THE NEWS WRAP: Pinterest gets serious with diversity

Image-sharing platform Pinterest has released internal statistics and put forward plans to improve diversity in the startup next year.

Pinterest co-founder Evan Sharp says they’ve only made “modest progress” so far, so they’re going on the record with their hiring goals.

“We have more work to do to increase the number of employees from all underrepresented backgrounds, which is why we’re setting goals and taking the steps below,” Sharp says in a blog post.

Pinterest’s female employees have risen from 40% to 42%, with the number of female engineer interns growing from 32% to 36%.

Next year the startup wants to increase hiring rates for full-time female engineering roles to 30%, increase hiring rates from underrepresented ethnic backgrounds by 8% and increase hiring rates from underrepresented ethnic background for non-engineering jobs by 12%.

“By sharing these goals publicly, we’re holding ourselves accountable to make meaningful changes to how we approach diversity at Pinterest,” Sharp says.

“Over time, we hope to help build an industry that is truly diverse, and by extension more inclusive, creative and effective.”

LinkedIn smashes predictions with Q2 results

LinkedIn has announced revenue of US$712 million for the second financial quarter, well above what was predicted by analysts.

It’s a 33% increase year-on-year, and the company’s stock rose by up to 14% after the announcement.

LinkedIn now has 380 million members generating 35 billion page views. Nearly 62% of the revenue came from talent solutions products, while the premium options accounted for $US128 million.

“LinkedIn continued to deliver increased member and customer value in the second quarter while delivering solid financial results,” LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner says.

Groupon launches food delivery service

Global food ecommerce marketplace Groupon has officially dived into the competitive world of food delivery with the announcement of Groupon To Go.

As Tech Crunch reports, it follows Groupon’s acquisition of OrderUp earlier this month, and the service is now piloting in 500 restaurants in Chicago, but will expand across the US throughout this year.

With the startup’s focus on food bargains, Groupon claims the service will save users up to 10% on every order.

There’s no word yet on when or if it’ll be reaching Australian shores.

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 5.41, falling 0.03% overnight to 17,745.98. The Australian dollar is currently trading at US73 cents.

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