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In December 2022, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the leading maker of the world’s most advanced chips, announced plans to spend $40 billion in Arizona for its first major U.S. semiconductor production center.
The high-profile Phoenix project — with two new factories, including one with more advanced technology — has become a symbol of President Biden’s quest to further boost domestic production of chips, those silicon wafers that help all kinds of devices for performing calculations and storing data.
Then last summer, TSMC pushed back initial manufacturing at its first plant in Arizona to 2025 from this year, saying local workers lacked the expertise to install some sophisticated equipment. Last month, the company said the second factory would not produce chips until 2027 or 2028, rather than 2026, citing uncertainty over technology choices and federal funding.
Progress at the Arizona site depends in part on “the level of incentives that the U.S. government can provide,” Mark Liu, president of TSMC, said on an investor call.
TSMC is just one of several chipmakers facing obstacles in their U.S. expansion plans. Intel, Microchip Technology and others have also adjusted their production schedules as declining sales of many types of chips force companies to manage spending on new infrastructure. New chip factories are extremely complex, involving thousands of construction workers, long construction times and billions of dollars of machinery.
The delays come as the Biden administration begins doling out the first major awards of a $39 billion package aimed at growing the U.S. semiconductor industry and reducing the country’s dependence on manufactured technologies. in East Asia. On Monday, the administration announced it would provide $1.5 billion in grants to chipmaker GlobalFoundries to upgrade and expand its facilities in New York and Vermont that make chips for automakers and the automotive industry. defense.
But the problems companies like TSMC face with their projects could weaken that fanfare, raising questions about the prospects for success of President Biden’s industrial policy agenda. These investments are expected to play an important role in Mr. Biden’s re-election campaign in the coming months.
“Nothing has failed yet,” said Emily Kilcrease, senior fellow and director of the energy, economics and security program at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think tank. “But we will need to see progress and commissioning of these plants in the coming years for the program to be considered a success.”
The Commerce Department is responsible for distributing federal money from the CHIPS Act of 2022 to boost domestic chip production. In addition to the grant to GlobalFoundries, the department has so far awarded two small production grants. It is expected to award much larger awards, running into billions of dollars, to chipmakers like TSMC, Intel, Samsung and Micron in the coming weeks and months.
The government is engaged in complex negotiations with these major chipmakers over the amount and timing of rewards. Businesses are also still awaiting guidance from the Treasury Department on which investments will be eligible for a new high-tech industry tax credit, expected before the end of 2023.
Any delay in the process could hurt the United States because it would lead to a reduction in global reliance on chip factories in Taiwan, South Korea and China, analysts said. Rival countries are offering their own incentives to chipmakers. TSMC, for example, plans to increase production in Japan and Germany as well as the United States.
The longer the U.S. government waits to distribute profits, “the more other regions will attract these investments, and the more cutting-edge investments will be made in East Asia,” said Jimmy Goodrich, senior adviser for technology analysis. from RAND. Company. “So time is running out.”
A Commerce Department official disputed suggestions that it had been slow to distribute incentives. He said the department was taking the time to protect taxpayer interests and incentivize companies to do more to strengthen the domestic chip supply chain.
A White House official said the chipmakers’ schedule changes were minor adjustments that were common in complex projects such as new production sites. He added that forecasts suggested there would be overwhelming demand for these chips when facilities began manufacturing them.
A Treasury Department official said department officials have provided clarification on tax credits for businesses planning investments and are working to issue additional guidance as quickly as possible.
The CHIPS Act authorizes grants and other incentives to boost U.S. chip production, as well as tax credits for investments in manufacturing plants and equipment. More than 600 companies and organizations have submitted expressions of interest for the grants, the Commerce Department said, while estimating private investment pledges to date at $235 billion.
But most of the expansion plans were made when chips were scarce several years ago, after a pandemic-fueled explosion in consumer spending on electronics. That demand has dried up, leaving chipmakers struggling with large inventories of unsold components and little immediate need for new factories.
“Companies are rethinking how, what and when investments will take place,” said Thomas Sonderman, chief executive of SkyWater Technology, a Minnesota chipmaker that has won Defense Department grants and is seeking funding under the CHIPS Act.
One chipmaker feeling the pinch is Microchip, an Arizona company. Two years ago, Microchip was overwhelmed with orders. It requested funding under the CHIPS Act to fuel production and is expected to receive $162 million. Yet as sales have plummeted, the company recently announced two separate two-week factory shutdowns.
Microchip still plans to upgrade its plants in Oregon and Colorado that are expected to receive CHIPS Act grants, said Ganesh Moorthy, its chief executive. But to order machines to increase production capacity, you will have to wait until economic conditions improve.
“We have taken a pause in our expansion,” Mr. Moorthy said.
Intel, which is increasing production, also adjusted its purchases of expensive factory tools. The company recently said it does not plan to start manufacturing in Ohio, where it is spending $20 billion on two new factories, in 2025 as it had initially planned. The change was reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal.
However, Intel said neither construction at that site nor plans for expansion in the United States and three other countries have slowed down.
“The strategy doesn’t change from quarter to quarter,” said Keyvan Esfarjani, an executive vice president who oversees Intel’s manufacturing operations. “We are staying the course.”
Some chipmakers, such as Texas Instruments and Micron Technology, are expanding chip production for competitive reasons. New factories can help produce better quality chips, in greater quantities and at lower costs.
Micron continues construction of a $15 billion factory in its hometown of Boise, Idaho, and plans an even larger manufacturing complex near Syracuse, N.Y., despite a slowdown in market for its memory chips, which store data in devices like smartphones and computers. .
Scott Gatzemeier, Micron’s vice president overseeing the expansion, said construction projects that took several years should be based on future demand for chips rather than current conditions. Renting huge cranes and other equipment and hiring construction workers, he added, are major expenses that might have to be repeated if a project is halted.
“Once you start, you don’t want to stop,” he said.
Other chipmakers are unwilling to start construction without government money. SkyWater’s Mr. Sonderman, for example, said his company’s plans for a $1.8 billion facility in Indiana depend on getting funds through a portion of the CHIPS Act intended for research.
At the TSMC site in Arizona, unforeseen problems have accumulated over the past year.
Last summer, state construction unions raised questions about workplace safety and objected to TSMC bringing in workers from Taiwan to help install sophisticated equipment in the first factory. Delays in installing the machines led to an announcement in July of a production delay.
In December, TSMC and the Arizona Building and Construction Trades Council agreed to ground rules on site regarding safety, workplace training, on-site personnel and other issues . In an emailed statement, Mr. Liu, who recently announced his intention to retire, seemed hopeful that tensions among workers were over.
He acknowledged the “challenges” of building Phoenix’s first factory, but said TSMC was still “the fastest mover” among its peers in completing such projects. Although he told analysts in January that the company would delay starting production at the second plant, also known as the manufacturing plant, worker skills would likely not be a reason.
“We believe the construction of our second manufacturing plant will go much more smoothly,” Mr. Liu said. “Arizona workers are learning things quickly.”


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Tim Carney has more details on some companies that hired lobbyists specifically to get a piece of the kitchen‐sink spending bill:
For example, the National Association of Home Builders hired Baker & Hostetler a week after Barack Obama’s inauguration to lobby explicitly on the stimulus bill, which, in the end, included an $8,000 credit for home purchases.
Better Place Inc. is an electric car company that hired its first lobbyist — Steve McBee, a former staffer for House appropriator Norm Dicks, D‐Wash. — to push for electric car incentives in the stimulus. The resulting cornucopia included an expanded tax credit for plug‐in cars, $2 billion in funding for electric car batteries and $400 million to build an electric car infrastructure, complete with recharging stations.
Media giant Time Warner added to its lobbying army, hiring the firm Parven Pomper Strategies to lobby for broadband subsidies in the bill. These subsidies included $2.5 billion to underwrite loans to get broadband out to rural areas and an additional $4.7 billion in spending on other broadband projects. Similarly, network giant Cisco Systems lobbied for the broadband subsidies in H.R. 1.
Carney calls it “The Lobbyist Enrichment Act.” I wrote about “Obama’s K Street Recovery Plan” a couple of days ago.

domain: news


text: LAHORE - Price of eggs has hit an all-time high of Rs 130 per dozen in retail markets, as layer farming has reduced by almost 30 per cent during the period of last one year.Poultry farmers claimed that production of eggs fell significantly in recent months mainly due to shutdown of a huge number of layer farms with the outbreak of diseases last year and effect is still going on.Pakistan Poultry Association north zone chairman Dr Ghulam Mehboob attributed the high rates of eggs to short supply following drop in production.The retailers are fully cashing in on winter season demand as eggs prices have reached an all-time high. In third week of September this year, eggs rate stood at Rs88 per dozen (Rs7 per egg) and it started climbing continuously on increase in demand due to falling temperatures. In the second week of October, the eggs price had reached Rs105 per dozen or Rs9 per egg, market sources said.Dr Mehboob said that prices of eggs are frequently going up due to the short supply and high demand. He said that a large number of farms were closed in last few months, resulting in decrease of both the poultry birds and eggs production. Moreover, the demand for eggs usually goes up during winter due to limited supply, he claimed.“Many factors that have resulted in increase in the cost of production include currency depreciation, which has spiked the cost of imported poultry medicines and vaccines. In addition, soybean meal - the major vegetable protein source for poultry feed - is not produced locally and has to be imported from India. Sometime back, it was worth 200 dollars per ton. But, today it is over 500 dollars per ton as one dollar used to trade at Rs 85 and is now close to Rs 98. Furthermore, various means of transportation is used to take the poultry from farms to the retail market, which also adds to the production cost,” PPA North chairman observed.He said that prices of poultry products, including eggs fluctuate due to demand-supply mechanism. As it is a perishable product and there’s not enough storage facility available, it has to be sold immediately, irrespective of what price the farmer gets. Major beneficiary of the increased rates of eggs are bakery owners and retailers, which are minting money following record rates of the one of the most desired breakfast item of all seasons. The citizens have urged authorities concerned to take action against those who are charging more profits and demanded for fixation and monitoring of the prices which would benefit the common people.


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Kuni Chevrolet dealership construction gets rolling
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After four years in the works, the Kuni Chevrolet auto dealership is under construction on Fulton Avenue, with a projected opening time of next spring.
Glen Wells, CEO and president at builder Wells Construction Inc., said the delay entirely stems from developers holding back while the economy was still stuck in a ditch for car sales and most everything else.
“Now that the automotive industry has become the front-runner of the economic recovery, I believe we are going to see a number of previously on-hold auto dealership projects get the green light,” he said in an email. “Kuni Chevrolet is a prime example of this.”
The 53,000-square-foot dealership will be at 2449 Fulton Ave., part of several dealerships recently opened, under construction or in the works nearby.
Because of projected consumer demand for new vehicles, Wells said, he’s seeing not only more interest from dealers in building new but reinvesting in existing dealerships.
“The auto manufacturers want to streamline their branding and bring older dealerships up to par with the new facilities being constructed,” he said.
Wells broke ground on the project late last month and anticipates construction taking about seven months, according to the company. Williams and Paddon is the architect for the dealership, while Autotainment Ventures LLC is serving as construction manager.
Ben van der Meer covers real estate, development, local and regional planning, construction, transportation, agriculture and water for the Sacramento Business Journal.
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International Balkan University is pleased to launch its latest service – IBUPay!
IBUPay aims to provide online payment for the services offered by International Balkan University.
Students will be able to pay their tuition fees, books, repeating course fees, legal services, etc.; academics their congress/conference/seminar participation fees; and donors their donations toward IBU through IBUPay, from their homes by using their debit or credit cards.
IBUPay is easy, quick and safe!
IBUPay is accessible at www.pay.ibu.edu.mk


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Purse.io Closes $300k Funding to Expand Amazon Discount Service
Purse.io has announced a seed funding round and released new data on discounts achieved by its customers.
Purse has announced 'Instant', a new product that aims to broaden the appeal of its existing Amazon-based e-commerce marketplace.
A new initiative from bitcoin shopping service Purse, in partnership with Chain and the BitGive Foundation, allows consumers to receive discounts on Amazon purchases and donate to charity at the same time. Called the ‘1% Initiative’, the US-only scheme launched yesterday with the aim of showcasing the benefits of bitcoin both for the consumer and the greater good, while also […]
Bitcoin startup Purse has disclosed that 10.235 BTC in customer funds were stolen over the weekend during a security incident.
Located in San Francisco, Nakamoto's offers customers 10% savings on Amazon items when paying in bitcoin.
Bitcoin shopping startup Purse.io is to offer users a $10,000 protection plan to cover any purchases made using its service.


text: Blame Avatar’s hit on screen. Many of Japanese big portal showed great originality on April Fools’ Day. Half a day ahead to 3D services launch in USA. The No.1 Yahoo! Japan announced their migration to 3D top page on Microsoft Silverlight technology. No.4 portal (by visitors, according to the NetRatings 2007 research [J]) Nifty No.… Continue reading Japanese April Fools’ Day Is 3D! 3D! 3D!


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SEOUL, March 26 (Reuters) - South Korea's auto industry expressed fears of an influx of car imports as Seoul kicked off trilateral talks on Tuesday with Japan and China to allow free trade between over 1.5 billion consumers in the three Asian nations. Kim Tae-nyen, executive director at the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA), called on South Korea to maintain import tariffs on autos for a certain period even after a deal takes effect, so domestic automakers have ...
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text: Washington state’s pioneering winery, Chateau Ste. Michelle, is expanding and replanting its renowned estate vineyards of Cold Creek and Canoe Ridge Estate, employing the latest technology and sustainability standards. More than 38 acres of new vines were planted this year at Cold Creek’s original 691-acre vineyard – mostly to Cabernet Sauvignon. At Canoe Ridge Estate more than 30 acres were added in 2008 to the vineyard’s 531 existing acres, primarily to Merlot, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. Additionally, in 2009 nearly 45 original acres at Cold Creek will be replanted to different varieties, and 14 acres will be replanted at Canoe Ridge Estate. Both sites are famed for providing fruit for some of the state’s most acclaimed wines over the past several decades.


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Milton Bridge has announced the launch of a new website. The company has been relatively unknown for hobby glazes until now, but it has been creating glazes since 1982 and now holds over 550 ceramic glazes and colour recipes. Previously manufacturing for larger tableware and ceramic manufacturers, its glazes have also been sold under other brand names.
It has varied ranges of ceramic colours, from earthenware coloured glazes to special effect textured and stoneware glazes. The company also thought about application methods and a few of its colour ranges are available in a ready to use pen applicator. Although a relatively small company Milton Bridge distributes to over 55 countries directly worldwide and many more through its distribution networks. In the UK Milton Bridge is now moving in a new direction by retailing its own glazes through its own e-commerce website, Flame Crafts and plans to keep bringing new, interesting colour products to UK customers. Check out the new website at: flamecrafts.co.uk
Read more news here


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Watch Horizon: Zero Dawn gameplay in 4K using on PS4 Pro
January 30, 2017 - running watch
We have new PS4 Pro footage of Horizon: Zero Dawn to uncover you.
Horizon: Zero Dawn comes out in reduction than a month, and developer Guerrilla Games recently invited a press to play an updated build of a game.
Our male Alex was there, and he managed to constraint some PS4 Pro footage of it, and it unequivocally looks upgraded given a final time it was shown. The video is short, though shows a new area though any cut-scenes or story.
You can select to perspective a video in 4K, that unequivocally lets we see a details. Horizon: Zero Dawn will of march downsample a fortitude if you’re using an HDTV, though will take improved advantage of a PS4 Pro when bending adult to a 4K TV.
The diversion advantages from carrying been in growth for a while as Sony was finalising a PS4 Pro specs, and it looks like it’ll utilize a hardware improved than some of a things we’ve seen so distant from other games.
Horizon: Zero Dawn is out commencement Feb 28 on PS4.


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Microsoft Replaces Wunderlist with New 'To-Do' App
- By Kurt Mackie
- April 20, 2017
Microsoft this week released a preview of a new Office 365 application called "To-Do," which the company is positioning as the successor of its Wunderlist task management application.
Microsoft intends to eventually retire the Wunderlist app, according to its announcement, though it has not given an exact timeline. Microsoft will add various Wunderlist capabilities to the new To-Do application "in the coming months."
Microsoft acquired the Wunderlist app when it bought Berlin-based 6Wunderkinder GmbH in 2015 for an estimated $100 million to $200 million. That acquisition had followed as part of lightweight personal-app buying spree by Microsoft, which also included the purchase of Acompli (for e-mail apps) and Sunrise Atelier (for calendar apps).
While the Wunderlist app will eventually go away, the team that built Wunderlist "continues on," Microsoft announcement hinted.
Microsoft is claiming that its To-Do preview app is "a smarter, more personal and intuitive way to help people stay organized" than Wunderlist. The app is part of Office 365 services. Consequently, Microsoft is claiming it has some management and security benefits for use by organizations:
As the only task management app built on an enterprise cloud, To-Do offers the advanced security that our Office 365 customers expect. Data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and To-Do is served out of our hyper-scale, global network of data centers. For commercial users, IT professionals can now enable the To-Do Preview through the Office 365 admin center.
The To-Do preview provides reminders, notes and due dates for users. They can also select colored themes. The application shows a "clean slate" each day, but it also has an Intelligent Suggestion feature, based on an algorithm, to surface items of note.
The preview is currently available for iPhone (iOS 9.0 or later), Android (4.4 or higher), Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile and Web. So far, Android users are giving the preview middling reviews, and suggesting that Wunderlist is better.
The current experience with the preview was somewhat of a bumpy ride, according to an early review by Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Loryan Strant, founder of Paradyne. He noted that To-Do doesn't currently appear to integrate with Office 365 services, including password access. Instead, he used his Microsoft account to access the app.
Microsoft is currently working on integrating To-Do with its Outlook e-mail client. Other plans include adding a "list sharing" feature (which is a "deal breaker" right now, according to Strant). Apps for iPad and Mac, as well as Android tablets, also are under development.
Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.


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Dr. Liz Applegate works with Nugget Markets to create a food and fitness program.
March 11, 2014
(from Supermarket News)
Nugget Markets has launched a food and fitness program created by Dr. Liz Applegate, the director of sports nutrition at the University of California, Davis.
The “Dr. Liz Applegate 21-Day Challenge” includes a meal and exercise program.
“This straightforward three-week eating and fitness program, designed with busy people in mind, is more about making good-for-your-body decisions rather than punishing you with cutting calories and tough-to-do workouts,” Nugget Markets, Woodland, Calif., writes in promotional materials.
The program can be downloaded via a link on the Nugget Markets website.
(Read the original article, by Carol Angrisani, in Supermarket News, Feb. 14, 2014.)
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, UC Davis, contact:
• Ann Filmer, Senior Director of Communications, (530) 754-6788, firstname.lastname@example.org


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Mary Alice Reporting:
(Friday, February 9th) New Philadelphia, Ohio – Tuscarawas County Farm Bureau members express concerns over renegotiations or a possible pull-out of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
County Bureau President Jim Rowe says the specific concern is over dairy products shipped to Mexico and Canada. He notes around 19% of U.S dairy is exported.
“Anything that disrupts that effects our price, and a 1 or 2 percent change is going to force more milk in the domestic food chain and there simply isn’t any market for it right now.”
Rowe adds that in January, he attended the Annual American Farm Bureau convention where President Donald Trump spoke about NAFTA.
“He reassured us that they are working on trade agreements. He really didn’t have a problem with NAFTA other than it wasn’t a good enough deal with the United States and they’re hopeful they can come up with a deal that’s just as good or better. That’s what we’re hoping for. That they follow through with what they say they are going to do.”
Another trade product concern is the $2.6 million industry of corn imports to Mexico.
NAFTA was enforced in 1994 eliminating tariffs and most quantity product restriction trades between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
Copyright WTUZ Radio Inc., 2018


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China Losing Trade War, Plus My Top Stock Pick for New Tech
China is losing everything in this trade war as America rallies on.
But you wouldn’t know it from our doom-and-gloom media headlines.
In today’s video, I show you the facts behind what’s really going on and why I believe the trade war ends this year.
Plus, I give you a look at the unbelievable new technology I’ve just started using and its untold growth story that’s getting ready to unfold. Now is the time to invest.
Watch my video to find out how this tech is revolutionizing entertainment, education, big business and travel.
The great news is this mega trend is just getting started. And I’m giving you my top pick-and-shovel play to buy now, while the biggest gains are still to come.
Bold Profits Daily
September 6, 2019
Hey everyone. This is Ian for Bold Profits and welcome to your Friday market video. This week I am going to be talking about recession fears, all these headlines coming out on the internet and the news. I’m going to be talking about it at a different angle than I have before.
I’ve noticed over the past couple weeks the narrative has changed. Now people aren’t talking about rates as much. First it was rates were too high, then it was that the yield curve was inverted. Now the trade war is front and center as to why we’re going to have a recession this year or next year.
I’ve seen all kinds of articles. One was from Morgan Stanley that said the recession was coming in six to nine months. There was one from UBS that said the trade war is going to put the entire world into a recession within the next couple years. Then there was even one that said the U.S. going into a recession is going to happen even before the trade war is over.
They’re covering all sorts of angles on this, but I want to go over what’s actually happening and why China is getting hurt by this a lot worse than we are. In fact, our economy is still going strong. One of the things people are using against China is their currency has gone down a lot. Compared to the dollar, it’s now cheaper to buy things from China.
The reason this could be bad for us is because it encourages other countries to buy from China rather than the buy from us. But it also weakens the tariff. If their currency is down and their goods are cheaper, but they’re charging us an extra amount on them in the form of a tariff it balances out.
The tariffs aren’t doing as much damage as people think. Another thing really hurting them is the fact a lot of American companies are starting to leave manufacturing in China. They are shifting to other countries right in that same region like Thailand, Singapore, Korea — all these other emerging economies are growing.
They are getting out of China and these are huge companies. We have clothing brands like Steve Madden, Elle Brands, Hasbro — one of the biggest toy companies in the world. Also, a lot of huge tech stocks like Google, Apple, Dell, Nintendo and iRobot. All of these gigantic multi-billion-dollar companies.
When you take all that into account, they are getting hit hard by the trade war. They are taking hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of goods out of China and they’re making them somewhere else. It loses a lot of business for China, it gets rid of jobs, it gets rid of production. That’s one area they are not going to be able to sustain if we don’t come to an agreement sometime soon.
That’s on top of the fact that people who have done business in China have repeatedly said that China has done things like steal their tech. CNBC has this list of 23 companies in America that do business in China. These are the biggest of the big companies from here that do business over there.
Apple and Google, IBM, GE — huge companies. Seven out of those 23 have reported that China has stolen their technology within the past year alone. That’s a big problem. It’s been going on for quite a while. One of the reasons we are in the trade war to begin with is because they are treating our companies unfairly.
These two reasons are really hurting China’s business. Everybody wants to get out of there now. The IP theft from China actually costs us an estimated $250 billion to $600 billion per year. It’s not cheap. Even though the labor is cheaper there, it’s not cheap when we’re losing billions of dollars because of IP theft.
Now, they’re starting to pay the price for that because people are starting to leave. It’s really started to take a toll on their production. Last month it was reported that they had 4.8% growth in production over the past year. That is the lowest number they have reported since March 2002.
It’s been 17 years since they had something that low. When you’re the biggest exporter in the world and your production is down more than it was during the Great Recession, you’re in trouble. They are trying to scramble to find some way to solve this problem.
Their consumers are getting hit hard too. They had their worst retail sales number in more than 16 years. People are buying less because their unemployment rate is going up and the consumer is unhealthy. As their economy has grown, people have started to do well over there. They are making more money, spending more, kinda like we are here.
But with all these issues, they are losing their jobs and they aren’t able to spend as much. 80% of China’s GDP growth is because of the consumer economy. They really need their people to be out spending and buying things to drive the economy higher and that’s not happening. They’re in a tight spot right now.
Meanwhile, the U.S. economy is still chugging along fine. Our production has been up month-over-month for 13 out of the past 18 months. The reason I used 18 months is because you can say the trade war officially started in February 2018. That was when the first tariff threat was imposed.
It has gotten a lot worse for China and here it’s not too bad. 13 out of 18 months production has grown. That’s the best 18-month period we’ve had since 2013 and 2014 where we were still in the early stages of the recovery from the Great Recession. The fact that we’re still on par with that level of production is pretty encouraging.
You’d never know it by looking at the headlines that are out right now that say we’re about to go into a recession. Another area of our economy that’s surprisingly strong and you would never know about is retail sales. People are still going out and buying things. 22 out of the past 25 months, retail sales have been up.
That is the best streak we’ve had since 1997 through part of 1999. More than two years of amazing consumer economy, which is important for us because it drives two-thirds of our economy. We are at the polar opposite of what China is going through. They are having the worst production and the worst retail sales in almost two decades.
We are having the best consumer economy in more than 20 years and our production is still on par with where it was while we were coming out of the Great Recession. Overall, when you read these headlines and these articles there is so much negativity and so much to make you think we really are headed for a recession.
But when you look at the overall economy, our production, retail sales and housing market are all very strong. We just wanted to let everybody know that we believe the market has a long way to go up. Obviously it’s been really volatile and really shaky for the past month. May was rough and August was rough, but we do believe that this trade war is going to come to an end soon.
We’ll keep everybody updated with that as more comes out. It is in the final stages. It has to be because China can’t let this go on for their economy much longer or they’re going to be in some serious trouble.
For my millennial topic of the week I want to talk about virtual reality (VR). It’s this amazing technology that millennials have caught on to. A lot of people know it as a video game technology, but it’s going to be used for a lot more — it already is. I’ll get into that in a little bit.
I actually just got the new Oculus Quest, the newest headset that has come out. It’s my first time getting a VR headset. I have to say it’s pretty amazing. I haven’t been this excited about a video game system since I was in middle school. It’s been a while since I was into video games. I’m not much of a gamer, as I’ve said before.
But this is a completely different thing. I can see how it’s going to revolutionize a bunch of different ways of living that we are used to doing a certain way. It’s going to make things a lot easier. The Oculus Quest sold out from Amazon, Walmart and New Egg in the first week it was on sale.
The old Oculus Rift was the first one they ever brought to the market in 2016 sold out while it was still in the preorder stage. The first HTC, another big headset maker, sold out very quickly. The PS VR and Oculus’ second headset, Go, sold one million headsets last year. The PS VR is on track to sell 2.2 million headsets this year.
They’re getting extremely popular. There’s a lot of millennials and Gen Z who use these for gaming. But there’s so many other uses. One of the things I’ve used on mine is this app called Wander. It’s basically Google Earth. You can see all these places on a map, you pick a place to go and it shows you a 3D image of someone who took pictures in a circle.
You’re in that circle and you can turnaround 360 degrees and see where you are in the world. It’s in every country you can think of. It’s in Antarctica, North Korea, which obviously is not a great place to get into it. It’s a safe way to see North Korea if you want to. It’s really interesting to see what you can do with this technology.
Actually, one of the top comments on the Wander app was someone who said they were planning their honeymoon and went to the place they were planning on going in the app so they could see what it was like. It actually helped them with basing their decision on what hotel to stay in.
It’s so much more than gaming. With this app you can go anywhere in the world and see what things are like. You can go to places and scope them out and see what you want to do there. It’s really interesting. It’s going to impact the workplace too. Millennials are dead set on having new technology, especially at work.
I saw this survey that said 83% of millennials will base where they work based off the workplace setting and the technology that workplace offers. If they have good technology, millennials are more likely to work for you. There’s another survey by Nielsen that found 74% of millennials feel new technology makes their life easier, 54% feel it brings them closer to friends and family.
I can personally attest to that. I love talking to my parents about new tech, especially things like VR. I have been talking about that to them for a while now and trying to convince some of my friends about the future of VR. I think they are slowly starting to believe me because of all the article I send them.
The only way to be able to tell the potential of VR is trying it. If you don’t have a VR headset, I do recommend you try it. There are places you can go to use VR where you don’t have to buy it. It’s a really cool experience. It has a big say in where millennials want to work. A lot of millennials want to work remotely.
With VR, you can call into a conference call and have meetings. They are already doing this at a lot of companies. Honeywell uses VR, UPS is using it for their drivers to get practice driving their trucks. It’s amazing what you can do with simulators and VR technology too. You can make it so you’re driving a truck.
Walmart is using this in 200 of their training academies. They have these big complexes where they train employees and they’re using it for customer service. They can have a whole Walmart store simulated. They can go all over the store, learn where everything is, have interactions with customers. It’s like being there in real life.
It’s amazing that Walmart is investing in this to train their employees. That really says something. Same with Honeywell and UPS. These are really big companies that trust this technology. They are finding it helps train their employees. More and more we’re going to see newer companies adopt this technology too.
They don’t really have a choice. If you want to survive as millennials continue to take a bigger share of the workforce and you want to have a happy staff of employees, you’re going to have new technology like VR to assist with the everyday tasks of working. You can use it for conference calls, meetings and things like that.
We’re also seeing it in education. There’s a software called RoOomy that’s used for conference calls and also used for education. Harvard is using it, a college in China is using it and it’s gotten a lot of positive feedback. Those aren’t the only two colleges using it, but they are some of the world’s best schools.
You’d think they’d be the ones to get this technology early because they want to maintain that top-tier status. They know that people like VR and want to use whatever technology is new and good. They are having a lot of positive experiences with it.
I took online classes a couple summers. It’s like you’re not even taking a class. It’s like someone shoving a bunch of work in your face through a computer screen. There’s no structure to it, but if you do it through VR you can be in a real classroom with students, a teacher and a classroom. It’s completely different than what an online class always has been.
If you’re doing it like I did it, you do all the work in the last week. Take the final on the very last day and cram it all in the last week. You don’t really retain anything by doing that. I think VR is the way to take classes. I can see it becoming extremely popular down the road. RoOmy software is a good proponent of that.
They’re one of the first company’s I’ve seen that’s really taken this to the level they have. They are in some of the best colleges of the world. The technology is taking over many aspects of the way we live. We never even fathomed having a VR classroom or training Walmart employees with VR. 20 years ago, it would have been laughable.
VR was out 20 years ago. It was primitive and wasn’t anything like it is today. We’re finally at the point where we’re starting to disrupt these major industries that we know and live with every day — our jobs, our education. The whole point is, millennials love technology. VR can be used in so many ways.
We really are starting to see a widespread adoption of that. To invest in VR there’s not many options available in the market. There’s some picks and shovels places — the companies that make components for the headsets or a couple companies that make the headsets, but it’s not their whole business.
To invest in this, I would recommend buying shares of a video game ETF. It started out as a VR/AR ETF, but I think it didn’t catch on that way. The public perceives VR as video games, so it got changed to a video game ETF, but it’s still a great way to invest in VR because it’s full of companies that make things that have to do with VR.
They make all the components and parts of the headsets, the software and the technology. It’s the Defiance Next Gen Video Gaming ETF (NYSE: VIDG). That is how I would recommend getting in this technology at this time. Down the road, as these startups that are specializing in VR start to go public, there will be more options.
Getting in early is really important. That’s how I would recommend doing that. That’s all I have for this week. This is Ian Dyer for Bold Profits. Happy Friday and have a great weekend.
Editor, Rapid Profit Trader


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AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vast, the leader in Retail Automotive AI and Big Data, announced a new member to its board of directors today. Paul Johnson is the former President and CEO of Kelley Blue Book. His deep understanding of the automotive landscape, and how companies use data and technology to succeed, will enable CarStory to accelerate the growth of its platform.
“Paul is joining at a key time in our history,” said John Price, CEO of Vast. “The CarStory Platform is poised for exponential growth in 2018. We are excited to build on our proven platform and our 7,000+ dealer relationships. As auto industry innovation quickens, we are proud to be a part of the positive change.”
As president and CEO for 13 years, Paul led the transformation, growth and sale of Internet giant Kelley Blue Book, as well as software and hardware services startup CDMdata.
“I have seen firsthand the way data can impact every aspect of the automotive ecosystem,” said Johnson. “The CarStory Platform combines proprietary data, artificial intelligence and mobile-first experiences. It is extraordinary for one company to be so strong in all three areas. The combination delivers a unique market perspective for both consumers and dealers. This makes the CarStory Platform one-of-a-kind and I’m excited to help bring it to the rest of the industry.”
Powered by the industry’s largest database of inventory and shopper insights, CarStory uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to help both consumers and dealers make confident decisions. With a network of over 7,000 dealers nationwide, and touching over 15 million consumers a month, CarStory is the leader in automotive analytics. The addition of Paul’s expertise, specifically in building brands, products and businesses, will accelerate the growth of CarStory.
Vast has a 12 year history working with dealers, OEMs and third party marketplaces. The combination of experiences and innovations have all gone into the CarStory Platform. Using proprietary data and artificial intelligence, CarStory powers the industry’s most complex decisions. Learn more at Vast.com.


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Quick Hits – June 8, 2012
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New York’s Huge acquires Portland’s King/Coyle
A two-person Portland-based Web design team — identified last year as being among the country’s most influential designers — is no longer independent.
The creative studio King/Coyle — made up of Ian Coyle and Duane King — was acquired this week by Huge, a Brooklyn-based digital marketing firm whose client list and 500-person staff back-up the implications of its name.
As an independent design firm, King/Coyle helped create innovative websites for corporate brands such as Nike and Toyota under a philosophy that the next phase of Web design should be about story telling and interaction more than “just about building a massive site,” Coyle said.
Its body of work includes Nike Inc.’s “Better World” site, developed in partnership with Portland’s Wieden+Kennedy, which tells the story of the Washington County footwear and apparel brand’s efforts to make the world better through sport.
It also worked with renowned Los Angeles ad firm Saatchi & Saatchi to create an interactive website for Toyota showing how Prius drivers are using the hybrid vehicles to make the world more interesting.
Its work landed the duo on FastCompany magazine’s list of America’s 50 most influential designers last year.
Huge and King/Coyle will form a new “design innovation lab” called Huge/KingCoyle.
Coyle said the move lets him and King to largely continue working as they were, while giving them the backing of Huge’s vast talent resources.
“What’s nice about Huge is they saw a lot of potential in keeping things small and nimble,” Coyle said. “A lot of times when you’re a smaller shop you have the flexibility and ability to take risks, but you don’t have the backing required to take an idea to fruition. Huge gives us that opportunity.”
The Huge/KingCoyle design lab plans to open to new clients by the end of summer.
Erik Siemers is managing editor of the Portland Business Journal.
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If you were wondering lately what’s been going on with Joe Exotic, you might have your answer soon. Netflix just announced in a video that ‘Tiger King 2’ is on the way.
Netflix released a video calling themselves “The Home Of True Crime”, with quick previews of new documentaries coming out soon. The very last preview is none other than the king of quarantine, Joe Exotic (48 seconds into the video).
A release date has not been announced yet.


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CP Rail Workers Vote to Strike Starting March 16 Threatening Fertilizer Market
Nearly 97 percent of 3,000 Canadian Pacific Railway (CP Rail) workers voted to strike beginning March 16 if an acceptable agreement is not reached, according to CO Teamsters.
Approximately 10-15 percent of CP business is fertilizer, and if a contraction occurs, it would create huge issues for agricultural giants such as Nutrien, who has spoken out against the strike saying that such a move would seriously impact its ability to move potash, nitrogen, and crop inputs to its retail locations across Canada in preparation for spring planting.
Nutrien has requested the Canadian government step in, reminding the government that a loss of inputs early in the season will result in lower yields at harvest, and that global food supply chains are already under pressure.
Fallout from Hurricane Ida, stressed supply chains from COVID-19, and now the war between Russia and Ukraine (Russia produces 13 percent of the world’s fertilizer) are all at play, and adding a rail strike that would cripple movement across Canada would inflict a heavy toll on North American agricultural production.


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Katie Price has been in show business since the age of 17 and amassed quite the fortune as a result.
In fact the mum-of-five, who recently revealed how her daughter's puppy died, was once said to have been worth an estimated £45million as a result of modelling, television work and more.
However, towards the end of 2019 Katie, 42, was declared bankrupt after failing to pay off thousands of pounds of debt.
The star was declared bankrupt by a judge in a London court where she was not present. Judge Jonathan Middleton, who was sitting at a specialist insolvency and companies court, said: "I do judge Ms Price to be bankrupt."
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Before she was declared bankrupt, Katie had submitted a payment plan in the form of an Individual Voluntary Agreement in order to manage her repayments of her debt, which was estimated to be £250,000.
However, she failed to meet the terms of the agreement so the renewed bankruptcy proceedings were brought.
How much is Katie Price worth now?
With five children to care for and an impressive 25 years in the industry, the 42 year old and has made a name for herself through the years as a business mogul.
With several businesses, TV shows and fashion lines under her belt, what really is Katie Price’s net worth?
Well, after her bankruptcy Katie is estimated to be worth just over £770,000, according to celebritynetworth.com. So how did she make her money over the years?
Fashion and beauty
Katie, who is currently dating Carl Woods, has been a big name in the fashion world for some years now.
In 2006, Price released her own underwear range – The Katie Price Lingerie Collection. A year later, the blonde bombshell also released her own haircare range.
Through the years, Katie has also released a series of perfumes, from her Stunning fragrance to Besotted and another scent named Precious Love.
The mum to Harvey, Princess, Bunny, Junior and Jett, also has her own online fashion boutique – Katie Price Boutique.
However, Katie's career as a glamour model is how she amassed such a huge fortune pre-bankruptcy.
The 42-year-old year old was a panellist on hit daytime show Loose Women and appeared on the show up until late 2018.
However, the star has also appeared in a range of different programmes.
In 2004, Katie appeared on I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! where she met her ex husband Peter Andre. Katie also appeared on Celebrity Big Brother, ultimately winning the series in 2015.
The successful business woman also released her own 12-part reality show Katie Price: My Crazy Life, and more recently Katie's fans can get their fill of the star by tuning into her YouTube channel where she shares regular updates with her family.
Katie has also released a number of books, some fiction and some non-fiction.
In 2004, the Brighton-born star released Being Jordan, and went on to add to her collection of biographies including Pushed To The Limit in 2008 and Reborn in 2016.
Now, the TV star still receives sales from her children's books, as well as through public appearances and social media endorsements.


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Two large container ships have collided at the northern end of Egypt’s Suez Canal on Monday.
The collision, which delayed traffic through the global shipping trade route, occurred between the German MV Colombo Express and the Singaporean MV Maersk Tanjong.
In the video above, apparently filmed from a third vessel, it appears that the 1,062-foot Colombo Express is overtaking the 1,089-foot Maersk Tanjong when the first ship suddenly careens into the side of the second vessel.
The gCaptain website speculates: “Something went terribly wrong … aboard Hapag-Lloyd’s containership Colombo Express when it lost control and slammed into the Maersk Tanjong. Both vessels were heading south through the Suez Canal.”
Agents Inchcape Shipping Services, quoted by Reuters: “The incident has severely interrupted the second southbound convoy and the northbound convoy is therefore expected to be delayed.”
Inchcape says the Maersk Tanjong was clearing the Suez Canal Container terminal to join a convoy at the time of the collision. It said three containers had fallen overboard from the Colombo Express, which also has a 65-foot-long dent in its port (left) side, according to TradeWinds.


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By Mark Hanzlik, Executive Director
It’s difficult to escape the cycle of articles and blogs covering the various strategies broadcast companies, print publishers and other traditional media forms are deploying to keep themselves relevant and in-play for available advertising dollars. Before social media, smartphones, iPads, and other remarkable new devices, the advertising industry seemed a lot simpler and hyperbole was not as widespread.
Don’t get me wrong, no one would chose to miss out on the wonderful technical advances we’ve all come to enjoy. But on the other hand, it sure seems like the role of buying advertising across the array of media today has become rather complicated. For many media planners, just sorting through the first layer can be a daunting exercise without even tackling new mobile trends and disruptive technologies that are adding many more ways to link advertisers and customers.
AD VALUE PROPOSITION HAS CHANGED
On the one hand there’s this unstoppable race-to-the-bottom for pricing and immediacy in the digital world which doesn’t help traditional media ad values from declining. Not that they (newspapers mostly) haven’t already thrown themselves under the bus anyway. Industry-wide ad-pricing realignment for traditional media was long overdue.
Ad networks (mostly ad exchanges and real-time bidding) are driving down the price of digital advertising while sometimes delivering garbage inventory. But, there’s no denying ad exchanges have a role to play and could dominate digital in the future. Digital advertising will continue to be bought primarily through ad networks (exchanges, vertical networks, or targeted networks) including Google, Yahoo and other platforms. To media buyers it must be like a land rush except the real estate is moving like an ocean.
Take a look at how ad agencies have changed. The debate over whether digital marketing activities should continue in a silo structure or be handled by an outside shop has now evolved into a more holistic approach where agencies recognize the need for consumer experience-driven marketing. Some agencies like Starcom MediaVest are pioneering that “human experience” and tossing aside old industry standards.
MEDIA ROLES CHANGE
Facebook and Twitter have created new paradigms for personal blogging which have played a small role in re-writing the rules for delivering news and entertainment. Both have become part of an entirely new advertising equation which is still finding its way and looking for financial stability. Advertisers who barely embraced their own web site five years ago are now hosting Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn pages along with blogs and digital transaction platforms. Meanwhile, newspapers and magazines are searching for paywall sweet spot with no proven path to success.
Mobile platforms continue to evolve and advertising follows suit, though the ability to target effectively and create true ad engagement seems to be the biggest challenge. Mobile and the related app development industry have undergone the most change, in fact just since the first of the year we’ve already witness dramatic changes. Even though Android is currently number one and media have already jumped on app development, the industry is sorting out the dilemma itself… how to avoid having to develop a half-dozen different mobile apps to reach consumers/readers.
Broadcast media also has undergone a transformation of sorts and some would think they’ve taken the to the digital age in many ways much easier than newspapers and magazines. But their audiences have continued to decline on traditional TV sets as new ways to view the same old programming are introduced every day. Much like newspapers, a younger online audience is a diminishing ingredient in traditional broadcast. But at the same time, television and radio are continuing to grow their presence on the internet via streaming content. This is a good sign for the industry, and the advertisers who will line up behind their traditional media partners.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Traditional media forms (particularly print and broadcast) will continue to closely monitor developments made by companies like Apple, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Microsoft, Groupon, and others, and hopefully adapt accordingly. There was some evidence of this at the NAA’s mediaXchange in Dallas earlier this year where newspaper leaders outlined a future that certainly didn’t look similar to what we’ve been seeing in the past. As long as the newspaper industry isn’t tied myopically to Groupon-style “daily deals” platforms ONLY and they implement a “digital first” approach to all areas of publishing, there is hope. Broadcasters at the same time must continue to provide the same hyper-local acumen as newspapers and bring to small screens their familiar video approach and provide value to advertisers. Finally, advertisers and agencies must adopt a holistic approach because there’s already so much media fragmentation and they must use the latest technology to assist them in understanding the behavior of their customer/reader.


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Twitter Makes More Mobile Ad Revenue Than Apple, Facebook — eMarketer
Data aggregator and forecaster eMarketer has released a US mobile advertising projection that shows Twitter making more mobile ad revenue than mobile ad network Millennial Media, as well as Facebook and Apple’s iAd “network.” However in 2013 Facebook mobile revenues are forecast to surpass Twitter’s:
Overall the firm says that mobile advertising in the US will be worth $2.6 billion by the end of 2012. The IAB said that mobile advertising was worth just under $1.7 billion in North American in 2011.
Source: IAB (2012)
Mobile paid search is the largest single chunk of mobile advertising, just as it is on the PC. That’s projected to continue for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, Google is the leading mobile ad company today and throughout the forecast period.


text: After fits and starts, the wireless charging market appears to be finally ready for takeoff. Momentum started last year, when Starbucks announced it would roll out Powermat wireless charging first in the San Francisco Bay Area and then on a national scale. Then, at the CES Show in January, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich used his keynote to highlight new wireless charging collaborations, including with Jaguar Land Rover. Then at Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona, Samsung revealed its flagship Galaxy S6 would include two embedded wireless charging technologies, setting the bar for other smartphone makers. Around the same time, furniture maker IKEA said it would include Qi (pronounced: chee) wireless charging in tables and other furniture products. FierceWirelessTech summarizes all of this activity and what it means for the wireless industry in this report.


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Ingevity Corp. announced Feb. 20 that its board of directors and D. Michael Wilson agreed he would resign as president, CEO and a director, effective immediately, as a result of matters relating to his personal conduct. The company named Ingevity chairman Richard Kelson as interim president and CEO and established a CEO search committee.
Charleston, South Carolina-based Ingevity supplies the lubricant and metalworking fluid markets with tall oil fatty acid and distilled tall oil, along with a variety of raw materials and performance additives. The company acquired Georgia-Pacific’s pine chemicals business – including tall oil fatty acids – in 2017.
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- Daily Zen
General Motor’s global chief marketing officer, Joel Ewanick, has resigned. His resignation is effective immediately.
The resignation and illusive hopes
The resignation was announced on Sunday by GM and it is said to be the result of Joel Ewanick’s controversial decisions regarding GM’s advertising strategy. Having implemented those changes, GM is currently struggling with dropping market shares. GM’s spokesman, Greg Martin, said: “Joel failed to meet the expectations the company has of its employees.”
According to some sources, Joel Ewanick was expected to decide whether he would resign or be dismissed from the company. Just few days before the Joel Ewanick’s resignation it was also announced that the company was restricting its executive ranks to eliminate both redundancy and complexity. However GM’s CEO, Dan Akerson, had supported Joel Ewanick even though the chief marketing officer had been criticized because of a decision not to pay advertising on Facebook. According to data, shares of the company closed Friday up 56 cents, 2.9 percent at $19.67.
Other senior managers, who were also satisfied with the Joel Ewanick’s work, demanded his resignation after analyzing a sponsorship contract. The agreement had not met GM’s policies. Joel Ewanick posted on his Twitter: “It has been a privilege & honor to work with the GM Team and to be a small part of Detroit’s turnaround,” adding: “I wish everyone at GM all the best.”
Certainly, the Joel Ewanick’s resignation will cause some problems to GM’s CEO Dan Akerson who has been trying to hamper the company’s market losses and end deficits in Europe which have totaled $16.4 billion since 1999. The days the company has to face also the possibility that Toyota will reclaim the title of the largest automaker from GM itself.
A marketing wiz
52-year-old Joel Ewanick has been viewed as a marketing genius especially in the automotive enviroment. He is, however, best known for his achievements while working at Hyundai Motor America. The well known Assurance Program was created by Joel Ewanick himself during the Great Recession. Any Hyundai’s buyer who lost his job could return his new car according to the program. Although, only a few hundred customers took the opportunity to do it, a marketing triumph was undeniable and it helped Hyundai to grab market share from rivals.
Joel Ewanick was named Automotive News’ 2009 marketing all star of the year, Brandweek’s 2009 marketer of the 9ear and Forbes’ chief marketing officer of the year. After working for Hyundai, he started his adventure with Nissan North America just to change it for GM in May 2010.
Although Joel Ewanick had been known as a marketing wiz, he was not able to use his magic in GM. His decisions regarding pulling $10 million in ads from Facebook and not advertising at the Super Bowl were questioned.
“Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” –Jim Rohn
But not only Joel Ewanick had to kiss GM goodbye. Karl-Friedrich Stracke was removed as head of European operations. GM has employed many new faces such as Steve Girsky, Thomas Sedran. The company believes that they will be able to change a current deteriorating situation of the company. According to data, GM’s losses in Europe have totaled $16.4 billion since 1999. There are still a lot of things to be done.


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Last year, I visited China and I was struck at how much major cities like Shanghai have rapidly modernized. But nowadays, the world’s second-biggest economy has been forwarding its own innovations. One is a relatively underappreciated company called Luckin Coffee (NASDAQ:LK). A homegrown rival to global juggernaut Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX), LK stock has soared since its initial public offering in May 2019.
As you might imagine, I’m long-term bullish on the organization. But what might surprise some readers is that I’m not bothered by the nearer-term challenges. Of course, I’m referring to the coronavirus from China. While we’ve seen some sharp volatility in LK stock from last month’s highs, I regard any ensuing corrections as buying opportunities.
LK Stock Offers a Contrarian Discount
Browse the blogosphere long enough and you’ll come across doom-and-gloom prognostications. Even some mainstream sources are hinting at a dire outcome. But as I’ve said before, history tends to rhyme, if not outright repeat. Eventually, Chinese and international health authorities will assert control over the outbreak.
Generally, that’s not where sentiment is right now, which explains the sharp drop in LK stock since the second half of January. Yet patient investors should regard this circumstance as a discount. Years from now, you’ll thank me for pushing the bullish thesis.
Even before the coronavirus outbreak occurred, one of the most compelling arguments for Luckin was its underlying business model. Contrary to Starbucks, Luckin’s emphasis has never been about large physical footprints for customers to lounge about. Instead, Luckin focuses on smaller stores, often integrated into corporate buildings and college campuses. Here, the purpose is pickup orders: Get your coffee and leave!
Coincidentally, this distinctive business model plays almost perfectly into the coronavirus outbreak. I highly doubt that during a health crisis, our everyday cravings go away. More to the point, millions upon millions of Chinese professionals have to make a living. While they’re out grinding away the hours, they might as well pick up a cup of joe.
And that’s all they’re doing — getting their coffee and heading off to their next destination. Neither the customers nor the workers want unnecessary interaction. And that favors Luckin but not so much SBUX.
Further, Luckin is taking its small footprint model to its logical conclusion: smart unmanned vending machines. By the end of last year, the company reported 4,507 self-operating stores. Again, this was a great business choice for fast-paced China without the coronavirus. With it, it’s a vital mitigating factor.
Behavioral Shift Might Benefit Luckin
As you know, it wasn’t until relatively recently that China emerged as a legitimate superpower. But that also means that for many decades, its citizens were deprived of many cultural experiences that the West takes for granted.
Thus, mundane acts for us Americans — such as buying coffee at Starbucks or eating out at McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) — are what the Chinese regard as status symbols. Particularly, China’s millennials and the nation’s burgeoning middle class want to show off and flex their financial muscles.
But today, that thought process has all but died. The immediate concern is to not get sick. And prancing around in high-density metropolitan areas is simply not in the cards. Again, the emphasis is on the product and how quickly you can get it, not on the experience.
This might turn a lot of new customers onto Luckin, especially its unmanned stores. In a strange way, the coronavirus isn’t just creating a discounted opportunity in LK stock. It’s also one of the main, albeit temporary reasons to actively buy shares.
Matthew McCall left Wall Street to actually help investors — by getting them into the world’s biggest, most revolutionary trends BEFORE anyone else. The power of being “first” gave Matt’s readers the chance to bank +2,438% in Stamps.com (STMP), +1,523% in Ulta Beauty (ULTA) and +1,044% in Tesla (TSLA), just to name a few. Click here to see what Matt has up his sleeve now. Matt does not directly own the aforementioned securities.


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Back in March, Samsung first demonstrated their next-generation 64GB DDR4 Registered DIMMs. Based on Samsung’s new 16Gbit DDR4 memory chips, these new RDIMMs would offer 64GB of memory capacity in a standard dual-rank RDIMM, effectively doubling the capacity of mainstream servers. Now this afternoon, in conjunction with AMD and HPE, Samsung is announcing that they’ve kicked off mass production of these DIMMs. Up until now, the largest dual-rank RDIMM available has been 32GB, owing to the capacity limitations imposed by 8Gbit memory chips. 64GB RDIMMs have been available, but these require a more esoteric quad-ranked configuration that comes at a higher cost and with additional performance and compatibility tradeoffs. However now that the company is finally producing 16Gb DDR4 chips, Samsung can produce simpler “monolithic&rdquo...
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The last few weeks have seen a substantial drop in the financial markets. Since the beginning of September the Dow Jones Industrial Average has declined 22%, continuing a downward trend that began over a year ago; over the past 12 months the market dropped more than 35%. At the same time, the U.S. unemployment figure is at its highest level in 14 years, and many economists expect unemployment to increase further in 2009. It is also widely believed that the current financial crisis could lead to a worldwide recession. From an M&A perspective, sellers and buyers of companies must understand that transactions are likely to be more difficult and time consuming. Private equity is somewhat hampered by the credit crunch, and many strategic buyers, including the largest controls companies, have watched their market capitalization erode, dampening enthusiasm for acquisitions in the boardroom. The positive news is that fundamentally sound, growing businesses are more likely to stand out in today’s M&A market, and garner strong interest from both private equity and strategic buyers. In addition, for automation companies, and specifically the top 20 controls companies, as ranked by Control magazine, have been involved in as many transactions in YTD 2008 as they were in all of 2007. This suggests that M&A activity in the industry is stronger than the M&A market as a whole.
One of the primary factors in the M&A market is the availability of leverage. The current credit markets are straining the ability for all parties, private equity groups in particular, to get adequate financing for acquisition opportunities. In addition, cash flow loans are now almost exclusively limited to companies with strong financial performance and in industries thought to be recession resistant. As a result, asset-based lending doubled to an average of 14% of total loan volume by September 2008, compared to 7% during 2007. To bridge the financing gap there’s been a spike in the use of mezzanine debt, which increased to 31% of total debt in Q3 2008 from only 5% in Q3 2007. The changes in these metrics have caused total debt multiple leverage for transactions to drop to approximately 3.9% for Q3 2008, down from 6.0% (close to a record high) at the same point last year.
Middle market M&A activity, defined as transactions with enterprise value between $10 million and $250 million, as a whole declined 21% from its Q3 2007 level. Aggregate average purchase price multiples for completed transactions have declined to an average of 8.4x EBITDA for the first three quarters of 2008 as compared to 9.3x for this same period in 2007, consistent with lower debt multiples. However, while overall middle market activity has slowed, cross border activity has increased month over month from August 2007 to September 2008. This highlights the importance of companies being able to access foreign buyers, as they provide an advantage because of strong currency exchange rates.
Specific to the controls and automation sector, the top 10 controls companies saw their average market capitalization decline over 50% YTD 2008 as compared to the first three quarters in 2007. Price to earnings multiples of these companies also declined over 55% during this same time period. What we see in the market, particularly for controls companies, are many companies that remain fundamentally strong yet have lower valuations because of uncertainty regarding future performance and general economic conditions. Some of these companies have been aggressively seeking to acquire more businesses, particularly as there is less competition from leverage-constrained private equity firms. However, others—particularly those that have experienced a dramatic decline in market capitalization—are proceeding cautiously with acquisitions, even if there is ample cash on hand.
Also within the controls and automation field, there have been nearly as many transactions in YTD 2008 as there were in all of 2007 among the 20 largest companies. This compares to the M&A market seeing a 21% drop in transactions over the first three quarters of 2008. Similarly, 60% of the top 10 controls companies are on pace to close more transactions in 2008 than they did in 2007. This is impressive, especially considering the market capitalization declines for the sector. These same 10 controls companies were able to increase EBITDA by 12%, on average, from Q3 2007 to Q3 2008 while growing top line revenue by 10%, on average, over the same period. The top 10 controls companies, and the sector as a whole, will be looked at favorably from a transactions perspective if this financial momentum continues.
Whether these trends continue through Q4 2008 and into 2009 remains to be seen. However, what we can say confidently is that the controls and automation industry has been a more attractive place for capital for the first three quarters of 2008 compared to the market as a whole. The industry’s largest strategic buyers are still very active, and private equity firms are becoming more creative with transaction structures as they still have plenty of equity capital to put to work. If an automation company can continue to grow profitability in the current economic environment, there will be interested suitors.
Lincoln International’s Electronics Group is led by a former CEO of a public electronics company and a former leading Wall Street analyst covering the electronics industry. The firm’s Electronics team provides transactional, financial and strategic advisory services to electronics companies and private equity groups, with a focus in the controls industry. Lincoln covers the major economies of the world with offices in Chicago, Frankfurt, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, New York, Paris, Tokyo, and Vienna and with strategic partnerships in China and India.


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Octaplus Internet is the latest ISP to get on board with Netgem TV. The UK-based Internet service provider and network operator Octaplus was established in 2022 and offers a better level of broadband service throughout the country. The ISP was founded by Gladstone Gonsalves, who has been running Alegra Broadband, an Indian ISP, for the past 8 years & Xavier Vas, an experienced Businessman, running several businesses in multiple countries.
Octaplus is a Full Fibre broadband internet provider in the UK building a brand new broadband network with a cloud based telephony system and TV services. They also offer services to Small Businesses. They will soon launch IoT and smart home solutions to bolster their portfolio
Octaplus launched initially in Hull in May 2022, joining MS3’s fibre network, combining broadband services with its own digital phone and TV offering and in July will launch across the Nation on CityFibre and Openreach network providing speeds of up to 1Gbps.
Octaplus has decided to team up with Netgem TV to offer its award-winning TV service to its subscribers as part of its competitively priced TV and broadband bundles. This new partnership puts Octaplus in a strong position to offer its customers a one-stop-shop for all their connectivity and communication needs.
To celebrate this exciting launch, the first 300 customers will have access to an exclusive offer including TV service and 1 year of Amazon prime video, a HD TV Soundbox worth £249 and 500 Mbps broadband all for only £35 per month. An exceptional opportunity not to be missed just before summer!
Gladstone Gonsalves, Founder of Octaplus said: “Exciting times ahead of us. Our partnership with Netgem will help us deliver our supercharged internet services along with a TV bundle, helping customers to find all digital necessities under one provider, with an intent of helping our customers to reduce their monthly outgoings and cutting their TV bills to half”
Shan Eisenberg, Chief Commercial Officer at Netgem TV added: “UK consumers have never been as much value hungry as they are in today’s economic climate – it’s a great time to partner with ISPs like Octaplus to deliver market-beating value on connectivity and entertainment and accelerate both our subscribers growth.”
High-speed internet is here. But are you finding your current internet service provider isn’t delivering what you need?
Octaplus is on a mission to provide UK residents and businesses a better broadband experience than you can get from the big-name companies AND at a great price. We have personally experienced how large internet service providers neglect the customer – consistently under delivering. Octaplus has chosen to structure its broadband service and support team to address those issues head-on.
We provide you a superior experience in three key areas that we’ve found our customers value highly.
- Fast broadband speeds tailored to your unique requirements, delivered consistently without interruption – whether you’re uploading large files, downloading video content, or attending a web meeting.
- Experienced, 24/7/365 support team excels at diagnosing and resolving the most common (and not-so-common) problems…so you get back online quickly and painlessly.
- No gotchas. You get a digital phone without a line rental fee. Value-priced TV service. And blazing-fast internet, typically half the price of other providers. All that without hidden fees, sneaky expensive contract terms or internet speeds that fluctuate or get throttled down once a monthly data cap is hit.
Join Octaplus Super Charged Internet and experience the next generation Internet Services.
Netgem enables through its “Netgem TV” service personalised access to a comprehensive lineup of TV streaming services on all screens in and outside the home, through a single application. This service is marketed directly to consumers, or through partnerships with Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
For viewers, Netgem TV is the guarantee of paying only for the best of TV, whilst having the freedom to choose the fibre broadband offer that suits them best and to pick additional streaming services, on their terms. Through its SuperStream service, NetgemTV also greatly improves WiFi coverage throughout the home, and optimises all Video Streaming.
For the ISP, Netgem brings access to an innovative service, designed for new viewing habits and delivering on the promise of ultrafast fibre broadband – all with a Capex-light and “pay as you grow” business model aligning interests between the ISPs and Netgem with a particular focus on customer satisfaction.
Netgem is listed on Euronext Growth.(ISIN: FR0004154060, Reuters: ETGM.PA, Bloomberg: ALNTG FP) www.netgem.com


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SEOUL, April 10 (Yonhap) -- Kia Motors Corp.'s union has called for the halt to U.S. production of the automaker's brand new Telluride three-row SUV as weak vehicle sales can jeopardize jobs in South Korea, industry sources said Wednesday.
The issue is expected to take on prominence at this year's collective bargaining talks between the automaker's workers and management, with many observers predicting the carmaker will reject the demand.
"There has been a drop in local car output leading to excess capacity that can be taken up by the Telluride being produced in South Korea," a union representative said.
The large crossover is currently being assembled at Kia's West Point plant in Georgia. The car was designed and built with the North American market in mind and only comes with a gasoline engine, instead of the diesel unit that is more popular in South Korea.
In addition to the flagship Telluride, Kia's union is requesting that all production of its all-new compact SP2 crossover take place in South Korea instead of being split with the carmaker's assembly line in Andhra Pradesh, India.
The vehicle is expected to reach consumers late this year with South Korean production slated for July being followed by assembly in India from September onward.
Kia Motors said that it has already explained in advance details of its production plans for the Telluride and SP2 to workers, so it broke no agreement on consultation.
"It is not even certain if such motions will actually be agreed upon by all workers as both matters have already been touched upon during previous union-management talks," a Kia spokesperson said.
Instead of building the Telluride, local plants will continue to build the updated version of the large Mohave SUV going forward so there should be no shortfall in work, according to the sources.
Kia Motors said the latest request is not new, with workers having demanded similar demands in the past that were rejected due to various reasons.
The carmaker said workers in the past wanted the Ceed compact, which was produced in Europe, to be built in South Korea. This demand was rejected in the face of global market trends.
Meanwhile, workers at the carmaker's larger cousin Hyundai Motor Co. are also demanding that no workers are let go as the company moves to go all out to expand its electric vehicle (EV) lineup in the coming years.
South Korea's No. 1 carmaker said it will produce some 450,000 EVs by 2025, and along with the company's move to adopt more advanced production systems, there have been concerns that thousands of jobs may be lost.
Related to concerns of job cuts in the auto industry, automotive industry portal MarkLines Co. said vehicle sales in the United States, which can impact many carmakers, slid in the first quarter of 2019, while another global think tank, Fraunhofer Institute, predicted one in three engine and transmission-related jobs will be cut by 2030 in Germany with the growth of EVs.
Moon's post-corona presidency laden with tough tasks
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Anti-Tada bill a major setback for Korea's innovation drive
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Retail giants undergoing painful restructuring amid earnings shock


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Amazon opens checkbook for streaming video
Amazon.com's deal to purchase streaming movies from cable network Epix could transform the way such deals are done, thanks to a pay-for-performance sweetener that had not been previously disclosed.
Amazon.com Inc's deal to purchase streaming movies from cable network Epix could transform the way such deals are done, thanks to a pay-for-performance sweetener that had not been previously disclosed.
According to an executive directly involved in the deal, Amazon agreed to an earn-out provision payable to Epix over time if the number of subscribers to Amazon's Prime Instant Video service rises above a certain threshold. That comes in addition to a fixed upfront fee, the basis for most subscription video-on-demand deals up to this point.
The generous terms of the deal, announced in September, provide the strongest evidence yet that Amazon is willing to pay up to be a player in this market as it faces a dwindling demand for DVDs - once its core entertainment offering - and tough competition for its Kindle Fire tablets.
Film studios and TV network executives, meanwhile, now have a worthy foil to play against Netflix - once the only major streaming player - and possibly a template for future deals.
'This could be considered online video deals 2.0. After doing 1.0 deals mostly with Netflix and a few with Amazon, it dawned on the media companies that they may want to get a piece of any future growth too,' said Goldman Sachs media analyst Drew Borst.
The deal with Epix - a partnership between Hollywood studios Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Lionsgate - was structured so studios could capture any rapid Prime Instant Video growth, according to the executive involved in the transaction.
Amazon did not respond to a request for comment on details of the deal. An Epix spokeswoman also declined to comment.
But Epix Chief Executive Mark Greenberg did say of Amazon: 'Internet delivery of content is a way in which a new, emerging younger audience wants to view content, and they know they can be a significant player in the space, we are happy to help them get there.'
Epix previously had a deal with Netflix, which had been paying $200 million a year since 2010 for exclusive rights to the network's movies. When that exclusivity period expired, Amazon swooped in and quickly struck a three-year partnership to add about 3,000 movies from Epix to Prime Instant Video.
The deal sent a message that Amazon, which has not had a reputation for paying richly for anything, was serious about its digital video ambitions and was willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to secure content.
'There are times when it's frugal to make big productive investments,' said Roy Price, head of Amazon Studios, Amazon's Hollywood studio. 'When there are opportunities to do that we will do that.'
Hollywood's new best friend
The studios are going to benefit.
'Hollywood loves it because they can say Amazon is paying us X and we want more from you,' said Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities in LA. 'It's a club they can use to beat Netflix over the head.'
A Netflix spokesman declined to comment on the structure of its content deals.
'We never thought that we were going to operate without competition,' Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer, said during an investor conference last month. 'We were surprised that it has taken this long for anyone to really emerge in a meaningful way.'
Amazon's Prime Instant Video service has more than 25,000 titles now, but that is still about half the number available on Netflix.
In addition to Netflix, Amazon also competes with Hulu, run by Jason Kilar, one of Amazon's former executives, which has a subscription video service called Hulu Plus. Earlier this year, Comcast Corp launched a rival called Streampix and Verizon and Coinstar's Redbox are expected to launch a competing service soon.
While Amazon's streaming deals cost less than Netflix's in raw dollar terms, it pays more on a per-subscriber basis, according to media executives and Wall Street analysts.
Amazon offers its streaming-video-on-demand service (SVOD) as a feature of its Prime program, which charges $79 a year in the United States for free two-day shipping on most products the company sells.
The company does not disclose subscriber figures for its Prime service. But some media companies that have done streaming video deals with Amazon have seen the data. One executive who has seen the figures told Reuters Amazon has about 9 million Prime subscribers. Prime Video subscribers - Prime members who have used the streaming service - total between 3 million and 4 million, this person said.
Netflix's larger customer base - it has about 25 million streaming video subscribers in the United States - means its total cost in licensing deals is typically higher than Amazon's, said the executive. But Amazon's cost basis, when adjusted for subscribers, is typically higher since its customer base is smaller.
Amazon does not disclose how much it pays for content. Barclays analyst Anthony DiClemente estimates that Amazon spends about $1 billion a year on content for its streaming service while Netflix spends close to $2 billion a year.
Netflix shares dropped as much as 11 percent the day Amazon's Epix deal was unveiled, although they have recovered since then.
Netflix stock jumped more than 10 percent on Monday after Morgan Stanley upgraded the company, saying Amazon was unlikely to separate its streaming video subscription service from its broader Prime offering, making it less of a direct competitor.
However, keeping Prime Instant Video packaged with its Prime shipping program will help Amazon pay more for video content, because it can subsidize content costs from profits made when Prime customers buy more physical products through the company, Wedbush's Pachter said.
The importance of prime
Amazon, which ranks as the world's largest Internet retailer, has been a leading purveyor of DVDs, but sales are falling as more viewers download and stream video instead.
The downward spiral of DVDs sales dovetails with Amazon's face-off against Apple Inc in tablet computing. Amazon is pricing its Kindle Fire devices lower than Apple's iPad with the aim of using it as a loss-leader to generate profit from the products and services consumers buy on its site, including digital movies, TV shows and books.
That means that gaining access to digital movies and TV shows is crucial for Amazon's future.
Since the middle of 2011, Amazon has announced streaming video deals with more than 10 media companies, including NBCUniversal, part of Comcast, News Corp's Fox, and ABC, part of Walt Disney Co.
Amazon has been selective about which content it will buy, in contrast to Netflix, which has opted to pursue a broader range, according to media executives who have done deals with both companies.
'The fact that they have spent a lot of money on a few things has been very interesting,' said Netflix's Sarandos during last month's investor conference. 'We're obviously keeping a good eye on it.'
Some media companies are treading carefully with Amazon, though, given its track record of driving prices down.
In the book and e-book market, where Amazon grew to be the dominant player, it has battled publishers for the right to set its retail prices below wholesale.
Amazon will have more difficulty commoditizing movies and TV shows because it is competing for content with a growing list of streaming video on demand rivals. And Hollywood controls how and when its content is distributed more tightly, with big-budget films traditionally heading to theaters first, followed by DVD and pay TV.
For example, one media company has short-term agreements with Amazon that allow for quick exits if the deal does not go according to plan, said an executive.
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Mr Price Group has announced plans to shut Nigerian operations due to weak economic growth and other difficulties.
Mark Blair, chief executive of Mr Price Group told analysts the company has hit too many roadblocks in the country.
“Quite frankly I’m not prepared to invest any further, whether it’s investment in time or in money, into a country that is volatile as it is.
“In the early days we were making money but now we just came up against too many roadblocks, whether it’s getting the money out, etc,” Blair said.
The group has closed four of its five stores in Nigeria and expects to close the final one in the coming months.
Mr Price CFO Mark Stirton said the company now wants to concentrate more on its SA operations which is why it has also discontinued its operations in Poland and Australia in 2019.
Recently, the group reported a 2.1% rise in total revenue from continuing operations for the 52 weeks ended 28 March, to R23bn with retail sales increasing by 1.5% (comparable stores -1.4%) to R21.2bn.