In brief: Microsoft CEO again apologizes for raise remark
SAN FRANCISCO – Still working to repair damage caused by his gaffe about women seeking pay raises, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has again apologized to employees and announced in a companywide memo that all workers will receive expanded training on how to foster an inclusive culture.
Microsoft’s female employees in the United States earn 99.7 percent of what men earned in similar positions last year, Nadella said in a new memo to workers this week. He suggested that such slight variations are not unusual for “any particular group,” but he added that he wants to increase the number of women and minorities in the company’s workforce.
“We must ensure not only that everyone receives equal pay for equal work, but that they have the opportunity to do equal work,” Nadella said in the latest memo, which was confirmed as authentic by a Microsoft spokeswoman.
Nadella again apologized for his remarks last week at a women-in-computing conference, where he suggested that women don’t need to ask for raises and should just trust that the system will pay them what they’re worth. The comment drew immediate criticism.
Advertisement coming to strapped Snapchat
Snapchat is about to make money.
The messaging app based in Los Angeles said Friday that this weekend it plans to place an advertisement in the app, likely a video, that users in the U.S. can voluntarily watch by clicking a link within a section that links to multimedia updates from their friends. Like those updates from friends, called “Stories,” the ad will disappear 24 hours after it is posted.
It’ll be “a surprise” what company will run the advertisement, Snapchat spokeswoman Mary Ritti said.
After launching more than three years ago as a way for friends to exchange photos that would disappear after a few seconds, Snapchat has become a worldwide go-to for teenagers and millennials with potentially more than 100 million users and at least $163 million in venture capital.
“We need to make money,” the company admitted in a statement.
Criticized GM lawyer will retire in 2015
DETROIT – General Motors’ chief lawyer Michael Millikin, who withstood withering criticism from lawmakers for his department’s handling of an ignition switch recall, is retiring early next year.
GM said in a statement that the 66-year-old Millikin will stay on until a replacement is on the job.
During a July Senate hearing on the delayed recall of small cars with faulty switches, lawmakers demanded that Millikin be fired. One senator called the failure of GM’s legal department “stunning.” Millikin said he didn’t learn of the problem until this year.
CEO Mary Barra praised Millikin as a man of integrity and loyalty.