:00:00. > :00:00.This is Business Live from BBC News with Ben Thompson
:00:07. > :00:14.The tech giant is accused of spying on millions of e-mails on behalf
:00:15. > :00:34.Live from London, that's our top story on Wednesday, 5th October.
:00:35. > :00:38.Yahoo won't confirm or deny reports it used special software
:00:39. > :00:56.Bringing artificial intelligence to your home.
:00:57. > :01:02.Google unveils its new virtual assistant.
:01:03. > :01:07.And a couple of new smartphones as well.
:01:08. > :01:11.The markets have got the wobblies again. We have the pound sinking
:01:12. > :01:15.lower and share markets across Europe falling, we'll explain why.
:01:16. > :01:18.Have you got what it takes to be a social media star?
:01:19. > :01:24.We'll find out how your online following could lead
:01:25. > :01:26.to a pretty lucrative marketing deal.
:01:27. > :01:28.And are you influenced by the influencers?
:01:29. > :01:29.Have you ever bought something promoted or
:01:30. > :01:57.The internet giant, Yahoo, secretly scanned millions
:01:58. > :02:00.of its users' e-mail accounts on behalf of the US
:02:01. > :02:04.government according to the Reuters news agency.
:02:05. > :02:07.Its report suggests the company secretly built custom software
:02:08. > :02:16.Yahoo refused to confirm or deny the reports. It insists it is a law
:02:17. > :02:18.abiding company. The allegation comes less
:02:19. > :02:20.than a fortnight after Yahoo said hackers had stolen data
:02:21. > :02:23.from about 500 million users in what could be the largest
:02:24. > :02:25.publicly disclosed Meanwhile, Yahoo is in the process
:02:26. > :02:33.of being taken over by Verizon Communications
:02:34. > :02:37.in a $4.8 billion deal. Our North America Technology
:02:38. > :02:50.Correspondent Dave Lee has been Yahoo may have hoped its troubles
:02:51. > :02:54.were behind it, when it pinned that deal to sell itself. It has been bad
:02:55. > :03:02.news for this company. Two weeks ago, we heard the company had been
:03:03. > :03:10.hit by a huge cyber breach, the biggest in history. We're told Yahoo
:03:11. > :03:14.may have been complicit in creating software, software monitoring
:03:15. > :03:19.information that was sent to Yahoo e-mail accounts and looking for
:03:20. > :03:22.strings or words or characters and communicating that with US
:03:23. > :03:27.intelligence authorities. Reuters reports the software was made in
:03:28. > :03:33.2015. Yahoo says it is a US company abiding by US law. The intelligence
:03:34. > :03:38.agencies aren't telling us anything and ver risenon the potential new
:03:39. > :03:43.owner of Yahoo refuses to comments on the reports at all.
:03:44. > :03:46.Elsewhere in the tech world Google has staged
:03:47. > :03:49.what it s calling its biggest ever product launch.
:03:50. > :03:53.It has unveiled two new smartphones and a range of other devices.
:03:54. > :03:56.So the search engine provider gave us a glimpse of its
:03:57. > :04:01.It's a voice activated device which uses artificial intelligence
:04:02. > :04:06.It's a sign of how bold tech firms are becoming in going
:04:07. > :04:12.For instance, Google's new home management service is a direct
:04:13. > :04:14.challenge to Amazon which has it's own household
:04:15. > :04:19.Facebook is launching its own online sales service called Marketplace
:04:20. > :04:33.Car-maker Toyota is also straying into new areas.
:04:34. > :04:36.It's building a household robot that you can chat with,
:04:37. > :04:40.And the electric car maker Tesla is also venturing into novel
:04:41. > :04:42.territory - it's building a factory to manufacture batteries
:04:43. > :04:46.With me is Linzi Boyd, author of Brand Famous and global
:04:47. > :04:54.Nice to see you. Welcome. Hello. So a lot to get through. A lot was
:04:55. > :04:59.announced yesterday. Let's start with the phones. It is the first
:05:00. > :05:05.time it has been designed in-house, what struck me is the price tag.
:05:06. > :05:08.They're going head-to-head with Apple's iPhone, a similar price,
:05:09. > :05:13.similar technology. They are not trying to corner the lower end of
:05:14. > :05:16.the market, are they? No, Google is wanting to be more of a premium
:05:17. > :05:19.brand and they have been that except they have been an operating system.
:05:20. > :05:23.This is their first opportunity to come out and be a hardware and so
:05:24. > :05:28.they're positioning themselves and they're positioning themselves hard
:05:29. > :05:34.as more of a luxury brand. Why would I opt for that phone as opposed to
:05:35. > :05:38.the Apple or Samsung equipment? Google owns the operating system
:05:39. > :05:42.that is sit behind. This is the first time they have been able to
:05:43. > :05:46.put it into their own hardware system. They can be first to market
:05:47. > :05:50.with the new phases that they bring out to market and not have to rely
:05:51. > :05:57.on other phones to be able to bring it out for them. A big push has been
:05:58. > :06:01.into all this home ought owemation and virtual assistance, clearly the
:06:02. > :06:05.tech companies are looking at how we will be using technology over the
:06:06. > :06:09.next few years and this is one of them. But again, going head-to-head
:06:10. > :06:14.with established players and we have seen the likes of Amazon do this
:06:15. > :06:17.already? Well, the frontier is the home. Three years ago, if you
:06:18. > :06:21.noticed, they thought it was going to be the television. And now, three
:06:22. > :06:28.years later, they're competing against the home. The interesting
:06:29. > :06:31.part is that they've gone for against Amazon and Apple is not yet
:06:32. > :06:35.really gone into connected home. They have still gone into the TV
:06:36. > :06:38.side of things. So it will be interesting to see where it moves
:06:39. > :06:47.to. What about the issue of privacy though? We touched yahoo today, some
:06:48. > :06:49.viewers might think it is shocking if the revelations are true, Yahoo
:06:50. > :06:54.not saying much about it at the moment, but in terms of this device
:06:55. > :06:57.that Google will have in your home, building up so much data on what
:06:58. > :07:00.you're doing, what you're talking about, where you're going, what
:07:01. > :07:05.about the privacy? It is interesting, isn't it in Google is
:07:06. > :07:09.known for data and Apple is more known, I think, for sales. And so, I
:07:10. > :07:13.think Google is going to have to be careful because they are going to
:07:14. > :07:16.now be collecting so much data from people and the whole transparency
:07:17. > :07:20.side of things, people are already resisting having their data being
:07:21. > :07:25.tapped into and I think there is going to be a massive backlash in
:07:26. > :07:28.the very near future of people hacking into data and actually
:07:29. > :07:32.resisting what people are doing with their own data.
:07:33. > :07:40.Lindsey, thank you for explaining that. Lindsey Boyd.
:07:41. > :07:43.In other news: The International Monetary Fund has cut its forecast
:07:44. > :07:45.for growth in the United States, claiming that political
:07:46. > :07:46.tensions are hindering the world's major economies.
:07:47. > :07:49.The IMF said it expected the US economy to expand
:07:50. > :07:53.It also warned the Brexit decision will hit the UK economy hard
:07:54. > :07:56.and halved its 2017 growth forecast for the country to just 1.1%.
:07:57. > :07:58.Tesla's former rival in electric cars, Henrik Fisker,
:07:59. > :08:00.has re-entered the electric car market with two new models.
:08:01. > :08:08.Mr Fisker's previous company built luxury cars popular with celebrities
:08:09. > :08:13.until its high-profile bankruptcy in 2013.
:08:14. > :08:15.For his new venture, he's announced both a high-end car
:08:16. > :08:27.as well as an affordable mass-market model.
:08:28. > :08:33.The IMF downgrading growth forecasts for various economies. If you are in
:08:34. > :08:37.East Asia you are bucking that trend. The World Bank says things
:08:38. > :08:41.are resilient. Sarah Toms is across this story
:08:42. > :08:52.for us in our Asia Business What have we heard from the World
:08:53. > :08:55.Bank? The World Bank has slightly raised its 2016 economic growth
:08:56. > :09:01.forecast for East Asia and the Pacific and it says it expects the
:09:02. > :09:07.region to grow 6.4% in 2016 and 6.2% in 2017. And forecasts for China on
:09:08. > :09:10.those two years were unchanged. Now, the bank says that Brexit isn't
:09:11. > :09:15.likely to have much of an impact on growth in the near term, but it
:09:16. > :09:19.warned that the region still faces significant risks and one of them,
:09:20. > :09:23.of course, being China's on going economic slow down, but one
:09:24. > :09:29.highlight was Thailand which is now expected to grow by 3% despite
:09:30. > :09:32.political uncertainty, a booming tourism industry and the
:09:33. > :09:37.Government's investment in infrastructure is boosting consumer
:09:38. > :09:41.confidence. Interesting into what's going on
:09:42. > :09:45.there in East Asia. Let's show you markets in that region, how they
:09:46. > :09:50.fair today. So Japan closing up 0.5% and Hong Kong up slightly. No trade
:09:51. > :09:55.in Shanghai today. Mainland China, markets closed for a public holiday.
:09:56. > :10:00.We had a weaker yen, so that boosted trade in Japan, but we've got the
:10:01. > :10:04.price of oil edging higher, above $51 a barrel for the price of Brent.
:10:05. > :10:11.Let's look at Europe. A different picture in Europe. We've got the
:10:12. > :10:15.pound buying less than $1.27, the pound continuing to sink, but we've
:10:16. > :10:20.got the markets across Europe headed lower. A few concerns out there
:10:21. > :10:22.about rumours that European Central Bank may start to taper its
:10:23. > :10:26.so-called quantitative easing, we will explain that in a moment, but
:10:27. > :10:31.first of all here is Samira with a look at what's going on on Wall
:10:32. > :10:34.Street. How many jobs did America's private sector create last month?
:10:35. > :10:39.Well, we will find out later today when the national employment report
:10:40. > :10:47.is released. This is a recursor to the labour department's jobs report
:10:48. > :10:56.which comes out on Friday. Montsanta will be reporting earnings this
:10:57. > :11:01.week. Declining commodity prices, lower
:11:02. > :11:04.farm incomes and delays in regulatory approvals for some of its
:11:05. > :11:08.newest products really stung the seed company in recent quarters and
:11:09. > :11:18.finally, the boss of Mickey Mouse will be speaking at an event at
:11:19. > :11:22.Boston College. The speech by Walt Disney's CEO comes amid reports that
:11:23. > :11:27.Disney maybe considering a bid for Twitter.
:11:28. > :11:29.Joining us is Nandini Ramakrishnan, Global Market Strategist at JP
:11:30. > :11:40.Sally touched on this. Sterling falling again. Taking a hammering,
:11:41. > :11:44.now below $1.27. We talked about it yesterday, but it is more of the
:11:45. > :11:52.same, it is about the timetable for Brexit? The more we hear about when
:11:53. > :11:57.Article 50 will be invoked, you see this weakness. This actually does
:11:58. > :12:01.pose a couple good benefits for indexes like the FTSE 100 that earn
:12:02. > :12:06.70% of their revenues from abroad so you get the translation effect,
:12:07. > :12:11.exports are more competitive for the UK that, of that's why we are seeing
:12:12. > :12:15.a lift in the FTSE 100 overall. With the fear of what the European
:12:16. > :12:18.Central Bank is going to do next, you have got a possible nasty day
:12:19. > :12:21.ahead for markets in Europe? We are seeing a lot of red on the screens
:12:22. > :12:26.because of that word from the ECB that they might have less
:12:27. > :12:29.quantitative easing or support for the monetary policy programmes
:12:30. > :12:35.they're going to do. We still need to remember as investors they are
:12:36. > :12:39.purchasing 80 billion euros worth of assets every months. They are not
:12:40. > :12:43.halting... I remember thor that hit markets when the Fed mentioned we're
:12:44. > :12:46.thinking about reducing quantitative easing. There was a massive reaction
:12:47. > :12:53.on markets over the world, wasn't there? It was called the Taper
:12:54. > :12:59.Tantrum! When you have central banks who have tried to support growth
:13:00. > :13:04.through buying assets and by cutting interest rates, market are going to
:13:05. > :13:07.get the knee jerk reaction. They are here for the long haul and they want
:13:08. > :13:11.to support European growth. Everybody is used to cheap muvenlt
:13:12. > :13:15.that's the problem. -- money. That's the problem.
:13:16. > :13:18.Still to come: The making of a social media star.
:13:19. > :13:21.What does it take to earn thousands of dollars every time
:13:22. > :13:25.We meet the firm that connects the brands willing to pay big bucks
:13:26. > :13:27.for a mention by social media's biggest stars.
:13:28. > :13:36.You're with Business Live from BBC News.
:13:37. > :13:38.Supermarket giant, Tesco, has seen another rise in sales,
:13:39. > :13:41.and says it's on track to hit full-year profit targets.
:13:42. > :13:44.Like-for-like sales for the whole group were up 1% in the half-year
:13:45. > :13:47.of the year, and in the UK they rose by 0.6%.
:13:48. > :13:50.Chief executive Dave Lewis said the firm had made "significant
:13:51. > :13:53.progress" in stabilising the business.
:13:54. > :13:56.He's been speaking to our correspondent, Emma Simpson.
:13:57. > :14:00.I'd describe the results as exactly that, very encouraging.
:14:01. > :14:04.Over the last two years there's been a lot of change in our business,
:14:05. > :14:08.a lot of very hard work from 300,000 colleagues here in the UK, and I'm
:14:09. > :14:10.really encouraged by the results we've presented today.
:14:11. > :14:12.They were another significant step on the journey of turning
:14:13. > :14:19.Shoppers buying more staff or are winning shoppers back
:14:20. > :14:25.The result is, actually, we are winning shoppers back who may
:14:26. > :14:29.You will see in the results today we show there are 200,000 people
:14:30. > :14:32.more shopping in Tesco than there were a year ago.
:14:33. > :14:34.So actually more people are buying more things at Tesco,
:14:35. > :14:36.as we improve the quality of service, availability,
:14:37. > :14:41.More people are choosing to switch where they shop and come to Tesco.
:14:42. > :14:47.That's something that we would like to see, obviously, continue.
:14:48. > :14:50.The critical thing is that we focus on ourselves and not
:14:51. > :14:53.We've shown by launching initiatives like farm brands and others
:14:54. > :14:56.that we can be very competitive with anyone in the marketplace,
:14:57. > :14:58.and therefore there's no reason why Tesco can't compete.
:14:59. > :15:00.So we're quite confident, despite the challenging market,
:15:01. > :15:02.that we can be a more competitive Tesco moving forward.
:15:03. > :15:05.And you've also given a glimpse of the future
:15:06. > :15:10.By giving a clear indication of what it is we have an ambition
:15:11. > :15:14.to achieve, we think we can get ourselves to a place
:15:15. > :15:16.in three years' time where our margin can reach 3.5-4%.
:15:17. > :15:19.That's important for people who would choose to invest in Tesco,
:15:20. > :15:22.at a time when the market is uncertain, but it's a measure
:15:23. > :15:25.of a business that's moving from two years where we were.
:15:26. > :15:28.We did start at crisis, that's no secret, but having
:15:29. > :15:30.stabilise the business, that's a level of ambition
:15:31. > :15:55.That was Dave Lewis, the boss of Tesco. A quick look at the stories
:15:56. > :16:03.on the Business Live page. A fear of a 10% tariff on goods into
:16:04. > :16:04.the UK. He says those fears are overblown, do not exaggerate them,
:16:05. > :16:08.that is his advice. Yahoo has been accused of spying
:16:09. > :16:14.on millions of emails on behalf What do you think about this? Get in
:16:15. > :16:22.touch with us. The tech firm has insisted
:16:23. > :16:27.that it's a law abiding company. But not saying much more about the
:16:28. > :16:29.story. A quick look at how
:16:30. > :16:38.markets are faring. Markets looking pretty red today, as
:16:39. > :16:42.they try and digests some of what have they have heard about the
:16:43. > :16:48.timing of Brexit. FTSE 100 just tipping into positive territory. The
:16:49. > :16:54.pound taking another hammering. A further fall this morning against
:16:55. > :16:59.the dollar. If you are our age or older, the odds are that the names
:17:00. > :17:00.Pewdipie and Zoella may not mean
:17:01. > :17:03.much to many of you - but they are huge online stars -
:17:04. > :17:05.with millions of followers for their appearances on Youtube.
:17:06. > :17:10.Marketing companies fall over themselves to involve them
:17:11. > :17:13.in their online campaigns - they're that big a deal.
:17:14. > :17:15.But what happens if your marketing budget doesn't stretch to one
:17:16. > :17:23.Or if a mid-tier player better suits your mission?
:17:24. > :17:27.Well that's where our next guest comes in.
:17:28. > :17:29.She's the boss of indaHash - which helps identify people
:17:30. > :17:32.with the potential of becoming the next social media sensation.
:17:33. > :17:36.indaHash is a technology platform that connects brands and agencies
:17:37. > :17:38.directly to mid tier influencers to create original authentic
:17:39. > :17:42.To date, it has built more than 11,500 partnerships.
:17:43. > :17:49.It has run over 270 campaigns globally for brands.
:17:50. > :17:55.Their clients have included L'Oreal, P and Google.
:17:56. > :17:56.Barbara Soltysinska is the Chief Executive
:17:57. > :17:59.and co-founder of indaHash, she's with us.
:18:00. > :18:13.if I got that right! Nice to see you. Sorry if I messed up your name.
:18:14. > :18:16.Welcome to the programme. Let's talk about this relationship. Many people
:18:17. > :18:20.will look at social media and they may not be aware that in many cases
:18:21. > :18:24.there is a commercial relationship between the brands that feature in
:18:25. > :18:28.those social media videos or pictures, and the companies that
:18:29. > :18:35.make them. Talk us through that relationship. I think that right now
:18:36. > :18:41.it's very transparent, because the majority of influences add a
:18:42. > :18:51.hashtag, if the post is branded. But what is new is that not just digital
:18:52. > :18:59.brands, but people who have impact. This is something that was behind
:19:00. > :19:03.the idea to empower real people who have 10,000 followers, for example,
:19:04. > :19:10.not 1 million followers, and let them do campaigns for brands. Very
:19:11. > :19:13.often they are authentic and they have great impact on the audience.
:19:14. > :19:18.You say it is really transparent but I think many people will not find it
:19:19. > :19:22.transparent, because they will find it difficult to work out what is a
:19:23. > :19:28.genuine recommendation. I've used this product, I think it's good,
:19:29. > :19:32.versus some on who is being paid to say it. That is not very
:19:33. > :19:38.transparent, is it? I understand your concern. But I think if you are
:19:39. > :19:43.not paid millions to recommend something, I don't believe that
:19:44. > :19:49.those people would choose brands they don't like. In our case you
:19:50. > :19:54.have to get some experience with products, for example you have to
:19:55. > :19:58.buy it if the shop and then show it in your video or photo. So this is
:19:59. > :20:10.something that makes it authentic. If you are paid ?10 or ?100, it's
:20:11. > :20:15.not something you would make up I think. It is a gift for the big
:20:16. > :20:18.companies, because through advertising on social media, by
:20:19. > :20:21.using young people that appealed to the audience they're trying to sell
:20:22. > :20:26.to, there is none of this regulation that you have to abide to, if you
:20:27. > :20:30.are an normal television or normal media outlets. I know in the UK
:20:31. > :20:33.there are some rules and regulation about social media advertising, but
:20:34. > :20:37.in many countries around the world they haven't got there yet, have
:20:38. > :20:41.they? I think in many countries there are
:20:42. > :20:47.regulations on that, but usually it is up to the brand and we let them
:20:48. > :20:52.do really precise targeting. To say for example, I want to target this
:20:53. > :20:58.campaign only to women who are 25-30 years old. It is up to the brand, up
:20:59. > :21:04.to the client, but I think they treat it as part of the media plan,
:21:05. > :21:08.not something they can use to make tricky things. Let's talk money. I'm
:21:09. > :21:22.a company that makes this mug, a very Lammers BBC Business Live mug.
:21:23. > :21:29.How would I get my mug recommended? In terms of influence... When you
:21:30. > :21:36.download the app you see a post and you can negotiate. In terms of
:21:37. > :21:45.brands, we send in two models. First is CPM, you paint per 1000 views.
:21:46. > :21:48.You can pay for 1 million, for example, or CPE, cost per
:21:49. > :21:53.engagement, so you pay for interactions, like comments you get
:21:54. > :21:56.an generated content. Which is more valuable for a company? I suppose
:21:57. > :22:03.it's not just seeing it but interacting with it? In the UK the
:22:04. > :22:09.majority of our campaigns are in the CPE model, but in other markets very
:22:10. > :22:16.often we have CMP. Very good to talk to you. It is a fascinating subject.
:22:17. > :22:26.Time is against us. I'm going to try your surname again...
:22:27. > :22:30.If you're watching in Poland, I struggle with the Polish names. We
:22:31. > :22:33.read a lot of international names but Polish are the trickiest!
:22:34. > :22:36.In a moment we'll take a look through the Business Pages but first
:22:37. > :22:40.here's a quick reminder of how to get in touch with us.
:22:41. > :22:46.All the day's breaking business news, we will keep you up-to-date
:22:47. > :22:50.with all the latest details, with insight and analysis from the BBC's
:22:51. > :22:55.team of editors from around the world. And we want to hear from you,
:22:56. > :23:05.too. Get involved on the BBC Business Live web page. You can also
:23:06. > :23:09.find us on Twitter and Facebook. Business Live on TV and online,
:23:10. > :23:14.whenever you need to know! So there you have it, get in touch.
:23:15. > :23:18.Many of you getting in touch this morning. We asked at the beginning
:23:19. > :23:22.of the programme, are you influenced by the influences, have you bought
:23:23. > :23:26.anything you have seen online? One viewer says he finds it very
:23:27. > :23:28.annoying, especially those adverts and promotions that are hard to
:23:29. > :23:32.switch. and promotions that are hard to
:23:33. > :23:35.full of endorsements these days, I full of endorsements these days, I
:23:36. > :23:38.pay no attention any more. Another says, I find all of this very
:23:39. > :23:44.annoying and this is a subject we touched on. We need to have more
:23:45. > :23:46.transparency regarding the advertising of brands because young
:23:47. > :23:53.people look at it and could be vulnerable to the advertising. Time
:23:54. > :24:01.for a look at some other stories in the news. Samir mention this, the
:24:02. > :24:06.Twitter story. It's an interesting one. If sales force does go through
:24:07. > :24:10.with that it's a very corporate business minded company. Very
:24:11. > :24:15.consumer, very of the masses. To see... Get those synergies going
:24:16. > :24:19.between those two companies would be something interesting to watch. What
:24:20. > :24:24.would they want? We have talked a lot about Twitter. For people who
:24:25. > :24:27.use it, they love it. Are for people they don't, it's something they are
:24:28. > :24:32.not engaged with. That is a problem for Twitter, getting more users and
:24:33. > :24:36.it's not doing it the way that Facebook or Instagram is? The
:24:37. > :24:40.quickness of engagement. If you have it on your phone you get an
:24:41. > :24:45.immediate notification, many other companies are looking at that with
:24:46. > :24:50.envy, to get that user engagement. It is the type of users, isn't it?
:24:51. > :24:55.It's not necessarily a big number of users compared to Facebook, but it's
:24:56. > :25:02.the quality of user? Let's look at some other stories, MasterCard
:25:03. > :25:05.confident consumers will use selfies to make payments. Just when you
:25:06. > :25:09.thought the selfie thing couldn't get any worse, you could be in the
:25:10. > :25:13.queue to buy a copy and snap a picture of your face to pay for it,
:25:14. > :25:17.is that how it works? Yes, it's not too far away from other things like
:25:18. > :25:20.biometrics fingerprint. Ten years ago we would have thought
:25:21. > :25:24.contactless was absurd but now we can't go without using it on the
:25:25. > :25:28.tube or in a coffee shop. Do you think is a good idea? I hope it
:25:29. > :25:32.doesn't slow down people at the till, if you don't have a good
:25:33. > :25:34.selfie! You will find a load of people in the coffee queue doing
:25:35. > :25:44.this. Very good to see you. Thank this. Very good to see you. Thank
:25:45. > :25:48.you for coming in. A lot of stories for us to discuss today and a lot
:25:49. > :25:51.for us to look ahead to. Stay tuned to the BBC for more on that Yahoo
:25:52. > :25:57.news about whether it's scan e-mails on behalf of the government. Season
:25:58. > :26:10.can have a good day, goodbye. -- see you soon.
:26:11. > :26:16.Thank you for joining me. I just want to update you on the next few
:26:17. > :26:17.days. We will start with the rest