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As counterintuitive because it might sound, luxury analysts see america as an rising market — and one which’s prone to proceed to raise the fortunes of Europe’s largest gamers.
To make sure, current charges of consumption have been staggering.
In keeping with Mastercard SpendingPulse, the luxurious sector within the U.S. has been logging triple-digit features since March, with July spending on luxurious up 118 p.c versus 2020, and up 54 p.c versus 2019.
“Our base-case state of affairs for world luxurious items demand is benign, with possible additional acceleration in Q3,” mentioned Luca Solca, senior analysis analyst, world luxurious items, at Bernstein. “Client demand cycles don’t finish abruptly. A requirement wave like this might properly final 12 or extra months.”
And what a wave it has been.
In July, Kering mentioned retail gross sales at its luxurious homes soared by 263 p.c year-on-year within the second quarter in North America, with manufacturers led by Gucci gaining traction with all age teams. Likewise, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton noticed Q2 gross sales within the U.S. greater than double within the second quarter and 60 p.c within the first half, virtually equaling progress in Asia, excluding Japan, the place revenues rose 70 p.c through the first six months of the 12 months.
In keeping with observers, bulked-up financial savings, pent-up demand, stimulus checks and a sturdy financial system all contributed to what some described as over-consumption of luxurious items within the U.S. in current months.
“We’ve been very bullish on luxurious items,” mentioned Oliver Chen, managing director and senior fairness analysis analyst overlaying retail and luxurious items at Cowen. “There’s a sure diploma of bifurcation available in the market the place luxurious items have been sturdy, after which customers proceed to search for worth. Luxurious can be doing a greater job innovating with prospects.
“The pandemic has given designers and creatives a possibility to ponder and innovate,” he added. “All the nice momentum we’re seeing now ought to proceed. Additionally, we would have the most effective back-to-school interval we’ve ever seen in our lives – as a result of everyone’s going again to high school.”
In keeping with Chen, luxury’s embrace of on-line promoting, and casualization — together with a extra inclusive, democratic and youthful posture —) are coalescing to drive the sector. “Luxurious is on this journey of redefining itself, to modernize for brand spanking new generations of consumers.”
Erwan Rambourg, world head of client and retail analysis at HSBC, mentioned the “Ok-shaped restoration described by the Biden marketing campaign in 2020 has been a actuality and customers who had been properly off pre-COVID-19 are oftentimes even higher off now and, as a consequence, have been spending on luxurious for the primary time or if not, certainly, spending extra. Now we have seen some buying and selling up and better baskets.”
He famous that hovering fairness markets, and the development to “stay-cationing,” shifted spending towards items over journey experiences and thereby supported consumption of private luxurious items.
“As COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, customers are keen to return to life, and as they do, they spend cash — each on experiences and merchandise,” Solca agreed.
What’s extra, “social media and KOLs have contributed to creating customers’ aspirations to luxurious items common: Everybody desires to face out and be at his or her finest on Instagram,” Solca continued, additionally noting that “luxurious manufacturers have been in a position to embrace new product classes — like sneakers and T-shirts — that resonate with youthful customers.”
Mastercard SpendingPulse cited excessive demand lately for night apparel and formal put on in America given the surge of weddings, events and reunions as pandemic restrictions ease.
“The U.S. client has come again… and luxurious is on the high of the listing,” mentioned Steve Sadove, senior adviser for Mastercard and former chief government officer and chairman of Saks Inc. “It’s the strongest sector on the market.”
Sadove cited a excessive correlation between stock-market efficiency and spending by high-end customers, but additionally pent-up demand. “I’ve been caught inside and I need to categorical myself,” is how he described the overall sentiment.
In keeping with Mastercard knowledge for July, spending on attire is up 10 p.c pre-pandemic, malls are up 7 p.c, and the brick-and-mortar channel 15 p.c.
Recalling the disgrace round luxurious spending after the monetary disaster of 2007-2008, when some sheepish consumers requested for brown-paper baggage at high-end shops, Sadove remarked: “I feel we’re within the reverse state of affairs now.”
In keeping with the latest Amex Trendex survey, one quarter of customers mentioned they had been already spending on luxurious merchandise at pre-pandemic ranges; one-third mentioned they now take pleasure in dressing up for social occasions and gatherings greater than they did previous to the pandemic, and practically half (48 p.c) mentioned they plan on placing extra effort into their look.
“We’ve seen nice demand for our premium merchandise. The truth is, in Q2 new card member acquisition was at a document excessive and retention charges stay above pre-pandemic ranges,” mentioned Rafael Mason, senior vp, world premium merchandise at American Categorical.
Pointing to an urge for food for distinctive experiences, 80 p.c of Millennials mentioned they had been inquisitive about buying at pop-up shops with novelty or limited-edition merchandise over normal retail, Amex Trendex knowledge reveals.
HSBC’s Rambourg actually sees a deeper shift within the client mindset underneath method.
“If luxurious demand had been nearly wealth, the U.S. would have already been a lot larger, so current monetary incentives — robust fairness markets, staycations, stimulus packages — could have had an affect, however the actual shift is extra psychological than monetary there,” he mentioned in an interview. “From a psychological perspective, the so-called guilt issue that was prevalent after 9/11 and once more after the worldwide monetary disaster appears to have evaporated. The U.S. luxurious market remains to be held again by a value-for-money tradition, however a youthful, extra numerous, rich client is now much more keen to spend on high-end labels.”
In his view, because it turns into extra acceptable in America to splash out on luxurious items and designer labels, the sector is certain to recruit extra customers, a few of whom “might change into loyal and affect others to enter the luxurious pyramid. There’s a generational shift taking place with youthful customers extra open-minded towards luxurious, and a wholesome enhance offered by African-American, Hispanic, and Asian-American communities who are inclined to spend a disproportionate quantity of earnings of premium items and affect the remainder of the market.”
Is there something that would burst the buoyant temper?
Observers warn that additional outbreaks of COVID-19 and the hyper-contagious Delta variant might affect provide chains and inventories, in addition to diminish demand.
“U.S. discretionary demand and client feel-good relies on the well being of the inventory market,” Solca added. “To date, so good. Increased rates of interest too quickly, might dampen the restoration.”
On the plus facet, Mastercard SpendingPulse famous that additional stimulus funds bode properly for the vacation interval.
“Proper now, we’re in a Goldilocks retail atmosphere: the buyer could be very wholesome, they nonetheless have the money, the markets are robust, again to high school is trending rather well. And you’ve got the kid tax credit score,” Sadove mentioned. “I’m not giving a forecast for Mastercard, however my very own expectation could be that we’re going to see a really robust client demand by the vacation season, and superb full-price promoting.”
https://wwd.com/business-news/business-features/luxury-america-usa-growth-market-1234898392/ | United States of America Seen as Key Progress Engine for Luxurious Items – WWD


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Lithium is running into a severe supply-demand situation.
The last time this happened, some of the world’s top lithium companies exploded. Albemarle ran from approximately $45.60 to approximately $137. Lithium Americas Corp. ran from approximately 93 cents to approximately $10.38. Galaxy Resources Ltd. ran from approximately 15 cents to approximately $2.75.
Now, it’s happening all over again.
All thanks to electric vehicle (EV) sales that are growing much faster than anyone expected.
“By 2030, the world will see 125 million EVs on the road, which will only drive further demand for lithium supply. In fact, “It is anticipated demand for vehicle battery metal will increase sharply over the next several years as automakers abandon internal combustion engines for EVs,” says Resource World.
However, there’s just one problem. There’s not enough lithium supply.
Even the International Energy Agency just warned:
“The supply of critical minerals crucial for technologies such as wind turbines and electric vehicles will have to be ramped up over the next decades if the planet’s climate targets are to be met. At least 30 times as much lithium, nickel and other key minerals may be required by the electric car industry by 2040 to meet global climate targets.”

domain: news


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A lot has changed in the world of mobile games in the past 10 years and that's something we're considering as we repost PocketGamer.biz articles from the past decade.
This week, we consider the start of Apple's increasingly tight grip over its ecosystem.
[June 11th, 2010] Sensibly, very few people want to go on the record as attacking Apple.
Even the likes of Adobe and AdMob had to be pushed to the extent of having their business on iPhone effectively curtailed before they reacted.
Yet talking to game developers, tools companies, ad networks and other companies operating on the App Store during WWDC 2010, it's fair to say there's a growing undercurrent of disquiet.
Of course, no one is prepared to go on the record - Apple's just too powerful and capricious. But across a growing range of issues - from advertising to analytics, development tools to social networks - attitudes range from uncertainty to genuine concern.
Hey, what's going on?
In fact, the theme of the week is that WWDC has created many more questions than answers.
One of the most interesting issues is analytics.
I was talking to a high profile developer who's just switched to using Flurry analytics, which looks like it's going to be banned as part of the iOS4 release.
The developer loves the data the service provides which enables him to see how many daily users are playing his game, and how events such as updates change that activity.
"Developers need to have analytics," he says. "If I can't use Flurry, is Apple going to provide its own service?"
It's a similar situation when it comes to iAd - analytics and advertising being interlinked.
All developers I've spoken to are very enthusiastic for iAd, but that's because they're the sort of developers who are making high quality games.
"What about the guys making iFart apps?" one bizdev guy asked. "Do you think Apple is going to allow them to use iAd?"
It's a legitimate concern.
For all Steve Jobs' focus on the best user experience, the fact is many developers of free iPhone apps are generating millions of downloads of quirky, odd and downright juvenile apps.
And guess what? Their users love those juvenile experiences. Heck, some of the most famous names on the App Store have done commercial work they're now not that keen on talking about.
Playing nice together?
Game Center is another difficult issue.
Before Apple announced it would provide its own social platform for games - revealed this week as providing real-time multiplayer gaming including voice chat, but not asynchronous player to player challenges and the like - the market was vibrant with four major competitors plus various specialist and proprietary technologies vying for attention.
Now developers don't know what to do. Clearly everyone will use Game Center when it launches - no one knows when. Everyone will use its features, but again no one knows exactly what these will be.
Indeed, with thirdparty social services struggling to react to a competitor as yet undefined, all anyone can offer is that in future, most developers will be using Game Center and A.N.Other solution, because for all the features Game Center will launch with, there are some it won't, and some it may never include.
Really, is that helping developers provide the best experience to consumers?
Of course, the bottomline is that when it comes to iPhone, it's Apple's party and it will pick a fight with whoever it chooses.
"I think Apple would like there to be Apple and consumers and no one else with any power inbetween," one developer told me. "As soon as a company seems to have any power within that relationship, then Apple reacts."
To be honest, it's hard to find anyone who's a fan of mobile Flash, but when a second, third, fourth... company find themselves falling foul of what increasingly appears to be Apple's megalomaniacal desire to control its own technical and commercial ecosystem at a monopolistic level, is it any surprise people are asking Who's next?


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Many people have complained in recent months about the strict hardware requirements for upgrading to Windows 11. But, guess what, the latest version of Windows 11 (22H2) that Microsoft issued for testers on Tuesday is unintentionally made available to PCs that aren’t officially supported.
On a Twitter post, one user was offered to update his Windows 10 to 11 even if his device is not supported:
Another Reddit user is experiencing the same issue, and numerous users have claimed that they have the option to upgrade even if their device is not supported.
Microsoft was quick to respond to the confirmed upgrade option, stating, “It’s a bug, and the appropriate team is investigating it.” The Microsoft team did state that those who are able to upgrade to Windows 11 using the tester release on unsupported PCs can rollback the unexpected upgrade in the Windows 11 settings section.
The mistake will once again draw attention to the company’s contentious upgrading policy. An unsupported PC may still update to Windows 11 by manually downloading the installer and installing the operating system; however, this is time consuming and can wipe all data on your computer if you do not have a backup.
As of now, it appears that the Microsoft team has been able to resolve the bug.


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The Chancellor has this morning announced £4.6bn in new lockdown grants to support businesses and protect jobs during this lockdown.
- One-off top up grants for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses worth up to £9,000 per property
- £594 million discretionary fund available to support other impacted businesses
This new funding is in addition to the £1.1 billion discretionary grant funding for Local Authorities, Local Restriction Support Grants worth up to £3,000 a month and extension of furlough scheme
The cash is provided on a per-property basis to support businesses through the latest restrictions, and is expected to benefit over 600,000 business properties, worth £4 billion across all nations of the UK.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said:
“The new strain of the virus presents us all with a huge challenge – and whilst the vaccine is being rolled out, we have needed to tighten restrictions further.
Throughout the pandemic we’ve taken swift action to protect lives and livelihoods and today we’re announcing a further cash injection to support businesses and jobs until the Spring.
This will help businesses to get through the months ahead – and crucially it will help sustain jobs, so workers can be ready to return when they are able to reopen.”
A further £594 million has been made available for Local Authorities and the Devolved Administrations to support other businesses not eligible for the grants that might be affected by the restrictions. To access this funding businesses should apply to their Local Authorities.
The new one-off grants come in addition to the existing support, which include grants of up to £3,000 for closed businesses, and up to £2,100 per month for impacted businesses once they reopen.
The government has also provided 100% business rates relief for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, £1.1 billion existing discretionary funding for Local Authorities, the furlough scheme now extended to April and 100% government backed loans, extended until March.
The one-off top-ups will be granted to closed businesses as follows:
- £4,000 for businesses with a rateable value of £15,000 or under
- £6,000 for businesses with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000
- £9,000 for businesses with a rateable value of over £51,000


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Welcome to Finance Insider, Business Insider’s summary of the top stories of the past 24 hours.
The cookie-cutter neighbourhood is an iconic American symbol of suburbia — the architecture is uniform, the lawns manicured, the colours drawn from the same palette.
As part of an editorial series focused on “The Death of Suburbia,” Business Insider took a look at the American cultural revolution that’s killing these cookie-cutter homes. Here are some other highlights from the series:
- The American suburbs as we know them are dying
- Americans could be killing the McMansion for good
- Dying shopping malls are wreaking havoc on suburban America
- The shopping mall apocalypse is creating a $US48 billion disaster on Wall Street
- Applebee’s, TGI Fridays, and Chilli’s are trying to claw their way out of a restaurant death trap
- Millennials are forcing America’s largest corporations to kill traditional suburban office parks
- These eerie photos of deserted golf courses reveal a new normal in America
Back on Wall Street, a $US77 billion investment firm joined forces with Microsoft, and it hints at where investing is headed. A brutal chart shows how investors have been failed by hedge funds. And the statue of a defiant girl in front of the Wall Street bull is now wearing a series of “pussy hats.”
In markets news, The Fed is about to cause a bond market “bloodbath,” according to Albert Edwards. “Our highly levered financial system is like a truckload of nitro glycerin on a bumpy road,” according to Bill Gross.
And for one glorious moment, business TV perfectly captured what’s going on in markets right now, according to Business Insider’s Linette Lopez.
The largest onshore oil discovery in America for at least 30 years just happened in Alaska. And the price of oil just dived below $US50 for the first time in 2017.
In economics news, Donald Trump and Janet Yellen have very different ideas about the job market. And Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin sent a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan asking him to raise the debt ceiling.
In tech, Facebook would “love” to acquire Snap if shares drop to $US14, according to one analyst. Traders are paying “extortionate fees” to short Snapchat. And a Wall Street firm is comparing Tesla to Apple, Netflix, and Amazon — but it couldn’t be more wrong.
Uber says it will stop targeting city officials with “Greyball,” the secret tool it used to deceive regulators. Travis Kalanick needs to hire Sheryl Sandberg to save Uber, according to Business Insider’s Matt DeBord.
Airbnb just raised a massive $US1 billion funding round that values the company at around $US31 billion
Lastly, Qatar Airways’ swanky new seats will revolutionise business travel.
Here are the top Wall Street headlines from the past 24 hours.
Akzo Nobel rejects $US22 billion PPG bid – Dutch paints and coatings maker Akzo Nobel rejected a 21 billion euro ($US22 billion) bid from larger US rival PPG Industries on Thursday, saying instead it wanted to “unlock value” by spinning off its chemicals business.
New York’s rental market is entering a “slow grind” – New York City’s rental market is on track to continue cooling through the rest of the year, especially in the oversupplied luxury segment.
AIG’s CEO is resigning over a year after Carl Icahn called for a breakup of the company – American International Group said on Thursday Chief Executive Peter Hancock plans to step down, a move that comes more than a year after billionaire investor Carl Icahn called for a breakup of the company.
The maker of La Croix is on pace for a ‘record-setting year’ after a blowout quarter – Shares of National Beverage Corp., the maker of sparkling water La Croix, surged almost 5% in early trading on Thursday after reporting blowout earnings.
The company that bought RadioShack files for bankruptcy protection – General Wireless Operations, which acquired the RadioShack brand in 2015, said on Wednesday it has filed for bankruptcy protection.
Morgan Stanley thinks Tesla will ramp Model 3 production much slower than expected – Tesla CEO Elon Musk has set the ambitious target of delivering 500,000 vehicles annually by 2018. In 2016, the company delivered less than 80,000.
The head of HR at a top Wall Street bank explains what she looks for in new hires – Many people think you have to be a “Yes Man” to get ahead on Wall Street. But that’s not the type of person Liz Lieberman wants working at her bank.
One of Wall Street’s favourite clothing companies is having a big sale this week – Regardless of his place on the corporate ladder, there are some pieces every businessman should have in his closet.
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For diet results, moderate-fat beats low-fat
June 6, 2000
By Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY
RESTON, Va. - Dieters lose more weight and have an easier time sticking with a moderate-fat diet than with a low-fat diet, says a pilot study being presented today at a dietary fat conference here.
Exactly how much fat is best for health and weight loss is being discussed at the American Heart Association (AHA) conference, co-sponsored by Oldways Preservation & Exchange Trust and the American Cancer Society.
Currently, the AHA is reviewing its dietary guidelines, including the recommendation on the amount of fat that should be consumed.
In the new study, researchers with Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston followed 101 adults, mostly women, for 1 1/2 years.
They divided the participants into two groups. Half of the people followed a diet with 35% of calories from fat that was mostly monounsaturated (olive oil, canola oil, peanut butter, avocado, nuts) and some polyunsaturated fats (corn oil, soybean oil). They limited saturated fat (fatty meats, whole dairy products) to about 5% of their intake. It was based on a Mediterranean-style diet. The other half were instructed to limit their diet to no more than 20% of calories from fat.
Those participants did that by doing things such as using non-stick cooking sprays and fat-free salad dressings.
Both groups were asked to watch calories. Women were told to keep their calories to about 1,200 a day; men were told to try to stick with 1,500 calories during the weight-loss phase. After the first six months, both groups began consuming more calories.
After 18 months, 54% of those on the moderate-fat diet were still participating in the study, compared with 20% of those on the low-fat diet.
People who stuck with either plan lost about the same amount: 11 pounds in six months. But at 18 months, those on the moderate-fat diet had kept their weight off, and those on the low-fat diet began to gain some back.
Participants in the moderate-fat group told the researchers that they "didn't feel like they were dieting," says Kathy McManus, director of the department of nutrition at Brigham and Women's Hospital. "They were eating regular, healthy foods and just trying to cut back on the amount."
Those in the moderate-fat group were encouraged to eat nuts in the late afternoon instead of grabbing rice cakes, pretzels or low-fat cookies.
The moderate-fat dieters actually increased the amount of vegetables they consumed by one serving a day, possible because they were able to use olive oil and vinegar or high-fat salad dressings on their salads, and they used olive oil when cooking vegetables, McManus says.
John Foreyt, an obesity researcher at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, says this is an "important finding, assuming there are more studies that back it up."


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Who will be the next Amazon CEO? Andy Jassy will succeed Amazon's CEO, Jeff Bezos, in the third quarter of 2021. He has served the company since 1997 and spent most of his life in Seattle, Washington DC, where Amazon headquarters are located. Bezos wrote to Amazon employees a letter confirming his confidence in Andy because of his outstanding leadership. Jassy's leadership saw Amazon Web Services achieve a 45% global market share in 2019, thus becoming the world's leading cloud computing infrastructure in the industry.
AWS earned $19,990.4 million in 2019, which was way higher than Microsoft's $7,949.6 million revenue. Why did Jeff step down? Amazon's billionaire founder, Jeff Bezos, planned to step down to focus on philanthropy and other outside ventures. He will remain Amazon's executive chairman and its biggest shareholder while Andy Jassy Amazon CEO steps into his shoes.
Andy Jassy profile summary
- Full name: Andrew R. Jassy
- Date of birth: 13th January 1968
- Age: 53 years
- Career: Businessman
- Nationality: American
- Andy Jassy LinkedIn: Andy Jassy
- Andy Jassy Twitter: @ajassy
Andy Jassy biography
He was born on 13th January 1968 to Margery and Everett R. Jassy. Jassy and the fashion designer, Elana Rochelle Caplan, held their wedding in 1997, and they have two children. Elana is the daughter of prominent law firm administrators in the US. Her mother is Louise B., while her father is called George T. Caplan.
Andy Jassy house is a $6.7 million mansion in Santa Monica, California. The 0.2-acre property comprises a Cape Cod-style house with four bedrooms, 5,500 square feet of living space, and five baths. The home's low gate is attached to a two-car garage.
He is also a part-time owner of a new National Hockey League franchise called the Kraken and the chairman of a charter school named Rainier Pre in Seattle. Andy Jassy AWS CEO got a bachelor's degree from Harvard University in 1990 and received his MBA from the same prestigious institution in 1997.
He found Amazon Web Services (Amazon's cloud computing division) in 2003 after working in Amazon since 1997. Andy was promoted from AWS's vice president position to its CEO in 2016 when he was named Financial Times' Person of the Year.
How much is Andy Jassy worth? Andy Jassy net worth is over $394 million. He owns 2,791 Amazon stock units worth about $280,440,790 and sold on the forex exchange market $113 million of the shares he owns. Andy Jassy salary is $348,809 per year.
Andy Jassy political views
Andy Jassy Twitter's controversial opinions about police brutality, LGBTQ discrimination, and immigration caught the world's attention. His character is quite the opposite of his predecessor's. The outspoken Andy strongly condemned these injustices publicly. He posted on Twitter;
If you don't hold police depts accountable for murdering black people, we will never have justice and change or be the country we aspire and claim to be.
On the other hand, Bezos rarely comments on political issues. However, he critiqued the ex-US President Donald Trump for attacking him on Twitter. He also congratulated Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for winning the 2020 US presidential elections via Twitter.
AWS re: Invent 2020 conference
Watch AWS re: Invent 2020 conference that took place in Seattle for tips on reinventing your career and business. Andy Jassy Reinvent 2020's speech revealed his insights about AWS customers, services, and products. Andy Jassy quotes during the conference explained AWS's service superiority over its competitors'. He said;
When you look at an unmatched array of instances that you have in AWS coupled with the relentless innovation in chips, in the virtualization layer and the compute platform, you are now getting reinvented instances every few months, instead of every few years, which is a big deal.
The AWS Andy Jassy Keynote partners enlightened businesses about AWS machine learning technologies, how their partnership with AWS benefited other companies, and other trending business-related agendas. Some of the keynote speakers were:
- Doug Yeum: The head of Global Partner Organization
- Sandy Carter: The vice president of Global Public Sector Partners and Programs
- Dave McCann: The vice president of AWS Migration, Marketplace, and Control Services.
Andy Jassy is the best person to propel Amazon towards more incredible achievements because he knows the company and the industry like the back of his hand. The world is eagerly waiting for him to exceed their expectations. He has done it before, and there is no doubt he will do it again.
Thousands of fans are curious about the couple's lifestyle because Tammy keeps flaunting her luxurious possessions and vacations. So, who is the real Tammy?


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The 143rd running of the Kentucky Derby kicks off tomorrow but some are already celebrating. That story tops this morning’s Breakfast Buzz.
The annual derby parade happened Thursday. There were bands, floats and giant balloons. the theme this year was “Louisville on the Move.” The University’s Cardinal Marching Band played and there were performances from several other groups. All to get ready for tomorrow’s derby. You can see the fastest two minutes in sports right here on KNWA on Saturday
Today is Cinco de Mayo! Your favorite mexican restaurant may be short on guacamole. Avocado prices have soared with high demand. Some are up as much as 55%. The most recent Department of Agriculture retail price report prices the average avocado at $1.43. That’s compared to 92 cents last year.
About 15 million Americans have allergic reactions to food. A new study from the CDC shows that while restaurants try to prevent food based allergic reactions they could be doing more. Most have ingredient lists or recipes available. But, less than half of interviewed restaurant staff got trained on food allergies. Those that did often didn’t learn what to do if a customer has a reaction. Experts say if you do have allergies do your research and ask questions.
Google says it shut down a spam email that was impersonating its online file service Google Docs. That story tops this morning’s Breakfast Buzz. Gmail users were getting spam messages with links asking to review a document. The messages looked like they were coming from a trusted contact. Google says it stopped the spam campaign in about an hour. The company says be safe and make sure to use security features.
Nissan is looking to help prevent distracted driving. The company unveiled a prototype called the “signal shield.” Once a mobile device is placed in the compartment and the lid is closed, the Nissan signal shield creates a “silent zone” and blocks all of the phone’s incoming and outgoing cellular, bluetooth and wi-fi connections so drivers can stay focused.
Four video games have been inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. “Donkey Kong,” “Halo: Combat Evolved,” “Pokémon Red and green,” and “Street Fighter Two” now boast a coveted spot in the 2017 class of inductees. The video games were chosen from a list of 12 finalists. They were announced Thursday at the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, New York, where the Hall of Fame was established in 2015.


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Ball in Donald Trump’s court as Xi Jinping champions free trade at Boao Forum
There is no reason to doubt China’s pledge to further open its market
For two weeks, the world anxiously awaited what President Xi Jinping would say at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2018 in Hainan, given tit-for-tat trade threats between the world’s two largest economies – the United States and China. After he delivered his keynote speech at the opening ceremony, the global market felt the relief and most leading stock markets around the world rallied positively.
Why? Xi did not use the forum to launch another round of retaliatory tariffs on American exports to China. Instead, he said that while not seeking trade surplus with any country, China was ready to increase imports that were needed by the Chinese public.
He also promised to remove trade barriers and open the Chinese market further by lowering tariffs on a range of foreign goods such as vehicles, easing restrictions on foreign ownership in Chinese carmakers as well as companies in the banking, insurance and brokerage sectors, opening further the capital and insurance sectors and protecting the intellectual property of foreign companies doing business in China.
There is no reason to doubt the country’s pledge to further open its market. After all, 40 years of relentless market reforms and opening up has generated tremendous wealth for the country. To Hong Kong businessmen who have already benefited from Beijing’s reforms, a more open market holds even more promises.
Many observers believe Xi’s attempts to position China as the world champion of free trade and open markets. If he can convince the world, the US’ dominance in the global market should be weakened and, as a result, the yuan will grow in acceptance on the world stage and could become a strong currency.
A strong yuan has profound implications for Hong Kong. Although it might increase inflationary pressure, it offers a chance for the city to establish its position as a predominant offshore yuan market.
However, a more liberalised mainland market flooded with foreign products may not bode well for Hong Kong-made products on the mainland market because of intensified competition. In addition, increased convenience for mainland consumers to buy foreign-made products in the domestic market means fewer mainland tourists need come to this city to snap up foreign merchandise. Hong Kong’s retail and tourism sectors should start thinking ahead of ways to attract and retain mainland visitors to the city.
At Boao, Xi declared that “we live at a time with an overwhelming trend towards peace and cooperation as well as openness and connectivity”. He also said China would promote global collaboration to build a “world of shared benefits”.
He further said “we can make the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ the broadest platform for international cooperation in keeping with the trend of economic globalisation and to the greater benefit of all our peoples”. If more countries embrace the trade scheme, Hong Kong should double efforts to leverage its status as an international business and financial centre offering world-standard professional services to carve out a special role in the initiative.
Of course, there are potential challenges for Hong Kong. Xi’s promise to ease restrictions for foreign financial institutions to operate on the mainland and allow them to own shares in the country’s securities firms would hasten financial market reforms. As a result, mainland financial institutions would gradually learn best practices, becoming more competitive. Hong Kong’s investment boutiques must beware this scenario.
One thing for sure about Xi’s speech is that China under his leadership does not want to engage in a fierce trade war with the US. Hong Kong should feel the burden lifted if trade war between China and the US can be averted.
The ball is in Trump’s court.
Ken Chu is the group chairman and chief executive of Mission Hills Group and a national committee member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference


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A local bottled water company is hoping for a knockout by tying a new product to movie star and fitness guru Sylvester Stallone.
Sly Water, hitting shelves this March, is the latest in a string of celebrity-oriented bottled water products to debut recently. Auburn-based Glacia Nova has partnered with Stallone to produce the bottled water from the 10,000-year-old Mount Rainier Carbon Glacier, on the mountain's north face.
A 16-year-old company with rights to the glacier, Glacia Nova has remained relatively small. Existing products include Vivali health and performance water, Akali functional water, and Serac glacial milk. Local mountain climber Jon Corriveau originally founded Glacia Nova, and John Destito now acts as CEO.
Last year, revenue was around $4 million, said Glacia Nova consultant Larry Spangler, who inked the deal with Stallone. Spangler, not one to dream small, believes Stallone's celebrity power will take Glacia Nova to new heights.
"I could take them to $200 million standing still with Sly Water," Spangler said.
Stallone isn't the only celebrity to put his name on a beverage product. Donald Trump launched Trump Ice bottled water last year, and actor Steven Seagal recently created Lightning Bolt Energy Drink. The push for such affiliations underscores the prime importance of marketing in the dynamic bottled water market.
Jim Karwowski, publisher of Chicago-based Beverage Industry magazine, said it's still too early to tell if the celebrity backing will help the products. Trump Ice continues to be a regional brand, Karwowski said, and has not gained significant volume.
"With a very crowded marketplace, a recognizable icon will assist you in getting shelf recognition, but it's too early to tell how much traction name association will bring," Karwowski said.
Spangler's Hollywood savvy helped snag Stallone for Glacia Nova. Spangler spent 30 years producing and directing feature films and television shows before entering consulting. After watching Stallone talk about fitness on an episode of "Imus in the Morning," Spangler became convinced that Stallone was his man. Stallone already had his name on vitamins and exercise equipment.
"A light bulb went off in my head," Spangler said. "That's the guy for the water because he gets to middle America."
After a phone call to Stallone, Spangler traveled to the movie star's 44,000-square-foot Beverly Hills home. It took just a two-hour business meeting, in which Stallone was wearing shorts, for the agreement to take shape. Stallone was sold on the brand because of the quality of glacial water, Spangler said.
"There's no comparison to glacial water," Spangler said.
Stallone did not receive an upfront payment but he is a partner in the venture and will receive an undisclosed share of revenue.
The upscale brand will sell for about $2.50 per 20-ounce bottle. Spangler envisions the product competing with other high-end bottled waters such as Fuji, and believes people will pay that much for pure glacial water. But Mike Fox, vice president of marketing for Preston-based TalkingRain Beverage Co., said the price seems high. TalkingRain, which uses artisan spring water, retails for $.99 to $1.59, Fox said.
"$2.50 a bottle is very expensive," Fox said. "It's a very competitive market."
This year, as Glacia Nova is still getting Sly Water operations up and running, the company will offer only 6 million cases for sale. Sly Water will not likely be offered in grocery stores, but will be sold in restaurants, hotels, and on the Web site for the initial launch.
"Why go against all that cheap water in the grocery stores?" Spangler said. "I'd like to see it marketed through Starbucks or another high-end store."
Shaped like a long-stemmed beer bottle with a blue and yellow color combination (one of Sly's favorite color combinations, Spangler said), the bottle is made of nitrogen-infused hard plastic. Stallone wants a product that even basketball star Shaquille O'Neal can't crunch with his hand, Spangler said.
Though the water has yet to be made available to the public, the company shipped 20 cases to the Seattle Seahawks, Spangler said. The Sorrento Hotel in Seattle also has Sly Water. Spangler plans to ink "major deals" in Germany and Seattle in the near future related to Sly Water, and is working on having the New York Yankees drink the water.
"We'll have everyone of importance drinking it," Spangler said.
Stallone is currently filming "Rocky VI" in Philadelphia but will come to Seattle in February to promote the water. After that, the star will begin shooting the second season of the boxing reality television show, "The Contender," for ESPN.


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Everything baby from the one stop baby shop. Prams, strollers, car seats, furniture, manchester, clothing, cots and more. Buy online, by phone or in-store.
Raleigh, N.C. — Tropical storm watches and warnings are still issued for parts of the North Carolina coast as a storm is expected to move. Residents are advised to secure lawn furniture and outdoor grills and prepare for possible power.
Two hotels and four restaurants have signed on to join anchor Nebraska Furniture Mart in its new Dallas-area. of the 433-acre Grandscape mixed-use project for the Omaha-based home furnishings store. He said other retailers are.
In June, developers planning construction of a new furniture store and strip center at the intersection of. a local effort to declare Chatham County and its cities a designated Coast Guard Community. • Approved the site plan for a Jim ‘N.
An elderly couple was reunited with the two men who used jet skis to save them and a furniture store owner opened his doors to flood victims.
The chemicals are also found in products like non-stick cookwear, furniture and clothing. which approved its application to store excavated soil at the site several months ago. According to the agenda of Kalamunda’s July council meeting,
Shop the premier patio furniture collections from Suncoast in the latest finishes, fabrics and furniture designs.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. retail sales rose at a solid pace last month, as bullish consumers bought more cars, furniture and clothes. clothing and sporting goods stores. Restaurants and bars reported a healthy 0.8 percent.
Furniture, Homewares, Gifts and Interior Design at Noosa Heads, Queensland
He’s planning on providing more mattresses this week. McIngvale, who founded Gallery Furniture, opened some of his stores to residents forced to leave their homes after Harvey hit Texas in late August and flooded parts of the Houston area.
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Students will begin working on projects related to the furniture store in a "mini-pilot" that will start in January, said Kleppinger, who will oversee the program. The program aims to teach students entrepreneurial skills, leadership, critical.
He’s on the white-knuckle express from his home in Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast, still more than a hour’s drive away, his mission to retrieve nearly $200,000 in gambling debts owed to him by a former golfing buddy, Peter Smith, who’s.
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Almost three months after Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Texas Gulf Coast, killing more than 80 people and. hand out clothes and supplies along with turkey and stuffing. Furniture store owner Jim McIngvale — a Houston icon known.
Inside the store will be an interior layout consistent with all IKEA stores, featuring a showroom, marketplace and self-serve furniture area. The store will also have a 300-seat Swedish cafeteria, food market and bistro. Norfolk Mayor Paul.
Alpha Furnishers: 125 Faulkner Street, Armidale NSW 2350: P: (02) 6772 3823: Sale Event. Amart Furniture – Alexandria: Alexandria Homemaker Centre, 49-59 O’riordan.
Shop online for home furniture, sofas, bathroom vanities, showers, tiles. Buy a fridge, computer, Domayne Stores are operated by independent franchisees.
Belfast — Cindy Goodwin is the latest Sunshine Award winner at Waldo County General Hospital. Cindy is the front desk person in the oncology department, which makes her the first member of the staff that most patients meet. A nurse in.
Find Furniture ads in Sunshine Coast Region, QLD. Buy and sell almost anything on Gumtree classifieds.


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Tesla Crushes Earnings
Another quarter, another convincing earnings beat by the electric vehicle leader, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA). The first quarter saw the company report record revenues and deliveries once again, bringing in $18.8 billion in total revenues compared to estimates of $17.9 billion. Earnings were also top notch as the company made $3.22 per share versus expectations of $2.27. Shares of TSLA were up nearly 7% in after hours trading following the report.
CEO Elon Musk has been in the headlines recently after proposing a fairly hostile takeover of social media platform, Twitter (NYSE:TWTR). The enigmatic leader offered $43 billion to the company to take the platform private, but so far Twitter’s board has declined his offer. Tesla’s stock saw some volatility leading up to earnings, but the report firmly cemented the company’s growth story and kept its roadmap in check.
The Second Quarter Headwinds
Analysts and shareholders are already looking three months out to the next earnings report from Tesla. The potential impacts of the Shanghai GigaFactory closure due to China’s Zero Covid policy will certainly have an effect on production numbers. While this impact should be baked into the earnings, investors have not looked kindly on businesses with major operation hubs in the unpredictable Chinese market. Considering the Chinese government has already stated that it would be implementing the Zero Covid policy for the rest of the year if there are any more outbreaks, there is a sense of uncertainty surrounding the operations of Tesla and other domestic EV makers like Nio (NYSE:NIO).
Musk has already pointed to the ongoing supply chain issues and has recently been vocal about getting more involved in the lithium mining industry. To combat the rising costs of materials, Tesla raised its prices yet again in China and the US. Pricing power is certainly a luxury that Tesla has over other companies, but there comes a point where it will price out customers in lower socioeconomic markets. Rising prices can help offset falling margins, but eventually, there will be an inflection point where Tesla might just have to eat some of the costs.
Tesla Stock Outlook 2022
I remain bullish on Tesla and so does the market. Ark Invest recently provided a bullish price target range of $2,900 to $5,800 by 2026 for the stock, with a median price target of $4,600 per share. This is on a split-adjusted basis so it is using current pricing levels. Tesla remained mum on its next proposed stock split but there will no doubt be another bullish move once it is announced.
So is Tesla a buy at these levels? As bullish as Cathie Wood is on the stock she sold 65,000 shares on Wednesday to take advantage of the surge. This could be a defensive move against what may be a disappointing second quarter. I’m always on the lookout for a good price to buy Tesla at, but this time, I might wait to see how the headwinds affect the second quarter figures before scooping up any shares.


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We are proud to announce that we are part of MAB Corporation's winning team to be awarded the Former Brompton Gasworks Site last week!
Collaborating with Nightingale Housing, Forum Studio, Studio-gram, Baukultur, Enzo Caroscio Architecture, Landskap Design, Stantec and others, the masterplanned development will include a boutique hotel, integrated commercial and retail offering, an Employment Hub and more than 800 residential dwellings including market sale apartments, build-to-rent apartments, townhouses and Nightingale Housing across the 5.8ha site. The development will also include restoration and opening of the former gasworks structures.
Read more about the project from Renewal SA here.
Congratulations MAB, we're looking forward to getting started on this iconic project!


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Here we go! Nintendo is hosting an 8-minute Pokémon Direct to share some news. Could this be the announcement of “Pokémon Stars” for the Nintendo Switch? That rumor’s been circulating for what seems to be forever. If so, this could be a huge announcement!
Of course, it could be something else entirely. It happens tomorrow at 7am PT / 9am CT / 10am ET. You can watch it on Nintendo’s Direct Page.


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The two most profound changes in the world for our generation have been the advent of the Internet and the explosive growth of the Chinese economy. Today, China’s GDP is equal to about one-half that of the U.S. Only 15 years ago, Chinese’s GDP was only one-tenth that of the U.S. In the fast growing global economy, China is emerging as a major player. The country of over one-billion people has been growing at the accelerated rate of 9% to 10% per annum for almost 10 years now. In Profit Confidential, we regularly comment on the Chinese economy, where we believe it’s headed and how an average investor in North American can partake and even profit on the unprecedented transfer of economic power from the U.S. to China.
Chinese stocks are leaving the U.S. equities markets as fast as they arrived. It has been a relatively quiet year for new Chinese stocks, following the debut of 60 Chinese stocks on U.S. equities markets from 2008 to 2011. In 2012, there has been one Chinese listing on U.S. equities markets, along with the delisting of several Chinese stocks that have been privatized. Since August 2011, 23 Chinese stocks have delisted from U.S. equities markets, according to Money Week magazine.
Some of the companies were delisted by the exchanges due to fraud, while others decided to pack up and obtain listing in Hong Kong and elsewhere. Others were taken private due to a lack of buying and overall distrust in the U.S. equities markets.
We all know about the trail of fraud initiated by numerous Chinese companies that emerged on U.S. equities markets via the speculative reverse merger process.
The pipeline of new Chinese stocks has essentially dried up in the North American equities markets, as Chinese companies are currently subject to intense scrutiny and detail reporting. I like the move to cleaning up the mess from fraudulent companies, albeit, many sound Chinese stocks have suffered in the process due to the general distrust in the market.
The reality is that I do not sense a return to recent years. Speculation of several big Chinese e-commerce initial public offerings (IPOs) looking to list in the U.S. equities markets this year have not come to fruition. Three Chinese Internet plays that were looking at listing in the U.S. were 360buy.com (online retailer), Vancl.com (largest online clothing retailer in China), and Xiu.com … Read More
I’ve been warning about the slowdown taking place within the Chinese economy. Moreover, official statistics reported by China may not be reflecting the scope of the slowdown that is taking place within the Chinese economy. However, there are many signs indicating that the country’s slowdown is actually worsening. What are these signs and what do they mean?
First of all, Chinese companies’ results were worse in the first six months of 2012 than they were in the first six months of 2009, when the financial crisis reached its height.
The Premier of China, realizing the scope of the problem, is considering tax cuts to help alleviate the crunch that Chinese companies are experiencing with this slowdown in the Chinese economy.
SANY Group is the biggest maker of concrete pumps in the world and the largest maker of construction machinery in the Chinese economy. This company reported weaker results and lowered its forecast for the remainder of 2012. The company was hoping to raise $2.0 billion in cash by issuing shares in the market, but had to pull the offering because demand was simply not there. Investors are worried that the slowdown in the Chinese economy could manifest itself into a hard landing, and so are adopting a wait-and-see-attitude.
China’s airlines, including Air China and China Eastern Airlines, are reporting a 50% drop in profits due to the declining demand within the Chinese economy. These are certainly not results reflective of a strong Chinese economy, and there are other measures that are indicating that things are getting worse, not better.
China’s central bank publishes a sentiment survey from companies to get … Read More
There is little doubt that the Chinese economy will be one of the major economies of this century. There is no question either that China’s growth will go through difficult periods. Right now, the Chinese economy is experiencing a slowdown and a property bubble that could cause severe economic repercussions to China’s growth story.
One knock against the Chinese economy is that it is too centralized. This culture of strict rules and discipline stifles creativity. It is creativity and the “animal spirits” of capitalism that have been the staple of the U.S.’s economic success story. Such brash attitudes will be difficult to nourish in a “command economy” like the Chinese economy. This is an economy that is strictly controlled by the government, rather than a free market like here in the U.S.
Certainly, China’s growth will have to be based on the country’s ability to innovate and create products and services that the world wants. The leaders in China understand this dynamic and have decided to take a different approach to improve the Chinese economy.
One thing China has that many other economies do not is a good chunk of reserves—money or capital—that Chinese companies can access to buy technology and expertise from around the world. That is exactly what the leaders of the Chinese economy are encouraging their companies to do.
The Financial Times reports that from 2010 to 2011, China tripled its investment in Europe to $10.0 billion, with that number expected to skyrocket by the end of the decade to over $250 billion. In the first quarter of 2012, China made $1.7 billion in deals in Europe, … Read More
The U.S. equities market has staged a remarkably resilient performance this year in spite of worldwide economic troubles. With the corporate earnings season about to begin, I’m expecting that many firms will issue conservative and cautious guidance, which might weigh down the equities market. Already we have seen several companies issue corporate earnings guidance that has been less than what the market expected.
An example would be Nike, Inc. (NYSE/NKE), which, during its corporate earnings call, issued a statement indicating that it sees further uncertainty in the world economy, raising specific issues in Europe and China among other emerging markets. Nike CEO Mark Parker specifically stated that the company expects these areas to grow much more slowly than had been seen over the past several years.
Last week saw the release of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) survey. The results were extremely weak to say the least. The ISM Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) declined to 49.7 for June. A reading below 50 indicates a contraction in the economy. The ISM Prices Index was another negative component, reported at 37, which marks a decline of 24 points over the last two months. Combining the prices components as well as the PMI index itself will weigh on the equities market, as investors fear this will translate into weaker corporate earnings.
Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com.
I think these signs indicate that we might see more negative sentiment from corporate earnings releases weighing down the equities market over the next few weeks. There were earlier thoughts that additional quantitative easing might help the equities market, but it seems the Federal Reserve continues to … Read More
A month ago, the People’s Bank of China cut interest rates for the first time since 2008. In an obvious response to the slowing Chinese economy, the People’s Bank of China took what it felt was a necessary step to stem the tide of slow growth.
It looks like the People’s Bank of China is more concerned about growth than many people thought, because, just last week, it lowered interest rates for a second time. Clearly the manufacturing data out of China have shown a steady decline for almost a year. The consensus, even among those in the People’s Bank of China, is that the Chinese economy is experiencing a slowdown due to the recession in Europe and the faltering U.S. economy.
The question many investors are asking in relation to the Chinese economy is: will it experience a hard landing?
The world’s biggest maker of concrete pumps in the world and the largest maker of construction machinery in China is Sany Group. Sany Group has roughly 51,000 employees and for the last 10 years Sany has been increasing its payroll within the Chinese economy.
Well, for the first time in a decade, there are reports that Sany Group is laying off workers in the Chinese economy (source: Financial Times, July 4, 2012). The company denies it. However, to put perspective on this possible scenario, Sany didn’t even lay off workers when the financial crisis hit in 2008.
Analysts are well aware that the People’s Bank of China is notorious in carefully managing economic data. In all fairness, most central banks around the world can be accused of the same … Read More


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With 800 million users worldwide, Facebook is a great place for social interaction between people. It's also a great way for businesses to talk to their customers - if they get it right. But while smaller firms use the social network to build better relationships with the public, giant companies such as Amazon proved poorest at addressing customer complaints. (opens in new tab) .
The results were found as part of a study (PDF (opens in new tab)) from Conversocial (opens in new tab), which looked at the top ten online retailers on Facebook, and how they dealt with customer complaints. The worst of the bunch was Amazon, who throughout the week of the study didn't answer a single complaint made by customers on the social network.
The study claims that the great advantage of sites such as Facebook is that no matter how hard companies might attempt to bury the complaints, users will push them to the forefront or link to them directly. This is a huge advantage over traditional letter and phone complaints, as they exist in a completely public and popularly viewed forum.
Conversocial said that that the public nature of complaints could also work in a company's favour, though. If a company jumps on complaints quickly and effectively, it makes them look caring and will result in a positive public image for the business.
"Quick reactions give a competitive advantage, but there is an even greater difference between companies which reply and those who ignore queries. This shouts to your customers that you are not interested in their feedback and simply wish to push out one-way marketing messages."
A recent outage (opens in new tab) at 1&1 Internet left the company looking bad, after it appeared that leaving comments on its Facebook page was more of a priority than fixing the issue. On top of deleting a large number of negative comments, the company made a point of repeatedly posting messages (opens in new tab) that pointed out that the vast majority of their customers were not affected:
"Between 9 AM and 11:30 AM EST a software error caused a network misconfiguration. As a consequence, 1&1 Root Servers from our customers were not available on the Internet. The problem affected only customers using a 1&1 dedicated, cloud or virtual server."
"The vast majority of customers with hosting packages (shared / Dual Hosting / MyWebsite / Mail) were not affected."
While the vast majority did not include cloud or dedicated servers, those customers pay the most for their packages. It seems that many large companies have little idea about how to handle themselves in a public setting like Facebook.


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A selfless couple who provide excursions for children during the summer holidays say they couldn’t have done it this year without the help of shoppers and staff at Sainsbury’s in Melton.
Tina Page and husband Neil from Old Dalby, rely on charitable donations to run ‘Pixie’s Passage’ which takes up to 14 children via a minibus on four summer trips, with the only cost being the admission fee.
The couple have provided outings for the last four years. But they had been struggling for funds to continue their good will gesture until Sainsbury’s allowed them to fundraise at the store.
Tina said: “Sainsbury’s offered a bag packing slot on one of the busiest Christmas shopping days of the year. Parents and children worked hard throughout the day and we managed to raise enough for this summer.
“The checkout staff were really polite and helpful and the support we’ve had from shoppers is overwhelming. We couldn’t have done it without them and so I thank all those who have helped us.”
Pixie’s Passage tries to ensure children aren’t bored and are safe during the school summer holidays.
The funds raised will allow youngsters to visit Belvoir Castle, Splash Landing at Alton Towers, Sundown Adventure Land and Drayton Manor.


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Global music revenue fell 3% to $21 billion in 2005 as surging digital sales failed to make up for a continued decline in physical formats like CDs, according to data from the industry's trade association.
Digital music sales nearly tripled to $1.1 billion from $400m the year before, split evenly between online services and mobile phone downloads, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said in a report today.
The music industry, damaged by illegal downloading since the creation of Napster in the late 1990s, has fought back by aggressively targeting file-trading and offering legal alternatives such as Apple's market-leading iTunes Music Store.
Coldplay's 'X&Y' was the top-selling album of the year with more than 8 million copies sold, followed by Mariah Carey's 'The Emancipation of Mimi' and rapper 50 Cent's 'The Massacre'.
The IFPA said it had shifted to reporting the wholesale revenue received by music companies, rather than the retail price of music sold to consumers, because it more accurately reflects the shifting trend to digital music.
On a retail basis, 2005 music sales fell 2.4% to $33 billion. Physical formats such as CDs and music DVDs fell 6.7% by revenue and 8% in the number of units sold.
Music revenue in the US, the world's top market, declined 3% - in line with the broader market - while Japan, the second-largest market, was flat.
Official figures on the market shares of individual music companies are not due to be released until later this year.
Vivendi's Universal Music Group, home to U2 and Carey, is the world's biggest music company, followed by Sony BMG, with artists such as Kelly Clarkson and Bruce Springsteen; EMI, home to Coldplay and Gorillaz; and Warner Music, which has Madonna and James Blunt. Together, the four majors account for about three-quarters of global music sales.


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Mario Kart Tour Launching September 25
Mario and friends will hit the track once more when Mario Kart Tour comes to Android and iOS devices on September 25.
This title will pay host to special city courses inspired by actual locations like New York, Tokyo and Paris.Special in-game event courses that are inspired by real-world locations will also be available during specific periods at launch and beyond.
You can view a teaser video and gameplay video below:
Mario Kart Tour – Trailer
Mario Kart Tour – RACE AROUND THE WORLD
According to Nick Chavez, Nintendo of America’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing:
The game will be free-to-start.
Players will be able to take a charming and comedic trip when ROKiT Games and Respect Studios’ 2D puzzle platformer Where’s Samantha? Comes out for the Nintendo Switch on August 19, 2021
It’s a double impact when Oro and Akira come to Capcom’s Street Fighter V on August 16, 2021


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Content exclusive to platforms is still "really important," that will continue through first-party creations like Project Natal. Microsoft don't want to be "relying on third parties" anymore.
"I still think exclusive content is really important. First of all, in games, we've said for a long time that a key part of our strategy with Xbox 360 was a level third-party playing field. Now we've effectively done that with Metal Gear Solid coming to the Xbox 360," Kim tells .
"The economics are such that third parties also have to support multiple platforms, and you can't ignore Xbox 360," he added. "It's too much of a business-driver to just be focused on a single platform if you're not a first party. So, it's up to the first parties to deliver the bulk of the exclusive game content."
Xbox Live is a saving grace for Microsoft implies Kim, they can secure third-party exclusive content for download thanks to the proven revenues for publishers. "But I also think we have to broaden our definition of exclusive content now. It has to include things like Xbox Live, because I do think Xbox Live is a real competitive differentiator for us."
"And now Project Natal is going to be an exclusive thing, too. And so, we feel good about how that's shaping up, but it's really not about relying on third parties, because I don't think that that is sustainable, as we've proven. And it's up to each of us to differentiate on our own."
Grand Theft Auto, Final Fantasy and now Metal Gear Solid - all were PlayStation exclusives but now Microsoft has rather succeeded in neutralizing the third-party threat to Xbox. Looks like the corporate giants only have their first-party teams to defend them now.
Does Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear really level the third-party playing field?


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Groupon (GRPN) shares are still trading above last month’s IPO price, but are well below where they were trading on private secondary markets over the summer.
Companies like Groupon are not required to publicly report their private share sale prices, and secondary exchange SecondMarket was prohibited from releasing Groupon data because it participated in the IPO underwriting syndicate (via a partnership with Morgan Stanley).
But a source has stepped up with some relevant data.
He tells Fortune that SecondMarket only brokered one Groupon trade before the original S-1 was filed on June 2, 2011. That was at around a $7 billion valuation. Between June and August, Groupon shares changed hands multiple times at a $18 billion valuation. It then began to dip down again shortly before the pricing (likely due to the relentless press criticism), although I don’t have exact numbers.
For context, Groupon priced its IPO at a $12.65 billion valuation, and opened trading today at around $14.7 billion.
Sign up for my daily email newsletter on deals and deal-makers: GetTermSheet.com


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An eight-storey building collapsed in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, killing at least 70 people and injuring other 200, government officials say.
Many more people are feared trapped after building collapse and frantic efforts are under way to rescue those beneath the debris.
The army is helping with the rescue operation on the outskirts of Dhaka.
Building collapses are common in Bangladesh where many multi-storey blocks are built in violation of rules.
The eight-storey building contained a clothing factory, a bank and several other shops. It collapsed during the morning rush hour.
Many people have gathered near the scene looking for friends and relatives.
It is not yet clear what caused the collapse but local media reports said a crack was detected in the block on Tuesday.
Rescue workers are using concrete cutters and cranes to dig through the rubble.
Local police chief Mohammad Asaduzzaman told the Reuters news agency that factory owners appeared to have ignored a warning not to allow their workers into the building after the crack was detected.
Police told local media that the rear of the building suddenly started to collapse on Wednesday morning and within a short time the whole structure – except the main pillar and parts of the front wall – had caved-in, triggering panic.
Only the ground floor of the Rana Plaza in Sava remained intact after the collapse, officials said, as army and fire service rescuers equipped with concrete cutters and cranes dug through rubble to pull out trapped people. Many onlookers also joined the effort using their bare hands.
Survivors have described their terror as the collapse began.
“I was in the cutting section of the garment factory and suddenly we heard a huge noise and the building collapsed within a few minutes,” a garment worker told private Somoy TV.
“I removed the rubble and came out with two other workers. But at least 30 other workers in my cutting section were still unaccounted for,” he said.
In November, a fire at a garment factory in a Dhaka suburb killed at least 110 people and triggered a public outcry about safety standards in the industry.
The last major building collapse was in 2010, when a four-storey building collapsed in Dhaka killing at least 25 people and injuring several others.
Bangladesh has one of the largest garment industries in the world, providing competitively priced clothes for major Western retailers which benefit from its widespread low-cost labor.
Following November’s fire, Western retail chains who buy from factories in Bangladesh urged factory owners to improve safety standards.


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On tonight's programme, Pam and Ian met Linda Oliver, who has spent years working for Guide Dogs for the Blind. Linda lost her own sight in her 30s, after years of partial vision. She visits people who are visually impaired throughout the North East.
Nominated for ITV's Surprise Surprise, she spent a day with fashion stylist Gok Wan.
Watch the interview here:
More top news
Italian vodka, suspicious sediment and antifreeze sold as spirits are among the potential danger signs for shoppers stocking up on alcohol.
A North East photographer came into the studio earlier to talk about being shortlisted for a prestigious award.
A look ahead over the festive period.


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A construction employee who became a renowned Instagram influencer when he tried to establish a point to his daughter was nothing but a well-thought marketing scheme. The regular worker named ‘Omar’ gained over 366000 followers in just a month of joining social media but the truth is despite playing the central character, he isn’t the one running the account.
The profile is being managed by Mike McKim, the owner of Cuvée Coffee in Austin, Texas who brainstormed this idea. He revealed in an interview, “The whole idea was what we always thought as an influencer, and what we used as an influencer in the past, they don’t always fit our brand. We need a different type of influencer: a hard-worker, blue-collar guy.” Thus, McKim along with his advertising partners, Bandolier Media created Omar who is a real construction worker in the area.
The Instagram account went viral after a @barbzlovescarbs tweet that created a false but emotion-grabbing aura. Where the user claimed that Omar was her dad who created an Insta id to prove that he too could become an influencer. The tweet that has now been removed talks about how Omar asked his daughter who an influencer was. And on learning their profession how he confidently said he could be one despite being a construction worker.
However, McKim has no idea who posted the tweet while his partners are yet to be given a clean chit. Thanks to the sharing of meme account the post and id both went viral. Many claim it to be a silly pet project but how Omar has been fabricated is what makes the advertisement so good and authentic. He lists as being a coffee lover, a husband, and a father. He also adds his profession to the profile as though it marks an important personality aspect.
Omar’s general hashtag is ‘sponcon’ which mocks the influencers and besides this, he also tags ‘cuveecoffee’ in a lot of his posts. “Every morning in a coffee house there’s a big line of men in hard hats and vests, with our viral account it has become easy for such people to easily enter a premium restaurant and that was the entire idea. The real Omar was paid for photoshoots while Bandolier handled the rest” added McKim. The original goal was to reach 1000 followers and people have shown some genuine affection towards the guy.
As per McKim the whole plot started with the beginning of construction work around the corner and the coming in of construction workers regularly. And well this stands as a perfect exemplar of why everything we see on the World Wide Web is not to be believed.


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The advertising landscape is changing constantly as marketers need to come up with new ways to attract an audience that will no longer respond to your classic 30-second TVC and a billboard. The AdRoll 2016 ANZ State of the Industry Report is out and reveals what marketers think of their ever-evolving profession as well as what their views are on the future of digital advertising.
The report is a survey of 265 marketers from Australia and New Zealand conducted by AdRoll and third-party research company Qualtrics.
“Marketing is becoming more and more technology driven and marketers are being held to higher standards of measurement and accountability than ever before,” says APAC AdRoll managing director Ben Sharp.
“The results from this survey make it clear that 2016 is staged to be a massive year for digital advertising and that marketers understand the importance of being able to accurately report on digital campaigns and want to learn how to do it better.”
A release on the report says attribution is a key concern of Australian and New Zealand marketers with 41 percent of marketers not sure how to effectively implement or analyse attribution tracking yet 92 percent consider attribution to be important or critical to marketing success.
The report also indicates marketers have fully embraced the programmatic era with 92 percent of marketers planning for their programmatic budgets to increase or stay the same over 2016 and 55 percent of marketers are seeing greater return through programmatic ads compared to traditional media buying.
After entering a few details the full report can be viewed here here.


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The French tax department would not comment on the deal, citing the right to tax secrecy.
Facebook's French revenues soared last year after the company decided to include advertising income from French companies in its local accounting declarations, instead of declaring them in low-tax Ireland, where Facebook's international operations are based.
As a result, Facebook will pay 8.4 million euros in profit taxes in France this year, about 50% more than last year, the spokesperson said.
That change came in the wake of efforts from French President Emmanuel Macron and his government to press online powerhouses like Facebook, Google and Amazon to pay more taxes locally.
The push has led to a tit-for-tat tax battle with the United States.
France imposed a 3% digital services tax on global technology giants, and last month the Trump administration announced plans to impose taxes on $1.3 billion worth of French imports, including handbags and makeup, in retaliation.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Texas Association of Builders Star Awards 2019
We are thrilled to announce that three of our projects have been selected as Texas Association of Builders 2019 Star Awards finalists in the following categories:
Best Bathroom Renovation – Bellaire ($60K-$75K)
Best Whole House Renovation – Oak Forest ($175K – $250K)
Best Whole House Renovation – Heights – ($175- 250K)
Our team is so grateful for the recognition, and so proud of all our projects!
The Texas Association of Builders (TAB) launched the Star Awards program to showcase the outstanding work of home builders, remodelers, architects, designers, sales and marketing professionals, and industry leaders. It remains the only prestigious statewide tribute to excellence in the home building industry.


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Comcast is already being sued over its “Broadcast TV” and “Regional Sports” surcharges, with customers alleging that the cable company uses these fees to illegally raise rates. Now, several local regulators are calling on their state attorney general to investigate Comcast over these dubious add-on charges. [More]
If you live in a state with legalized recreational marijuana and take advantage of your right to shop at your local pot shop, that retailer might know things about you that you’d rather keep private. That’s why Oregon may soon make it against the law for marijuana retailers to collect or sell their customers’ information. [More]
While federal lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are pushing for legislation to reform marijuana laws, the executive branch of the government has given every indication of a coming crackdown on recreational marijuana, even in states where it’s now legal. The governors of the first four states to legalize pot are now asking the White House to respect their states’ voters and not return weed to the dark ages. [More]
When it comes time to kick back on the couch and get your buzz on, a new study says consumers in states with legal marijuana may be reaching for the bong instead of a beer. [More]
This week brought legalized recreational marijuana to a number of new states, including California and Nevada. With non-medical adult use of pot already legal in Washington and Oregon, this creates a geographically contiguous bloc of four states where marijuana and THC-infused products could be sold. Any enterprising pot entrepreneur would drool over the idea of being able to produce, ship, and sell to all of these people but creating a legal, multi-state weed empire is not easy. [More]
More than two years ago, the attorneys general for Washington and Oregon each filed separate (but very similar) deceptive advertising claims against the makers of the popular 5-Hour Energy drinks, alleging that the ads misled consumers into believing that doctors recommend the product, and that the combination of ingredients provides some sort of benefit that is superior to just drinking coffee. In the last few days, judges in both those cases came to very different decisions. [More]
Back in 2014, the Coolest was a Kickstarter hit that drew even more backers as it appeared on national TV. It crushed records as well as crushing ice in its built-in blender. Yet over two years later, all of the original backers still don’t have their coolers, even as the Coolest is available in brick-and-mortar retail stores and on Amazon. Now the Oregon Department of Justice is investigating the company behind the Coolest, which is based in Portland. [More]
As we’ve discussed in the past, even in states where recreational marijuana is now legal, businesses are still figuring out how the heck to handle their financial obligations like banking and paying taxes, as the drug remains a Schedule I controlled substance in the eyes of the federal government. Oregon has now figured out a safe way for weed dealers to pay the taxes they owe the state, and the process sounds like something out of a movie. [More]
Earlier this year, Home Depot charged an Oregon customer a $28 late fee for allegedly missing a payment on his store line of credit. The subsequent dispute over that fee resulted in more fees, a 100-point drop in the customer’s credit score and now a $250,000 lawsuit against the retailer. [More]
At times it can be difficult to schedule a service call with a cable/phone/internet provider when you notice an issue. So, it’s no wonder Consumerist reader Jack was suspicious of a voicemail he received last week from a someone claiming to be a Comcast employee notifying him that the company had detected poor signals reaching his equipment and offering to send a tech to investigate the issue. [More]
As of this morning, Oregon became the latest state to allow the legal sale of marijuana for recreational use. But some shoppers in the state will have to go pretty far out of their way to do their pot purchasing. [More]
A year ago this week, following a disastrous few months of very public customer service humiliations, Comcast promoted Charlie Herrin to be the Vice President, Making Company Look Less Awful (Note: This may not be his official title). The company subsequently promised that customer service “will be our best product,” resulting in more than a few snickers from Comcast subscribers. Now it’s time to see if these leadership changes and vague boasts are going to get results. [More]
While Oregon law explicitly states that “A woman may breast-feed her child in a public place,” the staff at a Portland Marshalls store are apparently not well-versed in local laws or their employer’s own policies. [More]
Lawmakers Introduce Legislation That Would Give Legal Marijuana Businesses Access To Banking Services
One of the biggest challenges facing the new legal marijuana industry comes down to money: now that businesses in certain states have gotten the go ahead to sell weed, many of them are stuck in a tough spot when it comes to actually dealing payments for their products, since the drug is still illegal under federal law. A group of senators is seeking to change that, introducing a bill that would take the heat off legal marijuana operations and give them access to banking services.
The friendly skies over Oregon just got a bit friendlier to residents who don’t want to leave their weed at home: Airport officials at Portland International Airport said travelers can now legally board planes with up to an ounce of marijuana — for in-state flights only, of course.
Thousands of recent high school graduates in Oregon now have the chance to attend community college without the worry of accumulating loads of debt they may never be able to pay back, as lawmakers in the state recently approved a bill to establish the second program in the country to offer students help in paying for college. [More]
Oregonians across the state are grabbing their beloved bongs and reaching for the rolling papers today, as the state’s law allowing recreational marijuana use officially went into effect at midnight. But as with any marijuana law, there are some considerations before residents start lighting up — including the fact that they can’t legally buy recreational pot anywhere just yet.
Google’s currently hard at work on the east coast, bringing their Fiber service to a number of cities in North Carolina. And, according to North Carolinians, Google’s next move will bring them straight across the country to the west coast: namely, Portland.


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Bloomberg BP is in talks with a solar developer it partially owns to buy power for some of its operations in the U.S. Other companies are making
Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Investigations, Orders, or Reviews: Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or Not Assembled into
REC Group, the largest European brand for solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, has begun production of its new N-Peak Black Series (325 watt peak).
With consistent business growth in the solar industry, Fortune Energy moves to larger office and warehouse space in Simi Valley, CA.(PRWeb March
Microbrewery Mad Mole offers environmentally friendly beer In late 2017, friends and co-workers Martin de Jongh, Ole Pederson, Chris Worden, and
Chinese state-owned developer CECEP has completed a 70MW floating solar project in a former coal-mining area of Anhui, China, in collaboration
Global unit shipments of single-axis PV trackers increased by over 40% in 2018 en route to surpassing the 20GW threshold for the first time.
Credit line from Exim Bank to help build 35MW of PV capacity in the African country through three facilities in Karawa, Mbandaka and Lusambo.
Leading PV equipment supplier Meyer Burger has received a CHF 15 million repeat order for its ‘MAiA’ 6.1 PECVD tool for PERC passivation
REC N-Peak Black series combines n-type mono half-cut cells with a
World’s largest floating solar plant connected in China
IHS Markit: PV tracker shipments exceed 20GW for first time in 2018
Indian bank commits US$83 million to utility-scale solar in DRC
Meyer Burger receives US$15 million PERC tool order representing new wave
ADB invests US$50 million in India’s Avaada Energy


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Reigning Copa Libertadores champions and FIFA World Club Cup 2011 finalists Santos FC have unveiled their Nike 2012 home kit (now available at Subside Sports). The eight time Campeonato Brasileiro Série A switches technical sponsors from Nike subsidiary Umbro to the American sportswear giant for the new season.
The Santos FC Nike 2012 home kit was launched on Thursday night at Rio de Janeiro’s Jockey club along with the Brazil 2012/13 home and away kits. It is expected to see action on Sunday, February 5th when superstar Neymar and his team meet Palmeiras in Campeonato Paulista (São Paulo State Championship) at the Vila Belmiro. The club is currently 9th in the tournament’s top division (Série A1) after six matches played.


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Emma’s Note: Longtime Diary readers will be familiar with Bill’s colleague, Tom Dyson. Like Bill, Tom is a confirmed gold bug. In fact, before leaving on his nearly three-year around-the-world trip with his family, he invested nearly all his savings in the precious metal.
But Tom is always on the lookout for alternative “hard money” investments. And today, he shares the details of an essentially risk-free investment. If you’re looking to get your savings out of the dollar and into safe, hard assets, you’ll want to read on…
I recently heard about a company selling 15-year-old shipping containers for $6,000…
Here at Rogue Economics, Bill, Dan, and I are very skeptical that the dollar and other paper currencies are going to be good stores of value for our savings in the future.
We talk a lot about gold, silver, and other proxies for hard money.
But today, I want to suggest another form of hard money that could be an excellent new place for us to keep our savings: shipping containers.
Let me explain…
Big Steel Boxes
Shipping containers transport roughly 60% of the imported goods we buy today, according to Fast Company magazine.
From the coffee you drank this morning… to the computer or smartphone you’re probably reading this on… if it was imported, chances are it crossed the sea in one of these big steel boxes.
What you may not know is, these boxes pay rent to their owners, just like any other rental property. Except instead of having annoying tenants, they’re filled with “stuff”…
There are many different sizes of container. To keep things simple, the industry counts containers using a unit of measurement called the “TEU.” (TEU stands for Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit. The most common containers are 40 feet long or 2 TEU.)
As of 2021, there were about 50 million TEU of container boxes in service around the world.
Anyway, the giant ocean shippers like Maersk, Cosco, and Hapag-Lloyd own approximately half the world’s containers. The rest are owned by specialist container leasing companies. There are seven big ones.
Pure Profit for This Important Industry
Last weekend, I listened to an interview on Value Investor’s Edge, a specialist shipping research service I subscribe to.
The interview was between J Mintzmyer – a hedge fund consultant in the shipping sector – and the executive team of a large box-lessor company I recommended in my Tom’s Portfolio advisory service. [Tom’s Portfolio subscribers can access the model portfolio here.]
They said some desperate shippers in China were paying as much as $6,000 to buy used container boxes. These boxes are over 15 years old. They cost $2,700 new, and they’ve been earning rent their whole lives at more than 10% a year.
It’s like buying a car for $2,700, leasing it to a customer for 15 years, and then selling it for $6,000 at the end of its useful life. Not a bad business, especially when you own a million of them!
What’s interesting is, even though these boxes have an extremely high resale value, the accountants at these firms depreciate them to zero in a straight line over 14 years.
Put simply, that means any box that’s older than 14 years has been written off in the accounts already. So any amount the company can sell them for will be almost pure and unexpected profit in the reported accounts. (“Gain on disposal” is the official classification for these profits.)
Oh… and the annual rental yield on a container box? As I said, on paper, it’s over 10% a year.
But it’s actually better than that. That’s because the box leasing firms finance these box “fleets” with cheap, long-term debt (below 3%). So the actual returns for the owners of the boxes are far higher than 10%.
For example, the container-box lessor I mentioned above is reporting risk-free 22% returns on equity right now.
I say “risk-free” because the boxes are contracted for their entire economic lives to giant shipping lines that are unlikely to default on the rent.
As I mentioned, they’re contracted at 10% rental income and financed at 3% cost on bank loans. And when they reach 15 years old, they’re sold, and the proceeds go down as “gain on disposal” – which right now, is double what it cost to purchase the box in the first place.
It’s an incredible investment idea!
I humbly suggest that, if you’re looking to get your savings out of the dollar and into safe, hard assets, you could do a lot worse than buying a bunch of banged-up old container boxes…
…contracted out on long-term leases to the world’s largest shipping lines…
…and being represented on corporate balance sheets at values that are fractions of what they’re worth in the real world right now.
Out of respect for my paid-up subscribers, I can’t give the name of the company I recommended in Tom’s Portfolio. But if you’re interested in investing in this industry, just search for “box lessor industry” in Google, and begin your search there…
Editor, Postcards From the Fringe
P.S. I’ve built an entire strategy to protect our hard-earned savings from a depreciating dollar. And I’ve singled out the top names in the gold and shipping industries, so my subscribers can inflation-proof their wealth in the years ahead. To get full access to my research, learn more here.
Like what you’re reading? Send your thoughts to [email protected].


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Premium spirits distributor Mangrove has launched Jamaica Inn Black Ginger Rum in to the UK.
The 40% abv spirit has rolled out into Cornwall-based Constantine Stores, with an eye to landing it in further independent and regional specialist retailers (rsp: £22/70cl).
A three year-aged blend of Jamaican pot and column stills, it was infused with ginger to give it “a bold flavour profile” alongside “hints of lemongrass and citrus”, said the brand.
Jamaica Inn was “an authentic Jamaican flavoured rum of quality and commercial viability”, said Mangrove MD Nick Gillett. “It is a brand which we are focusing on building at the forefront of our Mangrove rum portfolio.”
Mangrove is also seeking international distribution for the brand.


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Bob Iger, who led Disney for 15 years during a period of enormous growth, is stepping down as CEO effective immediately, the company announced today. He will be succeeded by Bob Chapek, the most recent head of Disney’s theme parks.
The sudden move surprised media observers. Iger was expected to stay in his role through 2021 to help provide stability as Disney continues incorporating the Fox assets it purchased in 2017 and rolls out its nascent streaming service, Disney+, around the world. He will, however, remain with Disney as executive chairman and “direct the company’s creative endeavors,” the company said in a statement.
“With the successful launch of Disney’s direct-to-consumer businesses and the integration of Twenty-First Century Fox well underway, I believe this is the optimal time to transition to a new CEO,” Iger said.
The choice of Chapek as successor also came as a mild surprise. If the position was going to go to someone inside Disney, most observers considered Kevin Mayer, the head of the company’s streaming enterprises, to be the logical choice, as the Mouse House focuses more on online video. Chapek had been in charge of consumer products before he moved to parks.
Iger was named president and COO of Disney in 2000 and then CEO in 2005. Before that, he had been a president at ABC Television, both before and after Disney bought the network.
During his tenure as CEO, Disney became the biggest entertainment company in the world. It bought Pixar for $7 billion in 2006; Marvel for $4 billion in 2009; Lucasfilm for $4 billion in 2012; Fox’s entertainment assets for $71 billion in 2017; and then last year launched a global streaming service, Disney+, to compete with Netflix. Disney+ already has nearly 30 million subscribers just three months after launching, and is quickly expanding into more territories.
The Iger era saw Disney come to utterly dominate the global box office. In 2019, Disney broke virtually every record in existence, thanks to blockbusters like Avengers: Endgame and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The studio was responsible for about a third of the US box office in 2019, more than double the next-closest company.
But Iger has ultimately staked his legacy on Disney+, and the company’s ability to transition to a streaming-focused business without sacrificing the integrity of any of its other segments. The streaming service is the culmination of all of the massive acquisitions made over the course of Iger’s time as CEO.
On a call with investors and reporters this afternoon, Iger insisted the decision was not due to any unforeseen circumstances (some observers had speculated he might be in poor health) but rather that he plans to focus more on the creative side of the business while Chapek runs day-to-day operations.
Chapek’s challenges are as big as they are immediate: Disney’s parks and movie businesses are both suffering as the coronavirus outbreak spreads around the world, forcing parks to close and film sets to temporarily shut down. Meanwhile, Disney+ will expand into several countries in Western Europe on March 24 and then to India on March 29. The Mouse House does not have time to bid its longtime leader adieu. There’s much work to be done.