AT&T is donating more than $1.2 million to support seven small businesses focused on distance learning programs, as the coronavirus outbreak forces students to continue their studies at home.
"When you think about small businesses, they are the most at-risk businesses in America today," Mo Katibeh, CMO and EVP of AT&T Business, told Cheddar. "Some estimates show that up to 25 percent of small businesses, over 2 million of them, could face material cash challenges or could even go out of business."
The company has set up a larger $10 million fund to provide resources for educators, parents, and students to help continue their education while schools are shut down.
The fund has supported nonprofits and companies, such as the online tutoring service Khan Academy, to expand their free education resources.
"This isn't new with COVID, but we've doubled down on our efforts with this $10 million grant and the [$1.2 million] we're announcing today," Katibeh said.
This charitable effort was launched amid a massive shift at AT&T to accommodate a decreased demand from business customers and an increase from residential consumers.
"The network is handling this shift in traffic from work locations to home locations extremely well," Katibeh said.
The company's core network is up 25 percent. That's over 400 petabytes of traffic per day, which is equivalent of 50 million filing cabinets filled with paper, Katibeh said.
There has also been a 300 percent uptick in traffic related to collaboration tools for businesses and education facilities such as Zoom and Google Hangouts.
AT&T has made a concerted effort to appear engaged with coronavirus relief, including scrapping its plans for $4 billion stock buybacks.
U.S. sports betting is booming as NFL and college football fuel massive activity. BetMGM CEO Adam Greenblatt breaks down trends, growth, and what’s next.
President Donald Trump says a deal struck by Netflix last week to buy Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” because of the size of the combined market share. The Republican president says he will be involved in the decision about whether federal regulators should approve the deal. Trump commented Sunday when he was asked about the deal as he walked the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors. The $72 billion deal would bring together two of the biggest players in television and film and potentially reshape the entertainment industry.
Disney's changes to a program for disabled visitors are facing challenges in federal court and through a shareholder proposal. The Disability Access Service program, which allows disabled visitors to skip long lines, was overhauled last year. Disney now mostly limits the program to those with developmental disabilities like autism who have difficulty waiting in lines. The changes have sparked criticism from some disability advocates. A shareholder proposal submitted by disability advocates calls for an independent review of Disney's disability policies. Disney plans to block this proposal, claiming it's misleading. It's the latest struggle by Disney to accommodate disabled visitors while stopping past abuses by some theme park guests.
With a merger this big, creators, studios, and theaters all face uncertain futures. Here’s what experts are worried about and what good could come from it.
With disengagement rising and hybrid work shifting, 'Everybody Matters' author Bob Chapman explains why treating people well could define the future of work.
We sat down with Ali Furman, U.S. Consumer Markets Industry Leader at consulting firm PwC to ask what trends she garnered from the initial data this year.
Seth Schachner breaks down Zootopia 2’s record-smashing debut, holiday box office trends, early 2026 Oscar contenders, and what’s next for Netflix and WBD.
