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Industry Retail Sales Climb; Fastest Rate in Four Months
Improvements in the U.S. economy bolstered retailers’ February sales, reflecting improved consumer sentiment as it relates to spending. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), retail industry sales (which exclude automobiles, gas stations, and restaurants) for February rose 0.6 percent seasonally adjusted from January and 4.2 percent unadjusted year-over-year.
“Retailers have done a commendable job keeping their inventory levels where they need to be, while still offering attractive promotions for those who are eager to spend,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay. “The big challenge retailers will face in the coming months, however, will be going head to head with high cotton, food, and energy
“February retail sales are in sync with evidence of the expanding economy,” said NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz. “While February is typically a slow month for retailers, consumers showed their spending power, though it’s too soon to tell what type of impact the spike in gasoline prices will have on consumers this spring.”
February retail sales released today by the U.S. Commerce Department show total retail sales (which include non-general merchandise categories such as autos, gasoline stations, and restaurants) increased 1 percent seasonally adjusted over January and 9.1 percent
unadjusted year-over-year. Solid growth in discretionary spending was seen across the board.
Hasbro Withdraws Patent Infringement Charge Against Lanard Toys
Lanard Toys says it has settled a patent dispute brought by Hasbro, Inc., relating to toy disc shooters. Hasbro claimed that Lanard’s Total XStream Air Fire Shot, Total XStream Air Ring Accelerator, and Air Zone Ring Accelerator products infringed upon two patents licensed to Hasbro. Although Lanard contested Hasbro’s allegations, Lanard
agreed to stop selling these products in the interests of resolving the lawsuit. In exchange, Hasbro agreed to dismiss its claims of infringement against Lanard.
Since then, Lanard has sought re-examination of the asserted patents at the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), arguing that prior art existed invalidating the patents asserted by Hasbro. Ganz of Canada has also challenged the same patents. At this stage, the USPTO has agreed with the arguments made by Lanard and Ganz, finding that the prior art cited by Lanard Toys and Ganz rendered all of the patent claims invalid.
ASTRA Exhibit Space Sells Out
Kathleen McHugh, president of the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association (ASTRA), has reported exhibit space at ASTRA’s Marketplace & Academy has sold out, even after ASTRA arranged for additional exhibit space to accommodate a growing waitlist.
McHugh recommends that independent toy retailers register for Marketplace & Academy as soon as possible to avoid missing out on any of the limited-registration events.
“We still have plenty of room for any retailers,” said McHugh, “but things are moving faster than usual this year, so my recommendation is to get your spot now.”
ASTRA’s Marketplace & Academy will be held in Anaheim, Calif. from June 19 to 22. For more information or to register, visit www.astratoy.org or call ASTRA at (800) 591-0490.
Toy Russia Exhibitors Increase by 68 Percent
Spielwarenmesse eG’s Toy Russia, held in Moscow, opens March 16 with a growing number of exhibitors. Exhibiting companies at the Crocus Expo International Exhibition Center increased this year by 68 percent to a total of 249 (148 companies in 2010). The organizer, RNTA Expo, registered 6,273 visitors at the last fair, a rise of 25 percent. RNTA Expo is a joint subsidiary of Spielwarenmesse eG and the Russian National Toy Association (RNTA).
Also this year, 14 companies from eight different countries will exhibit at Toy Russia in the World of Toys by Spielwarenmesse eG Pavilion. In 2010, 11 countries exhibited in the pavilion. Toy Russia runs from March 16-18. More information can be found at www.world-of-toys.org/russia.
Spielwarenmesse eG has also announced that approximately 200 traders and exhibitors attended the Second Global Toy Conference in Nuremberg, held on the Tuesday of the
Spielwarenmesse International Toy Fair Nuremberg 2011 (February 8). Spielwarenmesse eG offers two film recordings on the presentations, available now in the “Expert Knowledge” section at www.yourtoycom.com. The Third Global Toy Conference will tackle the key theme of the upcoming International Toy Fair 2012 and also examine
the current issues and trends in the toy industry.
Marathon Media and Spin Master Partner for Redakai Property
Marathon Media is launching a new boys’ action property this year, Redakai. The animated series, Redakai: Conquer the Kairu, is co-produced by Zodiak Kids/Marathon Media (Totally Spies, Rekkit Rabbit, Gormiti) and Spin Master (Bakugan Battle Brawlers). The series stars Ky, a 15-year-old student of ancient martial arts who embarks on an incredible quest to find the Kairu, a primordial alien energy force. Redakai will launch in the U.S. on Cartoon Network this summer and in Europe in the fall.
The property’s toy line, by Spin Master, will include a trading card game and toys, to debut after the series’ broadcast premiere.
Thomas & Friends Pillow Pets to Launch This Year
Hit Entertainment has signed a licensing deal with Ontel Products Corporation and CJ Products, LLC to create Thomas the Tank Engine-inspired Pillow Pets, the first property that Ontel Products Corporation and CJ Products have taken on for Pillow Pets.
The Thomas & Friends Pillow Pets will be available this year at mass and specialty retail stores in the U.S. and Canada. The products will feature a strap that closes underneath to transform Thomas from his engine form to a pillow.
Discovery Partners with Organic Company for TLC Baby-Branded Line
Spuds, Inc., a producer of organic and all-natural infant and toddler feeding products, and Discovery Communications are developing a line of feeding products for new brand TLC Baby. The deal was brokered on behalf of TLC Baby by its licensing agent, Big Tent Entertainment.
As part of this agreement, Spuds will create a line of natural and organic infant and toddler essentials inspired by the network’s baby programming, including plates, bowls, dishes, utensils, sippy cups, bottles, pacifiers, teethers, and various storage containers. The products will be created from reclaimed potato starch, and will be completely free of toxins.
The new line with Spuds represents the first product launch under the new TLC Baby franchise from Discovery Communications’ Commerce division. The product line will be introduced to retailers this spring.
Captain Action to Make a Comeback This Fall
Round 2 has announced that for the first time in more than 40 years, Captain Action will once again be associated with Marvel Comics characters. This fall, 1/6-scaled Captain Action costume sets of Spider-Man and Captain America will debut at Toys “R” Us and other specialty retailers. Next year, additional Marvel character costumes sets will be released, including Iron Man and Thor.
Captain Action debuted in the mid-1960s. The action figure is equipped with costumes that allows it to be disguised as a number of different super heroes and comic book characters.
Report: Kids Socialize Differently As They Grow Older, No Effect on Toy Playing
According to a new report by The NPD Group, Kids Leisure Time IV, as kids get older they socialize with others in different ways, replacing person-to-person communication with other forms of socialization, such as social networks, cell phones, and video chats, which may be considered another form of entertainment. According to the report, kids ages 2 to 4 spent 17.5 hours per week spending actual face time with friends or siblings, with the average hours per week dropping off as they aged (10.8 hours for ages 9 to 12).
While kids have the same number of hours to spend on leisure time (68 leisure hours in a typical week), they have more activities that they are engaging in, requiring them to reprioritize how they spend their time, reported NPD.
Although kids may be engaging in more activities, and have new forms of entertainment, NPD says this has minimal impact on kids’ interaction with toys; unlike movies, kids are still as actively engaged with toys as they were in the past few years. NPD reports that kids may even be spending slightly more hours per week with toys than they did in 2009.
Nickelodeon Announces New Programming at Upfront Presentation
Nickelodeon announced several initiatives at its Upfront presentation, a star-studded affair at New York’s Lincoln Center last week. The network will release 450 episodes of new animation programming over the next three years, with nearly 200 of those rolling out on Saturday mornings in 2012. Nick announced that there will be a crossover TV movie between iCarly and Victorious, iParty with Victorious, slated to air on June 10. Additionally, there will be 125 new episodes of the network’s top-rated preschool programs, and the network will add Friends and Yes, Dear to Nick at Nite’s lineup this September.
The presentation began with Victoria Justice, star of Victorious, debuting her new single, “Beggin’ on Your Knees.” Guest appearances scheduled included iCarly stars Miranda Cosgrove and Jerry Trainor (the voice of Nick’s T.U.F.F. Puppy); Nick alumnus Kenan Thompson, currently of Saturday Night Live; Jason Biggs, who will voice Leonardo in the new Nick CG-animated version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; and Jennifer Hudson and Raphael Saadiq, who closed the event with a cover of the Motown classic “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing” and performances of their latest two singles, respectively, “Where You At” and “Radio.”
In addition to the new series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Nick will debut series Robot & Monster, Winx Club, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, and The Last Airbender: Legend of Korra.
At the upfront, Nick announced that it is expected to close Q1 2011 as basic cable’s No. 1 network in total day with kids ages 2 to 11, 6 to 11, and total viewers, as well as post its best quarter ever with total viewers.
Report: 82 Percent of Consumers Seek Input for Online Purchases
Wantlet, Inc., a social commerce company, revealed results of its survey that asked more than 700 consumers the most important online factors that drove their buying behavior. Approximately 75 percent of survey respondents were positively influenced by online recommendations of friends and family to read an advertisement and/or check out a product web page. Online product experts positively influenced purchase decisions of 66 percent of the respondents.
More than 82 percent of respondents indicated that they seek social input on where to find great deals and product comparisons. More than 70 percent of respondents said entertainment media and clothing are the two categories where social networking has the greatest influence on shopping.
The Orb Factory Signs Deal for Fancy Nancy
The Orb Factory Limited has signed a U.S. and Canadian licensing agreement for children’s property Fancy Nancy. The first Fancy Nancy-licensed products from The Orb Factory will be introduced at summer shows for shipments beginning in July. Additionally, specialty retailers will be able to add Fancy Nancy products to their combined Orb Factory and Curiosity Kits orders, said Bill Bordegon, The Orb Factory’s sales and marketing manager for North America.
Toy Inventor Files Infringement Lawsuit Over Zhu Zhu Pets
Jason Heller, an inventor/designer of toys including 2005’s Amazing Amanda feature doll, is claiming that three prototyping companies in Hong Kong improperly disclosed his ideas about a robotic toy hamster to Cepia LLC, maker of Zhu Zhu Pets, and that Cepia then used his ideas to come out with its popular toy.
Heller claims that in April 2008 he conceived an idea for a robotic toy hamster under the business name Floating Lightbulb Toys. He documented his ideas for the hamster in his Toy Hamster Specification Brief, and approached modeling/toy houses, including A-Tech/The Bean and Ying Lueng, in Hong Kong to develop a prototype. Before disclosing his trade secrets and other information to the companies, Heller said, he signed Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreements (MNDA) with these companies.
Heller claims in late 2009, at Dallas Toy Fair, he became aware of Cepia's Zhu Zhu Pets, which appeared to embody his idea for a robotic toy hamster, covered in plush, and also nearly all of the features, functionalities, and accessories described in the Toy Hamster Specification Brief and other documentation disclosed to the modeling/toy houses under the relevant MNDAs.
Heller filed an intellectual property lawsuit on Friday in the U.S. District Court of North Carolina against Cepia, LLC; A-Tech Product Engineering Company Limited; The Bean Project Company Limited; and Ying Leung International Limited. Robert Matz is counsel for the plaintiff.
ClickN Kids to Feature Looney Tunes Characters
Warner Bros. Consumer Products has signed a North American licensing agreement with ClickN Kids, Inc., an online children’s software provider, to create original online animated educational programs featuring the Looney Tunes characters.
Created for children in pre-kindergarten to third grade, the partners will launch the first Warner Bros. character-based program, Looney Tunes ClickN Read Phonics, based on the research-based curriculum authored by Dr. J. Ron Nelson, a nationally recognized research professor.
Hasbro and Jagex to Create New Transformers Online Game
Hasbro, Inc. has signed a strategic development agreement with Jagex Limited to jointly create a new online game based on the Transformers brand. Under the agreement, the two companies are slated to launch the Transformers online game in 2012 in North America, Latin America, Europe, New Zealand, and Australia.
Jagex, based in the United Kingdom, is one of the largest independent game developers and publishers in the world, with a dedicated global user base of millions playing its more than 40 online games.
Voltron Adds Licensees
Classic Media and World Events Productions (WEP) have announced new consumer products partners in the U.S. for Voltron as the franchise relaunches. Set to join the property’s previously announced partners are Rubie’s Costume Company for costumes, VIZ Media for kids’ graphic novels, Dynamic Forces for new comic books and graphic novels, Bentex Group for T-shirts and tops via its Extreme Concepts division, and swimwear and sleepwear via Bentex’s Dreamwave division.
Walmart to Launch “Pick Up Today,” New Service for Same-Day Pickup
Walmart is launching a new U.S. platform, “Pick Up Today,” later this month. The service will enable customers to purchase items online and receive free same-day pickup at a local Walmart store. By June, Walmart expects “Pick Up Today” to be available in nearly 3,600 Walmart stores nationwide. The service will also expand to include up to 40,000 items across multiple categories, including toys, baby, home décor, hardware, outdoor living, electronics, household appliances, and video games.
When launched, online orders will be ready for pickup in approximately four hours, while orders placed after 6 p.m. will be ready for pickup at 10 a.m. the next day. Walmart’s other multichannel programs include Site to Store, FedEx Site to Store, and Walmart Mobile. For more information on “Pick Up Today,” visit www.walmart.com/pickuptoday.
Casper’s Scare School Added to KiZoic’s Titles
Ape Entertainment is adding Classic Media’s Casper’s Scare School property to its KiZoic line of young reader titles. Based on the film Casper’s Scare School, which was released in 2006, and the subsequent television series that premiered in 2009, the books follow Casper (who is enrolled in Scare School) as he gets in touch with his spooky side. The Casper’s Scare School book series, published by Ape Entertainment, will be in stores this October.
NCircle Entertainment Partners with VisionWise
NCircle Entertainment has licensed newly formed Mobile Mum, Inc. children’s programming for a new iPTV (Internet protocol television) edutainment service for those on the go, called MobileMum.com. Included in the digital license is television programming for kids ages 2 to 6, such as Dr. Seuss’ The Cat In the Hat Knows A Lot About That, Pocoyo, Mighty Machines, andJim Henson’s Sid the Science Kid.
Mobile Mum’s online subscription-based service library will be delivered via Apple devices, including the iPad and iPhone, as well as Android phones and Android-based tablets.
The service includes hundreds of hours of programming, and educational, interactive games for children. New shows and episodes will be added throughout the year. Mobile Mum is available monthly for $3.99, and apps for Apple and Android devices are free.
Mobile Mum is a newly formed startup company spun out of VisionWise, Inc, an interactive game and video developer.
Cycle Force Group Is New Licensee for StinkyKids
Stone America Licensing has announced that Cycle Force Group has been appointed exclusive licensee for StinkyKids for bicycles, scooters, skateboards, skates, safety gear, and accessories.
The line will complement the current doll line created by licensee Madame Alexander that is now available at retail. Stone America is currently seeking licensees in categories such as toys/games, coloring books, jewelry, stickers, key chains, puzzles, gift and novelty, party paper products, apparel, and accessories.
Pinkalicious Signs Party Goods Licensees
The Joester Loria Group has signed Unique Industries and DecoPac to develop “pinktastic” party goods based on the Pinkalicious property. Unique Industries has launched a party goods collection based on the property, including napkins, plates, table covers, cups, party hats, party blowouts, loot bags, party invitations, piñatas, and décor. The collection is currently available at specialty party stores and online retailers, and will be expanding to national accounts this fall.
DecoPac is launching a line of Pinkalicious cake decorations. The Pinkalicious line will include the “Pink isn’t Just Pink” edible image and “PhotoCake” image for cake decoration, as well Pinktastic Rings for cupcake decoration. The cake decorations will debut at bakeries in April.
Fun World and Kid O Recall Products
Fun World, Inc., in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), is voluntarily recalling approximately 1,800 of its Little Pet Vet and Dr. Littles costumes due to a potential choking hazard. The costumes were sold with a toy stethoscope accessory, and the plastic ear pieces at the end of the stethoscope can be pulled off. No injuries have been reported.
Consumers are advised to immediately take the stethoscope away from children and contact Fun World at (800) 247-5314 or email@example.com for instructions. For more information, visit http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml11/11160.html.
Also in cooperation with CPSC, Kid O Products, LLC is conducting a voluntary recall of approximately 1,400 of its wooden fruit puzzles for a potential choking hazard. The knobs attached to the puzzle fruits can come loose. No injuries or incidents have been reported. The puzzles were sold in specialty children stores nationwide from November 2010 to February 2011 for approximately $12. Owners are advised to immediately take the recalled puzzles away from children and return them to the retail store where they purchased it for a full refund. For more information, visit http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml11/11165.html.
Scholastic's Second Annual WordGirl Definition Competition
Scholastic Media is launching its second annual WordGirl Definition Competition, a live virtual event that will challenge students’ vocabulary. The event, for kids in grades 1-3, will take place on Wednesday, April 27 at 1:00 p.m. ET at Scholastic’s New York City headquarters, and will be streamed to thousands of classrooms nationwide via a live webcast.
The competition will be held in a game show format, hosted by WordGirl and Beau Handsome of WordGirl’s “May I Have a Word” segment. Contestants will test their vocabulary skills through word usage, reading comprehension, definitions, and the use of words in different contexts. Classes across the country will play along in real time by submitting answers online during the webcast. Classes may be called upon to submit answers during the event. The teachers who register will be automatically entered into the WordGirl Definition Competition sweepstakes for a chance to win books and prizes for their school or classroom.
Pac-Man Partners with Wendy’s
Pac-Man is being featured in Wendy’s Kids’ Meals through April 10. Five toys will be available in the meals throughout the promotion, including Pac-Man Bowling, Pac-Man Dash, Pac-Man Hide & Seek, Pac-Man Maze, and Pac-Man Tag. Each meal will packaged in a Pac-Man themed bag and will include a coupon for a discounted Pac-Man downloadable PC game. For more information, visit www.pacman.com/en.
Donate to Japan Via K.I.D.S.
Kids In Distressed Situations (K.I.D.S.) is coordinating immediate relief efforts following the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and 23-foot tsunami that hit the northern part of Japan. K.I.D.S. is asking retailers and manufacturers to provide donations of desperately needed new products—including blankets, undergarments, and apparel—and for the public to provide monetary support to the long-term relief effort by visiting www.KIDSdonations.org or calling (212) 279-5493.
Additionally, through the K.I.D.S. 10-to-1 system of matching donations, the organization will donate $10 worth of new product for every $1 raised. Donations of $5 may be made by texting the word ALLKIDS to 85944.


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WPP has closed a deal with TikTok to enable its agencies and their clients to tap into the culture-shaping impact and reach of the short form video and digital platform.
The world's biggest advertising groupo will have early access to advertising products in development.
“Our clients want new and innovative ways to reach consumers," says CEO Mark Read.
"TikTok has quickly demonstrated the power of mobile video and the many opportunities that exist for brands to engage in meaningful and creative ways on its platform.
"I am delighted that we have formed this global partnership, a first in our industry, and look forward to working with TikTok to ensure our clients continue to benefit from what its platform has to offer.”
In Australia, Ryan Menezes, chief technology and transformation officer for GroupM, is excited about the broader WPP partnership.
"TikTok is the fastest growing social media platform in the world which has also seen 50% more Australian users in 2020," he says.
"While the TikTok Platform continues to grow in Australia at lightning speed, our global partnership provides WPP AUNZ and GroupM clients with a strategic and competitive advantage across first in market initiatives, creativity, content and data, and we look forward to collaborating further to drive value for WPP clients.
"Our clients will continue to be at the forefront of innovation when it comes to new product development and existing solution enhancements. Exclusive data access and in-depth analytics will deliver accountability across every dollar spent.
"Our bespoke creator collaboration program provides our amazing clients the canvas to partner with some of the leading content creators to create captivating brand experiences that cut through. All of this will be underpinned by our market leading brand safety framework.
"Our co-created industry leading training will also ensure our talent are accredited to deliver best practice platform capabilities across media and content."
The deal includes partnering on marketing API integrations and next-generation formats, such as augmented reality offerings. Subvrsive, a WPP company, was one of the first TikTok Effects Partners.
TikTok will also collaborate with its talented creator community to build a diverse network of creators to partner with WPP and facilitate exclusive opportunities for collaboration with select advertisers.
WPP will be the Lead Agency Development Partner to new creator-focused APIs, which will incorporate WPP’s market leading brand safety methodology while leveraging unique brand and marketer data signals.
The goal of these new solutions will be to enable brands to gain deeper insights on creators, connect with diverse voices and have early access to these creators for their campaigns.
WPP and TikTok also will co-create an industry-leading training and accreditation program for WPP agencies, which will secure priority access to content tailored to media and creative disciplines.
This program certifies that WPP’s talent is leading the development of best-in-class creative and media solutions on the TikTok platform.
GroupM, WPP's media buying arm, and TikTok will work on complete integration with third party verification vendors, developing first party inclusion and exclusion controls, and alignment with the GARM Brand Safety and Suitability Framework.
The companies also intend to jointly conduct market-leading research to guide brands on TikTok best practices and assist with data-informed strategies for driving engagement on the platform.
GroupM has already engaged TikTok on niche auction training and will continue advancing buying capabilities through its large network of specialists.
Blake Chandlee, VP of Global Business Solutions of TikTok, says more brands all over the world are experiencing the impact TikTok has to create moments that not only shape culture but also drive business value.
"Creative and media agencies play a major role in fueling these creative campaigns, and we're excited to partner with a global innovator like WPP as we build for the future," he says.
"We both share a common goal: to drive amazing campaigns for our clients that resonate with our growing audience in a way that is authentic, inspires creativity and brings joy. We look forward to delivering on this shared goal for WPP, its agencies and clients.”
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at firstname.lastname@example.org

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Discover more from Profluence Sports by Andrew Petcash
The Beginning of Athlete-Centered Media
And how it's going to change the media landscape forever.
Do you think media is changing?
We’re in this strange time frame where newspapers, radio, and cable TV still exist — while email newsletters, podcasts, and streaming continue to grow.
But not only can you see the tide changing…you can feel it.
And this is especially true in sports.
As covered in Digital Media Publishers, the way we consume our written material is changing.
The future of content will be led by creators building their own brands and audiences controlling their own programming.
Today I’ll be focusing on athlete-centered media.
And I have the perfect place to begin.
Let’s Dive In 👇
Athletes Turned Creators
Up until a few years ago, anytime you watched a sports broadcast or listened to a post-game show you had the typical journalist/communications people covering it.
You have a lot of athletes.
Tony Romo went from being a top-tier NFL quarterback to arguably the best on-air broadcaster in football.
And there’s no reason to think Tom Brady won’t be just as good once his 10-year $300M FOX deal goes into effect upon his retirement.
J.J. Reddick went from NBA sharpshooter to one of ESPN’s top talents in the studio.
I’m a massive proponent of subsidiaries around sports being run by former athletes.
There’s a big difference between someone who wrote for the University newspaper and someone who played on the Division 1 team.
Quite frankly, there’s a big difference between listening to Skip Bayless critic a player vs. Charles Barkley (one lived it and one didn’t).
There’s also a massive advantage for the networks.
Let me explain…
ESPN created the strong personal brand of Skip Bayless — they helped grow his audience and personal brand…no one knew who he was before.
On the flip side, Charles Barkley created his own strong personal brand. That influence and built-in audience are extremely valuable to networks.
This is the power of athletes…and we’re finally starting to see more of them take on their own media ventures.
Radio will shift in the near future because of podcasts.
For a few reasons:
listen to them on the go
tune in from anywhere
speed up the rate of play
and many other advantages
It took athletes some time to discover the potential of podcasts, but eventually they caught on.
There are massive brand-focused ones like The Player’s Tribune or I Am Athlete which aim to tell the stories around athletes.
There are self-hosted ones — like Draymond Green breaking down the game to his live audience.
And the most influential of all…
Pat McAfee who turned down millions of dollars as an NFL punter to start his own media company (he’s now making more money than 99% of NFL players thanks to his 4-year $120M contract with FanDuel).
Over the last few years, we’ve seen the emergence of traditional podcasts like the “Long Shot Pod” by Miami Heat guard Duncan Robinson.
So who are the companies supporting this revolution in sports media?
Athlete-Centered Media Companies
There are huge opportunities for companies (and even individuals) that help provide the infrastructure for athletes to create and distribute media.
BlueWire hosts more than 260 national and regional shows including Duncan Robinson’s, Chris Carter’s, and Chris Long’s.
They raised a $2.5M round in July to grow their platform and content base.
Former NBA star Baron Davis is an investor.
Radio is quickly transforming into podcasts — as you can listen to your favorite creators in the car, while working out, or wherever.
Sports offer a great opportunity for the introduction of creator monetization.
For example, YouTube takes 45% of the ad revenue a creator earns.
Today, platforms are being built on the blockchain to provide athletes with closer to 100% of the profits through NFTs.
It will be interesting to see if platforms like this can gain mass adoption.
Bringing audiences to a new platform is no easy task — which is why I think web2 companies offering their bigger creators web3 offerings (with larger payouts) is where it will begin.
In turn, the platforms will breed more creators (and therefore content) because people are striving for the big paydays.
Live Broadcast Audio
The Manning brothers made it popular to watch games and listen to alternative commentary.
Spalk is bringing that to life after raising a Series A last year.
The platform enables creators to grow their live broadcast audience.
I think we’ll see a lot more of this in the future, which will make on-air talents even more in demand.
Throw VR headsets into the mix (to feel like you’re right there watching the game) and media will be revolutionized.
Don’t like Joe Buck?
Why not stream the same game with Pat McCaffee calling it?
That’s where we’re headed.
Preediction is an interactive social video conversation experience connecting athletes, esports + gaming personalities, and web3 innovators with their communities.
For some reason, young kids love watching other people play video games.
Not enough athletes are doing this to connect with their fans.
Imagine playing Call of Duty on the same team as JuJu Smith-Schuster, or if you’re not on his team — watching him play live while interacting with people just like yourself.
Preediction raised a seed round last December to help grow its initiatives.
Web3 and esports are a trend to keep an eye on going forward.
As athletes build out their media, they’ll need the infrastructure to find brands interested in sponsoring them.
While it’s not directly media-focused, marketplaces, as we saw in Issue No.1, are helping brands and athletes connect.
Most of them are focused on short campaigns around social media posts.
In the future, I think we’ll see a shift to more long-term deals and campaigns.
The challenge for these marketplaces will be keeping the big deals on the platform (as creators and brands might go off platform to avoid fees).
While this role has often fallen on agents to find brand deals and create a team around athletes — there is a new emerging trend.
Athlete-focused creative agencies.
Jaster Creative raised some money to help build up their media team focused on igniting the personal brands of athletes.
And it makes sense…
Kevin Durant set up an entire media company, Boardroom, to help promote his own brand and portfolio companies.
Athlete-centered media is just getting started (maybe in the 1st or 2nd inning as of 2022).
The creator economy and the future of content will be led by creators building their own brands and listeners/viewers controlling their own programming.
I talk about this a lot, but athletes themselves are a business.
Their team around them is what facilitates growth or decline.
There’s always been agents, lawyers, financial advisors, and the know-it-all uncle.
But today, many big-time athletes have all of those — along with videographers, editors, social media managers, and business partners/managers.
And for a good reason…
Fans want to feel a genuine connection with athletes.
More so than just watching them play — fans want to engage, hear what they’re saying during the game, see what they’re doing on off days, and peak behind the curtain at the life that they’ve always dreamed of.
Athletes who build their brands through self-owned media will be awarded in many ways beyond just money.
With the legalization of NIL in amateur sports, young athletes are taking full advantage of this trend.
10 years from now, it will be an anomaly to see a big-time athlete without a massive media brand and team around them.
Companies (and individuals) are starting to set up the proper infrastructure for athletes/creators/brands to succeed in their endeavors.
It’s a great time to build a brand.
Thanks for reading today!
Hope you found this deep dive interesting and can see what is playing out right in front of us.
Talk again on Friday.
The Petcash Post is a daily newsletter breaking down the business of athletes, sports, and NIL.
Join the 27,000 others who subscribed 🔑 — it’s free!


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World’s richest people lose $21 billion last weekBy Mason White 6:17 AM February 24, 2013
By: Debbie Gross
Last week was not kind to the world’s richest people, according to press reports in the United States.
The 100 richest people on Earth shed $21.3 billion of their collective fortunes as the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index posted its first weekly decline so far this year.
Activist investor Carl Icahn, the world’s 34 richest person, was one of the big losers of the week, dropping $1.3 billion as shares of Icahn Enterprises LP sank 15.6 percent. He is worth $20.4 billion.
Carlos Slim, the richest man in the world, saw his net worth drop of almost $700 million. Slim leads Latin America’s largest mobile phone company by market value, which fell 2.2 percent, capping its third consecutive weekly decline. Slim, 73, has a net worth of $73.4 billion.
Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, 57, who is the second richest man with a fortune of $66 billion, saw a decrease of $260 million for the week.
Amancio Ortega, 76-year-old founder of Inditex SA, the world’s largest clothing retailer and owner of the Zara clothing chain, is number 3, with a net worth of $56.1 billion. He lost $1.3 billion for the week.


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NY – The manufacturer of computers and printers HP Inc. said Wednesday that it has received a “proposal” from Xerox and has held “occasional” conversations with the photocopier company for a possible business combination.
HP said it received the proposal on Tuesday, but did not elaborate on details. He said he will do the most convenient for his shareholders.
Xerox did not answer questions at the moment.
According to the Tuesday edition of the Wall Street Journal, Xerox was considering submitting an offer to HP.
HP and Xerox have faced difficulties due to a drop in demand for printed documents and ink. Both have been trying to reduce costs to improve their results.
. (tagsToTranslate) hp inc.


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You might think that what happens in Vegas dispensaries stays in Vegas dispensaries. And surely some pot-shop shenanigans never do leave the Silver State’s biggest city. But the volume of flower sales? Market share for vapes? What kind of edibles Nevadans consume? That data and much more now is no longer secret, as cannabis market research firm BDS Analytics this month launches its data platform detailing retail consumer trends across Nevada — everything from the average price paid for a pre-rolled joint to the popularity of tinctures.
Let’s take a look at how the gambling-grooving residents and tourists of the nation’s 36th state spend their money in Nevada’s 60 dispensaries.
State residents endorsed legal adult-use sales during the 2016 election, and less than two months later, on Jan. 1, 2017, dispensaries began selling cannabis products to anybody 21 or older. In this report, we closely examine trends between July and October of 2018, comparing these four months to the same months during 2017. We also look at sales for all of last year through October, without comparing the data to 2017.
First of all, the basics. For 2018 through October, people spent $476 million on cannabis products. How did they divide the cannabis pie? Thirty-nine percent of sales went towards flower, concentrates commanded 25 percent, and edibles hit 17 percent. Pre-rolls, which in other states tend to harness between 5 and 8 percent of sales, were much more popular in Nevada, where they capture 15 percent of cannabis sales. Nice work, blunts.
Since Nevada is a mining state, let’s honor the legacy and do some deep digging.
Sales between July and October reached $76 million, which represents growth of 5.2 percent compared to the same period in 2017. The average retail price during the period in 2018 was $11.80, which is down about 10 percent from the same period during 2017. Flower remains pricey in Nevada — more expensive than in California, Colorado and Oregon. But as in the other states, the price trend leads down.
Consumers dropped $50.1 million on concentrates during the four-month period under review, which represents growth of 35 percent compared to the same period in 2017. And just as it is in all other states, vapes rule. In Nevada they own 78 percent of the concentrates market, compared to 6 percent for oils and 5 percent for shatter and wax respectively. Interestingly, disposable vapes in Nevada perform quite well, harnessing 25 percent of vape sales. Disposables in California, on the other hand, represent just 13 percent of vape sales, and that number is even lower in Colorado and Oregon. Disposable vapes are about as discrete as you can get — many are about the size of a cigarette. Could their popularity in Nevada be tied to the state’s heavy tourism, with so many consumers spending time in hotels? Quite possibly.
Sales of $33 million during the four-month period mark healthy growth — 32 percent, compared to the same period in 2017. California’s edibles growth during the period was just 18 percent.
Candy is the market leader in Nevada, as in all states, with 49 percent of sales. The big mover within edibles in Nevada, though, is tinctures. Dollar sales expanded by 177 percent during the period, compared to 35 percent for candy and 5 percent for chocolates.
We will have much more to cover in this dynamic and fast-growing market in coming months and years. But for now, at least, it looks like a wide range of entrepreneurial gambles are paying off, from Las Vegas to Reno to more remote corners of the gigantic desert state.
MJShareholders.com is the largest dedicated financial network and leading corporate communications firm serving the legal cannabis industry. Our network aims to connect public marijuana companies with these focused cannabis audiences across the US and Canada that are critical for growth: Short and long term cannabis investors Active funding sources Mainstream media Business leaders Cannabis consumers


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Govt takes measures to promote tourism: Shahbaz
CM Punjab says we can earn huge foreign exchange by promoting tourism industry.
Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has said that Pakistan is a rich country for the promotion of religious tourism and historical sites.
In his message on World Tourism Day, he said the purpose of celebrating this day is to promote tourism to discover new tourist destinations and provision of facilities to the tourists.
He said the provincial government is taking all possible measures for the promotion of tourism and undertaking beautification at the tourism resorts to promote tourism industry.
He said that we can earn huge foreign exchange by promoting tourism industry.
The Chief Minister said that country's economy can be put on the path of strong growth by promoting tourism activities. He said, Pakistan possess beautiful landscapes and unique opportunity to explore the ancient human civilizations to the worldwide tourists.
He said, K2, Nanga Parbat, Chitral, Skardu, Gilgit, Hunza and Swat, Gilgit, Murree and the mountains of Kashmir tremendously attract the tourists. He said Pakistan is a rich country in natural treasures as the cradle of ancient civilizations and cultures.
Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has said that the government is taking effective measures to promote tourist attractions and for the promotion of tourism in the province. He said tourism Tourist buses have been conducted to explore the historical sites of Lahore Punjab. He said double-decker bus provide better tour facilities to the people of Lahore and other cities.


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Start the conversation
While key industry players assembled today (Monday) in Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress, a key mobile chipmaker merger played out on Wall Street.
Billed by both chipmakers as a merger of equals, TriQuint and RF Micro will form a new company with a new name and new leadership that will offer a broader range of mobile chips. The companies say the deal will provide growth opportunities in the mobile devices, network infrastructure, and aerospace/defense sectors.
The deal works out to $9.73 for each TriQuint share, a 5.4% premium to Friday's close.
In a nod of approval from shareholders on both sides, TQNT shares surged 25% intraday to $11.76, a 52-week high. RFMD shares jumped 21.5% to $7.06, also a 52-week high.
This is why the deal is so profitable...
A Solid Mobile Strategy
Chipmakers are racing to deliver the next big thing for cellular networks and mobile devices. RFMD and TQNT hope the two combined companies are better than one standalone.
TriQuint makes specialized communications chips for smartphones and communications networks. Its biggest customer is Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) contractor FoxConn. RF Micro designs and manufactures high-performance radiofrequency products and solutions for applications that drive wireless and broadband communications.
"The world's demand for mobile data is growing exponentially," RF Micro Chief Executive Officer Bob Bruggeworth said in a statement. "With this merger of equals, we will bring under one roof all of the critical RF building blocks necessary to innovate at the heart of what makes mobile mobile - the crucial back-and-forth data flow between the mobile device and the network."
Indeed, mobile traffic data surged 81% worldwide last year to 18 times the size of the entire Internet in 2000, according to Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO). By 2018, global mobile data traffic is forecast to increase by more than 10 times the current pace.
The combined company is expected to generate revenue of more than $2 billion. In addition, the tie-up is projected to achieve at least $150 million in cost synergies, $75 million in annualized synergies the first year after closing, and another $75 million the second year.
And shareholders might not have seen these gains if it weren't for yet another pushy activist investor...


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INTERNATIONAL - Facebook Inc said it did not give some companies access to people’s data without their permission, after the New York Times reported on Tuesday that the social network allowed some large technology companies greater access to user data.
The paper reported that Facebook allowed Microsoft’s Bing search engine to see the names of virtually all Facebook users’ friends without their consent, citing documents from 2017.
"None of these partnerships or features gave companies access to information without people's permission, nor did they violate our 2012 settlement with the FTC," Konstantinos Papamiltiadis, Facebook's director of developer platforms and programs, said in a blog post.
Facebook also gave companies like Netflix and Spotify the ability to read users’ private messages and permitted Amazon to obtain users’ names and contact information through their friends, the New York Times said.
Facebook said what it did was to help users access their Facebook accounts or specific features on devices and platforms built by other companies like Apple, Amazon, Blackberry and Yahoo, known as integration partners.


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BLOOMINGTON, Minn. - The stoic football coach forever linked to the glory days of the Minnesota Vikings will hold what organizers are describing as his 'biggest, best and last' garage sale.
The website gsalr.com says Bud Grant will sell everything from hunting and outdoor gear to one-of-a-kind items from his personal NFL collection. Among those listed are duck and turkey decoys, fishing gear, an outboard motor and a signed snowmobile helmet.
Bud Grant's garage sale is set for Wednesday, May 21 through Friday, May 23, at 8134 Oakmere Drive in Bloomington.He coached the Vikings from 1967 to 1983, and then for one more year in 1985.
Garage sales are apparently becoming the rage for Minnesota sports icons. Newspaper and radio legend Sid Hartman recently staged his own estate sale with items from his storied career.


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Hunkemöller, Europe’s leading and fastest growing lingerie brand with around 900 stores across 20 countries, has opened its official webshop in the US. With the launch of the webshop, American Sheroes (customers) now have access to the full Hunkemöller collection of fashionable, sexy and affordable lingerie that is available in 67 bra sizes. The opening is a big step in the journey of Hunkemöller to be the digital-first lingerie brand across the globe offering Sheroes the best shopping experience. Continue reading
Model Jasmine Tookes tries on the $3 million dollar (USD) Victoria’s Secret fantasy bra.
HONG KONG, CHINA (REUTERS) – Many women would agree – a good bra can be hard to find. After all, no two bras or breasts are alike. So searching for the one that hugs and lifts in all the right places can be daunting.
But help is on the way.


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It might not come as a huge surprise, but the Apple financials are not as glorious and fruitful as the quarterly bonanza of yesteryear.
The devices market is plateauing, China’s economy is slowing, Indian consumers are more interested with other brands, iPhone sales are down, as is revenue and operating income, expenses are up. It doesn’t exactly paint a picture of serenity and profitability, but share price increased more than 5% in overnight trading.
CEO Tim Cook and his team did manage the situation quite effectively with a recent profit warning and have seemingly tabled a plan which has caught the interest of investors but let’s just put this overnight surge into perspective. The last couple of months have not been good for Apple. At the beginning of September, Apple share price was hovering around the $228 mark, while at the time of writing, it has declined more than 30% to $154. Cook should be nervous.
“Last night’s results beg the question, are investors falling out of love with Apple?” said Christopher Dembik, Head of Macro Analysis at Saxo Bank.
“The results of the former favourite stock – Apple was the fifth most traded stock by clients at Saxo Bank, behind Facebook, Amazon, Alibaba and Tesla – signalling a tough climate for traders right now with a gloomy global economy, weak returns across the board and whispers of another recession on the way.”
Overall revenues were down to $84.3 billion, 5% lower than the same period in 2017, though it was in-line with the revised forecast from a few weeks back. For the next quarter, revenue is expected between $55 billion and $59 billion, with a gross margin between 37-38%.
Looking at the results, the iPhone weighed Apple down heavily. Shipment numbers will no-longer be released by the team, though revenues for the cornerstone product declined an almost inconceivable $9.1 billion, a 15% year-on-year drop, to $51.982 billion. This is still a huge amount of cash, but such a dramatic decline indicates someone got something very wrong somewhere.
The last couple of months of 2018 were a scrap for Apple to justify the pricing of its flagship devices. Cook and his cronies seem to have accepted what many people were telling them; the devices have become too expensive. Moving forward, the team seem to have indicated there will be price reductions.
This is what Apple have specialised in over the last few decades; customer loyalty and sweating the brand. There aren’t many cults out there who can count on their followers as loyally as Apple can count on the iLifers, but when the company was innovating they could justify marking a premium on products and rely on the Apple followers to make purchases. This doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.
If you look through the portfolio, none of the products are particularly mind-blowing. Yes, they might be high-spec and feature the Apple brand, but there has been little innovation in the last few years to justify the increasing prices. Married with consumers becoming more cash conscious, Apple has seemingly pushed its customers over the breaking point of what they are willing to spend.
That said, it isn’t just innovation which is to blame here, Apple is losing out to competitors in key markets. The Americas grew, though Europe, Japan and Greater China all declined. In the European and China markets, Chinese brands such as Huawei and One Plus has been gaining greater traction, with the price much more palatable for consumers. These are good devices which are offering just as technologically advanced features, suggesting Apple is losing the vice-like grip which it has on its customers.
“And so, what we have done in January and in some locations and some products is essentially absorbed part or all of the foreign currency move as compared to last year and therefore get close or perhaps right on the local price from a year ago,” said Cook during the earnings call.
How much of an impact the price reductions will have remains to be seen, but what is worth noting is that there was some good news from the call. iPhone revenues might have plummeted over the period, but all other categories grew, including the much-valued software and services unit.
This is where Cook has been pinning his hopes, and there have been some gains. The software and services unit grew revenues by 19% year-on-year taking the total to $10.8 billion. Apple is attempting to evolve itself into a very different type of business, with recurring revenues as the ambition, though success has to be put into context. Yes, there have been gains, but it seems the dangers of the hardware world are being realised much faster than the benefits of software evolution.
Apple has largely struggled in the world of software and services, perhaps because its traditional business model is not suitable. When you look at where Apple has been successful in software and services, iTunes, AppleCare and iOS for example, these are all areas which tie the customer into the Apple ecosystem. They are products which build on the Steve Jobs mantra of ‘closed is better’. However, Apple will have to embrace a new mentality is it wants to succeed in the new world.
At CES, Apple captured most of the headlines without actually being there as it announced a content-based partnership with Samsung. Beginning in the Spring, new Samsung Smart TV models will offer iTunes Movies & TV Shows and Apple AirPlay 2 support for Apple customers. This is a good move from Apple, embracing the concepts of openness and collaboration which will be critical moving forwards.
Another interesting development, which has remained unconfirmed, is the creation of a Netflix-like gaming platform. Apple would herd developers and gaming content behind a paywall which will offered as a bundle service for customers. The subscription service would take Apple into a potentially profitable segment, which is set to boom over the coming years. However, this cannot be tied exclusively to Apple products and would have to demonstrate openness.
The last few months have shown that Apple is not immune to global trends and the need to evolve as a business is overdue. The reason companies like Google and Amazon never report revenue dips like this is they are constantly searching for the next idea. Apple might have been slow to react, but there is some progress being made. It just needs to be made quicker.


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Halloween is full of both tricks and treats, but pet parents should be careful not to let their pets accidentally scarf down too much of the latter. In the blink of an eye, chocolate candy intended to end up in pumpkin-shaped buckets may end up in your pup’s tummy.
The pet insurance experts at Trupanion see a 71% increase in chocolate toxicity during Halloween compared to the previous six months of the year. Chocolate-related health issues can cost pet owners between $240 to $1,200 per claim.
To keep pets safe and avoid incurring such costs, pet owners should keep chocolate and other Halloween candy out of paw’s reach. Additionally, pet parents should be careful not to let their pets fall victim to other Halloween hazards.
Source: ConsumerAffairs.Com • Sarah D. Young


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Day 2 of the Code Conference was packed. We had top execs from Airbnb, Stitch Fix, AT&T, Uber and Spotify, plus one senator, in the red chairs. Here’s some of the top things we learned:
- Sen. Mark Warner said that even after warning Facebook’s executives, the company was slow to acknowledge the Russian threat.
- Stitch Fix CEO Katrina Lake admitted her company’s IPO price was disappointing.
- Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky: ”I see there are limitations to the community moderating itself.”
- AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson says he would’ve fired Roseanne Barr too.
- Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says UberEats has a $6 billion bookings run rate.
- Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said that transparency was a big reason he went with a direct listing IPO.
[Get this daily newsletters delivered to your inbox. Subscriber here.]
More than half of the most valuable U.S. tech companies were founded by first- or second-generation immigrants. Mary Meeker presented her latest data on immigrant founders at Code Wednesday and found that 56 percent of the 25 most valuable tech companies in the U.S. had a founder who was a first- or second-generation immigrant. Some examples: Uber’s Garrett Camp (Canada), Tesla and SpaceX’s Elon Musk (South Africa) and WeWork’s Adam Neumann (Israel). Take a look Meeker’s entire 2018 internet trends report here. And watch her full presentation on Recode’s YouTube here.
Warren Buffett was reported to have offered to invest $3 billion in Uber earlier this year. Talks fell apart, according to the Wall Street Journal, when “the two sides couldn’t agree on the terms.”
Months after Uber and Alphabet settled their messy legal battle over self-driving trade secrets, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the companies are discussing working together on self-driving. “They’re an incredible technology provider, they’re serious about autonomous,” he said during an interview with Kara Swisher at Code. Khosrowshahi also said the company is on track to IPO in the second half of 2019.
How do leading women in Silicon Valley think tech should fix its diversity problem? We asked them. Megan Smith, founder of Shift7; Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, founder and CEO of Boardlist; and Aileen Lee, managing partner of Cowboy Ventures have some ideas. Watch the full interview.
Do you have questions about the interviews from this year’s Code Conference or what goes on behind the scenes? Recode’s Kara Swisher and Peter Kafka and The Verge’s Casey Newton will be talking about the conference on this week’s Too Embarrassed to Ask podcast, so send your questions in! Tweet them at us with the hashtag #TooEmbarrassed or email TooEmbarrassed@recode.net before 9 am PT / 12 pm ET.
Top stories from Recode
“Pretty darn good” — but misses the point, says Senator Warner.
“I still don’t understand it.”
“We’re not promoting the restaurant — we’re trying to promote our ideals.”
Crypto versus the feds, and crypto versus crypto.
Chesky’s vision? To be a “global travel community.”
“What I hope is that we can become the living and breathing example of why diversity is important,” Lake said.
Five years ago, China had just two of the world’s biggest public tech companies by market value while the U.S. had nine.
Illumina CEO Francis deSouza’s company makes machines that let companies like 23andMe understand their customers’ DNA.
This is Cool
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.


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PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) " Eminem's mother has been sued by a man who alleges he helped her with a book about the Detroit rapper but was cut out of the profits.
Neal Alpert claims in an Oakland County Circuit Court lawsuit filed Monday that Debbie Nelson developed the book while she was under contract with him.
The lawsuit alleges they entered into a contract in 2005 in which he would be her agent and receive 25 percent of the gross profits.
Nelson couldn't be reached for comment Monday.
The lawsuit says "My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem" has sold 100,000 copies since its U.K. release last year. The book is to hit U.S. stores this week.


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[Column] Ray Chimhandamba: Africa’s donation to the Disruptor Economy
Any company worth its salt today has to include, within its strategy, sector or industry disruption on their list of threats. Disruption is everywhere and will happen in absolutely any industry. When one the leading global hotel business does not own a single hotel room. One of the leading global taxi companies does not own a single taxi, it is clear that no industry is immune to disruption. Think Airbnb, think Uber. Disruption is here to stay and will be part of business and part of our lives for a long time to come.
One has to ask, what role has Africa played in the disruptor economy and what role will it play in the future. Mpesa, the mobile money invention by Safaricom in Kenya, is one of my favourites. It changed banking in Africa as we knew it, for individuals, small business and big business alike. It allowed the unbanked, small businesses and big businesses to transact in ways they could not have before. Rural folk could now access money without making a trip. The revolutionary trend spread to the rest of the continent like wildfire. Kenya continues to be the global leader in mobile money today.
Africa’s challenges can be quite unique. Mobile money has literally transformed mobile companies into banks, without having to apply for a banking license. This is a disruption within the banking sector that is pretty similar to the hotel sector and the taxi industries that I started off with. And Econet in Zimbabwe has gone further by actually taking a stake an existing bank and rebranding it. Now they can sell mobile products and banking products in combination in a way that competition cannot match.
Zimbabwe is facing cash supply constraints. People are forced to use mobile money instead. This presented such an excellent opportunity to pilot cryptocurrency. Unfortunately the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe does not recognise cryptocurrency as legal tender. Which is shame because it would have solved the cash challenges and at the same time would have given Zimbabwe a chance to pilot something that could have put the country back on the map, for the right reasons this time.
Disruptor companies like Google are investing more and more in technology start-ups in Nigeria, to grow the talent for coding and related IT fields. Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichal, visited Nigeria last year. He said that, one million people have been trained in Africa on digital skills. They plan to train 10 million Africans in the next five years on digital skills. The effects are quite visible. Nigeria now leads the Sub-Saharan Africa, in terms of online purchases, ahead of South Africa.
Kenya is the cradle of Africa’s ICT innovation. Consequently, Kenya actually achieved 4G technology ahead of South Africa. A combination of government policy and private sector innovation has catapulted Kenya ahead of the pack in the region. “Teams of skilled developers and programmers have sprung up in innovation hubs, incubators and accelerators across the country to build information and telecom solutions that capitalize on the country’s mix of challenges and opportunities.” It was seen as a strategy to absorb large numbers of well-educated unemployed youth and thus to contribute to economic growth, raising the GDP significantly.
According to Investing News , the Democratic Republic of Congo holds the world’ highest reserves of Cobalt. A whole 3 500 000MT of it. Australia is number two at 1 200 000MT of reserves. DRC is the world’s biggest producer of cobalt, supplying 50% of global demand. Cobalt is an essential component of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. As innovation pushes towards electric cars and governments look to phase out petrol and diesel cars, cobalt is becoming a highly sought-after metal. In fact, some studies are predicting a 30-fold increase in demand by 2030. Tesla will require 7 800 tons of cobalt to make 500 000 electric cars per year by 2018.
Africa has made its contribution to the global disruptor ecomony, and will continue to do so, not only in the way it presents unique challenges that need unique solutions, but with also its wealth of minerals and the unique talents of her children. I look forward to seeing more of Africa’s contribution to the disruptor economy.
Raymond Chimhandamba is the Founder and Director of Handas Consulting.


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Tencent has reportedly invested an undisclosed sum in Bluehole, the game development studio now best known for the early access hit PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
According to the Chinese financial news group Yicai Global, Tencent had originally hoped to acquire the South Korean game developer in its entirety, but Bluehole turned down Tencent’s acquisition bid.
Instead, the Chinese media giant opted to invest a yet-undisclosed sum in the company.
The rumored investment comes weeks after PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds became the most concurrently played non-Valve game on Steam and, according to SteamSpy, just as the battle royale title creeps toward 7 million copies sold.
Tencent, meanwhile, has been growing its stake in video game developers globally for some time now. Recently, the Chinese company invested in the likes of Liverpool-based outfit Milky Tea, Elite Dangerous developer Frontier Entertainment, and is currently rumored to be eyeing Angry Birds developer Rovio.
Update: Since our story was published, Bluehole has quashed the report by explaining it isn't accurate and that "Tencent didn’t make an investment." The South Korean company was speaking to The Esports Observer earlier today.


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The cargo ship I Maria departed from the port of Chornomorsk. Photo courtesy of National News Agency of Ukraine (Ukrinform)
The departure comes as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and UN chief Antonio Guterres, who key to the reaching of the accord, were convening in the western Ukraine city of Lviv to meet with Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky.
"The cargo ship I Maria departed from the port of Chornomorsk. It is loaded with 33,000 tonnes of corn," Ukraine's ports authority said in a statement on social media, adding the ship was expected to arrive in Egypt in a few days.
It said that 600,000 tones of Ukrainian agricultural products had been shipped through a corridor agreed by Moscow and Kyiv in Istanbul last month.
The grain agreement lifted a Russian blockade of Ukraine's ports and established safe corridors through the naval mines laid by Kyiv.
"So far, 25 ships with Ukrainian products left the ports of Odessa, Pivdennyi and Chornomorsk for the Bosphorus strait," the ports authority added.
Earlier this week, a first UN-chartered vessel laden with grain set off from Ukraine for Africa under the deal, the ministry in charge of shipments said.
Ukraine and Russia are two of the world's biggest grain exporters. The halt in exports saw grain prices soar and fears rise of global food shortages, particularly in poor countries already experiencing shortfalls.
The first commercial ship carrying grain left on August 1.


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Two holidaymakers in Dublin airport were left ‘soaked’ as staff in Starbucks threw coffee at each other in an alleged ‘coffee fight’.
The two airline travelers took to Twitter to declare their anger as Starbucks staff in Terminal 1 spilled coffee on them just before their flight, and failed to give an apology.
Johanna O’Brien, who was traveling to Newcastle said ‘Just had an unbelievable experience at Dublin airport. Staff throwing coffee @ each other and soaked me before a flight. My clothes are ruined and not even an apology!’
John McGahon, a Louth county councillor who was beside Johanna in the queue, also took to the social media site to vent his anger. He tweeted: ‘The start of last year’s holiday resulted in a 26 hour flight delay.
‘This year’s holiday start involved staff in Starbucks Dublin Airport throwing coffee at each other, missing, and landing on me and another customer.’
That was me also, currently sitting on my flight for the next three hours with coffee stains. pic.twitter.com/Ka4KKpzIR5
— John McGahon (@John_McGahon) August 26, 2019
The Fine Gael politician’s tweet garnered much attention with TD Noel Rock commenting ‘This is ridiculous’.
Another twitter user said ‘Outrageous doesn’t begin to cover it’ while other commenters believed a bigger deal than necessary was being made out of the situation, with one sarcastically tweeting: ‘I hope you both get through this tough time.’
FM104 host Crossy, questioned if the staff was fighting while throwing the coffee ‘or just having the craic with each other’. The Louth councillor responded, ‘I’m not sure, I was busy trying to avoid the hot coffee flying towards me.’
A spokesperson for Starbucks Ireland said:’We were concerned to hear about the incident at Dublin Airport. This is currently being investigated by our senior management team.’
An Irish Times journalist, Áine McMahon, also witnessed the incident and quote-tweeted O’Briens original tweet adding: ‘Saw this too and their reaction to customers was to shrug their shoulders – incredibly rude and unprofessional.’
According to O’Brien, three members of Starbucks staff were involved in the incident.
‘There were three of them messing around at the coffee machine. We were waiting ages for the coffee because they were joking around so much.
There was another lady soaked too. She asked for a refund, and they didn’t know what to do. There was nothing malicious in it; they were just being so silly.’ she told the Irish Times.
A spokesperson for the DAA said: ‘SSP Group operates the Starbucks outlet in Terminal 1.
We have sought further information from the customers in question via social media and have already been in touch with SSP Group regarding this incident, which is not in keeping with the customer service ethos of SSP, Starbucks or Dublin Airport.
SSP is currently dealing with this issue.’


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Serious about studying what’s subsequent for the gaming business? Be a part of gaming executives to debate rising components of the business this October at GamesBeat Summit Subsequent. Register at this time.
Newzoo launched a modified International Video games Market report at this time with a barely much less optimistic prediction of the business’s 2022 revenues. Nonetheless, the report total praises the business, even going as far as to name it (to some extent) “recession-proof.”
The earlier model of the report, which launched in early Might, predicted that the market would break $200 billion in revenues for the primary time. Nonetheless, Newzoo says it has modified the numbers in response to components akin to provide constraints and sport delays. That mentioned, the report claims that participant engagement will stay excessive.
Nonetheless, the modified report places projected revenues at $196.8 billion. It will nonetheless characterize a 2.1% year-on-year progress. The report additionally says that the vary of monetization choices imply that, “there are pathways to play irrespective of how a lot disposable revenue a participant has.”
The video games business’s resilience
The provision issues and delays will affect the console and PC markets. PC revenues will stay flat ($40.4 billion, 1.6% progress) and console revenues will decline ($52.9 billion, -2.2% decline). However the report predicts that the slight decline of this yr is a short lived factor and that it’ll attain $225.7 billion by 2025.
Newzoo says that, “Triple-A gaming is not as hit-driven and seasonal because it as soon as was.” Gamers have interaction closely with stay service video games akin to Fortnite and League of Legends. The variety of world gamers may also attain 3.2 billion in 2022, it predicts. Latin America, Africa and the Center East will drive a lot of the expansion.
General, the report expresses confidence that the video games business remains to be doing effectively, even accounting for stabilization following the 2020 increase. The cell market will drive many of the progress, with a predicted 5.1% in progress and $103.5 billion in income.
GamesBeat’s creed when masking the sport business is “the place ardour meets enterprise.” What does this imply? We wish to inform you how the information issues to you — not simply as a decision-maker at a sport studio, but additionally as a fan of video games. Whether or not you learn our articles, hearken to our podcasts, or watch our movies, GamesBeat will show you how to be taught in regards to the business and luxuriate in participating with it. Be taught extra about membership.


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Apple opened registration for its popular Hour of Code workshops on Thursday. The workshops will take place from December 5th through December 11th at all 487 of Apple’s retail locations, which are now just called “Apple.”
Apple’s online store went offline Thursday morning ahead of the company’s “hello again” media event. That’s not much of a surprise considering the company is expected to introduce new MacBook Pro models today.
Keith Burton was at last weekend’s Apple Regent Street opening. He took some great photos—including a shot of Apple retail head Angela Ahrendts—of the event and was kind enough to let us publish them.
A group of teenagers wearing hoodies and hats stormed the Apple Natick Collection Store, making off with US$13,000 worth of iPhones. The teens spent less than a minute in the store, and the iPhones they stole were attached to security cables.
It’s no secret Apple’s iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus inventory is constrained, but now it’s clear just how limited availability will be come Friday morning when the new models are supposed to hit store shelves. The iPhone 7 Plus is sold out around the world, as is the Jet Black iPhone 7, which means what’s left of the black, rose gold, and silver iPhone 7 inventory will be hard to come by.
Apple’s online store went offline Wednesday morning ahead of the company’s “See you on the 7th” special media event. The Apple Store app now says “We’ve got something special in store for you,” which most likely is the iPhone 7.


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GERMANY/JAPAN: BMW, Toyota, collaborating on batteries, diesels
- BMW Group and Toyota "agree to mid-to-long-term research collaboration in environment-friendly technologies"
- BMW to supply 1.6- and two-litre fuel efficient diesel engines to Toyota Motor Europe
BMW Group (BMW) and Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) on Thursday (1 December) said they had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) concerning a mid-to-long-term collaboration on next-generation environment-friendly technologies.
Under the MOU, the two companies agreed to collaborate on research into next-generation lithium-ion batteries. They have also agreed to identify and discuss other possible collaborative projects.
Meanwhile, Toyota Motor Europe (TME) and BMW have agreed a contract for BMW to supply 1.6- and two-litre diesel engines to TME starting in 2014. The engines will be installed in Toyota vehicles for sale in Europe.
"Through this agreement, Toyota plans to expand its European lineup and sales of fuel-efficient, low CO2-emission diesel-powered vehicles," the automakers said.
Toyota has previously supplied a 1.4-litre diesel to BMW which used it in its first generation Mini along with a Chrysler Brazil-made petrol engine. BMW now buys Mini petrol engines from a PSA-Ford venture and makes the diesel unit itself.
BMW chairman Norbert Reithofer said: “Toyota is the leading provider of environment-friendly series technology in the volume segment and the BMW Group is the most innovative and sustainable manufacturer of premium automobiles.
"We are now joining forces to further develop environment-friendly technologies and to expand our innovation leadership in each of our segments. Supplying Toyota with our fuel efficient and dynamic diesel engines represents another important step in the planned expansion of our sales activities for engines and powertrain systems.”
TMC president Akio Toyoda added: “It is a great joy and a thrill to enter into this mid-to-long-term collaborative relationship with BMW, a company with its own culture and history from its many years of car manufacturing in Europe, and a company that makes cars that are fun to drive. In the spirit of contributing to furthering the development of the auto industry and society, both companies will bring their wide-ranging knowledge - starting with that concerning environmental technologies - to the table and make ever-better cars.”
An updated list of world premiere concepts and production models which appeared at the Paris motor show's 27 & 28 September press preview days....
This QUBE report from just-auto report provides a comprehensive overview of the global electric vehicles and OE starter battery sector, major suppliers, top 14 markets, technology trends and market si...
Fiat is open to expanding its newly announced partnership with Mazda Motor and building the Japanese automaker's vehicles at Fiat and Chrysler factories worldwide....
New to QUBE in the last quarter, this report has been extracted from QUBE and provides a comprehensive overview of the global light vehicle engine technologies sector, major suppliers, top markets, te...
Toyota Motor said on Friday it plans to roll out eight models of compact cars for emerging markets, starting with the Etios that was launched in India in December 2010....
Mini is finding its feet in China after a slow start following its introduction in 2005. Back then it recorded just 430 sales but last year it hit a record 15,500....
BMW and its Chinese joint venture partner Brilliance have opened a new plant at Shenyang....
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- Ford's future models and platforms
- The self-driving Volvo is getting closer
- And so Brexit begins - The Week That Was
- Arxan Technologies on cyber security - Q&A
- "No trade barriers" says FKG amid Brexit fallout
- Volkswagen scandal - Porsche plunges into the red
- Aston Martin lost GBP127.9m in 2015
- VDA warns against post-Brexit customs barriers
- Shocked CLEPA to discuss Brexit in Madrid
- Jaguar Land Rover: Adapting the original SUV & turning middle class Britishness into a business asset
- Tesla Motors, Inc. - Strategy and SWOT Report
- Automotive Megatrends
- PLDB - vehicle cycle plan database (12-month membership)
- Global light vehicle instrumentation and cockpits market - forecasts to 2030


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Then Brabus came out with the Rocket, based on the Mercedes CLS but with a bored out, twin-turbo V12 that propelled the car to 227mph (365.7km/h) much to the consternation of G-Power. Then, late last year, G-Power reclaimed the title for the world's fastest street-legal sedan with the unveiling its new G-Power Hurricane M5 'RS'.
The RS takes power in G-Power’s standard Hurricane M5 from an already lofty 730hp to an even more insane 750 horses. With just a 20hp increase, the Hurricane RS was able to wrestle the title for fastest sedan back from Brabus, posting a top speed of 228.3mph (367.4km/h) at its test track.
The extra 20 horses were found by increasing the boost levels on the turbochargers, however according to G-Power there is further room to up the boost - something the company may have to do once Brabus unveils its next super-sedan in the hopes of reclaiming the record.


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Santa Clara, CA 95050 [email protected]
+1 (408) 486-2000
For autonomous vehicles to progress to their next evolutionary phase, it is essential that vehicles have a more complete understanding of the environment in which they must safely move through.
As part of the Linux Security Summit Europe last October, I participated in a panel around the question, “Would Abandoning the C Language Really Help?”. C, which is the main language used in the Linux kernel, is notorious for having an endless source of vulnerabilities. Just look at the long list of open bugs automatically reported by the fuzzing robot syzbot that are still waiting for a fix.
2020 was a landmark year for the graphics cards market. AMD and Nvidia were joined by Intel, who re-entered the graphics processor (GPU) market nearly 22 years after it launched the i740 in 1998. The buzz is also growing around a fourth player, Huawei, potentially joining the GPU market with big plans in the data center.
The BOXER-8240AI from AAEON Brings Performance to the Edge with the NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier - OtherDecember 14, 2020
At the heart of the BOXER-8240AI is the NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier SoC, featuring the Volta GPU which packs 512 CUDA cores and 64 Tensor cores, offering AI processing speeds up to 32 TOPS.
Hyundai Motor Group Selects NVIDIA DRIVE Infotainment and AI Platform for All Future Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis Models - NewsNovember 10, 2020
Entire Fleet to Feature Software-Defined and Perpetually Updateable AI User Experiences Starting in 2022.
This week we’ll be giving away one Jetson Nano 2 GB Developer Kit from NVIDIA.
It's all about money! In this edition of the Embedded Insiders, Brandon and Rich break down some major acquisitions, like Arm's purchase of NVIDIA, as well as AMD potentially buying Xilinx.


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The Uzbek authorities introduced discounts for pensioners-tourists in November. November was declared the month of tourism for the elderly in Uzbekistan.
Pensioners can take advantage of a discount of up to 50% in 223 hotels and guest houses, and up to 20% in 204 catering establishments. Also, a 25% discount is valid on domestic flights of Uzbekistan Airways on November 1-30 for men over 60 years old and women over 55 years old, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of the republic informs.
A 10% discount was introduced for the Uzbekiston Temir Yollari and bus tickets on local routes.


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Evan Mason, European vice president of Deckers which owns popular footwear brand Ugg, is to leave the company at the end of the month.
Mason, who has been with Deckers for nearly ten years, is returning to South Africa with his wife and colleague Ugg brand director Debi Molton.
Gianni Georgiades, former commercial director at UK designer brand John Richmond, will replace Molton.
Deckers chief operating officer Zohar Ziv will assume Mason’s responsibilities while the company looks for a replacement.
Deckers chairman and chief executive Angel Martinez said: “After many years of excellent service to Deckers, Evan and his wife, Debi Molton, are returning to South Africa to be closer to family and to devote their time and significant talents to the community and country they love. We continue to look for Evan’s replacement, which is not an easy task. He has been an integral part of our organization for nearly a decade, and we are grateful for the enormous contributions of both he and Debi.”
The departures come after David Ward, UK general manager at Deckers, left the company last week after just six months.
Ward was hired by Deckers in July, shortly after it ended its UK distribution deal with AMG. He was charged with overseeing the distribution of all of Deckers’ brands in the UK and Republic of Ireland including Ugg from January 2011.


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Multi-location Southern California dealer Mike Thompson’s RV Super Stores has added Forest River’s FR3 crossover Class A motorhome to its RV product offerings, according to a press release.
“We are excited about this new product because it is just what many current and future RV buyers are looking for,” said Sales Manager Mark Rosenbaum. “The Forest River FR3 has been created to combine the advantages of both Class A and Class C motorhomes.”
The unit features a panoramic front windshield, additional basement storage and multiple slideouts for a spacious interior. Standard amenties include the “Crashpad” bunk bed and vintage cherry cabinetry.
For more information on Mike Thompson’s RV Super Stores, visit www.mikethompson.com.


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Archives: May 2013
In this role, you’ll be expected to create integrated campaigns for clients, which include destinations, hotels, resorts, tour operators and active lifestyle brands. Your passion for the travel/tourism industry will help you lead the creative ideation for your account teams, as you conceptualize and execute strategies — among many other tasks. Read more
What fuels The Man of Steel himself as he heroically defends truth, justice and the American way? Why, burgers, of course!
Well, okay, so technically –according to these new Carl’s Jr.’s and Hardee’s ads– the burgers are fueling the average joes who have to clean up after Superman’s heroics, but Mr. Kent himself (played by “Man of Steel” star Henry Cavill) does make an appearance.
Even though we are well aware that blockbuster superhero movies are hotbeds of product placements and endorsements, we are often still surprised (somehow) when we catch our first glimpses of our costume-clad heroes in primetime ads for cars, clothes, and restaurants. We must admit though: at least we find these burger ads marginally more plausible than the Iron Man Audi spots — the man has a flying suit, out of which he manages to step looking fresh as a spring daisy…why drive?
GolinHarris announced the appointment of Mark O’Connor as executive director, National Media Relations. Based in New York, O’Connor will lead the agency’s national media relations team and provide strategic media relations guidance to clients across multiple practices. Additionally, O’Connor will serve as co-leader of the agency’s connector community, alongside Jeff Beringer, global Digital Practice leader. The agency’s connector community is responsible for sharing clients’ stories across earned, shared, owned and paid media. Most recently O’Connor served as executive vice president of national media relations at Zeno Group. (Release)
Outreach Strategies, LLC, (OS) announced the hire of Alison Omens, former AFL-CIO director of Media Outreach and deputy director of Public Affairs, as vice president. In Omens’ previous role at the AFL-CIO, she oversaw strategic communications and all national, state and local media strategy in the political, legislative and economic arena. Omens was responsible for developing and supervising a broad communications network with representatives for all fifty states. (Release)
Allison+Partners announced that Jeremy Rosenberg has been appointed senior vice president of digital media responsible for leading and evolving the agency’s digital offerings globally. Rosenberg’s career spans nearly two decades of digital and social media marketing that will serve the agency’s existing and prospective roster well. Rosenberg joins Allison+Partners from Cohn & Wolfe, where he led integrated communications programs for such clients as Walmart, Panasonic and Nokia. While there he also developed the digital and social media-training curriculum for the agency’s global network. (Release)
Advertising Age: Samsung Galaxy S4 Wants to Stare You Down
The New York Times: Tragedy in Bangladesh Stirs Politics of Trade Relationships
Chicago Tribune: Former Microsoft Exec Wants to Create ‘Starbucks of Marijuana’
Los Angeles Times: Internet Celebrity Grumpy Cat Lands Movie Deal
Washington Post: Food PR: Genetically Modified Mystery Wheat Found in Oregon
All those vitamins aren’t to keep death at bay, they’re to keep deterioration at bay. – Jeanne Moreau
MWW, one of the top five global independent public relations firms, announced that it has been hired as public relations agency of record by Melbourne-based Swisse Wellness, Australia’s number one multivitamin brand. As agency of record, MWW’s award-winning health and wellness practice will provide North American market insights, strategic counsel and develop a national communications campaign for the U.S. launch of Swisse Wellness.
“Swisse Wellness is a dynamic brand with an entrepreneurial culture, distinct style and a passion for helping people live happier and be healthier. It’s an honor to be part of the Swisse team and to work with them to launch and market their products, promote the Swisse brand and advance their mission of wellness across the U.S.,” said John Digles, MWW executive vice president and leader of the firm’s health and wellness practice.
Swisse Wellness, which has grown more than 357 percent since 2009, produces more than 160 lines of vitamins and supplements in Australia. The company has invested in scientific research for more than 25 years and maintains a high benchmark for quality. Swisse launched in the U.S. in January with a season-long integration on the Ellen DeGeneres Show and has retail agreements with Walgreens and CVS with others to be announced. Additionally, Academy Award® winner Nicole Kidman signed as the global ambassador of Swisse Wellness and is featured in the brand’s U.S. marketing campaign.
Launched in 1951 as the authority on breaking information in the black community, JET has a loyal readership of over 7 million and covers everything from sports and politics to lifestyle and fashion. All sections are open to PR pitches; just make sure you study the pub and are familiar with the tone and the types of stories that the magazine covers.
“It’s a full-service publication. Pitch your clients. Pitch your products. It’s about how you pitch. There’s nothing that we’re not covering right now,” said editor-in-chief Mitzi Miller. Content has always covered an array of topics, but it’s just a matter of making sure you’re pitching to the right person and that the pitch is customized. A blanketed, mass-mailed pitch without a specific feel for the magazine’s audience or style is guaranteed to get ignored.
For more details and a list of editors’ contact info, read How To Pitch: JET.
The full version of this article is exclusively available to Mediabistro AvantGuild subscribers. If you’re not a member yet, register now for as little as $55 a year for access to hundreds of articles like this one, discounts on Mediabistro seminars and workshops, and all sorts of other bonuses.
Facebook has vowed to take action after feminist activists — upset about Facebook’s failure to ban and/or remove misogynous content from its site — sent more than 5,000 e-mails to Facebook’s advertisers and garnered more than 60,000 posts on Twitter, prompting advertisers like Nissan to say that they would withdraw advertising from the site.
Although women’s groups have complained to Facebook about misogynous content in the past, the issue heated up least week when a collective led by Women, Action and the Media; Laura Bates of the Everyday Sexism Project; and Soraya Chemaly, a writer and activist, published an open letter asking Facebook executives to “ban gender-based hate speech on your site.” The letter cited Facebook pages with names like “Violently Raping Your Friend Just for Laughs”, “Kicking your Girlfriend in the Fanny because she won’t make you a Sandwich,” and other pages that featured graphic descriptions and imagery of women being abused.
In what could prove an industry-wide reminder of the power of advertisers (which actually demonstrates the power of consumers), over a dozen of the companies contacted by the activists — including automotive giant Nissan — agreed to pull their ads from Facebook until appropriate action was taken to rectify the situation. David Reuter, a spokesman for Nissan, said on Tuesday that his company has stopped all Nissan advertising on Facebook until it can be sure its ads will not appear on pages with offensive content.
“We thought that advertisers would be the most effective way of getting Facebook’s attention,” said Jaclyn Friedman, the executive director of Women, Action and the Media. “We had no idea that it would blow up this big. I think people have been frustrated with this issue for so long and feeling like that had no way for Facebook to pay attention to them. As consumers we do have a lot of power.”
In response to the upheaval, Facebook published a blog post on Tuesday, admitting its own shortcomings and laying out a plan for improvement. The post read in part:
The New York Times: New Flickr Offers Customers Plenty of Space
Los Angeles Times: Disney Debuts New MagicBand for Park Guests
Advertising Age: Public Signals It’s Ready for Ready-Made Popcorn
Hack to Flack is a monthly column by Lindsay Goldwert, a senior program executive at Hotwire, a global tech PR firm. Before she leapt to the dark side, Lindsay worked at the New York Daily News, ABCNews.com, CBSNews.com, CourtTV, Glamour and Redbook.
If there’s any profession that deserves a little TLC this month, it’s the print and online news business. Pink slips flew at the New York Daily News, buyouts reigned at the Post and the Village Voice imploded. The DOJ is breathing down the AP’s neck. Rumors are flying about layoffs at ESPN. I doubt there’s more than handful of newsrooms in the country where reporters and editors feel confident that their jobs, as they know them, will be there in 2014.
There’s been more than a few things written about how the PR industry needs to change in the face of the shrinking newsroom. But in a field that’s supposed to be built on “relationships,” I haven’t seen much empathy for the laid-off journalists. Strange, since we rely on their news judgment, good moods and spare moments to consider our stories and ideas for publication.
Consider what journalists do: They make it known that they’re interested in hearing about, say, new fitness apps. Then they get a deluge of emails from PR people who pitch them everything from fitness water, to fitness DVDs, to fitness instructors. “Maybe for a future story,” we say. That’s like you emailing your friends seeking a good housepainter and getting hundreds of responses for floor guys, electricians, roofers and custom closet makers “just in case.” That’s not good work — that’s telemarketing.
We all talk about “cutting through the noise.” Hail Mary pitches that only push your client’s agenda and don’t propose any real value to a reporter or editor are noise.
Here are some ways to make lives easier for journalists that can only benefit you and your clients in the end:
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Real estate developer turned prefab home builder Veev closes on $400M in fresh funding
Mary Ann Azevedo
March 1, 2022
Veev, a real estate developer turned tech-enabled homebuilder, announced today that it has raised $400 million a Series D round that propels the company to “unicorn status.”
The financing brings the San Mateo, California-based company’s total raised since its 2008 inception to $600 million. Bond led the latest round, which also included participation from LenX (formerly Lennar Ventures), Zeev Ventures, Fifth Wall Climate Tech and JLL Spark Global Ventures. Veev last raised in March 2021 — a $100 million Series C. The company declined to reveal its exact post-money valuation.
Veev’s mission is straightforward: address the nation’s housing crisis “head-on.” In California alone, there is an estimated deficit of 3 million units. The company says that it has brought a system to market that is “4x faster than traditional means, at a lower cost and with a much lower carbon footprint.”
Interestingly, Veev Group started its life as a traditional real estate developer and asset manager. During its time developing properties, it found new ways to improve the building process, according to CEO and co-founder Amit Haller.
In 2017, Veev Group began to focus on prefabrication capabilities, and by 2018 it formally pivoted to what it described as “a vertically integrated developer focused on building innovation.” In 2019, the company name changed from Dragonfly Group to Veev.
Over the years, Veev developed a proprietary panelized building system using materials such as steel frames, “high-performance” acrylic finishes and millwork, low-voltage lighting and smart sensors. It uses a digital fabrication process, such as 3D design files fed to cold-formed steel and Computer Numerical Control machines, to design and produce new homes. At first, the company was focused on construction ADUs (accessory dwelling units), but now it is building multi-family homes and single-family homes at scale.
Veev’s panelized construction takes place in its 50,000-square-foot “Digital Fab” facility. Homes are manufactured there as a near-final product with all mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) included, walls precision-cut, textured and fully cladded, Haller told TechCrunch. Those walls are then delivered directly to the construction site where they are prepped for installation.
“Panels are efficiently assembled on-site using our plug & play system,” he said. “Homes also come outfitted with Veev’s proprietary end-to-end operating system that serves as an interface between homeowners and their homes.”
The company believes that its panelized system is more flexible in terms of design and site location than “volumetric factory-built housing.” It also claims that a “lean manufacturing strategy” doesn’t require the capital outlay that a large central factory does.
Veev says that because it is able to build homes faster, its homes can be constructed (and sold) at a lower cost, according to Haller. He also claims that the company’s choice of material selection has resulted in 47% less CO2e than traditional construction materials, “meaning a Veev home’s carbon footprint is nearly half that of a traditionally constructed home,” he said. For example, Veev uses Light Gauge Steel (LGS) framing and High Performance Surface (HPS), which the company says “are lighter, stronger, and more sustainable than wood and drywall and with near zero waste.” The company’s 2022 goal is to further reduce a Veev home’s carbon footprint by an additional 25%.
While Haller declined to comment on revenue growth, he did say that he expected the company to achieve profitability “within two years” and that he expects production to be about 382% higher in 2022 than 2021.
“We’ve taken a ‘network’ approach to our expansion efforts — similar to what some major e-commerce companies have capitalized on with local distribution centers,” Haller said. “By replicating our Digital Fab facility near regions of demand, we’re able to build homes up to 4x faster than traditional means and avoid additional CO2e impact with unnecessary transportation.”
The company plans to use its new capital toward that scaling of its operations, expand construction and distribution to new markets and accelerate research and development initiatives.
Veev recently partnered with Lennar to construct a 102 attached-home community in Northern California, and current plans for expansion include, but are not limited to, Southern California and Texas.
Noah Knauf, general partner at Bond, said his firm believes Veev is “taking a revolutionary path to building homes.”
“Its software-defined, end-to-end manufacturing process provides an exceptional level of quality faster to customers, and will be pivotal in creating much-needed housing in the United States,” he said. “…We talk a lot about ‘disruption’ in technology, but what Veev is doing is truly groundbreaking.”
In recent years, a number of tech-enabled home builders have emerged to help address the nation’s housing shortage. Earlier this month, we reported on 3D-printing homebuilder ICON raising $185 million in a Series D led by Tiger Global Management. Also this month, we covered Homebound’s $75 million Series C and plans to serve as a “next gen” homebuilder to make it possible “for anyone, anywhere to build a home.” Notably, ICON too recently announced a partnership with Lennar, which is also one of its investors.
Veev appears undeterred by the demise of Katerra, a SoftBank-backed construction tech startup that essentially crashed and burned after raising over $2 billion in funding. Haller said that Katerra posed itself “as a full-stack supply chain company, adopting prefab construction tech to further its efforts.”
He added: “Veev’s taken a different approach, where the product – the home – came first. And the next stage for the company has been to scale by replicating the success of its Digital Fab near regional demand.”