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Expedia: Sluggish Growth Not Due To Direct Booking
Photo courtesy of Expedia
Expedia is taking a big mea culpa when it comes to their sluggish quarterly growth.
The online travel agent (OTA) is reporting only a 12 percent rise in dollar volume of room nights compared to 35 percent last year and is projecting a decrease of revenue-per-night over the course of 2016. Though the company was quick to point to plenty of other positive metrics, the fact remains: The company is not growing as fast as it has hoped in 2016.
The OTA was quick to blame themselves rather than competition, and in a conference call about the sluggish numbers, Chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi said:
“We haven’t seen any real correlation in our performance in chain-heavy markets versus chain-light markets. You would think that in a market that has lots of chains, you would see some commercial or performance degradation to the extent that inventory quality is lessening. But we haven’t seen any of that whatsoever….
“What we have seen is a shift of our bookings from some of the chains that are discounting to independents and chains that are not discounting. So there has certainly been a share shift, and that may be affecting Marriott average daily rates. The share shift, actually in an interesting way, is giving us a margin upside….”
Instead, the company points out that they have had some issues with integrating recent acquisition Orbitz, especially in the tech space. Overall, simply growing too fast and too out of control in the recent past, Expedia says, is slowing their current growth.
While Expedia is right to point out their average customer is brand agnostic and thus is unlikely to jump to direct booking, it’s possible that previous OTA customers who have stayed with big brands have been swayed by extensive direct booking pitches.
On the plus side, Expedia may not be growing as fast as they’d like, but they also reported a revenue increase of 32 percent year-over-year to a total of $2.1 billion. That, combined with the success of portfolio brands like HomeAway, CheapTickets, Trivago and now Orbitz means that Expedia is likely to continue pushing forward whether or not direct booking has become a real competitor.
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It has been announced by the Mayor of Paris that a new electric car scheme will be launched by the name of Autolib.
There is a very successful bicycle sharing scheme in the city by the name of Velib and the installation of a massive electric car sharing scheme is the next step.
Thousands of pay as you go electric cars will be made available and will be located throughout the city. Users will be able to rent an electric car on the spot and be able to return it to another station. Seven hundred planned pick up and drop off locations will charge a rate per mile. Drivers will have to register with the service and hold a licence.
Autolib should be up and running by late 2009 and will hopefully reduce congestion together with the parking problems that are now faced in most major cities.

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A division of SBI holdings, Morningstar, introduced a Ripple XRP shareholder benefit in 2019. Morningstar, a financial information system affiliate of the major Japanese firm SBI Group, have stated their intention to continue with their XRP shareholder initiative.
The declaration was made via an official announcement on Friday, Morningstar confirmed the annual shareholder benefit in XRP.
The recently introduced dividend distribution opportunity is held in such regard that it is integral to the company’s end-of-year reward scheme, incentivising shareholders continued support as well as interim shareholder benefits. As part of the scheme, Morningstar will incentivise the accumulation of shares granting an XRP reward of ¥2,500 ($23) for every 100 shares held by shareholders on the 31st of March, 2021.
The exact amount of XRP granted to shareholders will be that of a market buy pair Yen to XRP price to take place on the 30th of June 2021, SBI declared. Morningstar’s initiative seeks to entice shareholders to open their own cryptoasset accounts via the SBI Group’s crypto sub-division SBI VC Trade.
Morningstar, as mentioned, have been offering incentives of XRP since 2019, at this period offering 30 XRP for every 100 shares held. Operating from their headquarters based in the business district of Tokyo, the company provides an emphasis on providing financial reports and in-depth analysis of investment services. At present, the Morningstar shares are traded at ¥446 ($4.05) with an estimated total market value of ¥39,994 billion ($363,269 million).
Morningstar’s incentive seems to have caught the attention of parent company SBI Group, with them considering the possibility of offering dividend rewards in XRP, pondering the implementation of such an incentive as early as 2020. The parent-company has been vigorously pursuing development in XRP based goods in their structure, further to this point even allowing XRP to borrow on their SBI VC crypto trading platform last February.
SBI has even stood steadfast in defence of Ripple, all the while offering their support to the company despite the looming court case in the United States. Yoshitaka Kitao, CEO of SBI, has stated his belief that Japan would be the most likely nation to fully convert to XRP if they were ever to abandon the US standard.
Make sure you purchase your XRP from a trust source such as BC Bitcoin based in the UK.


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Imagine getting supermarket tomatoes with homegrown flavor all year long. That’s exactly what Schnucks Markets has in mind as it teams up with New York-based BrightFarms to build a $2 million hydroponic greenhouse. The greenhouse, designed and financed by BrightFarms and operated by a local farmer, will provide the St. Louis-based supermarket chain with fresh, local tomatoes, lettuces and herbs year-round.
With the produce closer to store shelves, it stays in the ground longer before being harvested, resulting in more nutrition and flavor. It also significantly lowers the gas consumption needed to transport the produce, thus reducing Schnucks’ carbon footprint. Hydroponic greenhouses use less land, water and fewer pesticides than traditional farming methods, as well—an environmental grand slam. BrightFarms is currently scouting possible sites for the greenhouse, from rooftops to empty lots, with an estimated size of one to four acres. Each acre will produce 500,000 pounds of produce per year.


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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- For nearly two years, grocery stores have been in a race to the bottom, slashing prices and profit margins as they struggled with volatile commodity prices and consumers scared stiff by the worst economic downturn most of them have ever seen.
That could be changing.
There were several reasons for the improvement, including a solid 2.7% increase in same-store sales. But perhaps the most interesting factor boosting Kroger's bottom line last quarter was the decline in cost-cutting.
This means Kroger and, by extension, other grocery chains, is no longer taking the big hit they were from discounting items on their shelves.
That task appears to have moved further back along the food chain, where the mass producers are increasingly absorbing rising grain and energy costs in an effort to defend their own market share.
That doesn't mean grocers are entirely out of the woods, however. Kroger's margins remain under pressure from the competition and, with near-term inflationary pressure on wholesale prices easing, grocers have less need and even less of an excuse to raise retail prices.
Besides, the market is still far from stable. Kroger may be gaining ground on its rivals, but it is a tenuous advance at best and could be quickly be thrown in reverse by another round of cost-cutting aimed at still skittish consumers.
Perhaps that's why some analysts, despite Kroger's unexpectedly positive latest quarter, are suggesting investors lock in the stock's recent gains.
After all, since Aug. 30 Kroger shares are up an impressive 8.8%, a performance that's going to be hard to extend given persistent uncertainties in the underlying commodities markets and the broader economy.
Besides, just prior to that latest spike lurks an 11% slump in its share price, a decline packed entirely into the brief span between Aug. 9 and the end of the month.
In other words, in this corner of the marketplace, why get greedy?
-- Jim Jelter


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Are you a fan of Dairy Queen?
The chain wants to show their appreciation tomorrow.
At the local Dairy Queen -- located on 25th Street at the Palmer Town Center -- Customer Appreciation Day means some menu items are half-price all day Saturday January 26..
For more information, call 610-559-6199. The store is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.


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The people who get paid to invest other people's money are buying these stocks -- should you do the same?
News & Analysis: FedEx
The e-commerce giant lifts its ban on third-party merchants shipping with FedEx Ground.
These leading airlines and logistics stocks could gain on rival woes.
Trade wars and new competition combined to make it a miserable year for FedEx shareholders.
Coming off a disastrous fiscal second-quarter earnings report, FedEx stock faces considerable headwinds for 2020.
A look at the prospects for the stock going into the New Year.
Not every stock is a winner this time of year.
FedEx has an earnings problem, and it’s bad.
The retailer's logistics business is becoming a bigger threat to the Big Two carriers as it assumes more responsibility for its own packages.
Major benchmarks didn't see big moves but held their ground at record levels.


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AVON, OH (WOIO) - The water emergency in Toledo had people like Jeff Pallardy of Elyria looking to buy bottled water just in case, but finding that precious commodity on some store shelves proved to be more challenging than he expected.
"I went to three different Drug Marts and bought water at all three of them," says Pallardy, "I found four bottles at one of them. Another place had six bottles left, and, you know, I just bought several at each one."
Roger Harding Junior of Elyria saw the mad rush for water at a local Walmart. He says what was being purchased was heading to Toledo.
"They were buying cases at a time," says Harding.
Even as the ban was lifted, water was still flying off the shelves at the Circle K in Avon, but many say they were already stocked up long before the water emergency happened in Toledo.
"I buy it once a month," said Johnny Nunoc of Lorain.
Now, even though the threat is over, a reminder of how vulnerable we all are seems to linger.
"You can go without a lot of things, but you are not going without water - not for any length of time," said Al Meyer, who bought water as he was passing through the Buckeye State on his way to Cedar Point.
Even though shoppers reported seeing empty or scantly stocked shelves, Giant Eagle and Walmart reported they hadn't seen a spike in water sales.
Like 19 Action News on Facebook for the latest news, weather, sports and giveaways.


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Temperature controlled packaging specialist Peli BioThermal has appointed industry leading lights to support the worldwide expansion of its service offerings.
With collective extensive experience within the sector spanning over 35 years, the newly appointed team consists of manager of partner alliances, Will Staddon, business development manager for EMEA, Stewart Morland, and senior account executive for West Coast USA, Joseph Castellanos (pictured below).
Peli BioThermal president, David Williams said: “These latest appointments, hired for roles in sales and support, are another significant step for the company.
“It demonstrates how, as market place leaders and innovators within our industry, Peli BioThermal continues to attract key professionals who are experts in this sector and add value to the products and services we offer.”
In their new roles they will help support strategic plans as the company’s service offerings continue to grow globally including its rapidly expanding Crēdo on Demand program, which offers a high performance, flexible rental option for temperature controlled pallet shippers, with worldwide reach.


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Huawei tried to save its image over a weeklong press junket.
Why the copyright terms on a goldmine of works from 1923 are about to expire.
And yet somehow neither of those things is why it might be discontinued.
Apple’s control over the iPhone means that consumers will continue to have more of an ongoing relationship with Apple than nearly any other company.
Netflix is reportedly making an original movie starring Rihanna and Lupita Nyong'o, inspired by Twitter and Tumblr posts. But will the social media authors get paid?
Companies that wrote the president-elect include ASCAP, BMI, RIAA, and The Songwriters Guild of America.
US lawmakers from both parties rejected the 12-country deal, including every leading presidential candidate.
Tina Gorjanc's 'Pure Human Project' examines a future where we can grow human leather.
I scoured Google Patents for the most clownish technologies on the books, because I hate myself.
While pushing shopping carts is probably one of the only forms of exercise that sedentary, consumerist Americans engage in on a regular basis, the time may have come to let machines undertake even this minimally demanding task.
There’s been a lot of talk about how the trade deal could affect drug prices, but it could also hinder new discoveries.
Disappointing, but not surprising.


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WASHINGTON — President Obama met in the Oval Office Tuesday with the head of Vietnam’s Communist Party, Gen. Sec. Nguyen Phu Trong, where the two talked trade as the latest import figures showed that the country’s apparel imports to the U.S. shot up 19 percent in May.
The two leaders discussed the negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which are said to be wrapping up. If successful, the talks would create a trade pact encompassing nearly 40 percent of global gross domestic product.
“We discussed the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, and the enormous potential of a high-standards trade agreement that raises labor standards, raises environmental standards, and could potentially create significant job growth and prosperity for both the Vietnamese and the American people,” Obama said.
Trong said the two leaders had a “constructive and candid” discussion about differences and “the way forward, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, as well as the human rights issue.”
Among the several outstanding issues are textiles and apparel rules of origin and tariff phaseout schedules, according to industry officials.
The U.S. Trade Representative’s office said the U.S. will host a TPP ministerial in Maui July 28 to 31, which will be preceded by a TPP chief negotiator’s meeting July 24 to 27.
“Since they last met in May, trade ministers from the 12 TPP countries have been working continuously,” the USTR office said. “As a result, we have made considerable progress in closing gaps on remaining issues, and we continue to work intensively to address specific issues bilaterally. The upcoming ministerial provides an important opportunity to build on this progress as we work to conclude the negotiation.”
Nate Herman, vice president of international trade at the American Apparel & Footwear Association, said the meeting between Obama and Trong was an important precursor to a formal TPP ministerial and that the goal is to try to close all bilateral issue so trade ministers can reach a deal in Hawaii at the end of the month.
The Oval Office meeting, he said, “certainly shows the importance of TPP to both countries, and obviously the strategic relationship between the two countries.”
Vietnam is the second-largest apparel supplier to the U.S. behind China. Apparel shipments from Vietnam to the U.S. rose to 248 million square meter equivalents, giving the country the biggest gain in apparel shipments to the U.S. for the month.
Overall imports of apparel and textiles to the U.S. rose 11.7 percent in May, with China, Vietnam, India and Bangladesh all posting double-digit increases, the U.S. Commerce Department’s trade report showed Tuesday. Combined apparel and textile imports from the world to the U.S. increased to 5.3 billion SME in May compared with a year earlier. Apparel imports were up 6.7 percent to 2 billion SME, while textile imports gained 14.9 percent to 3.3 billion SME.
“People have been looking at Vietnam as a first step in any China-plus-one strategy,” Herman said. “It’s the first place companies go to when they decide to take production out of China.”
Julia Hughes, president at the U.S. Fashion Industry Association, said companies are sourcing from Vietnam because it “makes good business sense” and will continue to do so. She said companies are not placing more business there in anticipation of TPP, but since the country continues to gain market share in the U.S., it “suggests that it is an opportunity for imports from Vietnam to grow even more if we have a good TPP agreement, which means one that is flexible enough to adapt to changing sourcing patterns.”
China, which is the number-one supplier to the U.S. and not a party to the TPP talks, posted a 14.5 percent increase in combined imports to 2.6 billion SME.
“When China is up 5 percent, that is a lot considering it controls over 40 percent of the U.S. apparel import market,” Hughes said, adding that U.S. government data show China’s share of the U.S. apparel import market has grown to 41.9 percent in the past 12 months ending May.
Other Asian suppliers, such as Bangladesh and Cambodia, both of which have been undergoing reforms in their garment industries due to factory tragedies and workers’ rights issues, respectively, also grew. Apparel imports from Bangladesh increased 11.7 percent to 142 million SME, while apparel imports from Cambodia grew 12 percent to 71 million SME.
The overall U.S. trade deficit widened in May to $41.9 billion from $40.7 billion in April.


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Tags Samsung galaxy z fold 3
Tag: samsung galaxy z fold 3
The Samsung Galaxy Fold series has already seen incredible improvement in its 2nd release and as all eyes are now looking at what the Galaxy Z Fold 3 will deliver. We finally have some insight as well as news on the more budget friendly offering coming early next year.
So there have been plenty of disagreements when it comes to the launch of the Oneplus 9 & the Oneplus 9 pro but we finally have the official confirmation from Oneplus themselves, as well as the colour choices on offer!


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E3 2013 is officially underway at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Downtown LA. E3 marks the first chance to see the all-new EA SPORTS games powered by the EA SPORTS IGNITE engine.
EA SPORTS IGNITE delivers Human Intelligence, True Player Motion and Living Worlds. The game engine is designed specifically to harness the raw power of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
The calm before the storm. Buzz fills the air as fans wait in anticipation for their chance to check out the EA SPORTS IGNITE Laboratory.
With a full slate of games on display, the EA SPORTS IGNITE Laboratory has proved to be one of the most popular areas on the entire show floor.
Even celebrities can't wait to see the new games. Here's rapper and EA SPORTS enthusiast Xzibit getting his first look at Madden NFL 25.
It was standing room only as fans had a chance to experience 11 v. 11 play in FIFA 14 for the first time. The demo focused on Pro Instincts, which allows all 22 players on the pitch to anticipate and react to the plays around them.
EA SPORTS GameChangers K0ACHK and MadScientist06 check out the new line play in Madden NFL 25. More than 300 new blocking interactions are included in the next-gen version of the game, and players will have the ability to make 4x more decisions per second.
NBA LIVE 14 designer Scott O'Gallagher shows off the new bounceTEK technology to the crowd, which allows players to control their dribble like never before.
The big board pulls in tweets for #EASPORTSIGNITE.
Be sure to stay connected to EASPORTS.com throughout the week for the latest from the E3 show floor.


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The tentative naming of the Israeli firm Cellebrite as the muscle behind the FBI's ability to hack into the iPhone used by San Bernardino, Calif. shooter Syed Farook without assistance from Apple, has brought this little known company into the spotlight.
The mobile forensics company Cellebrite has been around for 16 years and has supplied the mobile phone industry with a string of products. However, the firm has also flexed its phone hacking chops. Dutch police documents credit Cellebrite software for cracking Blackberry's encryption, a report that Blackberry denies. In addition, Cellebrite has a previous connection with the FBI.
For the iPhone, Cellebrite presumably “captured the NAND memory of the phone and ran an offline attack,” wrote Oliver Lavery, director of research at IMMUNIO, in an email to SCMagazine.com. “The addition of the Secure Enclave in newer iPhones was likely intended to address this kind of well-known attack.”
Assuming that Cellebrite was involved in unlocking the device, how prepared is the firm for a repeat performance, in light of technology companies' emboldened commitment to information security?
The company, founded in 1999 – a year after Google – is certainly a leader in the space. Founded by Yossi Carmil and Ron Serber, Cellebrite initially offered Universal Memory Exchanger (UME), a simple commercial product that enabled cell phone companies to transfer data from one phone to another. These devices are used in many mobile providers' retail locations and are still available in some Apple stores.
The company eventually expanded its offerings beyond UME devices. In 2007, Cellebrite announced its line of mobile forensics tools, called Universal Forensic Extraction Devices (UFED). The same year, the firm was acquired by Sunnyvale, Calif.-based FutureDial and Sun Corporation (Sun Corporation is a FutureDial investor),. Cellebrite is now a subsidiary of the publicly traded Japanese company Sun Corporation.
In August 2013, the FBI awarded a sole-source basis, a fixed price contract, to Cellebrite's U.S. subsidiary. According to the contract notice, Cellebrite would provide two UFED Touch Ultimate Logical and Physical Mobile Forensic Solution Kits to the FBI for forensic casework. Cellebrite also started to provide device forensics training and UFED certification in 2013. A year later, the firm announced a diagnostic tool used to repair smartphones remotely.
Cellebrite now employs between 200-500 individuals worldwide, according to LinkedIn data. The company advertises an ability to bypass Apple's updated software, and its commercial software works on operating systems that include iOS 8 and earlier versions.
The publicity that Cellebrite received when the FBI announced that an outside party had successfully hacked into the iPhone without Apple's assistance now forces technology companies to up their game in securing devices and services provided to customers. The unfolding race will pit tech giants like Facebook, Google and Microsoft against the private cybersecurity firm that helped hack the iPhone used by Farook.
The details of this race are not likely to be known for a long time. In the meantime, the developments do not bode well for the FBI, considering that the agency continues to face a significant shortage of cyber professionals.
The FBI has repeatedly sought to recruit cyber talent, most recently at the RSA Conference in San Francisco earlier this month, as have other government departments and intelligence agencies. At the recent conference, the FBI occupied an oversized booth, where it attempted to woo potential recruits. No less a pitchman than President Obama has attempted to recruit cyber talent to the public sector.
In speaking with SCMagazine.com, Check Point President Amnon Bar Lev, said governments “do not have the capabilities” of the commercial sector in addressing cyber challenges. The result: the outside party that helped the FBI to break into the device and others like it will face an increasingly difficult task as the private sector races to build technologies that are impossible for governments to access.
The FBI doesn't only require assistance from the private sector in hacking into locked iPhones. Last week, the agency sent an urgent memo to U.S. businesses asking for assistance protecting against Samas ransomware, also known as MSIL or Samsam.
In the meantime, the Justice Department has not yet announced whether it will continue to request that Apple unlock an iPhone 5s belonging to drug dealer Jun Feng, who had entered a guilty plea in a Brooklyn drug case. The DoJ has at least 63 confirmed cases in which the agency is using the All Writs Act to request assistance from Apple or Google to retrieve data from mobile devices, according to information compiled by the ACLU. If the DoJ withdraws these requests, Cellebrite and forensics firms like it will see a lot of business in the years ahead.


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THE TOMMY HILFIGER CORPORATE FOUNDATION TO PROVIDE OVER $1.2 MILLION IN GRANT FUNDING IN THE U.S. FOR 2012
The Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation partners with organizations to support autism awareness and research, education, and at risk youth and families.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK (July 16, 2012) – The Tommy Hilfiger Group, which is wholly owned by PVH Corp. [NYSE PVH], announced today over $1.2 million in non-profit funding grants for 2012 given by the Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation to organizations that address at risk youth and families, autism awareness and research, and education.
“I have always believed that we can make a difference in people’s lives through the Corporate Foundation, and I am excited that we will partner with this amazing group of organizations,” said Tommy Hilfiger. “Autism research and awareness, education, and programs that address the needs of our most vulnerable families and young people are so important in today’s world.”
“The Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation is committed to supporting programs around the world that empower today’s youth,” said Guy Vickers, President of The Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation. “With our focus on at risk youth and families, autism awareness and research, and education, we look to foster healthy communities and empower young people to succeed.”
The Foundation, which has represented The Tommy Hilfiger Group’s philanthropic interests for over 15 years, will extend major funding to Autism Speaks, The Night of Too Many Stars/New York Collaborates for Autism, Fresh Air Fund, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Jumpstart for Young Children, EOP/Ernie Davis Community Center (located in Tommy Hilfiger’s hometown of Elmira, New York) and Helen Keller International. The Foundation has long been a supporter of the Fresh Air Fund, Autism Speaks and the Ernie Davis Community Center. The Foundation will also award grants to FIT, the YMCA of New York and the Center for Hearing and Communication. Additionally, the Foundation will allocate a portion of this budget towards funding and grant opportunities awarded throughout the year by a Steering Committee.
Tommy Hilfiger will also continue its support of three other charities with which it has a long-time relationship. In 2009, the Foundation made a five-year, $2 million commitment to Millennium Promise, the leading non-profit organization dedicated to eradicating extreme poverty in Africa. For the past six years, The Tommy Hilfiger Group has supported Breast Health International, a globally renowned organization committed to finding a cure for breast cancer, by designing limited edition bags to benefit the charity. Through this initiative, Hilfiger has partnered with actresses Cristiana Capotondi and Claudia Gerini, France’s former first lady Carla Bruni, Helena Christensen photographed by Milla Jovovich, and Renee Zellweger. For over a decade, the Foundation has worked with the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, culminating with the dedication of the monument on the National Mall in a ceremony co-chaired by the Foundation in October 2011. Guy Vickers, President of The Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation, continues to serve an active role as Vice Chairman of the Memorial Foundation's Board.
In addition to the grants funded through The Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation, Mr. Hilfiger will also make a personal contribution to Autism Speaks and New York Collaborates for Autism.
“I have a tremendous personal commitment to supporting autism awareness and research, and I believe strongly in the missions of these organizations,” added Tommy Hilfiger.
“Autism Speaks is grateful to The Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation for its generous support,” said Liz Feld, President of Autism Speaks. “Tommy and his wife, Dee, have been devoted partners of our organization and advocates for the autism community, raising awareness and funds for our research and family services initiatives. This generous gift from the Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation is further testament to their commitment to the one in 88 children in the U.S. on the autism spectrum.”
As part of its ongoing support of these organizations, the Foundation will expand its digital presence on tommy.com to include additional information on funding activities and partner organizations. Supplementing the 2012 monetary grants, the Foundation will also support Jumpstart and Helen Keller International with product donations. Further details on these initiatives will be announced in partnership with these organizations.
“Jumpstart is thrilled that Tommy Hilfiger has joined our family as a national sponsor and official outfitter of our Jumpstart Corps member uniforms,” said Jumpstart President and CEO, Naila Bolus. “Tommy Hilfiger’s investment in early education through Jumpstart is a testament to its commitment to improving the lives of children in low-income neighborhoods.”
Tommy Hilfiger established The Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation in December 1995 to help empower America’s youth, developing and supporting programs and partnerships that build and promote healthy communities by supporting education, health and cultural programs. The Foundation believes education and family is the cornerstone for today’s diverse youth population. For children to succeed in today’s global society, a stronger emphasis must be placed on higher education leading to greater career opportunities. The Foundation also recognizes the importance of building a healthy community and is committed to investing in organizations and cultural programs that impact the physical well-being of at risk youth and family programs.
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About The Tommy Hilfiger Group
With a premium lifestyle brand portfolio that includes Tommy Hilfiger, Hilfiger Denim and Tommy Girl, the Tommy Hilfiger Group is one of the world’s most recognized designer apparel groups. Its focus is designing and marketing high-quality menswear, womenswear, children’s apparel and denim collections. Through select licensees, the Group offers complementary lifestyle products such as sportswear for men, women, juniors and children; footwear; athletic apparel (golf, swim and sailing); bodywear (underwear, robes and sleepwear); eyewear; sunwear; watches; handbags; men’s tailored clothing; men’s dress furnishings; socks; small leather goods; fragrances; home and bedding products; bathroom accessories; and luggage. The Hilfiger Denim product line consists of jeanswear and footwear for men, women and children; bags; accessories; eyewear and fragrance. Merchandise under the Tommy Hilfiger brands is available to consumers worldwide through an extensive network of Tommy Hilfiger retail stores, leading specialty and department stores and other select retailers and retail channels.
About PVH Corp.
PVH Corp., one of the world’s largest apparel companies, owns and markets the iconic Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands worldwide. It is the world’s largest shirt and neckwear company and markets a variety of goods under its own brands, Van Heusen, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, IZOD, ARROW, Bass and G.H. Bass & Co., and its licensed brands, including Geoffrey Beene, Kenneth Cole New York, Kenneth Cole Reaction, MICHAEL Michael Kors, Sean John, Chaps, Donald J. Trump Signature Collection, JOE Joseph Abboud, DKNY, Ike Behar and John Varvatos.
For further information
Vice President, Corporate Communications
T +1 212.548.1938
T +1 212.548.1978


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Steph Curry Shows Out at NBA All-Star Game, Raises $108K for Schools
Steph Curry did not hold back on Sunday night. The sharpshooter put up a game-leading 50 points, guiding Team LeBron to a 163-160 victory over Team Durant in the NBA All-Star Game. His 50-piece included 16 threes, setting an in-game record. His performance not only sealed the Kobe Bryant MVP trophy, but led to a $108,000 donation to Metro Cleveland Public Schools.
Chris Paul Wins WNBA’s Inaugural Kobe and Gigi Bryant Advocacy Award
Chris Paul is all about the WNBA. Frequently seen in the tunnel sporting W and Phoenix Mercury gear, CP3 has long been a vocal proponent of the women’s game. He is also frequently seen on the sidelines throughout the WNBA season – and recently recalled the powerful moment when he was traded to Phoenix and got to practice side-by-side with Mercury legend Diana Taurasi. For his advocacy, Paul received the first-ever Kobe & Gigi Bryant WNBA Advocacy Award in recognition of his efforts to advance the women’s game.
Celtics Owner Purchases 55% Stake in Italian Football Club Atalanta
From the Garden to the grotto, Boston Celtics owner Steve Pagliuca is expanding his portfolio of sports teams. The Bain Capital exec announced that he has purchased a 55% stake in the Series A Italian soccer club Atalanta. In an official statement, Pagliuca indicated that he is excited for the opportunity to expand the team’s awareness across the map and to build on the team’s pre-existing “teamwork and an extraordinary relationship with the fans and the community.”
LaMelo Ball Becomes First Puma Athlete at All-Star Weekend since 1990
Through the years, the NBA’s All-Star Weekend has become one of the most important events on the sneaker calendar. From new shoe debuts to major brand announcements, there is no shortage of sneaker news at the annual celebration. This year was no different. While more than 70% of the featured athletes were signed with Nike Inc.’s affiliates – Nike, Converse, and Jordan Brand – there was a deep bench of sponsorships on this year’s All-Star roster. Charlotte Hornets Star LaMelo Ball became the first Puma athlete to be appointed to the All-Star team since the legendary Isiah Thomas in 1990. Boardroom’s Nick DePaula curated his top shoe picks from the weekend’s events.
Georgia Tech Launches Sports-focused Venture Fund
You’ve heard of Last Chance U, but what about Startup U? Georiga Tech announced that it is launching a sports-focused venture fund backed by several wealthy donors. The fund is believed to be the first of its kind in a Power 5 school – and the school’s administrators are hopeful that it will produce the next big thing in sports innovation. The school’s athletic director Todd Stansbury said that the fund’s board hopes to make six investments by summer.
OpenSea Investigates Phishing Attack on Users
Few companies have had as wild of a start to the new year as OpenSea. The NFT marketplace smashed volume records in the month of January with $4.95 billion. However, with its meteoric growth, the marketplace has experienced some sinister challenges. Over the weekend, OpenSea reported that it is investigating a phishing scheme that has impacted 17 users, resulting in the loss of NFTs and $1.7 million in sales for the hacker. Although the attacks have ceased at this time, the company reported that it will continue to investigate the situation.
KITH Debuts Classic Knicks Style with Mitchell & Ness Collab
Mitchell & Ness is positioned for some big changes. The brand best known for its throwback jerseys was acquired by an ownership group that includes Jay-Z, Meek Mill, and Fanatics late last week. Now they are teaming up with streetwear brand KITH for its New York Knicks – 10 Year Capsule. The new pieces draw inspiration from the 1998-1999 Knicks uniforms. The limited-runwill be available starting today.


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E-Commerce: A Mechanism for Female Empowerment
Economic contraction, remote schooling and delegated homemaking responsibilities disproportionally pushed women out of the labor market during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a market with considerable barriers to entry, e-commerce provides the flexibility for female entrepreneurs to find economic empowerment.
E-commerce can be "a source of economic empowerment for women in Mexico, since it can contribute to improving the quality of life of businesswomen with the objective of reducing the inequality of opportunities,” said Erika Vargas, Director of Community Relations, UPS Latin America.
The challenges engendered by the COVID-19 pandemic have come to compound poor working conditions further limiting female workforce participation. If gone unaddressed, this predicament could hinder Mexico’s long-term economic potential. If addressed, female participation in the workforce could swell the country’s GDP by three times by 2030, according to the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO). Nevertheless, unlearning the social constructs and dismantling the institutional barriers that created these circumstances will take time.
Until then, even in the present circumstances, women can still find financial empowerment through e-commerce entrepreneurship. Unlike traditional brick and mortar establishments that require large investments and market reach is limited to their physical proximity, e-commerce allows entrepreneurs to manage and potentially sell their products to domestic and international clients from the comfort of their home. The market potential of e-commerce is further augmented by marketplaces, an increasingly favored way to reach consumers.
Already, over 40 percent of companies that sell on Amazon Mexico are founded or led by women, according to Renata Arvizu, Marketplace Leader, Amazon Mexico. This figure resonates with findings that 36 percent of small and medium-sized businesses in the country are owned by women, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI). The task in an increasingly digital world is educating and promoting greater female entrepreneurship in digital spaces, an objective that spokeswomen for UPS and Amazon want to foment.
In partnership with more than 120 companies, UPS wants to connect millions of female entrepreneurs throughout the Latin American market and ultimately with the international market, which will require digital tools and knowhow for exports. For that reason, the company is promoting the launch of the Women Exporter program, which expands an ecosystem of integrated solutions to help empower women through commerce. Women will also be able to recur to informational webinars and personalized advice to address logistical challenges and identify market opportunities.


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First up, taxi advertising is getting creative thanks to Blue Bite and Creative Mobile Technologies, which have partnered to bring Blue Bite’s mTAG technology to CMT’s digital screens in the back seats of cabs in New York City and elsewhere. The new system uses near-field communication (NFC) and QR technology to enable viewers to connect with mobile content -- including music, videos, mobile apps, promotional information, coupons, maps, and tips -- simply by tapping or scanning their mobile device on digital screens; they can also share the content with friends via Twitter and Facebook and participate in special offers. The system was tested with a campaign for Vogue that ran for three weeks in August and September, and will eventually expand to include taxis in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Anaheim.
Also this week, CBS Outdoor announced the addition of digital assets owned by Miami-Dade Transit, its Metrorail system media portfolio. The MDT digital network, which includes 94 screens in 23 stations, reaches over 1.75 million transit passengers per month, according to the company, including traffic to and from Miami International Airport. The displays are positioned near screens that show train schedule information, ensuring high visibility for ad messages.
Across the pond, Clear Channel Outdoor UK unveiled its new “Storm” network of high-profile, cutting-edge digital billboards along motorways around London. Among other features, the Storm network enables “bespoke” ad placements, with creative formats and schedules ranging from a single, two-hour display during a Friday rush hour to a year-long takeover. The Storm billboards are complemented with customizable lighting and digital nameplates for advertising clients. Launch advertisers include Apple, Burberry, Coca-Cola, Google, Sky, HTC, and Virgin Holidays.
Not to be outdone, competitor JCDecaux revealed plans for a big expansion of its digital roadside signage in the U.K., with installation of 30 new screens around the country by 2014. The expanded network will include new structures and revamped static billboards in the London metro area. The first new screens are scheduled to be operational by the end of this month.


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MUMBAI: DQ Entertainment has signed a home video distribution deal for the 3D animated TV series The Jungle Book by Play Records Marketing & Distribution (Play Records), Israel.
Under the terms of the agreement Play Records has been awarded the Home Video distribution rights for the 52, 11 minute TV series of The Jungle Book in Israel over a period of three years. DQE will receive a minimum guarantee as upfront payment for the license and will also be entitled to a royalty on future sales during the license period.
The Jungle Book has already been sold in multiple countries around the world for broadcasting, licensing and distribution. This is the first time DQE has entered the strategically important home video distribution market in Israel.
DQE has previously announced a broadcasting deal with Noga Communication for The Jungle Book in Israel.
DQE chairman & CEO Tapaas Chakravarti said, “Play Records are leaders in home video distribution market in Israel and it is only logical for us to associate with them for an iconic and classic property like The Jungle Book. This deal falls perfectly in line with our global plans and is strategically very important for us since it will pave the way for more revenue opportunities in this region. “We believe that this is the beginning of a long lasting and mutually beneficial collaboration with Play Records.”


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Port Canaveral overtakes Port Everglades as second busiest cruise port
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Port Canaveral reported that revenue passengers outpaced its records set in 2011 and increased 21 percent to 3.76 million. Port Everglades on the other hand reported that the number of multi-day cruise passengers grew slightly this year to 3.69 million – which is up nearly 1 percent from last year. Both reports are based on the fiscal year ending on Sept. 30.
The busiest cruise port, PortMiami, has not yet reported their annual numbers. According to recent data, the port reported 3.1 million passengers in June, which was down from 3.3 million in 2011.
Port Everglades spokeswoman Ellen Kennedy said the port has had a good year and the numbers should continue to rise despite being the third busiest port this time around.
"We could do more to attract business during the weekday, but that's more up to the cruise liners to see if they can sell," she said.
Port Everglades' number of passengers has risen nearly 60 percent in the past decade and is expected to climb gradually to more than 5 million by 2029, according to the Port.
Port Everglades recently completed a $54 million renovation project that upgraded and modernized four existing cruise terminals – terminals 2, 19, 21 and 26 – in time for the busy winter season.
Daily cruise passenger traffic has dropped off in recent years after two cruise lines halted its operations in 2008 and 2011.
Up north, Port Canaveral is welcoming more cruise liners into its docks.
Disney Cruise Lines will base its entire fleet in Florida, sending three of its ships – Disney Magic, Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy – to Port Canaveral and the Disney Wonder to PortMiami, the Orlando Business Journal reported.
Shaun Bevan is the digital producer for the South Florida Business Journal. Stay on top of the latest business news with our free daily newsletter. Click here to subscribe.
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According to a new report from the Grattan Institute, Australia should introduce a tax on sugary drinks to help recoup some of the costs of obesity to the community.
A sugary drinks tax: recovering the community costs of obesity calls for a new excise tax of 40 cents per 100g of sugar, on all non-alcoholic, water-based drinks that contain added sugar.
The tax would increase the price of a two-litre bottle of soft drink by about 80 cents, raise about $500 million a year, and generate a fall of about 15 per cent in the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, as consumers switched to water and other drinks not subject to the new tax.
The report, to be released at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday, calculates obesity costs Australian taxpayers more than $5.3 billion a year.
Obese people are more likely to go to doctors and be admitted to hospital more often than other people. They are also more likely to be unemployed and therefore paying less tax than the rest of the population.
These costs – more taxpayer dollars spent on healthcare and welfare, and less tax raised – are caused by obesity but borne by the entire community. The new tax would help redress that imbalance.
Obesity is rising dramatically in Australia: one in four adults are now classified as obese, up from one in ten in the early 1980s. Perhaps even more worryingly, about 7 per cent of our children are obese.
The report stresses that a new tax is not a “silver bullet” solution to Australia’s obesity epidemic – that would require a whole suite of new policies and programs. But the proposed tax would encourage healthier lifestyles.
“Obesity is one of the great public health challenges of modern Australia, and so this is a reform whose time has come,” says Grattan Institute Health Program Director Stephen Duckett. “We target these drinks because most of them contain no nutritional benefit.”
The many countries that already have or are planning to introduce a tax on soft drinks include France, Belgium, Hungary, Finland, Chile, the UK, Ireland, South Africa and parts of the United States.
The report says the Australian government could use the $500 million a year raised by the new tax to reduce the budget deficit or boost healthcare funding, or the money could be spent on programs designed to treat obesity and promote healthy eating.
“How we use the money is a debate for later,” Dr Duckett says. “For now, Australia should introduce this tax because it offers twin benefits: it will reduce the number of people who become obese and it will ensure fewer taxpayer dollars have to be spent on the damage done by obesity.”
In response to this and similar suggestions however, the Australian retail, farming, grocery and beverage sectors (see image below) have put out a statement that reads:
The Australian retail, farming, grocery and beverage sectors contribute more than $311bn to the economy each year, and account for approximately 15 per cent of the total workforce in Australia.
Our industries understand that obesity is a public health problem in Australia, and that it is appropriate for calls to be made for Australians to modify and improve their dietary intake.
However, it is not beneficial to blame or tax a single component of the diet.
Obesity is a serious and complex public issue with no single cause or quick-fix solution. A new tax is not the way to make our nation healthier.
The McKinsey Global Institute, for instance, classifies taxation as one of the least effective obesity interventions, with ‘No direct evidence for change in weight or change in consumption or physical activity levels’.
In fact, consumption trends show that the change such a tax seeks to effect is already happening.
Recent Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data indicates a decline in added sugar intake over time, yet obesity rates continue to climb.
As a food supply sector, we recognise that we have a role to play in improving the food choices available for the Australian consumer.
We will continue to:
- Promote and support healthy balanced lifestyles that involve responsible eating habits and regular exercise;
- The Develop and provide clear and meaningful fact-based nutrition information and labelling, providing the information people need at point of purchase to make appropriate decisions for the occasion;
- Increase the availability of products with fewer kilojoules, including more reduced, low- and no-kilojoule product offerings, as well as more packaging options and smaller portion sizes;
- Ensure certain products are not marketed to children and comply with canteen guidelines;
- Support physical activity and nutrition programmes, contributing to the research and evidence base and developing partnerships that advances nutrition science;
- Defend the interests of our sugarcane farmers, who provide vital jobs and support in regional and rural Australia.
We are committed to working with public health groups, Non-Government Organisations, and government to make positive changes to the food supply into the future.
We welcome a conversation on establishing a broad and holistic approach to tackling obesity.
References McKinsey Global Institute, Overcoming obesity: An initial economic analysis, November 2014.  Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Health Survey: Consumption of Added Sugars, April 2016.


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- Binance exchange launched Binance Pay.
- Users can use their crypto wallets to make purchases.
- Sellers can convert from the Binance stable currency to the euro.
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, is not happy that people only buy Bitcoin and other currencies. It wants to start the question by having people use crypto.
The global stock exchange announced early during its virtual event, Binance Blockchain Week, that it secretly launched a beta version of Binance Pay, its answer to PayPal, last Friday.
“Binance Pay is a contactless, borderless and secure payment technology for cryptocurrency designed by Binance,” reads an explanatory note on its website. “Binance Pay (beta) enables you to pay and pay for cryptocurrencies from your friends and family worldwide.”
Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao told the virtual Binance Blockchain Week audience: “We think payments are one of the most obvious use cases for crypto.”
But it faced some challenges, he shared. The biggest problem is that traders have to set up systems to accept currencies that the vast majority of customers do not use. It is just easier to accept cash and credit because people use it regularly.
With Binance’s system, users can pay in crypto, while the dealer receives stable coins supported by Fiat that can be converted into fiat. (At this point, the product only supports one type of fiat: the euro.) CZ said, “This way, their business does not have to trade with crypto.”
Binance Pay is billed as a ‘basket of products’, which includes the previously unveiled Binance card – a debit card that converts users’ crypto to fiat when they make a purchase.
Like Binance Card, Binance Pay supports five currencies. Bitcoin and Ethereum are both represented, just like the BUSD of the stock market steel coin and Binance Coin (BNB), an exchange-specific utility token used to pay trading fees and participate in token sales offered by Binance. Users can also pay with SXP tokens from the credit card company Swipe; Binance bought the firm last year.
Unlike the debit card, there is no real card at Binance Pay – users can transfer money from their wallet with a QR scanner in the app.
Although CZ has big plans for Binance Pay, he joked that the beta launch was quiet. “If you can find the product, you can try it,” he said.


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We are living in a “social” world – to paraphrase that popular song of the 80s. And the fashion industry is increasingly adopting social media as a marketing platform to reach their customers online and to promote their brands.
But is it all safe or are there legal risks to be considered?
For example, one of the hottest topic is whether a fashion company, administering a page in a social network, a blog or a forum where customers can share opinions and comment e.g. on the latest collection, is liable in case such comments are offensive or infringe third party’s right. That is to say: is a moderation necessary?
The Italian Supreme Court clarified in some decisions that online forums and blogs are simple discussion area, where any user or registered users are free to express their own opinion, and cannot be considered similar to online magazines. According to such case law, an administrator of a Facebook page, a blog or a forum is not subject to the strict liability of the Director of online magazines for defamatory contents published by third parties. But some judges seem not to share the same view: in a recent decision, the Court of Varese (Italy) held that a blogger is liable of the defamation carried out by one commentator since a blog administrator has the “availability” of his website, which entails a liability also for the contents published by third parties therein. The same principle could be applied to a fashion company administering a page in a social network in case a user posts disparaging opinions about a competitor and could be relevant in terms of unfair competition.
Another debated issue concerns fashion bloggers. The online generation is increasingly turning to the web to get answers on fashion. As a consequence, fashion bloggers have become increasingly influential and many companies try to create a commercial relationship with them. However, a risk exists that this kind of activity may be considered hidden advertising, which is not permitted by the law. Actually, advertising must be clearly recognizable and any form of subliminal advertising is prohibited. A violation of such rule may entail a liability for unfair commercial practices or deceptive advertising (and fines are up to € 5 million).
Going further, it is settled case law of the European Court of Justice (Interflora v Marks & Spencer, Case C-323/09; Google v. Louis Vuitton in Joined Cases C-236/08, 237/08 and 238/08) that the use of a competitor trademark as a selected keyword in internet paid referencing service is not allowed – and the proprietor of the trade mark is entitled to prevent it – where that use affects the functions of the trade mark. But can we apply the same principle to hashtags?
Hashtags are also becoming a new search engine tool for user generated contents posted by consumers to social networks and a new opportunity for business. The 2.0 consumer is smart and is not easily influenced by marketing strategies. On the contrary, he trusts more his friends and real experiences. Therefore, posting a picture on a social network with a new dress can have a great value for the fashion industry. On this basis, companies like Olapic and Chute are creating new tools to scan hashtags on social platforms and find images of branded products being worn by real people in the real world. Those images can then be posted by the companies owning the relevant trade marks on their sites to inspire other customers. A great idea, but legal risks must be considered: for example, if a user posts materials covered by copyright, or images depicting a friend without permission, then both the uploader and the website could be held liable for infringing third parties’ rights.
Do you want to discuss further about this topic? Feel free to contact me email@example.com


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Boulder based US Representative Jared Polis is seeking support for a series of legal measures that would lessen the degree of food regulations nationwide. Partnering with Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, the duo are looking to launch several bills that would lessen the legal restrictions on foods such as beef, milk, kombucha and hemp.
One current bill the congressmen are pushing for is known as the PRIME Act, which would allow states to sell non-USDA slaughtered beef directly to consumers and retailers without the beef having ever been inspected by the USDA. Additionally, the duo are also championing the "Milk Freedom Act" and the "Milk Interstate Freedom Act" which would allow for raw milk to be legally sold in all 50 states.
"You shouldn't have the federal government telling you what you can and can't eat," said Polis. Read More


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Tesla (TSLA) jumps on strong deliveries; market adjusts to new authenticity
Tesla’s stock (TSLA) bounced by as much as 4% earlier today – adding billions of dollars to its market capitalization.
The market is changing in accordance with the new reality that Tesla is presently arriving at a yearly creation pace of just about 1 million electric vehicles.
Tesla delivered its conveyance numbers for Q3 2021 on Saturday, and it affirmed another conveyance record of 241,300 electric vehicles.
It essentially beat the market’s assumption for 222,000 vehicles and showed that Tesla could defeat inventory network gives that are influencing the entire car industry at this moment.
The market couldn’t respond until now when Tesla’s stock (TSLA) flooded up to 4% in spite of the more extensive market being fundamentally down.
Wedbush Protections expert Dan Ives delivered another note to customers earlier today about the incredible quarter results, which he says as a decent sign for the not so distant future:
“Taking a step back, with the chip shortage a major overhang on the auto space and logistical issues globally these delivery numbers were ‘eye popping’ and speaks to an EV demand trajectory that looks quite robust for Tesla heading into 4Q and 2022,ding into 4Q and 2022,”
Ives and Wedbush repeated a Beat rating on Tesla and a value focus of $1,000.
Dan Ives is positioned #36 out of 7,676 experts on TipRanks with a normal achievement pace of 73% and a normal return of 34%.
Not every person shares his inspirational perspective on Tesla.
Then again, investigator Ryan Brinkman at JP Morgan expanded his model and value focus for Tesla from $180 to $215, yet that actually addresses a critical drawback on Tesla’s present valuation.
Brinkman contends that his model actually makes Tesla the second most significant automaker:
“While our new higher price target continues to imply material potential downside, we do not believe it is ungenerous, including as it values Tesla as the world’s second largest automaker by market capitalization (behind Toyota and ahead of Volkswagen), which is just one notch down vs. its current (admittedly by far) #1 position despite it ranking as only the 18th largest automaker by unit volume. Tesla fundamentals, including unit volume outlook, continue to improve, although its present valuation in our view continues to demand even more, as made clear when comparing its current market capitalization.”
Ryan Brinkman is positioned #6,028 out of 7,676 investigators on TipRanks with a normal achievement pace of 61% and a normal return of – 0.6%.
Noah Jones III, known as Tennessee Jones is one of America’s most popular playwrights and now regarded as one of the most significant writers of the twentieth century.
Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Economy Circle journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.


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Living on US$400 a month in one of Asia’s most expensive cities – where rent generally costs twice that – is painful, but the founders of live chat software Zopim did just that for two whole years. Today, the Singapore-based company has more than 18,000 paying customers in 150+ countries and has just announced their acquisition by customer service company, Zendesk.
The latter has in turn filed for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange to raise US$150 million. As this is the mandatory quiet period, information cannot be confirmed by the companies, but from Zendesk’s S-1 filing, Zopim was bought for about US$30 million in cash and equity (including earnouts over the next few years).
Amidst the plethora of consumer-focused products and companies in Asia, Zopim stands out in another way by focusing on enterprise customers. Zopim has developed one of the most widely used SaaS products on the international stage for the SMB market, with a mix of customers coming mostly from the US and Europe.
Having struggled to find a business model, and then rebuffing an acquisition offer of about US$5-10 million from a NASDAQ-listed competitor back in 2012, Zopim has come a long way. The first prototype of their live chat software was put together in two weeks, just so they could have something to demo to DFJ’s Tim Draper when he asked for it. While no investment came out of that pitch, they have since raised US$300,000 – and that was all the external funding ever put together by Zopim.
In an interview from more than a year ago, co-founder and CEO Royston Tay told Tech in Asia that Zopim could hit a valuation of US$50 million in “two or three years”. While US$30M is not an insignificant amount, when placed alongside startups who have raised tens of millions of dollars with nary a product and companies being bought for upward of US$1 billion in this current climate, a question might be posed to Zopim: did you sell out too early?
Join me as I ask co-founder and CEO Royston Tay this and other questions regarding their six year journey to Zendesk, on stage at Startup Asia Singapore on May 7.
If you have questions for Royston, send in questions via this form. On the day of the fireside chat, we also welcome questions on Twitter via the #startupasia hashtag. Remember to get your tickets! You have up till April 24 to get your 10 percent discount using the code “earlybirdapril”.


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Over the past five years, the number of small business loans has dropped significantly, as has the value of those loans, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) from its Call Report data. In fact, small loans declined by 27 percent from June 2008 to June 2013.
About 25 percent of small businesses say it has become more difficult to obtain credit in the past year; 22 percent, by contrast, found the process easy, according to responses received from 600 small business to a third-quarter 2013 Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index. For the same quarter in 2008, 14 percent of small business found the process more difficult, while 41 percent found the process easy. Gallup conducts the quarterly survey on behalf of Wells Fargo.
Although regulations in the post-financial crisis environment have contributed to the drop in small business lending, banks have made lending standards more stringent due to increased regulatory pressure, which has cut down lending to so-called “marginal” borrowers that might have received credit prior to the economic downturn. Banks also have less staff to manage the new rules, which are costly and time consuming. “This compliance burden is a distraction from our small business lending. Every hour I spend on compliance is an hour that could be spent with a small business customer,” Greg Ohlendorf, president and chief executive officer of First Community Bank and Trust, told Congress.
Small business owners are known to borrow personally to fund their business ventures and have also been caught up in efforts to increase consumer financial safeguards. For example, nearly all businesses surveyed—four-fifths— are using either a personal or a business credit card for their business, according to Federal Reserve data. But newer restrictions put in place for credit card issuers, meant to protect consumers, have added to the challenges small business owners face when seeking credit card financing.
The regulation that bans issuers from re-pricing credit card loans to borrowers with increased credit risk also impacts small business with increased interest rates that protect issuers from loss risk, also according to a Federal Reserve report. The higher the interest rate, the more the small business must borrow. Also, today, fewer small businesses qualify for loans and the challenges in re-pricing loans has left a less profitable demographic for lenders within the high-risk population in the credit card market. Because of this, a now large minority of high-risk small business borrowers that were once able to secure credit card loans find themselves unable to do so in today’s new economy.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been working to regulate mortgage loans, also in response to the fiscal crisis. The result? Even more challenges inflicted on small business and their attempts to obtain credit. The same is true of the emerging “ability-to-repay-rule,” which goes into effect next year and effectively limits most qualified loans to borrows with a debt-to-income ratio that does not exceed 43 percent. This rule, too will impact the ability of small business owners who access home equity to finance their business and whose debt-to-income ratio surpasses 43 percent.
Magnifying the issue is that small business owners are challenged when attempting to prove their ability to pay their loans given that lenders rely on documentation—for example, the W-2—for proof of earnings, which does not really apply in the case of small business owner income.
Despite great strides in technology and in unifying the financial community, it is regulatory response to the fiscal crisis that has contributed significantly to the challenges—not the lending opportunities—faced by today’s small business owners.
Shane, Scott. Bloomberg Businessweek/Small Business; “Collateral Damage for Small Business Credit“. 9/13/2013.


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ENVIRONMENTAL CAMPAIGN organisation WRAP has published the latest data that shows that 8.1 billion thin-gauge (single-use) bags were used by supermarket customers in the UK in 2012, a rise of 1.3% on 2011.
Overall data shows that the amount of thin-gauge bags used by supermarket customers each month has increased from 10.5 in 2011 to 10.7 in 2012, representing a decrease on the 16.7 bags per customer used in the baseline year of 2006.
The overall number of bags (which include re-usable bags) issued by supermarkets in 2012 totaled 8.5 billion. This compares to 8.4 billion bags in 2011 and 12.4 billion bags in 2006. These figures represent an increase of 1.1% between 2011 and 2012, and a reduction of 32% since the baseline year of 2006.
In 2012, total carrier bags (which include re-usable bags) weighed 70,400 tonnes, compared with 72,300 tonnes in 2011, which represents a 2.6% decrease. Overall there has been a 36% decrease in the weight of carrier bags from the baseline year of 2006.
There has been a 50% reduction in the amount of virgin polymer used in all carrier bags between the baseline of 2006 and 2012. Between 2011 and 2012 there was a 2.4% increase in virgin polymer used in all carrier bags.
WRAP has been collecting and analysing data on carrier bag usage since 2006, at the request of the UK government.
In 2012, retailers for the first time supplied information about front-of-store recycling of carrier bags. The results show that around 60% of stores had recycling facilities available.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) responded by saying the small increase in the number of carrier bags used by the public should not detract from the excellent work being made by the industry to tackle packaging waste.
British Retail Consortium Director of Food and Sustainability, Andrew Opie, said: “Bag usage may not have fallen, but that doesn’t mean that supermarkets’ progress has stalled on addressing this and wider environmental issues.
“Consumer habits are evolving rapidly, but the sector is still working hard to keep pace whilst helping customers to reduce their environmental impact. The majority of shoppers do their best to reuse bags and take as few new bags as possible, and the rapid roll-out of store recycling points and green incentives online is making this good practice easier and more widespread.
“Supermarkets’ environmental work extends well beyond carrier bags to wider and more important green goals including reducing packaging, domestic food waste and waste to landfill. Retailers have beaten a range of challenging Government targets in these areas, delivering real environmental benefits as well as value for customers.”
Number of thin-gauge carrier bags – breakdown by nation
Bag (billions) % change
(2011 - 2012)
UK 7.98 8.08 + 1.3%
England 6.77 7.06 + 4.4%
Wales 0.27 0.07 – 76%
Scotland 0.74 0.75 + 1.1%
Northern Ireland 0.19 0.19 + 3.0%


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Mattel (NASDAQ:MAT) was upgraded by investment analysts at ValuEngine from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Wednesday.
Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Citigroup dropped their price target on Mattel from $19.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 30th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded Mattel from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. B. Riley set a $11.00 price target on Mattel and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 21st. BidaskClub upgraded Mattel from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 18th. Finally, UBS Group set a $15.00 price target on Mattel and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.54.
MAT traded up $0.60 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $17.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,582,098 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,893,740. Mattel has a 52 week low of $9.09 and a 52 week high of $17.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.26. The stock has a market cap of $5.57 billion, a PE ratio of -14.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 114.22 and a beta of 1.38.
In other Mattel news, EVP Michael J. Eilola sold 10,904 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.72, for a total transaction of $171,410.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of Mattel by 906.5% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 373,676 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 336,550 shares during the period. Delta Asset Management LLC TN increased its position in shares of Mattel by 19.2% in the fourth quarter. Delta Asset Management LLC TN now owns 7,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,145 shares during the period. Ffcm LLC increased its position in shares of Mattel by 149.7% in the fourth quarter. Ffcm LLC now owns 7,802 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 4,678 shares during the period. Federated Investors Inc. PA bought a new position in shares of Mattel in the third quarter worth $83,000. Finally, Caption Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Mattel in the fourth quarter worth $100,000.
Mattel, Inc designs, manufactures, and markets a range of toy products worldwide. The company operates in three segments: North America, International, and American Girl. It offers Mattel Girls & Boys branded products, including Barbie dolls and accessories, Monster High, DC Super Hero Girls, Enchantimals, Polly Pocket, Hot Wheels and Matchbox vehicles and play sets, CARS, DC Comics, WWE Wrestling, Minecraft, Toy Story, and games and puzzles.
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China's Alibaba, arguably the world's biggest e-commerce company, filed paperwork Tuesday setting the stage for what could be the biggest initial public offering in U.S. history. Here's a look at 16 of the biggest IPOs in trading history:
China's Alibaba has filed what could be the the biggest initial public offering in U.S. history. See what other companies enjoyed record-setting trading debuts.
As a funeral home opened its doors for Freddie Gray's wake Sunday, a few store owners were clearing the mess from the destruction caused by a handful of protesters the night before.
The vast majority of protesters who took to Baltimore's streets late...
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ECRI sticks to the Recession call (as SPX pushes the 1400 level)
As the SPX is pushing the 1400 level, ECRI has just published why they keep a negatuive view on the economy. The economy might be dislocated from the markets for a long time, but as the ECRI call has been widely discussed on many sites, here is their own the explanation of why they keep the bearish call.
Many have questioned why, in the face of improving economic data, ECRI has maintained its recession call. The straight answer is that the objective economic indicators we monitor, including those we make public, give us no other choice.
Let’s start with the current state of the economy. A couple of weeks ago, we publicly highlighted ECRI’s U.S. Coincident Index (USCI). It’s important to understand that the USCI isn’t a random concoction of data, but rather the gold standard for measuring current economic growth, as it summarizes the key coincident economic indicators used to determine the official start and end dates of U.S. recessions; namely, the broad measures of output, employment, income and sales. So when USCI growth is in a downturn (bottom line in chart), it’s an authoritative indication that overall U.S. economic growth is actually worsening, not reviving.
In contrast to the 3% GDP growth widely reported for the latest quarter, year-over-year growth in GDP, after peaking at 3½% in Q3/2010, has basically flatlined around 1½% for the last three quarters. Broad sales growth has followed a similar pattern, while the growth rates of personal income and industrial production have dropped to their lowest readings since the spring of 2010.
Full reading here.


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Like Baby Boomers and Millennials bookending their generation, Gen Xers are watching less network TV and more digital video. But what those born between 1965 and 1979 are watching is markedly different than their younger and older counterparts, and critical for marketers and advertisers to know.
Data gathered by Statista, an online statistics, market research and business intelligence portal, shows that in 2018, 58.8 million adult Gen Xers watched traditional TV on a monthly basis, compared to 60.2 million a year earlier. Those numbers are expected to decline further as digital video consumption continues to grow.
Using YouTube as a model, the product review platform Influenster polled some 8,500 GenX users about their video content preferences and habits. It found that of the three generations, Gen Xers were the least active on YouTube. Thirty-five percent of those polled said they watched YouTube videos daily, 31 percent watched several times a week, and 22 percent watched several times a month.
But out of a current population of 65.8 million Gen Xers, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, that represents a powerful contingent of YouTube viewers!
More revealingly, the Influenser poll found, members of this middle generation are turning to videos to be educated, as evidenced by 71 percent saying they watch how-to videos and 64 percent product reviews.
Whether via video platforms or on social media like Facebook or Instagam, Gen Xers’s are most attracted to OTT (over-the-top) content streamed directly to viewers over the internet and, according to eMarketer, to nostalgia–anything that pays homage to the ‘80s and ‘90s of their youth.


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Ep 20 of 2011
This was the week in Tech where money could burn a hole in your pocket, or catapult you to the top of the worlds most valued brands. Even here at home the Federal Government released its budget promising $530m for human services IT, $308m for free TV kit, and $61m for smart roads but it was also the week that the ISP filter grants were severed.
It was also the week that Microsoft dug deep and shelled out 8.5b folding ones to buy the money losing Skype, and Apple is now the most valuable brand displacing Google as their brand value rises a massive 84% in just one year. According to Bloomberg, Apple Inc., maker of the iPhone, iPad and iMac, overtook search-engine giant Google Inc. to become the world's most valuable brand.
Apple's brand value climbed 84 percent in the past year to $153.3 billion, while Google's brand lost 2 percent to $111.5 billion, ending four years atop the rankings, while International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) climbed 17 percent to be the No. 3, ahead of Golden Arches, or McDonald's Corp. How's that, tech and fast food a top the worlds most valuable brands, is that saying something?
Also this week all eyes turned to Microsoft, being a somewhat outsider in the race to buy the money losing Skype. At face value Skype is a telco. Telcos are social beasts as it's what people need to communicate, so the front runner would have had to be Facebook. But it wasn't to be, Mark Elliot Zuckerberg had better things to spend his hard earned cash on. Next in line, with short odds was Google but hey, they've already got a voice system that connects users with the click of a mouse.
So Microsoft jumped in and $8.5b later, they have now become a telco! Now let's see, Microsoft certainly has the lions share of desktop Operating Systems, and to build a telephony client into that… well the possibilities are endless. Not to forget the rise of the Xbox and Connect gaming consoles where build in communications would make it very easy when battling a remote foe. Maybe there's method to the madness.
So next time you choose Maccas over a nice healthy Apple, and boot windows on your IBM PC to make a Skype call, just remember, you'll be doing your bit to help the Microsoft phoenix rise from the ashes and climb the most valued brand ladder yet again.
This week on
Tech Talk Radio
Free set top boxes for everyone. Skype bought by Microsoft, iGadgets take Apple to the top of theworlds brands, Adam moves to 123 Fake street in the wake of the Sony hack, Google is launching its cloud service without big music's approval and Labor ends the voluntary net filtering scheme.
This week's App of the Week:
Apple: Last Night Never Happened: the "Morning-After" App by
We all get carried away now and then and end up posting embarrassing tweets and photos of ourselves and our friends, forgetting that all of our contacts on Facebook and Twitter can see them, family included!
Last Night Never Happened is the life-saving app that will help you avoid letting those posts spread on the internet.
Using LNNH couldn't be easier! Simply choose which social networks to log into (Facebook/Twitter), set the dial to the number of hours back that you'd like to delete, and the app will show you in real time exactly how many items you posted during that time. Once you hit the "Last Night Never Happened" button and confirm, they'll be gone forever within seconds!
Looking for pevious Apps of the Week?


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Samsung Note 8 Enroute And Note 7 May Be Resold As Variant After Fiasco
Fans are about to live a very important moment for Samsung, namely, the presentation of its new flagship phone, the Galaxy S8. This phone marks a make or break situation for Samsung as a competitive rival for Apple. The phone could be announced soon, although the truth is that everything indicates that it will not arrive for the Mobile World Congress 2017. Rumors suggest that the official launch of S8 will take place on March 29 and that the launch of both the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus (the add-on device) will take place in mid-April. Meanwhile, it seems the South Korean manufacturer has not stood idly by.
The news recently surfaced that the Korean giant is already working on the new Samsung Galaxy Note 8. The phone, which will probably be presented towards the end of summer, would be labeled Baikal, although this may not be the final commercial name given to Note 8 by its manufacturer.
The Baikal is the deepest lake in the world located in Siberia. With this unique name as a reference, it becomes difficult to conjecture what Samsung would deliver. What has been said for now on the phone is that it could have a screen with a 4K resolution which would guarantee users an absolutely comfortable and brilliant experience when it comes to playing multimedia content or playing games of high graphics. But the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 would still be a phone specially developed for professional users. The tactile pointer, known commercially as S Pen, would play a key role in this device.
It seems clear, on the other hand, that Samsung will continue to maintain much of the features that make the Note a premium device, especially suitable for those who demand the highest performance. Thus, the company could come with a screen with dimensions equal or higher than 5.7 inches which users would enjoy with a curved design much like its predecessors, Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus.
On the other hand, it seems obvious that the phone will have to run through an evolved Exynos processor, containing between four and six GB of RAM in order to provide users with optimal performance and nothing less. A good camera system is highly anticipated for the upcoming Note 8. It’s being speculated that the new phone will incorporate 12 megapixels for the rear camera and will include some special features for the front camera such as the object recognition system and iris recognition system along with many other innovative features which might make this device a ground-breaking proposition. Even though these are just rumors and speculations so far, only time will tell what the Galaxy Note 8 actually amounts to.
On the contrary, other rumors suggest an alternate possibility for Note 8 which may sound very startling. Let’s begin by asking that if a company has loads of phones unsold because of some internal malfunction, what’s the logical course of action the company would most likely pursue? It’s none other than replacing the part that caused the malfunction, introducing some minute features to make it seem like it is a totally new phone altogether and then re-selling it under a totally different name. At the moment, that’s just a not-so-crazy rumor floating around the media for quite some time now.
According to some reports, Samsung would start selling the Galaxy Note 7S to minimize its economic damage caused by the explosion of a number of Note 7 and the ones returned that remained unsold. However, the phone would not reach everyone. This new edition would be sold mostly in India, Vietnam, and other emerging markets, although the company would also be considering selling it in its own country, South Korea, before the Galaxy Note 8.
ZDNet explains that the company would have the phone restored in May and would start selling it as early as the month of June. Of course, there will be a fundamental difference with the Galaxy Note 7; the battery will no longer be 3.500mAh but would be reduced to 3,000 or 3,200mAh. In theory, most of the components will be exactly the same. Some sources indicate that the company should only change the battery and nothing else, while others say that although most of the elements of Note 7 would be reused, a new casing would have to be designed. In total, Samsung currently has more than three million Note 7 returned by its buyers and another 2.5 million that were not distributed. This decision would be a serious step for Samsung, especially considering that its reputation fell sharply in recent months. Will the South Korean giant be able to gain back what was lost in the dreadful Note 7 fiasco? Sound off your comments below.
[Featured Image by Alex Wong/Getty Images]


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Circle K owner Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. is taking its electric car strategy to North America after learning from consumer habits in northern Europe. The Laval, Quebec-based convenience store giant will add charging stations at locations on the west coast of the United States and Canada and in its home province, CEO Brian Hannasch said in an interview Wednesday. Longer term, the company wants to expand into at-home vehicle charging in North America, as it’s doing in Norway. “We’ll have chargers deploying in the next 12 months in Canada and in the U.S.,” said Hannasch, whose company has outlets in 48 of the 50 states. “Our goal will be to follow the path we’re on in Norway.”
The company, which counts more than 14,350 locations worldwide, has been experimenting with chargers and stations for years in the Scandinavian nation, where subsidies for electric cars helped speed up their adoption.
The potential growth of electric vehicles in North America, Couche-Tard’s biggest market, offers the company a new revenue stream at a time when gasoline demand may have peaked. Couche-Tard received 71 per cent of its revenue and 46 per cent of its gross profit from fuel sales in the fiscal year that ended April 26, according to a recent company presentation to investors. “There could be a real first-mover advantage to be gained for companies that aggressively develop quick-charge capabilities both in a retail environment, such as at fuel stations, but also for home or office charging,” Jennifer Bartashus, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said in an email. “Demand for charging stations is poised to grow, particularly as companies are increasingly evaluating electric vehicles for transportation and delivery of goods.”
Hannasch said the company and a partner have mapped out several hundred locations they’re interested in. He believes some of the lessons from Norway can be taken to North America, including the kind of neighborhoods where charging stations are popular.
Manager Magazin reported that Volkswagen Group is discussing the sale of Bugatti to Croatia's Rimac. VW aims to complete the sale this year, the magazine said, citing VW sources.
Bugatti would become an all-electric brand under Rimac, Car magazine reported. VW Group and Bugatti spokespeople separately declined to comment on the reports.
A Rimac spokeswoman also said: "We cannot comment on speculation."
VW executives approved the deal last week, but it still needs supervisory board approval, Car magazine said on Thursday, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.
Bugatti has long been considered to be the jewel in the crown of the VW Group and also an example of the automaker's engineering extravagance. It was revived under former Chairman Ferdinand Piech in 1998 after the brand had largely faded from existence in the 1950s.
Because of high development costs and low volumes, the 16-cylinder Veyron -- Bugatti’s first model under VW control -- was considered one of the biggest money losers in the auto industry. Volkswagen doesn’t break out financials for the brand. Bugatti was profitable last year on the back of sales of its $3 million Chiron hypercar, President Stephan Winkelmann said in July.
The company will also be profitable this year, the Bugatti spokesman said.
The COVID-19 crisis led to the brand to postpone a decision on whether to launch a second model amid concerns about whether customers would be willing to pay for it during a recession, Winkelmann said in July. Bugatti sold 82 cars in 2019, according to VW Group's annual report.
Since the 2015 diesel-cheating scandal, VW has been taking a closer look at its portfolio, with a particular focus on the expensive luxury-car brands amid the growing burden of investing in electric mobility and self-driving technology.
Bloomberg had previously reported that the carmaker was weighing options for the Lamborghini unit.
Rimac's success in developing its own electric drive components has led to investments from Porsche, which has a 15.5 percent stake, and also Hyundai, which has 14 percent stake. Chinese battery maker Camel Group owns a 19 percent stake. Rimac would give VW Group's Porsche brand a larger stake to help pay for Bugatti, according to the Car magazine report.
Rimac is currently developing an electric hypercar, the C_Two, which is due to be launched in the first quarter of 2021.
The C_Two is said to make 1,914 hp, more than the 1,600 hp Bugatti Chiron, which uses a 8.0-liter 16-cylinder gasoline engine. The launch of the C_Two has been delayed by the pandemic.
Founder Mate Rimac told Automotive News Europe last year that he aims to be a Tier One supplier of electric components. He also said the company would keep production of cars to a very low volume. "We don't want to go to a higher volume with our cars for several reasons. One of them is that we don't want to compete with our customers. As long as we are below 100 cars a year, they don't care," he said.
Source: Bloomberg and Reuters
Automakers balked at the European Union’s plan to set stricter emissions limits for the next decade, saying they lack the government support needed to achieve the targets. The industry is among the sectors most under fire in the 2030 Climate Target Plan, which calls for the bloc to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by 55% from 1990 levels rather than the previously planned 40%. To achieve this, the European Commission sees carmakers needing to gradually phase out combustion engines and roughly halve CO2 emissions from 2021 targets.
Canada launched a fund on Thursday to invest in community-based projects to curb emissions, with bulk of the money coming from a fine that Volkswagen AG paid for breaking the country's diesel emissions rules. The $206 million (US$157 million) fund is part of the government’s new Climate Action and Awareness Fund which seeks to boost climate science research by empowering youth and communities. “The new Climate Action and Awareness Fund will create jobs for Canadians in science and technology, academia, and at the grassroots community level,” Johnathan Wilkinson, minister of environment and climate change, said in statement.
In January, a judge in Canada approved a $196.5 million fine against Volkswagen after the company pleaded guilty to dozens of counts of diesel emissions violations. The fine was by far the largest environmental penalty in Canadian history, prosecutors said. The minister also announced a $50 million investment over three years towards a number of priorities such as supporting additional research to bring down the country’s emission to net-zero.
Hyundai and Genesis are resuming their dealership upgrade programs after halting them six months ago when the coronavirus pandemic disrupted the U.S. auto market. And some dealers are pushing back. Retailers say economic conditions remain uncertain in the U.S. and car buyers are increasingly moving online, especially under the shadow of the pandemic, making major investments in physical stores less appealing. But executives at Hyundai Motor America say they feel the company's retail sales have rebounded from the coronavirus crisis thanks to aggressive factory promotions and hard work by dealers. And now is the time to move forward.
Source: Automotive News
Michigan auto dealers are trying to block startup electric carmakers including Rivian Automotive Inc. and Lucid Motors Inc. from following in Tesla Inc.’s footsteps by selling vehicles directly to consumers and servicing them in the state. A bill introduced in the Michigan legislature last week would block any manufacturer other than Tesla from selling cars to customers without a dealer as an intermediary and from owning and operating service and repair facilities. It could come up for a vote as soon as Tuesday, according to a Rivian official.
Ford Motor Co.'s CEO-in-waiting is betting the future profitability of the Dearborn automaker lies in a rich but under-appreciated side of the industry: the trucks and vans it sells to business customers. "Our commercial vehicle business is a powerhouse," Jim Farley told The Detroit News earlier this year. When Farley becomes CEO Oct. 1, he's looking to leverage those commercial assets to help the Blue Oval strive to achieve a 10% profit margin in North America, compared to 6.7% in 2019.
Source: The Detroit News
Ford Motor Co. has reached a tentative labor deal with its 5,400 unionized employees in Canada, in a settlement that also secures a nearly $1.5 billion investment in two plants and a commitment to build electric cars in suburban Toronto. The decision from the Dearborn, Mich.-based auto maker represents a shot of confidence for Canada’s auto sector. Factories in the country produce roughly two million vehicles annually, but that is down 25% from 2000 as car makers invested in lower-cost regions such as Mexico and the U.S. Sunbelt. Source: The Wall Street Journal
Later Reuters and Automotive News Canada reported the deal may encounter push-back from the portion of the Union members in Oakville. They were not happy that the last contract did not eliminate he “10 year” phase in of salaries for new workers. That contract was only approved because the Ford workers in other locations carried the vote.
California will ban the sale of new gasoline powered passenger cars and trucks starting in 2035 in a dramatic move to shift to electric vehicles and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Governor Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday. Newsom told a press conference the state was committing to a “firm goal” to phase out the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035 and was encouraging other states to take similar action. Newsom’s order labeled the elimination of gasoline-powered vehicles a “goal” and a “target” after his office said earlier his order would require the sale of nothing but zero emission passenger vehicle starting in 2035. The move would be the most significant to date by a U.S. state aimed at ending the use of internal combustion engines for passenger travel.
Ford will build five electric vehicles at a Canadian factory, as part of a deal with auto-worker union Unifor announced Tuesday, the Toronto Star reported. Subject to ratification by union members, the agreement is for a three-year national labor contract covering 5,400 unionized works, a Ford statement said.
The proposed settlement includes a $1.8 billion investment at Ford's Oakville, Ontario, factory for the production of five electric vehicles, as well as an engine contract for a Windsor, Ontario, factory, according to the Toronto Star.
The Oakville factory currently builds the Ford Edge and Lincoln Nautilus crossovers. It was reportedly considered a closure risk because Ford has not committed to new versions of those aging models.
Electric-vehicle production will start in 2024, with the last of the five planned models entering production in 2028, Unifor national president Jerry Dias said in an interview with the Toronto Star. It's unclear which models will be built at Oakville. The Ford Mustang Mach-E crossover will be built in Mexico starting later this year.
The first of Ford's new-generation EVs to be built in the United States will be the F-150 Electric pickup truck, in Michigan. Ford confirmed that in late 2019, and recently said the electric truck will arrive in 2022.
The pandemic already derailed plans for a Lincoln EV, based on Rivian's "skateboard" platform and built at the company's Illinois factory. Ford, which owns a stake in Rivian, still plans to collaborate with the company on an unspecified future model, however.
Lincoln is still planning an electric vehicle, and Mustang Mach-E's scalable platform is expected to spawn additional models. Perhaps some of these will be allocated to Oakville. Source Green Car Reports
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