Macy’s has partnered with b8ta, the retail-as-a-service startup that originally started out as a way to let people try out new tech products. Macy’s has acquired a minority stake in b8ta and will use the startup to enhance The Market, an experiential-based retail concept at Macy’s. By partnering with b8ta, Macy’s envisions being able to scale its Market concept faster, Macy’s President Hal Lawton said in a statement. For b8ta, this is an additional source of revenue.
“At b8ta, we believe physical retail will thrive as a platform for discovering new products and brands,” b8ta CEO Vibhu Norby said in a statement. “Macy’s was the best partner for b8ta to scale our pioneering retail-as-a-service model to a breadth of categories like apparel, beauty, home, and more. With b8ta’s software platform and business model, product makers can go from solely selling online to launching their products with Macy’s in a few clicks. Our platform makes it easy for makers to deploy, manage, analyze, and scale amazing offline retail experiences.”
Earlier this year, b8ta unveiled a Shopify-like solution for retail stores. Called “Built by b8ta,” the solution functions as a retail-as-a-service platform for brands that want a physical presence. b8ta’s software solution includes checkout, inventory, point of sale, inventory management, staff scheduling services and more. Netgear was the first customer to launch a Built by b8ta store this June in Silicon Valley’s Santana Row, and b8ta has plans to deploy additional stores for other brands in that area.
In April, Norby told me there were a handful of other brands that b8ta would announce soon. This year, b8ta expects anywhere from 10 to 15 companies to launch stores built by b8ta across cosmetics, apparel and furniture. It seems that Macy’s was one of those companies.
b8ta initially launched as a store that showcased products like the Gi Flybike, a folding electric bicycle, and Thync, a wearable for achieving mindfulness and boosting energy, into physical stores and enable customers to have real, tactile experiences with them.
United States District Court Judge Richard J. Leon has ruled in favor of AT&T in the government’s antitrust suit to block AT&T’s proposed merger with Time Warner .
That decision matches word on the street over the past few weeks, and delivers a stern rebuke to the Trump administration, which had opposed the deal from its earliest days. The decision was made following the close of markets in New York, and after-hours trading was muted to the decision.
In October 2016, AT&T announced its plan to acquire Time Warner for $85.4 billion, and a total of $108 billion with debt. The DOJ moved to block the merger in March, arguing that the merger would reduce competition and hurt consumer choice.
The nuances of this case are important, as the implications of this decision reach far beyond the individual businesses of AT&T and Time Warner to the vast media landscape as a whole.
First off, it’s worth noting that the overall goal of antitrust regulations is to protect the consumer from unfair business practices that may arise from a consolidation of power within a single company. But size isn’t necessarily what’s most important in these types of cases. In fact, sometimes a merger can help competition and consumer choice, as is more often the case with vertical mergers.
A vertical merger is when two companies who provide different or complementary offerings join forces, giving consumers access to a more comprehensive set of services, at a lower price, while still generating profits. That’s not to say that vertical mergers get through regulatory approval free and clear — the FTC has fought 22 vertical mergers since 2000 — but they receive less scrutiny than horizontal mergers.
AT&T-Time Warner is considered a vertical merger, as AT&T is a content distributor and Time Warner is a content creator. But the overall landscape complicates the decision a great deal.
There are only a handful of companies in this space, and they are some of the most powerful companies in the world. AT&T itself is the largest telecom provider in the world, and via DirecTV, it is also the largest multichannel video programming distributor in the U.S. Time Warner, meanwhile, owns channels like TBS and TNT, HBO and Warner Bros., not to mention the assets to live sports and news orgs such as the NBA, MLB, NCAA March Madness and PGA.
The DOJ has argued that this type of consolidation would give the merged AT&T-Time Warner the ability to raise prices, thwarting the competition’s ability to compete by forcing them to raise prices to maintain carriage rights. The government has also argued that the newly rolled back net neutrality rules would no longer protect AT&T from, say, throttling Netflix if it didn’t purchase and distribute Time Warner content.
On the other side, AT&T and Time Warner (big as they may be) face steep competition from the FAANG companies (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google), all of whom have made video a top priority. In fact, CNNMoney reported that AT&T-Time Warner’s counsel Daniel Petrocelli made the argument that traditional media orgs have already been left behind in the digital revolution.
From the report:
Petrocelli told Judge Leon that their estimates show FAANG is worth $3 trillion collectively, while an AT&T-Time Warner entity post-merger would be worth $300 billion. ‘We’re chasing their tail lights,’ Petrocelli said.
It’s also worth noting that President Trump has been publicly opposed to the deal since he was on the campaign trail. Remember, Time Warner owns CNN, which is the object of some of Trump’s most focused hatred. At a campaign rally in 2016, Trump said his administration would not approve the deal, raising concerns over political interference. The government has argued that Trump did not communicate with antitrust officials over the deal and that their choice to fight the merger was not influenced by the White House.
LOLA, a subscription service delivering tampons and pads, and now other products, including condoms, lubricant, and feminine cleansing wipes, has closed on $24 million in Series B funding. While the startup touts its products’ “100% organic” nature, it’s also well-received because of the customization offered and its direct-to-consumer nature.
The new round of financing was led by private equity firm Alliance Consumer Growth (ACG), with support from existing investors Spark Capital, Lerer Hippeau and Brand Foundry Ventures.
To date, LOLA has raised $11.2 million, from investors including also BBG Ventures, 14W, the founders of Warby Parker and Harry’s, Sweetgreen, Bonobos, and Insomnia Cookies. Celebs like Serena Williams, Karlie Kloss, Lena Dunham, and Allison Williams have also invested.
Launched in 2015, LOLA’s founders Alex Friedman and Jordana Kier had the idea to challenge industry giants, like Tampax and Playtex, with a 100% organic product.
“We founded LOLA with a simple and seemingly obvious idea – as women, we shouldn’t have to compromise when it comes to our reproductive health,” explains Kier. “Like most women, we’d been using the same feminine care products since we were teenagers. But when we found out that brands – including the same ones we were loyal to all those years – aren’t required to disclose exactly what’s in their products, it made us wonder: what’s in our tampon?”
“If we care about everything else we put in our bodies, products for our reproductive health shouldn’t be any different,” she states.
LOLA’s tampons, pads and liners are made only with organic cotton, not synthetic fibers, like those used mainstream brands. Nor do they contain fragrances or dyes.
The nature of its products appeal to consumers – especially, young millennial women – who are more conscious of the chemicals in their products, as well as those who want to buy organic for the environmental benefits.
That said, there’s a bit ofdebate over how dangerous (or not) it is to use traditional feminine care products. Skeptics, including some doctors, insist there’s no threat from conventional products.
But even women not concerned with buying organic may find LOLA appealing because of its model.
Its subscription service lets you create a box with your own mix of tampon sizes (with or without applicators, which can be either cardboard or plastic). That’s something you can’t do when buying off the shelf.
Plus, LOLA’s boxes aren’t any more expensive than those bought in the store. Its 18-count box of applicator tampons is $10 per month; or it’s $9 each, if ordering two or three boxes per month. Non-applicator tampons are a dollar less.
In addition, LOLA sells other period-related products, including an essential oil blend for cramps, a multi-vitamin that protects against PMS, and a first period starter kit.
In May, the startup broadened its mission to become more of a female health company with the launch of SEX by LOLA. This product line includes condoms, personal lubricant, and all-natural feminine cleansing wipes for women. It’s the startup’s first product line outside of feminine care.
“Until now, there wasn’t really a place for women to turn to for honesty, reliability and information when it comes to their sex products,” says Kier of the new product lineup. “Historically, sexual wellness companies have been primarily marketed towards men and promote products that contain obscure ingredients and unnatural additives.”
SEX by LOLA products, on the other hand, don’t have “irritating” additives, the founder explains, but still deliver the sensation and reliability you’d expect, she says.
These new products are also offered on subscription, starting at $10 per month for a 12-count box of condoms or 12-count box of cleansing wipes.
The company plans to use the Series B funds to finance product development, expand customer outreach – including through events, partnerships and offline – and expand its 19-person, currently New York-based team.
More importantly, perhaps, is throwing more fuel on the fire, as LOLA is no longer without competition.
There are a number of subscription startups for feminine products on the market today, including Le Parcel (which also ships chocolate); organic rival Cora, which focuses on discrete, portable tampons and carrying cases; Jessica Alba’s The Honest Company (which just got $200M) and sustainable competitors like Flex’s tampon alternative, as well as other reusable menstrual cups, like Diva Cup.
And, of course, you can subscribe and save on Amazon to almost anything, including tampons.
LOLA declines to share details related to the size and growth of its customer base or its revenue, so it’s difficult to rank LOLA in terms of its competition.
Where LOLA may have some leverage, however, is encouraging more open discussions about female reproductive health, and engaging its customers through social media. The startup touts 6 times the number of Instagram followers compared with mainstream brands, for example, and says 1 in 4 customers have directly engaged with its brand over a variety of communication channels, including calls, emails, DMs, texts, and letters.
ACG’s investment could help LOLA become more of a household name. The firm has previously backed brands like Harry’s, Pacifica, Shake Shack, Plum Organics, PDQ, barkTHINS, EVOL Foods, Suja Juice, Nudestix, and others.
“LOLA is at the epicenter of the shift towards transparency in the women’s health category, and we couldn’t be more impressed with the brand Alex and Jordana have built and the impactful conversation they’ve driven,” said Alliance Consumer Growth Managing Partner, Trevor Nelson, in a statement about its funding. “We’re thrilled to welcome LOLA into the ACG family and support their continued evolution and product innovation, enabling them to meet their consumers’ needs,” he added.
In 2014, it seemed like pretty much anyone with a pulse and pitch deck was capable of raising huge amounts of capital from prestigious venture capital firms at sky-high valuations. Here we are four years later and times have changed. VCs inked a little more than 3,100 deals in the last quarter of 2017, according to Crunchbase — about 500 fewer than the previous quarter.
For aspiring startup founders, it’s a “confusing time in the so-called Unicorn story,” as Erin Griffith put it in a column last May — an asset bubble that never really popped, but which at the very least is deflating. In the confirmation hearing for new SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, lawmakers lamented the dearth of initial public offerings as companies that thrived in private markets — from Snap to Blue Apron — have struggled to deliver meaningful returns to investors.
This all creates a number of dilemmas for founders looking to raise capital and scale businesses in 2018. VCs remain an integral part of the innovation ecosystem. But what happens when the changing dynamics of financial markets collide with VCs’ expectations regarding growth? VCs may not always be aligned with founders and companies in this new environment. A recent study commissioned by Eric Paley at Founder Collective found that by pressuring companies to scale prematurely, venture capitalists are indirectly responsible for more startup deaths than founder infighting, technical debt and slow customer adoption — combined.
The new landscape requires that founders in particular be judicious in the way they seek out new sources of capital, structure cap tables and ownership and the types of concessions made to their new backers in exchange for that much-needed cash. Here are three ways founders can ensure they’re looking out for what’s best for their companies — and themselves — in the long run.
Take time to backchannel
Venture capitalists are arguably in the business of due diligence. Before they sign the dotted line, they can be expected to call your competitors, your customers, your former employers, your business school classmates — they will ask everyone and their mother about you.
It goes without saying that differences of opinion regarding your business strategy can lead to big conflict down the road.
A first-time founder is also new to the pressures of entrepreneurship, of having employees rely on you for their livelihoods. Whether you are desperate for cash because you need to make payroll, or you’re anxious for the validation of a headline-worthy investment, few founders take the time to properly backchannel their investors. Until you can say you’ve done due diligence of your own, your opinion of your VCs is going to be based on the size of their fund, the deals they’ve done or the press they’ve gotten. In short, it will likely be based on what they’ve done right.
On the other hand, you likely don’t know anything about the actual partner that will join your board. Are they intelligent in your space? Do they have a meaningful network? Or do they just know a few headhunters? Are they value creators? What is their political standing in their firm? Before you sign a term sheet, you need to take the time to contextualize the profile of the person who is taking a board seat. It gives you foresight on the actions your investment partner will likely take down the road.
Think beyond your first raise
If you do decide to raise capital, make sure you are in alignment with your board regarding your business plan, the pursuit of profit at the expense of revenue growth, or vice versa, and how it will steer your decision making as the market changes. It goes without saying that differences of opinion regarding your business strategy can lead to big conflict down the road.
As you think about these trade-offs, remember that as an entrepreneur, your obligation is to the existing shareholders: the employees and you. As the pack of potential unicorns has thinned, VCs in particular have turned to unconventional deal structures, like the use of common and preferred shares. For the founder who needs to raise cash, a dual ownership structure seems like a fair compromise to make, but remember that it may be at the expense of your employees’ option pool. The interests of preferred and common shareholders are not perfectly aligned, particularly when it comes time to make difficult decisions in the future.
Is VC money right for you?
VCs frequently share information, board decks and investor presentations with members of the press and the tech community, sometimes in support of their own personal agendas or to get perspective on whether to invest or not. That’s why it’s particularly important to backchannel, and more importantly, that you have allies that you can call on and people who can ensure some measure of goodwill. A good company board cannot be made up of just the investors and you: You need advocates that are balanced and on your side.
Venture capital is far from the only way to finance an early-stage business.
These prescriptions can sound paranoid, particularly to the founder whose business is growing nicely. But anything can cause a sea change and put you at odds with the people funding your company — who now own a piece of the company that you’re trying to build. When disagreements arise, it can get tense. They might say that you are a first-time founder, and therefore a novice. They will make your weaknesses known and say you’ll never be able to raise again if you ignore their invaluable advice. It’s important that you don’t fall into the fear trap. If you create a product or service that solves an undeniable problem, the money will come — and you will get funded again.
The term founder-friendly VC was always perhaps a bit of a misnomer. The people building the business and the people planning on cashing in on your efforts are imperfect allies. As a founder and business owner, your primary responsibilities are to your clients, to the company you’re building and, most importantly, to the employees who are helping you do it. As founders we like to think that we have all the answers, especially in bad times. Making sure you have alignment with your investors in challenging and unpredictable situations is critical. It’s important to anticipate how your investors will problem-solve before you give up control.
Venture capital is far from the only way to finance an early-stage business. Founders looking to jump-start their business have a number of alternatives, from debt financing and bootstrapping to crowdfunding, angel investors and ICOs. There are indeed still many advantages to having experienced investors on your side, not simply the cash but also the access to hiring and industry knowledge. But the relationship can only benefit both parties when founders go in eyes wide open.
Tesla has laid off about nine percent of its employees, Electrek first reported. This is part of the reorganization Musk talked about in May on the company’s quarterly earnings call. The layoffs reportedly started on Monday and will be made official at some point today.
Tesla, which also operates SolarCity, is only laying off salaried employees. Tesla isn’t letting go any production associates, as the company is trying to ramp up Model 3 production.
“We made these decisions by evaluating the criticality of each position, whether certain jobs could be done more efficiently and productively, and by assessing the specific skills and abilities of each individual in the company,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote to employees in an email obtained by TechCrunch. “As you know, we are also continuing to flatten our management structure to help us communicate better, eliminate bureaucracy and move faster.”
When Tesla acquired SolarCity in 2016, its headcount increased to more than 30,000 employees. Toward the end of 2017, Tesla had around 37,000 employees.
In February, Tesla made a deal with Home Depot to sell the PowerWall and solar panels at 800 of Home Depot’s locations. But Tesla has reportedly not renewed its contract, which means the Tesla employees working at Home Depot won’t be needed anymore. Instead, Musk said in his email that they “will be offered the opportunity to move over to Tesla retail locations.”
The hope with the restructure is to get to profitability. Last quarter, Tesla reported record revenues along with record losses. In Q1 2018, Tesla’s net losses were a record $784.6 million ($4.19 per share).
Here’s the full email Musk wrote to staffers:
As described previously, we are conducting a comprehensive organizational restructuring across our whole company. Tesla has grown and evolved rapidly over the past several years, which has resulted in some duplication of roles and some job functions that, while they made sense in the past, are difficult to justify today.
As part of this effort, and the need to reduce costs and become profitable, we have made the difficult decision to let go of approximately 9% of our colleagues across the company. These cuts were almost entirely made from our salaried population and no production associates were included, so this will not affect our ability to reach Model 3 production targets in the coming months.
Given that Tesla has never made an annual profit in the almost 15 years since we have existed, profit is obviously not what motivates us. What drives us is our mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable, clean energy, but we will never achieve that mission unless we eventually demonstrate that we can be sustainably profitable. That is a valid and fair criticism of Tesla’s history to date.
This week, we are informing those whose roles are impacted by this action. We made these decisions by evaluating the criticality of each position, whether certain jobs could be done more efficiently and productively, and by assessing the specific skills and abilities of each individual in the company. As you know, we are also continuing to flatten our management structure to help us communicate better, eliminate bureaucracy and move faster.
In addition to this company-wide restructuring, we’ve decided not to renew our residential sales agreement with Home Depot in order to focus our efforts on selling solar power in Tesla stores and online. The majority of Tesla employees working at Home Depot will be offered the opportunity to move over to Tesla retail locations.
I would like to thank everyone who is departing Tesla for their hard work over the years. I’m deeply grateful for your many contributions to our mission. It is very difficult to say goodbye. In order to minimize the impact, Tesla is providing significant salary and stock vesting (proportionate to length of service) to those we are letting go.
To be clear, Tesla will still continue to hire outstanding talent in critical roles as we move forward and there is still a significant need for additional production personnel. I also want to emphasize that we are making this hard decision now so that we never have to do this again.
To those who are departing, thank you for everything you’ve done for Tesla and we wish you well in your future opportunities. To those remaining, I would like to thank you in advance for the difficult job that remains ahead. We are a small company in one of the toughest and most competitive industries on Earth, where just staying alive, let alone growing, is a form of victory (Tesla and Ford remain the only American car companies who haven’t gone bankrupt). Yet, despite our tiny size, Tesla has already played a major role in moving the auto industry towards sustainable electric transport and moving the energy industry towards sustainable power generation and storage. We must continue to drive that forward for the good of the world.
As rumored, Fornite is coming to the Nintendo Switch. In fact, it’s arriving even earlier than we imagined, available today as a free download from the Nintendo eShop. The addition widens the play field for the title’s wildly popular gameplay. The Epic game is currently available on PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and iOS, in addition to the new Nintendo console.
And while cross-platform play has been the key to the battle royale mode, Sony’s long been a bit of a stick in the mud on this one. The Xbox One version, for instance, can be played with PC and iOS. Ditto for the PS4 version. But Xbox One and PS4 cross-play is a non-starter.
The Verge noted that the same appears to be the case with the Nintendo Switch version, a fact that TechCrunch has since verified with an Epic spokesperson. “Cross-play and cross progression on Switch work with Xbox One, PC, Mac, and mobile,” the company confirmed.
We’ve also reached out to both Nintendo and Sony on the matter, to see what the hang up is here. Sony certainly appears to be the sticking point on this one, at least from the outside. The company likely sees its own massive sales figures as a competitive advantage here. The PS4 topped 70 million units late last year, and while Microsoft doesn’t release figures for the Xbox One, Sony’s device is the pretty clear frontrunner.
Fortnite, meanwhile, has been a massive success in its own right. In April, it became the biggest free-to-play console game, a number that’s only going to increase with today’s addition of the Switch to the ranks. Later this summer, Android users will also be able to get their hands on the title.
Google today is expanding the capabilities of its Android parental control software, Family Link, to go beyond helping parents better manage their child’s device and app usage. Now, the Family Link app will also help parents learn about what apps they may want to install for their kids, as well. In a new discovery section, Family Link will feature a list of educational apps for children ages six through nine that parents can install with a tap.
The apps are “recommended by teachers,” the section proclaims.
Google explains that it worked with teachers from across the U.S. to come up with this curated list of apps with educational value. The teachers were recruited to rate content based on their expertise in learning and child development, and had a diverse background in terms of things like years of experience, demographics, and locations in the U.S.
At launch, the recommended apps come from publishers like MarcoPolo Learning Inc., BrainPOP, Edoki Academy and others, and include those that teach kids about facts and figures, interesting places around the world, and, of course – it’s Google! – the basics of coding, among other things.
There are currently a few dozen recommended apps, but they won’t appear all at once. Instead, Google tells us, the list will refresh on a weekly basis so as not to overwhelm either the parent or child.
Over time, Google plans to add more apps to the feature, including those for other age ranges.
Currently, all the apps are free, but Google may choose to highlight paid apps in the future, a spokesperson says.
Parents can tap on the apps to visit their page on Google Play, and add them directly to their child’s device with a tap on the “Install” button.
The feature is available in the Family Link mobile app for parents in the U.S. for the time being. Google says it will be available in other markets over time.
The recommendations of “nutritious” apps, as Google refers to them in an announcement, comes at a time when major tech companies are paying increased attention to the time spent on devices, and a growing concern among consumers – parents and otherwise – that it’s not time well spent.
At Google’s developer conference in May, the company detailed new Android-based tools for managing and monitoring screen time to promote healthier app and device usage. This includes ways to prevent the phone from distracting or stimulating users, as well as time limits for apps.
These sorts of controls are things parents want for their children, too, which is what Family Link, launched publicly in fall 2017, has provided.
But when even “screen time” itself is being seen as a concern, it makes sense that Google would want to showcase some of the apps that provide something of value.
The feature is launching today on Family Link for Android with iOS support to follow.
Nintendo came out with the big guns for its pre-recorded E3 conference this morning, delivering updates on a couple veteran franchises while also bringing some new titles to its Switch console.
We didn’t get a ton of big surprises, but what Nintendo showed off was certainly exciting to a lot of fans. The bulk of the presentation was (as expected) devoted to the intimate minutiae of Super Smash Bros Ultimate, which is arriving at the end of the year and will bring the biggest cast of video game series to the game ever, with some new characters arriving alongside the entire cast of the series’ previous iterations.
Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Super Mario Party and Fortnite were probably the biggest highlights, but let’s take a look at everything they talked about.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
One of the crazier parts of this announcement included the fact that Nintendo has made a redesigned Gamecube controller which will be compatible with the game and will be supporting your old Gamecube controller somehow as well, presumably with a dongle.
Available December 7, 2018
Super Mario Party
Alongside the new gameplay content, Super Mario Party is going to integrate some weird multi-Switch gameplay that will allow users to play together across multiple Switch consoles and merge their screens together.
Available October 5, 2018.
Fortnite
Available now for free download.
Other stuff
In addition to the big gun trifecta of game announcements, Nintendo also shed some light on other titles coming to the system which has realistically had a pretty tiny game library since launch.
Fire Emblem Three Houses
Coming spring 2019.
DRAGON BALL FighterZ
Coming 2019.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna – The Golden Country
New update available September 14 for Expansion Pass members.
Other titles announced during the Nintendo Direct included Daemon X Machina, Overcooked! 2, Killer Queen Black, Hollow Knight and Octopath Traveler.
Nintendo sure thinks so. Take that, The Avengers. The game is certainly a massive undertaking and a comprehensive Nintendo history lesson, including every playable character from past Super Smash Bros. versions.
A handful of additions were announced this morning during Nintendo’s E3 kickoff event, including also-ran Super Mario princess, Daisy; new Pokemon; Splatoon’s Inkling and perennial Metroid baddie, Ridley.
The company didn’t give specifics with regard to the number of playable characters inSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate, but it’s definitely well into the dozens, with more being announced as we push toward the December 7 release date. It seems there’s still a lot to unpack, even beyond the 25 minutes of footage the company debuted this morning.
“At E3, we’re showing how Nintendo Switch continues to redefine play, with the broadest range of games people can enjoy together anytime, anywhere,” said NOA President Reggie Fils-Aime said in a statement tied to the news. “Fans who’ve debated which Super Smash Bros. fighter is the best now have the chance to settle their differences once and for all, pitting familiar faces against fresh challengers on stages both new and old.”
The title will, naturally, include new stages, which appear to be increasingly complex, as is the nature of the series. Among them are levels from fellow Switch titles Breath of the Wild and Splatoon 2.
And, as if the whole thing wasn’t steeped in enough fan service, Fils-Aime also alluded to the fact that users will be able to play the title with a GameCube controller. Nintendo added support for the bygone accessory via a USB adapter late last year. No words on the specifics of when that will be available for the title, but the addition will go a long ways toward improving gameplay over the Switch’s admittedly limited Joy-Cons.
Google Search is getting an update today that will put data about colleges front and center when you search for a school’s name. The idea here is somewhat similar to what Google did with its job search feature. In this case, the company aggregates data about a school that’s typically hard to find and then presents it in a single widget.
One caveat here, though, is that this only works for four-year schools. So if you’re looking for data about community colleges, for example, this new tool won’t help you.
Finding all of this information about cost, acceptance and graduation rates, available majors, stats about the student body and other details like the typical annual income of graduates after ten years can be very time-consuming. This new widget puts all of this data right into the sidebar (on desktop) or at the top of the page (on mobile).
Google is mostly getting this data from the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard and Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. The company notes that it worked with researcher and nonprofit organizations, as well as high school counselors and admissions professional to design the new experience.
This new feature is now live and should automatically pop up when you search for any four-year school in the U.S.
