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Canada Post service cuts? You tell us
Oct 24, 2013 / 5:00 am
We recently shared a story with you from New Zealand where their government has decided to make large cuts to their national postal service including limiting the number of days per week mail is actually delivered to three in urban areas.
They felt this was necessary in response to a yearly decline in those who actually still use mail in the world of email and online banking.
Canada Post has also seen a huge decline in users with predictions of $1 billion loss by the end of 2019.
So we put forward the question to as to whether Canada should also look at going down to three days a week for mail delivery service and here are some of your thoughts.
Barb Jaeger from Chilliwack, BC says, “I like my 5 day mail delivery. I get some of my bills online and I do online banking but I still get plenty of invoices and bills through the mail.”
Eileen B disagrees she writes, “Yes, three day service would suffice as 90 percent of our correspondence is via electronic means. Even the parcel delivery is by notice for pickup, otherwise Fed Ex or Parcel Post deliver is used. Three days would obviously save millions.”
Ina Tomicic also supports the reduced service notion, “It's a great idea to reduce the mail service to three days a week. People do not receive mail every day nor do they need delivery daily. Let’s go paperless!”
So what do you think? Send us your thoughts on what Canada Post can or should do to cut costs and save money? Email us at [email protected]
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Cruise develops self-driving cars that it mostly uses to move people in the so-called robotaxi service. It has begun offering the service in California and Phoenix. Its competitors include Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Waymo. GM controls 80% of Cruise. The other Cruise investors are Walmart (WMT), Honda Motor (HMC), and Microsoft (MSFT). BrightDrop builds electric delivery vans and offers that logistic solutions. It has secured orders for its vans from customers such as Walmart and FedEx (FDX).
Cruise and BrightDrop to Build Self-Driving Electric Vans
Cruise and BrightDrop are collaborating on developing self-driving electric vans, according to a Bloomberg report attributed to people familiar with the matter. The project is still in the preliminary stages, and for Cruise it is not the top priority currently. According to the Bloomberg sources, Cruise will continue to direct most of its resources to its robotaxi business. Other programs will receive additional attention only after Cruise’s primary business is established.
GM’s No-Crash, No-Emission Vision
For GM, Cruise and BrightDrop coming together to build self-driving electric vans would contribute to its vision of building a future with zero crashes and zero emissions. As it works to double its revenue to $280 billion by 2030, GM is counting on Cruise to contribute $50 billion and BrightDrop to provide $10 billion.
Wall Street’s Take
The rest of the Street is cautiously optimistic about the stock, with a Moderate Buy consensus rating. That’s based on 12 Buys, two Holds, and one Sell. The average General Motors price forecast of $61.29 implies 60.4% upside potential to current levels.
TipRanks data shows that financial blogger opinions are 92% Bullish on GM, compared to a sector average of 66%.
Key Takeaway for Investors
Equipping BrightDrop’s vans with a self-driving system could help the unit cut its operating costs and result in a more profitable delivery business for GM.
Discover new investment ideas with data you can trust.

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The November 2016 election added eight states to the number in which either medical or recreational marijuana (or both) are or will be legally for sale. In all, 29 states and the District of Columbia have legalized possession and consumption of marijuana to some extent.
Recreational marijuana use is now legal in eight states — Alaska, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Washington — and the District of Columbia. Marijuana Business Daily estimates U.S. retail sales of legal cannabis products will total up to $6.1 billion in 2017 and could rise to $13.7 billion by 2021, of which about $10.3 billion would be recreational sales.
According to the Marijuana Business Daily’s 2017 Marijuana Business Factbook, the impact of cannabis products on the U.S. economy will rise from an estimated total of $20.4 billion to $24.4 billion this year to an estimated $47.6 billion to $68.4 billion by 2021. The estimates are based on sales of medical and recreational marijuana at the retail level, including flower, infused products and concentrates. For each dollar spent at retail, the Factbook estimates that the economic benefit realized amounts to an additional three dollars.
If there are two developments that will drive cannabis product sales next year they are the January launch of legal sales in California and the July kick-off of legal sales throughout Canada. In California, the state has begun issuing licenses for retail shops, but most are in the big population centers and some observers believe it could take two years for legal sales to become available throughout the state.
In July, Canada becomes only the second country — Uruguay was first — to institute legal sales for an entire nation. Estimates of Canada’s recreational sales alone reach $2.3 billion to $4.5 billion by 2021.
Which are the largest companies poised to take best advantage of the coming boom in legal marijuana sales? One way to look at that is to identify the largest companies in the sector and see how they have performed over the past year.
To do that we used The Marijuana Index and ranked the top 10 U.S. and Canadian companies by market cap. We included only those companies that trade on major exchanges and not solely over the counter. Where one company trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) in Canada and over the counter in the United States, we use only the exchange data for market capitalization. Also note that some of these companies participate in other industries as well, but their cannabis-related business is big enough for them to be included on The Marijuana Index.
Here are the 10 largest marijuana companies, listed by market cap as of December 29, the last trading day of the year, along with the company’s 2017 share price growth. Toronto-traded equities are shown in Canadian dollars (as of December 29, C$1 equals $0.80).
>Market cap: $6.15 billion
>2017 share price growth: +18.4%
Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. (NYSE: SMG) has limited its activity in the marijuana market to acquiring hydroponic growers and carving out a space for itself as the leading supplier for indoor growers. Fiscal year 2017 revenues more than doubled in the company’s hydroponics-heavy Hawthorne segment. Shares closed at $106.99 on Friday and the stock’s 52-week range is $81.48 to $108.04.
> Market cap: $5.68 billion
> Year-to-date stock price change: +216.7%
Canopy Growth Corp. (TSX: WEED) is a diversified cannabis company that produces and sells legal marijuana in the Canadian medical market. The company is well-positioned to grow when legal recreational sales begin. Alcoholic beverage giant Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ) invested C$245 million for a 9.9% stake in the company. Shares closed at C$29.74 on Friday and the stock’s 52-week range is C$6.58 to C$33.09.
> Market cap: $3.35 billion
> Year-to-date stock price change: +18.5%
GW Pharmaceuticals PLC (NASDAQ: GWPH) is a biopharmaceutical company that develops and commercializes therapeutics using a proprietary cannabinoid product platform. The firm’s cannabidiol treatment for rare forms of epilepsy has received orphan drug and fast-track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The drug — Epidiolex — has done well in trials, but a competing non-cannabinoid drug has recently stolen some of GW’s thunder. Shares closed at $132.01 on Friday and the stock’s 52-week range is $92.65 to $140.52.
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Source: New York Times
Olivia Zacks, 17, recently took a drag of peach-flavored vapor from a device that most people would call an e-cigarette. But Ms. Zacks, a high school senior, does not call it that. In fact, she insists she has never even tried an e-cigarette. Like many teenagers, Ms. Zacks calls such products “hookah pens” or “e-hookahs” or “vape pipes.”
These devices are part of a subgenre of the fast-growing e-cigarette market and are being shrewdly marketed to avoid the stigma associated with cigarettes of any kind. The products, which are exploding in popularity, come in a rainbow of colors and candy-sweet flavors but, beneath the surface, they are often virtually identical to e-cigarettes, right down to their addictive nicotine and unregulated swirl of other chemicals.
Marketers of e-hookahs and hookah pens say they are not trying to reach young people. But they do say that they want to reach an audience that wants no part of e-cigarettes and that their customers prefer the association with traditional hookahs, or water pipes.
“The technology and hardware is the same,” said Adam Querbach, head of sales and marketing for Romman Inc. of Austin, Tex., which operates several websites that sell hookahs as well as e-cigarettes and e-hookahs. “A lot of the difference is branding.”
Public health authorities worry that people are being drawn to products that intentionally avoid the term “e-cigarette.” Of particular concern is use among teenagers, many of whom appear to view e-cigarettes and e-hookahs as entirely different products when, for all practical purposes, they are often indistinguishable.
Indeed, public health officials warn that they may be misjudging the use of such products — whatever they are called — partly because of semantics. A survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 10 percent of high school students nationwide said that they had tried e-cigarettes in 2012, double the year before. But the C.D.C. conceded it might have asked the wrong question: Many young people say they have not and will not use an e-cigarette but do say they have tried hookah pens, e-hookahs or vaping pens.
Health officials worry that such views will lead to increased nicotine use and, possibly, prompt some people to graduate to cigarettes. The Food and Drug Administration is preparing to issue regulations that would give the agency control over e-cigarettes, which have grown explosively virtually free of any federal oversight.
Sales of e-cigarettes more than doubled last year from 2012, to $1.7 billion, according to Wells Fargo Securities, and in the next decade, consumption of e-cigarettes could outstrip that of conventional cigarettes. The number of stores that sell them has quadrupled in just the last year, according to the Smoke Free Alternatives Trade Association, an e-cigarette industry trade group.
The emergence of hookah pens and other products and nicknames seems to suggest the market is growing well beyond smokers. Ms. Zacks was among more than 300 Bay Area high school students who attended a conference focused on health issues last month on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. Many students talked about wide use of e-hookahs or vaping pens — saying as many as half of their classmates had tried one — but said that there was little use of e-cigarettes.
Ms. Zacks said the devices were popular at her high school here. “E-cigarettes are for people trying to quit smoking,” she said, explaining her understanding of the distinction. “Hookah pens are for people doing tricks, like blowing smoke rings.”
James Hennessey, a sophomore at Drake High School in San Anselmo, Calif., who has tried a hookah pen several times, said e-hookahs were less dangerous than e-cigarettes. He and several Drake students estimated that 60 percent of their classmates had tried the devices, that they could be purchased easily in local stores, and that they often were present at parties or when people were hanging out.
“E-cigarettes have nicotine and hookah pens just have water vapor and flavor,” said Andrew Hamilton, a senior from Drake. Actually, it is possible for e-cigarettes or e-hookah devices to vary in nicotine content, and even to have no nicotine. Mr. Querbach at Romman said that 75 percent of the demand initially was for liquids with no nicotine, but that makers of the liquids were expanding their nicotine offerings. Often, nicotine is precisely the point, along with flavor.
It is also possible to buy disposable versions, whether e-cigarettes or hookah pens, that vary in nicotine content and flavor. At King Kush, the Atmos ice lemonade-flavored disposable electronic portable hookah promises 0.6 percent nicotine and 600 puffs before it expires.


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MonetaGo taps Ian Milne to expand Secure Financing in APAC
MonetaGo helps financial services firms to prevent both domestic and cross-border duplicate financing.
MonetaGo has appointed Ian Milne as Head of Sales, Asia Pacific, as the financial technology solutions provider looks to expand in the APAC region, based in Singapore.
Ian Milne, a banking veteran with over three decades of experience, will lead MonetaGo’s engagement with trade financiers across the Asia Pacific region to drive adoption of the Secure Financing platform.
Tackling domestic and cross-border duplicate financing
The new Head of Sales APAC joins MonetaGo after 30 years of working in senior roles at global banks including Fortis, Standard Chartered, HSBC, and most recently Rabobank.
He has led the delivery of a robust operational infrastructure, establishing procedures and frameworks to provide sanctions, anti-money laundering, and anti-terrorist financing compliance on all commodities and structured trade finance facilities, along with operational risk controls in accordance with regulatory standards.
At MonetaGo, he will be focused on expanding the firm’s flagship product Secure Financing, which has been live since March 2018 with substantial transaction throughput. MonetaGo helps financial services firms to prevent both domestic and cross-border duplicate financing.
The Secure Financing solution has been recognised as Best Solution in Trade Finance at the AMTD DigFin Innovation Awards at the Hong Kong Fintech Week 2021, and as Most Innovative Use of Blockchain in Banking and Most Effective Bank-Fintech Partnership at the IBS Intelligence Global Fintech Innovation Awards 2021. For more information, visit www.monetago.com.
Jesse Chenard, CEO and founder of MonetaGo, said: “The entry into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has opened up new opportunities for trade across the region, but this growth risks being held back by the trade finance gap, which disproportionately impacts developing Asia. Having Ian on board will take MonetaGo closer to its goal of providing the Secure Financing system to all trade financiers, enabling more trade finance to get to where it’s so desperately needed.”
Ian Milne, head of sales, Asia Pacific, at MonetaGo, commented: “Throughout the course of my 32-year career, I’ve had a front-row seat to some of the major fraud defaults that have rocked trade and commodity finance, all of which brought into sharp focus the need for a solid understanding of the industry. MonetaGo’s Secure Financing system provides a compliant means by which banks can share information on potential risks, solving for the problem of duplicate financing in trade once and for all.”


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Fielding Buck has been a business reporter since 2014 with a focus on logistics, supply chain and GIS. Prior experience includes extensive entertainment reporting. He loves photography and dogs and lives in San Bernardino County.
Latest TweetsTweets by Fielding Buck
The new flatbread is the "evolution" of the Original BBQ Chicken Pizza that made CPK famous.
You don’t need to suit up to win in Taco Bell’s “Steal a Game, Steal a Taco” promotion.The Irvine-based fast food giant is bringing it back for the NBA Finals,...
Craig Decker, also known as the Spike half of Spike & Mike, is expected in Riverside on Friday, May 24, for a revival of Spike & Mike’s Sick &Twisted Festival...
Little Caesars' Impossible Supreme Pizza features Impossible Sausage, a new product from Impossible Foods.
An event called "Burritos and Brews" at Euryale Brewing Company will celebrate the beloved fast food chain that got its start in Riverside.
The new space features izakaya small bites, and it's not the only dining change at Riverside's historical resort.
Taco Bell is planning to open a pop-up hotel in Palm Springs this summer.The Bell: A Taco Bell Hotel and Resort will open Aug. 9, according to a news release...
The Italian fast casual chain has opened a franchise at 1255 Hamner Ave., the site of its first restaurant in the state.
Diners fill the Tennessee-based chain's parking lot to overflowing as its second Southern California location opens.
The country star's concert is the latest in the Boots in the Park series.


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Etika Jewels, a Dubai-based sustainable online jewellery retailer, has collaborated with Diamond Foundry, a California-based lab-grown diamond manufacturer, to provide carbon-free diamonds in the UAE.
The lab-grown diamonds will be offered in addition to Etika Jewels' existing ethical lab-grown diamond collection, it said.
“Our mission at Etika Jewels is to give customers access to responsible jewellery with distinctive features while empowering them to spend consciously,” said Basma Chaieri, the company's founder.
“As part of our continued commitment to sustainability, we are excited to … be the first to offer a revolutionary diamond concept in the UAE.
“By providing carbon-free lab-grown diamonds that are celebrity-approved, we hope to inspire change in the local diamond industry and give customers a chance to look their best with stand out pieces, without worrying about impacts on the environment and other stakeholders.”
The Diamond Foundry, which has attracted investment from Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio, is the first producer in the world using proprietary technology to grow diamonds in laboratories with no carbon emissions, thanks to a hydropower process, it said.
The diamonds are created by replicating extreme natural conditions in the earth’s depths and avoiding the environmental toll of mining.
With extreme heat created by plasma reactors and precise engineering, carbon atoms start stacking on top of a tiny diamond foundation, gradually extending to its unique crystal structure and developing into a jewellery-grade lab-grown diamond, atomically identical to its mined counterpart.
The collaboration ensures that the history of each diamond is secured through a vertically integrated supply chain.
Etika will offer the carbon-neutral diamond option in a large selection of solitaires from 0.8 carat and above, it said.
It became the latest lab-grown diamond player to break into the UAE market when it launched in the country in September.
Brands such as Pandora, Kimai and Brilliant Earth are also offering planet and money-conscious buyers diamonds that were grown by human hand rather than being formed over hundreds of years.
Lab-grown diamonds can be up to 30 per cent cheaper than natural stones.
The emissions on a single carat of mined diamond are 1.5 billion times higher than those of a lab-grown one, according to figures by market research company Frost & Sullivan.


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LG G3 was the best announcement of 2014, IHMO.
This year IDK if it will reach the same accomplishment, the S6 Edge announcement was pretty impressive. And the G Flex 2 seems to be the best LG handset for now and way further.
Anonymous, 05 Mar 2015Come on LG!
Make annoouncement LG G4.
Respect from RomaniaIm so much excited to see the new lg's flagship phone.
AnonD-364786, 05 Mar 2015and they need apple to teach everyone how to use it ;)and lg will teach apple how to make retina display lol
Not true. Whatever the phone is/was by MWC then that's what it is. That's a MAJOR change to make at the last minute.
Cenas, 05 Mar 2015A change like this in the last month? Yeah! Right!What makes you think this was a change that is being implemented just now? Always take vague news like this with some degree of inaccuracies.
Kyembe, 05 Mar 2015At the back??that's more convenient than on the home button, like that of Apple or samsung, cuz it's easier to reach at the back and your index finger really doesn't do anything other than rest on the back of the phone so you can access it in an instant and more easily.
They had the technology since the g2..when lg said that it was in the g2 plans to pack it with a fringerprintsensor but at last min they didint same was the case with the g3..now well they are left with no other option than to deploy it for marketing purpose.they had this technology years before


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October 17, 2019
Brazil's PagSeguro could move up to $761m in an upcoming share sale, the payment processing company's second follow-on offering in 15 months, based on the closing price on Wednesday.
The São Paulo-based company said its controlling shareholder, the digital content company Universo Online, or UOL, will sell at least 16.8m common shares in PagSeguro on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). UOL has also allowed the underwriters Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to sell an additional 2.51m shares withi
Brazilian payments processing company could move $765m in its second follow-on offering in 15 months


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Livingstone’s Consumer sector team has advised Recreativos Franco, S.A.U., a leading Spanish manufacturer of slot machines, on the acquisition of a majority stakeholding of Mediatech Solutions, S.L.
Founded in Madrid in 1965, Recreativos Franco is the largest manufacturer of slot machines in Spain and in Latin America. The Group has been instrumental in the development of the gaming industry in Spain, with operations in over 50 countries.
R Franco is now developing with new formats such as online gaming machine interconnectivity and integrated game management solutions for bars, casinos and bingos halls.
Founded in 2009, Mediatech Solutions is a Spanish supplier of management and technological solutions for the gaming industry, principally through a software platform for online gaming, that also allows interaction with physical gaming machines. Mediatech also offers consultancy services to companies, governments and regulatory bodies on how to efficiently reach out to clients in unregulated markets. In the last three years, Mediatech has won 20% market share of online gaming systems, as well as winning new clients in Latin America and Asia.
With the acquisition of Mediatech Solutions, the Recreativos Franco Group has strengthened its strategic position in the sector and its overall presence in the online gaming industry.
Alejandro Casanova Acebes, New Business Development Director of Recreativos Franco said: “It has been a pleasure to work with the Livingstone team on this transaction. Their dedication, and outstanding open and systematic approach, were fundamental in the completion of this transaction and helped to ensure the best terms for the parties involved.”
Neil Collen, Partner of Livingstone Madrid, concluded: “We are very pleased to have helped Recreativos Franco to cement this strategic move. Livingstone’s Consumer team was delighted to deploy our market knowledge and negotiation experience to help our client in such a key transaction.”


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Debate over the Food Safety Modernization Act reflects a broader discussion about the American food supply. While tweaks to the regulatory system could improve things, a shift away from industrial agriculture and lobbying toward a more consumer-driven approach should be the long term goal.
Government regulation of food production encourages centralization. Government focuses on enforcing minimum standards, not encouraging best practices. It requires costly procedures that drive small producers out of the market without necessarily improving the quality of food.
The centralization of food production supports business models in which close quarters and high volume promote the spread of disease. When the food supply is put into the hands of big corporations with big lobbying bankrolls, it means placing trust in the effectiveness of regulators and in the reliability of corporations to be clean when nobody is looking. And when tainted food slips past quality control the reliance on a few large providers means that one bad production run will reach more customers in more places.
Any regulatory regime will be implemented by the Food and Drug Administration, a federal bureaucracy with connections to large producers. A nice illustration of the revolving door between government and business lobbies is provided by Judith McGeary of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, in comments on grist.org: “FDA is staffed by people who come from within the industrial food system, many of whom are looking to get jobs in that food system when they leave the agency.”
Who has more access to regulators — small producers or food factories with big money and dedicated legal departments?
The FDA, which stands to gain power from the Food Safety Modernization Act, has previously demonstrated a tendency to place bureaucratic adherence to the rules over the public interest. As pharmaceutical researcher Dr. Mary Ruwart has written, for years after it was known folic acid supplementation reduced the risk of birth defects, the FDA continued to prohibit vitamin companies from advertising this fact, effectively censoring important nutritional information.
It is certainly reasonable to call for more oversight of food. What you put into your body on a daily basis will impact the quality of your life, and as things are now food safety recalls are likely to occur only after people have been infected.
But greater oversight does not have to mean greater government involvement. Unlike the FDA, non-government regulatory and oversight companies can go out of business if they do a bad job. Competition means viable alternatives are available if one agency proves to be as bad as the current system. And non-government regulation does not solely entail corporations focused on maximizing profits for stockholders. Cooperative testing and inspection agencies could be created. With today’s rapid spread of information, it could easily become public knowledge if a producer was found to be negligent. And the most intimate form of oversight is when community agriculture brings neighbors together to ensure quality food.
Unfortunately, a government privatization program would most likely hand monopoly privilege to a corporation, making regulation more profitable but not more effective. Any call for extensive overhaul would have to insist on more competition and less centralization.
An instructive nutritional improvement is the rising consumption of organic food. While it is not mandatory to produce, market, or purchase organic food, its sales are rapidly growing. Government certification and oversight of labeled organics has been called into question, and reputation is important to a company’s success. Choosing organic is an issue of personal priorities, which are influenced not only by educational and marketing efforts, but perhaps more importantly by monetary needs. Any grassroots overhaul of America’s food production should treat broadening access to quality food as a top priority.
In the short term, writing new rules into the government-business regime can make products safer. But don’t look for an ultimate solution from the system that created the problem in the first place.


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Norwegian Cruise Line continues to grow as the cruise line announced an order for two additional Leonardo Class cruise ships.
The announcement confirmed its previously announced options for the fifth and sixth Project Leonardo Class ships with Fincantieri S.p.A. for Norwegian Cruise Line for delivery in 2026 and 2027.
At 140,000 gross tons and accommodating approximately 3,300 guests, this next generation class of cruise ships will build upon the highly successful offering of freedom and flexibility found across Norwegian Cruise Line’s fleet, including the most recent Breakaway Plus Class ships, and feature a host of inventive designs that will further elevate its already award-winning guest experience.
A priority of the prototype design is energy efficiency, with the aim of optimizing fuel consumption and reducing the impact on the environment. The smaller footprint will also broaden deployment opportunities around the world. Details on the many innovative guest-facing and first at sea features will be announced at a later date.
Andy Stuart, president and chief executive officer of Norwegian Cruise Line, gave the following statement: “Following the Breakaway Plus Class, the most successful class in our Company’s history, the highly anticipated Leonardo Class will fuel future growth with exciting and innovative offerings that will meaningfully drive demand from new and loyal returning guests alike.”
With the announcement announcement, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings has seven cruise ships on order for Norwegian Cruise Line and one for Regent Seven Seas Cruises for a total of eight vessels for delivery through 2027. The company will take delivery of its newest ship, Norwegian Encore, in fall 2019.
The effectiveness of these orders is contingent on the Company’s entry into committed financing arrangements.


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The new Ford Ranger Thunder brings style and enhanced specification to Europe’s best-selling pick-up, and is now available to order from £32,965 for late summer delivery. Limited to 1,400 examples for the UK and 30 for Ireland, the Ranger Thunder adds exclusive interior and exterior design, with plenty of popular practical options as standard.
Ford says the new Ranger pick-up will deliver more power, greater fuel-efficiency, enhanced refinement and advanced driver assistance technologies for customers across Europe, when it arrives from mid-2019
Tuning a diesel car doesn’t have to be expensive to reap significant rewards, as Andy Goodwin finds out. For many of us, modifying cars is an itch thatís hard not to scratch. Knowing more power lurks under the bonnet, or that…
Ford has confirmed that the new Ranger Raptor – described as the toughest and most high-performing version of Europe’s best-selling pick-up – is coming to Europe, as the new model debuted at the Gamescom trade fair, in Cologne, Germany.
Ford’s support of the UK’s longest running charity off-road event – the Macmillan Cancer Support 4×4 Challenge – helped to raise over £1 million.
Ford has been chosen by the Ministry of Defence to supply over 100 Ranger pick-up vehicles, to be used by the Army, Navy, Air Force and the Ministry.
Leicester Tigers and England rugby star, Louis Deacon, has taken delivery of a new Ford Ranger during his benefit year. The 6ft 6in ‘lock’ has teamed up with Ford dealer, Sandicliffe, and Everards Brewery, an existing operator of new Ford Transit Custom vans.
By providing three new Ford Ranger vehicles, Ford has extended its support for the UK’s longest-running charity off-roading event for the 12th year in succession.
The all-new Ford Ranger makes its worldwide debut today at the Australian International Motor Show in Sydney as the latest addition to a wave of global vehicles being introduced by Ford.
Ford is preparing to take the wraps off a comprehensively redesigned, new-generation compact pick-up developed in Australia for sale in 180 global markets. The all-new Ford Ranger will be unveiled at the Australian International Motor Show, on October 15, 2010.


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The Catalan food companies, at the online edition of the Foodex Saudi 2020 with Prodeca
10 Catalan food companies have participated with Prodeca in the Top Food Suppliers from Catalonia, Spain webinar organized during the online edition of the Foodex Saudi. The webinar was attended by 40 professionals from the import, distribution, retail and Horeca industry from Saudi Arabia.
Tendències del consumidor musulmà a Europa
In recent years, identity (cultural and religious) is emerging as an important factor in certain consumer decisions. The high development of the Muslim friendly segment, both in Europe and globally, it must be context in this trend.
Strategic plan to boost competitiveness in halal-producing companies
This initiative addresses the need for promotion and internationalisation among Catalan agri-food companies that produce for the halal market, and was presented at Alimentaria 2018.
Catalonia boosts its presence on halal markets with top-quality products
The value of Catalan agri-food exports has risen sharply in that part of the world due to the increasing penetration of products such as meat, fruit and vegetables, cereals, coffee, tea, spices, fish, patisserie products, and beverages.


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Penney stores in Johnson City, Big Flats to remain open
Doors will remain open at J.C. Penney outlets at the Oakdale Mall and the Arnot Mall.
More than 100 other stores across the nation, however, will meet a grim fate.
J.C. Penney on Friday released a list of 138 department stores it plans to close as part of a previously announced plan to shrink its footprint as it grapples with industry challenges.
The company had estimated that it would close 130 to 140 locations. Most stores will begin liquidation sales April 17 and close in June.
The retailer said Friday that the closures would displace 5,000 workers. Some will receive transfer opportunities and some will not.
Penney will continue to operate nearly 900 stores.
"It became apparent to us that our footprint was too large," Penney CEO Marvin Ellison told investors in February, and the closures will "allow us to raise the overall brand standard of J.C. Penney" and invest in remaining stores.
The move followed similar store-closure announcements by Macy's and Sears.
A Macy's store at the Oakdale Mall will close in on March 26. The Arnot Mall Macy's closed last year.
In New York, Penney stores will close in Dunkirk, West Nyack and Massapequa.
In Pennsylvania, stores will close in Towanda, Bloomsberg, King of Prussia, Clearfield, Philadelphia, Pennsdale, Willow Grove.
USA Today contributed to this report.


text: The Marketing Club at Nassau Community College selected its brand new club President, Jonathan Salazar, as the Marketing Club Member for the month for November. Jonathan is a determined marketing honor student who has already managed to accrue nearly 5 years of work experience working as a Sales Consultant at Great Neck Nissan and is currently employed at Powerhouse Solutions, Inc. where he helps manage all marketing campaigns for the company including press releases, newsletters, social media platforms, and business development projects. His ambitious goal as the new President is to lay a new foundation for the club in order to grow and enhance the clubs mission to the NCC campus and community. When asked what he hopes to do for the club during his last year at NCC Jonathan replied “In this global market of digital experience, marketing has grown into a stronger and endless industry. Helping students recognize the importance of creativeness, networking, and social responsibility will benefit them and allow students to reach their self-actualization goals in their careers.” Jonathan has been instrumental in increasing membership and bringing attention to the Marketing Club and he is actively pursuing volunteering efforts for the club. Anyone who is interested in knowing more about the Marketing Club, volunteer for events, or are interested in joining can email the club at firstname.lastname@example.org for more information.


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Michigan State University is collaborating with the multinational technology company Apple Inc. to introduce Apple Developer Academy in Detroit later this year.
The first of its kind in North America, the academy will open in October and is supported by the Gilbert Family Foundation and the Rock Family of Companies.
The Academy was announced as part of Apple’s $100 million Racial Equity and Justice Initiative, or REJI, which focuses on education, economic equity and criminal justice reform.
"Detroit is the tech hub of the Midwest and the largest majority Black city in the country," a spokesperson from the Gilbert Family Foundation said in an email. "Detroit has a vibrant Black entrepreneur and developer community, but there remain massive racial disparities across the tech industry nationally. The Academy is designed to empower Black and Brown students with in-demand skills and career development opportunities in a tech-driven future."
In the email, the spokesperson said that "the Academy is open to all Michigan residents 18 and over regardless of prior coding experience. Priority will be given to Detroit residents. Interested students can apply at developeracademy.msu.edu/students."
"We believe as Detroit’s tech sector strengthens, it’s imperative to invest in intentional programming like the Academy to advance equity and remove barriers for underrepresented minorities," the spokesperson said in the email.
The Apple Developer Academy offers two different programs for individuals interested in app creation and or coding in the professional world. These range from beginner level courses to classes for those more experienced.
Apple purposely chose Detroit to be the first location of this academy in the United States.
The spokesperson said Apple’s REJI work is designed to help dismantle systemic barriers to opportunity and combat injustices faced by communities of color.
In addition to the one-year program at the academy, MSU will offer a month-long Foundation Program, which is designed for students to learn about app economy careers as well as those interested in coding, design and app development in general.
More information on programming and dates are available on the website here.
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Study: App Maintenance Is Neglected -- at a Cost
Should you be paying more attention to application maintenance and less to application development?
The answer may be yes – especially if you're in a government agency. Government organizations score lower on application maintainability benchmarks than private sector companies, and all organizations score higher on application performance than they do on application maintenance, according to information gleaned from a new "software quality benchmarking database" produced by Cast Software.
Called Appmarq, the database, announced yesterday, contains benchmarking information from more than 500 applications coming from 70 different companies, said Jay Sappidi, director of the Cast Center for Quantitative Research, in an e-mail interview.
He said the database was developed over time as Cast analyzed applications from client companies. It gets its data directly from application source code via an algorithm that measures weighted rules pertaining to factors such as robustness, security and transferability. The database information will be available to customers through four different service models, including subscriptions and access to annual industry trend reports that will include information like the examples above. Clients can also submit their own applications to see how they measure up to industry benchmarks and best practices and determine where more resources are needed, for example.
Noting the government vs. private sector discrepancy in application maintainability, the company said it may account for a Gartner report -- "IT Spending and Staffing Report, 2009" -- that indicates public companies spend up to 18 percent more on application maintenance than do government shops.
The company also said in a news release that Appmarq indicated application performance scores are nearly 20 percent higher than application maintenance scores. It said that even though IT shops typically spend almost 70 percent of their budgets on maintenance, they usually aren't focused on cutting long-term costs by improving applications, paying more attention to projects that are more visible to end users.
Cast Software said it will collaborate with organizations such as Software Engineering Institute (SEI) and Object Management Group (OMG) to produce benchmarking reports for customers. Sappidi told this site that the company is currently validating more industry trend examples, "like the most frequently made mistakes, etc., comparison of quality across technologies, etc., which will be released along with the annual report."
David Ramel is an editor and writer for Converge360.


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J.C. Penney is testing a partnership with Trane to sell HVAC equipment at its retail stores. Penney completed a rollout of kitchen and laundry appliance departments at 500 of its 1,000 store in October as the retailer makes plans to sell big-ticket items.
Chief executive officer Marvin Ellison was at Home Depot before he came to Penney. A big focus of Ellison's has been to find ways to boost sales in home, which lost the most revenue during an attempt to reinvent the department store by former CEO Ron Johnson.
So-called “home goods,” used to account for 21 percent of Penney’s sales, but only account for about 13 percent currently. Prior to the rollout, the company had stopped selling home appliances in 1983.
The HVAC pilot program started in November at a “small number of store,” according to Penney spokesperson Sarah Holland.
More details here.


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Driven by a vision towards sustainability, the Department of Tourism (DOT) launches a bayanihan movement called “Save Our Spots (SOS)” to instill a culture of responsible tourism and to involve more people to act for the welfare of our domestic tourism industry.
“This movement calls for each individual to do their part in acting as a responsible tourist and encouraging the same behavior towards their peers,” DOT Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said. “Sustainable tourism as a whole may seem like an ambitious venture but every small contribution will go a long way to collectively benefit the country’s tourism status, precious destinations, and valued lives.”
SOS is part of DOT’s overarching campaign for sustainability, called “More Fun Forever”, which aims to inspire tourists, businesses and local communities to have a long-term view on tourism by protecting destinations and our natural resources. The campaign seeks to impart sustainable tourism concepts by providing a more holistic view of the tourism industry to all stakeholders. This includes (1) the local community, by providing livelihood opportunities from tourism development, (2) the businesses, by making sure they adhere to environmental and quality standards while tapping the products and services of the local community, and (3) the tourists, by ensuring that they enjoy our tourism destinations responsibly.
The “Save Our Spots” movement supports the 3rd concept, with its primary goal being to educate tourists on how to be better travelers. The DOT will rollout various multimedia materials that will be showcased in strategic travel touchpoints such as airports, sea ports, vessels, and tourist accommodations to name a few. The department will also inculcate these when training front-liners and tour operators with the objective of developing a habit to take care of the country’s tourist destinations.
Benefiting tourist spots and Filipinos
By positively acting on these issues now, the country will be able to sustain its tourism growth for years to come and become a strong economic contributor to the total growth of the country. In 2018, tourism revenue was up by 14.3% from previous year and contributed 12.7% to the country’s GDP. Tourism has also provided income and livelihood to thousands of Filipinos.
The Philippines is blessed with world-renowned natural wonders such as Boracay, Palawan, Siargao, and Vigan, named as some of the best tourist destinations in the world by numerous travel publications. These tourist spots have always been recognized for their beautiful beaches, interesting island activities, cultural heritage, and people, which are primary reasons why both local and foreign tourists keep coming back to the Philippines and explore more places in the country’s 7,641 islands.
CNN recently recognized Vigan, as one of the most picturesque towns in Asia. Boracay is, once again, back in the top spot as Asia’s Best Island for 2019, according to Condé Nast Traveler (CNT) while Cebu and Palawan have taken second and fourth place, respectively.
The Philippines ranked 8th on the 20 Most Favorite Countries in the World of the CNT Readers’ Choice Awards, where the Philippines earned a 90.63 score among the 600,000 readers of the New York-based travel magazine. Palawan won second place for Travel+Leisure’s “15 Best Islands in the World” for the year in 2019.
The Philippines was also hailed as Asia’s Leading Dive Destination by the prestigious 2019 World Travel Awards (WTA). DOT was also awarded Asia’s Leading Tourism Board by WTA for the significant increase in tourist arrivals for the Philippines in 2018.
“Our tourist spots carry with them our pride and heritage,” Sec. Puyat emphasized. “This moment calls for decisive action from all sectors involved to protect our destinations and ensure that the fun lasts forever.”
Tourism also positively impacts the lives and communities of locals and nearby residents. Based on a commissioned study, locals expressed that making their areas popular attracts more economic opportunities, boosts business profitability, and provides income for the local government.
Embarking on a sustainable tourism mindset
DOT Sec. Puyat calls for all stakeholders to strengthen their mindset towards sustainable tourism. “We are now living in a time where we are more empowered to create better tourism choices for ourselves and our communities, and inspire others to care more for our tourist destinations.”
According to the Tourism Secretary, the SOS campaign does not require the grandest of gestures—small, communal and continuous actions will go a long way. “We can start with simple deeds, such as using reusable tumblers instead of single-use plastics; respecting the local culture; throwing your wastes properly and, if somebody fails to do so, initiating to pick them up; advocating for local products; or just planning your next trip to be a responsible tourist wherever you go,” she encouraged.
The DOT also calls for the help of the local government, the private sector, and the people—both tourists and local residents, as sustainable tourism entails the unified efforts of all stakeholders.
“There’s a lot of work to be done to inculcate that sustainable tourism is our way to go,” Sec. Puyat further stressed. “We hope that the SOS movement or this bayanihan project will ensure that our seas remain clean and thriving with marine life, our mountains and forests stay green and flourishing, and our cultural heritage continues to live on. By doing so, we continue to increase tourist arrivals, and enhance income-generating opportunities for Filipinos.”
Watch the Save Our Spots launch video here, like the Department of Tourism on Facebook, and follow @tourism_phl on Instagram for more information and updates.


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Apple’s switch to self-reliance on silicon is nearly achieved, with the announcement of the second generation of its M-series CPUs. The corporation is steadily increasing its investment in the development of future Mac CPUs. According to the most recent reports, Apple is establishing a new facility in Jerusalem, Israel, to produce future Mac CPUs.
Elad Wertheimer, who is in charge of hiring people for Apple’s semiconductor division, posted the news on LinkedIn. Future processors for the Mac will be the primary focus of many flagship programs in which the new Israel factory will participate. The business has already begun hiring staff for the new location.
Apple is steadily expanding its activities in Israel, including its design, engineering, and testing of silicon and semiconductors. Additionally, it was stated that the Apple team in Israel had a direct hand in the M1 chip’s creation. The new M2 processor and revamped MacBook Air and MacBook Pro were just introduced by the business. The new processor offers improved performance while using less electricity.
The business has been working on its bespoke chips for years, and it has no intention of stopping. With the M-series of processors, yearly improvements are what we’re looking at. In Herzliya and Haifa, the firm already has research and development facilities. Nearly 2,000 individuals in the area are employed by the business.


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Hewlett-Packard Co. plans to break in two, separating its personal-computer and printer businesses from its corporate hardware and services operations, accord- ing to people familiar with the matter. The company plans to announce the move as early as Monday, the people said. It is expected to be effected as a tax-free distribution of shares to the company’s stockholders next year, one of the people said. HP plans to separate its personal-computer and printer businesses from its corporate hardware and services operations, the latest attempt by the technology company to improve its fortunes by breaking itself in two. The company intends to announce the move on Monday, people familiar with the plan said. It is expected to make the split through a tax-free distribution of shares to stock- holders next year, said one of the people. If the division goes off as planned, it would give rise to two publicly traded companies, each with more than $50 billion in annual revenue. A number of big companies, includingeBayInc. in tech, have chosen to break up lately, in part because of a belief that operations with different growth profiles are best managed as separate entities. H-P, which has suffered sharp sales declines, sees better long-term potential for its corporate hardware and services business than for its printer and PC unit, said one person familiar with the plan. Ralph Whitworth, an H-P investor who until recently was its chairman, said about the news in a text message Sunday: “This would be a brilliant move at just the right moment in the turnaround. It would liberate significant trapped value.” As of June, the firm Mr. Whitworth co-founded, Relational Investors LLC, owned a roughly 1.5% stake in the company. The impending move, first reported Sunday by The Wall Street Journal, set off a round of speculation in the industry about whether the separation could lead to more deal making. The Journal recently reported that for much of the past year, H-P held talks to merge with data-storage equipment maker EMCCorp. a deal that would have created an industry giant with a market value of roughly $130 billion. Although the talks recently ended, the separation could pave the way for H-P’s corporate hardware and services business to ultimately be combined with EMC, industry observers said. The planned breakup is one that Palo Alto, Calif.-based H-P and its investors have long contemplated. H-P came close to hiving off its PC operation in 2011, when it announced the ill-fated acquisition of U.K. software company Autonomy Corp. H-P said then it was exploring a separation of its PC business, only to decide two months later to hold on to it amid pressure from shareholders, which led to the departure of then-Chief Executive Leo Apotheker. H-P in 1999 spun off Agilent Technologies, a maker of electronic-testing gear and other hardware. Agilent subsequently announced plans to break itself up.
In 2012, under current H-P Chief Executive Meg Whitman, the company reorganized itself to combine the PC business with its more profitable printer operation, helping pave the way for the current plan.
Ms. Whitman is slated to be chairman of the PC and printer business, to be known as HP Inc., and CEO of the other company, to be called Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, said one of the people familiar with the plan. Current lead independent director Patricia Russo will be chairman of the enterprise company, while Dion Weisler, an executive in the PC and printer operation, is to be CEO of that business, this person said.
In the 2013 fiscal year ended last October, the Printing and
Personal Systems Group, as it is known, reported $55.9 billion
in revenue, about half of H-P’s total. Sales for the operation
dropped 7.1% amid fierce competition, compared with a 6.7%
decline for company revenue as a whole. (odd they don't break out PCs and printers, and talk profits)
Last year, H-P lost its place as the largest PC maker by ship- ments, slipping to No. 2 behind China’s Lenovo Group Ltd, according to industry research firm IDC.
H-P, founded in a garage in Palo Alto 75 years ago, has been undergoing a multiyear restructuring under Ms. Whitman in an effort to stem sales declines. Aside from the PC and printer business, H-P’s revenue comes from selling services and hardware such as servers and data- storage systems to corporations, along with software and financial services.
H-P’s shares have risen sharply since the beginning of
last year, but they remain well below their highs in recent
years—and the even loftier levels they reached during the
1990s tech boom (in common with virtually every other high-tech firm still surviving, such as Intel, Cisco, Microsoft, Oracle). H-P shares increased 2% on Friday to $35.20, giving it a market capitalization of nearly $66 billion.
In response to lower sales and to provide a lift to its shares, H-P has laid off tens of thousands of employees and cut other costs. Ms. Whitman has sought to push H-P further into growth pockets such as “cloud” software, but the company has struggled to make headway in such areas.
The recent wave of breakups and spinoffs at technology companies and in the wider corporate world has been fueled by the idea that companies with a narrower focus perform better. The moves in many cases have been well-received by shareholders—and sometimes actively sought by them.
Last Tuesday, online-auction pioneer eBay, where Ms. Whitman was once CEO, announced a plan to spin off its PayPal payments-processing unit. Shareholders rewarded eBay’s decision, pushing the company’s shares up about 7.5% that day.
Chuck House, shown here with son Warren, is co-author with Raymond Price, of THE HP PHENOMENON: INNOVATION and BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION (2009, Stanford University Press). He is Exec Director of InnovaScapes Institute, which published his memoir of HP Colorado Springs, PERMISSION DENIED, in 2013. House, Chancellor Emeritus of Cogswell Polytechnical College, was also executive director of Media X, Stanford University's research program on innovation, media and technology. Previously director of Intel Corporation’s Virtual Collaboratory, EVP R/D at Dialogic, President of Spectron Microsystems, SVP at Veritas Software and Informix Software after 29 years at Hewlett-Packard in a wide variety of roles. An IEEE Fellow for Logic Analysis technology, he also was President of ACM, the world’s largest Computer Science society, and is an ACM Fellow. He holds HPs only Medal of Defiance, awarded by David Packard for "extraordinary contempt and defiance beyond the normal call of engineering duty". Other awards include Engineer of the Year, Smithsonian Wizard of Computing, Top 50 inventions of 20th century, CNN top 25 inventions of past 25 years, Intrapreneuring Honor Roll


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According to a report from the Good News Network: "Nearly seven in 10 Americans admit they take better care of their pet than themselves, according to a new poll. The survey of 2,000 American pet parents revealed 67% prioritize their pet over themselves—but results revealed it's a reciprocal relationship. Eight in 10 respondents said taking care of their pet actively encourages them to take better care of themselves." This is no surprise for us, but is awesome to see some official data on the matter. Pets are good for our health, both mental and physical!
The report continues to say: "In what ways do Americans' pets help respondents with their own health? Respondents said the biggest benefit their pet provides is reducing their stress, depression and/or anxiety (72%). In addition to that, respondents said their pet helps them to exercise (62%)—by taking their pets for walks, playing in their house, an so on—and their pet helps them to be more cautious of the food they eat (44%), too." Story via Good News Network. It comes as no surprise that pets play a big role in our mental health, physical health, and overall wellbeing. We want to be the best most healthy people we can be for our furry friends! They encourage us to be the best versions of ourselves, and there is nothing more wholesome than that.


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Belarus has reached an agreement with General Motors to set up an assembly plant in the country with the capacity to produce 20,000 to 25,000 cars per year, Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich said.
"We agreed to create this capacity gradually, in accordance with agreements made with the Customs Union and EurAsEC to achieve at least 30% localization by January 1 2017 and 50% or more by July 1 2018. To do this, in addition to SKD assembly, we are talking about creating production capacity for welding and painting car bodies," the state-owned information agency BelTA cited the PM as saying.
"As General Motors has certain capacity in Eastern European countries and Russia, we will not repeat those model series. Company management says production in Belarus will be aimed at new models, which will not have a large product line," the PM said.
Therefore, "the market will select the cars because of their appeal as new models."
GM representatives commented that an advantage of working in Belarus was the presence of qualified specialists, he said.
Belarus currently has the Belarusian-Chinese car assembly plant Geely. In addition, the Belarusian-Britich JV CJSC Unison, near Minsk, assembles Samand minibuses with the participation of Iranian company Iran Khodro.


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Acquisitions are back on the agenda for chief executives of companies attending the World Economic Forum.
Cost cutting, capital raising and debt refinancing mean that a lot of the more profitable companies now have strong enough balance sheets to be opportunistic if a deal is presented. Debt markets are also open again to help finance deals, and market gains mean their shares can be used as currency in transactions.
Buying growth through purchases may also be more attractive than trying to expand current businesses organically, given concerns about how fast the economies of Europe and the US will recover this year.
But chief executives are looking for bolt-on acquisitions, not massive deals that transform businesses.
Mike Fries, chief executive of pay-TV company Liberty Global is eager to expand across 10 countries in Europe. “We are opportunistic on the merger and acquisition front. If something came up that fits us perfectly we would have to look at it.”
Kraft Foods Inc’s $18.7-billion deal for Cadbury was likely to make companies more confident as they consider big deals, said Mark Foster, group chief executive for management consulting at Accenture.
The heads of three of the biggest private equity companies in the world, Stephen Schwarzman, Henry Kravis and David Rubenstein, made it clear that they expect to do more acquisitions. Moreover, Brazilian and Chinese companies are also set to make a significant contribution to dealmaking.


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Chinese exports dropped by 8.8% in August compared to one year ago, the fourth consecutive month of export decline, according to customs data released Thursday.
According to China’s General Administration of Customs August imports dropped by 7.3% from a year ago.
July exports were down 14.5%, so while still in negative territory August figures showed some improvement.
“In general, the figures still suggest the headwinds remain despite some marginal improvement,” Hao Zhou, chief economist at Guotai Junan International, said in a statement. “Looking ahead, whether China’s trade growth has already hit the bottom will hinge on several factors,” he said, including Chinese yuan weakness relative to the U.S. dollar and rising oil prices.
University of Hong Kong Professor Chen Zhiwu, said the business environment in China has improved after months of efforts by the State Council. He said other policies from other government agencies, though, have been contradictory.


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DETROIT – The automotive industry is gearing up to restart later this month, and the CEO of Fiat Chrysler said he expects all plants in North America to reopen within the next three weeks.
The Big Three automakers -- FCA, Ford and General Motors -- have a task force that has spent the last six weeks looking for the first and best opportunities to safely reopen plant doors and get vehicles rolling off the assembly lines.
FCA CEO Mike Manley made it officials Tuesday morning during the quarterly earnings conference call.
“We expect all plants in North America to restart the week of May 18, with the exception of Belvedere, which will open by June 1,” Manley said.
READ: Michigan attorney general confirms Gov. Whitmer’s executive orders are enforceable
The signs the company is nearly ready are already in place outside the Warren Truck Plant. Disney World-style stanchions have already been installed underneath a giant white tent, marking where employees will line up to get pre-shift health screenings as part of the new safety protocols.
It’s going to require line workers to arrive at work at least an hour early.
“This plan is being developed with the UAW and governors in states in which we operate, particularly Gov. (Gretchen) Whitmer, from Michigan,” Manley said.
The United Automobile Workers’ union, which has balked at previous start-up dates, appears comfortable with the plan.
“We continue to advocate for as much testing as possible at the current time, and eventually full testing, when available,” the UAW said in a statement. “As for the start date, the companies contractually make that decision, and we all knew this day would come. Our UAW focus and role is and will continue to be on health and safety protocols to protect our members.”
Manley said if May 18 doesn’t work out, the company will be able to adapt. May 18 is past the governor’s current stay-at-home order, which was an important factor in the decision.


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The Senate has a plan to legalize crowdfunding for startups by making sure online fundraising platforms hold companies accountable.
After a fit, a start and a dose of whiplash, legislation permitting startups to raise money through online crowdfunding is moving through Congress. The House has now passed two bills, including the Jobs Act this week, that would overturn a 70-year-old ban on small companies asking the general public for seed money.
A few days ago, the Senate began to catch up, releasing its own plan. The result is a bipartisan bill called the Crowdfund Act. If it passes, it could transform how companies get off the ground. One of these versions is likely to pass, but don't expect selling stock online to be as easy as registering your indie film project on Kickstarter.
Current anti-fraud rules forbid people who earn less than $200,000 a year, or who aren't millionaires, to invest in startups. But with the rise of crowdfunding platforms—Kickstarter just funneled more than $3 million to a video game project—lawmakers want to harness the power and money of the little guy to generate jobs and spark new businesses.
"In America, you can gamble all of your money at a casino and you can donate to countless charities around the world, but it's nearly impossible for most people to invest $1 of seed money into someone else's new business," Senator Scott Brown (R-Massachusetts) said in a statement. "This makes no sense, especially in the Internet era where everyday we see new ideas, programs and social networks take off."
The Senate has been stuck debating how to open up crowdfunding while keeping investors safe from fraud. There are also concerns about ensuring that state regulators don’t revolt at the idea of millions of people making many small investments in tiny businesses, which creates a lot of transactions to oversee.
Sen. Merkley says this latest compromise bill "protects those investors and sets fair rules for the road." Leaders at the federal Securities and Exchange Commission have raised concerns that the changes in the law will leave investors vulnerable to scams, just as there is little recourse for Kickstarter users if a project they’ve backed fails to come through.
"The momentum has definitely been toward more investor protections," says Freeman White, founder of the crowdfunding platform Launcht. "The most important thing is we’re not going to get any viable [crowdfunding] industry if investors are scared.”
Those investor protections may seem like are red tape to some, but they are vital architecture for a new industry:
- Individuals earning $100,000 or less a year can invest up to $2,000 or 5 percent of their annual income—whichever is greater.
- Individuals earning more than $100,000 a year can invest up to 10 percent of their income or $100,000—whichever is less.
- Companies are capped at $1,000,000 in crowdfunded investment raised annually. Crowdfunding must take place through an intermediary like IndieGoGo, Launcht, or Kickstarter.
- It's all or nothing. If a company doesn't achieve their goal, they won't get any of the money, just like on Kickstarter now. \n
White is eagerly awaiting a change in the law so he can start accepting equity investments through his website. He's also been advising legislators on how to craft a law that protects investors and enables entrepreneurs at the same time.
Under the Senate bill, Crowdfunding sites will have to perform background checks, collect business plans, and verify what companies plan to do with the crowd-raised money. Funding websites will have to file each offering with their state regulator and the SEC. They become something like a broker-lite, with most of the responsibility and most of the liability of conventional stockbroker.
"From our standpoint that’s a burden, but we’ll just pass that [vetting information] through as a value-added [element] to customers however we price our product," White says.
The SEC gets some new responsibilities, too. Under the law, the agency would be required to keep a close eye on the sector for a year and report its findings to the Senate Banking Committee. A previous worry was that the SEC wouldn’t have time to devote to regulating this and a free-for-all would result—so this law locks them into paying attention, which is at least part of the reason why the SEC is calling for calm and caution before any final vote.
There's still more haggling to be done, but whichever version becomes law is sure to put a lot more hoops in front of a company selling stock online than musicians financing an album currently face on Kickstarter—which makes sense when you’re talking about actually buying a part of a company. Kickstarter is almost certainly going to sit out the equity fundraising game because they're doing so well just funding projects.
But sites like IndieGoGo, Launcht, RocketHub or dozens of others will jump in. They will be required to run potential businesses through a vetting process that is still far lighter and cheaper than any other public offering or capital raising, even if it is still somewhat burdensome. It should be. This is business—and people's investments—after all.
So expect these websites to become the gatekeepers of crowdfunding, and the shepherds of fresh startups toward new pastures of capital. Expect the sites to make big bucks—and maybe suffer big legal costs.


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VW's new way to sell Jetta: More car for less moneyApril 15
VW's 2019 Jetta gets bigger on new platformJan. 14
VW's redesigned 2019 Jetta sedan, the brand's top seller in the U.S., will be larger with improved driving dynamics while receiving an injection of safety and infotainment technology as it moves to the company's global MQB platform. The base price has been cut by $100.
2019 Jetta gets new styling, transmissionJan. 15
The redesigned 2019 Volkswagen Jetta will have much-improved driving dynamics, will be more fuel-efficient, and will be available with updated safety and infotainment technology compared to the outgoing model.
VW Jetta gets new look, platform in quest to win sedan shoppersDec. 12, 2017
VW believes that much-improved driving dynamics, more technology and a more fuel-efficient gasoline powertrain in a redesigned Jetta that is moving onto the brand's global MQB platform will draw sedan customers to U.S. showrooms.


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Recently, SpeakerCraft announced a trio of new products lines, which will be soon introduced at this fall’s CEDIA Expo in Denver.
SpeakerCraft has in fact upgraded its sub series with the new Freestanding Cinema Subs series. This new series that will be exhibited in CEDIA Expo has replaced the company’s previous BassX series. The new trio product line to be launched by SpeakerCraft includes 8-, 10- and 12-inch models along with new cabinet models.
Apart from these three new products, the company has also announced four new models in the “Rox” line of rock-shaped outdoor speakers. This series will include 5-inch, 6-inch, 8-inch woofers and one subwoofer.
SpeakerCraft has also announced a new interface for its MODE multi-room A/V control system that allows control through the iPhone or iPod Touch. It is available at a suggested retail price of $ 1000.


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The debate about the future course of the nation’s semiconductors is intensifying.
Believing the supercycle of semiconductor shares has come to an end, global investment banks (IBs) have claimed since the second quarter that their share prices will soon plunge and underperform the market.
Domestic analysts, however, protest their pessimism, insisting the nation’s semiconductor makers will post solid sales in the second half of the year.
Of the foreign IBs, Morgan Stanley leads the skepticism.
On Aug 6, the IB giant lowered its outlook on chipmaker SK hynix’s shares into the “underweight” grade, down by two levels from its previous rating.
It also downgraded its outlook on the global semiconductor industry to “cautious” from “in-line,” highlighting rising inventory levels three days later.
The “cautious” grade is Morgan Stanley’s lowest rating meaning its analysts believe the sector will underperform the market over the next 12 to 18 months.
Following the Morgan Stanley report, shares of SK hynix, which peaked at nearly 90,000 won ($80.29) per share in July, immediately plunged 4.7 percent on Aug. 9, failing to withstand the 80,000 won level. Shares of the nation’s largest chipmaker Samsung Electronics were also down 3.72 percent the next day.
Morgan Stanley also released another report this month highlighting the decline in demand for DRAM chips.
Another IB powerhouse Goldman Sachs shared the pessimism by lowering its outlook on the semiconductor capital equipment sector into “neutral” from “attractive” on Sept. 12. It also excluded SK hynix shares from its “purchase” list while Samsung Electronics was also delisted from the “purchase first.”
“Supply and price turbulence haven’t eased yet,” a Goldman Sachs analyst said in the report. “Things could get worse next year.”
Following the report, shares of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix suffered 1.12 percent and 0.8 percent declines, respectively, in the benchmark KOSPI on Sept. 13, reaching the lowest level of the year.
Domestic analysts, however, said such pessimism is overhyped, maintaining their previous outlook of “purchase” on shares of chipmakers.
“Samsung Electronics is expected to post 67.04 trillion won in sales in the third quarter, up 14.6 percent from the previous quarter. The operating profit will also reach 17.2 trillion won in the quarter, also up 16.1 percent from the previous quarter,” IBK Securities researcher Kim Un-ho said.
“The semiconductor sector will maintain solid numbers in the second half. The DRAM prices will decline a bit by the end of this year, but the supply chain will be good enough to withstand the demand. I believe shares of the nation’s chipmakers are underrated at the moment.”
Meritz Securities analyst Kim Sun-woo partly agreed with the outlooks of the foreign IBs, but claimed shares of the nation’s chipmakers won’t clash as they forecasted.
“The industry is passing through the supercycle period, and will reach its peak during the third quarter,” Kim said. “It will then start a soft landing from the fourth quarter.”
Eugene Investment & Securities analyst Lee Seung-woo said the market has recently only reflected negative factors.
“There are also a number of favorable factors such as growing demand in building big data centers, but it seems like foreign IBs only highlight negative factors,” he told the local daily Chosun Ilbo.
Separate from their reports, LG Economic Research Institute released a report on Sept. 20 siding with the foreign IBs’ skepticisms.
“Chipmakers’ exports have been the backbone of the nation’s economy in the first half, but they aren’t expected to maintain the momentum next year,” the report said.


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Analysis of the big global business and economic issues, as they affect consumers and…
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The eurozone's struggling exporters are urging governments and the European Central Bank to force down the euro. Several European companies, including Airbus, the cement maker Lafarge and the pharmaceutical firm Sanofi, are now saying the euro's current strength is hurting their profits. Guillaume de Laforcade of the craft brewery, Brasserie Castelain, near Lens in France tells us how he is having to adapt his business to the soaring single currency.
Meanwhile, a major summit on jobs in Paris causes controversy as many trade unions refuse to attend.
Also, as the French retailer Carrefour announces that it is quitting India, we examine the country's barriers to foreign investment with Dr Sourindra Banerjee from the UK's Warwick Business School.
Plus, should workplaces encourage nap breaks as much as they encourage coffee breaks? Our reporter Romi Levine has been sleeping on the job down under.


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Ah, cryptocurrency. Man of the hour. Word of the moment.
Append “blockchain” to pretty much any phrase of your choosing and you may be anticipating a bounty of capital coming your way. It happened to Long Blockchain, née Long Island Iced Tea, in the middle of last month; the company's stock doubled upon rebranding.
And it’s precisely what happened to Chanticleer, a Charlotte-based franchisee of nine Hooters locations (as well as a wealth of other burger joints across the country). As reported by Bloomberg on Wednesday, Chanticleer's stocks soared by a whopping 41 percent on Tuesday following its announcement of its first cryptocurrency-based rewards program for restaurants.
Chanticleer partnered with commerce platform Mobivity Holdings Corp. to create a plan to reward customers with "Mobivity Merit" tokens. “Eating a burger is now a way to mine for cryptocoins!” declared Mobivity CEO Dennis Becker in a press release on Tuesday. “Every meal enjoyed at any Chanticleer Holdings brand will accrue currency for the consumer that can be used for future meals or traded with other consumers. It transforms traditional consumer rewards into something that the consumer can control.”
It’s a system that allows, as Chanticleer CEO Michael Pruitt explains later on the press release, patrons to exchange cryptocurrency like kids would Pokemon cards—hypothetically, you could trade the "merit" you’d gained after eating at Little Big Burger with a vegan friend who’s dying to gorge on a BGR veggie burger.
The companies will begin mounting this in the middle of 2018, and they're hoping to standardize it across all Chanticleer brands by the end of 2018.
"Two of our brands do not currently have any loyalty program, let alone one that can be utilized between all," Chanticleer CEO Mike Pruitt wrote MUNCHIES over email on Thursday when asked what this loyalty program offers to patrons of Chanticleer-controlled restaurants that it didn't before. "We look forward to working with Mobivity in driving revenue."
Hooters did not respond to immediate request for comment from MUNCHIES on Thursday.
"Restaurants, as with most businesses, thrive based on repeat business from existing customers and the slow addition of new customers,” Corey O'Donnell, Mobivity's Senior Vice President of Marketing, wrote MUNCHIES over email Friday morning. "Typically, restaurants make people aware of their existence through general marketing and advertising, entice visits with coupons or promotional offers, and try to keep you coming back through a loyalty or rewards program. Implementing an open rewards model based on cryptocurrency principles can enhance all three."
In any event, Chanticleer owns a small sliver of Hooters’ 400 locations in the United States, so it’s not terribly likely to change your dining experience at Hooters at any point soon. Besides, as Grub Street notes, Hooters' very own existing rewards program seems incompatible with this new blockchain rewards model. The future may be here, but mind the kinks.