Show Me the Money
Amazon plans to acquire Austin-based Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, making it their largest acquisition yet. Whole Foods has been under fire recently by investors for their “poor performance” due to the competition upping their organic game, often offering lower prices. And Whole Foods’ nickname of “Whole Paycheck” isn’t really helping either. Grocers like Target and Kroger shares plunged Friday morning after the news, while Whole Foods shares skyrocketed 28%. Amazon is becoming a threat in the grocery industry with their Amazon Fresh initiative. The deal will close later this year as Whole Foods CEO John Mackey plans to stay onboard to run the company and Amazon plans to keep the Whole Foods brand name alive. (Source: BBC, CNBC)
Dressing Up Against Body Shamers & Cyberbullying
UsTrendy, the largest independent online fashion site, launched the Believe in Yourself Project in response to increasing concerns surrounding cyberbullying and body shaming among adolescent females. Keeping up with the latest trends and societal pressures isn’t always affordable, and the Believe in Yourself Project provides dresses to disadvantaged high school and college students while encouraging women to have a positive self-image. The foundation is also rolling out their mentorship program this summer, which will allow girls to talk with and learn from influential women in their community. (Source: Believe in Yourself)
Twitter Gets a Makeover
Twitter rolled out a redesign for its mobile apps yesterday. Studies found that users thought Twitter was too complicated, so the design team simplified it. One of the issues was around the reply button that previously looked like a delete button. The new design has this button changed to a speech bubble instead. Everything is now updated instantly so users can see when someone likes or retweets something simultaneously. Other changes include a new side navigation tab, bold headers and a more rounded look on avatars to distinguish users from tweets. The Internet’s response to this makeover is summed up with some of the trending memes below. (Source: Wired)
