Facebook To News Outlets: We’ll Pay You Millions To License Content

Facebook is looking to get into the news business, and that could be good news for some outlets, according to a published report.

Quoting sources, the Wall Street Journal reports today that the social media behemoth is willing to pay as much as $3 million a year to license headlines and preview of articles. That would be a sharp departure from the status quo of fellow online giant Google, which has taken flak for not compensating news outlets for headlines and previews that pop up from searches.

Facebook itself has drawn criticism for poaching ad revenue from newspapers, most of which are struggling in an increasingly digital world. Company reps have pitched the content-licensing idea to ABC News, Bloomberg, The Washington Post and WSJ parent Dow Jones, per the paper. It’s unknown whether any of them have agreed to a deal, which the paper’s sources said would run for three years.

WSJ said Facebook would give news orgs a say in how their content would appear on the news tab — either hosting their stories directly on the site or putting headlines and previews in the tab that would send readers to their own websites.

The social media company wants to launch the news section, which is in development, in the fall.

The proposal already has drawn some harsh reaction, as many news outlets — and journalists — are wary of the plan in the wake a broken Facebook pledge years ago. The company had made a big push toward putting news in users’ feeds, but it later dropped the plan.

Trump administration holds off on approving licenses for tech firms to sell to Huawei: report

The Trump administration is holding off on approving licenses for U.S. companies to resume doing business with China’s Huawei Technologies Co. in the wake of China’s suspension of U.S. agricultural purchases, Bloomberg News reported Thursday. That could be bad news for U.S. tech companies, especially chip makers such as Intel Corp. INTC, +0.94% , Qualcomm Inc. QCOM, +2.68% and Micron Technology Inc. MU, +2.11%, that hope to continue lucrative business deals with Huawei. Last year, Huawei bought $11 billion worth of components from U.S. tech companies. In July, President Donald Trump promised tech companies "timely" decisions on licenses, and last week Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said approval of about 50 licenses were pending.

Conduent stock falls 5% after company suspends CEO search, conducts strategic review

Conduent Inc. CNDT, +3.84% shares fell 5% in the extended session Thursday after the company said it has stopped searching for a new chief executive and is conducting a strategic and operational review of the company. Cliff Skelton is the interim CEO. The company reported a second-quarter net loss of $1.03 billion, or $4.94 a share, compared with net income of $11 million, or 29 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings were 13 cents a share. Revenue fell to $1.11 billion from $1.39 billion in the year-ago period. Conduent said it wrote down $1.07 billion in goodwill because of the loss of customer contracts. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated adjusted earnings of 16 cents a share on revenue of $1.01 billion. For the third quarter, analysts model adjusted earnings of 23 cents a share on sales of $1.1 billion. Condeunt stock has fallen 76% this year, with the S&P 500 index SPX, +1.88% rising 14%.

Tutor Perini Reduces Full Year Earnings Guidance – Quick Facts

Tutor Perini Corp. (TPC) reduced its 2019 earnings guidance based on the company’s results to date. The company now expects a loss in the range of $4.77 to $4.97 per share. Excluding the impact of the impairment charge, the company projects adjusted earnings per share in the range of $1.60 to $1.80. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report profit per share of $2.12. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude special items.

For the second-quarter, adjusted net income attributable to the company was $9.0 million or $0.18 per share. On average, five analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report profit per share of $0.47, for the quarter.

Second-quarter revenue was $1.1 billion, consistent with last year, but negatively impacted by significant delays on certain projects. Analysts expected revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter.

Shares of Tutor Perini were down more than 18% after hours.

Groupon Buys Presence AI

Groupon (GRPN) Thursday said it has acquired Presence AI, an artificial intelligence-powered text and voice communications tool that enables and facilitates messaging between customers and merchants. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Presence AI enables merchants to offer a 24/7 business assistant that integrates with a merchant’s existing scheduling software to accept and manage bookings, provide instant answers to customer questions, remind people when it’s time to re-book and much more.

“We’re pleased to welcome the Presence AI team and their booking technology to Groupon. Booking is a key part of our voucherless initiative aimed at improving the redemption experience, providing always-on availability, giving consumers more reasons to buy through Groupon and opening up our marketplace to a broader range of merchants,” said Groupon Chief Product Officer Sarah Butterfass. “Presence AI’s technology is very complementary to what we’ve been building into our existing booking experience and will accelerate our roadmap with its text- and chat-based interface.”

Presence AI was founded in 2015 in San Francisco and operates in the health, beauty and wellness space, which is one of Groupon’s largest categories.