Veeva Announces Fiscal 2019 Third Quarter Results: Total Revenues of $224.7M, up 27% Year-over-year

Veeva Announces Fiscal 2019 Third Quarter Results
Total Revenues of $224.7M, up 27% Year-over-year

Subscription Services Revenues of $178.2M, up 25% Year-over-year

November 28, 2018 04:05 PM Eastern Standard Time
PLEASANTON, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Veeva Systems Inc. (NYSE: VEEV), a leading provider of industry cloud solutions for the global life sciences industry, today announced results for its fiscal third quarter ended October 31, 2018. All results, including prior periods, and guidance reflect the new revenue recognition standard ASC 606.

“Our focus on innovation and customer success coupled with our consistent execution sets us up for a great finish to the year and establishes a strong foundation for next year and beyond.”
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“We executed well across all areas of the business, expanding our leadership with Veeva Commercial Cloud and Veeva Vault,” said CEO Peter Gassner. “Our focus on innovation and customer success coupled with our consistent execution sets us up for a great finish to the year and establishes a strong foundation for next year and beyond.”

Fiscal 2019 Third Quarter Results:

Revenues: Total revenues for the third quarter were $224.7 million, up from $177.0 million one year ago, an increase of 27% year-over-year. Subscription services revenues for the third quarter were $178.2 million, up from $142.8 million one year ago, an increase of 25% year-over-year.
Operating Income and Non-GAAP Operating Income(1): Third quarter operating income was $63.1 million, compared to $42.5 million one year ago, an increase of 48% year-over-year. Non-GAAP operating income for the third quarter was $84.4 million, compared to $58.4 million one year ago, an increase of 45% year-over-year.
Net Income and Non-GAAP Net Income(1): Third quarter net income was $64.1 million, compared to $34.9 million one year ago, an increase of 83% year-over-year. Non-GAAP net income for the third quarter was $70.3 million, compared to $38.9 million one year ago, an increase of 81% year-over-year.
Net Income per Share and Non-GAAP Net Income per Share(1): For the third quarter, fully diluted net income per share was $0.41, compared to $0.23 one year ago, while non-GAAP fully diluted net income per share was $0.45, compared to $0.25 one year ago.
“We are pleased to report our results came in well above guidance for the quarter, as we continued to deliver a unique combination of growth and profitability,” said CFO Tim Cabral. “Looking to next year, we expect to hit $1 billion in total revenue, significantly ahead of our original plan.”

Recent Highlights:

Strategic Wins for Vault Clinical — The company had its first Veeva Vault CTMS win with a top 20 pharmaceutical company, who will deploy globally. Another leading CRO chose Veeva Vault eTMF, the third top 7 CRO to standardize on the product.
Veeva Extends Leadership in CRM Across All Segments — A top 10 pharmaceutical company added more than 5,000 Veeva CRM users across multiple regions as part of its global expansion. Additionally, a major consumer health company selected multichannel Veeva CRM for 40 markets. Momentum also continued in SMB, with Veeva adding 31 new customers since the start of the fiscal year.
Top 50 Pharma Goes Global with Veeva OpenData — Veeva signed a top 50 pharmaceutical company to implement Veeva OpenData globally. In addition, a top 20 selected Veeva OpenData for the U.S.
Continued Enterprise Progress in Vault RIM — In the quarter, a top 20 pharmaceutical company chose Vault RIM for its global regulatory operations, the sixth top 20 to select Veeva regulatory solutions.
Financial Outlook:

Veeva is providing guidance for its fiscal fourth quarter ending January 31, 2019 as follows:

Total revenues between $226 and $227 million.
Non-GAAP operating income between $77 and $78 million(2).
Non-GAAP fully diluted net income per share of $0.40(2).
Veeva is providing guidance for its fiscal year ending January 31, 2019 as follows:

Total revenues between $855.8 and $856.8 million.
Non-GAAP operating income between $298.6 and $299.6 million(2).
Non-GAAP fully diluted net income per share of $1.58(2).



at 12:59 AM 0 comments

Larry Ellison makes a brief appearance at AWS: reinvent






at 10:15 PM 0 comments

Philly EnterpriseTech Roundup 11/27: BuzzFeed CEO proposes industry mergers; Technical glitch screws up 'The Match' revenue; FT profiles SEI's Al West

Tom Paine




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The FT did an excellent profile of Al West and his Oaks-based business, SEI Investments . It explains how SEI started as a systems house and moved to become a major funds manager in addition to third-party systems management. (The FT seems to give non-subs a one time-limited read.)


Vanguard cut its minimum investment from $10,000 to $3,000 , adjusting in one area it was considered behind much of the industry.



In a New York Magazine interview , BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti floated the idea of a merger between other digital publishers such as BuzzFeed, Group Nine Media, Refinery29, Vox Media and Vice Media. And its more than a float; actual discussions between some of these parties are reportedly already occurring.

Most of these firms have historically relied on paid content for revenue. A few years ago the paid content market's potential seemed limitless to some, but the law of big numbers started kicking in and showed the market is ultimately finite. Thus the pressure from VCs and corporate investors to rationalize costs, starting with cutting duplicate overheads among the firms. At the same time the combined companies would have more leverage in dealing with online ad giants Facebook and Google (and an oncoming Amazon).

No one has any idea how these things might work out, but a merger between BuzzFeed and another Comcast-backed venture, Vox Media, could be a logical first step.


In a somewhat related item, the made for TV (well, isn't everything?) "The Match: Tiger vs Phil" bombed out commercially because of a malfunctioning sign-in page at the source of the broadcast, AT&T's Turner Media's Bleacher Reports' website. Many could get in for free while the sign-in feature did not work, leaving those who actually paid $20 furious. Comcast and most everyone else who carried the broadcast agreed to refund all paying customers. It was not, as some thought, Comcast's error.
But the actual viewership numbers were outstanding - several times what At&T expected. Of course, too much traffic may have caused the systems failure.



The non-partisan website Watchdog.org notes that with a new state law on the books , Pennsylvania is aiming to be a vanguard of autonomous vehicle technology. The recently signed Act 117 0f 2018 establishes a number of guidelines and practices for the use of automated vehicles in work zones and platooning of motor carrier vehicles. Bill sponsor Rep. Greg Rothman, R-Camp Hill, said even more proposals related to autonomous vehicles should be expected in the next legislative session as the state looks to stay on the cutting edge.

“We already rely on machines,” Rothman said. “And most of our cars you're driving today are operated by computers. So, the question is, can you respond as quickly? Can you react as quickly as a computer? And the answer is no, you can't.”


at 10:36 PM 0 comments

An early evaluation of SAP's $8 billion Qualtrics acquisition; Betting on growth

Tom Paine




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I was thinking of writing a comprehensive evaluation of SAP SE's proposed $8 billion acquisition of Qualtrics, but there are several things I don't understand well enough yet so that will have to wait. But theses are the key issues I'll be watching down the road:

First, some financial metrics.

Revenue for the first six months of 2018 were $184.2 million, vs $131.4 million for 2017's first six months. Qualtrics said it expects its full-year 2018 revenue to exceed $400 million and forecasts a forward growth rate of more than 40 percent, not including any positive impact from SAP. Revenue for 2019 is forecasted to be $575 million. The company is nominally profitable, which is better than most SaaS startups.


Qualtrics is a Cloud SaaS product, not a market research company, though it definitely has some serious domain expertise in survey research. It conducts some survey research, but the amount seems almost incidental. Its developed relationships with third-party vendors, such as Walker for B2B research. But Qualtrics should be measured against existing enterprise software industry metrics.

Concept: The basic premise of marrying SAP's transaction-oriented data with customer experience data is a good idea. The acquisition seems aimed at SAP's new CRM strategy (or Experience Management as Qualtrics refers to it), though ERP certainly can play a role.


Price: If I were a shareholder I might be concerned over how $5 billon went up to $6 billion and then to $8 billion in no time. I wouldn't be sure, if it had gone public, how the IPO aftermarket would have been a given the current shakiness of the tech market and the size of the offering.
I won't quibble with the acquisition price as long as Bill McDermott's grand strategy is working out. 

However, McDermott's large acquisitions at high PE ratios should hopefully exceed a high hurdle rate for paying back and exceeding the cost of SAP's investment over time. Its impressive to say Cloud revenue growth is high, but that should be measured against the amount of capital spent to buy it.

Product: Qualtrics is designed as a self-service product. It has many valuable industry functions built in to it. But self-service has limitations; some customers may not use it well.

With data visualization (dataviz) software, there's a gap between products that require some rigor in their data model and those that don't. Its easy to create colorful graphs, but they're of no use if the data is bad. The same for survey data.

There is risk that a Google or Microsoft could match what Qualtrics has. In particular, Microsoft's LinkedIn should have a strong interest in this market; its a natural fit with its product.

The better known Survey Monkey is also a competitor, but not as strong in the enterprise. Qualtrics is much larger and growing much faster.

There is a big difference between Consumer and B2B research, and the Qualtrics platform needs to handle both well if it will serve both segments..

Qualtrics owns this segment of the market with a tremendous head start on everyone else. Some traditional survey research firms have developed self service tools with varying results. One firm SAP knows well is GfK, formerly the third largest survey researcher behind Nielsen and IMS Health. It is based in Germany, and is in fact a SAP ERP customer. But last year it backed off of its faltering growth plan and was broken up into pieces. Market Research is not a business that scales well, unless its syndicated.


Outlook: No doubt that there's a market for Qualtrics, but I'm skeptical as to whether it can ever make a decent return financially to, and be closely integrated into SAP.


at 12:02 AM 0 comments

With new law on books, Pennsylvania aims to be a vanguard of autonomous vehicle technology, officials say | Watchdog.org



With new law on books, Pennsylvania aims to be a vanguard of autonomous vehicle technology, officials say
By Dave Lemery | Watchdog.org 18 hrs ago




Pennsylvania state Rep. Greg Rothman, accompanied by Pennsylvania Transportation Secretary
 Leslie Richards (left), talks Nov. 20 about autonomous vehicle technology at a news conference to discuss
the recent signing of House Bill 1958.
Image courtesy of Pennsylvania House Republican Caucus





Not content to bask in the glow of their legislative victory last month, supporters of self-driving vehicle technologies in Pennsylvania are already moving forward on their plans to make the state a hotbed for the still-embryonic industry.

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf last month signed House Bill 1958, sponsored by Rep. Greg Rothman, R-Camp Hill, which establishes a number of guidelines and practices for the use of automated vehicles in work zones and platooning of motor carrier vehicles.

Rothman and Pennsylvania Transportation Secretary Leslie Richards took part in a news conference this week with the Autonomous Vehicle Coalition in which they talked about what those provisions mean and the potential long-term impact of HB1958, now on the books as Act 117 of 2018.


Rothman said even more proposals related to autonomous vehicles should be expected in the next legislative session as the state looks to stay on the cutting edge.

"It's fascinating what's going on in this field and this industry," he said. "We are hoping that this also helps with the brain drain in Pennsylvania, attracts young people when they find out that Pennsylvania is a leader in autonomous vehicle technology and a leader in using technology to improve our lives. And I expect we will have even more activity on the legislative front in the next session."

According to Rothman and PennDOT Executive Director Mark Compton, the work zone portion of the new law relates to the use of “attenuators” by work zone crews that provide some protection in case a traveling vehicle plows into the work zone.

“The attenuator is the vehicle at the end of a work zone that – it looks like an accordion, you may recognize it now, you'll recognize when you see it there,” Rothman said. “I think there are 75 or so in the fleet that are used. And right now, someone has to sit in that attenuator, driving it or waiting for it to move.”

Rothman said that Royal Truck & Equipment has designed an attenuator that works in an automated fashion, meaning that highway workers will be protected without any one of them having to sit inside the vehicle. Now, thanks to Act 117, PennDOT is empowered to make use of such vehicles.

“Platooning” is the practice of multiple transport vehicles sharing information while traveling down the highway so that if one experiences a slowdown or other hazard, the other vehicles in the platoon, with computer assistance, can respond appropriately ahead of time. The platooned vehicles would still have human drivers but could help to prevent large-scale highway accidents.

“With conventional trucks, critical risk factors are driver reaction time and concentration,” Rothman wrote in a memo to his fellow lawmakers when he introduced HB1958. “Indeed, some 94 [percent] of all traffic accidents are due to human error. Platooning technology reacts in as little as 30 milliseconds compared to 1-1.5 seconds for human reaction.”


The law limits the number of vehicles in a single platoon to three, and they can only operate on Pennsylvania’s highways. The vehicles in the platoon will be allowed to follow one another at a much closer distance than is generally allowed by state law, improving aerodynamics and reducing fuel costs.

Richards said that Pennsylvania was already seen nationally as a leader on automated vehicle technology even before the passage of Act 117, and its implementation will allow the state to reinforce that status.

“We're also working on the first ever of its kind test track in coordination with the Turnpike Commission, Federal Highway Administration and Penn State,” she said. “Those plans are in development right now, and we will have a very high level, again, one-of-a-kind test track where we can test a lot of these vehicles, we can do high speed interchange movements. We're looking at emergency response vehicles as well as work zone vehicles, and we're really excited we have a good head start on that and that will be coming as well.”

Asked about concerns related to the safety of automated vehicles, Rothman argued that they’re going to improve safety in the years to come. The safety issue came to the forefront this year after an automated vehicle being tested by Uber hit and killed a pedestrian in Arizona. Media reports indicate Uber is preparing to resume testing in the Pittsburgh area.

“We already rely on machines,” Rothman said. “And most of our cars you're driving today are operated by computers. So, the question is, can you respond as quickly? Can you react as quickly as a computer? And the answer is no, you can't.”

Dave Lemery is the Pennsylvania & New Hampshire News Editor for Watchdog.org. He welcomes your comments. Contact Dave at dlemery@watchdog.org.


Dave Lemery is a veteran journalist with more than 20 years of experience. He was the editor of Suburban Life Media when its flagship newspaper was named best weekly in Illinois, and he has worked at papers in South Carolina, Indiana, Idaho and New York.










at 8:17 AM 0 comments

Philly EnterpriseTech People News 11//22: Qlik, Bayada, Geisinger, Google, Flatiron Health





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courtesy of  Bayada Home Health Care









Kurian splits from Oracle, only to appear at Google a month later.




Now the Governor-elect of Connecticut.




As two of the largest investment funds somehow scrape together $20 million for ex-Toys R Us employees.




Geisinger is a nationally recognized PA-based hospital & healthcare group.








After starting Invite Media and selling to Google.













While Sapphire Ventures is technically independent, SAP has been its sole funding source.




Actually, HQ1 is in Wayne PA. (Trendy now to say that)





An old list broker adapts & survives.





at 7:32 PM 0 comments

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Philly EnterpriseTech Roundup: Zayo, SAP, Urban Outfitters, David's Bridal

Tom Paine




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Private Equity firms are buzzing around Zayo , with its huge fiber network on the east coast and elsewhere. Zayo has often been named by various sources as a possible Comcast acquisition target. Including debt, the company is valued at around $11 billion.




Jonah Peretti, the founder and chief executive of BuzzFeed, suggests mergers with similar content producers as a way to gain more leverage with Facebook and other ad platforms. Comcast is a major investor in BuzzFeed, but things are not quite living up to expectations.




SAP acquired French intelligent robotic automation firm Contextor , whose machine learning and robotic automation portfolio helps to accelerate in-app performance. SAP intends to use the technology to juice up SAP S/4HANA initially.



Jelli, a California-based ad buying platform for radio that received initial backing by First Round Capital, is being acquired by iHeart Radio . Terms are not known, but Jelli has become a significant power in the revenue-starved radio business. iHeart is preparing to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy.




Urban Outfitters recorded a fairly good quarter , and emphasized International as a major source of future growth. One of its international sources might surprise you.




Conshohocken-based David's Bridal declared bankruptcy as anticipated , and continues to expect all stores to remain open while it reorganized its finances.


at 10:29 PM 0 comments

Philly EnterpriseTech Roundup 11/17: Deloitte Fast 500, Google Cloud, Fox SportsNet


Tom Paine




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The Deoitte Fast 500 was released on Friday. It is intended to reflect the fastest growing tech companies in North America. Philly-area privately held software companies named include Phenom People (ranked 128th), Health Union (162), Cloudnexa (203), Journaya (374), and GreenPhire (391). Publicly traded Meet Group was also included.

The Fast 500 also includes several Philly-area biopharma startups.




Thomas Kurian, president of product development at Oracle until resigning at the end of September, has reemerged as the soon-to-be CEO of Google Cloud, replacing Diane Greene. Kurian, who will take some time to wash all the red gathered over his his 20 years at Oracle out of his system, joins the distant #3 competitor in the Cloud market. Greene, who co-founded VmWare and sold a later startup to Google, will remain on Google-parent Alphabet's board.



Comcast did not submit a bid for 22 Fox regional sports networks, which were acquired by Disney but must be unloaded to meet government antitrust requirements, Sports Business Journal reports. Preliminary reports suggest the new Fox also did not bid, even though market watchers has expected it to try to recapture the networks at a discount. If true, the field is left wide open for a newcomer.

NBC Broadcasting and Sports chairman Mark Lazerus said that he anticipated anti-trust scrutiny if the cable giant tried to buy any RSNs.

The gem of the Fox networks is the New York area's YES Network, which carries the Yankees.



USA Technologies (Malvern) says it has an agreed upon path with NASDAQ for returning to compliance and retaining its NASDAQ listing, but still has not disclosed the reason for an internal audit questioning the remote electronic payments specialist's accounting methods,




at 11:38 AM 0 comments

Philly EnterpriseTech Daily Roundup 11/15: David's Bridal, HQ2, Xfinity Stream & Nielsen, Comcast & Trump


Tom Paine




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Conshohocken-based David’s Bridal, America’s largest wedding dress chain, is expected to file for bankruptcy as early as next week, Bloomberg News reports . Stores are expected to remain open while the retailer reorganizes.



Pennsylvania was willing to pony up $4.6B for HQ2, the Business Journal reports .


Comcast’s Xfinity Stream Viewing Will Soon Count Toward Nielsen TV Ratings, Variety reports .


The Hill: DOJ official: Evidence, not Trump tweets, led to Comcast probe . (Sure thing).

The head of Liberty Media, one of the biggest players in the media business, has warned that Silicon Valley money has flooded the entertainment industry — and said that even Netflix could eventually be subsumed by the likes of Google, Amazon and Apple.

"No traditional media player would find it possible to play on these terms," said Greg Maffei, CEO of Liberty Media.

Maffei also said Liberty, either through the Braves [which it owns} or Charter Communications (which it controls) had an interest in bidding
on the Fox Regional SpotsNets, which were part of the Disney deal but Disney is now required to divest them. Most had assumed that Fox would buy
them back from Disney at a discount. But Fox SportSouth has TV rights for the Braves, which could make it more attractive to Liberty.







at 9:57 AM 0 comments

Wondering about who's running anti-Comcast ads on social media? Its TiVo


Tom Paine




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Update 11/15: A Whois lookup confirms that the site is indeed registered to TiVo. Why TiVo is taking this anonymous approach, but at the same time its revealing its corporate name in Whois, is puzzling. Is its purpose to collect a database of respondents for future use? Perhaps for its legal battle vs Comcast? I really don't know.



WHOIS search results

Domain Name: AMERICANSFORBETTERENTERTAINMENT.COM
Registry Domain ID: 2314356878_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.markmonitor.com
Registrar URL: http://www.markmonitor.com
Updated Date: 2018-09-25T19:42:57Z
Creation Date: 2018-09-25T19:42:56Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2020-09-25T19:42:56Z
Registrar: MarkMonitor Inc.
Registrar IANA ID: 292
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abusecomplaints@markmonitor.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.2083895740
Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientDeleteProhibited
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientUpdateProhibited
Name Server: NS1.TIVO.COM
Name Server: NS2.TIVO.COM
Name Server: NS3.TIVO.COM
DNSSEC: unsigned
URL of the ICANN Whois Inaccuracy Complaint Form: https://www.icann.org/wicf/
>>> Last update of whois database: 2018-11-15T20:40:43Z <<< I've been trying to identify the organization behind Americans for Better Entertainment, whomever that may be, that's been running these ant-Comcast advertisements on social media over the past two months. This is what the campaign's Facebook page looks like.


Two of the people who commented on Facebook suggested that TiVo was behind the ads, although its from a tiny sample.





My thought was it could be the American Cable Association, which represents smaller cable companies, who have pushed DOJ into opening up an antitrust investigation into Comcast. Trump tweeted favorable about the ACA on Monday:



Any hints? Email me at phillytechnews@gmail.com.


at 7:13 PM 0 comments

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Amazon Selects New York City and Northern Virginia for New Headquarters


Press release
Amazon Selects New York City and Northern Virginia for New Headquarters
November 13, 2018 at 9:50 AM EST
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Amazon to invest $5 billion and create more than 50,000 jobs across the two new headquarters

Amazon announces Nashville as new Operations Center of Excellence with more than 5,000 jobs

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 13, 2018-- Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced that it has selected New York City and Arlington, Virginia, as the locations for the company’s new headquarters. Amazon will invest $5 billion and create more than 50,000 jobs across the two new headquarters locations, with more than 25,000 employees each in New York City and Arlington. The new locations will join Seattle as the company’s three headquarters in North America. In addition, Amazon announced that it has selected Nashville for a new Center of Excellence for its Operations business, which is responsible for the company’s customer fulfillment, transportation, supply chain, and other similar activities. The Operations Center of Excellence in Nashville will create more than 5,000 jobs.

The new Washington, D.C. metro headquarters in Arlington will be located in National Landing, and the New York City headquarters will be located in the Long Island City neighborhood in Queens. Amazon’s investments in each new headquarters will spur the creation of tens of thousands of additional jobs in the surrounding communities. Hiring at both the new headquarters will begin in 2019. The Operations Center of Excellence will be located in downtown Nashville as part of a new development site just north of the Gulch, and hiring will also begin in 2019.

“We are excited to build new headquarters in New York City and Northern Virginia,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon. “These two locations will allow us to attract world-class talent that will help us to continue inventing for customers for years to come. The team did a great job selecting these sites, and we look forward to becoming an even bigger part of these communities.”

Amazon in Long Island City in New York City

Located just across the East River from Midtown Manhattan and the Upper East Side, Long Island City is a mixed-use community where arts and industry intersect. It is a diverse community with a unique blend of cultural institutions, arts organizations, new and converted housing, restaurants, bars, breweries, waterfront parks, hotels, academic institutions, and small and large tech sector and industrial businesses. Long Island City has some of the best transit access in New York City, with 8 subway lines, 13 bus lines, commuter rail, a bike-sharing service, and ferries serving the area, and LaGuardia and JFK airports are in close proximity.
As part of Amazon’s new headquarters, New York and Long Island City will benefit from more than 25,000 full-time high-paying jobs; approximately $2.5 billion in Amazon investment; 4 million square feet of energy-efficient office space with an opportunity to expand to 8 million square feet; and an estimated incremental tax revenue of more than $10 billion over the next 20 years as a result of Amazon’s investment and job creation.
Amazon will receive performance-based direct incentives of $1.525 billion based on the company creating 25,000 jobs in Long Island City. This includes a refundable tax credit through New York State’s Excelsior Program of up to $1.2 billion calculated as a percentage of the salaries Amazon expects to pay employees over the next 10 years, which equates to $48,000 per job for 25,000 jobs with an average wage of over $150,000; and a cash grant from Empire State Development of $325 million based on the square footage of buildings occupied in the next 10 years. Amazon will receive these incentives over the next decade based on the incremental jobs it creates each year and as it reaches building occupancy targets. The company will separately apply for as-of-right incentives including New York City’s Industrial & Commercial Abatement Program (ICAP) and New York City’s Relocation and Employment Assistance Program (REAP).
The community will benefit from New York City providing funding through a Payment In Lieu Of Tax (PILOT) program based on Amazon’s property taxes on a portion of the development site to fund community infrastructure improvements developed through input from residents during the planning process. Amazon has agreed to donate space on its campus for a tech startup incubator and for use by artists and industrial businesses, and Amazon will donate a site for a new primary or intermediary public school. The company will also invest in infrastructure improvements and new green spaces.
“When I took office, I said we would build a new New York State – one that is fiscally responsible and fosters a business climate that is attractive to growing companies and the industries of tomorrow. We’ve delivered on those promises and more, and today, with Amazon committing to expand its headquarters in Long Island City, New York can proudly say that we have attracted one of the largest, most competitive economic development investments in U.S. history,” saidGovernor Andrew M. Cuomo of New York. “With an average salary of $150,000 per year for the tens of thousands of new jobs Amazon is creating in Queens, economic opportunity and investment will flourish for the entire region. Amazon understands that New York has everything the company needs to continue its growth. The State’s more than $100 billion transportation infrastructure program – the most ambitious in our history – combined with our education initiatives like K-12 tech education and the first-in-the-nation Excelsior Scholarship program, will help ensure long-term success and an unrivaled talent pool for Amazon.”

“This is a giant step on our path to building an economy in New York City that leaves no one behind. We are thrilled that Amazon has selected New York City for its new headquarters,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City. “New Yorkers will get tens of thousands of new, good-paying jobs, and Amazon will get the best talent anywhere in the world. We’re going to use this opportunity to open up good careers in tech to thousands of people looking for their foothold in the new economy, including those in City colleges and public housing. The City and State are working closely together to make sure Amazon’s expansion is planned smartly, and to ensure this fast growing neighborhood has the transportation, schools, and infrastructure it needs.”

Amazon in National Landing in Arlington, Virginia

National Landing is an urban community in Northern Virginia located less than 3 miles from downtown Washington, D.C. The area is served by 3 Metro stations, commuter rail access, and Reagan National Airport – all within walking distance. The community has a variety of hotels, restaurants, high-rise apartment buildings, retail, and commercial offices. National Landing has abundant parks and open space with sports and cultural events for residents of all ages throughout the year.
As part of Amazon’s new headquarters, Virginia and Arlington will benefit from more than 25,000 full-time high-paying jobs; approximately $2.5 billion in Amazon investment; 4 million square feet of energy-efficient office space with the opportunity to expand to 8 million square feet; and an estimated incremental tax revenue of $3.2 billion over the next 20 years as a result of Amazon’s investment and job creation.
Amazon will receive performance-based direct incentives of $573 million based on the company creating 25,000 jobs with an average wage of over $150,000 in Arlington. This includes a workforce cash grant from the Commonwealth of Virginia of up to $550 million based on $22,000 for each job created over the next 12 years. Amazon will only receive this incentive if it creates the forecasted high-paying jobs. The company will also receive a cash grant from Arlington of $23 million over 15 years based on the incremental growth of the existing local Transient Occupancy Tax, a tax on hotel rooms.
The community and Amazon employees will benefit from the Commonwealth investing $195 million in infrastructure in the neighborhood, including improvements to the Crystal City and the Potomac Yards Metro stations; a pedestrian bridge connecting National Landing and Reagan National Airport; and work to improve safety, accessibility, and the pedestrian experience crossing Route 1 over the next 10 years. Arlington will also dedicate an estimated $28 million based on 12% of future property tax revenues earned from an existing Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district for on-site infrastructure and open space in National Landing.
“This is a big win for Virginia – I’m proud Amazon recognizes the tremendous assets the Commonwealth has to offer and plans to deepen its roots here,” said Governor Ralph Northam of Virginia. “Virginia put together a proposal for Amazon that we believe represents a new model of economic development for the 21st century, and I’m excited to say that our innovative approach was successful. The majority of Virginia’s partnership proposal consists of investments in our education and transportation infrastructure that will bolster the features that make Virginia so attractive: a strong and talented workforce, a stable and competitive business climate, and a world-class higher education system.”

“We are proud that Amazon has selected National Landing for a major new headquarters. This is, above all, a validation of our community’s commitment to sustainability, transit-oriented development, affordable housing, and diversity,” said Arlington County Board Chair Katie Cristol. “The strength of our workforce coupled with our proximity to the nation’s capital makes us an attractive business location. But Arlington’s real strength is the decades of planning that have produced one of the most vibrant, civically engaged communities in the world. Those plans have paved the way for this investment, and we look forward to engaging the Arlington community about Amazon’s plans and how we can grow together.”

Amazon’s new Operations Center of Excellence in Nashville

Downtown Nashville, along the Cumberland River, is the heart of the city just north of the Gulch and is home to urban living, retail, restaurants, entertainment venues, hospitality, open green spaces, and offices. The area is served by commuter rail, more than a dozen bus routes, and is a 15-minute drive to Nashville International Airport.
As part of Amazon’s investment, Tennessee, Davidson County and the city of Nashville will benefit from 5,000 full-time, high-paying jobs; over $230 million in investment; 1 million square feet of energy-efficient office space; and an estimated incremental tax revenue of more than $1 billion over the next 10 years as a result of Amazon’s investment and job creation.
Amazon will receive performance-based direct incentives of up to $102 million based on the company creating 5,000 jobs with an average wage of over $150,000 in Nashville. This includes a cash grant for capital expenditures from the state of Tennessee of $65 million based on the company creating 5,000 jobs over the next 7 years, which is equivalent to $13,000 per job; a cash grant from the city of Nashville of up to $15 million based on $500 for each job created over the next 7 years; and a job tax credit to offset franchise and excise taxes from the state of Tennessee of $21.7 million based on $4,500 per new job over the next 7 years.
“We want to thank Amazon for its continued investment in the state of Tennessee and are excited about the additional 5,000 corporate jobs they will be creating in Nashville,” said Governor Bill Haslam of Tennessee. “It has never been clearer that Tennessee is a great place to do business, and we continue to attract a wide variety of global companies that provide high-paying, quality jobs for our residents.”

“Amazon’s decision to expand its presence in Nashville is a direct result of the talented workforce and strong community we’ve built here,” said Mayor David Briley of Nashville. “These are quality, high-paying jobs that will boost our economy, provide our workers with new opportunities, and show the rest of the world that Nashville is a premiere location for business investment. We thank Amazon for investing in Nashville, and we look forward to welcoming them to this community.”

With more than 610,000 employees worldwide, including over 250,000 in North America, Amazon ranks #1 on American Customer Satisfaction Index, #2 on Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies, #1 on The Harris Poll’s Corporate Reputation survey, and #1 on LinkedIn’s U.S. Top Companies, a ranking recognizing the most desirable workplaces in the country. Amazon was also recently included in the Military Times’ Best for Vets list of companies committed to providing opportunities for military veterans.

All economic impact and incentive figures are best estimates calculated by relevant entities in each of the selected communities based on current information. To learn more about Amazon’s new sites, visit https://blog.aboutamazon.com/company-news/amazon-selects-new-york-city-and-northern-virginia-for-new-headquarters.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.


View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181113005798/en/

Source: Amazon

Amazon.com, Inc.
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at 2:52 PM 0 comments

WSJ: Amazon set to announce DC and NYC for HQ2 and HQ3 (Maybe tomorrow)
What are these places?





Crystal City Va



Long Island City, NY




Neither Long Island City or Crystal City are actual cities, in a jurisdictional sense. Long Island City is in Queens (Borough of Queens, Queens County), New York City. The area is marked by the famous Pepsi sign that dominates the view across the river driving up the East Side Drive in Manhattan.

The main thing Amazon has had going now in New York is an ecommerce operation and its burgeoning advertising business.

Crystal City is a development within Arlington County, VA, located near Reagan National Airport. Crystal City is just a George Washington's stones throw away from DC across the Potomac. Amazon Web Services' giant data farms are located about 20 to 30 miles to the west, in Fairfax and Loudoun counties. Amazon had talked of building a separate campus-like facility near the data centers, though its not clear if that will still happen. Although AWS headquarters are in Seattle, Northern Virginia is the home of US-East, its largest region.

It is also thought that the DC locale is attractive to Amazon because as it grows its becoming a bigger target for several arms of the Federal government. Having HQ 2 or 3 nearby might be helpful in several ways.

Also, it is near Amazon's booming Federal business.

Both area have in common particularly high percentages of Asian-Ameican residents.

The lack of Engineering education nearby is a concern, but as part of the agreement between Virginia and Amazon the state agreed to a new Virginia Tech graduate campus coming to nearby Alexandria


at 10:54 PM 0 comments

SAP SE to Acquire Qualtrics International Inc., Sees Experience Management as the Future of Business. (Press Release)


SAP SE to Acquire Qualtrics International Inc., Sees Experience Management as the Future of Business

November 11, 2018 by SAP News

Hot Story
WALLDORF, Germany, PROVO, Utah, SEATTLE, Wash. — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) and Qualtrics International Inc. (Qualtrics) today announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which SAP SE intends to acquire Qualtrics, the global pioneer of the experience management (XM) software category that enables organizations to thrive in today’s experience economy.

Together, SAP and Qualtrics to accelerate the new XM category by combining experience data and operational data to power the experience economy

Creates a highly differentiated offering for businesses to deliver superior customer, employee, product, and brand experiences

Ryan Smith to continue to lead Qualtrics; Qualtrics to maintain dual headquarters in Provo, Utah, and Seattle, Wash.

Under the terms of the agreement, SAP will acquire all outstanding shares of Qualtrics for US$8 billion in cash. SAP has secured financing in the amount of €7 billion to cover purchase price and acquisition-related costs. The purchase price includes unvested employee incentive compensation and cash on the balance sheet at close. Subject to customary closing conditions and attainment of regulatory clearances, the acquisition is expected to close in the first half of 2019. The Boards of Directors of SAP and Qualtrics have approved the transaction. Qualtrics’ shareholders have also approved the transaction.

SAP CEO Bill McDermott said: “We continually seek out transformational opportunities – today’s announcement is exactly that. Together, SAP and Qualtrics represent a new paradigm, similar to market-making shifts in personal operating systems, smart devices and social networks. SAP already touches 77 percent of the world’s transactions. When you combine our operational data with Qualtrics’ experience data, we will accelerate the XM category with an end-to-end solution with immediate global scale. For Qualtrics, this introduces a dynamic new partner with the belief, passion and scale to bring experience management to millions of customers around the world.”

McDermott added: “The combination of Qualtrics and SAP reaffirms experience management as the groundbreaking new frontier for the technology industry. SAP and Qualtrics are seizing this opportunity as like-minded innovators, united in mission, strategy and culture. We share the belief that every human voice holds value, every experience matters and that the best-run businesses can make the world run better. We can’t wait to stand beside Ryan and his amazing colleagues for the next chapters in the experience management story. The best for Qualtrics and SAP is yet to come!”

Ryan Smith, CEO of Qualtrics, said: “Our mission is to help organizations deliver the experiences that turn their customers into fanatics, employees into ambassadors, products into obsessions and brands into religions. Supported by a global team of over 95,000, SAP will help us scale faster and achieve our mission on a broader stage. This will put the XM Platform everywhere overnight. We could not be more excited to join forces with Bill and the SAP team in this once-in-a-generation opportunity to power the experience economy.”

SAP and Qualtrics Will Together Deliver the Transformative Potential of Experience Data (X-Data) Combined with Operational Data (O-Data)

XM focuses on obtaining and tapping the value of outside-in customer, employee, product and brand feedback. Combining Qualtrics’ experience data and insights with SAP’s unparalleled operational data will enable customers to better manage supply chains, networks, employees and core processes. Together, SAP and Qualtrics will deliver a unique end-to-end experience and operational management system to power organizations.

SAP Will Accelerate Qualtrics’ Growth and Further Its Mission by Offering Global Scale, Reach and Resources

Leveraging SAP’s more than 413,000 customers and global salesforce of around 15,000, Qualtrics will be able to scale rapidly around the world. SAP has a strong track record of accelerating growth for the innovative companies it acquires, as exemplified by the rapid success of SAP’s recent acquisitions.

Qualtrics expects full-year 2018 revenue to exceed US$400 million and projects a forward growth rate of greater than 40 percent, not including potential synergies of being part of SAP.

Following the closing of the transaction, Qualtrics is expected to maintain its leadership, personnel, branding and culture, operating as an entity within SAP’s Cloud Business Group. Ryan Smith will continue to lead Qualtrics, and Qualtrics is expected to continue to maintain dual headquarters in Provo, Utah, and Seattle, Washington.

Qualtrics was advised on the transaction by Qatalyst Partners and Goodwin Procter, LLP. J.P. Morgan acted as financial advisor and Jones Day acted as legal advisor to SAP.

SAP and Qualtrics will host a joint conference call for financial analysts and investors on November 12, 2018, at 7:00 a.m. CET (1:00 a.m. ET, November 12 / 10:00 p.m. PT, November 11) regarding this transaction. The call will be available to international callers at +44 330 336 9411, to U.S. callers at +1-929-477-0402, conference code: 9656637, and via webcast at https://broadcast.co.sap.com/go/investor. A replay will be provided later on http://www.sap.com/investor.

For more information, please click here. For an investor presentation, please click here.

Visit the SAP News Center. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.

About Qualtrics

Qualtrics is the technology platform that organizations use to collect, manage, and act on experience data, also called X-data™. The Qualtrics XM Platform™ is a system of action, used by teams, departments, and entire organizations to manage the four core experiences of business—customer, product, employee and brand—on one platform. Over 9,000 enterprises worldwide, including more than 75 percent of the Fortune 100 and 99 of the top 100 U.S. business schools, rely on Qualtrics to consistently build products that people love, create more loyal customers, develop a phenomenal employee culture, and build iconic brands. To learn more, and for a free account, please visit www.qualtrics.com.

About SAP

As the cloud company powered by SAP HANA, SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software, helping companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 77% of the world’s transaction revenue touches an SAP system. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers’ businesses into intelligent enterprises. SAP helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want – without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables more than 413,000 business and public customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, SAP helps the world run better and improve people’s lives. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

Note to editors:
To preview and download broadcast-standard stock footage and press photos digitally, please visit www.sap.com/photos. On this platform, you can find high resolution material for your media channels. To view video stories on diverse topics, visit www.sap-tv.com. From this site, you can embed videos into your own Web pages, share video via email links, and subscribe to RSS feeds from SAP TV.

For customers interested in learning more about SAP products:
Global Customer Center: +49 180 534-34-24
United States Only: 1 (800) 872-1SAP (1-800-872-1727)

For more information, press only:

Rajiv Sekhri, +49 6227 7-74871, rajiv.sekhri@sap.com, CET
Marcus Winkler, +49 6227 7-67497, marcus.winkler@sap.com, CET
SAP News Center press room; press@sap.com
Mike Maughan, Qualtrics, +1 385-203-4564, mmaughan@qualtrics.com, MT
Andrew Wilson, Edelman, +1 917-607-6601, andrew.wilson@edelman.com, ET



at 7:41 PM 0 comments

Philly Enterprise Tech Bits 11/10:


Tom Paine




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Geisinger chief will join Google to lead healthcare initiatives

Tom Paine




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David Feinberg / Geisinger website




Google has hired Geisinger Health CEO David Feinberg to lead its health care initiatives.

Google has various units working on healthcare-related initiatives, and part of Feiberg's role will be to pull them togther when appropriate into a more comprehensive strategy.

One of Google's highest priorities is to make Nest a fully functional home health product, particular for seniors. But certainly there are areas of Google in which there hasn't been much healthcare strategy development. Feinberg may face some turf challenges in working with some units.

Feinberg must also help to coordinate a coalition including Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and Salesforce, in addition to Google, which is trying to remove barriers to interoperability between systems.

Danville, PA-based Geisinger, which has hospitals in central and northeast Pennsylvania and also acts as an HMO in those areas, has an almost unique reputation in US healthcare for innovation and use of advanced digital systems.

Feinberg had turned down several offers to lure him from Geisinger, including one from the JPMorgan, Berkshire Hathaway, and Amazon healthcare triumvirate.

Feinberg spent four years at Geisinger. Two initiatives that moved forward under his leadership were in the areas of Population Health and Precision Medicine.






at 7:09 PM 0 comments

Philly Enterprise Tech Daily Roundup 11/ 8: Arris, Stitch, & C&D deals


Tom Paine




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Hickory NC-based Commscope reached a deal to acquire Suwanee, GA-based Arris International for $5.7 billion, excluding debt. Reuters first disclosed that the two businesses were in discussions last week.

Arris, one of Comcast's most important suppliers, makes set-top boxes & modems, and has made a move into wireless networking with its recent acquisition of Ruckus Wireless. The set-top business is declining primarily due to migration to the cloud. CommScope sells connectivity products to the wireless industry and cable operators. The two company's products are more complementary than competitive, but the changing industry landscape is pushing their strategic road maps closer together.

Ironically, Commscope started life as a subsidiary of Horsham's General Instruments, while Arris bought what was left of GI,  then Google-owned Motorola Home, in 2013.

Commscope turned to its old owner prior to going public, Carlyle Group LP, which will make a $1 billion minority equity investment in CommScope to help finance the transaction.





Talend, which saw its share dive slightly after it reported earnings yesterday (down 31% today), also announced it was acquiring Philly-based Stitch for about $60 million in cash.

Stitch, one of those by-product businesse that ends up creating considerable value - perhaps more than the original business - specializes in ETL (Extract Transform & Load), a utility that enables rapid self-service transfer of data from one database to another. When RJMetrics sold its analytical business to Magento, it spun off Stitch as a new, separate business under RJMetrics co-founder and Penn alumnus Jake Stein"s leadership, and it prospered.

Talend, founded in 2005 and based in California, competes in the iPaaS market against SnapLogic and others. It sees Stitch as a means of completing its main database creation work for customers quicker. Stein will be EVP for Stitch, reporting to Talend CEO Mike Tuchen.




C&D Technologies, the Blue Bell-based specialty battery maker, is acquiring California-based Trojan Battery Company . The combined company will have annual revenue of over $1 billion. C&D offers industrial lead acid batteries and battery systems that are used for the storage and transmission of electrical power, mainly for standby applications. Trojan provides deep-cycle batteries for motive and stationary applications.

KPS Capital Partners LP owns C&D, while Trojan is being sold by Charlesbank Capital Partners LLC and other shareholders.

Last year KPS Capital Partners acquired C&D Technologies from Angelo, Gordon & Co., which had backed the battery maker since 2012. It had previously been publicly traded.




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Talend acquiring Stitch for $60 million

Talend is acquiring Philadelphia's Stitch for $60 million in cash, Talend announced today.






Talend to Acquire Stitch, a Leader in Self-Service Cloud Data Integration
Adds New Offering for New Cloud Data Warehouse Users and a Frictionless Sales Channel


REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Nov. 07, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a move designed to accelerate its cloud momentum, Talend (Nasdaq:TLND) today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Stitch, a leader in the fast-growing, self-service data integration market. Stitch offers an easy-to-use service for moving data from popular sources to leading cloud data warehouse platforms. The acquisition gives Talend both a strong solution for the cloud data warehouse market and a frictionless sales motion to land new cloud customers efficiently.




“Stitch is a great addition that gives us a compelling offering in the market for simple, self-service integration for cloud data warehouses,” said Mike Tuchen, CEO, Talend. “In addition, we believe Stitch will work as an efficient high-volume way to acquire new cloud customers to whom we can market our advanced cloud solutions for data integration, transformation, cleaning, preparing and cataloging.”

As companies standardize on using the cloud for analytics, users increasingly need to load cloud data warehouses and data lakes quickly. Most departments and small businesses lack the bandwidth and sometimes the skill set to use existing solutions, causing delays that lead to missed opportunities and poor customer experiences. Stitch, which will be rebranded as Stitch Data Loader, overcomes this set of challenges by enabling a broader population of users, including data scientists, data and business analysts, and engineers, to load data without relying on data integration specialists.

“Talend is an ideal fit for Stitch. Their products complement ours, and they share a similar culture and market vision,” said Jake Stein, co-founder and CEO, Stitch. “The move to the cloud and data-driven business is changing the integration market, bringing new users with different needs. With the combination of Talend and Stitch, we believe we become the only vendor that can serve all levels of the market and all users of cloud analytics.”

According to the Gartner Group, the increase in new roles such as data scientist, data engineer, data steward, and others that need access to data is expanding dramatically. In fact, Gartner Group predicts that “By 2020, the number of data and analytics experts in business units will grow at three times the rate of experts in IT departments, which will force companies to rethink their organizational models and skill sets.”[1]

In addition to enhancing Talend’s product portfolio, the acquisition is expected to help strengthen Talend’s value proposition for cloud ecosystem partners including data warehouse partners such as AWS, Azure, Google, and Snowflake.

“Snowflake is pleased that two of our partners are joining forces,” Snowflake CEO, Bob Muglia said. “The combination of Talend and Stitch will provide Snowflake customers with some of the broadest data integration capabilities and help them move their workloads to Snowflake with confidence.”

Upon closing, Jake Stein will become SVP of the Stitch business unit reporting directly to Talend, CEO, Mike Tuchen.To learn more about Stitch or try the service for free, visit Stitch.

Under the terms of the agreement, Talend will acquire Stitch for approximately $60 million in cash, subject to certain transaction adjustments. The transaction is expected to close later in the fourth quarter subject to customary closing conditions.



Like this story? Tweet this: .@Talendto strengthen cloud position with planned acquisition of @Stitch_Data a frictionless #Self-Service #CloudIntegration service https://bit.ly/1PAUaie



About Talend

Talend (Nasdaq: TLND),a leader in cloud data integration solutions, liberates data from legacy infrastructure and puts more of the right data to work for your business, faster. Talend Cloud delivers a single platform for data integration across public, private, and hybrid cloud, as well as on-premises environments, and enables greater collaboration between IT and business teams. Combined with an open, native, and extensible architecture for rapidly embracing market innovations, Talend allows you to cost-effectively meet the demands of ever-increasing data volumes, users, and use cases.

Over 2000 global enterprise customers have chosen Talend to put their data to work including GE, HP Inc., and Domino’s. Talend has been recognized as a leader in its field by leading analyst firms and industry publications including Forbes, InfoWorld, and SD Times. For more information, please visit www.talend.com and follow us on Twitter: @Talend.



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