Happy Monday! If you celebrated Juneteenth, we hope you had a fulfilling day. Other than that, we're going to jump right into this week's tech rankings, so no funny intros, quips, or monologues. Just pure tech goodness. 😅
Apple 👑 is trending #1 this week after a whopping 139% increase in trending interest. In what could best be described as a watershed moment, workers at an Apple store in Maryland voted to unionize — the first in the company's history in the U.S. The union, called Coalition of Organized Retail Employees, penned a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook asking the company chief to respect his employees' decision and not use any resources to dissuade them.
Apple isn't the only megacorporation where employees are unionizing. Workers at Amazon and Starbucks have been leading similar efforts, though the road to unionization hasn't been easy.
In more bad news at Coinbase 🪙, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S. announced it would be reducing its headcount by 18% or around 1,100 people. Ranked at #2 this week, the digital asset trading platform listed a number of reasons for its decision, including a need to manage expenses in a rapidly changing environment.
Crypto markets are currently in freefall following problems at several major industry players, including Three Arrows Capital and Celsius Network, so the job cuts at Coinbase don't come as a complete surprise, especially considering that the company paused hiring and rescinded offers just a few weeks ago.
It is yet unclear whether this is a one-time event at Coinbase or if more job cuts are imminent.
While Coinbase lets go of people, Amazon 📦 has a different problem at hand. A leaked memo claims the e-commerce giant could run out of people to hire in the US by 2024, impacting the online retailer’s service quality and growth plans, alongside its dominance in online retail. Still, it wasn't far behind on Hacker Noon's tech rankings this week, securing a comfortable #3 with a 125% increase in trending interest.
You can read an interesting article here on how other companies can avoid being in the same situation as Amazon.
Elsewhere, Microsoft 🖥️ was trending at #4. Bill Gates' baby was in the news for a number of reasons, including a decision to pull the plug on Internet Explorer after 26 years and the launch of Microsoft Defender, a new app designed to provide a one-stop solution for customers' security needs.
Oh, and the company is testing bringing casual games to Teams too.
Last but not least, Tesla 🚗 took the #5 spot. Tesla cars will be barred from entering the Chinese coastal district of Beidaihe for a period of two months due to spying concerns. Beidaihe is the site of a summer conclave of China's senior leaders where they discuss personnel moves and policy ideas behind closed doors, and the nation's security apparatus has taken concern with cameras installed on the vehicles.
Tesla cars are also pegged to become costlier in the U.S. due to inflation and persistent global supply-chain problems and soaring raw material costs. Yikes!
Anyway, this was your Tech Company Brief. If you'd like to follow these rankings in real-time, feel free to head down here. See y'all next week.
PEACE! ☮️
