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Kayak CEO says holiday travel interest is pacing 35% ahead of last year

By Tommy Flemm 1 year ago

After coronavirus fears brought flight cancellation after flight cancellation, Americans are slowly starting to think about flying again.

While the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) airport checkpoint data shows passenger traffic remains about just 20% of what it was at this time last year, Kayak CEO Steve Hafner says he’s starting to see search interest for holiday flights pace ahead of what the flight platform saw in 2019. That’s driving optimism that a slow, but steady recovery to air travel might be able to sustain its momentum.

“We have seen a spike in holiday travel — so people looking for travel over Christmas and the Thanksgiving period is about 35% higher on Kayak right now than it was this time last year,” Hafner told Yahoo Finance’s YFi PM. “I think what that reflects is that people aren’t looking for flights for the summer anymore, but they are looking at flights for

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OpenTable CEO says 25% of America’s restaurants will close for good due to coronavirus

By Tommy Flemm 1 year ago

As the world’s largest restaurant reservations platform, OpenTable has unique insight into the recovery restaurants are making as economies start to open back up from coronavirus lockdowns.

Unfortunately, OpenTable data shows the tough road ahead is pointing to the grim reality that up to 25% of restaurants in the U.S. might permanently close due to the pandemic, according to OpenTable and Kayak CEO Steve Hafner.

“Twenty-five percent [of restaurants closing] is still what we’re projecting,” he told Yahoo Finance’s YFi PM, reaffirming his company’s dire projection from back in May despite a recent uptick in restaurant reservations. “Even in the best of times, restaurants operate on really thin margins. So if you add on capacity restrictions, new safety and service protocols, it’s really tough for a restaurant to make it.”

OpenTable data, which comes from a fraction of the nearly 60,000 restaurants around the globe, shows a modest recovery for

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COVID-19 quarantines gave hackers time to perfect presidential election attacks: tech security CEO

By Tommy Flemm 1 year ago

Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince continues to warn that the coming presidential election may unleash hackers again just like in 2016 in a bid to influence the outcome.

The recent actions of these faceless bad actors look to be practicing their craft while quarantined at home because of COVID-19.

“I think as sports are canceled around the world, it’s getting hackers to spend more time focusing on how they can hack various things. And we see some versions of that, which are relatively harmless. For instance, we seen a big uptick in relatively unsophisticated attacks, which is actually similar to what we see when schools let out. I think there are a bunch of kids out there trying to test their chops if they can hack various systems. What has been concerning is especially over the last month, there has been a rise in nation states sponsored attacks targeting both political

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Delta CEO trying to avoid furloughs ‘any way we possibly can’ as airlines recover

By Tommy Flemm 1 year ago

The major U.S. airlines have all warned the coronavirus pandemic may force them to lay off employees in order to save money, but Delta Air Lines (DAL) CEO Ed Bastian is hoping to avoid cutting staff at all.

The airline took $5.4 Billion from the U.S. Treasury under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which requires Delta to maintain employee salaries and benefits through Sept. 30. Although recent data suggests passengers are starting to fly again, the airline is moving now to downsize.

“You know that the telltale sign will come October 1. That’s when the restrictions around furloughs will come off and my goal, at Delta, is to avoid furloughs in any way we possibly can,” Bastian told Yahoo Finance’s “On the Move” in an interview.

The air carrier employs 90,000 people. Yet almost half — more than 40,000 — have taken voluntary leave to

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Verishop aims to take on Amazon and become the ‘largest online shopping mall in the Western world’: CEO

By Tommy Flemm 1 year ago

Online retailer Verishop is just under a year old, but its CEO and co-founder already has his sights set on building a platform that will eventually rival some of the biggest existing e-commerce players.

“Our mission is to build the largest online shopping mall in the Western world,” Imran Khan, CEO and co-founder of Verishop, told Yahoo Finance Breakouts. “If you look at why do you go to shopping mall, you go to shopping mall for entertainment. You go to shopping mall for discovery. And you go to shopping mall for convenience. And I’m really focused on bringing those three value propositions to customers.”

The Santa Monica, California–based company was launched on June 18, 2019, by Khan and his wife, Cate Khan, who previously worked as head of retail at Amazon’s now-shuttered Quidsi business. Before co-founding Verishop, Imran Khan spent about four years as Snap’s (SNAP) chief strategy officer, during

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