Weekly News Roundup 5/23

It’s Time To Change Your Passwords eBay customers are being warned to change their passwords. After the site was hacked in late February and early March users may be at risk. A statement on the company website said a database containing encrypted passwords and other “non-financial data” was compromised.  PayPal information was not included in the breach.  (from Re/code) More Money, More Problems Protesters gather outside of McDonald’s Oak Brook, Ill., headquarters for two days demanding higher wages. The protesters marched to raise awareness for their desired of a $15-per-hour wage. This comes as McDonald’s had their annual shareholders meeting. There were 1,500 protesters outside of the headquarters on Wednesday May 21, 2014, and 139 people were arrested. Thursdays rally saw around 800 protesters.  (from USA Today) TGI Fridays has a new owner On Tuesday after 40 years of ownership the hospitality and travel company Carlson announced it will be selling the TGI Friday chain to Sentinel Capital Partners and TriArtisan Capital Partners. The sale is expected to close July 2014. The official price has not been release yet, but The Wall Street Journal reports Carlson values Fridays at more than $800 million. (from Entrepreneur) Privacy Please On Thursday, May 22, Facebook preformed a privacy checkup on all 1.28 billion users. The company based in Menlo Park, California will give users the chance to go through their privacy settings and adjust it for their own preferences with the checkup. Another change to the privacy settings, is that new accounts will automatically be defaulted to only share with friends, and opening it up to the public will be a choice to make or not. (from the New York Times) When Two Become One Sunday AT&T agreed to buy DirecTV for around $48.5 billion. This merger is another example of the TV-industry consolidation. This purchase will impact AT&T’s national footprint by increasing its reach with fiber optic and satellite reach as well as more flexibility in bundling services to include wireless networks and satellite delivered TV and Internet services. (from USA Today)