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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ayah" data-source="post: 27591" data-attributes="member: 3115">Zoom’s Security Concerns - [USER=4295]@Jiraiya[/USER] The StoryHow are you staying connected in the times of social distancing? Zoom, the video-conferencing application, is probably the answer for most people with a surge in its service globally. Before the pandemic, 10m people were using Zoom; the company now claims 200m daily users.With this new-found popularity, Zoom’s stock price has skyrocketed by 67% from the beginning of February to the end of March, trading at more than 275 times its expected earnings; a sign of the market’s confidence in the company’s rapid growth.Impact on Businesses and Law FirmsWhile governments and businesses are trying to adapt to the new norm, an increasing number of incidents of data leaks and “Zoombombing”, the childish practice of gate-crashing meetings or encryption flaws are reported worldwide. The software is now banned by the US Senate, as well as Taiwanese and German government for official use.Zoom must step up their game in buttressing privacy and security, as its business ties with China makes it a natural scapegoat in light of the growing concern of China’s influence on foreign countries through its technological dominance. The founder Eric Yuan admitted that “if we mess up again, we are done”.  Rivals like Microsoft Teams, Google hangouts, all with fewer security reports, are lurking to take a bigger piece of this $11.56bn market.This shift will also pose a new challenge to law firms' practice as more countries have now shifted to remote courts to mitigate the impact of the virus on the judicial system.  In the words of Richard Susskind, a key advocate of the virtual court’s movement, this is what “tomorrow’s lawyers” should prepare for.FCA’s Fundraising Measures - [USER=1550]@Sairah[/USER] The StoryLast Wednesday, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) set out temporary measures to make it easier for London-listed companies to raise new share capital, while also ensuring investors are protected. This announcement is no surprise as it comes a week after listed companies, investors and intermediaries held discussions to find practical solutions to help businesses raise funds faster since revenues across multiple sectors have collapsed during the coronavirus lockdown.Impact on Businesses and Law FirmsUnder the measures, companies with a premium listing will be allowed to seek an exemption from the requirement to hold a shareholder meeting, where equity issuances would normally be approved. Instead, companies will only need written undertakings from shareholders that would approve the proposed transaction if a meeting were to be held.Corporate lawyers will be needed to advise shareholders (especially those with a majority share) on certain protections to put in place before approving the share issuance. This could include, exercising their pre-emption rights or even re-drafting clauses in the shareholder agreement to avoid liabilities.The FCA added to avoid shareholder uncertainties, the working capital statement in a prospectus normally used to reassure investors that a company is solvent for the next 12 months will be essential to confirm that the need for new funds is related to the coronavirus pandemic, rather than any financial weaknesses. This is because, the statement provides a forward-looking assessment of whether or not the company has sufficient financial capital to cover the worst-case scenario, for example, insolvency which can be a detrimental consequence for shareholders.Many companies have already turned to capital markets to raise cash to support their low cash flow, in particular retail companies who have been significantly impacted by this pandemic. For instance, WH Smith has recently asked investors for a cash injection after it closed its travel business (a large contributor to its annual profits) and the majority of its high-street stores around the UK. According to the FT, it has raised £165.9m through a share placing.  Similarly, the fashion retailer ASOS has raised over £200m from shareholders after it was announced its sales had fallen below 20-25% in recent weeks. This highlights, shareholders are still willing to cash out, and with FCA’s measures in place, shareholders will be more flexible and confident with the issuance of their shares in the weeks to come.Basic Income: Will it be Universal? - [USER=3115]@Ayah[/USER] The StoryLast week, Spain announced its intention to roll out a basic income for its worst off citizens. Contrary to initial reports in English speaking media, the Spanish government isn’t quite proposing what is considered a truly “Universal” Basic Income (UBI). The Spanish coalition government has clarified that the basic income will only be available to those without any source of  income. The practice has been implemented in some Spanish regions but the aim is to launch it nationwide, permanently.Yesterday, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak shut down the prospect of introducing UBI in the UK, insisting that Universal Credit was sufficient.Impact on Businesses and Law FirmsCan basic income ever become universal? Should it be universal? Debates surrounding UBI have long existed. Such debates more recently centred around the prediction that increasing automation will inevitably lead to widespread redundancies.The current Covid-19 pandemic has now brought these questions to the forefront as countries across the world are grappling with the issue of how to tackle widespread unemployment. It is argued that UBI could reduce the current inefficiencies with the welfare system by significantly cutting the time and resources put into calculating each individuals entitlement.However, the prospect of UBI brings with it many uncertainties. A major concern with rolling out UBI is the negative impact it could have on a nations productivity. Last year, Finland became the first European country to trial out UBI by handing out a monthly wage to 2,000 unemployed people for two years. The results suggested the wage did not encourage the recipients to find jobs.Despite the results of the Finnish experiment, If the economy continues on its current trajectory, it is unlikely we will see any dwindling down of calls for UBI.</blockquote>

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