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23

Trove CEO: Consumers Look to Brands for Streamlined Resale Experiences

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Tired of proverbially picking their way through online resale marketplaces, consumers are looking for more streamlined secondhand shopping experiences that more closely resemble the ease and simplicity of buying new. In an interview with…

44% of Consumers Need 2 to 4 Prompts to Act on Card-Linked Offers

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Card-linked offers — those special promotions designed to encourage consumers to use their credit and debit cards at specific locations or for specific items — are used by about 2 in 5 cardholders. As PYMNTS Intelligence found in…

21

California Uber Drivers Reap $1 Billion in Benefits Since 2020

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Uber says it has made an investment exceeding $1 billion in benefits for its California drivers and couriers since 2020. This investment is aimed at enhancing the working conditions and overall well-being of its vast network of drivers and…

Meta’s $35 Billion Bet on AI Fuels the Tech Arms Race

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Meta announced a $35 billion investment in artificial intelligence (AI) for this year, signaling an aggressive push in the escalating tech arms race. This colossal investment raises pivotal questions about the future of AI development and…

Iris Partners With Amazon Business on Procurement for UK Schools

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Iris Software Group has launched an integration with Amazon Business that will help schools in the United Kingdom streamline and automate their purchasing process. This integration will enable 5,254 Iris customers to purchase supplies…

20

Real Madrid, Ouro Deal Nets Big Wins in Financial Innovation

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In today’s digital age, the combination of innovative financial products and a loyal, international fanbase holds the potential for significant market disruption. The recent collaboration between financial services company Ouro and renown…

19

ByteDance Says It ‘Doesn’t Have Any Plan to Sell TikTok’

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ByteDance reportedly will not sell its U.S. TikTok business, even if it loses its legal battle in the United States. The company said late Thursday (April 25) in a post on another app that it owns, Toutiao, that reports it was considering…

This Week in AI: Beyond LLMs, AI Forklifts, Weather Forecasting

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This week in artificial intelligence (AI) news, as large language models (LLMs) near technical limits, the focus shifts to retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), which combines information retrieval with natural language generation, and…

Making Sense of: How America’s CHIPS Act Fuels Domestic Innovation

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American companies are outpacing European ones on innovation and technology. That’s what the head of Norway’s $1.6 trillion oil fund told the Financial Times Wednesday (April 24), and his comments came as just a day later, on Thursday …

18

Amazon Announces Prime Day’s Return as Shoppers Flock to Seasonal Deals

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With consumer spending increasingly motivated by deals and seasonality, Amazon is gearing up for its tenth-ever Prime Day savings event, as Doug Herrington, CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores, announced via LinkedIn Friday (April 26). “Last…

17

Savings Rates Pressured as Consumer Spending Outpaces Disposable Personal Income Growth

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The latest data on personal consumption notes that spending is outpacing the growth in disposable income. And as a result, consumers are dipping into savings to keep their spending apace. The latest personal income expenditures (PCE) price…

16

Elon Musk’s xAI Close to Raising $6 Billion

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Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence (AI) startup xAI is reportedly close to raising $6 billion from investors. The funding round would value xAI at $18 billion, Bloomberg reported Friday (April 26). Silicon Valley venture capital (VC) firm…

11

Banks Need ‘Change Management Checklist’ in Battle Against Fraud

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Artificial intelligence (AI) holds the promise to transform all manner of industries — helping banks, in particular, improve their anti-money laundering (AML) efforts. But as Chris Caruana, VP of Strategy at Hawk:AI, Ramon Ramirez,…

Card-Linked Offers Shape Data Access and Personalized Offers for Restaurants

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With Small Business Week coming up April 29, it’s a good time to focus on the restaurant sector, because according to industry data, 90% of restaurants meet the criteria. In fact, 70% of them are single-unit operations. And when you’re…

Customer Data, Technology Unlock Profitability Amid Uncertainty

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Companies can leverage customer data and use technology to prosper in uncertain times, i2c Global Head of Operations John Bresnahan writes in the new PYMNTS eBook, “The Implications of Uncertainty.” The direction of the United States and…

Study Finds Only Half of Consumers Satisfied With Embedded Lending Options

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Lenders in key global markets offer an ever-increasing range of consumer credit products. Still, consumers express dissatisfaction with the current options. Just 50% of consumers across six major economies are highly satisfied, with rates…

FinTech IPO Index Adds 3% as Oportun Soars on Preliminary Quarterly Results

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For the companies populating the FinTech IPO Index, earnings have been part of the continuing avalanche of headlines this past week. Earnings Begin to Trickle In Oportun shares soared 32.5%. The company this week announced preliminary…

04

Capital One CEO Calls Discover Deal ‘Singular Opportunity’

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Capital One’s first quarter results showed consumers continue to spend on their cards — and management touted the benefits of the proposed $35 billion buyout of Discover Financial Services. Purchase volume on its cards was up 6% year over…

03

Snap Reports Augmented Reality Drives User Engagement, Brand Advertising

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Snapchat parent company Snap believes that augmented reality (AR) will be “one of the most meaningful advancements in computing that the world has ever seen.” Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snap, said this Thursday (April 25) during the company’s…

The Future of AI? RAG Combines Language and Search

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As experts hint at the nearing technical limits of large language models (LLMs), the spotlight turns to retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) — a promising advancement that could redefine artificial intelligence (AI) by merging information…

Robo-Forklifts Rev Up Walmart’s Warehouses

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In Walmart’s sprawling distribution centers, a quiet change is underway. The retail behemoth is preparing to deploy a fleet of 19 autonomous electric forklifts across four of its facilities, marking a significant step forward in…

02

Report: ByteDance to Shut Down TikTok If Legal Efforts Fail

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TikTok owner ByteDance would reportedly rather shut down the social media platform than sell it. That’s what the firm plans to do if it is unsuccessful in its legal efforts to fight legislation that would ban TikTok from app stores in the…

Microsoft: Unlocking AI Benefits Will Require Cultural Changes for Enterprises

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Digital transformation is the name of the game — and that’s great news for Microsoft. The company, which reported its Fiscal Year 2024 Q3 earnings results on Thursday (April 25), has seen ongoing enterprise digitization fuel a greater…

Digital Platforms Elevate Renters’ Personal Finance Game

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Digital platforms are transforming the personal finance landscape for renters by emphasizing the importance of leveraging nuanced insights derived from rental payment data, a facet traditionally excluded from credit scoring models. Among…

Stripe to Launch Support for Global Stablecoin Payments This Summer

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Stripe is bringing back crypto payments after stopping them in 2018. John Collison, co-founder of Stripe, said in a Thursday (April 25) post on X (formerly Twitter): “Crypto is back.” Crypto is back. @Stripe will start supporting global…

79% of US Consumers Are Highly Satisfied With BNPL

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Split-payment or installment plans such as buy now, pay later (BNPL) enable consumers to shop more strategically, buying items one day and paying for them with a set schedule of payments over time to better manage their budgets. According…

01

Alphabet Q1 Earnings Focus on AI Monetization

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Come for the comments about AI. Stay for the earnings call. That will most likely be the pattern of big tech earnings over the next two weeks as companies prioritize technology over financial reporting. It was the case when Meta reported…

Mastercard Debuts Enhancements to FinTech Express and Engage Programs

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Mastercard is introducing a card issuance function for its FinTech Express platform. The payments giant made that announcement Thursday (April 25) as part of a broader rollout of enhancements to FinTech Express and its Engage program. The…

On-Demand Rental Apps Streamline Commercial Fleet’s Digital Journey

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Whether it’s a delivery service rushing to fulfill orders, a construction crew on a project or a catering company prepping for a weekend event, all these businesses rely on fleets of vehicles to keep their operations running smoothly.…

Thursday, Apr 25

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FTC Files Complaint Against Doxo, Alleging Misleading Ads

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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is taking action against doxo, saying the bill payment company misleads consumers and tacks on junk fees. The agency filed a federal court complaint alleging that doxo violated the FTC Act, the Restore…