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Whilst some luxury brands such as Burberry were initially reticent about using shopping sites such as TMall because of trepidation over the ‘grey’ market, the ecommerce site could well be one of the most beneficial platforms for smaller, lesser known Western brands to set up if they want to reach the breadth of Chinese citizens.
It used to be that your average netizen in China would hook onto one brand and stay with it… not any more
Lately, though, with the rise of social media platforms like WeChat and Weibo and online shopping through internet giants like Alibaba, greater choice has meant that China’s ever growing online army are more likely to follow several brands.
Whilst it may have taken a few knocks over the last year or so with government crackdowns, Weibo is still a favourite with Western brands hoping to get their marketing message across in China. Weibo is essentially a cross between Twitter and Facebook but is one of the major social media players with over 300 million registered users.
Long seen as the epitome of success in China, Western luxury brands have often been held up as the way to market abroad and an example of good social media optimisation that other, lesser brands need to follow.
It’s something that Western marketers may have steered clear of in the last few years but there is some evidence that aiming advertising at the older generation in China could have substantial benefits. The general apocryphal view is that it is easier to reach China’s ageing population through channels such as television and newspapers rather than online and that social media is just not for them.
City Tiers No Longer Tell the Whole Story for Social Media Marketers
For marketing purposes, companies have tended to look at China’s vast population in terms of City Tiers. Types of city have different characteristics and can affect the way many brands, especially in the West, approach them, both on social media and via other digital marketing methods.
Marketing executives in the West are busy checking the stats for Chinese social media to better inform how they promote their brands on social media.
Western brands that are trying to get to grips with social media in China know that it is a fast paced and often complex arena and, with nearly 600 million users and a year on year growth of over 165% for mobile shopping, it’s something they have to work hard to keep up with.
Here is our top trend for 2014:
Taobao, the eBay style customer to customer e-commerce strand of Alibaba online shopping, has created its own social app called Weitao designed to give more interaction between buyers and sellers on the platform.
Brands have long been aware that what sells here in the West doesn’t necessarily sell that well in the East and nowhere is this more noticeable than in China.
Often seen as cut off from the rest of the world, the country represents one of the biggest retail markets for brands and succeeding in it is something akin to the Holy Grail.
Renren has lagged behind many of the more aggressive and commercially successful social media and microblogging platforms in recent times though it still has over 170 million users. It’s often seen as a Facebook clone in the West, in the way it looks with the blue interface and how it behaves with status shares, like pages and the ability to post photos and chat with friends.
Having sold its group buying site Nuomi to the e-commerce giant Baidu recently, many could be forgiven for thinking that Renren was going to fade away as one of the major players in social media in China. According to Austin SEO expert, the competition with Weibo and WeChat was just too fierce and they had to undergo many marketing gimmicks to make their application popular. In fact, Renren has been repositioning itself, is targeting the student and youth market, and released a new mobile app in November 2013.
The demographic for Renren remains from 13 to 30 years old, school children and those at university, and brands that have invested heavily in it as a marketing platform over the years have included Dell, which boasts over a million fans on their page, as well as Budweiser and KFC.
“The strategy on RenRen is pushy and strictly sales-oriented, with a multimedia approach including the promotion of other web platforms and mobile apps.” Digital in the Round (http://www.digitalintheround.com/renren-chinese-social-media/)
According to Joe Chenn, Chairman and CEO of Renren, they need to differentiate themselves from their competitors. They have struggled with generating advertising revenue from the mobile application which has led to an emphasis on gaming to attract users.
For brands that are targeting the younger demographic, particularly 18 to 24 year olds, Renren is still one of the sites they should be concentrating on. There tends to be a lot of gossip on the platform and if brands can plug into that they can create an impact.
Although there are restrictions on brands accessing the site initially, for instance Renren only accepts around 100 new brand pages a day, and it is more difficult to operate in than its Facebook counterpart in the West, it remains a key platform in China’s complex social media landscape.
Revenue for Renren has come through its development of online gaming rather than straight brand advertising and that trend is set to continue over the next few years. About 70% of users now logon via their mobile devices and brands that can leverage the gaming side of Renren to get their message across will probably have more success than those that don’t.
The problem for Renren will be existing outside the bubble of China’s social media landscape. Where Weibo and WeChat are making inroads into the West and challenging for a piece of the global pie, Renren may find it difficult to compete with established platforms like Facebook and that in the end may well signal its demise.
In the meantime, for Western brands trying to reach the affluent youth of China, it still holds the potential for good results.
“Our goal is to reposition Renren as a young generation social hub, the best place to observe and understand the thoughts and behaviours of China’s new generation”. Chief Operating Officer for Renren, James Liu. (https://www.warc.com/LatestNews/News/Renren_targets_students.news?ID=32730)
is Tencent’s WeChat set to be the app of choice for both business and pleasure?
According to multimedia journalist Paul Bischoff on TechinAsia: “In China, all online communication converges at WeChat. The four-year-old chat app now functions as text messenger, Facebook, Reddit, Skype, IRC chatroom, Meetup, and Instagram – all rolled into one.”
It used to be that apps like Facebook and Twitter would take care of the personal and those such as LinkedIn would satisfy our business and work needs. With WeChat though, we have an app that is trying to break down the barrier between the two. Business meets social and personal. It works well in China’s social media world and it may well be heading West to challenge some of our established platforms.
In China, social capital is a vital prerequisite to success. Whereas people in the West might have one account for their personal life and one for business, in China it is often rolled up into one. And something like group chat is very important to our Eastern colleagues.
Networking groups are big in China
WeChat groups have a limit to the number of members. You need special permission to run one that has in excess of 100 people and if you run it, you must be able to moderate the content accordingly. For many Chinese businesses, selecting the right group to follow, and networking through it, can bring success and vital information exchanges.
With all its functionality, WeChat is an ideal platform for a varied range of activities from selling online and settling disputes to running a web style seminar. There are predictions that WeChat is going to overtake even Facebook as the world’s premier social marketing tool.
The benefit of Tencent’s platform for Western brands is that it is possible to categorize people according to their location and gender. More than half its users are aged between 25 and 30 and many are white collar workers who reside in first tier cities. And with business merging into personal with many of its users, this provides a unique opportunity for brands hoping to develop a marketing approach tailored for Chinese consumers.
The problem for brands trying to make their way on this multi-faceted platform is that it’s not quite there yet. There are still challenges in marketing your brand on WeChat.
According to Xiaofeng Wang from The Forrester Group: “The information that users share on WeChat is private and can be seen only by personally approved friends; as a result, WeChat is used more as a communication tool for friends to keep in contact. Users are less likely to repost brands’ information massively, as marketers expect them to do on Weibo.”
There are also restrictions on brand accounts for how many messages they can send to their fans. With the government crackdown on luxury items and self-indulgent behaviour, Western brands are still weighing up the options and discovering how best to leverage WeChat as a marketing medium. But the truth is that its growth in popularity across the globe may well make it a primary focus for many years to come.
The slowdown in China’s economic growth might be making some big Western brands think twice about investing in this lucrative market in the future.
At the beginning of 2014, both L’Oreal Garnier and Revlon planned exits from China’s competitive cosmetics market.
China is a large and complex arena in which to do business. Foreign companies have often had difficulty navigating it. Luxury brands appear to be suffering more than most, not only because of the economic slowdown but also the government’s crackdown on what it sees as unhealthy extravagance.
“As growth in China slows brands are starting to evaluate their portfolios in China and to focus on where they see the biggest growth,” comments Torsten Stocker, Hong Kong-based partner with consultancy firm AT Kearney
In truth, L’Oreal is not pulling out totally from the Chinese market. They will, instead, be concentrating on two main brands: L’Oreal Paris and Maybelline New York. China is one of L’Oreal’s biggest markets, they have a 17% share in it, and they see social media marketing as vital to their success there.
Lancôme, another luxury cosmetic brand in China, has a strong presence on many social networks including Kaixin, Renren and Sina Weibo. It uses prominent key opinion leaders to promote its products on their blogs and in videos. And its Rose Beauty Weibo page has over 900,000 followers who regularly visit for advice and chat, post comments and reblog to their friends and family.
Lancôme created a new campaign for this New Year encouraging their fans to create digital talking greetings cards. “A Merry Lancome New Year” was launced on WeChat, Weibo and their own community website with those who collect the most ‘likes’ eligible to win products from the company’s latest line of cosmetics.
One of the ways in which luxury brands have suffered with the government crackdown in recent months is its effect on the Chinese practice of gift giving. The reason luxury items have caught the attention of the government is because they have often been used as bribes in politics and business.
But the affluent Chinese who buy luxury products are also changing their habits and purchasing outside of China’s mainland. And, according to analyst and writer Michael Zakkour: “Chinese luxury consumers are turning increasingly toward spending their ample disposable income on lifestyle purchases in addition to pure social status products.”
There is no doubt that luxury brands are nervous at the moment. Some like L’Oreal and Revlon are altering their approach to the Chinese market. Others are engaging more deeply on social media to offset any decline in popularity. Government crackdowns can disappear almost as quickly as they appeared.
But it’s not all bad news for luxury brands and the people who market them. The past 10 years has seen rapid growth in the economy and many see the current slowdown as a return to a more stable market that will benefit all Western brands trying to sell themselves in China.
“After a decade of rapid growth, the past two years have been a reality call for luxury brands in China. Rather than a downward trajectory, brands should think of the slowing market as a stabilization of rates that weren’t sustainable in the long-term.” The Jing Daily.
The continued explosion of smartphones throughout China will provide marketing teams with major challenges over the next few years. The country is opening up and it’s not just people in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities, where the affluent few live, that brands will be able to reach out to.
They will have to get to know consumers in smaller cities and towns across the whole of China. And that means discovering a whole new set of marketing demographics. Check out Pounce Marketing if you need marketing tips.
Tier 1 and 2 cities have long been seen as areas where luxury brands from Rolex to Yves St Laurent have been successful. Even specialist food products are beginning to get a foot hold in these places, fulfilling the need for luxury items that set individual consumers apart from their compatriots.
“Online groceries are developing quickly in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities,” says Yougang Chen, a McKinsey partner in China. “China’s urban consumers enjoy niche food products, and many kinds of products are not easily available in supermarkets.” (http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-02-13/how-to-reach-china-s-avid-online-shoppers)
So who are these new customers hitherto beyond the reach of social media marketers in the West? Around 54% of China’s people live in cities and that figure is growing as more office jobs are created attracting people from the rural areas looking for a better and more prosperous life. China’s cities are divided into tiers from 1-6 depending on population and economic value.
Tier 1 cities such as Beijing and Shanghai represent highly developed markets for Western brands and are home to consumers who are considered affluent. Tier 2 cities such as Nanchang and Zhuhai have been attracting increasing attention from brands because of their growing wealth and greater propensity for consumerism.
Below Tier 1 and 2, the classification, originally introduced by the Chinese government, becomes a little less easy to understand. But the truth of the matter is that smartphones are opening up these areas to greater consumerism and Western brands will have to get to with it.
Brands like Proctor and Gamble have been making contact with the less affluent members of Chinese society for years, even before the advent of social media and internet marketing. And Proctor and Gamble, the maker of household and personal-care products, has three of the top five brands in China: Colgate, Pampers and Crest.
Following some mistakes in the late 80s and early 90s, they realised that a one size fits all strategy wasn’t going to work in China and they had to get to know their consumers better. The way they did this was to send out 1000s of their employees to stay with and observe families around China, using that information to develop the right products for those people and the right marketing approach.
What brands need to understand, if they are going to sell to new markets which are being brought closer by the expansion in smartphone usage, is that they are not a uniform body of people. In other words, they are not the affluent rich.
“The city-tiered approach that Chinese marketers mastered well in traditional and digital marketing won’t work for mobile. Why? Because consumers of all levels of mobile sophistication can be found in all types of cities — and even in rural areas — and engaging them will require a nuanced understanding of a marketer’s particular audience.” Xiaofeng Wang (http://blogs.forrester.com/xiaofeng_wang/14-02-13-how_to_reach_your_unique_mobile_audience_in_china)
Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) are important weapons for brands hoping to get their message across on social media, particularly in China. They are the people netizens listen to and the value of their endorsement to your product or service cannot be underestimated.
They use platforms like Sina Weibo and WeChat and they can range from national renowned celebrities, organisations and thinkers, to local experts. Their followers number from a few thousand to millions and they can be travel writers, journalists, chefs, photographers, actors and actresses, pop stars and fashion icons. Their followers trust their opinions on where to go on holiday, what clothes they should wear, what they should eat and what TV they should watch.
Large brands use multiple KOLs to spread branding power, spending significant amounts courting the famous and successful. Smaller brands with more limited budgets can also increase their reach by utilising experts and respected fans who are active on social media and have a good following.
Finding a useful KOL
According to Angie Au-Yeung, National Digital Marketing Manager, China, for Lee Cooper, there are 3 keys to a successful KOL:
Find a KOL who fits your brand. For instance, if you are selling a fashion product to the young affluent in China’s Tier 1 and 2 cities, you are more likely to choose a young, attractive celebrity KOL rather than a renowned architect or popular politician to market your brand.
What do you want your KOL to do? Do you want them to pass on your brand message in their posts? Do you want them to become an ambassador for your brand? There are various levels a KOL can operate on and getting the right balance is vital for a successful social media campaign.
What are the metrics for your KOL? Fan base size and demographic are important. The rise of smart phone usage in China means that you can reach a wider cross-section of the country than ever before. If you are going to invest time and energy in a KOL then they need to be able to reach out to the people who will be interested in your product.
Engaging with KOL bloggers
Beyond the obvious high-ranking celebrities and others who are in the public eye, there are opportunities for social media branding with China’s large and ever-growing band of bloggers. These are generally people who have a hobby or passion that attracts enough of a following and respect for their opinion to have promise as a promotional tool for brands.
“Building relationships with bloggers in China can be time consuming and requires a degree of commitment but…it can bring fantastic success to a brand in the way of genuine advocacy and provide the local breakthrough endorsement which is essential for traction in China.” Elisa Harca, Marketing Consultant. (http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2322997/bloggers-commentators-and-kols-harnessing-the-power-of-chinese-influencers)
More highly valued by consumers than their Western counterparts, discovering valuable KOLs should be a priority for all brands seeking to make inroads into China’s marketplace and sell their products.
For brands operating in China’s vast and complex social media landscape, one thing that can’t be avoided is the government’s almost pathological tendency to censor content.
Generating a marketing campaign that gets China’s 600 million online population talking about your brand can have dire consequences – if you get it wrong. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have all been banned by the authorities and LinkedIn’s new Beta platform, launched in China last month, has had to agree to government restrictions to gain a licence to operate.
Whilst brands may be able to monitor their own content, they don’t have much control over what people say once their message is out there. Many popular brands use well-known Chinese celebrities to promote their products and these Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) can also get on the wrong side of government restrictions that can often seem as confusing as they are censorial.
Actress Yao Chen, the face of Tourism New Zealand in China, became entangled in a political protest when she quoted Solzhenitsyn to her 33 million Sina Weibo followers in support of freedom of the press. The quote: One word of truth shall outweigh the whole world, didn’t sit well with the government censors.
To some, China’s censorship can seem complicated and often random.
“Last year, TV regulators restricted popular genres such as dating, variety and talent shows as part of a crackdown on “overly entertaining” programming. They also banned commercials during dramas, one of the most popular formats in China. No explanation was given for the rules and ad prices soared as supplies decreased overnight.” Anita Chang Beattie, Ad Age (http://adage.com/article/global-news/censorship-china-media-marketers/239187/)
Of more concern to Western brands may be the ever changing list of government censored words and phrases ranging from the “Dalai Lama” and “evolution” to “instant noodles”. It may sound strange to the outside world, but there is reasoning behind these bans, mostly to do with the desire to reduce dissent.
Banning of words can often happen swiftly and without warning but they can also be reinstated just as quickly and mysteriously. In 2012 it was reported that the word Ferrari was banned following the death of a son of an ex-aide to the former Chinese President Hu Jintao. In February this year a similar thing happened with another Ferarri belonging to yet another member of China’s young elite.
Luxury brands, for so long the success story for Western endeavours in China, haven’t been exempt from government bans either. In 2013 there was a blanket ban on advertising for those who promote “incorrect values and help create a bad social ethos”.
The Jing Daily quoted at the time: “As such, radio and television stations have been ordered to pull any advertisements that promote extravagant gift-giving — i.e., “waste” — for items such as high-end watches, rare stamps and gold coins.”
This followed on from a ban of advertising in outdoor spaces that promoted “hedonistic or high-end lifestyles”. Fortunately for luxury brands, this ban did not extend to digital platforms where most of their affluent fans do their shopping.
While brands can often be caught unawares by Chinese censorship, there is still hope that the rise of social media and the increased use of smartphones is going someway to devalue the government’s attempts to control what its people see and say.
In the meantime, brands need to have one eye on current censorship trends if they want to avoid wasting their marketing budget on campaigns that don’t pass an often inscrutable set of censorship rules.
Many businesses forging a new media strategy in China, see the country’s premier micro-blogging site, Weibo, as the Twitter twin of the East. However, there are some fundamental differences between the two and simply moving your Twitter strategy over onto Weibo may be more of a mistake than you think.
It’s not just about 140 characters. Chinese can contain five times more information than English in that short space. This means Weibo provides an opportunity for a more layered dialogue and greater interaction between fans and companies trying to market their product. The Chinese love to comment and Weibo gives them the tools to do this and more.
A picture paints a thousand words. Businesses can do worse than look to the fashion industry for examples of good practice in social media strategy in China. For a recent Art of the Trench exhibition in Shanghai, Burberry used pictures of people in the city wearing the iconic trench coat on their Weibo page.
Images and video were also transmitted live from the event. The result?
“The brand saw an increase of 15, 548 followers in just a 16 day time period and saw an average of 20 active followers a day.” Courtney Gerring, Digital PR at Fashionbi. (http://www.marketmechina.com/burberrys-powerful-weibo-strategy-and-the-benefits-of-weibo-campaigns/)
Get yourself verified. Sina Weibo brought in verified accounts much earlier than Twitter. Unlike Twitter, where it doesn’t appear to have the same impact, without it on Weibo you will have a harder time attracting fans.
Be careful what you post. There is censorship in China, a fact businesses looking to get a foothold in this arena have to deal with. Common sense can get you so far but you also need to keep an eye on what is in/out of vogue. In China, censorship of content, keywords and images changes with the tide. A site like weibowatch.com regularly provides a useful list of up-to-date banned or sensitive words that businesses should be aware of.
Latch onto influence. In other words, it pays to know your public. Get to know the key opinion leaders and build a relationship with them and you will be able to better reach the Chinese public. Particularly on Weibo, these verified individuals get a lot of reposts and comments on a daily basis.
Keep one eye on public events. In July 2011, a huge rainstorm hit Beijing leaving thousands of office workers stranded in the city. Durex posted on Weibo that it would be a good idea to put their product on their shoes to keep those feet dry – the post was shared between 50 million Weibo users.
Timing is crucial. To build up fans it helps to have an idea when the majority are checking their posts. For instance, a large number of Chinese commuters look at Weibo while travelling to and from work.
With over 500 million users and almost two thirds of fans spending an average of 3.9 hours a day using it on their phones, Weibo is one of the most influential social media channels in China and one that businesses looking to be a success in the country need to be serious about. Optimising for Weibo may be more challenging than its Western counterpart but, done effectively, can give foreign businesses access to a large and influential portion of the population.
“While the controls are tighter, one must realize that social media is infinitely more open than other media in China, and Sina has built a solid product integrating images, video, structured dialog, and longer tweets. As a result, Sina Weibo has become the media of choice that people flock to find or share information, and to voice or hear opinion.” Former Google China head Kaifu Lee. (http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/18/kaifu-lee-still-upbeat-on-chinas-social-media-despite-sina-and-tencent-weibo-suspension/)
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Luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Tiffany and jeweller David Yurman have all used Valentine’s Day as a reason to launch social media campaigns in China these last few weeks and their approach should act as a guiding light for other brands looking to establish themselves in China.
The reason for their success?
The increasing growth of China’s affluent rich – those richer than the middle class but not so well-off as the super rich.
“Today, the affluent are 120 million strong and their annual buying power is $590 biliion. By 2020, this group will number 280 million – 35 percent of China’s urban population or 20 percent of its total population.” The Age of the Affluent by The Boston Consulting Group (http://www.bcg.com/media/PressReleaseDetails.aspx?id=tcm:12-121760)
Lancome, for Valentine’s this year, launched a competition on micro-blogging site Weibo, asking fans to send in love poems for their partners, with those who shared or tagged entered into a free draw for luxury gifts. Audi and Swiss watch brand Tag Hever ran similar ‘send a message to your partner’ campaigns.
Luxury brands are way ahead of others in their approach to social media and e-commerce in China. They work hard to build relationships and interact with their consumers, aided by the rapid growth of smartphone usage and building on their own international reputations and brand desirability. They are purveyors of the must-have Western products that the affluent, seeking status and recognition, desire above all else.
The Chinese affluent are seen as sophisticated e-consumers who like to travel abroad and who are more open to adopting a new brand. According to Youchi Kuo, co-author of the BCG report, learning to sell your brand to this community will also have a knock on effect at home: “By mastering the affluent market in China, which appreciates luxury but is also conscious of value, companies will be better equipped to reach their local affluent customers.”
But it is the way that luxury brands interact with their fan base which can inform new social media campaigns – understanding the Chinese consumer psyche and how they interact on platforms such as Weibo and WeChat. They use social networking a lot, more than we do in the West. One of the clear distinctions between China’s affluent and those in the West is the age. The Chinese affluent are much younger and tend to trust foreign brands more than those from home.
However within this large group there are factions that see the world in different ways and the challenge for marketing executives is to target the right people and not waste their marketing budget on a one size fits all solution. For example, there are sections of the Chinese affluent who want a status symbol while others look to hide their wealth.
“One of the clearest factors distinguishing China’s wealthy consumers from their foreign counterparts is their youth: some 80 percent are under 45 years of age, compared with 30 percent in the United States and 19 percent in Japan.”


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by Gaurav Seetharam
The third quarter earnings of Rogers Communications (TSX:RCI.B, NYSE:RCI), announced on Thursday, met chilly reception from shareholders. Shares opened at $46.41, down 1.4% from its previous close of $47.08, and eventually ended the day at $45.83. Lower sales revenue, particularly in the wireless segment, drove the stock until analysts had a chance to consider the long term implications of Rogers’ new pricing strategy.
Behind the wireless numbers
The company introduced a lower price point on wireless roaming for U.S. and international travelers. Offering greater value to consumers is a strategic play for more subscribers, potentially causing damage to the bottom line. Compared to the same period last year, network revenue dropped 1% from $1.744 billion to $1.726 billion.
This is where data becomes subjective. Most analysts go straight to the ‘hard numbers’, see either an increase or decrease, and don’t bother looking at the driving forces behind the numbers. But investing is not about numbers on a piece of paper, it’s about what the events underlying the numbers. So let’s go back to basics: a pricing strategy is meant to widen the pool of customers by momentarily hurting your profit margin.
If you ignored the decline in roaming revenues, wireless sales actually increased 1%, led in part by a 22% increase in data usage. The total number of post-paid subscribers – the core clientele for a wireless company – also increased 359,000 this quarter. A lot can be attributed to the simplified share-everything plans that package together a bunch of wireless services in the hopes that consumers will use more of everything. But it’s also because internet browsing on smartphones is so reflexive that offering a deal on one service has a spillover effect. About 73% of the subscriber base are smartphone users, relative to the 65% that were last year. The quarterly report found that “smartphone subscribers typically generate significantly higher ARPU (Average Revenue per Post Paid User), are less likely to churn and more likely to commit to term contracts than non-smartphone subscribers.” Obviously, the management team at Rogers are in this one for the long haul.
Lower television revenue
Here’s one area where I see a little hope for Rogers. Revenue was down 3% as a result of “the year-over year decline in television subscribers”. A tectonic shift in the media landscape has been underway for some time now. First, it was the internet becoming an alternate source of entertainment to the television, then it became an alternate route to the same content (digital revenues for Rogers rose 18% this quarter, and soon it’ll entirely eclipse traditional cable TV. If that sounds farfetched, take a look at a look at my fellow Fool Demitrios Kalogeropoulos’s breakdown of Netflix’s subscriber growth in Canada[G.S.1] . Or Doug Ehrman’s take on Google Fiber and the future of cable[G.S.2] .
I should clarify that I don’t think that Rogers should be overly threatened by Google Fiber. However, it is becoming clear that the standard a model for telecommunication companies is antiquated. Innovation will have to occur on both the technological and business fronts for a company to succeed in this business. So, when investors look to Rogers’ third quarter earnings, they should keep in mind that the company (really the whole industry!) is entering an evolutionary phase.
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Disclosure: Gaurav Seetharam does not own shares of Rogers Communication.

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Siem Reap, Cambodia’s tourism capital, will soon host another one of the world’s most prestigious hotel brands.
The Bangkok Post reported that Rosewood Hotel Group is slated to open four more hotels in Southeast Asia by 2023, including one in Siem Reap.
The report mentioned that Rosewood Yangon in Myanmar will open this year, Rosewood Hoi An in Vietnam in 2021, Rosewood Siem Reap in 2022, and Rosewood Hermana Mayor in the Philippines in 2023.
“In the last two years, we have been focusing on Asia because we are not well-known here, unlike in the US,” Sonia Cheng, CEO of Rosewood Hotel Group, told the Bangkok Post.
Rosewood Siem Reap will be joining a growing list of luxury hotels in Siem Reap. The province is also home to Park Hyatt Siem Reap, Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor, Jaya House River Park, Anantara Angkor Resort, Shinta Mani Club, and FCC Angkor Managed by Avani.
Chenda Clais, president of the Cambodia Hotel Association, told Khmer Times that the new development is good news for the Kingdom.
“It means that our country has now reached a sufficient level of development to attract international luxury brands. It will also create a lot of jobs while significantly raising our level of service,” she stressed.
Ms Clais added that it will further raise the profile of Siem Reap, already Cambodia’s most popular tourist destination. “That will undoubtedly help to place Siem Reap more and more on the international map of tourism.”
According to the original plan for the project, Rosewood Siem Reap will be located in the centre of Siem Reap city, some six kilometres from the world-famous Angkor Wat.
The main feature of the hotel will be 135 luxury rooms and 15 standalone villas. These will be complemented by five restaurants and bars, residential-style pavilion meeting and event space, outdoor function areas, and a host of recreational facilities.
The hotel will be jointly operated by Rosewood Hotel Group and Vattanac Properties.
Rosewood Siem Reap will be the second venture for the Rosewood Hotel Group in Cambodia. The company also operates Rosewood Phnom Penh, a 5-star hotel located within Cambodia’s tallest building, Vattanac Capital Tower.
Rosewood Siem Reap was originally scheduled to open in 2019, but for various reasons, the opening date was reset.
The Hong Kong-based Rosewood Hotel Group is one of the world’s leading hotel brands. The company, which is known for having some of the world’s most legendary hotels in its collection, currently operates 27 properties in 15 countries through Rosewood Hotels & Resorts.


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B&G Foods has announced that Kenneth G. Romanzi will succeed Robert C. Cantwell as the Parsippany, New Jersey, USA-headquartered company’s president and chief executive officer when he retires on April 5. Romanzi, age 59, is currently B&G’s executive vice president and chief operating officer.
The departure of 62-year-old Cantwell will bring to a close a remarkable career of more than three and a half decades of continuous service to B&G Foods, including approximately 23 years of leadership as executive vice president of finance and chief financial officer and more than four years of leadership as president and ceo. It is expected that he will continue to advise the company on M&A and capital markets transactions.
“Bob Cantwell has been a key member of our management team for more than 35 years. During his tenure, B&G Foods has completed more than 20 acquisitions and grown from a small, regional pickle company to a leading public food company with a diverse portfolio of iconic brands. Over the last four years he has transformed B&G by completing six acquisitions, including the Green Giant frozen vegetables brand, and the company’s net sales have approximately doubled,” said Stephen C. Sherrill, chairman of the board of directors.
Incoming CEO Romanzi, who came to B&G Foods in December of 2017, will assume Cantwell’s seat on the board of director. Prior to joining B&G he served as president, fresh foods at WhiteWave Foods Corp., from March of 2016 to October of 2017, during which time he led Earthbound Farm Organic.
Before that he was senior vice president and chief operating officer, global brands of Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. from 2013 to 2015, and was senior vice president and chief operating officer of Ocean Spray’s North American food and beverage business from 2004 to 2013. Other food and beverage industry executive experience was gained while working at Ultimate Juice Company, Balducci’s Direct, Nabisco Refrigerated Foods, Nabisco Biscuit Company, Cadbury Schweppes, and Frito-Lay, Inc.


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At a time when much of UK industry is cutting back on investment, Austria-based Nom Dairy's cash injection into its gleamingly new Telford yogurt plant is a welcome change.
It also, perhaps, supplies a glimpse of things to come, bringing financial support to the UK from businesses elsewhere in Europe. Nom certainly has a lot of financial muscle to back up its £60M investment in Telford, boasting a total annual turnover of £400M.
For any visitor strolling around the UK factory, which began production of own-label and branded yogurt in February, it's easy to see that much of the money has been allocated to automation. It's difficult to tell whether this openness to new technology can be attributed to the plant's Continental parentage or simply its modern construction, masterminded by Clegg Food Projects.
The latest Schubert robots - worth euro 700,000-1.6M - preside over the packaging lines, for example, able to switch between packs of 12 and 18 yogurts and programmed to recognise different product lids. But the filling machines represent the biggest investment in automation, costing between euro 2.5M and 3M each, says head of engineering Mick St'John.
Mixing plant exists, capable of handling 5t/h of powder and dosing liquid ingredients. As with other processing functions, the system is overseen and monitored via a manufacturing execution system, says St'John. Elsewhere, robot palletisers load and wrap pallets for distribution.
But it's not just the robots that mark out the Telford site as a product of the 21st Century. There's the Voith cooling tunnel, which retains yogurts for the minimum amount of time necessary to cool them, saving energy, with space for 46 pallets.
And £259,000 has been channelled into sparkling chemical and microbiological laboratory facilities, which include a £65,000 compositional analyser for milk products, delivering results in minutes. The lab processes raw milk samples provided by tanker drivers hauling milk to the factory from nearby farms, testing for everything from pH, temperature, yeast and mould to the presence of antibiotics.
Another difference from older factories is the heavy emphasis on environmental and energy-saving credentials from its inception. The ground on which the factory is built even incorporates a conservation zone supporting species such as the endangered Dingy Skipper butterfly. "We looked at pollution control, land use and ecology," says Steve Oliver, head of quality for the factory.
Heat recovery tanks draw on warmth from water used in processing to heat the on-site offices and the boiler house generates the steam needed for cleaning equipment. "We've majored on energy efficiency and heat recovery and we anticipate being significantly better than the competition," says St'John.
The place isn't just friendly to the environment, but to the local community as well and it's easy to see why it has received such a glowing reception from Telford & Wrekin council. The factory has already created over 100 local jobs, with 300 on the cards over the next five years if expansion plans for the business work out. It's also being hailed as the largest private investment in the area for 10 years.
Nom is keen to capitalise on regional strengths, claiming Telford is the ideal location to draw on high quality milk from local farmers, and intending to source all of its milk locally. There are still significant opportunities for nearby producers to clinch supply contracts.
Any farmer coming on board stands to benefit from Nom UK's growth potential. There's definitely plenty of scope for development on the site's 22 acres of land, of which only 40% is currently being used, and considerable space for chilled storage and more filling lines. Two more are being added to the existing three by November this year.
Oliver says there's also room for an on-site plant to make fruit compote for the yogurts, replacing current supply from Poland. "We hold a low stock of fruit for just-in-time ordering," says Oliver. "But we have the potential to make that here."
Nom UK joint md Marten Schlender, alongside David Potts aims to increase production to 500M units of yogurt-based product within three years. There are also plans to double that figure within five years. The plant's capacity is 2bn pots of yogurt, with plans to take that to 5bn within five years.
The performance of yogurt in the UK certainly indicates that output is likely to rise to match this capacity. Nom's latest figures show the market has risen in value by 9.8% year-on-year to an annual total of £1.9bn.
To surf the wave of this growth, while majoring on own-label, Nom UK also aims to boost its branded offering under the Naturally Good and Naturally Creamy banners, launched in May. Naturally Creamy consists of a split pot with granola and fruit mix varieties. The three 175g fruit variants are: Senga Strawberry; Alphonso Mango & Passionfruit; and Morello Cherry fruit variants, in addition to the 150g Granola and Granola & Belgian Choc Chip varieties. Naturally Good comes in multipacks of six 125g pots of layered Senga Strawberry; and Morello Cherry, plus three smooth varieties aimed at children: Strawberry; Strawberry & Banana; and Raspberry.
Initially exclusively supplied to Morrisons, the ranges will eventually be rolled out to all of the top four supermarkets if Nom has its way. It's not as if any of the top UK grocery multiples are strangers to Nom's name. They have been supplied with billions of pots and bottles of imported own-label yogurt from the firm over several years.
At the same time, yogurt drink processing will begin at Telford from the end of this year, says Oliver. For all products, local provenance and the limited list of all-natural ingredients will be made much of in any promotions and marketing campaigns.
Of course, in all of this there's one glaring fact left to account for: the established presence of Müller in the UK yogurt market introduces an interesting variable. Founded by Ludwig Müller in 1896 as a Bavarian village dairy, the firm began processing in the UK in 1991 in Market Drayton, which, like the Nom site, is also in Shropshire.
Indeed, the relationship between Müller and Nom - founded just two years later - is even closer than at first apparent. Perhaps understandably, given the proximity of the two companies' operations, Nom UK's staff is composed of many ex-Müller employees. That includes Potts - a former sales director of Müller - and Oliver. One can only speculate on the future parallel development of the two businesses. FM


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Much of Miller Hill Mall Now Open
DULUTH, MINN — It’s been eleven days since the roof at Miller Hill collapsed in the area of Caribou Coffee.
Most of the stores in the mall were closed for at least a week.
Saturday it’s quite a different story….at least 50 of the stores are now open according to the Mall’s Facebook page.
People were seen going into the mall this afternoon.
While others emerged from inside with shopping bags in their hands
At least five stores in the mall have not reopened.
The stores that Fox 21 has been able to identify as not open are:
Bath and Body Works


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In the world of new car technology, there’s three pillars that look set to define the next generation of vehicles. The first two, electrification and autonomy, are seemingly daily subjects, each impossible to ignore as new plug-ins and new semi-autonomous tech debuts each week.
The third pillar though, ownership, has had less attention of late. Many a pundit has predicted that future generations won’t own their own cars. Rather, they will either utilise piloted and autonomous ride-share cars. Or, they will pay subscription services for cars.
It’s with the latter in mind that Renault revealed its newest electric car overnight; the Mobilize Limo. Want one? Well, you can’t actually buy one. The Limo’s big hook is that it will be exclusively offered as a subscription service car, thus making it a rival not only to other sedans, but also to rideshare companies.
The handsome sedan is fully electric, its motor producing 110kW of power and 220Nm of torque. Renault comedically labels it ‘high performance’, even though it takes 9.6 seconds to get to 100km/h. Range is a more convincing story. The Limo gets a 60kWh battery, offering up to 450km of range on the WLTP cycle.
The exterior has a similar silhouette to that of a Tesla Model 3, particularly in its rear overhang. Its electric persona is underlined by the lack of a big primary grille up front and by the aerodynamically efficient flush door handles.
Inside, Renault has gone upmarket. The steering wheel gets knurled switchgear. Metal (or more likely a metal look alike material) features everywhere. And there’s leather upholstery. The biggest feature though is the dual screens; a 10.25-inch unit for the cluster and a 12.3-inch unit for the main touchscreen.
While it may seem far fetched to subscribe to a car instead of buying one outright, there is a logic to such a sales model.
The move will hope to be popular with a younger audience, who will cross-shop the Mobilize with buying a much older, cheaper second-hand car with less safety and features. And those who opt for the model can look forward to an experience that doesn’t include worries around depreciation and maintenance.
The Mobilize Limo will begin to roll out in selected markets from the second half of next year. Expect the early focus to be on Europe, with markets like New Zealand unlikely to be a starter. Still, we watch with interest.


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Alphabet says revenue up 20.2 percent, sets $7 billion share buyback | Reuters
Google parent Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) reported a 20.2 percent rise in quarterly revenue on Thursday, helped by robust sales of advertising on mobile devices and YouTube, and the search giant said it would repurchase about $7 billion of its Class C stock.Alphabet, along with Facebook Inc (FB.O), dominates the fast-growing mobile advertising market.Shares of Alphabet, the world's No. 2 company by market value, were up 1.6 percent in after-hours trading.Google's ad revenue rose 18.1 percent to $19.82 billion in the third quarter, accounting for 89.1 percent of Google's total revenue, compared with 89.8 percent of revenue in the second quarter.Paid clicks rose 33 percent, compared with a rise of 29 percent in the second quarter
Google parent Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) reported a 20.2 percent rise in quarterly revenue on Thursday, helped by robust sales of advertising on mobile devices and YouTube, and the search giant said it would repurchase about $7 billion of its Class C stock.Alphabet, along with Facebook Inc (FB.O), dominates the fast-growing mobile advertising market.Shares of Alphabet, the world's No. 2 company by market value, were up 1.6 percent in after-hours trading.Google's ad revenue rose 18.1 percent to $19.82 billion in the third quarter, accounting for 89.1 percent of Google's total revenue, compared with 89.8 percent of revenue in the second quarter.Paid clicks rose 33 percent, compared with a rise of 29 percent in the second quarter. Paid clicks are those ads on which an advertiser pays only if a user clicks on them.Cost-per-click, or the average amount advertisers pay Google, fell 11 percent in the latest period after dropping 7 percent in the second quarter.Analysts on average had expected a decline of 7.9 percent, according to FactSet StreetAccount.
Per-click costs have been falling as people shift to mobile devices from desktops. Because of the limited space, advertising on mobile devices is generally cheaper.Research firm eMarketer has estimated that Google will capture $52.88 billion in search ad revenue in 2016, or 56.9 percent of the global market.Google's Other Revenue, which includes the company's increasingly important cloud business, jumped 38.8 percent after rising 33 percent in the second quarter.
The cloud business competes with services offered by market-leader Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and IBM Corp (IBM.N).Alphabet's Other Bets generated revenue of $197 million, but reported an operating loss of $865 million. In the year earlier period, revenue was $141 million and the loss was $980 million.Other Bets includes broadband business Google Fibre, home automation products Nest, self-driving cars as well as X, the company's research facility that works on "moon shot" ventures.
The company's consolidated revenue rose to $22.45 billion in the three months to Sept. 30 from $18.68 billion a year earlier.Net income rose to $5.06 billion, or $7.25 per Class A and B share and Class C capital stock, from $3.98 billion, or $5.73 per share, a year earlier. (bit.ly/2eWsu9Y)Excluding one-time items, Alphabet earned $9.06 per share.Up to Thursday's close of $817.35, Alphabet's shares had risen 5.1 percent since the start of the year. (Reporting by Narottam Medhora in Bengaluru; Editing by Ted Kerr and Savio D'Souza)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Jeffrey Dastin and Anya George Tharakan Amazon.com Inc provided a disappointing forecast for the holiday season quarter while posting earnings that missed Wall Street estimates in the third quarter, as it invested heavily on shipping, video offerings and other projects, sending its shares down nearly 5 percent.Investors and analysts are trying to gauge how much more Amazon plans to invest in its various ventures, and it unnerved some that it offered wide ranges in its outlook."Amazon really doesn't know what's going to happen this quarter," said analyst Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research, noting investors disapproved of the "uncertainty" in the company's guidance.Amazon forecast net sales of between $42 billion and $45.5 billion for the current-quarter, which includes the all-important holiday shopping season.The $43.75 billion midpoint of the outlook trailed expectations of $44.58 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, and Amazon also forecast that operating income would range from nothing to $1.25 billion."At the high end of their operating profit guidance, the Street is still $250 million above them," said Michael Pachter, analyst at Wedbush Securities.Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky told reporters that new warehouses and spending on video drove up third-quarter costs. "There’s a lot of hiring to support the projects we’re investing in," he said.Total operating expenses rose 31.5 percent to $10.94 billion, including investments in Amazon Web Services and the Prime subscription program internationally.Amazon posted net income that rose to $252 million, or 52 cents per share, from $79 million, or 17 cents per share, a year earlier
By Diego Oré and Sarah Marsh | SANTA CLARA, Cuba SANTA CLARA, Cuba Thousands of people greeted Fidel Castro's funeral cortege on its journey across Cuba on Thursday after a symbolic overnight reunion at the mausoleum in Santa Clara housing the bones of fellow revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara.Waving flags and chanting "I am Fidel," Cubans thickly lined pastel-coloured colonial streets in admiration of Castro, who died on Friday at age 90 as one of the towering figures of the 20th century after establishing a Communist state 90 miles (145 km) from the United States. The government declared nine days of mourning.The outpouring from ordinary Cubans contrasts with the hatred of many Cuban exiles who saw Castro as a tyrant who jailed opponents and ruined the economy with socialism."With the death of Fidel, the revolution must continue on its path, no steps backwards," said Pedro Sanchez, 81, who said he fought in Castro's rebellion against a U.S.-backed president in the 1950s. The procession was slowly making its way east, destined for the final resting place of his ashes in Santiago de Cuba, where Castro's rebels first launched an attack on the U.S.-backed forces of Fulgencio Batista in 1953.Batista was finally driven from Cuba on Jan.
By Phil Stewart and Babak Dehghanpisheh | QAYYARA, Iraq QAYYARA, Iraq Iraqi army troops on Saturday stormed into a Christian region that has been under Islamic State control since 2014 as part of U.S.-backed operations to clear the entrances to Mosul, the militants' last major city stronghold in Iraq.The advance took place as U.S.


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Investigation ongoing, some 10 million accounts could be compromised
Lots of fuss arose when MSNBC reported of an investigation into what appears to be a big theft of Visa and MasterCard credit card data in the US – an issue later on confirmed by both MasterCard and Visa.
It appears that the theft was first reported by computer security journalist Brian Krebs on his blog, where he reported that hackers had access to the then-unknown processor's data from Jan. 21 through Feb. 25, during which period they were able to obtain enough data to easily create counterfeit cards.
It has been assessed by a computer security expert that the theft might involve as many as 10 million accounts – one of the largest numbers ever. Gartner security expert Avivah Litan also stated that her sources claim the stolen data is already being used on the street by identity thieves and that investigators believe the data theft originated in New York City.
One of the targeted associations, MasterCard, issued a statement regarding the case, saying: "MasterCard is currently investigating a potential account data compromise event of a U.S.-based entity and, as a result, we have alerted payment card issuers regarding certain MasterCard accounts that are potentially at risk. Law enforcement has been notified of this matter and the incident is currently the subject of an ongoing forensic review by an independent data security organization."
Another statement arrived from another target, a payment processor Global Payments, which said it "identified and self-reported unauthorized access into a portion of its processing system.
"In early March 2012, the company determined card data may have been accessed. It immediately engaged external experts in information technology forensics and contacted federal law enforcement. The company promptly notified appropriate industry parties to allow them to minimize potential cardholder impact. The company is continuing its investigation into this matter."
As for the statement from Visa, the association said its own systems were not hacked: “Visa Inc. is aware of a potential data compromise incident at a third party entity affecting card account information from all major card brands. Visa has provided payment card issuers with the affected account numbers so they can take steps to protect consumers through independent fraud monitoring and, if needed, reissuing cards."


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Each month, we estimate how the retail economies of 30 main US metropolitan areas are recovering from COVID-19. By aggregating quite a few metrics (throughout retail gross sales, native financial indicators, and virus unfold), our mannequin predicts that these metropolitan areas will face differing ranges of COVID-19 disruption.
This month, we added a brand new variable to our retail restoration map: statewide vaccine rollout. As of Friday, March 19, 2021, the common charge of those that had had no less than one vaccine dose within the areas we consider was 22%. Though the vaccination charge is promising, retail foot site visitors remains to be down year-over-year 11% on common for these areas.
Over the previous few weeks, we’ve seen some states take away COVID-19 restrictions, like necessities to put on masks inside companies. Some metro areas, like Houston and Dallas, are seeing “unfavourable social distancing” (i.e., the common mobility in these metro areas is increased than it was in comparable pre-pandemic occasions).
This month, the strongest retail economies are in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Kansas Metropolis. A few of our weakest estimated retail recoveries are within the nation’s two largest metro areas: New York and Los Angeles.
If you need to see the info behind these metrics or see extra metropolitan areas, please contact your Forrester account consultant, schedule an inquiry with me, or e mail Madeline Cyr, researcher, at email@example.com.


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After Peterson of Dublin closed its doors in 2018, another small pipe tobacco company ceases manufacturing. Planta Tobacco Company from Berlin closed its doors due to the significant costs resulting from the EU Tobacco Products Directive adopted in 2014 and the subsequent EU regulations.
When proposing the EU Tobacco Products Directive, the European Commission admitted that smaller and mid-sized companies would be impacted much more than large multinational cigarette manufacturers, but from its point of view that was a price worth paying. However, few real impacts were calculated and, in the cases, where they were, they hugely underestimated the real compliance costs.
The European Commission and the other EU institutions involved could have simply avoided forcing small tobacco companies out of business, if better legislation had been developed. The adopted regulations were mainly written having factory-made cigarettes in mind, with other niche tobacco products being an afterthought. Differentiation based on product, consumers, manufacturing or companies was simply disregarded.
Pipe tobacco is a niche traditional tobacco product representing less than a one percent of the total tobacco market, enjoyed on occasion by mature adults as a relaxing pleasure, and manufactured, up till now, by several small family-owned companies.
Pipe tobacco is a tobacco product which is not smuggled. Nonetheless, the overly expensive EU track and trace system, aimed at curtailing smuggling of cigarettes, will also apply to pipe tobacco meaning further costs for those small producers.
The introduction of large health warnings meant packaging and machine changes. Again, pipe tobacco was simply disregarded when regulators decided the size of health warnings, designed with cigarette packaging in mind.
Faced with the need to make further machine changes to comply with the new track and trace system and alarmed by the threat of future packaging changes – publicly advocated by the Commission – after the adoption of the law in 2014, small companies simply cannot absorb the costs of continuous disruptions to their manufacturing.
ESTA’s Secretary General Peter van der Mark said: “The EU has failed time and time again to make legislation that does not unduly impact small and medium sized companies. We hope that the Commission’s proposed SME Envoy, announced by the incoming Commission, will be able to ensure that legislation from the Commission does not threaten the viability of European SMEs.”


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Man wanted in thefts at 4 Burlington stores in 14 hours
Police are looking for a man in connection with thefts at four Burlington stores over a 14-hour period. Customers were targeted in three of the incidents.
David Marvin Borland, 42, of Graham, is wanted on five total charges following incidents from 10:45 p.m. Saturday to 12:30 p.m. Sunday.
The first incident took place at the Family Fare convenience store on Maple Avenue. The suspect stole money from a customer pumping gas and hit the customer before fleeing, Burlington police said.
The next incident happened about 15 minutes later at the Wilco convenience store on Webb Avenue. The suspect stole a wallet from a customer standing at the cash register, police said. The suspect fled.
The third incident took place around 2:30 a.m. Sunday at the Kangaroo convenience store on Huffman Mill Road. The suspect grabbed an undisclosed amount of money from the register drawer while the clerk was putting money in the drawer, police said. The suspect fled.
The last incident took place around 12:30 p.m. Sunday at the Family Dollar on Maple Avenue. A customer was robbed inside the business, and the suspect assaulted a store clerk who tried to keep him from fleeing, police said.
Troopers and Alamance County deputies later found the suspect vehicle, which led to a high-speed chase lasting several minutes, police said. The suspect was able to flee the chase.
Police identified Borland as the suspect in connection with all four incidents. He faces four counts of common law robbery and one count of simple assault.
Borland was driving a 1995 green BMW during the chase, police said. Charges in connection with the chase are pending.
Anyone who know Borland's whereabouts or has any information that can help investigators is asked to call Alamance County Crime Stoppers at 336-229-7100.


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ByteDance Will Acquire Gaming Studio Moonton
Image Credit @ Bytedance
Moonton was acquired by Bytedance Capital Partners, a private equity firm, for an estimated $4 billion.
The acquisition of a video games studio is part of Bytedance’s efforts to significantly interfere in the video games business, putting it in direct competition with China’s Tencent. ByteDance has acquired a large game studio called Moonton, which underscores its ambitions in video games and Pitts it against the Chinese – language – big tenant. The main gaming studio, Moonton, has been taken over by Bytedance, underlining its opposition to the Chinese language and taking on the Chinese giant Ten Center. To underscore its position as a leading gaming company in the world’s largest market, Byte Dance acquired the main headquarters of Moonton’s gaming studios in an effort to compete with the larger Chinese-language gaming companies.
The acquisition will give the company the resources to compete with Tencent’s recently released League of Legends and its other games. The acquisitions have given them the assets and forced them to compete for resources with the recently released League of Legends and its other game titles.
League of Legends, developed by Riot Video Games, one of the most popular and popular titles in the world of video games. It was developed in partnership with Tencent, the company behind the popular mobile games platform, as well as other games such as Dota 2, League of Legend, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
The further acquisition of a similar studio will help ByteDance to improve its development opportunities in a short time, he added, but it is still looking for other studios. The M & A madness in the gambling sector continues and we believe this is only the beginning of the next phase of growth, “he told CNBC. He said he was still looking for another studio and was considering the possibility of further acquisitions of similar studios and the potential for further growth in his business. I see this as a very positive sign for the future of our business as we look at different studios, “he told CNBC, adding:” I continue to believe that the M & A madness in the gambling sectors continues and I see this as a positive signal for our future growth.
He said he saw the Moonton acquisition as an opportunity to hand over Southeast Asia to Tencent, which already dominates the eSports division in China. He said it was also an opportunity to “give back to Southeast Asia” as it already dominates space outside China, saying, “I think this is a great opportunity for us to give back to Southeast Asia as well, as it already dominates space from China in esports.
Niko Companions added: “Why have we signed an agreement to release a series of games that are largely based on – style IP, and to buy a company to improve leisure, as confirmed in the documents? Why do we buy sports growth companies that have certified documents to succeed? Niko Companion added: “Why have I signed a deal with Tencent, which offers to release a range of gaming games based mainly on, on, and in style IP, but has bought a growth company for sports, as confirmed in documents.
However, this is the first step towards building ByteDance’s video game division Nuversegame as a fully-fledged subsidiary of the company with its own development team and marketing.
The company wants to expand its games offering to become one of the largest online gaming companies in the world in terms of market share. This is in addition to ByteDance’s growing Nuverse game division, which is growing to around 2,000 employees and is seeking to push its games offerings further into the global gaming market. Chinese start-ups will use this momentum to move further and faster in the gaming sector, no doubt about that. Byte Dance appears to be taking over social media, hoping to compete against Chinese gambling giants such as Tencent.
It remains to be seen whether these super-massive groups will continue to knock heads together, with TikTok still popular and ByteDance and Tencent continuing to acquire and invest in gaming studios and their own MOBA mobile titles, Riot Games, Tencent, and ByteDane. Byte Dance has already signaled its interest in entering gaming but now has to take a big step.
With Mobile Legends behind him, ByteDance has proven that it is serious about entering the video game industry. The company achieved this by arriving late, which means it has risen against Tencent, China’s largest video game company. We expect this latest acquisition to make it a very competitive player within the gaming industry, and it’s certainly not the only one.
One area it is focusing on is gaming, which has traditionally been a lucrative business in China’s internet economy and an important source of revenue for ByteDance.
The strategy allows its strategy gaming unit to generate revenue before it is a cash cow, but the quality of the games doesn’t come overnight. This allows Tencent to continue to play the game, raise money for businesses and continue to raise money for the company. It allows the strategy game unit to generate revenue before they become cash cows, allowing them to stay in business and have the power to replenish the corporate coffers and give Tencent the right to make money from it.


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Biz Buzz shares business tidbits from around the tri-state area. This week, we highlight developments in Dubuque and Peosta, Iowa, and Galena, Ill.
To Dubuque resident Jackson Takes, operating his business is about more than selling a product. He also hopes to break the mold and offer something new in a marketplace defined my monotony.
“In this day and age, so many of the products out there — whether it’s art, or movies, or clothing — are just these regurgitated concepts that are meant to be easily digestible,” he said. “With my business, I want to create a brand that is built on originality and dedicated to authenticity.”
Takes hopes his clothing business, notHYPE, delivers on that promise.
He launched the business in 2018 and focused more intently on it after graduating from Santa Clara University and moving back to Dubuque.
Takes has a hand in every aspect of the business, from designing the clothing to operating the website. In many cases, he sews the actual clothing; if not, he works closely with the manufacturers that do.
Takes rents a pair of spaces in the basement of the Schmid Innovation Center, 900 Jackson St., where he sews clothing and conducts the business end of notHYPE.
Even the manner in which he sells the products differs from the norm. Instead of making them available on a daily basis, he sells “collections” of his clothing during specified 24-hour events, usually occurring once every other month.
His latest collection appeared on Halloween — featuring everything from high-top sneakers to embroidered jackets. The next product release — inspired by the natural beauty and Native American heritage of the Point Reyes cape in California — is slated for release at some point around Christmas.
Takes enjoys the sense of buildup and anticipation that precede his big releases.
“There are so many companies that are out there pushing their products every day over and over until you take the bait,” he said. “I wanted to do something different.”
Interested residents can learn more about the company and upcoming releases by following notHYPE on Instagram or visiting not-hype.com.
A national reader poll placed a Galena business among the top 10 whiskey distilleries in the nation.
Blaum Bros. Distilling, 9380 U.S. 20, ranked no. 6 in the Best Craft Whiskey Distillery category of a USA Today readers’ poll.
The distillery was founded in 2013 by brothers Mike and Matt Blaum. To the owners, the recognition was unexpected.
“It was a big surprise when we first saw it, but we are very honored and excited,” said Matt.
Mike Blaum, meanwhile, said he enjoyed being part of a poll that shined light on the little guys in the industry.
“It wasn’t a list of the big, corporate-owned distilleries worth billions of dollars, and I thought that was one of the nice things about it,” he said. “It was a lot of smaller distilleries that typically don’t get that kind of recognition.”
The impressive national showing marked a bit of good news in a year filled with changes related to COVID-19.
Mike Blaum acknowledged that the past seven months have been marked by never-ending changes.
“We’re doing the best we can to follow the guidelines, understand them and implement what we are supposed to do,” he said. “People’s safety is our top priority.”
As the distillery heads into the winter months, the Blaums are providing a variety of options for their patrons. They have heated outdoor seating and have installed vinyl curtains to keep the heat in those seating areas.
The distillery can be reached at 815-777-1000.
NEW MASSAGE STUDIO
Thanks to a little sibling synergy, a new massage therapy business will soon be opening its doors in Peosta.
GK Massage will welcome its first customers on Friday, according to owner Gretchen Kintzle.
The studio will operate within Very Good Chiropractic, a practice that is located at 8554 Kapp Drive and operated by Kintzle’s older brother, Hans Gaul.
“It works out great for us and gives us the opportunity to work as a team,” she said.
For Kintzle, this will mark her first time owning a business. And while she admitted that her first entrepreneurial endeavor does come with some stress, she emphasized that the job seems like a natural fit.
“I have always wanted to do this,” she said. “I love helping people, whether they are coming in to relax or coming in to heal. I want to create a calming atmosphere and help people with whatever they are coming in for.”
Kintzle said GK Massage will provide 30, 60 and 90-minute massages. She will offer a variety of massage techniques, ranging from Swedish to deep tissue.
The massage studio will be open by appointment. It can be reached at 563-543-3010.


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|Bid||0.0000 x 0|
|Ask||0.0000 x 0|
|Day's Range||0.6500 - 0.6720|
|52 Week Range||0.5140 - 2.0300|
|Beta (3Y Monthly)||4.19|
|PE Ratio (TTM)||N/A|
|Forward Dividend & Yield||N/A (N/A)|
|1y Target Est||N/A|
Vancouver, BC, March 15, 2019 -- INVICTUS MD STRATEGIES CORP. ("Invictus" or the "Company") (TSXV: GENE; OTCQX: IVITF; FRA: 8IS1) is pleased to announce the appointment of.
FRA: 8IS1) is pleased to provide an update on its binding letter of intent to create a joint venture with Cannamerica Brands Corp. (CSE:CANA) (CNNXF) and CBDistribution Company Ltd. (collectively, the “Joint Venture”) that was previously announced on January 7, 2019, with the intention of acquiring hemp biomass for extraction into CBD isolate using purpose-built facilities for large scale CBD extraction. The transaction is anticipated to close on or before March 31, 2019. Each of the parties involved have received approval from their respective Board of Directors to enter into the Joint Venture.
FRA: 8IS1) is pleased to provide an update on production and expansion plans at its Licensed Producers: Acreage Pharms Ltd. (“Acreage Pharms”), AB Laboratories Inc. (“AB Labs”) and 0989561 B.C. Ltd. ("Canandia"). Invictus is proud to have fulfilled 100 per cent of provincial product orders to date and looks to further strengthen its sales and distribution relationships with both public and private enterprises as the Company’s facilities reach full operating capacity. A production footprint of 189,000 square feet is underway, with more capacity to come online commensurate with market needs and funding.
Industry participants believe the cannabis segment will become a $500 billion industry. For now, it is a fraction of that potential. There have been some companies that have seen significant movements in their stock prices. What I wanted to do is point out some lesser-known stocks that still have the potential for large movements in their stocks. These stocks have lower volumes and are prone to bigger swings as these companies ramp up production. If an investor could stomach a wild ride there may be long-term potential with these companies.1933 Industries1933 Industries (TGIFF) is a Canadian company whose market capitalization is just under $100 million. They are taking steps almost daily to grow their business including getting involved in Canadian adult-use cannabis sales. Currently, the company operates in Nevada with retail and grow operations (although they have a presence in other states such as California and Colorado). This company has potential as they are just on the cusp of profitability with their increasing revenue and their declining rate of net losses. And, their stock is just starting to pick back up after its selloff from initial euphoria:If you want a detailed look at the company’s growth they have a large flow chart of their progression to date. I am still waiting to hear back from the company regarding their total production capabilities. But, if you scan through the flow chart they provide my best guess is close to 50,000 kg of cannabis annually. This puts the company at a potential valuation based on their production possibility and revenue potential. I’m looking at a bigger picture with this company and think they have the ability to accelerate their earnings in short order.Invictus MDInvictus MD (IVITF) is about to up-list on the NASDAQ and that is good news for the stock. The increased exposure on more mainstream markets will bring in higher volumes and tighter spreads reducing investor risk. But, the real draw for me was the fact that within 18 months the company will be producing some 50,000 kg of cannabis annually. With that kind of potential, this company could be nearly $1 billion valuation in about 20 months’ time as the company ramps up production. However, the company’s current valuation is still below $100 million giving the potential of a 10-times price movement.Given these two variables, I like this company a great deal. Also, their stock price is at a basic price of $0.74 per share allowing for ownership of large numbers. I will be constantly monitoring the company as I look for new information on what is next for this company:AgraFloraFrom what I can tell, AgraFlora (PUFXF) is a perfect example of a company who’s stock is mis-priced. First, the company has teamed up with a long-term tomato grower that has many years of experience with indoor growing facilities, HVAC, and controlled indoor grow environments for vegetables. There is not a tremendous amount of difference in the grow process of one plant versus another. So, the company’s partner may be the best yet in the industry. AgraFlora will have 250,000 kg annual production facility up and running very shortly. Plus, the partnership they have will ensure viability with getting their business up and running as they switch from tomatoes to cannabis.With 250,000 kg. of cannabis production capability, that could eventually value the company at $5 billion. They are currently valued at under $100 million. Their stock has been pushed downward but that may be a factor of the low volumes for the stock. But, long-term, I see a tremendous amount of potential; this stock may become my favorite for a while:Check out the articles in this category focused on cannabis stocks. By gaining a strong foundation in both the fundamentals and technical details usually involved in cannabis stocks, you’ll be able to invest with greater confidence. Author’s Disclosure: I have no positions on these stocks at this time nor will be placing trades on these stocks in the next 72 hours. More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Last Minute Thought: Buy or Sell Micron (MU) Stock Before 2Q19 Report? * Apple (AAPL): iMac Update Should Not Affect the Stock Negatively -- Here's Why * There’s a Lot to Like About AMD Stock, But Don't Buy Into the Google Hype * A Big Week for Cannabis Stocks as Tilray (TLRY) Posted 110% Revenue Growth
FRA: 8IS1) is pleased to announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Acreage Pharms Ltd. ("Acreage Pharms"), has successfully completed testing on two batches of oil and is working to finalize its application to Health Canada to allow for the sale of bottled cannabis oil and cannabis resin. Acreage Pharms' closed-loop CO2 system performs Subcritical and Supercritical Fluid Extraction utilizing high-pressure carbon dioxide to extract essential oils from botanicals, using specific temperatures and pressures to withdraw different components from plants.
FRA: 8IS1) is pleased to announce that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Acreage Pharms Ltd. ("Acreage Pharms"), has signed an agreement to supply the Ontario Cannabis Retail Corporation (“OCRC”), through the Ontario Cannabis Store (“OCS”), with a selection of premium cannabis products for the adult recreational market. Acreage Pharms, located in Edson, Alberta, is Invictus’ largest purpose-built indoor facility fully licensed under the Cannabis Act and Cannabis Regulations.
With over 35 years of branding experience in the healthcare sector, the Agency will leverage its expertise to help create, develop, and execute the go-to-market strategy for Invictus cannabis products. As interim CMO, the Agency will work with Authentic Brands Group (“ABG”) and Invictus’ senior leadership team to facilitate the anticipated launch of Invictus’ medical brand T2C, and adult recreational brands under Dukes and Sterling & Hunt.
The past several months have been incredible ones for marijuana stocks. Although many of them have been around for years, nationwide legalization in Canada and legalization progress in the United States has thrust a large handful of cannabis stocks like Canopy Growth (NYSE:CGC), Aurora Cannabis (NYSE:ACB) and Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY) in the spotlight. It has also pushed most of these stocks much higher. Click to Enlarge Source: Shutterstock The sheer speed and scope prompts a huge question most investors have avoided asking, however -- are marijuana stock overvalued?They are.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsThere's more to the answer than just the acknowledgment though. Namely, being overvalued isn't the same thing as calling these companies a sham. It also doesn't preclude gains in the meantime that will make them even more overvalued, even beyond typical measures of value like price-to-earnings ratios or cash flow potential. It's not unfair to "value" this industry's players solely based on the premise for the time being.Nevertheless, at some point in time these organizations will have to justify their stunningly frothy prices. Once the market realizes they can't, that's when the wave of right-pricing begins. Experts Sound OffIt's undeniable that the pro-cannabis movement is gaining traction. Canada is completely on board, even if its retail choices are modest. Meanwhile, marijuana is now legal for one reason or another in ten U.S. states. The light at the end of the tunnel has set most marijuana stocks on fire, and for good reason. Not only does legalization represent more opportunity, it has made them potential acquisition targets. * 10 Stocks That Every 20-Year-Old Should Buy That doesn't mean investors have remained rational about the whole premise though.Consider something Canopy Growth CEO Bruce Linton said just late last week:"I think it's entirely true that cannabis has become frothy and I'm not saying that necessarily specifically about our [stock]. But you could list 85 or 90 names that are probably publicly listed that I as the operator of one of the first and most dominant [companies] have never heard of those companies."Again, that's from Bruce Linton, chief of Canopy Growth, and someone who has much to gain by not suggesting anything close to what he said.Linton isn't the only insider or industry expert to point out concern, however, that early pot investors have gotten ahead of themselves. Bethany Gomez, managing director at Brightfield Group, commented in a recent interview:"Another full third of consumers who are not purchasing through the retail market yet have cited pricing as one of their key concerns … that pricing differential between the recreational market and the black market … the market is really missing those mid to lower income cannabis consumers which are a significant portion of that population."In other words, a good-sized swath of would-be tokers -- and suppliers -- are still circumventing the legalized arm of the industry. Investors were pricing marijuana stocks as if the illegal side of the trade would shift to legal operations. One can't invest in the unregulated, illegal swath of the marijuana business that clearly still exists, and still competes with publicly traded outfits in the cannabis industry.Jon Najarian, co-founder of Investitute, was a little more blunt about the matter in September of last year, commenting on the wild runup of most marijuana stocks "This is just stupid time. I can't believe the valuations at this stage."Little has changed, valuation-wise, since then. All the Telltale SignsEven beyond the expert opinions though, the ancillary evidence of froth among these stocks is in place.No two bubbles are quite the same, but they all eventually sport the same core warning signs that are in place now. One of those warning signs in place now is, everyone and their uncle is talking about investing in marijuana … including people who've never actually invested a penny in their lives.And they're not just talking about it. They're adamant about it, to the point of being critical of those who are "missing out" on the movement. It's mostly an effort to assure themselves they made the right call.Another red flag? The industry's focus has shifted from doing the business to supporting those who want to get in the business to raising awareness -- and raising funds -- by merely name-dropping or leveraging celebrities' star power. Most notable among such moves is the naming of Gene Simmons, the face and lead singer of rock band Kiss, as the Chief Evangelist Officer of Invictus MD Strategies (OTCMKTS:IVITF). The company's Canadian ticker was even changed to 'GENE' to bolster the affiliation.It's a title fabricated solely for publicity purposes, with a role filled by a talented showman with no particularly related work experience.Lastly, the mindset keeping these names propped up, for the time being, is the same one that sent solar stocks soaring in 2008, oil stocks into a rocket-ride into 2014, gold in a frenzy in 2010 and 2011, bitcoin into a mania in 2017 and 3D printing stocks into high gear in 2012 and 2013. Those were all "must have" investments at the time, as they would change the world as we knew it. * 7 Forever Stocks to Buy for Long-Term Gains They didn't. The underlying stories sure were fun to think about though. Bottom Line for Marijuana StocksThe great irony (and frustration) is, cannabis is a real, viable industry. Some observers believe the global legal marijuana market could be worth nearly $150 billion by 2025. Even half of that figure would still be an incredible opportunity.It's short-sighted, however, to believe the market's most-talked-about marijuana stocks are going to hold onto their present prices between now and then. Much can happen within the next five years that sheds the light of reality on these hyped-up names, not the least of which is the plethora of privately held companies that could end up outgrowing outfits like Tilray and Canopy Growth by avoiding all the trappings of being publicly traded entities.It certainly doesn't mean certain cannabis stocks won't see more short-term forward progress again, in the near or distant future. A bubble has made marijuana stocks sharply overvalued in terms of risk, potential and how compelling their stories are though … even if few want to admit it.As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. You can learn more about James at his site, jamesbrumley.com, or follow him on Twitter, at @jbrumley. More From InvestorPlace * 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid * 7 Fundamentally Sound Dividend Stocks to Buy * 5 Reasons Reeling FAANG Stocks Won't Deliver Big Returns * 3 Reasons Canopy Growth Could Burn You Compare Brokers The post Are Marijuana Stocks Generally Overvalued? appeared first on InvestorPlace.
Investorideas.com, a leading investor news resource covering hemp and cannabis stocks, releases a snapshot focused on the CBD edibles market and how, specifically, CBD gummies are in high demand. Building on that, Transparency Market Research expects the global market for gummy vitamins to rise at a steady CAGR of 5.2% during the period between 2017 and 2025. Last November, Canopy Growth Corporation (NYSE:CGC) (TSX:WEED.TO) started selling CBD-dominant softgels through its Tweed brand, containing 20 milligrams of CBD, and between 2.5 or 10 milligrams of THC.
FRA: 8IS1) is pleased to provide an update on its binding letter of intent ("LOI") to create a joint venture with Cannamerica Brands Corp. ("CannAmerica") (CSE:CANA) (CNNXF) and CBDistribution Company Ltd. ("CBDC") (collectively the "Joint Venture") that was previously announced on January 7, 2019 with the intention of acquiring hemp biomass for extraction into CBD isolate using purpose-built facilities for large scale CBD extraction. Invictus is pleased to announce that it has received approval from its Board of Directors to enter into the Joint Venture with CannAmerica and CBDC.
FRA: 8IS1) announced today an update to its intention to proceed with a consolidation of its issued and outstanding shares with a newly proposed reduced share consolidation ratio of one new share for every five old shares (1:5) in connection with its proposed listing on Nasdaq Stock Market LLC ("Nasdaq"). The purpose of the consolidation is to increase the Company's common share price to be in compliance with Nasdaq's minimum share price listing requirement of USD $3.00 (CAD $3.98 ).
VANCOUVER , Jan. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - INVICTUS MD STRATEGIES CORP. ("Invictus" or the "Company") (TSXV: GENE; OTCQX: IVITF; FRA: 8IS1) is pleased to announce that the Company's ...
VANCOUVER , Jan. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - INVICTUS MD STRATEGIES CORP. ("Invictus" or the "Company") (TSXV: GENE; OTCQX: IVITF; FRA: 8IS1) is pleased to announce that George E. Kveton, ...
FRA: 8IS1) is pleased to announce that it has submitted its application to list its common shares (the "Shares") on the NASDAQ Capital Market ("NASDAQ"). In advance of listing on NASDAQ, the Company will file a Form 40-F Registration Statement with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
FRA: 8IS1) is pleased to provide an update on its binding letter of intent ("LOI") to create a joint venture with Cannamerica Brands Corp. ("CannAmerica") (CSE:CANA) (CNNXF) and CBDistribution Company Ltd. ("CBDC") (collectively the "Joint Venture") that was previously announced on January 7, 2019 with the intention of acquiring hemp biomass for extraction into CBD isolate using purpose-built facilities for large scale CBD extraction. The Joint Venture has entered into a binding LOI with Z3 Sciences, LLC ("Z3") to purchase 80% of the membership interests of Z3 for aggregate consideration, including performance incentives, of USD$42.25 million. Z3 is expected to provide the Joint Venture with existing extraction contracts from extracting Hemp biomass into CBD isolate.
Invictus And GTEC Holdings Announce Formal Termination of Merger Plans and Maintain Existing Working Relationship
VANCOUVER , Jan. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - INVICTUS MD STRATEGIES CORP. ("Invictus" or the "Company") (TSXV: GENE; OTCQX: IVITF; FRA: 8IS1) is pleased to announce that the Company's Board ...


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Workers demolish Roy's Home Furnishings. The Lincoln Park fixture was gutted by fire Tuesday. (José M. Osorio, Chicago Tribune)
A blaze that took 160 firefighters several hours to put out Tuesday left Roy's Home Furnishings in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood with only a skeleton of its former building.
The fire also hurt the neighborhood because the store had been one of its best-known businesses, several residents said. Local residents stopped Wednesday afternoon to examine what was left of Roy's Home Furnishings, which they said had developed a reputation for selling decent furniture at a good price for 33 years.
"It's kind of eerie what can happen in 24 hours," said Sybil Beck, as she watched construction crews clear out the rubble of the building in the 2400 block of North Sheffield Avenue. "It turned from a neighborhood storefront to a demolition zone."
The store's owner will decide by Monday if the furniture shop will reopen, but the best-case scenario would be that the store is up and running "by the end of the summer," said Johanna Parra, Roy's marketing manager.
Chicago Fire Department officials said the fire was an accident and is believed to have been caused by a cigarette that had not been properly extinguished inside the building, spokesman Larry Langford said.
Parra said she has received hundreds of emails from people asking for the store to reopen. "It's been overwhelming, the support from the Chicago community," she said.
Several Lincoln Park residents waxed sentimental Wednesday about a store they said had been an icon in their community for decades.
"I bought that living room set right there," Ervin Sanders said as he pointed to a gray sofa through a broken display window. Sanders, who lives in the 2700 block of Sheffield, said the sofa, coffee table, two end tables and chair he bought in 2009 cost him close to $2,000.
He said he often referred others to the store. "It was real nice furniture. I know a lot of people who bought furniture there," said Sanders.
Jessica Alvarado, 24, said that although the store was a bit too expensive for a DePaul University student like herself, she would often admire the store's selection as she passed it on her way to class or church. "They always had really beautiful window displays," she said.
Joyce Sullivan said she bought 60 percent of the furniture in her condominium from Roy's.
"My condo was in (an) '80s (style), but I was able to buy a lot of stuff here to bring it into the modern age," Sullivan said. "I spent so much money there … the guy in the cargo area was upset with me because I kept finding things to buy."
Many in the neighborhood said Roy Warner Jr. and his father, who opened the store 33 years ago, were well known in the neighborhood.
"I feel so sorry for Roy and his family," said Larry Wilkerson, who said he has known the family for several decades. The retired schoolteacher said he has bought furniture there since 1987.
"When I was starting out, I wanted to buy furniture there because it was good furniture for a good price," he said.
The store employed about 25 people, many of whom worked there for more than 10 years, Parra said.
"(Roy) is very heartbroken. The store is his life," she said. "(But) he's hanging in there."
When the fire broke out Tuesday there were about 20 people in the store, she said.
"We went to go get an extinguisher, but the store was in flames," Parra said. "It happened so fast. People just got out."
By 2:15 p.m. Wednesday a construction crew had toppled a bulk of the "L" shaped building. Only a charred couch and a few chairs could be seen from the display windows facing Sheffield. Yellow and red police tape was still tied to poles along Altgeld Avenue and a gate was installed along Sheffield Avenue.


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Report: New Hyundai based crossover to surface in next few years
Not too long ago, a new report from Australia’s Motoring surfaced, indicating that the Korean manufacturer was in the preliminary stages of planning a new crossover based on the Genesis.
This could imply the great possibility that Hyundai’s attempting a new rear-wheel drive crossover to compete against the luxury brands, which they’re slowly trying to do with new models like the Equus, the Genesis sedan, and the next-generation Genesis Coupe.
According to Reuters, Motoring.com’s report is holding out to be true as the crossover is anticipated to arrive within the next several years. Previous rumors suggested the model was already greenlighted, however, another separate source in Reuters’ report says that the decision is on the fence and is contingent on the price of gas around the world.
Either way, Hyundai’s getting serious about an apparent premium crossover. Do you think they could pull it off successfully? We think they can, given how the current Genesis and Equus are.


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Call to boycott Ford Otosan
Ford Otosan is the leading company in its market, producing 31% of civilian vehicles in Turkey, and holding 72% of the Turkish export market share.
The UK Boycott Turkey Campaign is a broad, grassroots campaign fighting for boycotts, divestments and sanctions against the oppressive Turkish state.
Among the companies and products to boycott, is Ford Otosan which manufactures police vehicles used by the Turkish police when clamping down on Kurdish movements or arresting activists, politicians and journalists.
These Tourneo Courier cars are manufactured in Kocaeli, Turkey. Ford Otosan is jointly owned by Ford and Koç.
The campaign underlined a few ways in which activists can act and thus contribute to the success of boycotting Ford Otosan: Pressure Ford to divest and Target Ford Motor Company, asking them to divest from Ford Otosan on the basis that Koç’s subsidiary, Otokar, is involved in military vehicle production. Ford’s partnership with Koç makes the company complicit in the war crimes carried out by the Turkish state with that equipment in Rojava (Northern Syria) and Bakur (southeastern Turkey).
Koç also owns Otokar, a company which manufactures the Cobra and Akrep military vehicles and worked on the design model of the Altay battle tank.
Boycott Turkey said that the “company is vulnerable to a boycott campaign as it generates significant export revenue, $4.9 billion in 2017, and because Ford, which co-owns the company, is a household name globally.”
Ford Otosan is the leading company in its market, producing 31% of civilian vehicles in Turkey, and holding 72% of the Turkish export market share. The profits generated for Koç by Ford Otosan contribute massively to Koç’s economic viability, and enable it to carry on producing weapons for the Turkish state.
What is Boycott Turkey
From the website of the campaign:
“We believe that the authoritarian and racist regime in Turkey is a threat to democracy, human rights and the lives of the peoples of Turkey, Kurdistan and beyond. In the fight for a better world it is vital that we all take a stand against repressive states like Turkey.”
The campaign was set up following a broad consensus from Kurdish and Turkish civil society groups calling for international solidarity and action against the regime.
Some key examples of the mandate for a global boycott campaign include;
– Calls from the KCDK-E (the European Kurdish Democratic Societies Congress) to boycott products and services which support the Turkish state’s illegal war on Kurds.
– The academic boycott called by academics in Turkey facing state repression.
– Campaigns in Kurdistan to boycott Turkey
– This campaign was launched by the UK Kurdish People’s Assembly and solidarity activists in response to the various calls for boycotts. The campaign continues to be organised in close collaboration between activists and the UK’s Kurdish communities.


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Image courtesy of sscreations at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
On the island of Kauai the number of condos sold last month rose steeply,
climbing 24% with 31 condo units closing escrow. That compares to 25 units sold in December 2014.
The median price of a condo sold on Kauai in December 2015 fell slightly, 1.5% to a median price of $379,000 compared to $385,000 in 2014. Because the island's market in any month may represent a small number of sales and units are at vastly different prices month to month comparisons of prices are less reliable as indicators than year to year comparisons.
For all of 2015 the median price of a condo on Kauai was $370,000 which was 7% higher than the median price in 2014 which was $345,500. The number of condos sold in all of 2015 totaled 361 units. That is 10% higher than the 328 units that were sold in 2014.
Looking ahead to 2016 the increase in pending sales for condominiums in December 2015 may result in very strong condo sales volume over the several months. the condo market on Kauai has been strong for several years and that upward trend is expected to continue.
The condo market on Kauai is currently very good. It is not considered by experts to be over-priced so it remains an good market for both buyers and sellers.