Priceline Group Inc. (PCLN), the largest US online travel agent, is buying OpenTable Inc. in a $2.6 billion deal. OpenTable is a company that helps restaurants manage and accept their reservations via mobile apps and online. Priceline is looking to add these restaurant reservations to their travel bookings online. The two companies stated that the deal is expected to go through in the third quarter.

Mark Mahanay, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets expressed that this will be a smart merger by stating, “We see this deal as likely part of Priceline’s move into offering a much broader range of local e-commerce services to what is a very attractive customer set.”

Priceline will be able to benefit tremendously from OpenTable’s mobile business. This acquisition will bring in over 15 million diners per month in over 31,000 restaurants. Priceline also has plans to expand beyond the US which will  good exposure for OpenTable to get demand in new markets.

To read more about the acquisition click here

The mayor and board of supervisors in San Francisco have announced a proposal to raise the minimum wage from the current $10.74 per hour to $15. This measure will be put before voters in San Francisco this coming November. The proposal comes shortly after Seattle’s city council voted unanimously for a wage increase.

In Seattle however, there will be different length phase-in plans depending on the size of the business whereas in San Francisco there will be no differentiation.  In San Francisco, the suggested measure would raise the minimum wage gradually having different increases to be in place by certain dates with the final $15 per hour to be in effect by July 1, 2018.

This proposed measure would have different implications and impacts on smaller businesses. Pete Sittnick, chair of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, argues that the wage hike would actually make a larger disparity between tipped workers and back-of-the-house employees. Rather than help solve income inequality issues, this measure would only worsen the situation.

Gwyneth  Borden, executive director of the GGRA also shares similar views on the measure, stating that, “It is extremely frustrating when those most impacted by these laws are not part of the decision; even more so, as labor has collective bargaining agreements, so the minimum wage really doesn’t apply to them — just our members toiling to make ends meet.”

To read more about the proposal and its implications, click here