Vacances à volonté, a rising trend of unlimited vacation days
“Impossible, that would never work in France; don’t be so idealistic,” chided my friend with a dismissive wave of the hand. With a storied career rising through the ranks of a CAC40 firm and more recently a business owner, my friend knew a lot about managing people in a French workplace. We were discussing a […]
Government announces new members of the influential Conseil National du Numérique
Created under Nicolas Sarkozy, the CNN (Conseil National du Numérique, roughly the National Digital Council), was initially conceived as a body that would give advice and recommendations favoring the development of the internet sector in France. Seeing this initial remit as too limited in scope, the new government decided to broaden the mission of the […]
Hollande threatens to push for the Google Tax if press issue not resolved by the end of the month
French President Francois Hollande announced Monday that Google and the French press have until the end of January to resolve their proprietary issues before Hollande will push for legislation requiring Google to pay press for the snippets of text that appear in Google News. “It is normal that those who make a profit from you […]
French corporate taxes improve for 2013. Now only the 3rd worst in Europe
A recent report by Pricewaterhousecoopers comparing tax systems and rates across all countries for 2013 reveals which countries have the most attractive tax systems. Originally brought to our attention by LeFigaro, the report looked at each country in terms of how high taxes work (broken into labor, corporate, and social charges), the administrative impact of paying […]
Why Facebook game Criminal Case is seeing explosive organic growth
Pretty Simple Games is a 40 persons social games company here in Paris, who’s just published Criminal Case, a hidden object game on Facebook. Another one, right? So why should you care? Here’s exhibit A : This is a hockey stick kind of growth – basically the dream of any company launching a scalable web […]
Marissa must be doing well 'cause France wants Yahoo's tax money
Chapter 7 of the ongoing sage of “France Tax Authorities investigate Multinational Tech Companies,” with this week’s target being none other than Yahoo! France. Originally reported on BFMTV, Yahoo! France reportedly paid just €462K in taxes on €79 Million in revnue in 2011, or .58% of their revenue. Yahoo joins the likes of Ebay/Paypal, Facebook, […]
Ebay & Paypal star in the latest episode of "investigations into tax evasion in France"
I remember the pilot episode like it was just yesterday: the “do no evil” anti-hero Google confidently strolls in and out of government hearings, proclaiming loudly “we take all European tax regulations seriously,” meanwhile figures showed that Google was earning at least €1 Billion in revenues from French customers, but allegedly did all its business out […]
Yasound CEO Jean-Marc Plueger found dead
It’s not often in the startup sector that I have to write these kinds of articles, so I’ll try to keep it brief and respectful. Jean-Marc Plueger, CEO of Yasound, an online music startup, was ‘found dead’ earlier this week. At just 46 years old, the details are still unclear as to how he passed […]
Orange and SFR both facing hefty anti-competition fines
Another day, another drama in France’s chaotic mobile market. France’s Authorité de la Concurrence (roughly translated, ‘Competivity Authority’) has announced that SFR and Orange have been found guilty of anti-competitive practices during the period of 2005 – 2008. As a result, the Authority ordered Orange and SFR to pay €117.5 million and €65.7 million respectively. […]
Google ends 6 year feud with Belgian press
Google announced yesterday on their French blog the end of a six-year struggle with the francophone Belgian press, who argued that the “cached” versions of articles on Google violated the rights of journalists, and that they should pay royalties to said press. Google announced an agreement with the Franco-Belgian press, highlighting four initiatives: They will promote Belgian […]