New technology helps organizations "create an edge over the digital laggards. And that wedge is going to be driven further as companies struggle to meet the new efficiency thresholds that [others] who are successfully deploying technology have been able to meet," Jonathan Lang, an analyst with global research firm IDC, said. 

Better supply-chain management powered by tech

In the past, many companies had a fragmented view into their supply-chain operations.

That made replacing partners or bringing in new ones a time-intensive process that required humans to do much of the grunt work. 

Now corporations can employ platforms like enterprise-resource planning (ERP) systems to get an end-to-end view of their suppliers. And machine learning is helping to automate many of the tasks that employees once had to manage. 

For example, if a business needed to quickly source new providers or replace those that may have shuttered amid the outbreak, software from SAP, Oracle, and others could automatically suggest vendors that fit certain criteria, including those that are close to existing partners. 

Take Bumble Bee Foods, a San Diego-based provider of tuna, salmon, and other products that is expecting a surge in demand over the coming months as consumers remain quarantined at home amid the pandemic.

Managing those fluctuations is much easier with new digital supply-chain tools, according to Bumble Bee Chief Information Officer Tony Costa. "We can adjust production to minimize supply chain constraints," he said in an emailed statement.

Also, digital investments from Campbell Soup have helped that company better manage inventory and oversee the supply chain during a time of unprecedented demand for its products.

And many pharmaceutical giants and medical-device firms already use ERP platforms to manage operations. Those systems can support efforts by manufacturers to quickly ramp up production of a coronavirus vaccine once it receives federal approval. 

Crises like the pandemic have "a catastrophic impact on a company's plan, their business plan, their supply chain," Jeff Harvey, a chief customer officer at SAP, told Business Insider. "To be able to react in 24 hours, or in a matter of hours ... that's the capability that exists now with these platforms." 

Original author: Joe Williams

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Original author: Jen Gushue

The last three weeks have been a blur for Ariel Cohen.

Cohen is the cofounder and CEO of TripActions, a corporate travel startup backed by Silicon Valley bigwigs Andreessen Horowitz and Lightspeed Venture Partners to a valuation tune of $4 billion.

But by Tuesday, the company was triaging. Business Insider previously reported that 296 employees, roughly one-fourth of its global workforce, were going to be let go as bookings plummeted and revenue evaporated. On Thursday, it announced further cuts to employee benefits like its sizable fitness stipend and pay decreases across the board. Cohen cut his own pay in half, and decided to shutter its newly opened Chicago office.

"If you asked me if we ever thought about the recession in our business, the answer is yes," Cohen told Business Insider. "That's part of our value proposition. But if you asked me if I assumed a situation of a global travel freeze, it was not in our plan, for sure. I never thought there would be a global halt of all travel."

The economic uncertainty combined with a global health crisis has meant trouble for many startups, and layoffs have become something of a macabre daily occurrence in Silicon Valley. Certain industries are currently unscathed to a degree, but others like travel and hospitality have been particularly hard-hit. 

Virtual layoffs

Cohen said the company didn't have plans to raise more funding in 2020 given its last major cash injection was just last June and was in a good place financially with roughly $300 million cash on hand. Cohen said that the four-year-old company had signed a major, undisclosed customer just Thursday.

But it wasn't enough to balance the employees that had been essentially rendered obsolete by changes to events and hiring. "This is actually the biggest challenge in these days," Cohen said. "I believe that if you are going to let go of someone, you should meet face to face and get in the same room. We had to do it over video conferencing."

Cohen said team members were invited to one of two different Zoom meetings on Tuesday morning where they learned whether they were in the group being let go or not. Managers followed up with individual Zoom meetings to discuss the changes with affected employees, and Cohen said he spent the remainder of the day calling the employees he had let go and helping understand how TripActions could best support them. 

"We did something that was very tough," Cohen said. "I did it, and it was my decision, and we will need to deal with it. It's a really, really tough thing to do."

Of the 296, about 25 were offered different roles at the company. Employees will be kept on until April 1 so as to keep their benefits through the end of the month in addition to 3 weeks severance. Hourly employees were given an additional 5 weeks of severance. 

"Some industries and startups that are hiring approached us and we gave them the list of employees," Cohen said. "We are reaching out to help these employees to help build their CV and improve interview skills and improve their Linkedin."

A 12-month runway

As more companies started halting travel in the US and Europe, Cohen and his team were being forced out of their San Francisco offices and making the uneasy transition to remote work. The timing was particularly tricky, he said, because the call volume to the support team was spiking as flights were canceled and travelers scrambled to get home. Moving the customer support team from an entirely in-house setup to fully remote took just an hour, he said.

"The last 3 weeks really showed the resiliency of our platform," Cohen said. "Our usual [wait time] for an agent to have a call is around one minute. During the time when the flights from the United States and Europe were cancelled, there was a huge uptick in travel support tickets, but we kept it at an average of six minutes. It was really, really impressive."

The customer service function has scaled back down, Cohen said, as fewer people are traveling. TripActions' business model is based on collecting a booking fee on each trip, however, so fewer tickets from fewer travelers also mean disappearing revenue. All told, Cohen estimates that the company will make it through the next 12 months, and possibly longer with additional belt-tightening. But he speculates that once restrictions are lifted, travelers will have no issues getting back out into the world and companies will reschedule in-person meetings.

"At the end of the day, people are people," Cohen said. "They want to go to dinner and to business dinner. They want to hire face to face, and right now it's amazing we can do some of these activities online but it's far from perfect. As long as there is humanity outside, people will get back to traveling."

Original author: Megan Hernbroth

To get Apple TV+, you simply need to sign up for an account.Apple TV+ exclusively carries original TV shows and movies, and their lineup is growing over time.
If you've recently bought an Apple device, or have an Apple Music Student Plan, you can qualify for a free Apple TV+ subscription.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Apple TV+ went live on November 1, 2019 with 10 original shows and movies. That lineup has since grown, and continues to expand.

The service costs $4.99 per month, though if you've purchased any new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, or Mac computer after September 10, 2019, you automatically get one year of the service free. Students can also get a free Apple TV+ membership with their Student Plan Apple Music subscription.

Here's how to get an Apple TV+ subscription and start watching.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

iPhone 11 (From $699.99 at Apple)

iPad (From $394 at Walmart)

Apple Macbook Pro (From $1299.00 at Apple)

Apple TV (From $149 at Apple)

iPod Touch (From $199 at Apple)

1. Open the Apple TV app on your device (see below for a list of all compatible devices). 

2. If you're not already on the Watch Now tab, tap "Watch Now" at the bottom of the screen. 

3. Depending upon whether you made a purchase that qualifies you for a free year, do one of the following:

If you have purchased a device that makes you eligible for a free year of service, you should immediately see the offer. If you don't immediately see the offer, scroll down until you see it, and then tap "Enjoy 1 Year Free." Confirm your billing information. Sign up for Apple TV+. Dave Johnson/Business Insider If you haven't made a qualifying purchase, you can still get a one-week trial period. Scroll down until you see "Try it free." Tap that, and then follow the instructions to confirm your billing information. You'll get one week free, and then you'll be charged $4.99 for your first month of service.  Even if you don't get a year for free, you can take advantage of a one-week trial when you start the service. Dave Johnson/Business Insider

You can watch Apple TV+ on many devices 

Apple TV+ works with a wide range of devices from Apple and other companies:

An iPhone or iPod Touch with the latest version of iOSAn iPad with the latest version of iPadOSAn Apple TV 4K or Apple TV HD with the latest version of tvOSA third generation Apple TV with the latest Apple TV Software UpdateAny smart TV or streaming media player running the Apple TV appA Mac computer running the latest version of macOSAny computer running Safari, Firefox, or Chrome web browser (navigate to tv.apple.com)

Original author: Dave Johnson

Research from FireEye shows that a formidable group of Chinese state-sponsored hackers laid the groundwork for a major corporate hacking attempt on February 1st — and then nothing happened.The corporate hack that could represent a historic resumption of aggressive corporate espionage between the economic superpowers was completely put on hold – as China rolled out coronavirus shelter-in-place rules.The apparent issue: the hackers are technically contractors with the Chinese government, meaning that they couldn't take their work home with them.The report also finds that this group of young hackers, known as Double Dragon, is allowed to hack for personal gain on their downtime: Records indicate that one of the hackers breaks into gaming systems at night using government hacking tools.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

On February 1st, the formidable APT41 group of Chinese hackers, also known as Double Dragon, logged into a server connected to American companies and set up a "backdoor" that could be used later in what experts say is one of the broadest corporate hacking attempts in years. 

And then... nothing happened. For more than two weeks. 

The corporate hack that could represent a historic resumption of aggressive corporate espionage between the economic superpowers was completely put on hold – as China rolled out coronavirus shelter-in-place rules.

"We did not observe APT41 activity at FireEye customers between February 2 and February 19, 2020. China initiated COVID-19 related quarantines in cities in Hubei province starting on January 23 and January 24, and rolled out quarantines to additional provinces starting between February 2 and February 10," the Silicon Valley cybersecurity company FireEye says in a report on the hacking that gives a fascinating view of the state-sponsored hackers.

"This reduction in activity might be related to the COVID-19 quarantine measures in China," FireEye wrote. 

 

While millions of Chinese have worked from home for the first time during the coronavirus pandemic, that apparently does not apply to the state-sponsored hacking contractors behind the biggest corporate hacking attempt in years, which picked up where it left off on February 20, according to FireEye. 

The savvy young contractors appear to have an agreement with the government that allows them to hack for China and then continue to use government-sponsored tools to hack for personal gain. "Skilled actors opt to work for private sector entities that have government contracts because of better pay," FireEye says.

"APT41's use of the same malware in both financial- and espionage-related operations could support their status as contractors; state employees are less likely to use such tools for personal financial gain over multiple years given the potential for greater scrutiny or punishment."

But that contractor status may also make it hard for a young hacker to bring state-owned hacking tools home with him for a few weeks. 

One of those hackers, named as Zhang Xuguang, performs intricate hacking work on gaming systems as a side hustle, FireEye says. He was also quite young when he got started in the pro hacking underground. 

"Zhang's profile indicated he was 16, going on 17, and he was applying to be the administrator of a script hacking forum," FireEye writes in a 68-page report titled "Double Dragon – APT41, a dual espionage and cyber crime operation."

Another member of the group, who hacks under the name Wolfzhi, is portrayed as an urban techie from Beijing or the surrounding province with a specialization in data science. 

The hackers also take a long annual vacation around January's lunar new year celebrations in China, notes Christopher Glyer, FireEye's chief security architect, who has tracked the group for years.

"They're people, too," he says. 

Original author: Jeff Elder

Miguel Candela/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Thursday.

Ticketing platform StubHub has placed hundreds of its employees on temporary unpaid leave until at least June, Business Insider has learned. Around 450 StubHub employees have been asked to take an unpaid leave of absence that could last until June.Andreessen Horowitz-backed Wonderschool laid off 75% of staff on a Zoom call, telling employees the coronavirus could dry up any more funding for 2 years. Wonderschool also laid off staff in November, and some former employees described the cuts as a desperate bid to juice the business.Amazon has workers who tested positive for COVID-19 across 10 warehouses worldwide. Some workers have voiced concerns that as Amazon ramps up its workforce to cope with the spiking demand they are not adequately protected. A simple coronavirus home-testing kit could soon be available to order on Amazon in the UK. Professor Sharon Peacock, director of the National Infection Service at Public Health England, told the UK parliament on Wednesday that the group had developed finger-prick tests which establish whether a person has ever been infected with the virus.Analysts predict the iPhone 12 could be delayed by up to 2 months because the coronavirus has disrupted Apple's iPhone testing process. Travel restrictions put in place to curb the coronavirus outbreak may delay Apple's engineering and product verification testing.In a rare move, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and other tech giants are working together to help developers combat the coronavirus pandemic with technology. Participants can build any technology of their choice, but the World Health Organization worked with Devpost to provide some areas where help is needed the most.SpaceX quarantined a dozen employees after 2 workers test positive for COVID-19. According to The Telegraph, an employee and a medic at SpaceX's Hawthorne, California premises have the virus.Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Tesla's New York Gigafactory will reopen and start producing ventilators 'as soon as humanly possible.' New York has been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus, with 285 deaths and more than 30,000 cases.More than 100 startups in Portugal are helping fight COVID-19 and it's a model other countries can follow. Tech4Covid19 has recruited almost 4,000 volunteers, working on projects helping to house health workers, make thousands of medical visors using 3D printing, and analyze patient data.The FBI is promoting an at-home exercise app that also tracks your phone's location and data. The app, FitTest, recommends routines for push-ups, sit-ups, and jogs, and also gathers information from people's phones, including location data and WiFi network information.

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Original author: Shona Ghosh

The CDC will launch a new "surveillance and data collection system" to track the spread of coronavirus in the US, per the coronavirus relief bill the Senate passed on Wednesday. The agency would receive emergency funding as part of the bipartisan stimulus package passed Wednesday. Of that, $500 million will go public health data surveillance and analytics infrastructure modernization. Tracking the spread of the virus will be a balancing act for the agency, which will have to navigate privacy laws as it expands its surveillance.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The Senate passed a bill late Wednesday that would pump emergency funding into the CDC to combat the coronavirus, including a system to gather data on how the virus is spreading.

The CDC's new funding is part of an emergency stimulus package that the Senate passed on Wednesday which provides $2 trillion in funding to boost government health programs and stabilize the American economy during the coronavirus crisis. 

Of the funding allocated to the CDC, the bill sets aside at least $500 million for public health data surveillance and modernizing the analytics infrastructure. The CDC must report on the development of a "surveillance and data collection system" within the next 30 days. While it's not clear what form that surveillance system will take, the federal government has reportedly expressed interest in aggregating data that can be gleaned from tech platforms and smartphone use to monitor movement patterns.

Other countries have already turned to high-tech surveillance systems in an attempt to curb the spread of coronavirus. China rolled out a mandatory smartphone app that asks citizens questions about their level of exposure to people who have demonstrated symptoms, and automatically orders certain users to quarantine themselves. Singapore has issued a similar app that uses Bluetooth to detect people's proximity to those who have been exposed to coronavirus and warns them to get tested if they come in close contact.

If launched in the US, a smartphone app for tracking people's health would have to comply with privacy laws like HIPAA, which prevents the sharing of people's health information between hospitals, the government, and third parties.

More broadly, a CDC surveillance system could aim to help the US speed up testing for the people who are the most at risk of COVID-19. The US lags behind most other developed countries in coronavirus testing.

Following the Senate's vote late Wednesday, the bill must now pass in the House of Representative before it reaches President Trump's desk to become law.

Original author: Aaron Holmes

The Senate's $2 trillion coronavirus economic bailout bill includes help for gig-economy workers, like Uber and Lyft drivers, who have seen their livelihood dissolve during the coronavirus crisis.For the first time, these workers would qualify for unemployment insurance.They would also qualify for the additional four months of extra payments this bill would provide to everyone who collects unemployment.It isn't clear exactly how much money a month drivers, contract workers, and freelancers could get, but they should qualify for a weekly payment equivalent to if they were a laid-off full-time employee.The maximum weekly amount varies by state, but the extra unemployment insurance would add up to a maximum of $600 more a week.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The email Business Insider received from an Uber driver was heartbreaking. St. Patrick's day was normally a hugely busy day for her. But this year, with the bars in her state shuttered, events banned, and a quiet airport, no one was out.

"I sat for nine hours at the airport and only managed three passengers," she told Business Insider. "I am quite distressed about how I will pay my basic bills including car payment, car insurance, as my entire livelihood relies upon my having a vehicle."

She wasn't sick or in quarantine, so she didn't qualify for the company's sick-pay policy. She was technically classified as a contractor, so she didn't qualify for her state's unemployment benefits, either.

But now there's hope for her and the thousands of other US ride-hailing drivers, gig-economy workers, and freelancers who have seen their livelihoods crumble during the coronavirus pandemic.

A provision in the Senate's coronavirus stimulus bill, under a section called Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, makes contractors, freelancers, and other self-employed workers finally eligible for unemployment insurance.

It isn't wholly clear yet how much money a week gig workers would qualify for, but the bill, which passed the Senate late Wednesday, says the amount should be equivalent to what they would have gotten from their state unemployment programs if they were a full-time employee who qualified for regular unemployment insurance.

Federal law says unemployment payments should be the same weekly pay as they would earn from their employer, capped by a maximum amount set by the state. The max amount varies by state. For instance, Florida's maximum is $275 a week; California's is $450 a week.

But the coronavirus stimulus bill also provides for four months of additional unemployment insurance, up to an additional $600 a week, for everyone who qualifies for unemployment, including gig workers.

The extended unemployment benefits in this bill attempt to protect workers "whether they work for small, medium or large businesses, along with the self-employed and workers in the gig economy," Sen. Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, said in a press release.

The bill must now pass in the House of Representative before it reaches President Donald Trump's desk to become law.

Original author: Julie Bort

According to a new book on the Trump administration, former White House chief of staff said the most important advice he gave to the president was not to tweet."No. Don't tweet that. No," Kelly said in the book, according to Axios. "Don't change your policy on that. No, no, no."ABC chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl reportedly notes in his book that Kelly "agreed to allow me to quote this and other previously off-the-record remarks he made while he was chief of staff."Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly is allowing the disclosure of some of the inner workings of the Trump administration in an upcoming book by ABC chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl, including the "most important" action he took for President Donald Trump.

According to an Axios report, Karl's upcoming book, "Front Row at the Trump Show," details how Kelly directed the traffic for the White House staff and regulated the president's Twitter feed. Kelly recalled in the book that the most important piece of advice he gave to Trump was not to tweet.

"No. Don't tweet that. No," Kelly said in the book, according to Axios. "Don't change your policy on that. No, no, no."

Trump selected Kelly after then-Chief of Staff Reince Priebus was ousted in July 2017. As a former Marine Corps general, Kelly was long viewed as a choice to bring order to what had been a chaotic West Wing.

Upon his arrival, Kelly drastically limited the White House staff's unfettered access to Trump, a move that reportedly included members of the president's own family — his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, and his daughter and senior adviser, Ivanka Trump.

President Donald Trump talks to the media between Defense Secretary James Mattis and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly during a briefing with senior military leaders at the White House in Washington, D.C., October 5, 2017. Reuters

Karl notes in the book that Kelly "agreed to allow me to quote this and other previously off-the-record remarks he made while he was chief of staff," a move that other Marine Corps generals previously on Trump's staff, including former Defense Secretary James Mattis, declined to do out of respect for the office of the presidency.

Kelly attempted to regulate Trump's discussions, including phone calls with world leaders, to prevent broaching sensitive information, according to news reports. Trump frequently delivers his musings to the world via tweet, often before federal agencies can announce their own official statements.

Kelly was unceremoniously fired in December 2018, months after his relationship with the president reportedly grew sour. Trump went on to disparage Kelly's tenure after the former general publicly criticized the president's policies and demeanor.

"When I terminated John Kelly, which I couldn't do fast enough, he knew full well that he was way over his head," Trump tweeted in February. "Being Chief of Staff just wasn't for him. He came in with a bang, went out with a whimper, but like so many X's, he misses the action & just can't keep his mouth shut."

Karl's book is available on March 31.

Original author: David Choi

Amazon is keeping a warehouse in Edison, New Jersey, open after a worker tested positive for COVID-19, first reported by Buzzfeed and confirmed to Business Insider.Workers in at least 11 Amazon warehouses across the US and Europe have tested positive for the virus.Amazon has faced pressure from employees and labor groups who say the company isn't doing enough to protect employees, with workers in Italy striking to protest its response."We are following guidelines from local officials and are taking extreme measures to ensure the safety of employees at our site," an Amazon spokesperson told Business Insider.Amazon has resisted calls to close facilities, saying it will hire an additional 100,000 workers as it tries to balance the safety of its employees against skyrocketing demand for its services.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

An Amazon warehouse in Edison, New Jersey, remains open after an employee there tested positive for COVID-19, as first reported by Buzzfeed and confirmed to Business Insider.

The employee had last reported to work on March 19, a spokesperson told Business Insider. The spokesperson also noted that Amazon is taking measures to reduce the risk of infection at the facility and has told anyone in close contact with the employee to self-quarantine for 14 days with pay.

"We are supporting the individual who is recovering. We are following guidelines from local officials and are taking extreme measures to ensure the safety of employees at our site," an Amazon spokesperson told Business Insider in an emailed statement.

This is at least the eleventh Amazon warehouse with a confirmed case of COVID-19. Seven cases have been reported across the US at facilities in New York, Kentucky, Florida, Texas, Michigan, Connecticut, and Oklahoma. Another three facilities across Spain and Italy have confirmed cases.

Amazon has faced criticism from employees as well as labor groups who say the company isn't doing enough to protect workers. At least two thousand Amazon employees globally have signed a petition asking for expanded paid sick leave, childcare benefits, hazard pay, halting of penalties for not meeting productivity quotas, and temporary closures for facilities where workers test positive.

Last week, at a facility in Queens, New York, employees said they were expected to come into work after a co-worker had tested positive for the virus, which Amazon denied, according to The Atlantic. In Europe, Amazon has refused to close warehouses with COVID-19 cases, prompting workers to strike in protest of the company's response.

Amazon has implemented additional cleaning and social distancing measures, the spokesperson said. However, critics have argued that the company has done far less to protect warehouse workers compared with its white-collar office employees, whom it has instructed to work remotely.

Amazon has been simultaneously trying to balance the safety of workers with increased demand for its services as coronavirus lockdowns worldwide fuel a surge in online shopping. The company has said it will hire as many as 100,000 workers in an attempt to keep up with that demand.

Original author: Tyler Sonnemaker

On Wednesday, a group of Amazon employees called We Won't Build It sent an internal letter denouncing the company's work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and calling on the company to better protect its workers at data centers, fulfillment centers, and Whole Foods amid the coronavirus pandemic.Employees have already tested positive for coronavirus at Whole Foods and some warehouses, and the letter says Amazon should offer them unconditional paid sick leave."Local and national governments, as well as international authorities, have been taking extraordinary measures to attempt to minimize the harm of this modern plague. And all the while, Amazon is taking steps to ensure that many of those measures are futile," the letter said. Another point of protest: Palantir, which builds software that helps ICE track down undocumented immigrants, is a customer of the Amazon Web Services cloud.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

A group of Amazon employees sent an internal letter on Wednesday calling out their company's work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and asking it to better protect its warehouse workers amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The letter was written by a group called We Won't Build It, which is also calling on the company to better protect its fulfillment center and data center workers, as well as Whole Foods employees. 

"Local and national governments, as well as international authorities, have been taking extraordinary measures to attempt to minimize the harm of this modern plague. And all the while, Amazon is taking steps to ensure that many of those measures are futile," the letter said. You can read the full letter below.

While many Amazon employees like software engineers have been able to work from home, the letter denounced how Amazon kept its Whole Food stores and warehouses running even though employees there tested positive for coronavirus. While Amazon now offers two weeks of paid sick leave for these employees, the letter says they should receive unconditional paid leave.

The letter was sent to Amazon's We Won't Build It internal mailing list, which has over 600 members. The group is not asking for signatures, but instead asking employees to discuss these issues with these colleagues, share their support for the letter, and donate to a GoFundMe to support workers who have contracted COVID-19, the coronavirus disease.

The letter also took a stand against Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), denouncing how it has been arresting people at hospitals amid the coronavirus pandemic. 

"The demands of the We Won't Build It campaign have not changed," the letter said. "They have always been life or death for many people. Now they are life and death for all of us. Amazon must discontinue providing services to the people and agencies that are threatening the lives and health of this country and the entire world, and ensure the health and safety of all of our co-workers and colleagues, regardless of job role."

We Won't Build It has previously demanded that the company turn away the business of Palantir, which hosts its data analytics software in the Amazon Web Services cloud. Palantir has over $150 million in contracts with ICE, which reports indicate entails providing software to gather data on undocumented immigrants and to plan immigration raids.

Recently, a group of Microsoft workers also backed a campaign led by the immigrant advocacy group Mijente to encourage ICE to stop hunting down undocumented immigrants during the coronavirus crisis. 

You can read the full letter below:

We are in the grip of a global pandemic. As of March 22nd, over 340,000 cases of COVID-19 have been identified globally, and that number is growing rapidly. Local and national governments, as well as international authorities, have been taking extraordinary measures to attempt to minimize the harm of this modern plague. And all the while, Amazon is taking steps to ensure that many of those measures are futile.

ICE, the violent enforcement arm of the US border regime, is creating an escalating situation putting immigrants, their own agents, and the general public at risk. In the past week, ICE has continued their policy of violating national and international standards and law by posing as doctors and arresting people in hospitals in the midst of a pandemic, which will frighten our most vulnerable neighbors away from getting testing and care, and further community transmission of SARS-CoV-2. In response to strong community outrage, ICE claimed they were scaling back enforcement, but quickly walked that statement back. Detainees in 3 ICE facilities so far are on hunger strike, calling on ICE to take steps to prevent the spread of the virus, which it has repeatedly failed to do in the past. ICE is actively exacerbating the COVID-19 pandemic, and by continuing to provide support to the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, ICE and strategic partners of ICE like Palantir, Amazon is actively exacerbating the pandemic as well.

Meanwhile, even as office workers are asked to work from home, Amazon's measures to protect FC (fulfillment center) and DC (data center) workers, as well as shop floor workers at Whole Foods, have ranged from inadequate to openly negligent. Whole Foods workers and shoppers and warehouse workers in New York have both been openly exposed to SARS-CoV-2, yet Amazon has kept both facilities running. Amazon has offered two weeks paid sick leave for workers who have tested positive for COVID-19, but since tests are hard to come by the only acceptable solution for Amazon workers is to offer unconditional paid sick leave for all workers.

The demands of the We Won't Build It campaign have not changed. They have always been life or death for many people. Now they are life and death for all of us. Amazon must discontinue providing services to the people and agencies that are threatening the lives and health of this country and the entire world, and ensure the health and safety of all of our co-workers and colleagues, regardless of job role. If the company will not do the right thing, then it is up to us as workers to stand together to protect ourselves and each other.

Next Steps

Join us in reaching out to our co-workers, our neighbors, and our community with the following steps:

First, speak with your co-workers and colleagues about this! We'd recommend everyone who reads this reach out to five other Amazonians to talk about these issues and about this statement. We need each other, now more than ever!In the midst of this pandemic, it is important to reaffirm the principles we are fighting for. We are asking you to tell us through this survey why you have decided to sign the We Won't Build It letter.Our fulfillment center co-workers have started a GoFundMe to support workers who have contracted COVID-19. Many of us are struggling at this time but if you have some extra funds, please send some their way.

Got a tip? Contact this reporter via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Signal at 646.376.6106, Telegram at @rosaliechan, or Twitter DM at @rosaliechan17. (PR pitches by email only, please.) Other types of secure messaging available upon request. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

Original author: Rosalie Chan

Amazon told sellers in a note that it's pausing requirements on loan repayments for a month.The move could provide relief to sellers who borrowed money from Amazon and whose sales have taken a hit amid the coronavirus outbreak.Amazon also appears to have scaled back its loan offers in recent weeks.Some sellers are complaining about Amazon's unresponsiveness to lending inquiries.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Amazon is temporarily suspending requirements on loan repayments from its sellers, a move that could help merchants who borrowed money from Amazon as they deal with unpredictable sales amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In a note to sellers on Wednesday, obtained by Business Insider, Amazon said it will pause repayments and interests on seller loans for a month. Loan repayments will restart on May 1, it said.

"Effective March 26 through April 30, 2020, we will be pausing repayments on your outstanding loan with Amazon Lending," the note said. 

The note said that the loans will not accrue interest during this period and sellers will have the same number of remaining payments once repayment resumes in May. Amazon's representative confirmed the note in an email to Business Insider. Reuters earlier reported on the change in policy on Wednesday. 

The one month reprieve will offer relief to some sellers who borrowed money from Amazon's lending program, as their sales have taken a hit in recent months following the coronavirus outbreak. Amazon lent money to more than 20,000 third-party sellers since the launch of the lending program in 2017 and has $863 million in outstanding loans, according to its filing.

Amazon loans range between $1,000 to $750,000, and come with lower-than-average interest rates. Amazon has previously said the goal is to help sellers gain easier access to cash and to buy inventory.

Meanwhile, Amazon appears to be scaling back its lending offers as well. 

A group of sellers told Business Insider in recent weeks that the loan offer that typically shows up in the company's seller platform has disappeared. Amazon loans are invite-only, as the company determines the size and terms of the loan based on the seller's performance on Amazon's marketplace. 

One seller, who had a loan invitation worth $180,000, told Business Insider that the offer is no longer available. This person said the offer disappeared this week as he was considering taking it to prevent a cash shortfall amid the coronavirus. Amazon didn't respond to this person's request for an explanation.

The Amazon lending team's unresponsiveness seems to be a wider, more general problem. In Amazon's seller forum, a group of sellers have written about difficulties getting an answer from the lending team over technical glitches and confusing loan terms.

"Has anyone gotten responses from Amazon lending? I tried to reach out to ask about lending flexibility during this time and haven't heard back for a week," one person wrote in the forum.

Original author: Eugene Kim

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says the company's New York Gigafactory will reopen "as soon as humanly possible" to begin ventilator production.Musk made the remarks on Twitter after previously tweeting that his company would help make ventilators if there were to be a shortage.New York has been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus, with 285 deaths and more than 30,000 cases.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says the electric car maker's Gigafactory facility in New York will soon be reopening to begin producing ventilators.

"Giga New York will reopen for ventilator production as soon as humanly possible," Musk tweeted on Wednesday. "We will do anything in our power to help the citizens of New York."

The tweet comes after New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio asked for Musk's help sourcing ventilators last week, which came after the Tesla CEO had tweeted that the company would make ventilators if there were a shortage.

 

New York has been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with 285 deaths and more than 30,000 infections. That's more reported coronavirus cases than any other state in the country.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an order on March 20 requiring all non-essential businesses to close in an effort to curb the spread. Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House's coronavirus task force coordinator, also said that anyone who has been in New York recently should self-quarantine for 14 days to prevent the virus from spreading.

Tesla is one of several tech companies providing medical supplies to the US amidst shortages. Apple is donating 10 million N95 protective face masks to the medical community in the US, as CEO Tim Cook announced on Wednesday. Facebook will also be donating the 720,000 masks it had purchased during the California wildfires and plans to source millions more. 

Several tech firms, including Microsoft, Twitter, TikTok, and Facebook, are also contributing resources toward a hackathon being held to encourage developers to create tech solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Original author: Lisa Eadicicco