Victoria Fox's Blog, page 159

The Brazilian Blip buys the Spanish Gus to grow in Europe in conversational AI

Blip, a large Brazilian company in the business of digital marketing and conversational AI (chatbots for customer relations and marketing and sales through social networks such as WhatsApp, Messenger or Instagram), closed last week the acquisition of 100% of the capital of the Spanish-Mexican company Gus, focused on the same sectors, but with a presence in Mexico and Spain. Gus was founded in Mexico by its CEO, Spaniard Jaime Navarro, and two Mexican partners – Pablo Estévez and Daniel Zenteno – and has grown rapidly.

In 2022, Gus had a turnover of 3 million dollars and in 2023 he will close it with five million dollars (4.6 million euros) of income, a 66% growth, with a staff of 75 people between the two headquarters and 150 clients companies such as Prosegur, Aquaservice, Merlin Properties or Cinépolis. Gus is reintermediating brands’ sales and customer service activities and communication with their users with next-generation AI-powered solutions, such as ChatGPT, click trackers that lead to chats, and social listening solutions to monetize conversations that occur in the main messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook.

Although the amount of the transaction has not been made public, market sources estimate that these operations are closed at a multiple of between two and three times the turnover, which would mean a figure starting at ten million euros.

Blip was founded in Brazil 23 years ago by its CEO, Roberto Oliveira, and two other partners, Daniel Costa and Marcelo Hein . Currently, it has a turnover of 150 million dollars, with a staff of 1,500 employees. Although the founders remain in the capital, the most important shareholder is the American fund Warburg Pincus, which in 2020 injected 100 million and added another 70 million in 2022 in two rounds of financing. Blip now has another round open to continue financing its growth.

International expantion

In 2022 , Blip acquired the Brazilian company Stilingue , a pioneer in the use of AI for social media monitoring, and now buys Gus to use it as a growth tool outside of Brazil. On the one hand, Gus is already present in Mexico and Spain and with its technology in Spanish it opens the door to entry into other Latin American markets. In fact, the CEO of Gus, Jaime Navarro , will be the new executive director of Blip for Iberia and Latin America.

But Blip also wants to use Gus as a base for growth in Europe, using Madrid as its headquarters. The objectives are to achieve a presence from Spain in the large European countries, mainly Germany, France and Italy, -markets where WhatsApp has penetration of more than 90%- and the Middle East.

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Cevian has to point to the sky with UBS

The bank is on the right track, but needs to extract more from its US business.

Climbing mountains requires determination, skill and luck. UBS began its rise in March, with the aim of integrating the acquisition of its local rival Credit Suisse. Investors doubted its success. Some of those concerns have been allayed

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The Government approves that Sepi buy up to 10% of Telefónica and be the largest shareholder

The Government has approved today in the Council of Ministers that Sepi buy 10% of Telefónica.

Sepi, the state body controlled by the Ministry of Finance, will take up to 10% of Telefónica’s capital, making it the largest shareholder of the telecommunications operator – ahead of Caixa, BBVA and the Saudi STC. in what represents a partial renationalization of the operator, which was totally private since 1997, when the PP Government of José María Aznar completed the privatization initiated by the previous PSOE Government. This has been communicated by the State Society of Industrial Participations to the CNMV in a statement in which it states that “the Council of Ministers in its session today has agreed to order the State Society of Industrial Participations (“SEPI”) to carry out the acquisition of up to 10% of the share capital of the company Telefónica. Telefónica is a leading company in the field of telecommunications both in Spain and internationally. It develops a set of activities that are of crucial relevance for the economy, the productive fabric, research, security, defense and, ultimately, the well-being of citizens”.

Offer shareholder stability

Sepi’s statement also points out that “with a vocation for permanence, Sepi’s participation will provide Telefónica with greater shareholder stability so that the company can achieve its objectives and, therefore, will contribute to the safeguarding of its strategic capabilities. Sepi will proceed to carry out the procedures and actions that allow the process to be launched to, minimizing the impact on the price, complete the acquisition of the necessary volume of shares.”

Knock for the Ibex 35

Sepi’s decision is an unprecedented wake-up call for the Spanish business scene since it is one of the largest private companies in Spain and among the largest in the Ibex 35.

The entry of Sepi is related to the recent announcement of the entry into the capital of the Spanish operator of the Saudi operator STC, controlled by the sovereign fund of the Arab country. STC announced at the beginning of September that it controlled 4.9% of Telefónica’s capital and that, in addition, it had another 5% in derivatives, acquired by Morgan Stanley, which would allow it to reach 9.9% of the capital.

STC’s entry into the capital does not require, for the moment, authorization from the Government, as long as it does not exceed its current participation and does not intend to obtain representation in the company. In fact, STC has not yet notified the Government of its acquisition, so the due authorization process has not been put in place.

As Telefónica is one of the main contractors of the Ministry of Defense, the rule establishes that the Government must authorize entry whenever they want to exercise political rights, that is, vote in the board or intend to appoint a member of the board of directors. .

2,050 million

At the current trading price at the close of today, Tuesday, Telefónica’s stock market value is 20.5 billion euros, so a stake of up to 10% would cost, at the current price, 2.05 billion euros. Although it is not easy to weigh the impact of the news on the price, since the announcement that Sepi was studying the entry into the capital of the operator on October 30, the price, which stood at 3.65 euros, has lost 2.46% to 3.56 euros at which it closed yesterday. In general, the markets do not receive well the news that is related to greater interference by the State in the management of private companies, as has consistently happened, for example, in the case of the technology and defense company Indra.

STC Authorization

The confirmed decision to take a 10% stake fuels the theory that the Government would be willing to authorize the presence of the Saudi operator in the capital of the Spanish telecom company. That is, it would be a way to partially neutralize the influence of the Saudi group, which depends on that country’s sovereign fund (Public Investment Fund, PIF), without having to totally or partially veto the operation, which would mean confronting the Saudi state, one of the largest suppliers and exporters of global hydrocarbons. In reality, in order to claim a member on the board, a shareholder would have to prove a participation of 6.66% of the capital, since currently the board is made up of 15 members.

Therefore, theoretically, the presence of the State with 10% of the capital should allow it to appoint a single member on the board of a total of fifteen members.

However, both CaixaBank – which has a direct 3.5%, although Criteria has another 2.4% – and BBVA (4.87%), its two historical reference shareholders, each have a vice president: Isidro Fainé in the case of CaixaBank and José María Abril in that of BBVA. BlackRock, which has 4.48%, does not have a director.

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AI is not the enemy and professionals must take advantage of it without fear

The arrival of artificial intelligence has created uncertainty and fear among the majority of professionals in the labor market. The key is not to see technology as a danger to losing your job, but to take advantage of its opportunities with the aim of adding capabilities.

Take advantage of its advantages and see AI without fear . These were two of the messages contributed at the last table of the EXPANSIÓN Artificial Intelligence and New Technologies forum in which the opportunities that open with the implementation of

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Password security: 123456789 instead of 123456

Many people in Germany choose passwords that are too insecure. They should be long and contain special characters – but most people do not adhere to this recommendation, as the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) announced. The most popular password in 2023 was “123456789”. It had three more digits than in the previous year.

In general, passwords have not become more creative in recent years, says the HPI and sees a particular problem: There are more and more online services – and users are being tricked into choosing simple and always the same passwords.

The top five passwords are all occupied by weak series of numbers except for one place. The exception is third place with the password “hello”. “password”, “password1” and “target123” follow in places six to eight in the ranking. Ninth and tenth place are occupied by the passwords “iloveyou” and “gwerty123”.

This makes it quite easy for cybercriminals to obtain important personal information. In addition: Cybercriminals apparently use even the simplest passwords for bot farms or disinformation campaigns. According to HPI, this explains why passwords like “target123” and “gwerty123” were used noticeably often.

The Hasso Plattner Institute publishes the most used passwords among Germans every year. The data is based on millions of access data from the HPI Identity Leak Checker database.

Better than 15 characters – use a password manager

To protect yourself from cybercrime, the HPI recommends using long passwords with more than 15 characters. In addition, users should use different passwords for different services. The use of password managers can also increase security.

According to a survey by the digital association Bitkom last week, people in Germany were less careful when choosing passwords last year than in the previous year. According to their own information, 74 percent of users pay attention to complex passwords with a mix of letters, numbers and special characters. A year ago it was 83 percent.

Many people in Germany choose passwords that are too insecure. They should be long and contain special characters – but most people do not adhere to this recommendation, as the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) announced. The most popular password in 2023 was “123456789”. It had three more digits than in the previous year.

In general, passwords have not become more creative in recent years, says the HPI and sees a particular problem: There are more and more online services – and users are being tricked into choosing simple and always the same passwords.

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Pedro Duque will be the president of Hispasat

Until now, the presidency of Hispasat was held by Jordi Hereu, former mayor of Barcelona and currently Minister of Industry and Tourism.

Pedro Duque will be the next president of Hispasat . The Minister of Science and Innovation between 2018 and 2021 will be the main director of the satellite company in which the State participates, although first the Sepi (State Society of Industrial Participations) will have to appoint him as an advisor.

The presidency of Hispasat was until now occupied by Jordi Hereu , former mayor of Barcelona and currently Minister of Industry and Tourism.

Before his time in the Government of Pedro Sánchez , Duque became known in the 1980s for being the first Spaniard to travel to space on an expedition to the International Space Station.

Hispasat, 7.4% owned by Sepi and 2.9% owned by the Center for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI), closed 2021 with revenues of 181 million euros , almost 15% more than in the previous year. previous exercise.

The Spanish group, together with the giants Airbus , Thales-Alenia and the satellite companies SES and Eutelsat , will be the main partners of a consortium that has been formed this year to bid for the Iris2 constellation, a satellite system of low orbit, similar to Starlink from SpaceX , Elon Musk ‘s company, to provide high-speed Internet access.

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AEInnova raises three million and closes an agreement with the Emirates oil company

The predictive maintenance sensor company raises new funds from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund and a group of investors.

The Catalan company AEInnova , founded nine years ago by microelectronics researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), has closed a round of three million euros that has been carried out in three phases throughout 2023. The i

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Telefónica improves the ERE offer but the unions reject it

Today Telefónica has improved the offer presented to the unions for the ERE by offering employees who receive more money in all age groups, but UGT considers that the offer is still very far from its demands. In addition, the telecom has offered a 1% salary increase in the agreement, which the unions have rejected. There will be another meeting on Thursday.

In today’s meeting, Telefónica has improved its proposal for the ERE by which it wants to get rid of a maximum of about 4,000 workers from its workforce in Spain.

Last week, Telefónica presented a proposal that was clearly worse than what workers were used to in the three previous voluntary leave plans, known as the Individual Separation Plan or PSI, which were launched in 2015, 2019 and 2021. In the In the first two, employees were offered 68% of the regulatory salary (fixed + variable + other components such as food checks, etc.). In the last PSI of 2021, the supply already dropped to 65%. But in last week’s proposal, Telefónica offered for those born in 1968 (55 years old) to earn 60% of the regulatory salary until the age of 63 and 30% until the age of 65. For older workers, who in the past refused to benefit from PSI, conditions are gradually worsening. Thus, for those born in 1967, 1966 or 1965 (56, 57 or 58 years old) it offers 55% of the salary until the age of 63 and also 30% until the age of 65. And finally for those born in 1964 or earlier (59 years or plus) offers 50% of the regulatory salary up to age 63 and 30% up to age 65.

Your offer today improves all age groups. For the youngest, born in 1968, the proposal increases from 60% to 63% until they turn 63 years old, and improves from 30% to 32% until they are 65 years old. Likewise, for workers from 1967, 1968 and 1969 (ages 56 to 58), the offer improves from 55% to 58% in the first section up to age 63 and from 30% to 32% up to age 65. In the last section, for those born in 1964 or before (59 years or older), it maintains 50% in the first section until age 63 and only improves it from 30% to 32% until age 65.

Whitout deal

However, this improvement in the company is far from fulfilling the ambitions of the unions who consider several elements unacceptable and who consider that the positions are still very far away. The first element that they do not accept is that Telefónica continues to maintain that there will be forced dismissals if the necessary voluntary resignations are not achieved. It also considers that it is necessary to allow voluntary departures of employees from critical areas (the most technological ones such as cybersecurity, cloud, etc.). Likewise, it requires that the conditions of all employees be improved: in the case of the youngest, those from 1968, they be similar to those of the PSI, that is, at least 65% of the regulatory salary. And in the case of older people, they should be more attractive.

On the other hand, the telecom has offered a 1% salary increase in the agreement that the unions have rejected. The company and the unions have called for a new meeting for the ERE next Thursday.

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The Hyperloop will slow down: Zeleros reorients itself and keeps half of the team

It focuses on generating income given the difficulty of continuing to attract investors for such a long-term project.

The development in Spain of the Hyperloop – the transport that, through an electric levitation system inside tubes, hopes to move goods and passengers at speeds greater than a thousand kilometers per hour – enters the background within the act.

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Platform X: EU Commission opens proceedings against X for false information

The EU Commission has opened formal proceedings against the online service X (formerly Twitter) for spreading false information. The Commission announced that the authority had initiated investigations under the Digital Services Act due to, among other things, the “dissemination of illegal content”. The authority has already made a request for information – but the company is said to have not responded satisfactorily.

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Further

According to its own statements, the commission also wants to check whether the so-called blue ticks on the platform can have a “deceptive” effect. Owner Elon Musk introduced a subscription model on X with which users can buy the blue tick. The hook had previously indicated the authenticity of the profiles of institutions and celebrities. The Commission also suspects that X is not releasing sufficient data about advertisements on the platform.

X was previously warned in October for spreading false information related to the war between Israel and Hamas. Under the Digital Services Act, which came into force at the end of August, internet companies are obliged, among other things, to take action against disinformation on their platforms. According to a study by the EU Commission, X has the largest proportion of such false information.

Critics accuse Musk of having sharply scaled back content moderation and cracking down on hate speech and misinformation since taking over Twitter last year.

The EU Commission has opened formal proceedings against the online service X (formerly Twitter) for spreading false information. The Commission announced that the authority had initiated investigations under the Digital Services Act due to, among other things, the “dissemination of illegal content”. The authority has already made a request for information – but the company is said to have not responded satisfactorily.

According to its own statements, the commission also wants to check whether the so-called blue ticks on the platform can have a “deceptive” effect. Owner Elon Musk introduced a subscription model on X with which users can buy the blue tick. The hook had previously indicated the authenticity of the profiles of institutions and celebrities. The Commission also suspects that X is not releasing sufficient data about advertisements on the platform.

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