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US fintech solutions provider Fiserv has announced it will purchase payment processor First Data in an all-stock deal for $22 billion, marking one of the largest acquisitions within the fast-growing fintech industry, per The Wall Street Journal.

Fiserv and First Data provide a range of technology solutions to banks, merchants, and other businesses. Fiserv, a core banking vendor with a client list of 12,000 financial institutions (FIs), offers services including processing credit and debit card transactions for banks. Meanwhile, First Data provides payment processing and technology to over 4,000 FIs. The companies anticipate the deal will formally close in the second half of this year.

The deal will allow the two firms to offer more integrated services while pushing back against the threat from fintechs. The consolidation of Fiserv and First Data makes sense as the firms largely offer complementary products and services.

The deal will enable Fiserv to broaden the suite of products it offers to its existing clients, including account processing and digital banking solutions. First Data also offers a range of fintech solutions, including Clover, its point-of-sale (POS) product for middle-sized merchants that competes with Square.

Clover and other brands owned by First Data will now have backing from a company with vast resources and reach, while Fiserv can integrate these offerings into its core business. As a result, the consolidation of these two firms will enable them to bolster their services against competition: Fintechs like Square and Adyen have increasingly pushed into the market in recent years, threatening the revenue source of legacy players like Fiserv and First Data.

The deal highlights a growing trend of consolidation we’re seeing in financial services. Already …read more

Source:: Business Insider

      

Tesla announced that it would lay off 3,000 workers — 7% of its workforce.
Tesla’s headcount is bloated relative to its production — it’s about time the company started cutting.
CEO Elon Musk, with profits in his sights, is finally running Tesla like a real car company.

Tesla announced Friday, via a company email, that it would lay off 3,000 workers, about 7% of its headcount. Tesla also shed 9,000 workers last year.

It’s about time.

For years, auto-industry veterans have commented on how Tesla’s staffing levels are excessive, relative to its production and sales numbers. A company that will likely sell something in the ballpark of 250,000 vehicles in 2018 and that runs a single factory in California can’t support 45,000 total employees.

On assembly line workers alone at its Fremont factory, Tesla has about twice as many people building half as many vehicles as the same plant cranked out in the 1980s, when it was known as NUMMI and was a joint venture between General Motors and Toyota. The level of efficiency is notably bad and couldn’t last, especially given Tesla’s profitability objectives going forward.

Read more: Elon Musk says he’s firing more than 3,000 Tesla staff because of pressure on profits and Model 3 production challenges

From the wording of Musk’s email, it sounds like Tesla is concentrating on shedding contractor bloat, which is an obvious tactic in the car business if you’re trying to drastically ramp up a less-expensive vehicle than you’ve been selling. There’s no $35,000 Model 3 yet, and the car that Tesla has been making is going for around $50,000 — not bad, except that the company’s average transaction price on its Model S and Model X luxury vehicles is twice that.

The oldest trick in the CEO playbook

Tesla shares slid of Friday, but that was because …read more

Source:: Business Insider

      

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I hate cooking, but this cheap $37 George Foreman grill has made me a healthy-eating convert.
Imagine your meal prep requires three steps: buying chicken, throwing it on the grill, and taking said chicken (perfectly cooked) off of it 5-7 minutes later. That’s my reality, and it is my bliss.
The cooking hasn’t disappointed me yet, the cleanup is easy with detachable plates, and the price of $40 is unbeatable.

I am a woman of many paradoxes.

I love fitness, but I hate cooking. I will happily spend hours every week in kickboxing, yoga, and boot camp classes and come home to boil limp ravioli into submission. I understand the arguments for meal-prepping (I can hear you yelling them): saving money, learning a skill, being kinder to your body by introducing fewer chemicals and sweeteners, etc. And yet, I haven’t ever been able to shake the feeling that the hour and change I just spent cooking was a missed opportunity to do other things. Trust me, I wish I liked it. If I did, coming home to lovingly season chicken would feel liberating and relaxing rather than soul-sucking. Alas, I do not.

In a desperate plea to break up my ravioli feedings with some protein, my dad recently sent me this $40 George Foreman grill in the mail.

It can cook up to four servings at once in under 10 minutes, the plates are removable and dishwasher-safe for easy cleanup, and you can cook basically whatever you can dream up to grill: chicken, burgers, veggies, paninis. The sloped surface helps drain 42% of fat to …read more

Source:: Business Insider

      

The Kansas City Chiefs will face off against the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship this Sunday.
When these teams met earlier in the season, the Patriots walked away with a 43-40 victory, but both sides have come a long way since their Week 6 matchup.
Whichever team wins on Sunday will represent the AFC in Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta.

On Sunday, the New England Patriots will travel to Kansas City to take on the Chiefs in the AFC Championship to determine which team will get to represent the conference in Super Bowl LIII.

The game is a rematch of one of the most thrilling games of the 2018 regular season, but both teams have come a long way since their Week 6 matchup.

Below we break down everything you need to know before the game kicks off on Sunday.

The basics:

Who: Kansas City Chiefs vs. New England Patriots

What: AFC Championship

When: 6:40 p.m. ET

Where: Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City

Where to watch: CBS

What’s the spread?

The Chiefs are currently 3-point favorites at most sportsbooks.

This means that for Chiefs bettors, Kansas City will need to win by more than three points to cash their ticket, while Patriots bettors can earn their winnings with a New England win or a loss by two or less.

The total on this game is currently listed at 55.5 points, meaning Las Vegas is expecting a pretty high-scoring affair between the two teams.

What happened the first time they met?

The Chiefs traveled to New England in Week 6 of the 2018 regular season for what was one of the most compelling games of the year.

Football fans were just getting to know Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and the young gunslinger was impressive in a shootout against Tom Brady and company.

Despite trailing at halftime 24-9, the Chiefs mounted an impressive comeback in the second half, with Mahomes …read more

Source:: Business Insider