$183 million
The total U.S. earnings for “The Lego Movie” have passed $183 million, according to studio estimates. It is the highest grossing film of 2014.
(Source: Wall Street Journal)
Sequoia Capital, the only venture firm to invest in WhatsApp, offered four numbers on Wednesday that it says explain why Facebook just agreed to pay $19 billion for the instant messaging company.
Sequoia invested $8 million in the Mountain View company’s only publicly announced venture round in 2011 and partner Jim Goetz is the only VC on its board. TechCrunch cited sources on Wednesday that said Sequoia was involved in later rounds, too, that brought total funding to about $60 million.
That would mean Sequoia could be in line to get as much as $3 billion from the deal.
Here are the numbers Goetz offered in a blog post after the sale was announced:
— 450 million: That’s how many active users WhatsApp claims, a number that Sequoia says no other company has ever reached in such a short time. More than 1 million people a day are installing the app. “Incredibly, the number of daily active users of WhatsApp (compared to those who log in every month) has climbed to 72 percent. In contrast the industry standard is between 10 percent and 20 percent, and only a handful of companies top 50 percent.”
— 32: That’s how many engineers WhatsApp has. That means each WhatsApp developer supports 14 million active users, a ratio Sequoia says is unheard of in the industry.
— 1: That’s the number of dollars per year users pay after their first trial year of using the service., with no SMS messaging charges. Sequoia says this saves the typical user about $150 a year.
— Zero: That’s how much money WhatsApp invested in marketing. “The company doesn’t even employ a marketer or PR person,” Goetz wrote in his blog. “Yet like the world’s greatest brands, it’s created a strong emotional connection with consumers. All of WhatsApp’s growth has come from happy customers encouraging their friends to try the service.”
Goetz also sais that WhatsApp founder Jan Koum’s experience as a 16-year-old emigre from Ukraine when it was part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics helped determine how WhatsApp was developed.
“Jan’s childhood made him appreciate communication that was not bugged or taped. When he arrived in the U.S. as a 16-year-old immigrant living on food stamps, he had the extra incentive of wanting to stay in touch with his family in Russia and the Ukraine,” Goetz wrote. “All of this was top of mind for Jan when, after years of working together with his mentor Brian (Acton) at Yahoo, he began to build WhatsApp.”
(Source: Bizjournals)
The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 6.6% in January, the lowest level since October 2008. The unemployment rate has been steadily falling since it peaked at 10% on October 2009. The rate of unemployment has been significantly different depending on the education level of the labor force participant. College graduates currently have an unemployment rate of 3.2%, while those with less than a high school diploma still struggle to find work.
(Sources: Strategas Research Partners, LLC, BLS)
$150 million
Hedge-fund manager Kenneth Griffin, a 1989 graduate of Harvard University, gave his alma mater $150 million on Wednesday, the largest gift in the school’s history.
(Source: Wall Street Journal)
500,000
Raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour would cost the U.S. economy about 500,000 jobs by late 2016, but lift 900,000 Americans out of poverty, the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday, among other findings.
(Source: Wall Street Journal)
$4 Billion
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan brought in nearly $4 billion in a little over a year, a haul that includes a settlement with a giant bank, the forfeiture of an office tower and a dinosaur skeleton.
(Source: Wall Street Journal)
1. What is a myRA?
The myRA (rhymes with IRA) is a new workplace retirement savings account discussed by President Obama in the State of the Union address and subsequently authorized by executive order. The administration hopes that employers who currently don’t offer a workplace retirement plan will make myRAs available to their employees. Only limited details are currently available.
The myRA is a regular Roth IRA with some special features. Your contributions are made on an after-tax basis through payroll deduction. Your contributions are tax-free when withdrawn, and earnings are also tax-free if certain requirements are met. Contributions are invested in newly created government bonds that earn the same variable interest rate that’s available through the government’s Thrift Savings Plan Government Securities Investment Fund (G Fund). For reference, the G Fund earned 2.45% in 2011 and 1.47% in 2012. Your account principal is fully protected — the value of your account can never go down, and the bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.
2. Is it available now?
No. It is anticipated that the program will start in 2015.
3. Do employers have to offer the myRA?
No. The plan is voluntary. Employers need to sign up by the end of 2014 in order to participate in the pilot program.
4. Do employees have to contribute?
No. Unlike the Auto-IRA that has also been proposed by President Obama, but not yet enacted, employee contributions are totally voluntary.
5. Who can contribute?
According to the White House, myRA accounts are available to “households earning up to $191,000.”
6. Will employers contribute to the myRA?
No.
7. How much can I contribute?
You can open an account with as little as $25, and additional contributions can be as little as $5. You can keep your account if you change jobs. Again, details are limited, but presumably you can contribute up to the annual IRA limit (the limit for 2014 is $5,500), and that would include all of your myRA, traditional IRA and regular Roth IRA contributions. However, once your account reaches $15,000 (or you have had the account for 30 years, whichever comes first) you’re required to transfer the account into a private-sector Roth IRA.
8. When can I access my funds?
This is not entirely clear. According to the Obama administration’s instructions to the Treasury, you can access your funds if you have an emergency. It is not currently clear, however, if the regular Roth IRA distribution rules — which don’t limit withdrawals to emergencies — also apply. (The regular rules allow you to access your funds at any time. Your own contributions are tax-free when withdrawn; earnings are tax-free if you are at least 59½, or disabled, or a first-time homebuyer, and you also satisfy a five-year holding period.) You can transfer your myRA account balance to a private-sector Roth IRA at any time.
9. Why should I invest in a myRA instead of a regular Roth IRA?
The distinguishing features of a myRA are the ability to contribute through payroll deduction, access to the new retirement bond, safety of principal, and the ability to make very small contributions. There will also be no fees to establish or maintain the myRA. However, the myRA, with its single investment option and $15,000 cap, lacks the flexibility of a regular Roth IRA. If you can afford the minimum investment to establish an account, a regular Roth IRA may be the better option.
http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/finance/2014/myra-what-need-to-know/
41%
Gold purchases by Chinese consumers jumped 41% last year to a record, according to data released Monday by the China Gold Association. The increase was enough to overtake India, which for decades, if not centuries, held the No. 1 spot as the world’s biggest gold buyer, according to estimates from several analysts.
(Source: Wall Street Journal)