The Week in Numbers: game over for teens
From an end to game time for Chinese teens, to a hiring spree at Amazon, this is the Week in Numbers. First up...
3 hours a week is how long Chinese under-18s will be allowed to spend playing online games. That's under new rules announced this week by Beijing. The news went down predictably badly with teens:
"I don't think the new regulation makes any sense. Although it aims to help teenagers, the less you let them play, the more curious they'll be."
Shares in game makers like South Korea's Krafton skidded following the news.
Almost 17% was the plunge in Zoom shares on Tuesday. The video conferencing company saw its worst day in months after warning of a faster-than-expected drop in demand as people return to their offices.
$15.5 billion is how much Alibaba will invest in China's "common prosperity" fund. That will help pay for subsidies to small firms, and insurance for gig-economy workers.
Other Chinese corporate giants have already pledged money to President Xi Jinping's initiative. Exactly how voluntary the donations are... only they know.
55,000 is how many new jobs Amazon is creating. That's almost as many as Facebook's entire workforce. Boss Andy Jassy says it's necessary to keep pace with growth. Whether the hiring spree will do anything to ease criticism of Amazon's labor standards, is another matter.
And $15 billion is how much Reddit hopes it's worth. Reuters sources say the social media network beloved by meme-stock investors aims to hit that number in an IPO next year. That would be 50% up on a valuation seen in fundraising just last month.
