Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 02 August 2018
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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 02 August 2018
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* Bank while you chat on WhatsApp with South Africa's Absa
* South African platinum miner Implats says to slash 13,000 jobs
* AngloGold to swing to H1 profit on higher output, cost reductions
* S.Africa's Liberty sees H1 profit rise as turnaround gains traction
* Kenya Airways says flights to Nairobi diverted due to fog
* Randgold Resources' Mali mine granted four-year, 50 pct tax concession
* Eskom says more South African power cuts likely due to protests
* Bank while you chat on WhatsApp with South Africa's Absa
* Google in China: Internet giant 'plans censored search engine'
* Rolls-Royce profits hit by engine faults
* Trump threatens higher tariffs on Chinese imports
* Barclays profits hit by £2bn of costs
* Tesla makes more cars as revenue jumps
* Smaller firms should publish gender pay gap, say MPs
* Facebook's security boss to leave firm
* WhatsApp starts charging business users
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Bank while you chat on WhatsApp with South Africa's Absa
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s Absa Group on Wednesday officially launched Whatsapp banking, in its latest push to become a digitally-led African bank, with more than 10,000 customers already registered to date since early July.
The service faces competition from WeChat, China’s biggest Internet-based mobile messaging platform which launched in Africa in 2013 and offers an array of services including money transfers, prepaid electricity and airtime purchases.
Absa Chief Executive Maria Ramos has drawn up an ambitious growth strategy to regain market share in retail banking at home and double sales across the continent from 6 percent to 12 percent after the bank’s separation from Barclays PLC.
To achieve this, the group is adapting to changes in customer behaviour that requires banking to be available anytime, anywhere and accessible wherever the customer is.
“As technology advances and more customers become connected, bringing banking to where our customers are is important to us, especially as we continue our journey to become a digitally-led business driven by innovation,” Chief Executive of Absa retail and business banking Arrie Rautenbach said in a statement.
Live on July 11, Absa ChatBanking on Facebook Inc’s WhatsApp allows Absa account holders to perform simple banking such as checking their balance, buy airtime and make payment to an existing beneficiary using conversational languages and short commands.
Speaking at the official launch event on Wednesday, Chief Information Officer, virtual channels for Absa retail and banking Jacques Barkhuizen said apart from Facebook, the bank has also partnered with mobile messaging firm Clickatell.
ChatBanking on WhatsApp follows the momentum created by the launch of Absa ChatBanking on Facebook Messenger and Twitter in 2016.
Separately, Societe Generale is in talks with Absa about selling its local unit as the French bank prepares to pull out of Africa’s most industrialised economy, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
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South African platinum miner Implats says to slash 13,000 jobs
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African platinum miner Impala Platinum will cut 13,000 jobs over the next two years, it said on Thursday, as the local platinum industry grapples with rising costs and weak prices for the precious metal.
“This strategic orientation has been informed by a significant decline in the US$ platinum price and sustained high mining cost inflation,” the company said in a statement.
The miner will reduce employees, including contractors, to 27,000 over the two-year period from about 40,000 at the end of financial year 2018.
Implats, the world’s second biggest platinum producer, has been struggling with operational supply issues and low platinum prices which have made many of its flagship Rustenburg shafts unprofitable.
As part of the review, it will reduce Impala Rustenburg’s operating shafts to six from 11 as operations conclude at end‐of‐life and uneconomical shafts, while future production will fall to 520,000 ounces per annum from 750,000 ounces.
AngloGold to swing to H1 profit on higher output, cost reductions
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - AngloGold Ashanti said it will swing to a first-half profit due to increased production and lower retrenchment costs.
The South African gold miner, which is due to report first-half results on Aug. 20, said in a preliminary estimate on Thursday that it expected headline earnings of between $91 million and $108 million for January-June, with headline earnings per share of between 22 cents and 26 cents.
That compares to a headline loss and headline loss per share for the same period last year of $89 million and 22 cents, respectively.
The turnaround in performance was also due to the absence of once-off, non-cash settlement costs for silicosis class action claims.
Anglo said production from retained operations increased by 4 percent in the first half to 1.578 million ounces from 1.517 million ounces a year earlier.
“This is due to strong production improvements from Sunrise Dam, Kibali, Iduapriem, Mponeng and Tropicana,” it said in a statement.
S.Africa's Liberty sees H1 profit rise as turnaround gains traction
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African insurer Liberty Holdings reported a 6 percent rise in half-year profit on Thursday, a sign that aturnaround strategy launched a year ago is gaining momentum.
Liberty, a unit of lender Standard Bank, is in the middle of a financial recovery plan under current Chief Executive David Munro that includes a greater focus on higher-margin products and slower offshore expansion. Munro took the reigns a year ago from Thabo Dloti.
Dloti resigned after clashing with the board over his acquisition-fuelled expansion across Africa, while Standard Bank accused him of neglecting the vast, largely untapped lower-income market at home.
Normalised headline earnings, a closely-watched profit measure that excludes certain one-off items, rose to 482 cents per share in the six months ended June compared with 457 cents a year earlier.
“Our results for the half year reflect a stabilisation of our business, but we are still some distance from where we need to be, especially given weak new business volumes,” Munro said in a statement.
Munro also said new business volumes, or new insurance policy sign-ups, were expected to remain under pressure in the face of a weak South African economy and job losses.
Liberty, which was founded in 1957 by businessman and philanthropist Donald Gordon, said a data breach of some of its customers’ emails in June remained a subject of criminal investigation.
Kenya Airways says flights to Nairobi diverted due to fog
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya Airways said on Thursday that fog had disrupted incoming flights to Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
“Several flights are being diverted to alternative airports as we monitor the situation,” the company said in a statement on Twitter.
Flights from Dubai and Amsterdam were among those affected, the airline said.
Kenya Airways is owned 48.9 percent by the government and 7.8 percent by Air France-KLM.
Twenty five foreign airlines operate out of Nairobi’s main airport, including Turkish Airlines, Emirates, South African Airways and Ethiopian.
Randgold Resources' Mali mine granted four-year, 50 pct tax concession
(Reuters) - Mali’s government has granted Randgold Resources a 50 percent corporate tax reduction for the next four years at its Gounkoto mine, the Africa-focused gold miner said on Wednesday.
The tax concession is to support the development of a “super pit” which will be one of the largest opencast gold mines in Africa, the company said in a statement.
This comes weeks after a workers’ strike at its Tongon gold mine in the Ivory Coast brought production following a breakdown of government-led negotiations, triggering a 24 percent fall in first-quarter profit.
Two of Randgold’s gold mines in neighbouring Mali, Loulo and Gounkoto, have also been hit by strikes this year and a long-running dispute with the government over a claim in back-taxes.
In June, rioters in southern Mali ransacked local government buildings following a dispute between workers and management at Randgold’s Loulo and Gounkoto gold mines, while in April workers went on strike there over bonus payments, though the stand-off was resolved within a day.
The Loulo and Gounkoto mines are located in Mali’s gold-rich south, far from the unrest caused by Islamist insurgents in the north. They produced more than 20 tonnes of gold last year.
The tax concession will see Gounkoto mine’s life extended by more than five years, the Randgold Resources staement said.
Mali is Africa’s third-largest gold producer, behind South Africa and Ghana.
Randgold, which has operations in Mali, Senegal, Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of Congo, said in May it would meet its full-year production targets despite the labour stoppages.
Shares of Randgold Resources closed down 2.2 percent on Wednesday.
Eskom says more South African power cuts likely due to protests
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s struggling state-owned power utility Eskom said there was a high risk of more electricity cuts on Wednesday evening after workers demanding higher wages protested for a third day.
Africa’s most industrialised economy was hit by controlled power cuts on Tuesday - for the second time in less than two months - after some units went down at Eskom power plants due to a wildcat strike and low coal levels.
As much as 2,000 megawatts of power could be cut on Wednesday if so-called “stage 2 load-shedding” was implemented, Eskom said in a statement.
The lingering threat of power cuts underlines the fragility of the company, which supplies around 90 percent of South Africa’s power, at a time when President Cyril Ramaphosa has made reforming cash-strapped state firms a priority.
In 2015, the last time recurring rolling blackouts occurred, South Africa’s economic output suffered.
Eskom said it would meet labour unions on Wednesday in an effort to resolve the standoff over wages.
“We are hopeful that all parties will put South Africa first as we endeavour in finding an amicable solution,” Eskom said.
Last week, Eskom said it was considering cutting staff and selling assets after posting a $171 million loss in the latest full financial year.
Bank while you chat on WhatsApp with South Africa's Absa
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s Absa Group on Wednesday officially launched Whatsapp banking, in its latest push to become a digitally-led African bank, with more than 10,000 customers already registered to date since early July.
The service faces competition from WeChat, China’s biggest Internet-based mobile messaging platform which launched in Africa in 2013 and offers an array of services including money transfers, prepaid electricity and airtime purchases.
Absa Chief Executive Maria Ramos has drawn up an ambitious growth strategy to regain market share in retail banking at home and double sales across the continent from 6 percent to 12 percent after the bank’s separation from Barclays PLC.
To achieve this, the group is adapting to changes in customer behaviour that requires banking to be available anytime, anywhere and accessible wherever the customer is.
“As technology advances and more customers become connected, bringing banking to where our customers are is important to us, especially as we continue our journey to become a digitally-led business driven by innovation,” Chief Executive of Absa retail and business banking Arrie Rautenbach said in a statement.
Live on July 11, Absa ChatBanking on Facebook Inc’s WhatsApp allows Absa account holders to perform simple banking such as checking their balance, buy airtime and make payment to an existing beneficiary using conversational languages and short commands.
Speaking at the official launch event on Wednesday, Chief Information Officer, virtual channels for Absa retail and banking Jacques Barkhuizen said apart from Facebook, the bank has also partnered with mobile messaging firm Clickatell.
ChatBanking on WhatsApp follows the momentum created by the launch of Absa ChatBanking on Facebook Messenger and Twitter in 2016.
Separately, Societe Generale is in talks with Absa about selling its local unit as the French bank prepares to pull out of Africa’s most industrialised economy, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Google in China: Internet giant 'plans censored search engine'
Google is developing a version of its search engine that will conform to China's censorship laws, reports say.
The company shut down the engine in 2010, complaining that free speech was being limited.
But online news site The Intercept says Google has being working on a project code-named Dragonfly that will block terms like human rights and religion, a move sure to anger activists.
One state-owned newspaper in China, Securities Daily, dismissed the report.
What has The Intercept said?
Citing internal Google documents and inside sources, it said that Dragonfly was begun back in the spring of 2017 and accelerated in December after Google's CEO Sundar Pichai met a Chinese government official.
It said an Android app with versions called Maotai and Longfei had been developed and could be launched within nine months if Chinese government approval was won.
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Both Reuters and Agence France-Presse said separate sources had confirmed the report to the news agencies.
How would the engine work?
The search app would "blacklist sensitive queries", The Intercept says, identifying and filtering websites currently blocked by China's so-called Great Firewall.
According to documents it had seen, a search via the app would result in a list with banned websites removed and a disclaimer saying that "some results may have been removed due to statutory requirements".
It said the BBC News website and Wikipedia would be among those blocked.
What has been the reaction inside Google?
Google has not officially commented on The Intercept report.
Spokesman Taj Meadows told AFP: "We don't comment on speculation about future plans."
One worker who spoke to Reuters said he had transferred himself out of his unit to avoid being involved in the project.
Another source who spoke to AFP said: "There's a lot of angst internally. Some people are very mad we're doing it."
And from activists?
Amnesty International said Google should not proceed with the programme.
Patrick Poon, a China researcher for Amnesty, said in a statement: "It will be a dark day for internet freedom if Google has acquiesced to China's extreme censorship rules to gain market access.
"In putting profits before human rights, Google would be setting a chilling precedent and handing the Chinese government a victory."
What has China said?
Not a great deal. However, the state-owned Securities Daily cited "relevant departments" as saying reports of the return of Google to the Chinese market were not true.
Reuters quoted a Chinese official as saying that Google had been in contact with Chinese authorities on the matter, but there was no approval for the programme as yet.
Why would Google want back in?
Quite simply, China is the biggest internet market in the world.
Despite its main search engine and YouTube video platform being blocked, Google still has 700 employees in China and has been developing alternative projects.
Its Google Translate app for smartphones was approved in China last year.
It also invested in Chinese live-stream game platform Chushou in January and has launched an artificial intelligence game on the social media app WeChat.
What does China block?
There's strict censorship of popular Western sites, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Certain topics like the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 are completely blocked. References to political opposition, dissidents and anti-communist activity are also banned as are those of free speech and sex.
China has in the past two years imposed increasingly strict rules on foreign companies, including new censorship restrictions.--BBC
Rolls-Royce profits hit by engine faults
Rolls-Royce is taking a charge of £554m to cover costs related to problems with its Trent 1000 engine.
The engine, which is used on Boeing's Dreamliner range of aircraft, has experienced problems with its turbine blades.
Airlines have been forced to take aircraft out of use while Rolls-Royce fixed the problem.
The charge contributed to a pre-tax loss for Rolls-Royce in the first half of the year of £1.26bn.
Rolls-Royce said the charge was a one-off exceptional item amounting to about 40% of the estimated expense involved.
The company said the actual cash cost of fixing the problems would be about £450m this year, £450m in 2019 and £350m in 2020. After that, costs would fall substantially, with the work complete by 2022.
Rolls was also hit by costs of reorganising the business and a loss related to the way it accounts for currency moves.
But the company said that if those costs were stripped out, the underlying business was performing well.
Underlying operating profit rose to £205m in the first half of the year, up from £141m in the same period of 2017.
"We continued to make good progress in the first half. Financial results were ahead of our expectations, with strong growth from civil aerospace and power systems, and we achieved a number of operational and technological milestones," chief executive Warren East said.
He added that underlying profit for the year was likely to be at the upper end of the company's forecast range.
In June, Rolls Royce announced 4,600 job cuts over the next two years as part of a major reorganisation.
The cuts were mainly to middle management and back office roles and were expected to fall largely at its base in Derby.
If you are on an aircraft taxiing at Heathrow and look out of the window towards the maintenance hangars, you will see something unusual - several brand-new Boeing 787s parked up doing not much at all.
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have been forced to ground some of their Dreamliners because of problems with Rolls-Royce engines.
They should stay on the wing without problem for several thousand hours of flight time - but the possibility that turbine blades might be wearing out means they have to be taken off and inspected every 300 hours.
This scene, parked aircraft and frustrated airlines, is replicated at airports round the world. Today Rolls-Royce made its latest estimate of how much the mess will cost to fix - £554m over the next four years.
It is an untimely gaffe from a company that is still recovering from an unhappy period that saw five successive profit warnings and is the in throes of a restructuring that will see more than 4,000 jobs go.
At the same time, it is ramping up production to cope with a surge in sales. As Warren East, the chief executive, put it this morning, the company is at a "pivotal" point. For investors, though, there was a silver lining in this morning's half-year numbers.
Looking past the immediate problems, Mr East was able to stick to his guidance on how much cash the company will generate in the coming year. That is vital if Rolls-Royce's jam-tomorrow promise is to become a reality, and explains why the company's shares were, at least in early trading, almost unchanged.--BBC
Trump threatens higher tariffs on Chinese imports
The US is considering 25% tariffs on $200bn (£152bn) of Chinese goods - more than double the 10% initially planned.
The review of the higher tariff is a request from President Donald Trump, who wants China to change its trade practices.
However, the decision risks escalating tensions between the world's two largest economies.
China has already warned it would retaliate if the US went ahead with the plan, accusing Washington of blackmail.
"If the US side takes steps to further escalate the situation, we will definitely take countermeasures to resolutely safeguard our legitimate and legal rights and interests," said foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang on Wednesday.
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US-China trade row: What has happened so far?
The White House says the tariffs are a response to China's unfair trade policies, which Mr Trump blames for helping to create a huge trade deficit.
A first round of tariffs came into effect on 6 July, when the US imposed 25% taxes on $34bn of Chinese imports. China retaliated in kind.
Tariffs on another $16bn of products are pending, the second part of tariffs on $50bn worth of imports that the US announced in March.
US threats have escalated since, with the President saying he is ready to impose tariffs on all $500bn of Chinese imports.
In July, the US published a list of $200bn worth of additional products to be hit with tariffs of 10% - a figure the US is now considering raising to 25%.
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said: "The increase in the possible rate of the additional duty is intended to provide the administration with additional options to encourage China to change its harmful policies and behaviour and adopt policies that will lead to fairer markets and prosperity for all of our citizens."
The list named more than 6,000 items worth $200bn in annual trade, including chemicals, textiles, minerals and consumer goods ranging from baseball gloves to frozen fish fillets.
Before the tariffs go into effect, they are subject to a public comment period. The duties could take effect as soon as September.
Some US politicians expressed support for the White House move.
Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida, tweeted "the only way to remove barriers is to demonstrate to [China] our willingness to retaliate with barriers".
But other groups condemned the idea, saying the taxes would ultimately raise costs for US households and businesses.
"China's trade abuses need to be addressed, but tariffs are not the answer," the National Retail Federation said.
The White House may hope that higher stakes force China to make concessions, but that is a risky bet, said Mickey Kantor, a partner at the law firm Mayer Brown who served as US commerce secretary under former president Bill Clinton.
"I don't think you can intimidate the Chinese into doing something they don't want to do," he told the BBC.
The decision to turn to tariffs, instead of working with allies to negotiate, is undermining respect for international trade rules, he added.
"We're going to have globalisation whether some people like it or not .... The only question is, are we going to have any rules that apply," he said.--BBC
Barclays profits hit by £2bn of costs
Litigation costs and settlements have made a big dent in Barclays' profits for the first half of the year.
Pre-tax profits fell from £2.3bn to £1.6bn after the bank paid out about £2bn, including a £1.4bn settlement with the US Justice Department.
But without the charges, pre-tax profits jumped by 20% to £3.7bn, with the UK arm seeing a 30% rise to £826m.
Boss Jes Staley called the figures "strong", with the bank starting to show "its true potential and value".
The charges that knocked the profits in the six months to 30 June also included a £400m provision for mis-selling payment protection insurance.
Total income for the period was flat at £10.9bn.
Mr Staley, the bank's chief executive, noted in a statement that the charges came in the first three months of the year, and that the last quarter was the first "for some time with no significant litigation or conduct charges, restructuring costs or other exceptional expenses which hit our profitability".
"In effect, then, it is the first clear sight of the statutory performance of the business which we have re-engineered over the past two and a half years - Barclays' transatlantic consumer and wholesale bank - and it is a positive sight."
Mr Staley added: "This first-half performance shows a bank beginning to demonstrate its true potential and value.
"The numbers we have posted strengthen our confidence that Barclays can deliver attractive and sustainable profits, and in our ability to return a greater proportion of those profits to shareholders over time."
Barclays' core capital ratio, a key measure of financial strength and cushion against sudden shocks, rose to 13%, just above analysts' average forecast of 12.9%. In the first three months of 2018, the ratio was 12.7%.
Analyst Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "The clouds are beginning to clear at Barclays as it ushers in a new era as a more effective and streamlined global bank... Light at the end of the tunnel seems to be getting brighter."
But he added: "Less positively, there a few areas of concern which will need to be addressed. Operating expenses in the UK arm increased, coupled with a decline in income, the cost/income ratio is still higher than some of its peers (although improving) and currency headwinds have hampered performance."
The Barclays share price, which jumped about 1% at the start of trading, began drifting back soon afterwards.
The profit figures come as Barclays pushes back against calls to prune its investment bank from activist investor Edward Bramson.
New York-based Mr Bramson, who disclosed a surprise 5% stake in Barclays in February, has argued that the bank should pare parts of the investment bank that do not directly serve corporate clients.
"We are in conversations with Bramson, I have met him, and we look forward to meeting him post these results," Mr Staley told reporters on a conference call. "But he has not outlined what his strategy is to us."--BBC
Tesla makes more cars as revenue jumps
Tesla delivered more of its Model 3 cars in the most recent quarter, helping to boost revenues.
Elon Musk's electric car company had revenues of $4bn in the three months to June, rising 43% from the same period last year.
The growth came as Tesla delivered more than 40,000 cars in the quarter, including about 18,000 Model 3s.
However, the firm still lost more than $717m in the quarter - a record that is more than double a year ago.
Tesla has been spending heavily as it strives to get the Model 3 - its latest car - into the hands of customers.
It reached its goal of making 5,000 Model 3 sedans a week "multiple" times in July, and aimed to produce 50,000 to 55,000 in the third quarter.
"It's really kind of a mind-blowing leap forward," Mr Musk said on a call with financial analysts.
Tesla said higher Chinese tariffs on US-made cars, imposed as part of a bigger trade dispute, are likely to hurt sales there. But the firm told investors it would shift its focus to Europe and North America "if necessary" to avoid any major impact.
Tesla also recently announced plans to build a new factory in China, an investment Mr Musk said would be about $2bn and produce about 250,000 vehicles annually.
Mr Musk said he remained confident of delivering on the promise of turning a profit in the second half of the year: "Our goal is to be profitable and cash-flow positive for every quarter going forward."
Staff and other expenses have been cut in an effort to boost the firm's bottom line. Capital expenditure is expected to fall $900m to about $2.5bn this year and Tesla had $2.2bn in cash and equivalents at the end of the quarter.
Mr Musk also apologised for being "impolite" on the analyst call for the previous quarter. At the time, he had dismissed some analyst questions as "boring".
Shares rose more than 9% in after-hours trading in New York.--BBC
Smaller firms should publish gender pay gap, say MPs
All organisations with more than 50 employees should publish details of what they pay the men and women who work for them, MPs have said.
A report by the Business Committee called for the net to be widened to include smaller firms, saying there was evidence of wider pay gaps among them.
Currently, only firms of more than 250 staff must state the average pay difference between men and women.
Committee chair Rachel Reeves said some of the biggest gaps were "obscene".
The report said recently published gender pay figures had "shone a spotlight" on the issue of a gender pay gap and helped women raise any disparities.
However, only half of the UK's workforce is covered by the present reporting requirements.
The report said the new reporting regime was a "step forward", but called for the government to be more ambitious.
Key findings from the data published in April included:
Gender pay gaps of more than 40% were not uncommon in some sectors
Almost four in five (78%) organisations reported gender pay gaps in favour of men
Labour's Rachel Reeves, chair of the committee, said the biggest gender pay gaps of more than 40% were "obscene and entirely unacceptable".
"Transparency on gender pay can only be the first step.
"A persistent gender pay gap shows that companies are failing to harness fully the talents of half the population. The penalties of working part-time, both financial and in terms of career progression, are a major cause."
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She said companies needed to "take a lead", suggesting they could offer flexible working at senior levels.
The report calls for firms to publish annual progress reports, including action plans for tackling any wage gaps.
The government said the UK was one of the few countries in the world to require employers to publish comprehensive gender pay gap data.
The Government Equalities Office said it was publishing new guidance for firms on recruitment and the progression of women, and ways to close their gender pay gap.
Minister for Women and Equalities Penny Mordaunt said it was "appalling" that in the 21st Century there was still a big difference between men and women's average earnings.
"We need to take action to ensure businesses know how they can make best use of their best talent and make their gender pay gaps a thing of the past," she said.
Sam Smethers, chief executive of women's rights group the Fawcett Society, said: "We have to move on from simply reporting the pay gap, to taking action to close it."
The CBI, the UK business group, said companies with a diverse workforce and leadership perform better than those without.
Matthew Percival, from the group, said: "The gender pay gap is a societal challenge with a complex mix of causes.
"Businesses need to work in partnership with the government on improving careers advice in schools and offering affordable childcare for working parents."
Although there was no requirement to report, 238 businesses with fewer than 250 employees voluntarily filed their pay gap figures by April.--BBC
Facebook's security boss to leave firm
Facebook’s chief security officer Alex Stamos has left the company to become a fellow at nearby Stanford University.
His departure had been expected following news in March that Facebook was reorganising its security division.
Facebook’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said Mr Stamos had played an “important role” at the company.
Mr Stamos, 39, had been with the firm since 2015. He will leave later this month.
He does so at a time when Facebook remains under scrutiny over the spread of misinformation on its platform, as well as an ongoing data privacy crisis.
Speaking to the New York Times, Mr Stamos described his time at Facebook as a “difficult three years”.
"I’d like to take the things I’ve learned and apply them more broadly,” he said.
And in a Facebook post published on Wednesday, he added: "I have been proud to work with some of the most skilled and dedicated security professionals in the world in one of the most difficult threat environments faced by any technology company.”
'Stopping more malicious actors'
Stanford said Mr Stamos would join a new working group focusing on information warfare, designed to inform politicians, the media and others about new threats.
“We are thrilled that Alex is devoting even more energy to our cyber efforts,” said Amy Zegart, co-director of Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation.
According to the New York Times, Facebook does not plan to appoint a successor.
In a statement, Facebook said: "Earlier this year we embedded our security engineers, analysts, investigators, and other specialists in the heart of our product and engineering teams.
"This has helped us do more to keep people safe, from detecting fake accounts in new ways, to stopping more malicious actors who manipulate people to spread falsehoods or share sensitive information."
Mr Stamos was criticised earlier this year when, in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, he lashed out at the media for describing the incident as a “breach”.
"I should have done a better job weighing in,” he later admitted, after deleting the tweets. Rumours of his departure emerged soon after.
Facebook’s Ms Sandberg on Wednesday praised Mr Stamos’ work.
“Alex has played an important role in how we approach security challenges and helped us build relationships with partners so we can better address the threats we face,” she said in an emailed statement.
"We know he will be an enormous asset to the team at Stanford and we look forward to collaborating with him in his new role."--BBC
WhatsApp starts charging business users
WhatsApp is launching new pay-to-use tools for businesses to communicate with their customers.
The move will allow its owner, Facebook, to make money from WhatsApp, which has lacked a revenue stream since dropping subscription fees.
Companies will be able to provide information and services, such as delivery dates or boarding passes, to customers via the platform.
In return, the businesses will pay a fee for a confirmed delivery.
The messages are set to cost between 0.5 cents to 9 cents (0.3p to 7p) a message depending on the country the user is based in. They can be automated or provided by human customer assistants.
The price means they will often be more expensive to use than more basic SMS-based texts.
In addition, firms can respond to questions and comments for free if they do so quickly, but if they take more than 24 hours to reply, they will face a charge.
Like other messages sent via the platform, correspondence sent via the WhatsApp Business API will be encrypted, meaning the tech firm will not be able to read the contents itself.
However, the Wall Street Journal reported that companies would be allowed to store copies of the messages elsewhere in a decrypted state.
Transport company Uber, the online store Wish and travel service Booking.com are among the first companies to adopt the new facilities.
Facebook paid $19bn to buy WhatsApp in 2014 and there has long been speculation about how Facebook intended to make money from it.
The move comes three months after WhatsApp's former boss Jan Koum announced he was quitting the service he had co-founded.--BBC
INVESTORS DIARY 2018
Company
Event
Venue
Date & Time
NicozDiamond
shares delist from the ZSE
06/07/2018
Zimbabwe
Heroes’ Day
Zimbabwe
13/08/2018
Zimbabwe
Defence Forces Day
Zimbabwe
14/08/2018
The Harare Agricultural Show
The Harare Agricultural Show
The Harare Agricultural Show
August 27- September 1
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