In today’s top news, Mastercard vows to connect 1 billion people to the digital economy by 2025, and Vroom is looking at filing an initial public offering (IPO) in June. Plus, a new report says the Small Business Administration (SBA) failed to give adequate loan guidance in issuing Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans.
Mastercard Expands Global Commitment To Connect 1B People
As the pandemic continues to disrupt worldwide economies and everyday life, Mastercard vows to connect 1 billion people and 50 micro-businesses to the digital economy by 2025. In addition, the company will offer tools to 25 million female entrepreneurs to fuel business growth.
Digital Car Buying Platform Vroom To Test IPO Waters In June
Vroom, the online used-car sales startup, is eyeing an IPO for June of this year, according to sources familiar with the company’s inner-workings. That comes even during the time of social distancing, but online car retailers may have the leg up in the pandemic as people resort to more digital methods of purchasing in lieu of being able to go out.
The Big Jump: Pandemics And The Connected Economy’s Bigger, Faster Future
In basketball, jump balls can set the pace for the game and shift its outcome. In the connected economy, jump discontinuity is setting the pace for the consumers’ shift to connected experiences, and rapidly shifting the outcome for players in the digital and physical worlds. Karen Webster said understanding how a concept that only math geeks once loved is important to understanding why it will have dramatic consequences for the evolution of the connected economy over the next decade and beyond. One that has already fast-forwarded a few years in just the last few months.
HomeLight CEO: Using Tech To Transform Real Estate Sales In The Age Of Social Distancing
In the best of times, home buying is filled with friction and paperwork, and in the age of the coronavirus, walk-throughs are, well, scary. The coronavirus may spur a pivot toward electronic signatures and virtual interactions with agents, buyers and sellers. HomeLight CEO Drew Uher explains how online platforms can lead to a safer, more satisfying real estate experience.
Report Says SBA Erred In Providing PPP Loan Guidance
A new report says the SBA failed to follow several congressional mandates in implementing a loan program designed to aid businesses during the COVID-19 crisis. The 40-page report issued on Friday (May 8) by the SBA Inspector General found the SBA did not inform lenders the measure was to prioritize underserved communities for the PPP under the $2.2 trillion CARES Act stimulus package.
Mnuchin: Not Reopening Risks Irreversible Economic Damage
The U.S. still hasn’t seen its highest level of unemployment due to the global coronavirus pandemic, but the economy will turn around, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. The jobless rate could even be as high as 25 percent now, comparable to the Great Depression, and “numbers are probably going to get worse before they get better,” he said.
Why Larger Firms May Soon Face The Same (Cash) Pressures As Main Street SMBs
All eyes are on the PPP as small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) grapple with cash shortfalls even as some larger companies give back funds they got under the effort’s initial tranche. Everyone agrees that the smallest, most-vulnerable companies need the money, but trouble looms for even many well-capitalized, publicly traded firms if the pandemic’s economic devastation goes on long enough.
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