Facebook's Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg speaks during a press conference in London, Tuesday Jan. 21, 2020. Facebook says it plans to hire 1,000 more staff in Britain, mainly for its technology and harmful content teams, and that it will add the new roles by the end of the year, which will bring its U.K. workforce to more than 4,000. (Dominic Lipinski/PA via AP)
LONDON (AP) --
Facebook said Tuesday it plans to hire 1,000 more staff in Britain, mainly for its technology and harmful content teams.
The U.S. tech company said Tuesday that it will add the new roles by the end of the year, bringing its U.K. workforce to more than 4,000.
More than half of the new jobs will be in technology-focused roles such as software engineering.
There will also be a "large number" of jobs working on building tools to detect and remove harmful content from Facebook and its other platforms, which include WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram. The company did not give an exact number.
Facebook is devoting more effort to keeping harmful content such as spam and abusive material off its sites as authorities put more pressure on the big tech companies to better police their platforms.
Dish Network satellite dishes are shown at an apartment complex in Palo Alto, Calif., Feb. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)
DirecTV is calling off its planned acquisition of rival Dish after the offer was rejected by bond holders at that company.
The deal was reliant on Dish bond holders agreeing to trade in the debt they held for debt in the new company, a swap that would have cost them about $1.6 billion, collectively.
The retreat by DirecTV this week may end a years-long effort by the company to acquire both Dish and Sling after it announced the bid in September.
DirecTV was looking to acquire Dish TV and Sling TV from its owner EchoStar in a debt exchange transaction that included a payment of $1, plus the assumption of approximately $9.8 billion in debt. The deal was contingent on several factors, including regulatory approvals and bondholders writing off debt related to Dish.
"While we believed a combination of DirecTV and Dish would have benefited all stakeholders, we have terminated the transaction because the proposed exchange terms were necessary to protect DirecTV's balance sheet and our operational flexibility," DirecTV CEO Bill Morrow said in a statement.
The prospect of a DirecTV-Dish combo has long been rumored, and reported talks resurfaced over the years. And the two almost merged more than two decades ago — but the Federal Communications Commission blocked the deal valued at the time at $18.5 billion deal, citing antitrust concerns.
The pay-for-TV market has shifted significantly since. As more and more consumers tune into online streaming platforms, demand for more traditional satellite entertainment continues to shrink.
DirecTV says that it will continue to invest in next-generation streaming platforms and offer new packaging options while integrating content from live TV alongside direct-to-consumer... Read More
