In The News: Google and Snapchat Make Headlines On Racial Equality, Kodak’s New Pharma
This week, two big companies took big leaps in opposite directions when it comes to racial equality in the workplace. On one side, Google announced a new way to help users find and support businesses owned by African-American. On the other hand, Snapchat disclosed that only 4% of the company identifies as black and 6.8% as Latinx. Kodak also made headlines when it got a $765 million grant from the US government to branch off into the pharmaceutical business.
Google’s Newest Efforts to Combat Racial Inequality in the Business World
More and more companies are doubling down on their efforts to combat racial inequality in the country. This week, Google announced that the company is adding a way to help users find and support businesses owned by African-Americans.
Businesses that have a verified Google Business Profile will be able to add a “Black-owned business attribute” to their profile for customers to see. This badge will be visible through Google Search and Google Maps.
In order for this modification to work, Google partnered with the US Black Chambers and will provide training for African-American business owners to improve their Google presence with tools like Google My Business and Google Analytics.
Snapchat Unpromising Releases Diversity Reports
On the other side of the coin, Snapchat released its first diversity report on Wednesday. After years of resisting pressure to make those statistics public, Snapchat disclosed that only 4% of the company identifies as black and 6.8% as Latinx.
Both groups account only for 3.2% of the leadership team;Black and African American people make up 2.3 percent of tech roles while Hispanic/LatinX account for 3.4 percent. Women only make up 33% of the company’s workforce with only 16% being technical roles.
After public backlash due to the lack of diversity and representation, the company has also announced new company goals, including doubling the number of women in tech at Snap by 2023 and doubling the number of underrepresented US racial and ethnic minorities at Snap by 2025.
Kodak Breaks into Pharmaceuticals
After an announcement from the US government planning to give a $765 million loan to support their efforts, Kodak announced that it is branching out into pharmaceuticals. This new division, Kodak Pharmaceuticals, will produce ingredients needed for drug manufacturing.
Kodak CEO Jim Continenza expects pharmaceuticals to eventually comprise 30 to 40 percent of Kodak’s business, reports The Wall Street Journal. This isn’t the first time Kodak has dipped its toes into pharmaceuticals. Back in 1988 the company bought Sterling Drug for $5.1 billion to sell it short after in 1994.
