Google to help boost Greece tourism industry

ATHENS: Internet giant Google will offer management courses to 3,000 tourism businesses on the island of Crete as part of an initiative to promote the sector in Greece, industry union Sete said on Thursday.

“Given the continuing growth in tourism in the past two years, Google has focused on the promotion of tourism services, especially in helping the small businesses that are the heart of the industry,” Sete president Andreas Andreadis told AFP.

The first initiative will begin in early September in the south of the island of Crete and could be rolled out to other areas later, he said.—AFP

EBay considering PayPal spinoff

NEW YORK: EBay Inc is considering a spinoff of PayPal, its fast-growing payments unit, as soon as next year, tech news website The Information reported, citing sources.

Shares of the online retailer jumped nearly 4 per cent to $55.48 at midday.

EBay told potential candidates for the position of PayPal chief executive officer, a post that David Marcus vacated in June, about a possible spinoff of the payments unit, the website reported. Marcus is now a Facebook Inc executive.

A PayPal spinoff would mark an about-face for the company. EBay CEO John Donahoe has resisted demands by activist investor Carl Icahn to hive off the payments service, saying PayPal was integral to eBay’s business — and vice versa — and a split would not make sense.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2014