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Look who's shifting its advertising strategy: monster marketer General Motors (NYS: GM) . The company has traditionally been one of the most ubiquitous and active advertisers on American TV, not to mention some of the newer forms of media. But recently the firm announced a shift in its strategy that will see it veer away from some of its better-known domestic ad markets. This will have quite an impact on more than a few entities doing business with the company, as well as some fellow big advertisers.
Ad dollars -- and euros, and yuan, and rubles, etc.
Most big-ticket TV events throughout American history have been laced with car ads, and many of those spots were GM's. This was particularly true of the ad spending frenzy that is the Super Bowl: In the decade-long span from 2002 to 2011, the company shelled out almost $83 million on spots for the big game. This made it the event's No. 3 ad spender behind two other longtime Super Bowl marketers: Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYS: BUD) and PepsiCo (NYS: PEP) .
And that was only for an annual event. Until recently, GM had a strong and constant advertising presence on the domestic market. In 2010, for example, the company spent a total of around $5.1 billion on ads and sales promotions. Out of that money, $3.4 billion was placed in the U.S., which didn't leave much for the rest of the world.
That's out of sync with current and anticipated sales patterns. In 2011, North America was the source of only 26% of global unit volume. Asia, meanwhile, took a much bigger share at 38%, while even economically hobbled Europe eclipsed our continent with 29%. Numbers for 2012 are expected to be roughly similar. So if the bulk of its cars are bought overseas, why should it spend two-thirds of its ad money here?
Although the firm is fairly circumspect about what this shift will entail, already it seems to be moving in a more global direction. At the end of May, it announced it had finalized a five-year sponsorship deal for its Chevrolet brand with the most popular pro soccer team in the world, Manchester United. According to the team, it currently has a fan base of 659 million people throughout the world. That's an awful lot of potential car buyers.
If GM giveth, it inevitably taketh away elsewhere. A few weeks ago the company famously pulled its ads from Facebook (NAS: FB) mere days before the social-networking site's now-infamous IPO. Although the timing was unfortunate, GM had a solid reason for what it did: Its research indicated that those ads failed to build interest in its products.
Prior to exiting the Facebook freeway, the auto company was spending around $10 million for advertising on the site. That certainly won't kill the social-media portal in terms of revenue -- the company took in $3.7 billion in 2011 -- but it'll give current and potential advertisers a big pause to think before they consider paying for Facebook eyeballs. And for a company that could really use the advertising bucks, that's not a positive development.
Another potential victim of the ad retrenchment is that aforementioned car commercial standby, the Super Bowl. GM has announced it will not air any ads during the upcoming episode of the football classic. Cost is the stated reason, since the game's broadcaster, CBS (NYS: CBS) , is apparently set to increase this by around 25% to about $4 million per 30-second spot.
On the back of such a defection and the press it's generated, the broadcaster might have to reduce those rates. The question is, by how much? The danger is that GM's departure will provide negotiating leverage for the big Super Bowl spenders to lower the rates for their spots. Using the 2012 game as a base, the upcoming contest could rake in around $306 million in ads. Now that's just a 2.5% drop in CBS' deep revenue bucket (using its top-line figure from 2011), but discounts could have a ripple effect, with the firm's top advertisers negotiating price cuts for all of their spots throughout the year.
More for us!
Advertisers such as Anheuser-Busch InBev and PepsiCo know how to take advantage of this, and they would be pleased to save a little coin on their marketing. Anheuser-Busch, for example, spent $5.1 billion on such costs in 2011 -- up 9% year over year. Its revenue, meanwhile, grew only 7.6% during that span. Pepsi's advertising remained more or less level over that time at around $1.9 billion. Lower ad rates will make that money go further and allow the company -- which operates in the mass consumer space, where marketing is critical -- to boost its presence among the multitudes.
Of course, without specifics from GM as to how its new ad strategy will shape up, it's hard to be exact about the kind of impact it will have. But whatever the effect, it will certainly be felt strongly by former partners and fellow advertisers. Investors in those companies should watch to see what new directions that strategy takes. Let's keep our eyes on the road.
GM's a big presence abroad, but it's not the only U.S. company reaping the benefits of selling globally. We've identified a trio of solid companies poised to make huge returns in international markets. Find out which ones they are in our FREE report, "3 American Companies Set to Dominate the World," available for download here.
At the time thisarticle was published Fool contributor Eric Volkman owns shares of Facebook. The Motley Fool owns shares of PepsiCo and Facebook. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of General Motors and PepsiCo, as well as creating a diagonal call position in PepsiCo. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days.
Copyright © 1995 - 2012 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.


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Rent a Tribe Payday Loan Companies
“The term “rent-a-tribe” originated in gaming, where attacks started as soon as tribes became a competitive threat to non-tribal casinos. Opponents suggested that tribes’ practice of hiring capable vendors to provide services related to casino operations was akin to “renting” sovereignty and detracted from the tribal ownership of the business, even though many non-tribal entrepreneurs engage in identical outsourcing practices when starting a new business in a regulated industry.”
The term “rent-a-tribe” grossly misrepresents American Indians, their intellectual abilities, and business acumen.
American Indian tribes are sovereign; they have the inherent authority to govern themselves free from outside interference. Sovereignty is acknowledged by the federal and state governments through treaties, laws, executive orders, and intergovernmental agreements, and confirmed by centuries of U.S. Supreme Court and…
Read More: The Times Herald
Want to learn how to launch a consumer loan business? Internet lending? Store-front lending? Licensing? Need to talk to an expert? Step-by-step procedures for “how to lend money to the masses.” Visit: The Business of Lending to the Masses
For a complete set of tribal lending documents: Tribe Lending Entities 5th item down on this page.

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Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is ready to introduce ‘one of the largest’ blockchain to digitalize the two of the most critical documents, that is, Bill of Lading and Letter of Credit transactions, making exchange and transportation of goods more uncomplicated and more efficient.
The Mukesh Ambani-led company’s blockchain plans will hit the systems in the next 12 months. The firm claims that it will be capable of fulfilling thousands of nodes operations on the first day itself with the astounding technology.
Mukesh Ambani announced its plan to introduce the Reliance blockchain network at its 42nd Annual General Meeting held in August. At the meeting, Ambani laid emphasis on the importance of the blockchain technology to modernize supply chain, agriculture produce, and other significant parts of the Indian economy.
He further added that using blockchain will provide the company an opportunity to invent a brand new model for data privacy, that will allow the customers to own and control the data, not the firms.
RIL had also announced a partnership with Microsoft to push technologies like data analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, cognitive services, blockchain, and edge computing among SMEs.
The Reliance Industries share price jumped up by 19.5 points on NSE today.
What is the Bill of Lading and Letter of Credit?
According to Investopedia, a bill of lading is a legal document issued by a carrier to a shipper that details the type, quantity, and destination of the goods being carried. It is an important document and must accompany the shipped products, no matter the form of transportation, and must also be signed by an authorized representative from the carrier, shipper, and receiver.
According to Wikipedia, a letter of credit is a payment mechanism used in international trade to provide an economic guarantee from a creditworthy bank to the exporter of goods and are used extensively in the financing of international trade.
Blockchain potential in India
NASSCOM Avasant India Blockchain Report 2019 states that the growth potential with blockchain has been recognized by both private players and governments globally. More than 50 countries have already started pushing initiatives to develop a blockchain ecosystem in their economies.
However, reports state that the investment in the blockchain ecosystem is less than 0.2% of the global funding. Some of the Indian startups using blockchain tech are Auxesis, Signzy, Elemential Labs, Unocoin, and Zebpay, among others. Recently, Walmart, in collaboration with IBM’s Food Trust Initiative and Sandhya Aqua, an Andhra Pradesh-based seafood processor company, started a pilot in India to enable blockchain tech in the Indian shrimp export to the US.


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Honda Grace (dubbed as City in Southeast Asian markets including India) has began selling in its Hybrid guise at its home country, Japan.
New Maruti Ciaz has registered sales of 6,345 units, while segment leader, and rival Honda City managed sales of 5,120 units.
New Honda City gets a hybrid variant in Japan. Called Honda Grace, the new Honda City in Japan gets LED tail-lights, and headlights with clear lens.
Latest and most awaited C-segment sedan in India, Maruti Ciaz, which took over 10,000 bookings before launch is finally out. Here is on-paper technical specification comparison between Ciaz and rest of rivals including Honda City, Hyundai Verna, Volkswagen Vento and Skoda Rapid.
C-segment in India has received upgraded sedans very recently in the form of new Volkswagen Vento facelift and Skoda Rapid, with similar changes in powertrain and subtle revision in prices. Here is on-paper technical specification comparison of the aforementioned vs class leader Honda City and next on podium Hyundai Verna.
Looks like SX4 replacement Maruti Ciaz is not going to repeat the same story. In fact, Ciaz could even trump Honda City in C segment sedan space, as mileage of Maruti Ciaz diesel was just revealed to be higher than City’s, becoming most fuel efficient car in the country!
Both new Honda cars, the 2014 City and Jazz have passed the latest crash test undertaken by ASEAN NCAP (Association of Southeast Asian Nations – New Car Assessment Program). Tata Vista too was tested, and secured three stars, whereas both Jazz and City scored five stars (best rating).


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Looks like Android users don’t need to wait much longer since Super Mario Run is on its way to the Android platform.
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) December 29, 2016
In a tweet by Nintendo of America, the company is now accepting pre-registration, so that they can be notified if the game is available for download on Google Play Store. The tweet has since been retweeted for more than 1000 times.
Super Mario Run have been available exclusively for iOS and since its release last December 16, 2016, the game have been downloaded for more than 50 million times.
It’s unclear when will Super Mario Run be available on the Play Store but if you’re on Android and wants to be the first to play Super Mario Run, you can sign up from the Super Mario Run App page on Google play.
Last modified: December 31, 2016


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After leading Amazon for 27 uninterrupted years, Jeff Bezos left his position as CEO of the company he founded in 1994, which is Amazon. A few months ago, the most important retail company in the world announced that the change of post would take place in the early hours of July 5th and as the date arrived, he stepped down.
Although Bezos does not leave the company, his new role will be as a new project advisor. From now on, he will not make the fundamental decisions for the company. Following up Bezos’ position, Andy Jassy will be in charge of driving the future of the e-commerce giant. Although Jassy is not part of the founders of the company, he has a clear idea of what the labor and administrative structure is like. The new CEO came to Amazon in 1997, when the company had not yet become the sales monster that it is now. Back then, Amazon only sold books online.
Although Andy Jassy came to the firm as part of the marketing department, he managed to gain the trust of Jeff Bezos and was soon appointed to be his personal technical assistant. Since then, they have achieved a very close synergy of work with which they have succeeded for many years. The new boss of the company is challenged to maintain the sales numbers they have achieved. In February, the firm announced that it had exceeded $ 100 billion in quarterly sales for the first time, a figure that is not less and that denotes the impact Amazon has on the market.
Perhaps the challenge for Jassy is not easy; however, he has already demonstrated a great capacity for the company to be at the technological forefront since he took charge of the Amazon Web Services area. This part of the company is the largest cloud services platform today.
The growth of Amazon Web Services has allowed businesses to close with firms such as Adobe, Spotify, Netflix, Roku. Moreover, in the client portfolio, there are media such as The Washington Post, WNYC, The Philadelphia Inquirer, as well as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Democratic National Committee.
Jeff Bezos probably considered that it was important for someone with the capacity of Andy Jassy to replace him in the position since he is clear that from now on, the new CEO will have to face various challenges such as facing the investigations of the United States government concurrently due to the monopoly allegations put against the company.
In addition to that, the new leader will face pressure from congressmen who urges them to focus on being a company that must take better care of the corporate. Internally in the company, several employees have routinely registered complaints, most frequently related to the working conditions, and in relation to such claims, have collaborated with concerns in order to consider posing of mass organizing. This will also be one of the challenges that the new CEO, Andy Jassy, will have to take care of.


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The acquisition is American Express’s latest effort to bulk up its corporate payments business, seen as a relatively stable earnings generator and less prone to recession than consumer credit card lending.
American Express said in January that customer spending slowed in December, a trend it expected would continue. The company also said it was building reserves as expected credit losses rise.
Corporate Payment Services has more than 300 large clients, which tend to pay off their balances in full at the end of each month. The largest customer is G.E., which agreed to become a client of American Express for several years.
G.E. is selling the business as a step to prepare for the company’s planned exit from the private-label credit card business, a spokesman said. G.E. executives said in December that they intended to possibly sell off $30 billion to $50 billion of assets related to that business.
Corporate Payment Services, part of the G.E. Money unit of G.E., handled more than $14 billion in purchases worldwide last year, and extended $1.1 billion in loans. The company has about 350 employees, based largely in Salt Lake City.Continue reading the main story
Separately, Santander of Spain said Thursday that it was selling its Italian corporate banking arm, Interbanca, to General Electric in exchange for consumer finance units in a deal worth 1 billion euros (roughly $1.6 billion).
Santander said it would acquire G.E. Money’s units in Germany, Finland and Austria as well as its card and auto-financing businesses in Britain.
Santander picked up Interbanca in a three-way bid for ABN Amro last year.Continue reading the main story


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Poland’s leading DTH platform Cyfrowy Polsat will place growing importance on the provision of additional services, according to its president, Dominik Libicki.
Speaking to Rzeczpospolita, he added that it does not rule out the possibility of offering TV packages over the internet – something it is prevented from doing so at present due to not having all the necessary distribution rights.
Cyfrowy Polsat recently launched a VOD service and has just begun trialling a mobile internet service that employs HSPA+ technology. It may also, added Libicki, shortly enter the mobile TV market, working alongside Info-TV-FM, which is currently operating a trial service ahead of a full commercial launch next year.
Furthermore, Libicki said that he expects the take-up of subscription TV in Poland to grow from 70% to 80%. In practice, this means there are still some 1.5 million potential pay-TV customers in the country.


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Alongside the exhibition, the Aga Khan Foundation is organising a Silk Road Bazaar in King’s Cross. This temporary physical market will stock and sell artisanal products from countries along the Silk Road imported and sold by UK based vendors.
The market will include products from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Uzbekistan and elsewhere. It will provide an opportunity to learn about traditional craftsmanship and to directly support artisans from Central and South Asia and the Middle East.
The Silk Road Bazaar will take place from 11-13 June 2021 in the Canopy Market area next to Granary Square in King’s Cross, London.
Friday 11 June: 12pm – 8pm
Saturday 12 June: 11am – 6pm
Sunday 13 June: 11am – 6pm
Download the press release


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Some of your favorite celebrities and athletes will be sipping vino from Lieb Cellars later this week.
As part of its new marketing plan for 2014, the Cutchogue winery has signed on to be the official wine sponsor of “The 50 Yard Lounge” and “Big Game Big Give,” two high-profile events taking place later this week in New York City that will be attended by the likes of football great Doug Flutie and award-winning actor Alec Baldwin, respectively.
“We have rebranded both Lieb Cellars and Bridge Lane, redefined our target audiences for each and have a robust, exciting marketing plan in place for 2014,” said Ami Opisso, Lieb’s general manager. During the “50 Yard Lounge” event, Lieb Cellars will introduce two new wines to its portfolio — Bridge Lane Red Blend and Bridge Lane White Blend.
“Sponsoring Big Game Big Give and The 50 Yard Lounge is the perfect way for us to re-launch in NYC and to start the year off in a big way,” Ms. Opisso said.
Lieb’s award-winning wines will be featured at “The 50 Yard Lounge” Jan. 29, an exclusive ticketed event that where guests will enjoy football, music and dishes by celebrity chefs. Famous athletes like Mr. Flutie, a former NFL quarterback, and Cris Carter, a former NFL wide receiver, are slated to attend.
But the fun doesn’t stop there.
On Jan. 31, the winery’s 91-point pinot blanc, Wine Enthusiast-praised sparkling wine Blanc de Blancs and as-yet unreleased 2008 Reserve Merlot will be exclusively poured at “Big Game Big Give,” an exclusive cocktail party and charity auction hosted by Mr. Baldwin and The Giving Back Fund. Proceeds from the evening will benefit The Giving Back Fund’s new Philanthropic Mentoring Program as well as benefit as local New York City charity.
For more information and for directions to Lieb Cellars, call 631-734-1100 or click here.


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Upcoming Manufacturers’ Summit to Highlight Changes, Trends, Innovations in the Industry
Ontario, CA – The Manufacturing Council of the Inland Empire (MCIE) is putting the final touches on its 6th Annual Inland Empire Manufacturing Summit scheduled for Friday, Feb. 3 at the Ontario Convention Center. Local businesses confirmed to attend include Brithinee Electric, California Steel Industries and Cott Beverages, as well as over 30 local manufacturers who will display products made in the Inland Empire.
The nearly sold-out summit, expecting an attendance of 500 to 700 people and considered the largest event of its kind in Southern California, will take place from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
[ecko_quote source=”Rod Hoover, California Steel Industries and Vice-Chair of the MCIE.”]We know manufacturers are busy people, so we have tried to pack a full day experience into a six-hour event.[/ecko_quote]
The event was designed to provide the opportunity for manufacturers and industry stakeholders to convene and share, discuss and promote latest technology, trends and ideas. In addition, with Donald Trump recently inaugurated as the country’s 45th president, Todd Boppell, COO of the National Association of Manufacturers, will be on hand to discuss the national impact the new administration will have on the industry.
[ecko_quote source=”California Manufacturers & Technology Association President Dorothy Rothrock, “]There is no better place to learn what local manufacturers think about state policies and regulations.[/ecko_quote]
“There is no better place to learn what local manufacturers think about state policies and regulations,” said California Manufacturers & Technology Association President Dorothy Rothrock, who brings a statewide manufacturing perspective to the venue. “It helps me do a better job in Sacramento to improve the business climate, and is a ‘must attend’ for me and my team each year.”
Notable industry participants on the program this year including Rothrock, who will discuss regulation hurdles in manufacturing, are keynote speaker Garry Ridge, president of WD-40 Company, John McGloughlin, CEO of GuardSight and Scott Melton of FANUC America.
Ridge will discuss the impact of manufacturing from an international perspective, while McGloughlin will provide insight into current cyber security threats, risks and a live hacking demonstration, and Melton will lead a discussion on the impact of automation and robotics on manufacturing through Micro-burst sessions.
These newly implemented sessions replace previous lengthy presentations to provide the opportunity for attendees to participate in multiple discussions on topics that hold a popular interest. Each presentation will be concise, and will be explored in depth at regular, monthly MCIE meetings in the future.
“We are trying a new format because people wanted to attend multiple presentations last year that were scheduled at the same time,” explained Summit Chair Deborah Smith. “Now these Micro-burst presentations will be on the main stage, allowing everyone to hear them. We may dig deeper into these topics at our future, monthly meetings.”
A popular feature of the summit is the Innovation Awards, which is including a student category for the first time this year. Manufacturing student teams are in contention for any of the four existing categories:
- Innovation in Resource or Process Efficiency –energy, water and other resources and/or process and flow improvement;
- Innovation in Product Development – products that support business and customer growth and margin improvement;
- Innovation in Human Capital and Talent – developing top talent within the organization, empowering employees and building skills;
- Innovation in Marketing – sales and marketing that facilitate business growth, increased market share and/or improved reputation.
“The Innovation Awards are a great way to showcase what a company is doing to be innovative to raise the bar,” said Award Chair Lisa Anderson. “With the addition of the student category, we now have a spotlight on hiring recent graduates who showcase their talents with their submissions.”
The Summit will showcase local manufacturers in the “Made in the Inland Empire” display, another popular aspect of the event. Last year over 30 manufacturers participated in the exhibit, highlighting the numerous products that are made in the region. Event goers will also have the opportunity to converse with a variety of vendors who support manufacturing in the large exhibit area.
For more information about the annual Manufacturers’ Summit, please visit www.mfgcouncilie.com.


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Jump to content
...What? Move along now. I'm not going to make this page into a full bio or something.
14 September 2018 - 07:59 AM
The game will not see physical release in the US and most likely Europe too. It's a digital only release.
14 September 2018 - 07:49 AM
Yesterday's Nintendo Direct brought a little bit of more info (namely post-Direct).
Here are the launch NES games: https://gonintendo.c...-games-revealed
A release date calendar showing upcoming NES releases on Switch: https://gonintendo.c...of-switch-onlin
Also the mobile NSO app on Android has been updated: https://gonintendo.c...oid-new-list-of
EDIT - There is a restriction on NES games: https://gonintendo.c...p-to-seven-days
NES games can only be played offline for up to seven consecutive days before you must reconnect online. This is supposedly to deter those on a family plan from dropping members at will and the dropped members keeping the NES games without paying.
Nintendo posted an updated FAQ about Nintendo Switch Online: https://gonintendo.c...itch-online-faq
And the iOS version of the NSO mobile app is now updated to match the Android version: https://gonintendo.c...ailable-for-ios
14 September 2018 - 07:41 AM
...So we've got a new fighter.
That's right. The secretary has been promoted from being an Assist Trophy in 4!
12 September 2018 - 06:43 AM
So it's been well over a year, but at long last we have a launch day for NSO premium. September 18th, 2018. There will be a 7-day free trial available at service start.
You can view the official website for all the details about the soon-to-launch service: https://www.nintendo...online-service/
11 September 2018 - 06:21 AM
The game will have online play, but what type(s) that will consist of is unknown at the moment.
Community Forum Software by IP.Board


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New Delhi: PURE EV, a Hyderabad-based electric two-wheeler (E2W) startup, is getting ready to introduce the ecoDryft, an all-Indian-made commuter electric motorbike. The firm is prepared with the necessary inventory in advance of the opening of the booking window, and the price will be made public during the first week of January 2023. According to the firm, it will come in four intriguing colour options: Black, Grey, Blue, and Red.
According to the company's press release, this flagship product represents a significant advancement for the Indian EV market because there are currently no electric motorcycles available for the commuter market, which accounts for 80% of all motorcycle sales and more than 50% of all two-wheeler sales in India.
The premium motorbike ETryst 350 was introduced by Power Using Renewable Energy (PURE) Electric Vehicle (EV) last year. It was created especially for the premium market sector. With this launch, PURE EV has established itself as the first E2W brand to target the luxury and commuter segments with both scooters and motorcycles in its portfolio.
Restoration project videos have become increasingly popular online because of the satisfaction they provide. These videos demonstrate the restoration of old and worn items such as automobiles to their original factory condition.More
Data from the Regional Transport Office in Srinagar shows that between the beginning of 2022 and March of the current year, Jammu and Kashmir saw a registration of 81,031 new two-wheelers hitting the roads.More


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Just yesterday we were talking about team communication with the launch of Fleep, the communication tool created by a team of ex-Skypers in Estonia. But meanwhile throughout the whole Nokia/Microsoft surprise, I saw Ninchat popping up on my newsfeed in connection to the news, and now see they've launched some new partnership news today.
You could say the Finnish startup is taking IRC into the modern age, believing the real-time communication IRC offers has a number of unexplored uses. Their new expanded to-be-formally-announced offering, Ninchat for Websites, has been picking up traction with a few customers, like Finnish state broadcaster YLE news, who employed the technology for analysis after the announcement.
How does your team communicate at work? There are a lot of team communication tools out there, but check out Helsinki-based Ninchat, a nicely designed and accessible browser-based chat client. Ninchat is free to use and can be used for any sort of chat communication, but they're targeting the product towards companies that need secure team communication that's backed up in the cloud.
When logging on you'll notice it looks like an online version of IRC. Ninchat CEO Ville Mujunen calls IRC "beautiful" and "impossible to kill", but sees value in adding features and running it in a browser and through the cloud. Ninchat offers a secure backlog, history search, notifications when your name is mentioned, and video chat to get people communicating more efficiently, as well as mobile use as a HTML5 app (with a native Android and iOS apps eventually coming).
E-mail and meetings are sucking productivity even from the most dynamic and agile of companies. The founders of Somia Reality, a Finnish startup, know this from experience and looked to innovate in this space to reduce the clutter. The founders of the company are also the founders of IRC-Gallery, a hugely popular online social network that has seen its brightest days for the time time being. Regardless of rising competition from the likes of Facebook and other social networking services, IRC-Gallery continues to generate enough revenue to keep Somia Reality ramen profitable to sustain a team of 9 to develop their new service, Teamvisio, further.
Teamvisio is heavily influenced by the ageless communication service, IRC, that is mostly used by developers and other online afficionados. Teamvisio takes IRC further though. Where as IRC users are limited to text only, Teamvisio adds audio and video to allow more depth to conversations. However, the basic use case of Teamvisio is very similar to that of IRC - both are considered to be the most useful when used in the background.
Sulake has today announced their figures for fiscal year 2010, as well as some changes to their ownership of online properties. In 2010, Sulake turned over 56,2 million euros, which is over 20% more than in 2009. EBITDA for 2010 was at 5,4 million euros profit for the year was at 1,6 million euros. In addition to announcing their financials, Sulake has stated that they have today sold IRC-Gallery to Somia Reality Oy, which is run by a few former IRC-Gallery employees and funded by Lifeline Ventures and a few individual investors.


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Srinagar: Defense minister Rajnath Singh has invited US companies to set up manufacturing units in India and develop technology collaborations with Indian industries to create a global supply chain free from vulnerabilities and uncertainties.
He was addressing a seminar jointly organised by US-India Business Council (UIBC) and Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) as part of the 12th DefExpo in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on October 20, 2022.
The seminar was organised on the theme ‘New Frontiers in US-India Defence Cooperation: Next Generation Technology, Innovation & Make in India’.
Rajnath Singh stated that the Indian defence industry has been witnessing transformative changes for the last eight years through progressive reforms. He stressed that these reforms have created a conducive environment for the growth of the Indian Industry through transparency, predictability and institutionalisation of several measures for Ease of Doing Business.
Defense minister emphasised that the path to ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ is a comprehensive set of policy frameworks that seeks to build indigenous technological and production capacity & capability with cooperation, participation and collaborations with reputed institutions and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) from friendly nations. He said, the idea is to manufacture in India for the Indian market as well as export to the friendly countries, i.e., ‘Make in India, Make for the World’.
“The main objective is to fulfil the requirements of Indian Armed Forces; and at the same time, create long-term linkages to the global supply chains of the foreign OEMs to meet global demands. Through these linkages, India looks forward to collaborating for a secure and resilient global supply chain for the free world to ensure uninterrupted and reliable access to defence equipment and other strategic materials for our nation and our partners, including the US. As India’s defence base grows, private sector companies from the US can explore the vast potential for ‘Creating in India’ and ‘Exporting from India’,” Singh said.
He highlighted a number of steps taken by the Government to achieve the objective, including increase in the number of procurement categories to encourage greater participation of the Indian Industry and attract foreign companies to manufacture in India.
“We are delighted to work with US, our valued partner, to strengthen our commercial and strategic relationship and to attract US investment for creating a high-technology defence production ecosystem in India. For India, collaboration with US companies would be an important strategic force multiplier, apart from being wealth and job creator,” he added.
Rajnath Singh termed the easing of FDI regulations and introduction of Buy (Global–Manufacturer in India) in Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020 as an invitation for the US businesses to participate in the opportunities offered by the Indian defence industry.
He asserted that US companies can now set up manufacturing facilities, individually or in partnership with Indian companies, through a Joint Venture or technology agreement etc., to capitalise on the ‘Make in India’ opportunity. He exuded confidence that the firms will find India to be an attractive investment destination for defence manufacturing.
Defense minister said that $5 billion dollar export target set for 2025 reflects the intent of the Government for export-oriented manufacturing.
He described the project agreement to co-develop Air-Launched UAVs, under the auspices of the India-US Defence Technology and Trade Initiative, as a welcome development. He stated that industries from both sides can explore additional DTTI projects, such as a counter unmanned aerial systems and an Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance platform.


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A plan by Canada Post to expand its distribution of retail flyers across the country has raised the ire of a national advocacy group for print and digital media.
The group believes the federal Crown corporation is trying to muscle in on a revenue stream that was once dominated by newspapers.
News Media Canada not only wants the federal party leaders to commit to restricting Canada Post’s ability to become a larger player in the flyer market.
The newspaper industry has been hit hard in recent years with declining print subscriptions and dropping advertising revenue. In response to that, Ottawa announced a $595-million, five-year plan, last fall, to prop up Canada’s media sector.
“While the government has taken a number of significant steps to support the (newspaper) industry, its own agency Canada Post is embarking on a plan that will seriously harm one of the main revenue sources for Canada’s newspapers,” John Hinds, president and CEO of News Media Canada, said in a release Thursday.
With the newspaper industry “knee-deep” in transition, Hinds said the national postal service plans to unfairly carve out its share of the flyer distribution market “by using their privileged access to customers’ mailboxes.”
Unlike Canada Post, newspapers that distribute flyers do not have access to lockboxes in apartments and condominiums.
Earlier this year, SaltWire Network obtained a January 2018 internal Canada Post Corp. document called Neighbourhood Mail 2.0 Launch, which lays out the strategy to increase its flyer business.
“This is a direct-mail campaign targeting CPC’s top 100 retail customers ... The new NM (Neighbourhood Mail) is very specific to retailer(s) who use flyers, so we are focusing on our biggest bets to see if we can convert them from newspaper to CPC distribution.”
One of the Crown corporation’s tactics is a new pricing structure that offers discounts of between 24 per cent and 34 per cent off non-contract, standard per-unit prices.
"...having Canada Post use its special regulatory advantages to unfairly compete with newspapers is counter intuitive and counterproductive.” — Ian Scott, Saltwire Network executive vice-president and chief operating officer
The Saltwire Network, which owns 27 publications including The Chronicle Herald and the Cape Breton Post, is the leading flyer distributor in Atlantic Canada.
Canada Post said in a statement that it “competes fairly in the marketplace” and that newspapers have a “greater flexibility and lower prices ... (to) deliver the vast majority of flyers in Canada.”
Canada Post argued, while it has exclusive access to mailboxes, it doesn’t “deliver everything Canadians receive at their door.” And, newspaper distributors can often gain permits to access apartments from landlords and building managers, the statement said.
Saltwire Network executive vice-president and chief operating officer Ian Scott said the income provided by advertising and flyer distribution help to “subsidize” its local journalism.
“An average subscription would cost $200 more per year if we couldn’t depend on the revenue generated by flyers,” Scott said in an email.
He said Canada Post’s decision amounts to “unfair competition” that’s putting pressure on already challenged bottom lines of media companies.
“The federal government recognizes the important role journalism plays in a functioning democracy and made provisions to support journalism in its last budget to assist.
“Turning around and having Canada Post use its special regulatory advantages to unfairly compete with newspapers is counter intuitive and counterproductive.”


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On top of Brexit, which seems like a lifetime ago (though it's still in transition), COVID-19 struck the UK like any other region; unexpectedly and undiscerningly.
It's brought out the best in the cosmetics industry, though, as Emma Meredith, Ph.D., director-general of the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Perfumery Association (CTPA), highlights in our latest Cosmetics R&D Vlog entry.
"What's been fantastic is the cosmetics and personal care industry has really stepped up to maximize the production of critical products such as hand sanitizers and soaps and hand washes," said Meredith.
She added, "I think, and I hope, that there will be a lot of learnings that we will take from how we have adapted. That the many collaborations and new ideas and projects that have come out of this time of crisis will be long-lasting and will take companies on a pathway that perhaps they hadn't thought of in the past."
Watch the interview to hear more:


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Consumer use of credit cards rose dramatically during the late 20th century, fueled in part by real estate price increases that made homeowners wealthier. With the recent drop in home values, credit card debt has become a serious problem.
Many people enjoy catalog shopping because it can save time and is an easy and convenient way to shop from the comfort of your own home. This photo shows a woman on the phone, ordering from a catalog with her credit card at home.
Happy Money and Arcus have joined a pack of fintechs and online lenders urging customers to forgo expensive credit card debt, in this case calling it a "sad spend."
American Banker. Fri, 17 Aug 2018 03:51:09 GMT.
Credit card expert Gerri Detweiler recommends these business credit cards and personal cards that can be used for business for women entrepreneurs.
By Kerry Hannon, Contributor. Forbes. Thu, 16 Aug 2018 11:53:00 -0400.
Mortgages, credit card bills and personal loans now make up 189 per cent of average Australian household incomes, compared with just 60 cent in 1988, as demonstrated by the black line.
Daily Mail. Thu, 16 Aug 2018 02:50:54 +0100.
Outstanding education debt in the U.S. has tripled over the last decade and now exceeds $1.5 trillion, posing a greater burden to Americans than auto or credit card debt.
Newsmax. Mon, 13 Aug 2018 17:10:51 EDT.


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Over the past month, Huawei has announced the details of the company’s portfolio of AI products and cloud services. The new “Huawei AI Cloud” (see Figure 1) seeks to remove the two main obstacles impeding the growth of AI development: (1) the significant time and effort to develop AI applications (such as data labeling, model training, deployment etc.), and (2) the increasingly expensive cost of limited computing resources. As articulated by Huawei’s rotating chairman, Eric Xu, at the recent Huawei Connect 2018 conference, the company’s vision is to globally make AI “more inclusive – making it affordable, effective and reliable for all.”
nTheta expects that Huawei’s “AI Cloud” will provide significant opportunities for AI developers – both domestic and foreign – to access the AI market in China.
“Full Stacks” and “All Scenarios”
Huawei describes its new AI offering as a “full-stack” portfolio of AI products and cloud services for “all scenarios.” As Xu explained: “’full stack’ means Huawei is able to provide AI application developers with unparalleled computing power and a strong application development platform.” Huawei’s full-stack AI portfolio includes its two new AI chipsets (the Ascend 910 and Ascend 310), chip enablement, a training and inference framework (Tensorflow, MindSpore), and application enablement (“ModelArts”). This means that developers can use Huawei’s AI portfolio to design a complete AI product including appropriate hardware and fully functional and verified software without requiring any additional resources.
By “all scenarios”, Huawei means various deployment scenarios for AI, including public clouds, private clouds, edge computing in all forms, industrial IoT devices, and consumer devices. Essentially, Huawei aims to deliver pervasive intelligence for a fully connected, intelligent and open AI ecosystem.
Abundant Computing Platforms
Powerful computing resources are expensive, and it is both time-consuming and difficult to find a suitable hardware platform to match specific AI applications. The Huawei AI Cloud addresses these issues by allowing AI developers to conveniently sample, compare and ultimately choose the appropriate hardware platform to meet their computing requirements.
As Huawei explains it, the diversity of computing platforms not only saves time on AI hardware design, but also gives developers a “consistent development experience.” This allows AI companies to transition more smoothly from light applications to large-scale AI deployments.
Benefits to AI Developers
With Huawei’s powerful AI Cloud, AI development will become easier, cheaper and faster. The value of Huawei AI Cloud for the China AI market is clear. There are 4,040 AI companies in China, but only 30% of them have received VC investment. The reason for this investment deficit is the prolonged and expensive R&D process inherent in AI design. Without funding, AI start-up companies simply cannot afford the expensive computing resources necessary to develop AI. By making computing resources and development tools readily available and affordable, Huawei’s AI Cloud should provide a significant boost to AI startup efforts.
But the benefits of Huawei AI Cloud are not limited to Chinese developers. In fact, AI companies all over the world can make use of Huawei AI Cloud to accelerate their own AI development and penetrate the China market. While certain AI sectors will likely remain inaccessible to foreign companies (e.g., security-related applications), there should be numerous, non-controversial opportunities for foreign companies to participate in the China AI industry. In particular, nTheta expects that the following areas could be fruitful for foreign companies interested in leveraging the Huawei Cloud to launch their AI business in China:
- Consumer Apps
Huawei is in a strong position to establish its own AI ecosystem, but its success largely depends on attracting successful consumer apps. Thus, AI apps, especially those with a proven user case, have an obvious opportunity to leverage Huawei Cloud to access the China consumer market. Moreover, since Huawei’s smart phones must compete in the market based on user experience, any AI app which is optimized to run smoothly on Huawei’s phones is likely to receive Huawei’s marketing support or possibly be acquired for exclusive use on Huawei phones.
- Large-Scale AI Deployments (SAAS)
Large-scale AI deployments for enterprise use (e.g., SAAS) present another area of strategic opportunity. Companies providing AI solutions on the edge or in the cloud may be able to cooperate with Huawei or its internal chip division, Hisilicon, to bring their technology to the China market. Again, if the solution is optimized to perform on Huawei’s AI chips or other hardware, it may be possible to partner with Huawei to promote the technology in the China market and bring the solutions to Huawei’s core value partner network. Sell to, sell through or sell with models of cooperation are all possible options.
- AI Companies in Strategic Geographic Markets
Huawei’s global strategy is particularly focused on certain strategic markets, especially Europe and India. AI companies that can help Huawei promote its brand and competitiveness in these geographic markets have an opportunity to receive reciprocal help from Huawei in the China market.
- Solutions Based On Huawei AI Development Modules
Developers who offer solutions based wholly or partly on Huawei’s AI development modules (e.g., its facial recognition module) also have a strategic opportunity to cooperate with Huawei. If these applications attract a substantial user base, Huawei can be expected to promote the app as a success story for its AI platform. It is also possible that Huawei may wish to buy the technology.
- Safety Certification Service
In recent years, Huawei’s global ambitions have been hindered by concerns raised by oversees media and governments about the company’s transparency and the security of its technology. This situation presents an opportunity for any service that can independently test and verify the security of Huawei’s AI portfolio of hardware and services.
- Algorithms for New Functions
Any algorithm that can support new functions on Huawei smart phones, especially AI related functions, should be of interest to Huawei. The company sometimes prefers to purchase useful algorithms rather than spend the time and resources to develop the functions independently.
To summarize, AI companies with technology that utilizes Huawei Cloud or is optimized for Huawei smart phones, chips or other hardware, have significant new opportunities to access the China market. In addition to the ability to leverage the resources of Huawei’s “full-stack” AI portfolio, companies with unique AI technology may be able to cooperate with Huawei to promote their products and services in China or to sell to Huawei for integration into Huawei’s AI platform.


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Correction, 10:27 a.m. PDT: This story incorrectly described Google as a private company. It is public.
As far as I know, nothing tragic happened as a result of Thursday's Google outage but it does remind us how important Google has become to many people's lives and livelihoods.
In addition to search, millions of people rely on Google for their e-mail, calendar, and other Web-based applications including word processing and spreadsheet. With its Google Health service, the company has also branched into health care record keeping, making me worry that someday an outage could literally be life threatening.
There is also a financial impact. A lot of people and businesses depend on Google for all or part of their income. I don't know the exact size of the "Google economy" but if Google AdSense (Google's advertising program that serves ads on Web sites ranging from obscure bloggers to major media companies) were to go down, Web sites that display those ads would lose revenue as would businesses that depend on those ads to generate sales. Even search plays a critical role in plenty of people's financial well-being. Where a site comes up during a Google search for certain words can have an enormous impact on traffic and revenue.
Perhaps more so than the banks and auto companies that are getting government bailouts, Google has become "too big to fail." While it's not in jeopardy of any financial collapse, this latest outage reminds us that it's not invulnerable to being taken down by technical glitches or possibly even sabotage. The reason we worry about big companies like General Motors failing isn't just because of the impact on the company's stockholders, employees, or even customers, but on the thousands of businesses whose well being is tied to that of the giant automaker. If GM is a giant, Google is gargantuan, especially in terms of the number of people who make all or part of their living on activities that are dependent Google.
On its blog, Google said that the outage, which went on for about an hour, affected 14 percent of its users. That's millions of people. I'm not sure how much money was lost during this period, but I'm sure it was substantial. A longer lasting or more widespread outage, which is hardly out of the question, could have a severe economic impact.
I'm by no means suggesting that Google should be regulated by government, but I do think that it's gotten to the point where it has become a vital part of our infrastructure--as important as our airports, highways, and utilities. That's a mighty big responsibility for a single public company.


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FATHER Christmas, along with Bexhill’s Rotary Club members, managed to collect nearly £4,000 while tramping the streets with festive music collecting for charities and for those less fortunate in the area.
Not to be put off by the cold and often blustery weather, Rotarians, with help from friends and Past Rotarians, also stood outside Tesco at Ravenside and Sainsbury’s in Buckhurst Place.
The total £3,804.02 was raised, all of which will go to charitable and needy causes. Fundraising chairman, Colin Stutely, said: “I’m truly amazed by everybody’s generosity, particularly as the economic situation is tightening people’s pockets.
“So, on behalf of Bexhill Rotary Club, may I thank everybody who contributed. In addition, I would like to thank the Past Rotarians and friends for their much-valued help with collections outside Tesco and Sainsbury’s, both these stores and their friendly staff also have our grateful thanks for their willing support of these collections. Finally, I would like to pay tribute to Bexhill Rotarian Bill Smith who organised the street and store collections and to thank him for his fantastic hard work.”
Bexhill Rotarians also raised a further £504 by not sending each other Christmas cards, The beneficiary of this extra fundraising is President Mike Barton’s chosen charity, Surviving Christmas. For more information, visit the website at www.survivingchristmas.co.uk


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European Union (EU) regulators have initiated a fresh antitrust investigation against Google. The investigation will help the regulators to know whether the search engine tech giant is stifling the competition in the digital advertisement industry.
On Tuesday, the European Commission said that it will check whether Google is violating the EU competition rules and leveraging its digital ad services owing to its dominance in the industry. According to the data published by European Commission, the spending on digital ad services was USD 24 Billion in 2019. Google provides digital advertising services to its clients by showing the ads to the search engine users on the basis of their Internet history.
EU Commission Statement on the New Probe
“Google collects data to be used for targeted advertising purposes, it sells advertising space and also acts as an online advertising intermediary. So Google is present at almost all levels of the supply chain for online display advertising. We are concerned that Google has made it harder for rival online advertising services to compete in the so-called ad tech stack,” European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestagar said in a statement.
Google Responds to the Investigation
“Thousands of European businesses use our advertising products to reach new customers and fund their websites every single day. They choose them because they’re competitive and effective. We will continue to engage constructively with the European Commission to answer their questions and demonstrate the benefits of our products to European businesses and consumers,” a Google spokesperson said in an email.
Google has not been trapped for the first time in the antitrust investigation. In March 2019, the US-based tech company was fined around USD 1.79 Billion for breaching the rules. This was the third time Google had paid in the EU antitrust probe. The first case of antitrust breach investigation against Google surfaced in 2016. The company had to pay USD 2.86 Billion in 2017, while the year later it was fined USD 5.1 Billion over abusing its dominance in the operating system to dominate the search engine industry.
EU regulators are investigating whether Google is favoring its online digital advertisement services. The commission has the right to impose penalize about 10% of the company’s annual revenue. Alphabet’s subsidiary reported USD 17.9 Billion in profits in its first quarter (Q1) 2021. Since last year same quarter, it has tripled its profits. The time period of an investigation is not determined, as it extends or shortens depending on the complexity of the case.
Tech Giant Likely to Face Antitrust Investigation in the US
A group of attorneys in the US is likely to file a lawsuit against Google as early as next week, accusing the company of violating the antitrust law on its app store, India Times published, citing the three sources familiar with the matter. The report says that the lawsuit was in the work since last year; however, it will be filing by next week. According to the two sources, the case will be filed in federal court in North Carolina.
In March 2021, the game maker Epic Games filed a lawsuit against the company in Australia’s federal court. Last year, the gaming company said that the 30% commission on in-app purchases was too high. Moreover, it said that Google is abusing its dominance in the market. Thus, it decided to file a lawsuit against the tech giant in the US. In the house of antitrust cases, Google is not the only one who has been house-arrested by many cases. Tech companies such as Apple and Amazon have also caught themselves in antitrust investigations.
Tech Giants Facing New Antitrust Bills
The US lawmakers have introduced six antitrust bills that aim to break the power of the tech giants such as Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon in the country. The two of the bills focus on banning companies to acquire subsidiaries that run on the same platform. “From Amazon and Facebook to Google and Apple, it is clear that these unregulated tech giants have become too big to care,” said US Representative Pramila Jaypal, who supported these bills.
In the response to the bills, Google and Amazon have accused lawmakers of harming small businesses over the proposed legislation. “As many groups and companies have observed, the bills would require us to degrade our services and prevent us from offering important features used by hundreds of millions of Americans,” Google’s VP of government affairs and public policy Mark Isakowitz said in a statement.


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Clariant has agreed to sell its global quaternary ammonium compounds to Global Amines Company, its Singapore-based 50-50 joint venture with Wilmar, for $113 million. Subject to regulatory approval and standard closing conditions, this is expected to close in 1H 2023.
BASF has signed a partnership, including a strategic equity investment, in Chinese firm Ingredi. Precise details were not disclosed but BASF said that this will enable Ingredi to extend its production facilities and that the two companies will work together to “identify new solutions and commercialise these to the global personal care market”.
Japan's Kao Corporation is to double capacity for the synthetic fragrance methyl dihydrojasmonate (MDJ) at its site in Olesa, Spain, by adding a second production facility. MDJ is used to give a jasmine fragrance to a wide range of consumer products and Kao is already the leader in the 20,000 tonnes/year European market, which is projected to grow at 4% year.
Evonik has agreed to sell its US betaine business in Hopewell, Virginia (pictured), to speciality chemicals company Kensing. The deal is expected to close in Q3. This follows the sale of the firm’s UK betaines site at Milton Keynes and the closure of another at Granollers, Spain, both in 2020.
Evonik will, however, continue its betaine businesses in Europe, Asia and Latin America. It will also retain the rest of the Hopewell facility, which produces additives for polyurethane foam manufacture, plus agricultural and industrial applications.
Wacker Chemie has announced plans to invest “a double-digit million euro amount” on it the new Biotechnology Centre at its corporate research facility in Munich, which is due to be operational in 2024. CEO Christian Hartel said that building it “will allow us to concentrate and intensify our research activities in the area of biotechnology. The additional capacity we will create here will accelerate the growth of our life-sciences division.”
In the space of just over two weeks, Azelis, the world’s third largest chemical distributor, has made five acquisitions in four different regional markets. This followed up on two made the previous month as the company spreads its wings across the globe. All of the deals are expected to close in Q3.
Evonik has entered into a technological cooperation agreement with the AgTech Garage innovation centre in the Piracicaba Technology Park in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This came shortly after the company opened its new ‘Agro Hub’ at Americana in the same start AgTech Garage is described as an innovation hub that seeks to connect start-ups, producers, investors, academics, scientists and others in the development of sustainable agribusiness.


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Fashion giant Louis Vuitton has won its battle to stop stars like Britney Spears, rapper Da Brat and American Idol winner Ruben Studdard from using its logo.
Bosses of the French brand sued Sony BMG Music Entertainment executives after their artists posed with the L.V. monogram in promotional material.
And on Thursday (31Jul08), after five years of legal wranglings, the fashion company was awarded an undisclosed out-of-court settlement.
Sony BMG heads have promised to "educate its record labels" about copyright laws, according to the New York Daily News.
And Louis Vuitton's representative Nathalie Moulle-Berteaux says, "We believe the terms of this agreement will provide strong protection to our brand worldwide."
Several pop stars have used the fashion firm's logo in their videos: Spears rode in a Hummer with an L.V. monogrammed dashboard in her 2006 Do Somethin' promo; Da Brat had a beachball sporting the L.V. logo, and Studdard used the design on his album cover for 2006's The Return.


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New York City Analysts on Monday said July retail sales reports, due Thursday, will likely rise only slightly, as results will reflect heavy back-to-school discounts, the Associated Press reported.
In a note to investors, Wedbush Morgan analyst Betty Chen said that July revenue in stores open at least a year will likely be in line with "muted" analyst expectations.
"Soft macro conditions and consumers delaying spending until back-to-school shopping in August led most specialty retailers to deepen discounts as the month progressed in order to move any excess units," Chen wrote.
Another analyst, Caris & Co.’s Dorothy Lakner was slightly more positive.
"We anticipate improved trends in traffic versus June, given warm weather to spur summer clearance with new back-to-school assortments arriving mid-July and the real heavy-duty back-to-school promos starting this past weekend," she wrote.


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- 8 min read
Airbnb’s $3.1 billion IPO hinges on hosts who make rentals feel like home
Airbnb said the site will lose some of what makes it unique and sets it apart from hotel chains. As of the end of last year, Airbnb said only 10% of its total hosts were professional, as opposed to individuals. However, they accounted for almost 30% of room nights booked.
Airbnb Inc. Chief Executive Officer Brian Chesky, on the eve of one of the most anticipated initial share sales of the year, is asking investors to get behind the idea that the company's pandemic-scarred home-rental business is bouncing back.
He also needs would-be shareholders to look past another troubling trend: a rise in the number of professional hosts renting out sometimes anodyne properties, threatening the business model Airbnb pioneered of offering distinct homes brimming with personal touches.
Airbnb acknowledges the shift toward corporate-run properties and the risk it poses to its identity. “We have seen an increase in the number of, and revenue from, professional hosts on our platform,” Airbnb said in its public listing document. If the number of individual hosts doesn’t expand at the same pace, Airbnb said the site will lose some of what makes it unique and sets it apart from hotel chains. As of the end of last year, Airbnb said only 10% of its total hosts were professional, as opposed to individuals. However, they accounted for almost 30% of room nights booked.
On Wednesday, Airbnb will price shares in a long-awaited initial public offering, raising as much as $3.1 billion and valuing the company at $42 billion. In the twelve years since its founding, the San Francisco-based startup has welcomed 825 million guests, upended the hotel and travel industry and created a whole new market for companies that cater to hosts and properties. It owes much of its success to homeowners like Sara France who were willing to take a risk on a new mode of travel by handing over their keys to total strangers.
France, a freelance photographer, happened to take a picture of Joe Gebbia back in 2008 as part of an iPhone campaign for Apple Inc. The young Silicon Valley entrepreneur told France about the startup he was founding with Chesky and Nate Blecharczyk: a website where one could rent out a mattress on the floor or a spare bedroom to make some extra cash and meet interesting people. It was called Airbed & Breakfast. That same year, France became the first person to rent out her entire home on the site.
“I’ve been an Airbnb host for as long as the company has been around and it’s changed tremendously over the years,” says France, 45.
Now, two doors down from France’s San Diego house is a five-story apartment complex made up of all Airbnb listings. “People can tell when there’s a lovely family running an Airbnb and when there’s a company running it,” she says.
In its IPO filing, Airbnb pays homage to its 4 million hosts, recognizing its dependence on the kind of people who put wildflowers in guests’ rooms and leave bottles of wine and candles on the dining table. But the reality is that a significant portion of Airbnb hosts today are professionals who run multiple properties that have been decorated in a globally recognized minimalist aesthetic expressly for the intent of being rented out on the platform, and in which the owner has never lived.
An Airbnb spokesman declined to comment, citing regulatory restrictions ahead of the IPO.
The rise of professional listings have caused regulatory and public relations liabilities for Airbnb, as illegal units jacked up local real estate prices and neighborhoods became overrun with hordes of suitcase-wheeling tourists in markets from Barcelona to New York. At the same time, big-city listings also bring in the bulk of revenue. With lawsuits in several cities, and expansion projects from tourist activities to boutique hotels and even documentaries eating up cash flow, Airbnb seemed to be spinning in a million directions before the pandemic forced a reckoning.
The spread of Covid-19 ground global travel to a halt and Airbnb saw demand for bookings fall 72% in April. The company put its IPO on hold and wondered if it would ever recover. Airbnb rolled out a blanket refund policy and doled out more than $1 billion in cancellation fees, which appeased guests but infuriated hosts, many of whom rely on their Airbnb income to pay their rent or mortgage.
This served as a wake-up call for Chesky who quickly realized two things: They’d been trying to do too much and they needed their original host community now more than ever. As the pandemic dragged on into the summer, the traditional high-point of the vacation season, Airbnb was surprised to note that instead of stopping travel, people changed how they traveled. City dwellers who were sick of being stuck inside their homes got in their cars and drove to mountain towns and rural communities, often setting up for weeks or months at a time as work-from-home policies allowed.
Business began to bounce back in June. The home-share giant fared better than its rivals because of its individual hosts who were able to adapt to the new setups that people wanted — yards, more space inside, no common elevators. International travel was down, but demand for domestic, short-distance trips and stays outside of the top 20 cities was proving resilient. In the third quarter, Airbnb’s revenue declined only 18%, compared to the near 60% decline for Expedia Group Inc. and Marriott International Inc. The three-month period was also Airbnb’s most profitable ever, based on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
In a letter to shareholders, the three co-founders said the 10 months since the pandemic have been “the most defining period since we started Airbnb.” In order to survive, they are setting aside ambitions to diversify and instead choosing “to focus on what is most unique about Airbnb — our core business of hosting.”
In a sign of its commitment, Airbnb is offering a directed share program in its initial public offering to active U.S.-based hosts, inviting people like Sara France to buy shares at a pre-IPO price in order to reap the rewards of continued valuation growth. The company has also created a host endowment fund initially stocked with 9.2 million shares. If it reaches $1 billion in value, Airbnb will use the excess to start funding projects that benefit hosts. Chesky is personally contributing $100 million worth of shares to the fund.
Airbnb is also establishing a host advisory board to help direct the best way to distribute the endowment and to try to recreate a bond that has frayed in recent years. In the company’s early days, hosts felt a sense of camaraderie with Airbnb as they worked to normalize the idea of strangers sleeping in one another’s homes. Many hosts felt like Airbnb had their back. The company made personal property managers available to sort out difficult situations. It wasn’t unheard of to have Chesky turn up on a host’s doorstep to stay a couple of nights as a guest. Every year, the company held an Airbnb Open festival to celebrate its host community. In a show of support in return, hosts would picket at local city council meetings, demanding friendly short-term rental regulations and the right to home-share.
This relationship changed as Airbnb’s listings — and valuation — ballooned. The Airbnb Open conference was scrapped. Personal property managers were replaced with automated email responses or long wait-times on generic customer service lines. Chesky stopped crashing in Airbnbs and he’s now a billionaire with a personal security detail. Quirky or off-beat listings were held to hotel-like standards of professionalism and cleanliness and told to get five-star ratings after every stay. Original hosts who made $50 a night renting out their second-bedroom felt like the company cared more for mega-hosts.
Indeed, as Airbnb courted the more lucrative business-travel industry, professional hosts, including property management companies and serviced apartment providers, started listing thousands of managed units on the site and became a significant money-maker. Airbnb acquired Urbandoor, a serviced-apartment rentals marketplace, last year, connecting it to Greystar, one of the largest property management companies in the world.
Luca Zambello, chief executive officer and co-founder of Jurny Inc., a short-term rental startup that lists 400 properties on Airbnb, estimates 40% of Airbnb’s offerings are professionally operated. “The platform is built on companies like ours,” he says. Most guests who use Airbnb want to feel like the place is classy and clean “rather than someone who woke up yesterday and decided they wanted to rent out their apartment and there’s a bunch of personal stuff still in it,” he says.
Julie Ransom, one of the first Airbnb hosts in Pittsburgh, realized she could make more money and attract more guests by offering up professionally-managed whole homes rather than a shared space. But she still appreciates what she believes Airbnb has taught her about herself. Like when two men from Scotland turned up at her door, sweaty and grimy after a day of traveling.
“Between the two of them they had 20 piercings on their face and all these tattoos and wild hair-dos and I thought ‘This is it, I’m going to get killed in the middle of the night,’” Ransom recalls. “That was my world view of people who look that way, but they turned out to be the sweetest guys. We’ve formed this really lovely bond and I think we will always continue to stay in touch.”
It’s human connections like this that Airbnb hopes investors will buy into.


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Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Monday posted an over five-fold jump in its consolidated profit to Rs 1,607 crore for the quarter ended June 2022, mainly on account of hike in tariffs. The company had posted a profit of Rs 283.5 crore in the same period a year ago. Consolidated revenue from operations of Bharti Airtel increased by about 22 per cent to Rs 32,805 crore during the reported quarter from Rs 26,854 crore earlier. Bharti Airtel India’s revenue increased by 24 per cent to Rs 23,319 crore, compared to Rs 18,828.4 crore in Q1 FY22. The mobile services revenue of Bharti Airtel in India grew 27 per cent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis to Rs 18,220 crore from Rs 14,305.6 crore.
Bharti Airtel’s total customer base grew by 4.7 per cent on YoY basis to 49.69 crore, with India accounting for 36.24 crore subscribers.
”Our enterprise and homes business has strong momentum and delivered strong double digit growth, improving the diversity of the overall portfolio. Airtel’s strategy of winning with quality customers continues to yield good results with an industry beating ARPU at Rs 183. ”As India gets ready to launch 5G, we are well positioned to raise the bar on innovation,” Bharti Airtel MD and CEO Gopal Vittal said in a statement.
The hike in mobile service tariffs during the reported quarter led to an increase of 25.4 per cent in average revenue per user (ARPU) of Bharti Airtel in India to Rs 183 from Rs 146 a year ago. Its 4G customer base in India accounted for 65.2 per cent of the total customer base and grew by 11.3 per cent YoY to 20.52 crore from 18.44 crore in the June 2021 quarter.
”We continue to garner a strong share of the 4G customers in the market and added 20.8 Mn 4G customers to its network over last year, an increase of 11.3 per cent YoY. ARPU continues to be the best in the industry, average data usage per mobile data customer at 19.5 GBs per month and voice usage per customer at 1,104 minutes per month,” the statement said.
Revenue from the home services division, which comprises fixed broadband services, grew 42 per cent to Rs 926.5 crore in the reported first quarter from Rs 653.1 crore earlier.


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WICHITA — The almost 7,500-square-foot building at 3731 N. Rock Road has been home to several restaurants in recent years.
Highlands Gastropub and Cardroom was the most recent short-lived tenant. Serengeti Grill was briefly there before that, and Black Canyon Grille had a longer existence there before that.
Now, BenchWarmers Tavern & Grill, an upscale sports bar, has a 10-year lease on the space.
“We’re very serious and plan on being there a long time,” says Pamela Tauman, marketing manager and department head for the Erie, Colo.-based BenchWarmers International. “It’s a great spot.”
Nathan Farha of Grubb & Ellis/Martens Commercial Group represented BenchWarmers in the deal.
BenchWarmers is looking for a second Wichita site but doesn’t have it finalized yet.
The first BenchWarmers opened in Aurora, Colo., near Denver in January. There are only a couple of sites so far, but the company is in a huge growth mode.
After a planned opening in Centennial, Colo., on July 8, BenchWarmers plans to open a new site every other week for a year.
“They just feel very confident about their business plan and about the model we have in place,” Tauman says. “Since they have the funds to make it happen at that rate, they’re just ready to go.
“They’re very eager to make their mark.”
CEO Kevin Foote is an executive chef, and that helps set BenchWarmers apart, Tauman says.
She says there are “just some little touches that make it better than what you’re normally going to find at a sports bar, and we’re very proud of that.”
That includes roast beef that’s carved only once it’s ordered, a variety of flatbread pizzas and an expansive selection of appetizers, including all kinds of sliders.
“We pride ourselves on our food,” Tauman says. “It truly sets us apart.”
She says the atmosphere is upscale as well, with a lot of 50-inch HD televisions.
“Our goal is to have everybody in the restaurant have a clear shot of a TV, so it’s fantastic viewing,” Tauman says.
In fact, the ability to enjoy a game in a comfortable environment is what prompted Foote to start the chain.
He was at a Colorado Avalanche game with some friends when they overheard people complaining about how cold they were and how it actually would be better to watch the game someplace they could be more comfortable with good food and beautiful women to serve them.
The result? Think Hooters girls in barely-there referee uniforms.
Look for BenchWarmers to open in mid-November or December at the latest.


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Until recently, all of the “big” social media companies banned U.S. companies from cannabis advertising on their platforms. At the same time, they imposed pretty unclear and inconsistent requirements on hemp advertising (in this post, when I refer to “cannabis” I mean only “marijuana” consistent with many states’ definitions of the term). All of this
Archives: Canna Law Blog
As we inch closer to a cannabis recession, businesses are desperately looking for new ways to stay afloat. A few years ago, our cannabis attorneys saw equity investments left and right. It seemed like everyone wanted to own a piece of a cannabis business. But as things grow more precarious for the industry as a
On November 15, 2022, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear issued an executive order intended to decriminalizes medical cannabis. This is one of the most interesting executive orders we’ve seen in a bit – and that’s saying something after the last six years in this country. Let’s take a look at exactly what it does. It’s worth
People in the cannabis industry know that marijuana is federally classified as a schedule I controlled substance. Schedule I means the drug has no recognized medical value, has a high potential for abuse, and cannot be safely administered even under a doctor’s supervision. Other schedule I drugs include heroin, methamphetamine, and several psychedelic substances including
The Florida primary election is approaching, meaning it’s time for voters to learn about candidates. Here is what some of those vying for statewide office have to say about cannabis. Governor The two leading Democratic candidates in the Florida gubernatorial primary support cannabis reform. Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried self-describes as “Florida’s leading statewide advocate on
High profile lawsuits to end cannabis prohibition are nothing new. We’ve covered efforts going back several years, though none of these has succeeded. A recently announced attempt, though, may be the best chance yet– especially given the changing environment with cannabis legalization in so many states; and especially given Constitutional jurisprudence relevant to those changes.
The SAFE Banking Act has languished in Congress since early 2017, a victim of political gridlock and division, as well as political wrangling over broad approaches to cannabis legalization. We last covered the SAFE Banking Act in February, when it looked as though 2022 would be the sixth year in which this bill would die.
Cannabis companies are largely behind the curve in Web3, but in the past few months some top cannabis companies have emerged in the Web3 ecosystem to join the old guard. The connection between cannabis and Web3 may not be apparent at first glance, but both industries are relatively nascent, semi-regulated, and attracting some of the
Yesterday, March 31, 2022, the House of Representatives again voted to end federal prohibition of marijuana by removing it from the list of banned substances. The bill—the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act (the MORE Act)—passed by a vote of 220-204, largely along party lines. Next the bill goes to the Senate for approval, where
All U.S. businesses are marijuana related businesses (MRBs). By “all” I mean everyone from Amazon to your local hardware store, with very few exceptions. Allow me to explain. Guidance on banking and MRBs Over eight years ago, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network published the FinCen Memorandum of February 14, 2014 (“FinCen Memo”). FinCen is a Bureau


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PBoC’s Bitcoin Withdrawal Suspension Serves as Reminder For Wallet Security
On February 9, Huobi and OKCoin, two of the largest bitcoin exchanges in China, officially suspended withdrawals for both bitcoin and Litecoin users in compliance with the demand of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC).
In late January, PBoC asked Huobi and OKCoin to overhaul their Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) systems to remain on par with industry standards. Local publications including Shanghai Observer reported that the PBoC warned OKCoin and Huobi about their AML and KYC systems, declaring that their trading platforms aren’t compliant with local regulations.
“Preliminary inspection on “OKCoin” and “Huobi” showed that these platforms provided margin trading which violated rules, resulting in abnormal price fluctuations in the market. During the inspection it has also been discovered that these platforms had not established sound anti-money laundering system according to regulations,” Shanghai Observer reported.
Within a month after the statement of PBoC and the report of local publications were released, OKCoin and Huobi were asked by the PBoC to halt all withdrawals until their AML and KYC systems are upgraded. Both exchanges told their users that the entire process would take at least one month and during that period, only RMB funds will be accessible by users.
Essentially, two of the largest bitcoin exchanges in China which control nearly 25 percent of the global bitcoin exchange market over the past seven days halted withdrawals and blocked accounts of users overnight, causing significant discomfort to users that are in urgent need of their funds.
Because the termination of withdrawal effectively disallows any users of the two trading platforms to withdraw their funds, until the systematic upgrade is completed, not a single user of bitcoin and Litecoin on OKCoin and Huobi will be able to liquefy their assets in the meantime.
While the incident was controversial and led the price of bitcoin to plunge in the main markets including the US, China, and Japan, it served as an important and necessary reminder to users that have been using bitcoin exchanges as a method of storing their bitcoin and user funds.
Bitcoin exchanges are centralized infrastructures laid upon the decentralized architecture of Bitcoin. Bitcoin balances and user funds on bitcoin exchanges are closer to an IOU, a signed document acknowledging a debt, rather than actual bitcoin. Operators of bitcoin exchanges can freely block an account, suspend a user and move user funds at their will.
Regardless of the intent of bitcoin exchanges, regulations and policies within the financial industry of most markets disallow operators to maintain a decentralized and non-custodial trading platform. To comply with local regulations, they are required to set up an exchange wherein they are in a position of authority over users.
There exist some bitcoin wallet platforms like South Korea’s Coinplug that are associated with bitcoin trading operations. These non-custodial wallets can also be suspended and blocked by operators at their will. For instance, an active member of the Seoul Bitcoin Meetup in South Korea had his account temporarily banned by Coinplug due to his old age. Operators of Coinplug blocked his account and suspended trading until the user agreed to a face-to-face meeting with the company.
To avoid these incidents wherein operators take control of user funds and block user accounts at their will, all bitcoin users must utilize trading platforms solely to trade the cryptocurrency and non-custodial bitcoin wallet platforms to store bitcoin. Wallet service providers like Blockchain do not have control over private keys of users. Thus, they cannot block user accounts even under regulatory pressure.
Hardware wallets manufactured by prominent companies including Trezor, Ledger and KeepKey are viable alternatives to bitcoin exchanges and online wallet platforms to store bitcoin. Also, many individuals are coming up with inventive ways to store bitcoin in cold storage, such as James Hogan and Jacob Lyles’ open-source cold storage method.


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Swedish SKF to supply bearings to Tikhvin Car Building Plant
Swedish company SKF will supply compact tapered bearings to CJSC Tikhvin Car Building Plant (TVSZ), which is part of United Wagon Company, Rail 1520, another of the group's assets, said in a press release.
LLC SKF Tver, which is part of SKF in Russia will deliver over 40,000 compact tapered bearing units for cargo cars with an axle load of 25 tonnes to TVSZ. SKF will also provide technical support and service maintenance during the guarantee period, the release said.
The bearings comply with the operation and climatic conditions of Russian railway track. With them, TVSZ plans to increase the reliability of its products and its efficiency. The economic impact of using SKF compact bearings will be achieved by increasing the time between repairs (800,000 kilometers or 8 years), a lack of operation expenses and a reduction in the number of detachments.
«This is a strategically important order for SKF Tver. It will enable our company to further establish cooperation with major rail car manufacturers in Russia», SKF Railway & Off Highway Director Rudger Barrdahl was cited as saying.


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A group of shareholders in Vitesse Semiconductor announced recently they are filing a class action lawsuit due to some allegations that it may have released false and illegal financial statement for the period of three months ending with December 31, 2005. Chip supplier Vitesse also is being called into question for the three-year period that ended September 30, 2005.
The lawsuit is being brought forth against the computer business itself as well as against current and former senior managers. The suit will be carried out by the New York-based law firm Rosen. The firm will be representing those that bought stock from June 30, 2003 to April 26, 2006.
Earlier in the week the computer business Vitesse revealed that because of an on-going internal investigation, the financial statements released for the three months ended December 31, 2005 and the three years from September, 2002 to September 30, 2005 should not be trusted. The company also implied that even earlier reports than these could be questionable.
Vitesse also said that other problems have cropped up regarding practices at the company that were connected to credits given to customers for returned products or other types of services and the resulting accounting treatment. Similarly, payments received by the company may not have been credited to the appropriate places.
As a result of the discovery of foul play at the computer business Vitesse, its stock prices fell 27 percent. The company has put several top executive on administrative leave while the lawsuit unfolds.
Blogged By: Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit


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Amid the clamour for slashing GST rates, rail manufacturers are seeking the opposite—an increase.
Amid the clamour for cuts in goods and services tax (GST) rates to help revive demand, rail manufacturers are seeking the opposite—an increase. Alstom General Electric and Bombardier, which have set up manufacturing facilities in the country for rail wagons, have written to the government, seeking a 12% GST levy on rail products from 5% now.
Inputs are levied GST of 5% and 18%, leading to an inverted duty structure as hundreds of crores of rupees in input tax credit are stuck, the companies say. This gives imported rail products an advantage as they just have to pay the 5% levy, frustrating the government’s aim to boost local manufacture.
“The restriction on refund of unutilised input GST credit on account of inverted duty structure has increased costs of the railway products manufacturing industry and gives a competitive disadvantage to domestic products vis-à-vis imported products, thereby adversely impacts Make in India initiative,” said Alstom India chief financial officer Simon Garnier.
Refunds of unutilised input tax credit on certain notified goods including railway products has been restricted. The products affected include locomotives, rolling stock, wagon and coaches. Garnier said the industry has been in continuous talks with the concerned authorities and expects the government to resolve this matter urgently to provide domestic companies a level playing field. They have lobbied the finance ministry, railways, the GST Council and state governments. They want the government to raise the GST on final products, allow input tax credit or lower the levy on inputs.
“GST is a positive step towards a simplified tax structure. However, rail industry suppliers are grappling with severe financial burden on account of inverted duty structure coupled with restriction on refund of unutilised credit,” said Nalin Jain, group president, equipment business, Wabtec Corp. Additionally, it was leading to an import bias with indigenous rolling stock costing more than imports.
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Volkswagen scandal to hit India too [Dec 01, 2015]
Since a long time Indian buyers of the VW and Skoda were fearful whether the International scandal would hit them or not. And now it seems that their worst fears have come true. Volkswagen India is bracing itself to initiate a recall of over 3,20,000 of its cars affected by the diesel emissions scandal. The affected cars include all cars powered by the EA189 diesel engine family and this is around 2,10,000 VWs, around 80,000 Skodas and over 30,000 Audis.
VW India has admitted to the Ministry of Transport that around 3,14,000 cars were carrying the ‘defeat devices’ or software that was designed to allow cars to cheat on emission tests. That number is likely to rise as both VW and Skoda have continued to sell cars in India with the software in question.
Andreas Lauermann, President and Managing Director, Volkswagen India Private Limited told that the company’s solution for most of the engines affected by the diesel emissions scandal is the same as the one used in Europe.
In Europe, Volkswagen has detailed measures that involve a software update to fix the largest 2.0-litre engines, while the midsized 1.6-litre (and the downsized 1.5-litre units for India) will require both a software update and a hardware change. The latter being a small plastic filter or a mesh that will be placed inside the engine's air intake. Volkswagen estimates that updating the software on the 2.0-litre engine will take only about half an hour while the fix for the midsized engine will take around one hour. The company is still working out the remedy for the 1.2-litre motor. The carmaker claims neither solution will impact engine performance or fuel economy. However, these claims are unverified as of now.
The software used in the affected cars had been globally sourced from three suppliers. The 1.2-litre three cylinder motor, which was phased out last year in India and replaced by the 1.5-litre four-cylinder diesel engine, was fitted with software sourced from Delphi Automotive, while the current models having the larger powertrain are fitted with software provided by Bosch and Continental Automotive Systems.
While the installation of the software is definitely illegal, the key question here is whether the affected cars violated Indian emission standards. The Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) is conducting tests at the Vehicle Research & Development Establishment (VRDE), Ahmednagar to ascertain whether the cars' on-road emissions flouted Indian BS IV norms. In fact, ARAI might even widen the investigation to other car manufacturers as well.
Sources involved with the testing have revealed that the affected cars are emitting up to three times more NOx compared to the levels tested during the approval stage, as against 40 times in the US.
However, it is widely accepted that in real-world conditions, cars will always emit more emissions than in a laboratory and what the government now has to determine is if the quantum of higher emissions is tantamount to a gross violation of the specified BS IV standards in India.
The final decision is likely to be taken after the carmaker meets the government officials on December 1, 2015.
Meanwhile, the National Green Tribunal has today sought response from the central government and Volkswagen Group on a plea seeking a ban on manufacture and sale of Volkswagen’s cars in the country for allegedly flouting emission norms. It has asked them to reply by December 23, 2015.


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States across the country are using EVs as scapegoats for declining revenue for transportation infrastructure, according to a new report from Consumer Reports. The findings agree with our earlier observations from March and May on several bills being considered in state legislatures: EV drivers are often paying disproportionate fees compared to drivers of equivalent gasoline vehicles. In total, 28 states have now implemented some form of additional registration fee for EVs. Consumer Reports found that existing and proposed fees in 26 states would require EV drivers to pay up to three times the amount that owners of new gasoline-powered vehicles pay in annual gas taxes for a new car in 2025.
In 2018, EV sales accounted for just over two percent of the national auto market with just over 360,000 vehicles sold. In their Annual Energy Outlook for 2019, the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimated EV sales of 1,276,000 by 2025. Even under the more aggressive assumption of 11 percent EV market share, Consumer Reports estimated the relatively small number of EVs on the road in 2025 would only generate 0.3 percent of total state highway funding. Based on these findings, it appears that annual fees, even when higher than gas tax revenue from an equivalent internal combustion vehicle, will not address the issue of highway budget shortfalls.
Eleven states including Illinois, Kansas, Hawaii, Iowa, Utah, Wyoming, Alabama, Arkansas, Ohio, North Dakota, and Washington have passed legislation establishing new fees or increasing existing ones in 2019. Eleven states have implemented or are considering annual registration fees of $200 or more. This list includes states like Wyoming, Alabama, Arkansas, and West Virginia, each of which rank in the bottom ten in terms of EV deployment per person among all states. All these states are among those with the most punitive fees according to the Consumer Reports study. High EV fees are also being considered in stronger EV markets. Earlier this year, lawmakers in Illinois, which ranks ninth out of all states in terms of total EV sales, proposed an EV fee of $1,000.
The general argument has been that EVs are not paying their fair share since they do not pay gasoline taxes. The fees being imposed in some cases, however, are significantly higher than what is paid by an equivalent gasoline vehicle. As we said in March, a Toyota Prius driver in Georgia traveling 10,000 miles per year would only pay $75 in gas taxes compared to the $214 registration fees paid by EV drivers. These fees are punitive, especially considering EV drivers already contribute to state infrastructure revenue through general fund appropriations, tolls, property taxes, and other measures tracked in the Road Network Funding Dashboard.
The list of states with highly fees is likely to increase with seven states considering new fees that would be more than two times as high as the average amount drivers of conventional vehicles would pay in annual gas taxes. Punitive EV fees could influence consumer decisions and slow down efforts by automakers and policymakers in many states to accelerate local EV markets. In the EV stronghold of California, researchers found that an annual EV fee of $100 could lead to a 20 percent decline in EV sales in the short term. This comes at a time when states’ ability to regulate tailpipe emissions at the state and local levels is being challenged by the federal government. We’ll continue to monitor state legislation in this area and mapping EV fee developments across the country. Let us know if there are any bills we are missing from our State Legislation Tracker.


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Cryptocurrency is not a game for people with weak hearts
“Cryptocurrency is not a game for people with weak hearts,” said Tuan, a bitcoin investor in HCMC.
Four years ago, one bitcoin was priced at several hundred dollars. But it unexpectedly escalated later, reaching $20,000 per bitcoin (VND400 million) by the end of 2017.
“I made a lot of deals in 2017, when the price was at VND200 million per bitcoin, and I earned VND400 million just within a short time,” he said.
“Luckily, I stopped trading later as I thought the bitcoin price would fall after a long period of escalation,” he said. “If I had continued buying bitcoins, I would have incurred big losses.”
The price fell from a peak of VND400 million to VND200 million. On February 10, 2018, one bitcoin traded at VND184 million ($8,200).
Bitcoin holders are feeling anxious as the price of the cryptocurrency has dropped dramatically.
Prior to that, on January 16, Bitconnect collapsed after warnings from Texas and North Carolina authorities. It was estimated that there were more than 50,000 Bitconnect members in Vietnam.
The bitcoin price went up slightly on February 11 to VND205 million. However, this was not good news for bitcoin holders. The owners of cryptocurrency trading floors refuse to buy bitcoins as they cannot sell now.
However, many investors are rushing headlong into other cryptocurrencies created by Vietnamese businesses such as BNC and TTC. The BNC price increased by twofold compared with the launch day, from $2.3 to $5.1.
The creators of BNC and TTC set up tens of shops and household-use appliance sale points at which 30 percent of the value of goods was paid in BNC or TTC, though the cryptocurrencies are not recognized by Vietnamese law.
Lawyer Bui Quang Tin from the HCMC Bar Association said that 99 percent of ICO activities are fraudulent. In principle, ICO must be recognized by the IT world and have real value through apps that help businesses in payment and governance. In addition, the cryptocurrency must create apps for the future.
The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) plans to report to the Prime Minister the current operations of cryptocurrencies in August. After that, it will compile legal documents on cryptocurrencies and electronic currencies for the government’s consideration.
Nguyen Hong Hai from MOJ said cryptocurrency trading is an anonymous transaction that can be easily exploited by criminals. Cryptocurrency traders are not protected as the currency is not recognized by law.