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Oktoberfest: Your 2018 guide to celebrations around San Diego County
It’s time again to raise a pint, or two. Oktoberfest returns with a number of festivities happening countywide, beginning Friday in La Mesa and El Cajon and continuing through Oct. 19 in San Diego.
In chronological order, here’s a list of where fest-goers can chug a stein of lager, savor some bratwurst and oom-pah-pah to their heart’s content. Most of the festivals are free, unless otherwise noted. Prost!
El Cajon Oktoberfest
4 to 10 p.m. Friday and Oct. 5; noon to 10 p.m. Saturday and Oct. 6; noon to 9 p.m. Sunday and Oct. 7. German American Societies of San Diego, Inc., 1017 S. Mollison Ave., El Cajon. $10 Fridays and Saturdays; $5 Sundays; free to ages under 21 and active military. (619) 442-6637. germanclubsandiego.org
Dust off your lederhosen and dirndls and spend the day celebrating with authentic German music and traditional food, beer, wine and other beverages. Held over two weekends, the festival features folk dances, games and contests, vendor booths and a Kids Zone. The Bavarian band Guggenbach-Baum will play polkas, waltzes and, of course, the chicken dance, as well as all the popular beer-drinking songs. The crowning of this year’s Oktoberfest queen will be part of the opening ceremonies Friday at 6:30 p.m.
La Mesa Oktoberfest
4 to 10:30 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. 8401 La Mesa Blvd., downtown La Mesa. Free admission. lamesaoktoberfest.org
Billed by organizers as “the largest Oktoberfest celebration in San Diego County,” the 45th annual festival has attracted more than 100,000 visitors since 1973. The three-day event features more than 50 food vendors, two beer gardens (with VIP passes), Kinder Karneval with a giant Ferris wheel, rock-climbing wall and massive inflatable slides, interactive art, brat-eating competitions and scavenger hunts. There’s also German glücklich games, including stein-holding and keg-rolling; traditional Bavarian and German music performed by rock, polka, country and cover bands. More than 30 local artisans will be selling art and German-style craft pieces at the Vendor Village. New this year, is the Dachshund Village made just for dog-friendly families featuring wiener dog races, a dog fashion show (all friendly pups are welcome), yodeling/howling/trick contests, and a pet expo. On Sunday, feast on an Oktoberfest Modern Times Beer Brunch at BO-beau Kitchen + Garden in La Meas Village. The four-course brunch and beer pairing is priced at $39.95 per person. Serving starts at 10:30 a.m. For reservations, call (619) 337-3445.
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Mountain Vista Drive and El Camino Real, Encinitas. encinitasoktoberfest.com
The 23rd annual festival features authentic German music, carnival rides and a street craft faire with more than 200 vendors. Authentic German food and beers from German and local San Diego breweries will be served in the family food and refreshment tent and the Keepin’ It Local Craft Beer Garden. There will be a family fun zone with children’s rides and family-oriented activities. The Gemutlichkeit Alpine Dancers will perform traditional dances from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. A ceremonial parade kicks off the celebration at noon. Free parking will be available at the Flora Vista Elementary School at 1690 Wandering Road, where you can ride a free shuttle to the festival.
Carlsbad Oktoberfest & Family Fall Festival
Noon to 10 p.m. Oct. 6 at Holiday Park, between Tamarack Avenue and Carlsbad Village Drive, Carlsbad. Meal and admission ticket for ages 10 and older: $15 in advance, $20 at the door; admission only: $5 for ages 10 and older; children under 10 are free. rotaryoktoberfest.org
Get your yodel on as the Carlsbad Rotary presents its 36th annual Oktoberfest benefiting local charities. The daylong festival includes music, costume contests, arts and crafts, games, rides and performances by musician and puppeteer Ranger Jack. Expect some hearty, and healthy, German fare such as brat and sausage with potato salad and sauerkraut, and lighter dishes like grilled chicken and sides, and, of course, a beer garden. Satisfy your sweet tooth with munchies like apple strudel, kettle corn, cotton candy, pumpkin pie and fudge.
Noon to 10 p.m. Oct. 6. Galway Downs, 38801 Los Corralitos Road, Temecula. $20 general admission; free to children under 12. temeculaoktoberfest.com
Celebrate Oktoberfest with traditional music and beer, wine and German food for sale, along with costume, yodeling and beer stein contests. For visitor comfort, tents will be set up at the main seating area and surrounding areas of the event.
Ocean Beach Oktoberfest
3 to 11 p.m. Oct. 12; 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Oct. 13. OB Pier parking lot and adjacent grassy area at Newport Avenue and Abbott Street, Ocean Beach. Free for entertainment; $5 entry for the beer garden each day. Opens at 11 a.m. oceanbeachsandiego.com
The 14th annual two-day eclectic, beachside festival features a variety of activities and entertainment. There will be traditional oompah music and local acts, along with food and craft vendors; a beer garden with authentic Bavarian and local brews; contests, including the sausage toss, stein-holding and brat-eating competition and the crowning of Ms. Oktoberfest. The Warrior Foundation Freedom Station will hold a microbrew tasting from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 13. Proceeds from the ticket sales will benefit combat-wounded veterans. Tickets for the tasting are $35 and can be purchased online at OBOktoberfest.com
Coronado Island Oktoberfest
1 to 5 p.m. Oct. 13 at Coronado Ferry Landing, 1201 First St., Coronado. $36. Sales end Monday. bit.ly/2MVLYko
Even though traditional Oktoberfest officially ends Oct. 7, Coronado Island continues the celebration hoisting unlimited stein fills of more than 20 German and local craft beers from more than 10 breweries. Feast on modern German-inspired food from local restaurants while listening to live music from the Jaggerbombs, a lederhosen-wearing cover band. The family- and dog-friendly venue will also feature a vendor village.
1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 13. On the lawn at the Starlight Theater, Pala Casino Spa & Resort, 11154 Highway 76, Pala. $45 per person. (877) 946-7252. startickets.com
This outdoor gathering includes 16 beer brands, eight authentic German food stations, three wine varietals and traditional German polka rock music by Los Angeles-based Hammerstein Musik Bavaria.
11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 13-14. Rabobank parking lot, 2033 Main St., Julian. (760) 765-0613.
St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church will host the 23rd annual celebration with German folk music and folk dancers, arts and crafts booth, children’s activities, food and drinks.
Noon to 4 p.m. Oct. 14. Olivenhain Meeting Hall, 423 Rancho Santa Fe Road, Encinitas. olivenhain.org/events
In honor of the community’s German founding fathers (Olivenhain is German for “olive tree”), the long-running free event will offer plenty of food, beer and authentic music. A nominal fee may be charged for dinner.
Rancho Peñasquitos Oktoberfest
6 to 10 p.m. Oct. 19. Hilltop Community Park, 9711 Oviedo Way, San Diego. Dinner plates: $5 per adult; $3 per child; $1 each for coffee, soda or water. Hilltop Recreation Center, (858) 538-8198; Canyonside Recreation Center, (858) 538-3131. rpcouncil.com
The Rancho Peñasquitos Town Council holds its annual celebration featuring a German dinner (bratwurst, potato salad, red cabbage, sauerkraut or coleslaw, roll and apple strudel); a beer garden with up to six local breweries; and German music performed by The Gordon Kohl Band. Proceeds from the beer garden will benefit the the town’s fireworks fund.
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Seoul shares snap 6-day loss on China data, weaker won
* Samsung Elec up 3 pct, pares January loss
* Hyundai, Kia up more than 4 pct as won weakens
* KOGAS falls 4 pct on cheaper won
* Trading volume lowest since Nov. ahead of holiday
By Somang Yang
SEOUL, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Seoul shares climbed on Friday, snapping a six-day losing streak after strong data from China confirmed a recovery was gaining traction, as blue chips rebounded from their recent battering.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed up 1 percent at 1,950.90 points, rebounding from a 10-week low hit on Thursday.
"The data from China really buoyed the index. This was the boost the index needed for a rebound, which was long overdue considering KOSPI's current price-equity ratio," said Kim Young-joon, an analyst at SK Securities.
China said its exports in January grew 25.0 percent from a year earlier, the strongest showing since April 2011 and well ahead of market expectations for a 17 percent rise.
Blue chips rebounded from lows as risk sentiment recovered and the won weakened a further 0.7 percent against the dollar, inflating the repatriated profits of exporters.
Index heavyweight Samsung Electronics rallied 3 percent in late trade as investors snapped up the stock, which shed 4.9 percent of its value in January.
Hyundai Motor jumped 4.8 percent while sibling Kia Motor rose 4.4 percent.
"Hyundai and Kia shares have fallen to their book value, so their cheapness is a good reason to buy," said Chae Hee-geun, an analyst at Hyundai Securities.
However, the utilities sector slumped, falling 2 percent. State-owned Korea Gas Corp (KOGAS) tumbled 4.7 percent as a weaker won raises the cost of imported gas.
Overall, advancing shares outnumbered losers 490 to 313.
Trading volumes were low ahead of the holidays. Some 286 million shares changed hands on the main board, the lowest since Nov. 26.
The KOSPI 200 benchmark of core stocks was up 1.2 percent, while the junior KOSDAQ edged 0.6 percent higher.
The market will be closed on Monday for the Lunar New Year and will reopen on Tuesday.
Move on day +0.99 percent
12-month high 2,057.28 14 March 2012
12-month low 1,769.31 25 July 2012
Change on yr -2.31 percent
All-time high 2,231.47 27 April 2011
All-time low 93.10 6 January 1981
(Additional reporting by Daum Kim and Seongwon Chang; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

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HP will issue a major update in June on its first 3D printer, which will supposedly print faster and at a higher quality than current printers, CEO Meg Whitman told shareholders at an annual meeting Wednesday, according to PCWorld.
Whitman said 3D printing is currently “like watching ice melt,” and the surface quality of 3D printed objects needs improvement. She did not say how HP plans to increase PRINTING speed, but Wired reported last year that HP is developing its own polymer for printing.
HP will enter the 3D printing market in phases, according to PCWorld. It will first target businesses with employees that need to print prototypes and finished products. Other business-oriented printers generally cost at least $5,000, if not $10,000 or $100,000. Whitman said that HP was also focusing on cost when news of an HP 3D printer first broke in October. The most innovative business 3D printers…
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Wild Earth’s Ryan Bethencourt: ‘Our Mission is to Make Killer Food, Without the Killing’
12 Mins Read
In an exclusive interview with Green Queen, Wild Earth co-founder and alt-protein investor Ryan Bethencourt talks the death threats he’s received, his experience with Shark Tank and Mark Cuban, his investment criteria, learning from Tesla, media bias, and his company’s upcoming cat food and Basics lines.
“It was honestly pretty brutal,” says Ryan Bethencourt, recalling a trip he took with his father when he was 10. “I loved animals, cared for lots of our dogs and cats, and I then went to see a pig slaughtered in front of me.”
He recalls seeing the fear in the creature’s eyes – as if the life had been drained out of them. “They were sliced up in front of me,” he describes, noting the day he quit pork.
That was over 30 years ago now, a period since which Bethencourt has emerged as a leading scientist, entrepreneur and investor in the alternative protein industry. His trip to the farm provides a snapshot of a man who deeply cares about animals – he grew up with a bunch of dogs, cats and other “exotic pets” – and his company Wild Earth, which makes food for our furry friends, extends that image.
It took him until his late teenage years to go fully vegetarian, but it was really in his late 20s that he gave up animal foods altogether, after watching the 2005 documentary Earthlings. “I went vegan the next day,” the now-44-year-old tells me. “As Ursula Le Guin wrote in one of my favourite short stories, once I had seen the wrongness of our society, I chose to walk away from Omelas and go vegan.”
What Ryan Bethencourt the investor looks for in startups
A few years after taking the plant-based plunge, Bethencourt and a few friends co-founded Indie.Bio in 2014, a biotech accelerator based in San Francisco, which has funded dozens of leaders in the alternative protein industry. It marked the beginning of his journey as an investor.
Bethencourt calls his journey of becoming an angel investor accidental. “I wanted to keep supporting ‘future of food’ companies post IndieBio, and I started to invest tiny angel cheques to help founders just get off the ground (most were their first cheques),” he says, naming companies like cultivated meat leaders Shiok Meats (Singapore) and Newform Foods (South Africa). “Over time, I realised I needed more capital to support so many founders that were approaching me.”
This is when he launched Sustainable Food Ventures with food and flavour scientist Mariliis Holm. It’s a rolling fund that backs 60 companies over three years (50% of which are first cheques). Over the last decade, Bethencourt has been involved in the angel or VC funding of more than 180 companies. Some of his favourites? Upside Foods, Mycoworks, NotCo, Geltor, Jellatech, Galy, Hoxton Farms and Farmless, among many others.
What does a serial investor like him look for in a company? The North Carolina resident has three simple criteria. He calls the first “missionary over mercenary”, indicating support only for people who deeply care about a sector. “They’ll keep going no matter what, and you need that when building a business. No company or industry stays hot forever, and when it gets brutally hard, that’s when missionaries shine,” he explains.
The next is a focus on new and interesting insights or technology, “ideally with a deep understanding of why others that have tried failed and why this time it’s different”. Finally, he asks the question: “Do I want to work with this person/team for the next few decades?” He believes this is his most unusual insight, as he views backing a founded as a lifelong commitment – it’s not just their first startup, but those that follow too. For example, he invested in Alan Perlstein’s Miraculex (now Oobli) years ago, and has since funded Perlstein’s latest startup, California Cultured.
“I still get founders of large commercial companies who call me and ask for my perspective on their companies or their next startup, and I love the fact they feel comfortable reaching out to me as the years roll on,” says Bethencourt.
Creating Wild Earth and securing a Shark Tank deal with Mark Cuban
It was at Indie.Bio when Bethencourt first became “obsessed about pet food”. There were a few reasons for this. The investor had learnt that 30% of the meat consumed in the US goes to feeding pets (which, to him, meant that 25-30% of factory-farmed animals could be replaced). He also realised that dogs, as omnivores, could “survive and thrive” on a plant-based diet. And he was even more shocked to find out that cats (traditionally seen as obligate carnivores) could similarly prosper on a nutritionally complete vegan diet.
It sparked an idea that propelled Bethencourt to mainstream popularity. “I really believe in the saying: ‘Let food be thy medicine.” And most pet food is honestly horrible,” he says, invoking the dreaded 4Ds – dead, diseased, dying or downed animals – and referring to the contamination with euthanasia drugs and melted plastic.
“All of these contaminants have been found by the FDA in pet food, and that’s before you actually understand what our pets are being fed: ground-up chicken feathers, beaks and other horrible things,” he notes. “The great irony of this all is we can replace the entire rotten pet food industry with nutritionally compete plant-based and yeast-based proteins, clean and not gross.”
He took it upon himself to transform the pet food industry for all the animals, and started Wild Earth with his co-founders in 2017. Two years later, he appeared on national television with the aim of generating interest and investment in his company. Suffice it to say, he was successful in reaching his goal, and then some.
On Shark Tank, Bethencourt landed a deal with Mark Cuban, securing $550,000 for 10% of the company. (Since then, Wild Earth has closed Series A and A+ rounds to bring total funding to nearly $50M). “Shark Tank was a surreal experience,” he reveals. “A lot of people don’t know this, but there aren’t any redos on the show. When the doors open, you get one shot and that’s it, and the pressure is intense as they make sure you never meet the Sharks prior to the pitch.”
The Sharks went hard on Bethencourt after he revealed that Wild Earth had no commercial sales yet (with plans to launch its first product soon), despite essentially valuing the business at $11M. He expected that response. “We were trying our best to make sure we made the best dog food possible and it was taking a lot longer than I originally hoped,” he tells me.
“I hoped one of them would see the vision behind Wild Earth and why we had to bring change to the pet food industry, and luckily, right at the end when all the Sharks had declined, Mark looked at me and made me an offer. I honestly thought he was going to pass too, but he really understood where the future was going and was willing to take a chance.”
Bethencourt says Cuban and his team have provided “incredible support” over the years, adding that he speaks to Cuban every few weeks. “I think Mark also deeply understood the opportunity in the plant-based/vegan space,” he suggests. “After he backed us, I kept sending him studies on plant-based diets’ health benefits and strength/exercise benefits too. A few years back, Mark went mostly vegetarian, and I think it’s helped keep him in great shape on top of his commitment to lots of exercise.”
Exploring cultivated meat and health benefits of vegan pet food
Wild Earth didn’t stop at vegan pet food, though. In 2022, the company announced its foray into cultivated meat with a cultured chicken broth topper for dogs. A year and a bit later, it remains one of only a handful of producers working on cell-based pet food.
“I’ve spent a lot of time talking to everyone, including the biggest critics of the plant-based industry, cattle ranchers, self-proclaimed carnivores, and some of the biggest meat producers on the planet. I’m convinced that while many of us (at least 50% of us) are happy with plant-based and fermented protein options, there’s still a large group of consumers who want ‘real’ meat, and I think we can make those products for them too, [which] are slaughter-free, but real meat,” Bethencourt explains.
Did the company receive any concerns from its vegan consumer base? “Yes we did,” he confirms. “We had lots of conversations and as we’ve seen, this topic is controversial. It’s likely that we’ll launch a separate line of cultivated pet foods under a different brand to ensure that there’s no confusion.”
While all of Wild Earth’s consumer products will be vegan, this possible future line of cultivated products will cater to people who still want “real” meat for their pets, but want to skip the low quality and cruel use of animals in factory farming. “Our mission at Wild Earth is to make killer food without the killing,” states Bethencourt.
Consumer apprehension over the health aspects of alternative proteins is a key challenge for the industry in 2024. The Wild Earth CEO says he’s seen a “dramatic change” in perception about the health credentials of dog food in the last seven years. This shift has occurred both in consumers who’ve noticed benefits for their pets when eating vegan, and veterinarians who are recommending plant-based diets for dogs to tackle food allergies, weight control, diabetes and other clinical applications, according to Bethencourt.
“We’ve also seen a dramatic shift in who the average Wild Earth consumer is: when we started, the majority of our customers were vegan/vegetarians, but today, the majority of our customers aren’t (over 70%). We’re seeing widespread adoption from consumers just looking for cleaner and healthier food, and they’re now comfortable with plant-based pet foods.”
That has given rise to an increasing number of vegan pet food brands and products. One estimate put this market at $26B in 2022, predicting it to double to $57B by 2032. Companies like The Pack, Omni, Hownd (all UK), Noochies (Canada), Paleo (Belgium) are all innovating in this space, and that’s without looking at the larger players launching dedicated plant-based lines.
“The vast majority of both vegans and vegetarians still feed their pets meat-based pet food,” asserts Bethencourt. “I know because I get lectured almost daily (particularly) by vegans who tell me that dogs can’t be vegan (after we’ve fed tens of thousands of dogs plant-based diets for many, many years and they’ve thrived).
“I’m thankful I no longer get the death threats though,” he adds, recalling people’s uproar over feeding dogs vegan food. “Those were weird.”
He calls recent research about the benefits of plant-based diets for pets his “favourite new development” in the space, particularly the studies by University of Winchester professor Andrew Knight. In 2022, he published a paper revealing that dogs fed vegan diets were healthier and required fewer veterinary interventions. He followed it up with similar research for cats, showing that felines on a plant-based diet could be healthier than those fed meat.
Bethencourt believes the increase in such studies has led to vets getting more receptive of vegan pet food, and industry giants like Mars, Nestlé and General Mills experimenting with plant-based launches. “We’re still early, [but] I’m confident we’re starting to reach a tipping point in the US, Europe and the UK, and hopefully soon globally,” he says.
‘Plant-based industry can learn a lot from Tesla’
While Wild Earth did develop its lines of cultured chicken (and beef), it has been forced to pause their development due to the challenging financial environment globally, doubling down on its commercial plant-based products instead. “We’re now in conversations with other companies who have developed cell-based lines about partnering to produce future slaughter-free meat lines,” reveals Bethencourt.
It’s reflective of the wider challenges for alternative meat across the world, a slump he calls “brutal, but… inevitable”. “All industries move in boom and bust cycles. In the plant-based space, most funding has frozen, but – and here’s the important part – the customers are still out there, and across Europe, the US and Asia more customers are becoming open to plant-based products,” he explains.
“I think one of the biggest challenges for all of us is competing with some of the planet’s largest companies in the food category. Most plant-based food companies are tiny in comparison to today’s food giants, but if we focus on making incredible products, with great customer benefits and very competitive prices, we can win.”
The narrative around plant-based hasn’t been helped by the attacks from some mainstream media outlets, which Bethencourt agrees are biased, given most of their advertisers still sell animal-based products, meaning they can’t be too critical. “In an era of AI and information warfare from both nation states through to large incumbents, we all have to think more independently and question everything,” he implores.
The Wild Earth CEO says the plant-based industry can learn a lot from the likes of Tesla, which launched with a premium line and has since aggressively increased product benefits and lowered prices. “People will want to buy tasty, healthier and cost-competitive products – we just have to push our industry harder to deliver on these, and that’s a hard challenge for us all,” he notes.
Going back to the media aspect, Tesla – a company that’s “probably the most hated by mainstream media” – is doing “an incredible amount of good”, despite governments and petrochemical giants being against it, according to Bethencourt: “They continue to win market share by focusing on innovation, their customers, and making better and increasingly more cost-competitive products.”
One company that’s doing it right in his eyes is Chile’s AI-led vegan startup NotCo. “From day one, Matias [Muchnik], their founder and CEO, has always said tastier products, healthier products and better-priced products will win, and they have all across Latin America.” (Most recently, the company’s collaboration with The Kraft Company bore fruit to a vegan version of the latter’s iconic boxed mac and cheese).
Wild Earth will launch cat food and a Basics line for dogs
Since raising the half a million from Cuban on Shark Tank, Wild Earth has managed to release 14 products, feed tens of thousands of dogs, launch online and in retail nationwide, and sell over $42M worth of vegan dog food, treats and supplements. In the company’s early days, it was able to grow revenue by 25-50%, and last year, that figure crossed $10M. This year, the target is $15M, though the focus is on cost-efficient growth, keeping in mind the precarious economic landscape.
Its D2C business remains its most successful sales channel. “One of the hardest things for us was transforming from an R&D organization to a commercial organisation,” says Bethencourt. “It’s hard for any company but particularly for a mission-based company we’ve had to learn a lot of lessons, staying true to our mission means being effective and scaling sales.”
Now, Wild Earth is looking to expand into retail and diversify its product portfolio by launching a new cat food SKU, as well as an essential Basics line. The latter – set to launch later this year – will provide a lower-cost entry point for vegan pet food to cater to a wider audience. The company also hopes to return to India and Asia (where it was selling pre-pandemic), and enter Europe and Canada – international expansion is on the cards for 2025.
“We’re very optimistic about the future for plant-based pet food and think the first plant-based food boom and bust (for us and our pets) was just the end of the beginning of market adoption,” predicts Bethencourt, who foresees continued growth in the sector over the next decade.
“One of our guiding principles at Wild Earth is to be bold and push the pet industry to change,” he says. “We did this when we launched our plant-based dog food, treats and supplements, we’re doing that again with our vegan cat products and we’ll challenge ourselves again in the future to grow the space for cell-based meat to end the use of factory-farmed animals in pet food.
“It’s hard, but it’s something we believe is important to do for the world we want to see in the future.”


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On April 23, thousands of people around the world will give more than 2 million free books to friends, family and strangers as part of World Book Night.
And, for the first time in the event’s three-year history, the Richmond Hill Public Library will play a part in promoting reading and literacy across the globe.
“It’s a really great way to promote reading in our area,” assistant librarian Carol Yarley said. “People sign up to be book givers, and publishers and authors provide each giver with 20 free books to give to people in their community.”
More than 30 books are on this year’s giving list. Titles range from national bestsellers — like David Benioff’s “City of Thieves” — to classic favorites, like “The Alchemist” and “Fahrenheit 451.”
“There are also titles available for younger readers,” Yarley said. “The titles ‘Middle School: The Worst Years of my Life’ and ‘The Phantom Tollbooth’ are perfect for children 9 and up who are picky readers.”
Registration to become a giver is now closed, but nine people in South Bryan have signed up for the 2013 World Book Night and will be passing out their copies around town.
Library employees will give their books away from 4-7 p.m. at the library and at the Richmond Hill farmers market in J.F. Gregory Park.
Yarley plans to give out her copies of “Bossypants,” written by popular comedienne Tina Fey, at the farmers market.
Retired judge and lawyer Jackie Bailey brought World Book Night to the librarians’ attention after participating in the event last year in Chatham County.
“I signed up last year after I heard about it from a friend in Florida, and I just thought it was a really wonderful, really simple way to encourage reading to people who aren’t ordinarily avid readers,” Bailey said. “So I promptly marched right into the library and said, ‘Ladies, do you know about this?’”
Last year, Bailey gave out copies of “My Sister’s Keeper” by Jodi Picoult. She said it was easy to find willing recipients, and that many who received the book told her how much they enjoyed it.
“I could have easily given out a hundred copies. Even in today’s electronic age, there’s nothing like holding a book in your hand and diving into a good story,” she said.
This year, she’ll give out copies of the classic “My Antonia” by Willa Cather.
World Book Night started in the U.K. in 2010. In 2012, givers handed out 2.5 million books in the U.K., U.S., Ireland and Germany.
According to the organization’s website, organizers chose April 23 because it’s UNESCO’s International Day of the book, as well as William Shakespeare’s birthday.
Visit www.worldbooknight.com to find out more about World Book Night or see the full list of this year’s titles.
To learn how to pick up a free copy of one of those titles, call the Richmond Hill Public Library at 756-3580.


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Almost two thirds of Americans are planning to shop during Black Friday this year, according to a recent survey by tech buyback site Decluttr.
But while retailers offer a lot of great deals during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, especially with the shortened holiday shopping season, not everything is a good value. It helps to understand what types of items have the best promotions, so you don't overpay.
"There are a handful of categories that tend to have the best discounts during Black Friday," Sara Skirboll, shopping and trends expert for RetailMeNot, tells CNBC Make It. That includes apparel, electronics, beauty products and kitchen appliances. And don't worry, these types of goods are also great Cyber Monday deals as well, Skirboll says.
Here's a look at some of the best deals released so far in these four categories.
Experts say Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the perfect times to stock up on clothing, outerwear, shoes and accessories. On Amazon, discounts on clothing, shoes and jewelry averaged about $16 last year, according to an analysis Pattern shared with CNBC Make It of more than 2,000 products.
"While it's not usually the best time to buy in-season clothing, Black Friday is the exception as many retailers will be discounting winter coats and cooler weather apparel," Skirboll says. Columbia will likely have 50% off coats and accessories, and the retailer is already offering 50% off some items.
Retailers such as JCPenney, Macy's and Old Navy already have their ads out and they're packed with deals. Old Navy is offering 50% off everything from Wednesday, Nov. 27 through Friday, Nov. 29. And starting on Thanksgiving, the retailer is selling its cozy socks for just $1.
If you're looking for a more luxurious buy, check out $40 Charter Club cashmere sweaters from Macy's — a bargain shopping site Brad's Deals ranks as among the best, considering these usually retail for around $160.
'Tis the season for sales, discounts and promotions on all things electronic. That includes TVs, laptops, gaming consoles and smartphones.
If you're in the market for a TV, Brad's Deals lists a Philips 65" Class 4K Ultra HD (2160p) Android Smart LED TV as one of its best online Black Friday deals. This Walmart doorbuster is priced at $279, down from $499.
Experts predict gaming consoles will also be a good buy. Kohl's Black Friday ad is advertising doorbuster deals that include PlayStation 4 Slim 1TB Fortnite Neo Versa Bundle and the Xbox One S 1 TB Jedi Fallen Order Gaming bundles for $199.99, plus $60 in Kohl's Cash — that's $100 of the regular price.
Kohl's also has a Nintendo Switch bundle that includes a case and controller charging dock for $319, plus $90 in Kohl's Cash. Target is selling a slightly cheaper bundle of the console and the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe game for $299.99.
You may even be able to find deals on Apple products, which rarely see discounts. Target is offering $200 gift cards with qualified activation on Verizon or AT&T networks of iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone 11 Pro or iPhone 11 through Sunday, Dec. 1, 2019.
Beauty stores such as Sephora and Ulta (open on Thanksgiving) will have Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, as well as department stores such as Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom and Macy's. "You're going to find lots of great fragrance sets, makeup sets and skincare sets," Skirboll says, adding that deals in these categories regularly can be half off or more.
Macy's already has some of its Black Friday beauty deals out, shopping site Slickdeals reports, including a Tarte two-piece Dare to Live eyeshadow set for $20 (originally $40) and a Benefit Beauty two-piece Jackpot mascara and brow gel set for $10 (originally $20).
If you are shopping Ulta for Black Friday, expect to save at least half off on brands such as Urban Decay and bareMinerals, according to the Krazy Coupon Lady website.
"Pay attention to small kitchen appliances," Skirboll says. Look for discounts on the type of appliances that you can put on the countertops in your kitchen. Air fryers are very popular right now, while Keurigs are usually a good deal during Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales as well.
If you're looking to invest in an Instant Pot, the Krazy Coupon Lady site reports Macy's, Walmart and Amazon will have the best deals, while JCPenney, Best Buy and Kohl's are the places to score deep discounts on air fryers.
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text: Just a few days after launch, some online retailers are reducing the price of a PSPgo to £199.99 rather than the £224.99 RRP Sony introduced it as. A few already offered the device at the lower price (like Play.com or Tesco for example) but many others have followed suit due to what ShopTo is calling a “slow start”. Speaking to CEO Igor Cipolletta, GamesIndusty.biz received this chin-strokingly interesting quote: “PSPgo has seen a slow start for ShopTo and we have kept stock quite tight in consideration. We remained at the RRP for PSPgo so that we can achieve the maximum margin considering that there will be no further software sales for this format for us as an e-tailer.” Clearly ShopTo hasn’t followed the masses and drop their price because for them, it wouldn’t make financial sense. His comment about how there will be “no further software sales” is what could be the undoing of the handheld. Before, we as the consumer were able to pick and choose just how much we paid for a game by shopping around, picking up sale bargains or even a preowned copy. Now however, the pricing and distribution of PSPgo games will be done by Sony via PSN. Sure there will still be a UMD version for regular PSPs but without such an input, we’re at the mercy of Sony’s pricing structure. Another independent video game retailer Chips, had it’s top dog, Don McCabe, chat with GameIndustry.biz today saying “My own personal opinion is that [the PSPgo] a no-go. I’ve been to a number of presentations to see if there’s anything there and I don’t feel it’ll go anywhere to be honest.” That has to hurt Sony who only just finished a PR campaign stating sales of all PSPs had risen by over 120% thanks to the launch of the PSPgo. From what the retailers are saying, it seems as if it’s the PSP-3000 which did most of the work.


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Starbucks (NYSE:SBUX) is ubiquitous in the United States and abroad. Last year, the premium coffee roasting and retail chain "had more than 3 billion customer visits to [its] more than 19,000 stores in 62 countries," according to its 2013 annual report. "The Americas, [its] largest segment, produced revenue growth of 11 percent, led by the strength of the U.S., where comparable store sales have grown 7 percent or higher for 15 consecutive quarters, which is particularly noteworthy given the size of the market."
Coffee is big business and, in many ways, Starbucks' push to become a "third place" between home and work was successful. Today, people regularly meet at coffee shops, be it a starting place for a day out with friends, a low-commitment way to have a first date, or an all-ages alternative to frozen yogurt shops and fast food places - and disproportionately more of these people are millennials.
This is important because millennials have a lot of brand loyalty. Over 70% of millennials claim that they will never leave a brand they love and there are roughly 82 million millennials in America, outnumbering the baby-boomer generation.
The numbers are certainly encouraging, so much so that Starbucks is planning on opening 1,500 new stores in fiscal 2014. That's a lot of coffee!
Now, keep in mind that coffee is a commodity. Its prices fluctuate just as much on the basis of investor activity as world weather conditions.
The coffee that people trade is typically referred to as "C" class. While the differences are detailed more in Starbucks's annual report, suffice to say that the company uses a higher quality arabica coffee and this class of beans is typically traded at a premium to "C" coffee commodity prices.
Brazil which is "the world's top grower and exporter of coffee experienced its worst drought in decades earlier this year, and expectations of reduced supplies sent futures prices to more than two-year highs above $2 a pound," writes Barron's. "Arabica-coffee futures surged as much as 94% at the market's pinnacle in late April."
In response to rising coffee prices, Starbucks recently announced that it would be raising prices "for certain packaged coffee and other products, following other big java makers in responding to a jump in raw coffee costs earlier this year that is now making its way to consumer wallets," explains the Wall Street Journal. "Some beverages in Starbucks U.S. company-operated stores will increase by between five cents and 20 cents. A 20-ounce, venti-sized cup of brewed coffee, for example, will cost $2.35, an increase of either 10 cents or 15 cents, depending on the market."
And Starbucks is only the latest company to do so. J.M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) lifted prices by roughly 9% on packaged coffee by Folgers and Dunkin' Donuts while Kraft Foods (KRFT) recently boosted the price tags on its Maxwell House and Yuban coffees.
The fear had been that droughts in Brazil would cause a coffee shortage, but the market has been recovering since April. Prices for arabica coffee have fallen around 20% since then. While coffee prices are still a major factor for Starbucks - the company buys over half a billion pounds of coffee beans a year - coffee commodity costs only account for around 10% of store expenses.
Further, Starbucks currently has enough coffee, between contracts and inventory, to handle demand through fiscal 2014 (this figure is according to its 2013 annual report; the Wall Street Journal article said the company has locked in 40% of its coffee needs for 2015 as well), but there could be an entirely different issue the company will have to weather - new competition.
Starbucks has been so successful in pioneering the third place concept that the risk is no longer that people will stop frequenting coffee shops, but rather that they will leave Starbucks.
Korean coffee chain Caffe Bene could give Starbucks a run for the money. The company has already swelled to 900 locations in Korea since opening in 2008 (Starbucks in comparison has only 600 outlets in Korea), and they are planning on going global. According to Forbes, Caffe Bene CEO and founder Kim Sun-kwon is planning 10,000 locations worldwide by 2020 - that is more than half the number of Starbucks currently in existence.
As explained in Forbes:
"We believe we have a better mousetrap than what's currently out there," said John Barry, U.S. Director of Franchising for Caffe Bene, emphasizing the coffee shop's desire to create an environment that feels more like entering someone's living room rather than another grab-and-go retail in the middle of a hectic metropolitan city.
For example, rather than simple breakfast sandwiches, Caffe Bene has Belgian waffles. Instead of only frozen drinks, Caffe Bene also offers Italian gelato. Moreover, instead of offering pre-made sandwiches, Caffe Bene's are made fresh - and they franchise.
Caffe Bene will surely win some people over by offering a broader menu selection while maintaining a lingering atmosphere. The biggest challenge will be in establishing a brand identity that can inspire the same sort of loyalty seen in Starbucks customers.
Starbucks is a solid company. The company is currently trading at $79.45 on a 52-week range of $66.30 to $82.50. Its revenues are growing, rising over 9% compared to an industry average of 6%. Starbucks has also enjoyed rising earnings per share, increasing the bottom line by 9.8% compared to the most recent quarter last year and, with such a strong foundation, the company could show a strong improvement in earnings this year.
Coffee prices will always have an effect on the bottom line of a business like Starbucks, but the rise of a viable competitor is a far bigger issue. If Caffe Bene makes good on its plan to have 10,000 stores by 2020, Starbucks will have a very real rival. Starbucks has evolved many times over since opening its doors so many years ago.
Starbucks well may be able to keep pace against such an aggressive competitor, but reinventions and battles can be costly - costs which are sure to be reflected on Starbucks' bottom line going forward. Investors in the stock have reasons to be encouraged in the short term but they should keep an eye on the competitive environment when considering a longer position.
Disclosure: The author has no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. The author wrote this article themselves, and it expresses their own opinions. The author is not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). The author has no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.


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Somewhat unexpectedly, Capcom USA revealed today that it has twice passed on bringing the Wii port of Resident Evil Zero to North America. Apparently, the reason is because Capcom USA feels people here didn’t like the original GameCube release and there’s no interest in a port of it.
On its official forums, a Capcom spokesperson said, “There’s thousands of used copies on Ebay and at Gamestop and given the outcry against the project when Japan announced it on these boards and others, it’s pretty obvious that it’s not wanted by gamers here.”
Personally, I liked Resident Evil Zero. The game has an average of 83% on GameRankings, too, which is more than solid. However, I have no interest in a Wii port of the game — even with the added motion controls — so maybe Capcom USA’s decision is smart, after all.


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Target (TGT) Earning Somewhat Favorable Media Coverage, Accern Reports
News stories about Target (NYSE:TGT) have been trending somewhat positive on Monday, Accern Sentiment Analysis reports. Accern identifies positive and negative media coverage by monitoring more than twenty million news and blog sources in real time. Accern ranks coverage of companies on a scale of negative one to positive one, with scores closest to one being the most favorable. Target earned a media sentiment score of 0.16 on Accern’s scale. Accern also assigned press coverage about the retailer an impact score of 78 out of 100, indicating that recent media coverage is likely to have an impact on the company’s share price in the immediate future.
Here are some of the media headlines that may have impacted Accern Sentiment Analysis’s rankings:
- Can Target Buy a Grocery Chain? (feedproxy.google.com)
- Third Point, a Hedge Fund, Sets Its Activist Sights on Nestlé – New York Times (nytimes.com)
- Nestle Said to Be Targeted by Activist Dan Loeb’s Third Point (bloomberg.com)
- Today’s Research Reports on Trending Tickers: Sears Holdings and Target (finance.yahoo.com)
- Target Removing Just Mayo and Other Hampton Creek Products From Shelves (finance.yahoo.com)
Several research firms have weighed in on TGT. Cowen and Company restated a “market perform” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Target in a report on Tuesday, February 28th. Vetr downgraded shares of Target from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $59.51 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, May 9th. UBS AG restated a “neutral” rating and set a $72.00 price objective on shares of Target in a report on Tuesday, February 28th. Instinet lowered their price objective on shares of Target to $60.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a “market weight” rating and set a $60.00 price objective (down previously from $74.00) on shares of Target in a report on Sunday, March 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. The company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.76.
Shares of Target (TGT) traded up 1.34% during trading on Monday, reaching $51.44. 3,854,778 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $55.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.25. The firm has a market cap of $28.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.54 and a beta of 0.58. Target has a 12 month low of $48.56 and a 12 month high of $79.33.
Target (NYSE:TGT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 17th. The retailer reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.30. Target had a net margin of 4.23% and a return on equity of 24.72%. The firm had revenue of $16.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.29 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Target will post $4.23 EPS for the current year.
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 16th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 14th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.82%. This is a positive change from Target’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Target’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.98%.
Target Company Profile
Target Corporation (Target) is a general merchandise retailer selling products through its stores and digital channels. Its general merchandise stores offer an edited food assortment, including perishables, dry grocery, dairy and frozen items. Its digital channels include a range of general merchandise, including a range of items found in its stores, along with an assortment, such as additional sizes and colors sold only online.
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PRESS RELEASE: March 30, 2009 (Coppell, Texas)… There’s a new stimulus package that’s hitting streets across the nation. CiCi’s Pizza, the national restaurant that’s home of the $5 endless pizza buffet, announced today that starting March 30th, American penny picker uppers who keep their eyes peeled for pavement coins may be greatly rewarded when one million winning pennies are dropped around their 650 restaurants nationwide.
As part of its new Penny Picker Upper promotional campaign, CiCi’s Pizza is honoring savings savvy Americans by dropping one million pennies in public places around their restaurants. But these are no ordinary pennies. The backs of each of these specially stickered pennies will list prizes like a free meal at a CiCi’s endless pizza buffet, a free drink, and a buy one pizza get one free deal that can be redeemed at local CiCi’s locations.
“In tough times, every penny really does count,” said Craig Moore, president of CiCi’s Pizza. “CiCi’s Pizza has always appreciated value, and so do our guests. This campaign celebrates America’s penny picker uppers and our hope is that, after this program, no one will ever look at a penny the same way again.”
As part of the campaign, every specially marked penny that is brought back to CiCi’s will be donated to the Big Brothers Big Sisters Club of America.
The multi-faceted media campaign will launch on March 30th with three national TV spots that demonstrate how Americans can find and redeem CiCi’s specially marked pennies. The :30, :15 and :10 spots have a heroic anthem and tone and feature Penny Picker Uppers who are proudly presenting their prized pennies on a rotating pedestal at a CiCi’s Pizza restaurant.
“If we could create a brand, especially in these challenging economic times, CiCi’s would absolutely be that brand,” said Eric Hirshberg, co-president and chief creative officer of Deutsch LA, the agency that developed the campaign. “The Penny Picker Upper campaign celebrates and honors people’s frugality and rewards their frugality with real value and fun.”
Television and radio directs viewers to www.BeAPennyPickerUpper.com, where visitors can locate a CiCi’s near them and find areas where marked pennies may be lurking as well as create their own personalized Penny Picker Upper character/avatar standing proudly on a rotating podium. Everyone will have the chance to star as a proud Penny Picker Upper on the website.
The television spots were shot by Benjamin Blank of the Los Angeles-based creative studio Locksmith Content. Digital and social media efforts will help build awareness for the program and unite America’s penny picker uppers online. Continuous updates on America’s quest for prized pennies can be found on the CiCi’s Pizza Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/CiCis-Pizza/63322161215.
Founded in 1985, CiCi’s Pizza is a family-oriented restaurant serving guests fresh pizza, pasta, salad and dessert, all you want for about five bucks and change. CiCi’s mission then and now is to exceed each guest’s expectation in food, service and cleanliness at an affordable price. Since opening its first restaurant in Plano, Texas, CiCi’s has grown to almost 650 restaurants in 30 states.
Industry professionals have taken notice of CiCi’s Pizza’s continuous growth and success. Nation’s Restaurant News has ranked CiCi’s number one for sales and unit growth in the pizza chain category for the past three years. In its recent 2009 ranking, Entrepreneur magazine’s Annual Franchise Top 500 issue, ranked CiCi’s Pizza as number one in the Italian restaurant industry category an honor the company also received in 2007. Men’s Health recently included CiCi’s Pizza in it’s list of America’s Healthiest Restaurants. StartupJournal.com, The Wall Street Journal’s guide for entrepreneurs, ranked CiCi’s as one of the top 25 highest-performing brands in the nation and Franchise Today placed the company in the top 200 of all franchise concepts. Other honors include “Best in Value” award among national pizza chains in Restaurants and Institutions magazine’s 2006 Consumers’ Choice Report and “Best Customer Service” from Corporate Research International in 2007, 2006 and 2005. For more information, visit www.cicispizza.com.


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Independent footwear retailers have reported a slow start to autumn trade as warm temperatures cooled shoppers’ demand for new-season styles.
Following on from a tumultuous spring season, book-ended by snow and a heatwave, last month was balmy, peaking at a high of 26.5°, recorded in Cambridge on 17 September.
Paul Haslam, owner of Haslams in Wilmslow, told Drapers the warm temperatures have discouraged shoppers’ demand for boots: “Trade is not doing as well as it should be. Sales were down year on year in September by about 10% and it hasn’t really picked up. The weather is having a big effect – it’s not cold enough.”
Charles Clinkard, owner of the eponymous footwear retailer, agreed: “It’s tough. We’ve had a very slow pick-up on ladies’ seasonal, which is partly the weather.”
He also cited the impact of Brexit uncertainty on consumer sentiment: “There’s a complete lack of confidence and people have come back from expensive holidays because the pound is weak. As a store, we’re buying less going forward.”
On the other hand, he said back-to-school ranges did very well, particularly all-black trainers.
The athleisure trend, which dominated at footwear trade show Micam in Milan last month, also seemed to be more resistant against disappointing sales.
At Triads in Middlesbrough, the desire for trainers from sportswear brands has helped it overcome recent challenges.
Store manager Tony Rogers said: “They got rid of the free parking in town and we were concerned that was going to affect business, but it hasn’t. People really want brands such as Nike and Adidas right now.”
Marc Whitehead, owner and manager at Exquisite in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, said trans-seasonal styles are selling well: “People are dusting off their shoes that have been in storage over summer and realising they need a new pair. Ankle boots and shoe boots are doing particularly well.”
Mark Fitzpatrick, director and buyer at Fitzpatricks Shoes in Dublin, was also more optimistic, as investment in ecommerce has helped to boost overall sales: “We’ve seen a particular rise in online sales. With free returns and free postage, it’s just more convenient for everyone. Business is up about 9%-11% on the same time last year. People are definitely investing more at the moment: knee-high boots are doing well.”


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- Nigerians and Egyptians spend about 40 per cent of their disposable income on food. Kenya is at about 45 per cent.
- Households that spend a greater proportion of their incomes on food generally consume fewer calories than those who spend a smaller proportion.
- The consumption of beer, however, moved in the opposite direction: going up when that of sugar went down and vice-versa.
Kenyans spend the lion’s share of their disposable income on food and beverages, a review of consumption data by Nation Newsplex reveals.
For every Sh100 that a Kenyan spends, Sh45 goes to food and drink.
Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that between 2010 and 2015, Kenyans spent nearly half of their disposable income on these items. Their spending remained steady at between 43 per cent and 46 per cent of total consumption expenses during this time.
Spending a large portion of one’s income on food and drink — which are needed for basic survival — is an indicator of poverty. Such a spending pattern means that little money is left over to be spent on other things that are important for quality life, including clothing, shelter and transportation.
Indeed, spending on clothing and shoes was equivalent to five per cent of the expenditure on food and beverages. That means for every Sh45 that Kenyans were spending on food, they were spending about Sh2.50 on clothes and shoes.
The relatively large spending on food and drinks is in line with the characteristics of a lower middle income economy in which wages are low.
As countries develop, people spend proportionally less on food and that leaves more money for investments as well as luxuries.
Research from the United States Department of Agriculture and Washington State University shows that households that spend a greater proportion of their incomes on food generally consume fewer calories than those who spend a smaller proportion.
This exposes children to the risk of malnutrition, which can also affect both their physical development and their ability to remain in school.
Generally, the US proportionally spends less on food than anyone else in the world. According to research from US Department for Agriculture Americans spend less than 10 per cent of their income on food and drinks compared with 20 per cent for South Africans and 25 per cent for Indians. Nigerians and Egyptians spend about 40 per cent of their disposable income on food. Kenya is at about 45 per cent.


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App Store User Spending Reaches Record High
Photo Courtesy: appleinsider.com
By: Matthew Zemba
According to Apple Insider, iPhone users have increased their App Store spending to about $100 per person in 2019. This 27% increase from 2018 came before the outbreak of coronavirus and self-isolation, and does not include retail purchases like Amazon or Uber.
Photo Courtesy: sensortower.com
What are users buying in the App Store? Premium apps and in-app purchases.
According to Cult of Mac, most of the top performing apps today have paid subscriptions services. This provides frequent revenue for app makers, and avoids in-app purchases. Among the top 100 subscription apps alone, subscriptions made up $3.6 billion of revenue.
In a report from Sensor Tower on Wednesday, spending has grown over 200% since 2015. Over half of that spending came from mobile gaming apps.
It is unknown how the coronavirus will affect these numbers in 2020.


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This ex-Facebook engineer built an app that simplifies WhatsApp ordering for small businesses
Sea CEO Forrest Li assures employees that the worst is over, but their “job is not yet done”
Less is more as Sea Ltd finally posts a healthy profit despite a drop in core businesses
Shopee swaps quantity for quality as it exits another country, dominates live selling in SEA
TikTok takes online shopping interactivity to new heights for M’sian merchants this 11.11
Despite layoffs, Shopee surges 20% ahead of stagnant Alibaba, leaving Lazada in the dust
Love, Bonito CEO on making the ‘right’ acquisitions – bets big on the US market as it eyes IPO
Starting or growing an online business? Here’s how to keep on top of your logistics
To help SMEs expand in M’sia, Lalamove offers affordable, on-demand interstate deliveries
Hiring talents to building products: Co-founder Joel Leong reveals story of how ShopBack started
Alibaba poured S$1.8B into Lazada this year, proving that money can’t buy success
Shopee implements regional job cuts to curb losses – axes some staff in S’pore and Indonesia
Why Amazon has not achieved great success in SEA, and S’pore e-commerce firms are much further ahead
From booking hotels to ferry rides: Grab, Lazada, Shopee move to capitalise return of travel
How these S’porean cousins are making dollars and ‘scents’ with their candle-making venture
Winning e-commerce: Shopee’s Chua Kel Jin on how businesses can boost online presence and sales
As S’pore makes the digital shift, will e-commerce ever replace physical retail shopping?
Alibaba loses the world to Shopee, as S’pore’s hit app now sells more than the Chinese giant
Best of both worlds: TikTok combines shopping and social media, joins e-commerce wave
This S’porean invested six figures to start her own pet carrier brand, broke even in 5 months
S’pore startup Zilingo avoids liquidation as board approves US$40M loan repayment to creditors
S’pore blockchain-based MVNO Gorilla Networks acquired by Society Pass, plans regional expansion
Alibaba’s global e-commerce in trouble as Shopee is set to beat it by up to 30% this year
Althea’s next big step after 8 years of selling K-beauty is launching its own skincare line
The good, the bad, the ugly of Sea: Shopee’s revenue doubles but cash cow Garena hits a wall
Lazada is now 3 times smaller than Shopee – can it be revived by Alibaba’s S$525M funding?
Following the e-commerce boom, VTEX is helping S’pore enterprises master this digital shift
From furniture to travel packages: More companies in S’pore are jumping on group buying trend
S’pore cashback startup ShopBack makes foray into payments space with recent ShopBack Pay launch
Make your cat an IG influencer with baju raya from these 7 M’sian online stores that deliver
Singapore has undoubtedly been a bright spot for the global startup landscape in recent years, and is home to a number of unicorns.
In recent years, there has been a rise in the popularity of electric vehicles (EVs) and governments have released policies and grants aimed at boosting its adoption.
Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, e-commerce has boomed in popularity, with consumers buying everything from home appliances to groceries online.
foodpanda is a leading delivery platform in Asia dedicated to bringing consumers a wide range of food, groceries and more, quickly and conveniently.
Amid soaring demand for online and mobile alternatives, new digital players are transforming banking for individuals and companies.
Interest in cryptocurrency is at an all-time high, and Singapore has emerged as a key blockchain and crypto hub in Asia.
A look at how the Singapore government has been harnessing technology to improve lives for all.
The global pandemic has disrupted lifestyles, healthcare, workplace cultures, business operations, and more.
Vulcan Post aims to be the knowledge hub of Singapore and Malaysia.
© 2021 GRVTY Media Pte. Ltd.(UEN 201431998C.)


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Robinhood is a stock and crypto investment platform.
It is due to go public July 29.
The platform has been introducing new trading features.
Ask a new investor to cryptocurrency how it’s different from trading stocks, and they’ll probably tell you about volatility. , for example, went from $30,000 to above $40,000 in less than a week.
Robinhood, the stock and crypto investment app, is reportedly working on a solution to this problem for its customers: stop them from buying.
According to a report today from Bloomberg, hidden code with a Robinhood iPhone test app shows a new trading feature named “price volatility protection.”
“To protect your orders against price volatility, we may sometimes skip your recurring orders or buy less than your chosen amount,” a message within the code says, according to Bloomberg.
In other words, if the price goes too high too quickly, Robinhood Crypto could override the order so you don’t get screwed.
Robinhood declined to comment to Decrypt on the veracity of the report and whether such a feature would be optional.
Robinhood is a centralized trading platform, meaning it uses its own discretion to determine what crypto assets may be traded and how. For example, Robinhood does not yet allow customers to transfer cryptocurrency it buys on the platform to their own wallets, though Robinhood Crypto COO Christine Brown and other executives, including CEO Vlad Tenev, have promised the feature is coming.
Its ability to insert itself into trades—or halt them—has caused problems in the past. During the height of the meme stock craze in January, Robinhood prevented users from buying shares in GameStop as the price rose from below $20 to above $400 in mere weeks. That drew the ire of U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ted Cruz, among others, and led to lawsuits and Congressional hearings. Robinhood cited cash flow issues; it didn’t have enough capital on hand to back all the new trades people wanted to make.
Nonetheless, the company has leaned into cryptocurrency this year, taking advantage of demand for before the asset was listed on . The app’s easy-to-use interface appeals to newcomer investors overwhelmed by some trading sites’ confusing candle charts and jargony terms such as “slippage.”
CEO Tenev alluded to that in the company’s product roadshow last weekend before its July 29 IPO. Answering a question about a timeframe for customer wallets, Tenev said the company wanted to make sure new features are rolled out safely. “We also want to make sure we make the process as intuitive as possible,” he said, “especially since this might be the first experience with crypto for a large number of our customers.”


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RALEIGH — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is permitting restaurants, barbershops and salons to welcome customers indoors starting this weekend, but bars, gyms and other indoor entertainment will need to remain closed for another five weeks.
The decision comes nearly two months after a statewide stay-at-home order was put in place to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
>> Have questions about the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the Carolinas? We have an entire section dedicated to coverage of the outbreak -- CLICK HERE FOR MORE.
Cooper said he feels comfortable about virus data to extend starting Friday afternoon partial openings to dine-in eating at restaurants and for personal care services. But he said the order is more modest than originally anticipated because the number of overall cases continues to increase.
Cooper said under “Safer at Home Phase 2," the stay-at-home order will be lifted, but it will be "a more modest version of Phase 2 than originally anticipated” because of an increase in coronavirus cases across the state.
“Since we announced Phase 1, the state’s overall key indicators remain stable. However, the increases in COVID-19 cases signal a need to take a more modest step forward in Phase 2 than originally envisioned," he said.
Phase 2 will go into effect at 5 p.m. on Friday.
The following businesses can reopen at limited capacity under Phase 2:
- Restaurant dining rooms (50%)
- Personal care facilities like salons and barbershops (50%)
- Swimming pools (50%)
- Overnight and day camps (with safety rules in place)
The following businesses will remain closed during Phase 2:
- Indoor entertainment facilities such as movie theaters
The governor said he understands the impact of COVID-19 on North Carolinians, especially the ones who have lost their jobs -- so he has directed the Division of Employment Security to improve the efficiency and customer service of the unemployment benefits process.
He said with more businesses opening up, the next phase will help boost North Carolina’s economy, but it will only really work if residents feel safe.
“We can only help our economy when people have confidence in their own safety, which is why it’s important to ease restrictions carefully and use data in deciding when to do it,” he said.
The mass gathering limit remains at 10 people indoors, but increases to 25 people outdoors, which applies to event venues, conference centers, stadiums and sports arenas, amphitheaters and groups at parks or beaches.
According to Cooper, salons and barbershops will have face covering and cleaning requirements while also reducing the number of people in the waiting areas.
As with previous orders, Cooper said the restrictions are a floor. Local health departments can enact stricter rules if they believe it’s in the best interest of their communities.
In the data released Wednesday, the state has conducted more than 277,600 completed tests and the number of positive cases across the state is 20,122.
“North Carolina is using the data to guide our decisions about when to lift COVID-19 restrictions, and overall our key indicators remain stable,” said Cooper. “Safer At Home Phase 2 is another careful step forward, and we have to continue taking this virus seriously to prevent a dangerous spike in infections.”
The percentage of positive tests remains at about 7% and that is good news because the state wanted to see a 14-day drop in the percentage of positive tests before reopening.
At the beginning of the month, we were averaging about 8% positive, but we have been trending down over the last week.
“From the beginning, North Carolinians have joined together to confront this crisis. We need to rely upon one another to practice the three Ws as we begin leaving our homes more. When we wear a face covering, wait six feet apart, and wash our hands often, we are showing we care for our loved ones and neighbors,” said North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen.
On Thursday, a spokesperson for NCDHHS told channel 9 restaurants that reopen cannot offer nightlife activities like DJs, bands and dance floors. Youth sports can resume as long as they do not meet mass gathering limits.
- Can restaurants re-open and offer nightlife activities like a DJ or band with a dance floor? No.
- Can breweries that serve food open? Maybe, depends on the facts.
- Can bars that serve food open? Maybe, depends on the facts.
- Can outdoor youth sports resume? Yes, if not a mass gathering under the indoor/outdoor limitations.
“Bars” means establishments that are not eating establishments or restaurants as defined in N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 18B-1000(2) and 18B-l000(6), that have a permit to sell alcoholic beverages for onsite consumption under N .C. Gen. Stat. § 18B-1001, and that are principally engaged in the business of selling alcoholic beverages for onsite consumption.
There are three tests there: (1) Is the entity an eating establishment; (2) Does it have a permit for onsite consumption; and (3) is it principally engaged in business of selling alcohol for onsite consumption.
The facts of any given establishment, from a Whole Foods to a microbrewery, may vary.
Statement: NC Breweries Seek Clarification to Reopen in Phase II:
Raleigh, N.C. – The NC craft beer industry is an integral part of the state’s economy. We manufacture, distribute and sell some of the finest beer in the United States and have been an engine for economic growth in small towns and cities throughout North Carolina, contributing more than $2b to the economy and providing more than 12,000 jobs.
The COVID-19 crisis and subsequent shut down has devastated the industry. While we have been deemed an essential business as part of the beverage supply chain, revenues are down 75-90% industry-wide. Being able to reopen for modified on-premise activities as part of the Governor’s plan in Phase II is instrumental to the survival of the industry.
Our 328 breweries, taprooms and brewpubs have served as leaders in this crisis, working to provide safe and responsible ways for the consuming public to enjoy locally crafted beer. As an industry, our breweries have invested millions in manufacturing and safety equipment. We do not believe our breweries, taprooms or brewpubs meet Executive Order 141’s definition of “bars”, and we are continuing to work with the Governor’s office to clarify this matter.
Throughout the COVID-19 shut-down, the NC craft beer industry has acted in a responsible manner making the safety of our customers and employees our top priority. We have worked with NCDHHS on safety protocols and we have enacted those protocols in accordance with CDC and NCDHHS guidelines, consistent with requirements and guidance for NC restaurants, that would allow our breweries to reopen on a modified basis for onsite consumption, without sacrificing public safety, and allowing for appropriate social distancing and sanitation protocols.
We look forward to getting questions regarding the industry’s status resolved quickly, for the benefit of our craft brewing industry, and the public interest.
Restaurants eager to reopen dining rooms
In-house dining has been closed since March 17 to prevent the spread of COVID-19. That will change at 5 p.m. Friday.
"Of course, we’re happy,” said Alexis Micrahi-Bottero, co-owner of Royal Café and Creperie in Matthews. “We’re happy we’re here, and we’re happy we can open our doors back up to the people who feel comfortable coming back inside."
She said she couldn't wait for her dining room to reopen since it closed because of the pandemic.
"Fortunately for us, our entire operation is up front,” Micrahi-Bottero said. “We don't hide anything. We don't do anything in the back, so people can come in and see their meal being prepared from start to finish."
Frank Scibelli is the owner of the FS Restaurant Group, which includes dining heavyweights, such as Mama Ricottas, Midwood Smokehouse and Yafo Kitchen.
"It's been a lot of variables to deal with,” Scibelli said. “We’re looking forward getting open to some degree."
He said he realizes that some folks would be reluctant to dine out. So in addition to following state guidelines, he hired a hospital-recommended health consultant.
"We don't know everything,” Scibelli said. “We know we don't know everything, so we're gonna find who is very smart in an industry and tell us what to do."
Enrique Urrutia had a long career with a British food safety company. And now he will audit all of Scibelli's restaurants.
"I was surprised when Frank, the president of this chain of restaurants, called me," Urrutia said.
“Not just following, you know, the guidelines given by the state. Also, they want to go beyond that.”
Under Phase 2, restaurants and bars will have to follow a list of guidelines and recommendations to protect customers and staff.
The guidelines focus on social distancing, cloth-face coverings, cleaning and hygiene.
Restaurants will be required to do the following to promote social distancing between staff and customers:
- Arrange tables and seating to have at least six feet of space between customers both indoors and outdoors. Customers sitting at counters should be spaced at least six feet apart.
- No more than 50 percent of maximum occupancy will be allowed inside the building, or 12 people per 1,000 feet if the restaurant does not have a fire code number. The number must be posted in a conspicuous place.
- Post signs reminding customers and staff to social distance and follow their 3 Ws: wearing a face covering, waiting six feet apart and washing hands frequently.
- Put markings on the floor in high-traffic areas, such as cash registers or waiting areas, noting six-feet spacings
Restaurants are encouraged, but not required to do the following:
- Allow no more than six people at a table, unless all people are part of a family from the same household.
- Refrain from using shared tables among multiple parties, unless parties can be spaced six feet apart.
- Require customers to wait outside, with markings to ensure they wait six feet apart.
- Provide hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol at the entrance.
- Educate employees on wearing, safely removing and washing face coverings.
- Install physical barriers at cash registers or food pickup areas where patrons cannot maintain six feet of separation from staff.
- Advise waitstaff to stay six feet away from customers when possible.
- Stagger seating times with reservations or other methods. Stagger employee shifts.
- Ask people to wait in their cars and alert them by phone when their table is ready.
- Provide condiments only when asked or provide single-use condiment packets.
- Continue take-out and delivery options.
- Use rolled utensils, do not preset tables.
- Offer contactless and touchless payment options.
- Sanitize receipt trays, pens and counters between customers
- Designate an ordering area at bars where customers can order at least six feet from other customers at the bar.
CLOTH FACE COVERINGS
Restaurants are strongly encouraged to do the following:
- Ask employees and customers to wear a cloth or disposable face covering when near other people in the restaurant.
- Provide single-use face coverings for employees and customers.
- Share guidance on wearing, removing and washing cloth face coverings
CLEANING AND HYGIENE
Restaurants will be required to do the following to sanitize and prevent the spread of disease:
- Perform ongoing and routine disinfection of high-touch areas and shared objects--such as doors, doorknobs, rails, payment terminals, countertops, tables, receipt trays and condiment holders--with an approved disinfectant and increase disinfection during high traffic times. Booths and dining tables must be disinfected between use and the disinfectant must be allowed to sit for the necessary amount of time recommended by the manufacturer.
- Promote frequent use of handwashing and hand sanitizer for wait/food service staff upon reporting to work and frequently throughout shift. Hand washing is required to at least meet the requirements as specified in the North Carolina Food Code Manual, Sections 2-301.12, 2- 301.14, and 2-301.15.
Restaurants are encouraged, but not required to do the following:
- Check and refill hand sanitizer stations and make sure soap and hand drying materials are available at sinks.
- Use disposable menus, a menu display board, or mobile menus.
- Use single-use or disposable linens. Sanitize cloth linens between customers.
- Avoid offering self-service food or drink options, such as buffets, salad bars and drink stands. If self-serve is used, provide an attendant to monitor social distancing and remove contaminated utensils and food, change and sanitize serving utensils every 30 minutes, have employees plate food for customers, and encourage hand washing and hand sanitizer use among customers.
MONITORING FOR SYMPTOMS
Restaurants will be required to do the following to encourage employees and customers to monitor for signs of illness:
- Conduct daily symptom screening of employees and immediately send symptomatic workers home.
- Post signs at the main entrance asking people who have been sick with cough and/or fever not to enter.
- Employees who have symptoms when they come to work or who develop symptoms during their shift should be immediately separated from other employees and customers and sent home.
Restaurants are encouraged, but not required to do the following:
- Have a plan to remove sick employees from work.
- Establish sick leave policies and expand paid leave.
- Not allow employees who are symptomatic to return to work until they have not had a fever for at least 72 hours, other symptoms have improved and it has been at least 10 days since they first began showing symptoms.
- Require symptomatic employees to wear masks until they leave the restaurant.
- Clean and disinfect after an employee or customer shows symptoms.
- Provide employees with access to helplines including NC211 and Hope4NC.
OTHER RECOMMENDED ACTIONS
- Designate a specific time for customers and employees at higher risk of severe disease to access the restaurant.
- Allow employees to self-identify as high risk and reassign their duties to minimize face-to-face contact with others.
- Combat misinformation with webinars, educations, posters and online messaging.
- Follow CDC guidelines to minimize risk of waterborne illnesses.
- Make sure ventilation systems are working properly and increase circulation of outdoor air as much as possible.
© 2020 Cox Media Group


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BIR forms task force to monitor sugar imports
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has formed a task force to make an inventory on sugar stocks and monitor shipments of the commodity into the country amid the increased demand for refined sugar to ensure that the correct taxes are paid on these imports.
In a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, BIR Commissioner Caesar Dulay said the task force will monitor not only importers, but millers, planters, traders and dealers of refined sugar as well.
Dulay said he already wrote the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) in July asking for data on sugar importers.
According to BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa, the bureau was able to collate an initial list of millers and planters who have sold their rights to import sugar.
“The Task Force on Sugar is undertaking inventory stock-taking, validate the volume of imports based on allocations, and ascertain the payment of correct taxes by importers, local planters and millers,” Guballa said during the Executive Committee (Execom) meeting.
On top of ordering the BIR to ensure that importers are paying the correct amount of taxes, Dominguez also directed the Bureau and Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran to review the current policy of the SRA allowing farmers and planters’ associations that are awarded import allocations to sell their rights to traders.
Dominguez said local sugar millers and planters who sell their importation rights should also be taxed as they make a profit from such a privilege.
According to preliminary data gathered by the BIR, traders pay local millers and planters who sell their rights around P500 per bag.
“May import duty ‘yan, may tax and the one who received that payment for the right to import, he should also be taxed. Talk to the SRA about this and raise all these issues,” Dominguez told BIR officials during the Execom meeting.
Dominguez said that as a result of the current system of traders buying rights to import sugar, the price of the commodity has remained high in the retail market.
“They (traders) are able to bring down the landed cost of sugar here by only a very small amount because there’s this fee that is paid” to be able to buy rights to import sugar, Dominguez noted.


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At the start of April, Ampersand Markets, the company working on making an ecosystem for keeping silver on blockchain with a new type of virtual assets, launched the Ampersand Consortium as another step towards achieving their goal.
As part of the ecosystem, the company also plans to create an exchange.
The Consortium members
Several big-name companies have joined the newly-created Ampersand Consortium. These giants mainly work with virtual assets and precious metals. Among them are Zaner Metals, LLC, DrawBridge Lending, etc, as well as Toronto-based heavyweights of the mining financial community.
Handler Thayer, LLP and Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP have joined the organization to solve its legal issues and matters related to compliance with regulators.
With the help of all these assistants, the Ampersand Consortium hopes to take mineral economics to a new level by putting it on the blockchain and pairing minerals with "Digital Rights" for which the value tracks the growth of the ecosystem.
A hybrid silver token
The Consortium has also created its own virtual coin – Ampersand’s Vaulted Silver Token (AXSI). It pairs silver with a first-of-its-kind Digital Right, instead of pegging the token to the value of silver.
Ampersand is also busy studying opportunities for creating a digital exchange for DLT-based hybrid mineral tokens, assisted by Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP.
This platform, if ever created, will be chasing an ambitious goal of tokenizing in-ground deposits of minerals and providing a venue for trading AXSI tokens, as well as other hybrid virtual assets made by Ampersand.
The CEO of Ampersand Markets, Seth Patinkin, said in an interview that the new token, as well as those that will be created in the future, is a response to the volatility of virtual assets not tied to physical assets on one side. On the physical side, the goal is to come up with a precious metal-backed asset. In the past, tokens pegged to metals, such as those offered by SLVR and Digix, have failed to attract significant adoption.
EOS platform is chosen
The digital token of the Consortium (AXSI) will be launched on the EOS network. Upon launching, the tokens will be sold to US investors at 50 cents per coin, as well as payment for 1 gram of silver at a relevant market rate.
Ampersand reckons that the AXSI tokens will not be traded on regular crypto exchanges, since the concept of the Digital Right has never been used before and so far it will be functioning separately from the rest of the crypto market.


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We believe that this new site will allow our visitors to have a very enriched and informative experience as we continue to grow our brand and increase our market presence.
League City, Texas (PRWEB) November 30, 2016
Expert Heavy Equipment (EHE), the nation's only female Marine Veteran owned wholesaler of used heavy equipment, announced today the launch of its newly revamped website. This newly redesigned website offers quick and easy access to inventory and relevant market information for both buyers and sellers.
The new website has a clean uncluttered design, improved functionality, and enhanced rich content focused on EHE's mission to provide global buyers and sellers the used heavy equipment and/or information they require for their business. The new website went live on September 24, 2016, and is located at the same address: http://www.experthe.com/.
"We are excited about our new website launch and the inventory and market information it provides for buyers, sellers and industry peers," said Milissa Wise, Director of Operations of EHE. "We believe that this new site will allow our visitors to have a very enriched and informative experience as we continue to grow our brand and increase our market presence."
Anna Gondzik with iTec Media created a turn-key professional site that will be updated on a regular basis with news of industry news, market data, business activity, corporate milestones, and social media events. Visitors are encouraged to explore the website and sign up for direct emails from the company at http://www.experthe.com/contact/.


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G.M. has halted manufacturing at one plant within the United States, one in Canada and one other in Mexico till no less than mid-March. At a fourth plant, the company has determined to supply autos with out the electronics which can be in brief provide. When elements grow to be out there, G.M. will set up them after which ship the autos to sellers.
Ford canceled shifts final week at two vital pickup truck vegetation. One of them, close to Kansas City, Mo., is closed this week due to inclement climate and a scarcity of pure fuel within the Midwest.
Economists say the impact is prone to be small however noticeable. Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, mentioned he anticipated the chip scarcity to scale back new automobile gross sales by 450,000 models in 2021. That would decrease general financial output within the United States by roughly $15 billion, or not fairly 0.1 % of gross home product, which is anticipated to extend by 5.6 % this year, he mentioned.
Industry analysts say the shortages are partly due to a pre-pandemic pattern towards consolidation and stock depletion within the chip sector, which was exacerbated by the form of coronavirus-related disruptions which have led to shortages of different merchandise, corresponding to train bikes, tablets and toys.
Factory shutdowns, first in China after which elsewhere world wide, disrupted manufacturing of the chips and the automobiles and electronics that require them. Automakers and client electronics corporations then underestimated the surge in demand from at-home consumers, leaving corporations scrambling with chip makers to safe their provide, based on analysts.
President Donald J. Trump’s commerce coverage might need additionally performed a task, as chip makers anticipated that new U.S. restrictions on the kind of expertise that Chinese corporations corresponding to Huawei might purchase would decrease demand. Chip makers responded by trimming output.
Winter storms this week have additionally shut down or slowed production at chip factories owned by Samsung and NXP Semiconductors close to Austin, Texas, doubtlessly exacerbating the shortages.


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The Swedish founder of Bitcoin.com Emil Oldeburg has sold all of his Bitcoin, saying the cryptocurrency is "the riskiest investment you can make".
Speaking to Swedish website Breakit, Oldeburg said Bitcoin was practically unusable because of the long waiting times for transactions and the unusually high transfer fees.
(Bitcoin.com CTO Emil Oldeburg. Image: Breakit)
"An investment in bitcoin right now I would say is the most risky investment you can make. It is an extremely high risk," said Oldeburg.
"I've actually sold all my bitcoins recently and switched to bitcoin cash."
It's important to note that the site Oldeburg oversees - confusingly called "bitcoin.com" - primarily deals with Bitcoin cash, a spin-off cryptocurrency.
READ MORE: How to invest in Bitcoin
Oldeburg believes smaller, more blockchain-focused cryptocurrencies like rival bitcoin cash will become commonplace as people move towards using cryptocurrency for everyday transactions.
"It costs a lot to transfer Bitcoins to and from the stock exchanges," said Oldeburg.
"When I sold my Bitcoin I had to pay 50 dollars and wait 12 hours for the transaction to go through because of this. It's completely unreasonable."
The tech entrepreneur opted not to disclose what he made by selling all of his Bitcoin, but said for the last three years his yearly salary had been paid in Bitcoin – easily making him a multi-millionaire now.
Bitcoin.com was founded in 2011 and offers investors services such as a Bitcoin exchange, a digital wallet, Bitcoin gambling and online forums.
The website has seen an enormous uptick in subscribers as Bitcoin's meteoric growth captures the attention of mainstream investors.
Just three months ago Bitcoin was trading at $4,140 – today it is five times more profitable, trading at $25,000 per coin.
As Bitcoin grows, so too does claims of a bubble.
Last week Jordan Belfort, aka the "real" Wolf of Wall St, said the digital currency was "guaranteed" to fail.
Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, said while digital currency was a good thing, the lack of regulation around Bitcoin means it should be outlawed.
"Bitcoin is successful only because of its potential for circumvention and lack of oversight," Stiglitz said two weeks ago.
"It's a bubble that’s going to give a lot of people a lot of exciting times as it rides up and then goes down. The value of a bitcoin today is expectations of what bitcoin is going to be tomorrow."At the time of publishing, Bitcoin was trading at $24,647 AUD.


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Get out your outrage calendar, as it's that time of year again - the Easter egg controversy has begun.
If a report in The Sun is to be believed, only one in ten chocolate eggs will use the word "Easter" on their packaging this year.
According to research carried out by the paper (conducted by visiting three supermarkets and looking at the shelves there), approximately 70 million Easter eggs sold this year won't have the word "Easter" on their packaging.
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The newspaper sent reporters to a Sainsbury's in Halifax, and branches of Hotel Chocolat and WHSmith's near Waterloo station, where they found that the vast majority of items omitted the name of the religious celebration.
Some aren't pleased about the lack of the word Easter, with Catholic priest David Palmer telling The Sun: "If firms want to sell chocolate eggs all year, fine, but they're marketing them at Easter so not to mention Easter is cynical."
And Elaine Chgwin-Hall of St George's church in Stockport said: "Why do people buy them? Because it’s Easter. So why hide that?"
However, according to recent research, the vast majority of the UK population (53 per cent) are now either atheists, or follow no religion, which might explain why the name of a religious celebration is omitted from chocolate packaging.
As pointed out by The Mirror, brands including Rowntrees and Nestle haven't included the word "Easter" on their packaging since the seventies, meaning that manufacturers haven't exactly shown a change in direction this year.
It's also worth considering the origin of the Easter egg; it's a Pagan fertility symbol, which spread throughout Christianity after originating in Persia.


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15/09/2014, London, Nairobi – Venture capital firm TLcom Capital (TLcom) today announced the sale of virtual identity solutions provider for mobile operators Movirtu to global mobile communications leader Blackberry, in TLcom’s second profitable exit in Africa this year. The sale sees TLcom achieve a cash on cash return in excess of two times its initial […]
New Partnership to Bring .xyz to Africa and the Rest of the World Web4Africa, an industry-leading web and e-commerce service provider in Africa, has partnered with XYZ.COM LLC and its Founder, Daniel Negari, to be the first registrar in Africa to carry the .xyz domain extension, scheduled to launch in 2014. As a new low […]
The world’s largest and most high profile brands have been among the first to acquire domain names ending with the new extension .africa.com. “In the first few weeks since we started offering domains, trademarks owners have quickly picked up their domains including twitter.africa.com, starbucks.africa.com, ibm.africa.com, evian.africa.com, standardbank.africa.com, lego.africa.com, marksandspencer.africa.com, emirates.africa.com, philips.africa.com, miele.africa.com, and the list […]
Domain Name Registrars that have been accredited by ICANN for the registration, transfer and renewal of domain names, are at the very top of the Domain Name system supply chain. Due to the very strict business and technical requirements surrounding ICANN accreditation, only about 1,000 accredited domain name registrars service the whole world today. Out […]
I noticed multitudes of GOtv Africa banners and balloons in the ancient city of Ibadan Nigeria in the last quarter of 2011. The similarity with the name/logo of DStv was clear. Promotional drives were ongoing at different vantage points in Ibadan. GOtv is a new digital terrestrial TV (DTT) service by Multichoice Africa, operators of […]
Too many people in Africa happen to fall within the low-income bracket. Thus, one would expect budget airlines to be commonplace on this continent, catering for the masses. This is not so. Budget airlines are rather common in high-income countries of Western Europe, North America, India and many Asian countries. The relatively few airlines that […]
Jerry Rawlings, the African Union envoy to Somalia, makes a plea to international governments to put aside their prejudices and help the horn of Africa.
Mobile Number Portability (MNP) launched in Ghana on 7th July 2011, enabling mobile subscribers to move from one mobile network to another, whilst still retaining their full mobile number. It has generated some buzz in the Ghana’s mobile communications sector with all the mobile providers offering mouth-watering incentives to woo subscribers from other networks whilst […]
I got the following message from a reader of this blog: Good day Mr. Ajao. I am a post graduate student at the university of Northampton, United kingdom, studying MA International Marketing Strategy. I am really proud as I see a Nigerian like you writing good articles on current issues on the internet. I have […]
Esoko is an agricultural market information platform. It takes advantage of the explosive growth of mobile communication services in Africa. Managed on the web and delivered via mobile, individuals, agri-business, government and projects use Esoko to collect and send out market data using simple text messaging.