October 1, 2020: Welcome back to another Quick Bite. It's been a busy week (so far). Here are a few industry stories that stood out:

Orlando, FL, USA: The Mouse That Roared "You're all fired!": Disney, after 6 months of furloughing the majority of staff at its theme parks in Florida and California, announced layoffs of at least 28,000 people Tuesday. (Roughly a quarter of its total employee number of 110,000). Saying that the move "is the only feasible option we have in light of the prolonged impact of Covid-19 on our business, including limited capacity due to physical distancing requirements and the continued uncertainty regarding the duration of the pandemic,” Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, in an email to “cast members,” Disney’s term for its theme park workers.

Framingham, MA, USA: Employees of eBay Have Pled Guilty to... Harassing a Blogger. With Spiders and Pig Parts: This one falls under "weird ways employment brand gets damaged". Seven former eBay employees have been charged in a cyber stalking and harassment case, including James Baugh, eBay's former senior director of safety and security, and David Harville, the company's former director of global resiliency. The group became enraged over a ecomerce blog operated out of Natick, Massachusetts, and in anonymous comments that appeared under the blog's stories. They became convinced that some of the anonymous commenters, which included parody accounts, were colluding with the husband-and-wife team who published the blog and texted about the need to "take her down" and "burn her to the ground."

This thing is wild. First, the Massachusetts couple had multiple disturbing items sent to their home, including a funeral wreath, a bloody pig Halloween mask, as well as live spiders. The perpetrators also allegedly sent porn addressed to the couple, but to a neighbor's address. They also created cyber accounts (Twitter, etc) to stalk and harass the couple with. And because, why not, some of them created a fake conference in Boston to attend, as cover for some in-person stalking and surveillance. There's more, here, if you'd like the rest of the sordid story.

Shanghai, China: Ping An Good Doctor Spending A Billion: Ping An Good doctor, a software subsidiary of Ping An Insurance (China's largest insurer) is the larges healthcare platform in China, and as been growing rapidly in 2020. So much so, that they're looking to raise $1 billion USD to spend purely on recruiting. (That's a lead if you're a vendor, by the way).

Phenom People Snaps Up My Ally: Recessions bring consolidation. They also bring the beginnings of new companies, as founders sell their companies and discover they don't do too well with time on their hands. So, things to look forward to are cooking in people's living rooms. Meantime, expect more of this. Phenom People, a leading recruitment platform just inhaled My Ally, a thoughtful automation play with a focus on scheduling. Odds are, Phenom takes advantage of My Ally's skills with AI enabled automation to bring efficiencies across the broader platform. We hope.