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Network officials also said voters should expect more of a Koch focus on grassroots activism throughout the 2020 election cycle.Politicsread more
In a room full of avowed capitalists, policies that sound to some like socialism are bound not to go over well.Delivering Alpharead more
GM's usage of temporary workers, potential closure of plants and health care contributions remain major sticking points, according to people familiar with the talks.Autosread more
Trump has criticized Facebook numerous times since becoming president, most recently posting on Twitter that the company's proposed digital currency, libra, will "have little...Technologyread more
Republicans and Democrats have long since separated themselves by ideology, leaving each more uniformly conservative or liberal than ever. And now a new data analysis by the...Politicsread more
At least in terms of monetary policy, Pence says should be taking after other regions who keep their benchmark interest rates near zero.Delivering Alpharead more
The Pentagon on Thursday said the recent attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities were "sophisticated" and represented a "dramatic escalation" in tensions within the region.Defenseread more
The flap illustrates the growing distrust of the YouTube community, and willingness to assume the worst in light of unclear communication.Technologyread more
Four years ago Microsoft had just two women on its board. Walmsley is now the fifth.Technologyread more
AT&T isn't focused on selling or divesting DirecTV, despite pressure from stakeholder Elliott Management, sources tell CNBC.Technologyread more
Patrick Shyu, a former tech lead at Google, has posted a series of videos making fun of Facebook, where he worked as a software engineer until last month.Technologyread more
U.S. stock futures were lower this morning as investors remained focused on U.S.-China relations. The Dow and S&P 500 on Wednesday had their lowest closes since Feb. 14. The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq were all down three straight sessions, and are on track to post their worst week of 2019. (CNBC)
* Cramer: Stockholders are suffering from FOBS, fear of big sellers (CNBC)
Earnings reports out this morning come from Barnes & Noble (BKS), H&R Block (HRB), and Kroger (KR), while Costco (COST), American Outdoor Brands (AOBC), Camping World (CWH), El Pollo Loco (LOCO), and Okta (OKTA) are among the companies releasing quarterly numbers after today's closing bell. (CNBC)
The Labor Department is out with its weekly report on initial jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET. At the same time, the government issues its revised report on fourth-quarter productivity. The European Central Bank concludes its policy meeting with an interest rate decision and policy statement at 7:45 a.m. ET. (CNBC)
Huawei is suing the U.S. over a law that bans government agencies from buying the Chinese tech giant's equipment. It claims the legislation is unconstitutional, as it goes on the front foot following months of political pressure. (CNBC)
* Huawei CFO defense will center on Trump's trade comments (CNBC)
CNBC has learned President Donald Trump had a private meeting this week with close advisors to discuss a wide range of topics, including the 2020 election — and concerns about possibly facing former Vice President Joe Biden.
The Democratic National Committee announced that Fox News will not host any of its presidential primary debates in the 2019-2020 cycle, citing an article in The New Yorker that characterized the outlet as an agent of the White House. (CNBC)
* Trump fires back at DNC (USA Today)
Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen gave the House Intelligence Committee documents that reveal alleged editing to the statement he used to lie to Congress in 2017 about efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. (CNBC)
* Cohen told lawyer to seek Trump pardon (WSJ)
* Trump's former campaign chief Manafort to be sentenced today for bank and tax fraud (Reuters)
Alex Trebek, longtime "Jeopardy!" host, revealed that he has been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. "Normally, the prognosis for this is not very encouraging, but I'm going to fight this, and I'm going to keep working," he said. (NBC News)
The Amazon (AMZN), J.P. Morgan (JPM), and Berkshire Hathaway (BRK) health-care joint venture finally has a name: Haven. Prior to the big reveal, many industry insiders referred to the venture as "ABC" or "ABJ." (CNBC)
* Health records giant Epic temporarily halts additions to its app store because of privacy concerns (CNBC)
Amazon (AMZN) will close all of its 87 pop-up locations in the U.S. in April. The company is also planning to open dozens of grocery stores and potentially thousands of Amazon Go stores, according to earlier reports. (CNBC)
* Dollar Tree to close up to 390 Family Dollar stores (CNBC)
Sears is back into court, less than one month after emerging from bankruptcy protection. The retailer was sued by Stanley Black & Decker, which accused it of breach of contract and trademark infringement. (Reuters)
American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) reported quarterly profit of 43 cents per share, beating estimates by a penny. However, the apparel retailer's revenue fell slightly short of Wall Street forecasts. American Eagle also forecast weaker-than-expected current quarter profit, as it spends more on marketing and new store openings.
Allergan (AGN) said a new treatment for depression failed in three late-stage studies, and the drugmaker added that it was deeply disappointed in the results. Billionaire hedge fund manager David Tepper has been pushing Allergan, which also makes Botox, to consider selling itself.
General Electric (GE) has hired an investment bank to explore a possible sale of its stake in a renewable energy joint venture, according to a Reuters report. GE is partners with Italy's Enel in the venture, and the stake is said to be worth more than $1 billion.
Qualcomm (QCOM) is getting some help from the Defense and Energy departments in its dispute with the FTC over smartphone royalties, according to the Wall Street Journal, supporting Qualcomm's contention that losses in a court battle could hurt its ability to compete with China's Huawei.
Apple (AAPL) has announced it's bringing 1,200 employees to a San Diego office over the next three years, growing its presence right in the backyard of its current legal rival Qualcomm.
Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) was downgraded to sector perform from top pick at RBC Capital Markets in a valuation call, among other factors.
Idris Elba is Warner Bros. choice to replace Will Smith as Deadshot in the "Suicide Squad" sequel, according to Variety. The original film was a massive box office success when it hit theaters in 2016, grossing $746 million worldwide.


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DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — A jury trial is scheduled Feb. 4 in the wrongful death lawsuit over a white police officer’s fatal shooting of a black man in a Beavercreek Walmart who was carrying an air rifle he picked up from a shelf.
Twenty-two-year-old John Crawford III was shot at the store in August 2014. His family sued the city, police and the retailer in federal court.
Federal authorities concluded there wasn’t enough evidence to charge the officer who killed Crawford while responding to a 911 call. He said he perceived an “imminent threat .”

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May 31, 2007 – Microsoft made headlines across the tech industry at yesterday’s Wall Street Journal’s D: All Things Digital conference, where the computing giant unveiled new display technology, simply known as the "Surface." The Microsoft Surface is a tabletop computer that uses gesture technology to interact with digital information, including photos. The Surface will be used in hotels, retailers, and restaurants by the end of the year.
"With Surface, we are creating more intuitive ways for people to interact with technology," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in a company press release. "We see this as a multibillion dollar category, and we envision a time when surface computing technologies will be pervasive, from tabletops and counters to the hallway mirror. Surface is the first step in realizing that vision."
The 30-inch display allows users to view and move information with the touch screen monitor without the use of a mouse or keyboard. Surface’s photo application allows users to sort and organize pictures with the option to delete and zoom. The Surface allows for multiple users to surround it, making for coffee table-type interaction.
The Surface also includes object recognition and can read bar codes. It will soon be at Harrah’s Entertainment in Las Vegas, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, and T-Mobile retail stores. While the technology is being released first in public spaces, Microsoft stated that the Surface could later be used in the home.
"Many features available in mobile phones, PCs and other electronic devices like digital cameras aren’t even used because the technology is intimidating," said Microsoft Corporate Vice President Tom Gibbons of Productivity and Extended Consumer Experiences Group in a separate release. "Surface computing breaks down those traditional barriers to technology so that people can interact with all kinds of digital content in a more intuitive, engaging and efficient manner. It’s about technology adapting to the user, rather than the user adapting to the technology."


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Specialty Valuations Up
Despite continued concerns about the U.S. and global economies, rising interest rates to combat inflation, and volatility in the stock market, merger and acquisition activity is still robust, with 40 transactions announced in August.
While still behind in the year-to-date total compared to 2021, it’s a bit unrealistic to compare 2022 to the record-breaking total of the year prior.
It didn’t help that the 2022 deal count got off to a sluggish start following the year-end blitz of 2021. The rush, which was based on tax concerns, drove many deals to close in fourth quarter 2021 instead of first quarter 2022. However, the rolling 12-month average for transactions is still roughly 60 per month if you include the record-high 183 deals in December 2021.
Even with rising interest rates, buyers still appear poised for aggressive dealmaking as they look to deploy dry powder into attractive investments. But if interest rates continue to rise and market conditions deteriorate further, it could impact the availability of debt and, thus, the pace of transactions.
As of Aug. 31, 2022, there have been 303 announced M&A transactions in the United States. The current volume of deal announcements represents a 28.7% decrease compared to this time last year. However, the number of announced transactions is expected to increase as year-end approaches.
Private-capital backed buyers accounted for 224 of the 303 transactions (73.9%) through August, remaining atop the various buyer classes. This trend is expected to remain consistent throughout the rest of 2022. Public brokerages have remained consistent with last year in terms of total deal count, making up 6.9% of total announced transactions.
Another trend that continues is the increase in specialty transactions as a percentage of the total number of announced transactions as traditional retail brokerages expand into the wholesale and delegated authority space. Specialty firms have been attracting a much broader crowd of buyers. Along with retail firms that are interested in specialty, there are private equity firms, carriers and other specialty brokerages looking to make deals for specialty distributors. Deals involving specialty distributors as targets currently account for 22.8% of the total 303 deals year to date.
With the increased interest in specialty distributors, valuations for specialty firms are continuing to rise. MarshBerry data show that valuations for specialty brokerages, on average, were higher than valuations for retail brokerages for the first time in history. This makes sense given the increased level of interest from varying buyer types compared to the limited number of available specialty brokerages.
Strong deal activity from the marketplace’s most active acquirers remains constant through August. Ten buyers accounted for 54.1% of all announced transactions observed, while the top three (Hub International, BroadStreet Partners, and Acrisure) account for 22.8% of the 303 total transactions.
Two notable transactions in August:
Aug. 8: Truist Insurance Holdings announced it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire BenefitMall. BenefitMall is the nation’s largest benefits wholesale general agency and provides group benefits to small and midsize businesses throughout the country. The transaction will add approximately $150 million of annual revenue to Truist’s wholesale division and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022.
Aug. 10: Partners Group acquired a controlling stake in Foundation Risk Partners. FRP’s management team maintains a stake in the firm, while its previous private equity sponsor, Warburg Pincus, retains a minority position.
Disclosure: All deal count metrics are inclusive of completed deals with U.S. targets only. Scorecard year-to-date totals may change from month to month should an acquirer notify MarshBerry or the public of a prior acquisition. Send any announcements to email@example.com.


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Last week Uber fell victim to a cyber attack after an employee’s Slack app, a workplace messaging app, was compromised. The company has now revealed a hacking group called Lapsus$ was behind the cyberattack. In a blog post, Uber notes that the group typically uses similar techniques to target technology companies, and in 2022 alone, it breached Microsoft, Cisco, Samsung, Nvidia and Okta, among others. Another report claims that the same hacker group breached GTA-creator Rockstar Games’ systems.
Uber stated in a post that no personal data was compromised and services — including Uber, Uber Eats, Uber Freight services and internal tools — are back to normal and running smoothly.
— Uber Comms (@Uber_Comms) September 16, 2022
“First and foremost, we’ve not seen that the attacker accessed the production (ie public-facing) systems that power our apps; any user accounts; or the databases we use to store sensitive user information, like credit card numbers, user bank account info or trip history,” Uber said. “We also encrypt credit card information and personal health data, offering a further layer of protection.”
Uber says it immediately worked to respond to the security breach to protect internal systems and user data, including identifying employee accounts that were compromised and either blocking their access to Uber systems or requiring a password reset; disabling several internal tools; resetting access to many internal services; locking down the codebase; requiring employees to re-authenticate when access was restored, and adding internal environment monitoring “to keep an even closer eye on any further suspicious activity.”
The attack last Thursday led Uber to temporarily take down several internal communications and engineering systems and asked employees not to use Slack. By Friday morning, Uber, Uber Eats, Uber Freight and Uber Drive were all up and running, and Uber was bringing back online its internal software tools.
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Lebanon's trade deficit widens
Lebanon’s trade deficit widened 19 percent year-on-year to $11.57 billion during the first eight months of 2012, according to data released by the Customs Department.
The value of imports jumped by 14 percent year-on-year to $14.4 billion while exports slid by 2.35 percent to $2.83 billion. The value of Lebanese imports continued to be boosted by the 71 percent annual spike in the value of mineral products to $4.22 billion.
The volume of imported mineral products increased by 32 percent to 5.64 million tons in the first eight months of 2012, while international oil prices rose from $88.8 per barrel to $96.5 per barrel between August 2011 and August 2012. The value of imported food products climbed 5.45 percent to $2.19 billion, while their value expanded 7.25 percent to 1.87 million tons.
- What's its secret? Kuwait sustains non-oil growth for two years
- The reliable consumer: China on track to become biggest export market for GCC by 2020
- After the GCC 'happy' summit, is a customs union closer to reality?
- A bleak record: Turkey comes second in OECD income inequality list
- ًA safe bet? Why the ME's businessmen are chasing after St.Kitts and Nevis' citizenship


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What's next for protesting doctors?
[Herald Review] ‘My Name is Loh Kiwan’ a weak drama with soppy ending
40% of Korea's female workers say they were paid less due to their gender
[From the Scene] Day of Rage: Doctors resist pressure to bend
Korean stars ditch AirPods for old-school earphones
[CES 2022] Samsung brings sustainable innovation to fore at CES
New Samsung CEO says pandemic changed expectations toward healthier technologyBy Son Ji-hyoung
Published : Jan. 5, 2022 - 15:58
The green technologies would help Samsung‘s product lifecycle minimize the impact on climate change and encourage its consumers to reduce their carbon footprints, Han said during the keynote speech Tuesday. The green technologies suggested by Samsung range from the use of recycled materials for the production and packaging of electronics products, to services to monitor the use of electricity in smart devices. Solar-powered remote controls are also included in its green strategy.
“Each year at CES, we show you how advanced technologies like AI, IoT, robotics and 5G will open up new possibilities for millions around the world,” Han said in the address, under the tagline “Together for Tomorrow.”
“Of course, this CES is different. over the past two years, our expectations of technology have changed. We have found greater value in togetherness, being closer with friends, family and society. We want not only gorgeous products and connected experiences but also a better, healthier planet.”
Han, an engineer-turned-entrepreneur who started his career at Samsung Electronics in 1988, said Samsung’s leadership in technological innovation would be aligned with sustainable innovation to unlock new value in people’s lives and foster a sense of community.
By 2025, Samsung seeks to expand the use of recycled materials to all of mobile devices and home appliances, in line with its inclusion of recycled material so far in Bespoke refrigerators, wireless Galaxy earbuds and TVs with quantum light-emitting diode panels.
Also in three years, Samsung plans to make all of its TVs and phone chargers operate on near-zero standby power. As for packaging, Samsung will incorporate recycled materials into styrofoam, box holders and plastic bags, as all of its TV boxes have already included recycled materials.
This is in addition to Samsung’s effort to reduce nearly 700,000 tons of carbon emissions by manufacturing Carbon Trust-certified memory chips. Moreover, its enhanced SolarCell Remote, a battery-free remote control for TVs, will recharge itself using light and signals from Wi-Fi routers and similar devices. Samsung hopes to eliminate 200 million batteries a year from landfills with the new remote controls.
Han also unveiled Samsung‘s collaboration with outdoor clothing maker Patagonia to enable Samsung’s washing machines to keep microplastics from entering waterways through laundry cycles.
“Each day, you recycle, use less energy and choose eco-conscious products. This inspires us to do more,” he said.
“So now sustainability can be part of your product experience, enabling you to live a more sustainable life. It‘s what is called ‘Everyday Sustainability.’”
Previously, Han led research and development of visual display business at Samsung Electronics, until he became president of the division in 2017. Han currently doubles as Samsung Electronics CEO and president of its visual display division.
Nicknamed “rhinoceros” among Samsung staff during his three-decades with the company, Han is credited with having played a pivotal role putting Samsung in an unrivaled position in the world’s TV set industry for 15 consecutive years.
According to Samsung, Han also gained recognition as a prolific figure in the development of screen products, including micro LED, QLED, Lifestyle TVs, Smart Signage, Cinema LED and gaming monitors.
Han was one of the keynote speakers at CES 2022, along with mobility giant General Motors’ Chair and CEO Mary Barra, health care company Abbott’s President and CEO Robert Ford.
Seoul starts to suspend license of 7,000 unreturned doctors
N. Korea warns US-S. Korea to pay 'dear price' for joint drills
Why Jongno is known as Seoul’s center of politics


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Winners on Their Way to MSI MOA Grand Final in Taipei
HELSINKI, FINLAND - AUGUST 16, 2011 - Futuremark® today announced the winners of its annual Lords of Overclocking competition. The MSI sponsored event, which is Futuremark's premier OC contest each year, saw over 10,000 entries from more than 80 countries across the globe. With such worldwide interest, competition was fierce for the top prize: flights, accommodation and qualification to the MSI Master Overclocking Arena (MOA) 2011 grand final in Taipei.
- Incredibly, 39 scores submitted during the four week competition were higher than the previous world record for a single GPU.
- MSI graphics cards now hold 44 out of top 50 single-GPU scores in Futuremark's online results database.
- In a nail-biting finish, the winning score of P12499 from overclocker "SuicidePhoenix" came on the very last day of the competition.
Proving his mastery of extreme overclocking, overall winner SuicidePhoenix pushed his Intel Core i7-2600K and MSI N580GTX Lightning far beyond their factory settings as his scores demonstrate.
- 3DMark Score: P12499 (Stock setting:P6600)
- Graphics Score: 12349 (Stock setting:6400)
- Physics Score: 13689 (Stock setting:8200)
"This year's Lords of Overclocking event brought together the world's top competitive overclockers in thrilling competition," said Jukka Mäkinen, Futuremark CEO. "We congratulate the winners and thank all participants for making the contest a huge success."
"We appreciate all the efforts and amazing achievements made by worldwide participants." said Zona Lin, Marketing Manager at MSI. "We congratulate the winners and expect another success in the coming MSI MOA 2011 grand final competition!"
Lords of Overclocking was a worldwide online qualifying event for the prestigious MSI MOA 2011 competition in Taipei which will see the world's top overclockers go head to head in a fiercely fought battle of extreme overclocking.
Futuremark holds a number of overclocking competitions each year. For details of upcoming contests, please visit http://www.3dmark.com/competitions/ or follow Futuremark on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Futuremark
About Futuremark® Corporation
Futuremark® Corporation creates the world's most popular benchmarks and PC performance tests. Futuremark's free 3DMark®, PCMark® and Peacekeeper(tm) tests have helped millions of people measure and improve their PCs' performance for games, media, applications and web. Futuremark Games Studio creates original games with new and entertaining gameplay such as Hungribles(tm), a skill shot puzzle game for iPhone® and iPad® and Shattered Horizon, a zero gravity FPS for PC. The studio is currently developing Unstoppable Gorg for PC, Xbox LIVE® Arcade and iPad® and has one further unannounced title in development. Futuremark has offices in Saratoga, California and Helsinki, Finland. http://www.futuremark.com/
Founded in 1986, MSI is one of the nation's leading technology companies that possess strong R&D capabilities. Composed of more than 2,000 excellent engineers, we continue our more than 20-year history of being one of the most widely respected and recognized name in the IT industry. Our hard work and dedication have led us to become one of the finest brands in the industry with accumulated sales in more than 120 countries, 150 million mainboard users and 100 million graphics card users worldwide. MSI has been listed in the "Top 20 Taiwan Global Brands" for two consecutive years (2008 & 2009), adhering to perfect faith that deserves recognition. The thousands of awards we earned every year encourage us to continue to develop high-level of quality excellence in our products and services, customer satisfaction and global competitiveness. As part of MSI's commitment, we will continue to enhance our product design and quality, as well as implement high-quality service to become one of the world's renowned leading brands. More information can be found at: www.msi.com


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Are you Facebook’d out? While Facebook still holds the top spot as the most popular social network in America, it’s not too hard to believe people would get tired of the update sharing, track-your-every-move platform.
A new survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project revealed that 27% of Facebook users in the US plan to spend less time on the service this year, compared with only 3% who plan to spend more time. The study also found that 61% of current Facebook users have voluntarily taken a break from the platform for several weeks or more.
Reasons for the “Facebook vacationâ€ varied, but the most common explanation was not having enough time for the site. Twenty-one percent of respondents said they were too busy with real-world responsibilities to spend time Facebooking.


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Most times, advertisers want to stay away from politics. It’s too messy. After the 2017 Super Bowl, some viewers called for a boycott of brands including Budweiser, 84 Lumber, Coca-Cola, Airbnb, Kia and Tiffany because of ads pro-Trump fans thought took a views on immigration or the environment.
It doesn’t take much to rile political true believers, regardless of the politics, so most marketers advise clients: Don’t go there.
A big exception might be a YouTube ad for new mattress company Nectar Sleep that parodies not only Trump but also makes fun of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un, the Supreme Leader of North Korea, in a three-minute message, “Make America Sleep Again.”
A lab-coated “scientist” claims Nectar tested the brains of those world leaders after they had slept a while on Nectar bedding, and clinically verified that with a good night’s rest, all of their acrimonious brain waves became peace and lovey. The CGI-created brains have gotten 2.8 million views since March.
“We’ve received no complaints,” Craig Schmeizer, Nectar’s co-founder tells Marketing Daily in an email conversation. (He was in China where the mattresses are made.)
“We really did not orient “Make America Sleep Again” toward any particular political cast so as much as hope to create engagement by weaving in some current mainstream news themes,” he says. “We brought in some of the more recognizable global leaders because we felt they added great energy to the storytelling about the virtues of great sleep.”
But Nectar is not exactly advertising in the mainstream Super Bowl, where getting away with controversial content is part of the game. “We have very active social media pages, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram,” Schmeizer says. “We use targeted advertising across all platforms and leverage pre-roll on videos across the Internet as well.” Its other videos get hundreds of thousands of views, but “Make America Sleep Again” is a favorite.
On YouTube, in fact, most of the comments are accolades: “This is the best ad I have ever seen” or variants, are frequently offered. Only a few seem to have picked up much on the political leaders, including, “I have to say I like this commercial purely because it depicts a (thinly veiled) homosexual relationship between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump, and I KNOW it'd piss both of them off.”
Many of the comments are directed at actor Jayson Wesley, who portrays the lab scientist (actually wearing a white bathrobe, not a lab coat in the ad). “Make America Sleep Again” is the witty work of Google’s creative team and the BlackBoard Agency.
Yet, it will have to go a long way toward approaching the popularity of a series of ads for Purple, another new mattress company, whose pseudo-scientific demonstration videos have grabbed over 500 million views.
Two brothers from Utah who started Purple in 2016 reaped a reported $850 million when they merged with Global Partner Acquisition Corp. just a little more than a year later. Obviously, their advertising, and the product, leaves an impression.
Last month, Nectar launched its first national advertising campaign across radio and television with ‘Sleep Like a Baby,” In the video version, the company uses real customer testimonials recited with grown adult heads superimposed on babies’ bodies as they rest on a Nectar mattress. It also launched “Sweet Dreams Delivered,” which also aired nationally on radio and TV.
The company created an offshoot, called DreamCloud aimed at a more affluent customer and those who want a bed with springs. On current website ads, a customer can have a Nectar foam queen-sized mattress on sale for $670, with two pillows, free delivery and a one-year money-back guarantee that Schmeizer says is a deal competitors don’t match. A queen-sized DreamCloud runs $1,568 as of today and includes free delivery and set-up.
Meanwhile, Nectar is developing another brand for Europe and Asia and plans to have its products selling in eight countries by the end of the year. Schmeizer says in 2017, its first year, it had $55 million in revenues and expects $300 million this year.
For the previous 20 years, Schmeizer says he’s been busy helping to lead companies “across data-driven verticals” at HSBC, New York Life Insurance and XM Sirius. He’s a big fan of a comfy bed. “I’ve been around the world in different industries,” he says. “I also love to ski, so a good night’s sleep is great for recovery.”


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Following the footsteps of Rihanna and Big Sean, The Weeknd is set to become one of the latest lines of creative collaborators with Puma. The popular Canadian singer-songwriter has even posted a teaser photo on Instagram, which happens to be his first co-branded sneaker collaboration with the German brand and his own XO label. Judging by the teaser photo captioned “Coming Soon”, it appears to be a close-up look of a sneaker’s outsole embedded with XO and Puma brands. You can take a look at the teaser photo below.
Earlier this year, The Weeknd has already collaborated with Puma to front the brand’s IGNITE Limitless Hi Tech and Extreme Hi Tech sneakers range.


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The National Retail Federation's shop.org coined the term 'Cyber Monday' in a 2005 press release. Like peanut butter on the roof of your mouth, it stuck.
More consumers are preparing to open their wallets and #ShopSmall this holiday weekend than ever before, according to a survey released this week ahead of Small Business Saturday.
Iran has overhauled the way in which it offers contracts to foreign energy companies in a bid to attract up to $30bn of new investment.
But for a low price strategy to be effective, the loss of revenues due to lower prices has to be made up with much higher sales volumes.
Yelp Inc won the dismissal of a lawsuit by shareholders who claimed they were fraudulently misled about the authenticity and quality of its reviews, and whether Yelp manipulated those reviews to favour paying advertisers.


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Spanish fashion retail group, Inditex chairman and CEO Pablo Isla recently shared that the “culture of diversity, innovation and creativity that is shared by the entire Inditex team is driving the forward-looking values of sustainability and innovation.”
By 2025, 100% of the cotton, linen and polyester used by all eight of its brands – including Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Pull & Bear, Stradivarius, Uterqüe, Zara and Zara Home – will be organic, sustainable or recycled.
By 2020, Inditex commits to fully eliminate the use of plastic bags, a milestone already attained at Zara, Zara Home, Massimo Dutti and Uterqüe. And by 2023, all single-use plastics will have been totally eliminated for customers sales.
“Sustainability is a never-ending task in which everyone here at Inditex is involved and in which we are successfully engaging all of our suppliers,” Isla stated.


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Many of Google Cloud's more prominent customers, including message service Snapchat, are new Internet-based companies — not always the best references for chief information officers at more traditional companies.
Landing Home Depot, the Atlanta-based construction and home-improvement retailer with over 2,000 stores in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, bolsters Google Cloud's standing among bricks and mortar businesses. Home Depot declined to provide any details on its deal with Google.
Google's cloud business generated about $500 million in revenues last year, according to analysts at Goldman Sachs. That compares to $74.5 billion overall for parent company Alphabet, but the cloud business is one of its fastest-growing business areas.
Overall, Google is the No.4 player in cloud infrastructure services, according to Synergy Research, with 4 percent market share last year. Amazon's AWS took 31 percent of the market, Microsoft's Azure 9 percent, and IBM, 7 percent.


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This issue's story about the LG HB620T handset, which uses digital signals broadcast for TV, got me looking back to the 1950s. The "pay vs. free" debate already started by this potentially industry-disrupting device isn't a new one. It was already underway when television was in its infancy.
On Oct. 6, 1957, “The New York Times” featured a story titled, "Free TV or Pay-as-You-See? The liveliest controversy in television today is whether the viewer should foot the bill." The story sums up arguments for and against what was then called "toll TV."
Jack Gould wrote, "The Hollywood motion-picture industry has said it believes that toll TV will be the solution to its economic ills arising from free video, the mass movement of millions to the suburbs and the high cost of baby sitters. But exhibitors of films — the theater owners — have said that toll TV threatens to leave them the destitute victims of an outmoded means of distributing Marilyn Monroe."
Change the “Hollywood” to “carriers” and “exhibitors” to “broadcasters” and you could run that story today.
We have the advantage of knowing how that story played out. Toll TV lost out early to the broadcast model. The pay-as-you-see model didn't really return until the advent of pay-per-view.
If the early days of TV had operated by the current mobile TV model, people would have had to subscribe to Admiral's TV program services, only been able to watch programs that Admiral chose to offer and have had to pay for video usage minutes.
Yet despite the history, "toll TV" is the prevailing model for mobile TV. That's because its delivery is tied to a device that has historically been monetized by charging people for how much they use it — the telephone.
We may just be barking up the wrong tree, as EDN senior editor Brian Dipert explained in a March 2008 piece, "Mobile Television: Free And Location-Free."
"Any secondary application that drains the battery and precludes subsequent access to the unit's primary application making and receiving phone calls, for example will likely receive a cool reception by consumers, especially if it's also one that considerably adds to the unit's price tag." Dipert goes on to suggest "alternatives with more focused functions" and "a lengthier list of alternative infrastructure approaches."
LG is pointing the way to just one of them.
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The Liquor Control Board of Ontario launched LCBO.com yesterday, an online store where people can have alcoholic beverages delivered to a liquor store of their choice or even right to their door.
So when can we expect a similar service in Manitoba?
Andrea Kowal, director of corporate affairs for Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries tells 680 CJOB you won’t have to wait too long to start ordering online.
“I consider that part of our five year plan,” says Kowal. “We are already working towards possibly in two years being able to use that as an actual storefront.”
Prices and availability of products are currently listed on the Liquor Mart’s website.


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The number of urgent care centers in Massachusetts rocketed up by more than 700 percent from 2010 to 2017, while the number of retail clinics nearly tripled, according to a new report. There were 18 urgent care centers and 20 retail clinics in 2010, compared to 145 urgent care centers at the end of 2017 and 57 retail clinics in 2018, according to data released Thursday by the state's Health Policy Commission.
"Urgent care centers and retail clinics have the potential to increase timely and convenient access to low-cost, high-quality care for patients in the Commonwealth, including by reducing avoidable [emergency department] visits," HPC executive director David Seltz said. "However, there is still much more to understand about the market dynamics driving the staggering growth in these sites, their role in enhancing access for underserved populations, and how they participate in care coordination efforts across the broader health care system."
Most urgent care centers and retail clinics are located in higher income areas, according to the analysis, which said the "most notable" increases in the alternative care sites took place in the Springfield and Worcester areas, as well as the areas outside of Boston.
The South Shore and the Norwood/Attleboro area had more than six times as many urgent care centers and retail clinics as they did emergency departments, while the upper North Shore and the Berkshires had a roughly equivalent number of alternative care sites and emergency departments, according to the HPC. The report said sore throats were the top condition that prompted an urgent care center visit, and sore throats and acute sinusitis accounted for 30 percent of the conditions seen by retail clinics.


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Nintendo to launch Wii U in U.S. Nov. 18
Nintendo Co. plans to introduce Wii U, the world’s first new home console since 2006, on Nov. 18 in the U.S. as it attempts to prove it can remain competitive against mobile and social video games.
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TOKYO—Nintendo Co. plans to introduce Wii U, the world’s first new home console since 2006, on Nov. 18 in the U.S. as it attempts to prove it can remain competitive against mobile and social video games.
The entry-level version will sell for $300 (U.S.), Nintendo officials said Thursday at an event in New York. The deluxe model, with extra features and memory, will cost $350.
Hours earlier, the world’s biggest video-game machine maker said it will sell the Wii U in Japan beginning in December for at least 26,250 yen ($338) as the company tries to recover from its first annual loss.
Nintendo also will sell a premium version for 31,500 yen starting Dec. 8, President Satoru Iwata said in a webcast. The Kyoto, Japan-based company will offer games including New Super Mario Bros. U and Nintendo Land, Iwata said.
Nintendo faces growing competition from games played online and on smartphones from companies including Apple Inc., which will begin selling the iPhone 5 next week. Nintendo’s 3DS handheld player has missed projections, in part because of that competition and because of a lack of popular software titles.
With the Wii U pricing, Nintendo will gamble that consumers will distinguish its new features enough to ignore comparisons to lower prices on Sony’s $249 (U.S.) PlayStation 3 and Microsoft’s $199 Xbox 360 with Kinect.
“It sounds inexpensive to me, and probably it’s the price that consumers can afford,” said Takashi Oka, a Tokyo-based analyst at TIW Inc. “It may prompt existing owners to replace their Wii with the new one.”
The basic version will offer a white-colored console and eight gigabytes of storage, Nintendo said. The premium model is black, with 32 gigabytes of storage, the company said. Both will include a GamePad touch-screen controller that is similar to a tablet computer and key to new forms of gameplay.
The Wii U GamePad is 6.2-inches, and will provide extra information to players as they manipulate games on their TVs. It can also become the primary screen when they move around. The machine includes new social-networking features, allowing players to interact with each other.
“The price is probably set just above production costs so the company won’t lose money,” said Tomoaki Kawasaki, a Tokyo- based analyst at Iwai Cosmo Securities. “I’m paying close attention to whether there will be innovative software.”
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Sales in the first quarter of 2016 rose 15.8 per cent from the opening three months of last year, according to the Toronto Real Estate Board.


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Unless you’re DJI, it seems innovating in the drone industry is a tough task.
With the close of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week came a slew of new drone announcements. Autel’s Evo drone looked eerily like the DJI Mavic, though it did have what looked like could be improvements.
And another drone to attempt to make a big splash at CES, without adding a whole lot? The Mystic, by a company new to the drone industry called Airlango.
It “comes with a range of innovative features – including the ability to recognize and follow its owner, and obey hand-gesture commands from the ground,” according to a news release issued by the company.
Of course, plenty of drones, including DJI’s Spark, already do that.
Mystic’s capabilities include an autonomous follow-me feature and a gesture interaction mode that can perform tasks based on your gestures. The marketing material also points out an owner recognition mode, through which the drone can automatically recognize its owner.
The Mystic drone is made by Beijing-based company Airlango, which was founded in 2015.
Pricing details and a launch date for the Airlango Mystic have yet to be announced.
So will the Mystic, or other drones like the Autel Evo have a chance to create some competition against DJI? If history is your guide, then likely not.
“Drone hardware development is very difficult and resource-intensive,” Autel Robotics USA CEO Steve McIrvin said last year (he has since left the company after the North American division went through a series of layoffs. “You have to be on the cutting edge of so many different fields—cameras, computer vision, deep learning, artificial intelligence—all highly technical fields.”


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If you build it, will they come? Center Parcs gambles on Longford
Resort has its work cut out to improve brand recognition and to drag families to midlands
A Center Parcs “subtropical swimming paradise” – a vast indoor swimming pool with slides and water rides
With last week’s appointment of Dublin agency Chemistry to devise the creative elements of its advertising, the full team is now in place to create the biggest tourism campaign Longford has ever seen.
Well not Longford, exactly. The campaign will be squarely focused on the county’s new Center Parcs family resort.
Core’s Starcom has been appointed media buyer for the holiday village, while Teneo PSG is to handle consumer PR and social media, and Murray is handling the corporate element of the PR strategy.
The Longford resort is under construction and is expected to open in July 2019.
Set on a 395-acre site in Ballymahon, the development will have 466 self-catering lodges, with every amenity a holidaying family might need within the grounds, including several restaurants, food and clothing shops and a spa. The Center Parcs pricing model includes free admission to outdoor play areas and the brand’s signature (weather-proof) feature – the “subtropical swimming paradise” – a vast indoor swimming pool with slides and water rides.
After that, visitors can pack their schedule with a huge range of outdoor and indoor activities, from archery to zip wire, paid for as extras.
Having carried out extensive market research here in the past few months, Colin Whaley, Center Parcs sales and marketing director, is clear on the communication challenge.
In Britain, Center Parcs has five locations and is a well-known 30-year-old brand, and consumers know how the holiday offer works. Its current TV campaign – “The forest is your playground” – features a family (mum and dad, a boy and a girl) racing joyfully through the sun-dappled forest while whimsical creatures emerge to play along. It’s a detail-free mood ad designed to press feel-good buttons around families spending quality time together.
Center Parcs Longford Forest will, according to Whaley, need more overt explanation. It is, he says, “an Irish Center Parcs for the Irish market”, and the research found a lack of awareness of the brand – which is understandable – and a degree of cluelessness as to the location of Longford.
There was a little bit of a black hole in the middle of the country from a branding point of view
When it comes to Longford as a holiday destination for Irish visitors, the midlands county is at the bottom of the league table.
Its current County Tourism Strategy (to run until 2022) quotes Fáilte Ireland figures from 2013, which noted that, of 772,000 tourists who visited the midlands, only 22,000 made it to Longford. Fáilte Ireland figures for 2016, counting Longford and Roscommon together, show a bottom-of-the-table home visitor spend of €17 million. For some context, neighbouring Cavan-Leitrim pulled in twice that amount.
The overall picture that emerges from the official tourism statistics is that Irish people mostly stick to the coasts for their holidays – briskly moving through the midlands to get there.
It the context of these numbers, a new tourism offering with a capacity to house about 2,500 people in a single night shows the scale of the Center Parcs challenge.
Even Paul Kelly, chief executive of Fáilte Ireland, speaking about midlands tourism, has said: “There was a little bit of a black hole in the middle of the country from a branding point of view.”
But that’s Longford problem. The Center Parcs campaign will mostly be about the brand and what it has to offer. Other-worldly, non-geographic strategies are common to holiday village marketing – and I write as someone who spent a happy two days in Legoland Windsor and couldn’t locate it on a map of the UK, didn’t spend a penny outside the theme park and didn’t visit the castle.
The research also showed differences between the Irish and British markets, especially in relation to food and family units.
Peer-to-peer recommendation has proven highly successful for the brand in Britain, so social media will be key in the Irish content
According to Whaley, Irish consumers are far more interested in food provenance than their British counterparts. That will influence the suppliers chosen – coffee chain Java Republic has won the contract to supply the resort’s cafes and bars).
And Irish consumers were more likely to talk in terms of extended family when describing their family unit.
Although the phenomenon of family short-break staycations, especially during school midterms and holidays, has been well-established and driven by the hotel sector, it is less of a feature in the self-catering market.
The Center Parcs model is built on short self-catering breaks – either Friday to Monday or Monday to Friday – and crucially booked all-year round. Prices at Longford will change and adapt to market demands, says Whaley, probably starting at “around €400”.
The advertising campaign will kick off after Christmas, on all media. Peer-to-peer recommendation has proven highly successful for the brand in Britain, so social media will be key in the Irish content, or as Whaley puts it “recommendations coming from Irish voices”. Soft messaging has already begun, including travel journalists being invited to UK Center Parcs with their families.
Chemistry, whose clients include Lidl, Bórd na Móna and Danone, was chosen after a four-way creative pitch. This was reduced from an initial list of 12 Irish creative agencies, with six invited for what Whaley describes as “chemistry meetings” to see how everyone would get on. Four agencies were then invited for full creative pitches.
Chemistry, which is headed by founding managing director Ray Sheerin, will work with Center Parcs beyond the pitch campaign.
Whaley won’t reveal the marketing spend for the launch, and, when asked about the target number of visitors for Longford’s first year, will only say “we’re looking for a lot of people through”.


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A few days ago, UK-based sports betting company Ladbrokes announced plans to set up shop in South Africa. The operation is a joint venture between Ladbrokes and Gibraltar-based gambling group KaiRo, which operates land-based gambling establishments throughout the African continent. KaiRo has worked with Ladbrokes as a marketing partner for nearly a decade.
A license application has already been made in the Western Cape; it would give Ladbrokes permission to legally offer online sports betting services in the country. Internet gambling in South Africa is still in its infancy – regulation and licensing procedures have only just emerged this year. Ladbrokes would be among the first to enter the country’s internet gambling market.
Ladbrokes envisions creating a regionalized online sportsbook in South Africa, providing South African players with advantages like local site hosting, local currency support, and local event coverage. If the license application is successful, Ladbrokes will be allowed to advertise its new services not only on the internet, but also on television, radio, and print media. The company is already thinking about how to raise brand awareness and attract new customers.
Christopher Bell, CEO of Ladbrokes, said: “We look forward to the launch of Ladbrokes.co.za as a licensed and regulated service in SA. This is an opportunity to capitalise on a developing market.”
The new sports betting site is expected to launch late this year if all goes as planned. The online sports betting market in South Africa is estimated to be worth £55 million, and is expected to grow to over £75 million by 2012. The venture is a bold move on the part of Ladbrokes, which saw net profits plummet last year. In the short term, the company is looking forward to this summer’s World Cup (incidentally also in South Africa) as an opportunity to bring profits back into the green.


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Watch the ExileCon Announcement Keynote stream here
The first ever ExileCon for Patch of Exile begins this weekend and you can watch the ExileCon Announcement Keynote right here at Shacknews.
Path of Exile has been dungeon crawling and loot collecting for six years, but this weekend marks the biggest one in Grinding Gear Games' young history. This is the weekend that the developer welcomes in thousands of Path of Exile fans from around the world for the first ever ExileCon in New Zealand. The convention will celebrate everything the acclaimed dungeon crawler, but also look ahead to the game's next big updates with Friday's ExileCon Announcement Keynote.
ExileCon Announcement Keynote | Watch here
The ExileCon Annoncement Keynote is set to begin on Friday, November 15 at 4PM ET/1PM PT, with a pre-show set to air one hour prior. It will be broadcast on Path of Exile's Twitch channel, with the live stream available just above. Expected announcements include a detailed look at Path of Exile's upcoming 3.9.0 expansion, which is set to launch in December. The next expansion is set to dive into the next league and go into details on the big gameplay changes that players can expect to see. It should also be noted that with this announcement, the countdown is on for the end of the 3.8.0 Blight expansion, so make sure to get as much cool stuff as you can before that league wraps up.
But that's not all. Next year, Path of Exile is set to launch what's being billed as the 4.0.0 mega-expansion. This will go above and beyond the average expansion, with Grinding Gear Games looking to celebrate a brand new milestone release with far more content than ever before. Studio co-founders Chris Wilson, Jonathan Rogers, and Erik Olofsson will all take the stage to describe all of the big changes set to hit Wraeclast in the weeks and months ahead.
Watch the ExileCon Announcement Keynote here and be sure to tune in at 1PM PT. Stay tuned to Shacknews, as we'll be sure to highlight all the big news to come out of Path of Exile's first major convention.
Ozzie Mejia posted a new article, Watch the ExileCon Announcement Keynote stream here
I felt immediately after reading some forward-looking and introductions, POE4.0 is fundamentally a new game, and it does not match the existing version, comments from eznpc. Path of Exile Current characters, equipment, style, and other information may not be able to pass to POE four.0. As soon because the POE 2 is released, the present version is estimated to possess to cease or end.


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PSR has confirmed new rules following its proposals to bring in measures to clarify how mandatory reimbursement for APP scams will work in practice. It says the requirements will prompt a “step change” in the culture of payments. The new rules:
- will require payment firms to reimburse all in-scope customers who fall victim to APP fraud in almost all cases
- will strengthen Pay.UK’s ability to tackle fraud within Faster Payments;
- apply the requirement to all PSPs within the scope of the policy, which will include smaller payment firms;
- will mean that sending and receiving firms will split the costs of reimbursement 50:50;
- set minimum standards that will mean most APP fraud victims will be reimbursed within 5 business days;
- will give extra protection to vulnerable customers; and
- will set clearer guidance for industry, including on paying a claim excess and maximum level of reimbursement, with a further PSR consultation on these due later this year.
PSR notes that it expects the FSM Bill to receive Royal Assent in 2023, which will give PSR the necessary powers to enforce the requirements.
PSR now plans a serious of consultations on legal instruments to put reimbursement requirements in place, the maximum level of reimbursement and claim excess and give additional guidance on the customer “standard of caution”, confirm and consult on the powers of Pay.UK and the legal requirements on PSPs. By the end of the year it will publish the claim excess and maximum level of reimbursement, guidance on the customer standard of caution (gross negligence) and it will publish all legal instruments – and then the new requirement will come into force in 2024.


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As part of its co-investment activities, E.On is acquiring a stake in U.S. energy efficiency start-up Enervee.
Founded in 2012, Enervee provides a platform on which consumers can make more energy-efficient choices when it comes to household appliances, devices and electronics.
Enervee does this via a comprehensive scoring process that constantly compares the efficiency of the product in question with all those in the category. This intuitive efficiency score — the Enervee Score — is then combined with other data such as popularity and reviews, enabling consumers to better and more easily choose the products that are best for the home, their wallet and the environment.
With this investment, E.On is expanding its venture capital activities further. To date, the company has invested in twelve start-ups across the U.S. and Europe.


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Uma investigação de dois anos do Greenpeace no estado do Pará revelou que o atual sistema de controle de madeira não é apenas falho, mas alimenta a degradação florestal e o desmatamento. Frequentemente, em vez de conter o crime, ele é usado para ‘lavar’ madeira produzida de forma ilegal e predatória que, mais tarde, será vendida a consumidores no Brasil e no mundo como se fosse ‘legal’. Na foto, ativistas ocupam a madeireira Pampa Exportações. Em Icoaraci, próximo a Belém, Pará, para expor a fragilidade do sistema de controle da madeira na Amazônia.
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A two year Greenpeace investigation into the Brazilian Amazon timber sector exposes widespread illegalities and manipulation of the system to launder illegal timber with legal paperwork. This timber is then sold all over the world, with two thirds going to the USA and Europe. Greenpeace activists also took action against a key sawmill nearby Para state capitol, Belem, which has been associated with illegalities in the timber sector and linked with the US timber market.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: NO USE BEFORE AUTHOR'S KNOWLEDGE. NO THIRD PARTS, NO RESALE, NO ARCHIVE, FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY, NOT FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. CREDIT-LINE COMPULSORY.
Greenpeace Brazil activists protest at the Pampa sawmill nearby the Para state capital, Belem, which has been associated with illegalities in the timber sector and linked with the US timber market.
The exporter has been fined by the government, to the tune of about one million USD. It has purchased timber from saw mills that are known to have processed laundered illegal timber. Over the last five years, the government has issued nearly 80 million USD in fines to saw mill suppliers overall.
Activists brandished banners that said Lumber Liquidators: Dont buy Amazon Crime, Laundering Timber for Export, and Crime.
Uncontrolled logging in the Amazon is happening now. Customers of Brazilian wood products have no assurances that their wood is coming from legal sources. Lumber Liquidators markets itself on outlets like National Public Radio (NPR) as a sustainable flooring option. If the company really cared about sustainability it would make itself a leading example and clean its supply chain. It would not simply trust the paperwork of a broken system.
Greenpeace Brazil activists unfurl banners reading (in Portuguese): ‘Your Laundered Wood’ during a protest at the Pampa sawmill nearby the Para state capital, Belem,
Daniel is the Forests Campaign Director, based in San Francisco. His portfolio includes the Amazon, the Canadian Boreal, and environmental certification schemes like the Forest Stewardship Council. He splits his time between the San Francisco and Manaus offices.


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This 2W EV Manufactuer Wants To Make Earth Greener As per Suhas Rajkumar, founder of Simple Energy, the company is aiming to shift the entire fleet of mobility to electric thus making the world greener and sustainable
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
As technology has touched every aspect of our life, be it the way we brush, eat or sleep, it is evident that we are entwined with it. A day without 21st-century products seems like staying in the woods far away. Though the technology for the most part has proved a boon for humans, its environmental impact is colossal. Electric vehicles are human's first step to atone for all the environmental havoc it has caused. Though Elon Musk-led Tesla has broken multiple records and managed to persuade fossil fuel vehicle owners to switch to electric vehicles, more needs to be done to save the planet.
One of India's electric two-wheeler manufacturers - Simple Energy is doing its part to make the planet greener.
What is Simple Energy?
Simple Energy is an electric vehicle company that develops long-range, affordable, and connected electric products. As per Suhas Rajkumar, founder of Simple Energy, the company is aiming to shift the entire fleet of mobility to electric thus making the world greener and sustainable.
"While the switch to electric mobility will be inevitable in years to come, Simple Energy hopes to create a benchmark in the EV industry on a global level that would certainly help in accelerating the EV adoption," Rajkumar added.
Rajkumar, who comes from an architecture background, had three other startups before founding Simple Energy in 2019. He had earlier said the main reason that compelled him to create Simple Energy was to overcome several pain points of EV customers, one being fear of running out of battery. However, receiving investment in his early days was difficult as investors were skeptical about the EV market in India. However, Rajkumar met Shreshth Mishra who was hesitant about Rajkumar's idea but ended up investing in it. He has now become the co-founder of the startup.
As per Rajkumar, the EV manufacturer is developing the first long-range smart e-scooter that it claims will disrupt the current Indian EV industry by addressing common pain points like range anxiety, affordability, and fast charging.
Startups' flagship e-scooter named Mark-2 will be launched on 15th August of this year. Mark-2, will have a 4.8 kWh lithium-ion battery, a claimed range of 240 km in eco mode, top speed of 100kmph, and 0-50 kilometers per hour acceleration in 3.6 seconds. Other key features will include a mid-drive motor along with a removable battery. It also comes with smart features like a touch screen, on-board navigation, Bluetooth, among others. The e-scooter will be priced between INR 1,10,000 to INR 1,20,000.
Though Simple Energy is competing against other Indian two-wheeler EV manufacturers such as Revolt and Ather, Rajkumar believes in incremental innovation that keeps the brand ahead of the curve.
According to him, identifying the needs and building a product/service at the right market time is important to stay relevant.
The company is looking to expand its operations to at least 20 cities and introduce more EVs in the product line.


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Swedish home furnishing retailer Ikea is all set to launch e-commerce operations in the country, beginning with Mumbai followed by Hyderabad and Pune, a top company official said on Friday.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of first anniversary celebrations of its store here, Ikea India Chief Executive Officer Peter Betzel said the outlet witnessed one million purchases from over four million footfalls.
He also said the company was looking at various channels including smaller formats and customer meeting points, to reach customers.
"India is a long-term commitment for Ikea and we will focus on fast expansion multi-channel approach.
In the coming years, our goal is to meet 100 million customers with our beautiful and affordable home furnishing offer to make everyday life at home better and brighter.." Betzel said.
"Our next destination is Mumbai where we will soon start our e-commerce, enabling us to meet many more customers followed by Hyderabad and Pune going online," he said without giving timelines.
Ikea had earlier said it invested over Rs 800 crore in the Hyderabad outlet, which includes an in-house 1000-seater restaurant.
The store was opened on August 9, 2018.
The restaurant served one million each of frozen yoghurt, veggi balls and chicken balls during the past one year, he said adding the outlet has over 3.50 lakh Ikea family membership registrations.
"We are normally attractive for the fun day out for the whole family. We know that on an average 3 to 4 people as a family visiting us (our store)) so you can say then it is more than 1 million buyers," he said.
On the upcoming Mumbai store, he said the construction work was going on there.
On the breakeven of the Hyderabad store, Betzel said they were looking at the long term commencement to India and not predicting when the operations will become profitable.
Asked about the company's plans to roll out smaller format outlets, the executive said, "we are in transformation.. We are now looking at real accessibility with online stores and different store formats."
"So we will have many more product meeting places with different formats, not stores only, but online and meeting places in the cities with big stores formats. That's how we are transforming Ikea. Because the world is changing. We also have to adapt to that."
Ikea had earlier said the Hyderabad store was the first of 25 such outlets planned to be set up in India by 2025.
In 2013, IKEA received nod from the government to invest Rs 10,500 crore in single-brand retail.
Among the exits are Chief Commercial Operations Officer Manoj Gandhi, Chief Business Officer of fashion division Gopal Asthana, and Chief Executive Officer of wholesale business Vikas Gupta - all executives of Nykaa.
New Delhi, Mar 14 (PTI) American toy and clothing retailer Toys 'R' Us is said to have shut within 24 hours a store it opened in Hyderabad to mark its second entry into India over some legal complexities with the mall owner, sources said.


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NIO has no plans to acquire other car companies
NIO CFO Feng Wei said that NIO is very confident that it can meet this year’s delivery target, which is to double to 250,000 units from 2022.
Auto News On March 22, according to surging news reports, NIO CFO Feng Wei said that NIO is very confident that it can complete this year’s delivery target, that is, to double to 250,000 vehicles on the basis of 2022. The launch of new models, the expansion of the energy supply network, and the development of assisted driving technology will all help NIO achieve this goal.
”Due to the climbing penetration of electric vehicles, the industry is expected to undergo a very deep round of consolidation. Regarding the recent price war in China’s car market, Feng Wei believes that this shows that there are too many Chinese automakers, “There are too many automakers in China now, which is almost a consensus, but we have no plans to acquire any car companies.”


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The annualized sales rate (SAAR) of the Western European auto market rose to 13.1 million units/year in December from 12.2 million units/year in November. This was the strongest performance of 2022 and was helped by a rush to register BEVs and PHEVs in some markets before government incentives changed. In terms of monthly raw registrations, December 2022 was 16.5% YoY with 1 million registered units. However, overall sales volume in 2022 was 4.1% lower than in 2021, highlighting the intensity with which supply constraints have hampered market performance.
Auto sales in Western Europe are estimated by LMC/GlobalData at 10.15 million units in 2022, down 4.1% year-on-year. The major markets all saw largely flat or declining new car sales in 2022. German car sales rose 1.1% to 2.65 million; the UK car market fell 2% to 1.61 million; the French market fell 7.8% to 1.53 million; Italy’s car market fell 9.7% to 1.32 million; and Spain’s auto market fell 5.4% to 813,000 units.
With the arrival of 2023, analysts at LMC/GlobalData expect supply constraints to ease but also warn they will continue to dictate vehicle sales as potential buyers will continue to face long waits for new vehicles.
Although underlying demand is far in excess of what OEMs can deliver (as evidenced by backlogs), demand conditions are themselves deteriorating as Western Europe enters a recessionary phase in the first half of 2023. Households continue to face pressures from higher prices and increased financing costs, which will affect their appetites to purchase large ticket items. This increases the risk that weakening demand will soon affect vehicle sales if the macroeconomic outlook deteriorates.


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Google’s search engine makes it wonderfully easy to locate stuff on the web, whether it’s in a news article, a corporate website, or a video on YouTube. But that only begins to describe Google’s ability to find information. Inside the company, engineers use several uniquely powerful tools for searching and analyzing its own massive trove of data.
One of those is Dremel, a tool that helps Google’s employees analyze data stored across thousands of machines, at unusually fast speeds. What’s more, Dremel lets the Google team to manipulate all of this data using a language very similar to SQL, short for Structured Query Language, the standard way of grabbing information from databases.
Like most of its custom-built tools, Dremel is only available inside Google. But now, the rest of the world can hack data a little more like Google does, thanks to Quest, a Dremel-like query engine created by Theo Vassilakis, one of the lead developers of Dremel at Google, and Toli Lerios, a former engineer at Facebook. The tool is one of a growing number of that seek to mimic the way web giants like Google and Facebook rapidly analyze enormous amounts of online information stored across hundreds or even thousands of machines. This includes everything from a project called Drill, from a company called MapR, to a sweeping open source platform called Spark.


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Solution Combining the Benefits of Credit and Debit Cards Selected as Winner of Sixth Annual Collaboration Event
St. Petersburg, Fla. – (Dec. 4, 2017) – Team Flaming Dragons from HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union (Honolulu, Hawaii) has been selected as the winner of KnockOut 2017, a collaboration event hosted by PSCU in September. All five members of the winning team received a $1,500 dream vacation travel voucher.
The top prize-winning idea, Creditbility, is a service that will engage current and potential credit union members by creating a card that merges the rewards of a credit card with the security of a debit card. Members of the winning team will work with PSCU to evaluate the possibility of bringing the idea to market to benefit PSCU Member-Owner credit unions and their members. PSCU would like to congratulate Team Flaming Dragons team members Gabrielle Brice-Brown, John Franklin, Jon Hanai, Rylan Kwock and Darlene Wong.
“The inspiration behind our idea was that consumers today have developed a fear of falling into debt by opening credit cards. Young consumers in particular have come to prefer using debit cards over credit cards to avoid the temptation to overspend,” said Franklin. “We think Creditbility has the potential to help consumers meet their financial goals by introducing a hybrid card service that offers the rewards of credit with the security of debit.”
This year marked the sixth consecutive time PSCU has hosted KnockOut, the goal of which is to help solve a problem in the payments industry that will enable credit unions to better serve their members. The theme for this year’s competition – “Be Brilliant” – emphasized PSCU’s goal to support, protect and optimize every transaction and interaction of its Member-Owners. The event features five-person teams that have to ideate, design and present their ideas, with each team explaining its product’s function, feasibility, industry impact, time to market, cost and ROI. KnockOut focuses on helping to market and prototype real products and services.
“We look forward to seeing the breakthrough ideas generated from KnockOut each year, and this year was no exception,” said Chuck Fagan, PSCU CEO and President. “KnockOut gives us the opportunity to collaborate with some of the best and brightest people in our industry, with a goal of developing solutions to real-world problems.”
A total of eight teams – made up of employees of PSCU and its Member-Owner Credit Unions – participated in KnockOut 2017. A panel of judges composed of representatives from PSCU, FAIRWINDS Credit Union (Orlando, Florida), First Data and Mastercard evaluated the teams’ concept submissions.
PSCU would also like to extend its congratulations to the second- and third-place teams. Second place went to Team Mayweather from PSCU for its idea around decreasing fraudulent transactions by integrating fingerprint technology into the call center. Third place went to Team Cool Name Pending from Founders Federal Credit Union (Lancaster, South Carolina) for its idea of enhancing the CURewards® program to be more enticing to millennials. Two additional awards were presented for the Best Use of Data and IoT. Team Taking Aim from PSECU (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) and Team Pineapple from PSCU were the recipients of these awards, respectively.
Established in 1977, PSCU (St. Petersburg, Fla.) is the nation’s leading credit union service organization (CUSO). The company was recognized as CUSO of the Year in 2016 by the National Association of Credit Union Service Organizations. PSCU’s products, financial services solutions and service model collectively support over 850 Owner credit unions representing more than 20 million credit, debit, prepaid, online bill payment and mobile accounts; protect over 2 billion transactions annually from fraud; and optimize credit union performance and growth. Comprehensive 24/7/365 member support is delivered through call centers located throughout the United States. For more information, visit pscu.com.


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April 9, 2018
Telecoms.com periodically invites third parties to share their views on the industry’s most pressing issues. In this piece Steve Polsky, CEO and Founder of Juvo, advocates a different approach to the twin challenges of slowing ARPU and telco innovation.
The Double Bottom Line: How Doing Good, is Good for Telco Innovation
For decades, the telecommunications industry has struggled to outpace, or even keep pace, with open market innovation. This is the same industry that economists pinpoint as the “very embodiment of stability and guaranteed returns,” according to Paul Starr, a Pulitzer Prize winning professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University. But as of late 2016, year-over-year trends show that average revenue per user (ARPU) for telcos are falling worldwide.
“In the past five years, the telecom business, has entered a period of slow decline with growth down from 4.5% to 4%, EBITDA margins down from 25% to 17%, and cash-flow margins down from 15.6% to 8%”
To reverse this trend, telcos need to rethink their business models at a fundamental level. Simply acquiring, and competing over, customers in markets where nearly 80% of people use prepaid SIMs is not the answer. Instead, telcos need to consider a more radical approach and are investing in corporate innovation initiatives to uncover new business opportunities.
Double-bottom-line ventures, companies that ‘do well by doing good’, present a hidden path forward for telcos. What these types of companies share in common, whether they be start-ups or innovation arms within Fortune 500s, is their potential to deliver good while also influencing profitability and shareholder value.
Take Cable & Wireless (C&W), a full services communications provider with five million video, data, voice, and mobile subscribers, as an example. Over a period of three years, the company deployed a dynamic lending platform that offered mobile financial services to underbanked populations in the Caribbean and Latin America. Now operating in 14 countries, the implementation has yielded a 50% reduction in C&W’s prepaid customer churn and a 10% increase in ARPU.
This model is replicable and extensible industry-wide.
The Global Need for DBL Innovation in Telco
Mobile carriers are in head-on competition with one another, particularly when attracting, engaging, and retaining prepaid users with multiple SIMs. Further driving competition for revenues are over-the-top (OTT) players that offer streaming content to consumers directly.
“If you are a telecom executive at this critical juncture, you need to make two different moves at the same time,” explains PwC Strategy’s 2017 Telecommunications Trends Report. “First, begin the task of modernizing operations. Second, redefine your strategic identity (your value proposition) for the future — specifically, what you can expect to offer customers five or 10 years from now. It may well be — perhaps it should be — that after going through this journey, your company will look very different from today’s version.”
Telcos need to focus on the basics of business; loyalty, retention, and product/market fit. Research has consistently shown that it’s less expensive to retain existing customers than acquire new ones.
Loyalty and retention are essential areas of innovation for telcos. But how can telcos compete with an open market in which people in key geographies, especially in developing nations, are switching between SIMs?
The Antithesis to Conventional Behavioural Economics
Consider the story of Jackie. She’s a mother of three and a janitor at school in Jamaica. She works hard, pays her bills on time, and is building a future for her family. But she lives with the double-edged sword of living in a cash-based society without access to lines of credit that are common in the western world. Even though she is creditworthy and earns an income, her life is very different from the routines that corporate innovation executives follow. So her purchasing habits are challenging to adapt to many economic models.
What telcos may not recognize with their forecasting models is that Jackie represents a viable customer segment. She’s:
Willing, responsible and able to pay
Likely to need credit in the moment
Earning a consistent income
Almost 80% of the world is on prepaid phones. In emerging markets, purchasing airtime and data credit is the most frequent financial transaction for the vast majority of consumers. Seen from this perspective, telcos have infrastructure that is underutilized. Why not connect supply and demand in a creative way using data science and a fresh customer experience?
DBL ventures follow the most basic concept of economics in giving people a product that would improve their lives. In this case, access to minutes and data.
What if telcos could inject tiny amounts of credit to individuals all over the world, with zero interest and zero fees? If this value proposition turns out to be a valuable business model, telcos could open up new business opportunities while also creating a pathway to entirely new services.
The Path to Deployment
Each region will have its own unique market dynamics. During times of need, governments can use phones to distribute funds, share information, and provide access to services such as electricity. Telcos will have essential roles as facilitators of these lifelines.
Until recently, this big vision was far-fetched. But as C&W’s DBL initiative shows, the jigsaw puzzle is worth time, effort, and pursuit. Here is the path that proved successful:
Study your market. Understand what products make a macro-level impact for that particular region. In 2015, C&W found that more than half of its customer base was prepaid with little loyalty or engagement. In addition, these prepaid users struggled with lack of access to credit or financial services.
Reposition existing resources. To address the needs that C&W observed, the company implemented an SMS-based, zero-balance lending solution. The process was software-driven, requiring no new investment in infrastructure.
Run a focused experiment. Begin with a pilot. Findings surfaced that predetermined prepaid usage criteria and transactions fees did not yield measurable results of significantly increasing the engagement of prepaid users.
Deploy across a wider and more diverse sample of 13 Caribbean countries. The company relied on a mix of integrations, marketing campaigns, and identity scoring algorithms to increase adoption. Event-based triggers and contextually relevant notifications enticed users to download the application at a 37% conversion rate and 24% prepaid smartphone users in the first year became active users with 93% usage.
Engage and scale. Having established product/market fit users in 13 Caribbean countries, C&W validated a 96% repayment rate and a 63% increase in customer lifetime value. Now operating in 14 countries, C&W is building upon its initial vision. In 2018, C&W will launch a pilot program to provide handset and smartphone upgrade financing. A second pilot will enable qualified customers to add cable TV services without needing to put down a deposit for equipment.
Companies can reach virtually anyone on a mobile phone today, and demands for more sophisticated services will grow. The need for innovation will rise, in tandem. As C&W’s story reveals, radical change begins with a series of small steps. Telcos are already at the centre of infrastructure. With an initial framework in place, companies can engage billions of people on an individual level and improve their lives, offering services that augment profitability as a result.
Steve Polsky is the CEO and Founder of Juvo. Steve founded Juvo with an overarching mission: to establish financial identities for the billions of people worldwide who are creditworthy, yet financially excluded. With over 20 years’ experience, Steve’s career has centred on founding, launching and managing early stage technology ventures across the mobile and consumer internet sectors where, prior to Juvo, he was most recently President and COO at Flixster/Rotten Tomatoes.
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Nikola Stock (NKLA) conquer fourth-quarter estimates and announced development on critical generation goals, while Fisker (FSR) claimed demand that is strong demand for its EV. Nikola stock and Fisker stock rose late.
Nikola Stock Earnings
Estimates: Analysts expect a loss of twenty three cents a share on nominal earnings. Thus much, Nikola’s modest product sales came by using solar installations and not from electric vehicles.
According to FintechZoom, Nikola posted a 17 cent loss per share on zero earnings. Inside Q4, Nikola created “significant progress” at its Ulm, Germany grow, with trial generation of the Tre semi truck set to start in June. It also noted success at the Coolidge of its, Ariz. site, which will begin producing the Tre later on inside the third quarter. Nikola has completed the assembly of the earliest 5 Nikola Tre prototypes. It affirmed a target to deliver the very first Nikola Tre semis to people in Q4.
Nikola’s lineup includes battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell semi trucks. It is targeting a launch of the battery-electric Nikola Tre, with 300 miles of range, in Q4. A fuel cell version belonging to the Tre, with longer range as many as 500 miles, is set following in the 2nd half of 2023. The company likewise is focusing on the launch of a fuel cell semi truck, called the Two, with up to 900 miles of range, within late 2024.
The Tre EV will be at first built in a factory inside Ulm, Germany and sooner or later in Coolidge, Ariz. Nikola set a target to significantly do the German plant by end of 2020 and also to finish the very first stage with the Arizona plant’s building by end 2021.
But plans in order to create an electrical pickup truck suffered a severe blow of November, when General Motors (GM) ditched blueprints to take an equity stake of Nikola and also to help it build the Badger. Instead, it agreed to provide fuel cells for Nikola’s commercial semi-trucks.
Inventory: Shares rose 3.7 % late Thursday right after closing down 6.8 % to 19.72 in consistent stock market trading. Nikola stock closed back below the 50-day model, cotinuing to trend lower after a drumbeat of bad news.
Chinese EV maker Li Auto (LI), that noted a surprise profit early on Thursday, fell 9.8 %. Tesla (TSLA) slumped 8.1 % right after it halted Model three generation amid the global chip shortage. Electric powertrain maker Hyliion (HYLN), which noted steep losses Tuesday, sold off 7.5 %.
Nikola Stock (NKLA) conquer fourth-quarter estimates and announced progress on key generation


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It’s what might be the next best thing. Apple has filed a patent for a vaporizer.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on Thursday published an Apple patent application for a new “vaporizer” technology. The patent application describes a “chamber body” that can take an unidentified substance that will then be “vaporized or sublimated into a vapor.”
The patent application, which was earlier discovered by Digital Trends, seems to be a heat-not-burn device that could possibly be used in the growing marijuana market. Apple has not made any claims or stated why it has filed the patent.


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According to a new Episerver global report, Amazon is expected to take up more than half of all gift sales for Holiday 2019, presenting a tough—but not impossible—challenge for any retailer that hopes to compete for market share.
The Episerver survey, “Holiday Online Shopping Trends 2019: Retailers Win with Customer Centricity,” asked 4,500 shoppers from around the world about their gift-buying preferences, revealing a heavy bias for Amazon as 42 percent of all surveyed said they would be buying “all or most” of their gifts from the retailer. Still, Episerver, self-described as a “customer-centric digital experience company,” said that still leaves another 47 percent who will buy “none or few” of their gifts from Amazon.
“It’s no secret Amazon is a leader in digital commerce, and its popularity continues to grow,” Ed Kennedy, senior director of commerce at Episerver, said in a statement. “Despite priding itself on customer-obsession, Amazon still lacks in areas like product education, inspirational content and fanatical customer service. There’s incredible opportunity for retailers to differentiate by providing customer-centric digital experiences that mirror face-to-face interactions through gift-giving suggestions, personalized messaging and a human approach to the holidays.”
That “human approach” starts during the search process, Episerver’s report explained, especially for apparel retailers. More than any other product category, apparel shoppers start their search directly on a retailer’s website. Of that group, 43 percent turn to a specific retailer first, while 30 percent start with Amazon and 29 percent begin with Google.
According to the report, retailers should capitalize on the gap Amazon has left when it comes to the site’s actual shopping experience.
“Amazon prides itself on customer obsession but when it comes to product education, inspirational content, how-to guides and fanatical customer service, they come up short,” the report noted. “Make sure your customer service team is dialed-in to serve and content teams are pumping out useful holiday guides for their websites—tactics Amazon won’t invest in.”
And Amazon can’t compete with consumers’ ongoing craving to check out product in store first. According to Episerver, as much as 25 percent of those surveyed still said in-store visits are necessary before an apparel purchase online. But since many will still be buying online, investments in a well-made, experience driven website, won’t be wasted.
Retailers should focus on optimizing site search functions by adding more synonyms to the site’s database, adding redirects for common non-product searches (like returns and store locations), pumping up popular items in the catalog and adding product recommendations to “no-search-result” pages.
“A customer-centric approach ensures shoppers are confident with purchasing items online (their preferred way to shop this holiday season) by using technology to show how an item will fit them (apparel) or fit their lives (furniture),” Episerver said in the report. “Still, some customers prefer a mixed approach to shopping between in-store and online—making click-and-collect expectations the norm with a third (31 percent) of online shoppers expecting the ability to buy online and pick up in-store.”


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Turf maintenance company announces continuation of its support of Environment Organisation
By Chris Doyle
Jacobsen and GEO (Golf Environment Organisation) will renew their partnership after celebrating a successful 10 years working alongside each other. It was announced at the BIGGA Turf Management Exhibition (BTME) in Harrogate that they would continue their dynamic relationship for years to come.
Jacobsen announced the renewal of its long-standing global partnership with GEO to keep advancing sustainability across golf.
Jacobsen are ecstatic to continue this partnership that has proven beneficial to their business and the game of golf:
“As a Founding Partner in the highly valuable work GEO undertakes, we are thrilled to be able to demonstrate 10 years of commitment to golf and sustainability, “ said Andre Andrade, director, international golf sales for Textron Specialised Vehicles Inc, which designs and manufactures Jacobsen equipment.
"As the only international supplier of turf equipment to hold the coveted ISO 14001 standard for our Environmental Management System, and as a leader in fuel efficient and hybrid machinery coupled with our efforts to prioritise recycling on-site, we are extremely proud to be able to demonstrate our commitment to the environment as well as having our name alongside GEO."
He added: "As a direct result of this we know just how important a sustainable business approach is to our customer’s reputations and profitability, as well as long term industry growth."
GEO are equally pleased to continue their relationship with Jacobsen and their partnership has went a long way in their aims to dedicate helping the golf community around the world to establish leadership in environmental enhancements:
"From the start, Jacobsen has a truly unique and outstanding leadership and commitment to support golf, and other sports and amenity sectors in this field,” said GEO CEO, Jonathan Smith."
He added: "It continually goes above and beyond, whether it’s in its own internal operations and innovation, or in education, capacity building and solutions. We are very proud to be able to represent Jacobsen as a founding partner, and look forward to continuing to drive sustainability results with it on the ground around the world of golf."
Jacobsen, a Textron Specialised Vehicles business, is a leading global manufacturer of golf cars, utility and personal transportation vehicles, professional turf-care equipment, and ground support equipment.
GEO is an international non-profit organisation dedicated to sustainability in golf that provides practical tools and expert support to help golf unlock and celebrate its social and environmental value.


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Proximity to supermarkets may not impact dietary habit RESEARCH
Proximity to supermarkets may not impact dietary habit A study published in Public Health Nutrition shows that opening full-service supermarkets in neighborhoods considered to be "food deserts" may not result in healthful dietary habits or reductions in childhood obesity.
Low-income and minority children are disproportionately affected by obesity, and children residing in low-income and minority neighborhoods are less likely to have access to healthful food options than children living in wealthier neighborhoods. Many have hoped that greater access to healthful food retail outlets could reduce the incidence of childhood obesity.
The researchers compared two neighborhoods in the Bronx in New York City:
Morrisania, where a new, government supported, full-service supermarket was placed, and Highbridge, where no new market was built. They surveyed caregivers of young children, ages 3-10, living in those neighborhoods.
Shopping and consumption information was collected from them prior to the opening of the market, five weeks after it opened, and again one year after the store opened.
The researchers analyzed 2,172 street intercept surveys and 363 dietary recalls from a sample of predominantly low-income minorities. They found that while there were small, inconsistent changes in diet over the time periods, there were no appreciable differences in availability of healthful or unhealthful foods at home, or in children's dietary intake as a result of the presence of the supermarket.
The authors point out that further research is needed to determine whether healthy food retail expansion can improve food choices of children and their families, including where best to place these stores, under what circumstances they will be successful, and with what other policies or programs they should be coupled
Vitamin D halts autoimmune diseases
The term “Rheumatology” originates from the Greek term “revma” (“current”), a derivative of the verb “reo” (“circulate”) which designates a movement towards a direction. !
Higher salt intake may increase risk of CVD in those with kidney disease
A study published in JAMA shows that high sodium intake may increase the risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).!
Dietary fiber may play important role in ‘successful aging’
A study published in The Journals of Gerontology shows that eating the right amount of dietary fiber from breads, cereals, and fruits may protect against disease and disability as we age.!
Focus on Healthy Foods, Not Avoiding 'Bad' Ones, for Heart Health
Fewer heart attacks, strokes and deaths seen among those who follow Mediterranean-style eating plan. !


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Shares of HP Inc. surged in after-hours trading Wednesday after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. disclosed that it had taken a large stake in the Silicon Valley maker of personal computers and printers.
disclosed in a late Wednesday filing that it owned 120.95 million shares of HP
after buying shares in recent days. That position is worth about $4.2 billion and represents a roughly 11% stake in the company.
The stock rose nearly 10% in after-hours trading.
“HP is committed to one of the largest share-repurchase programs (relative to market cap) within our coverage, so we think Berkshire’s involvement makes sense,” Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani wrote in a note to clients.
While he said he didn’t believe that Berkshire’s investment in HP would drive significant changes to HP’s business, he deemed the high-profile stake a “validation of HPQ’s strategy/capital return program,” noting that Berkshire began purchasing shares after HP announced plans to purchase the workplace-technologies company Poly for $3.3 billion late last month.
Berkshire’s HP stake indicates that Buffett sees value in HP’s business, though several analysts have sounded cautious lately on the market for personal computers following a pandemic-driven boom.
“Specifically, we believe PC and consumer hardware spending will be pressured as supply improves and demand normalizes after two years of above-trend growth,” Morgan Stanley’s Erik Woodring wrote in explaining his March 31 downgrades of HP and Dell Inc.
See more: Fears about end of pandemic PC boom lead to downgrades for AMD, HP and Dell, and all their stocks are falling
Don’t miss: Dell stock downgraded as Goldman Sachs joins the chorus with PC-market concerns
Shares of HP have lost 9.7% over the past three months as the S&P 500
has dropped 4.6%.


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Inductive injection tool heating technology expert Roctool is featuring its technology for rapid molding of composites and other plastic components at multiple booths during NPE, including the company's own (S15033) and those of injection machine builders KraussMaffei (W903) and Engel (W1303). The parts produced at these booths feature high gloss and no indications of weld lines or sink marks.
|This console trim part is being molded at Engel's booth (W1303) using RocTool technology.|
|RocTool is also demonstrating its tool inductive heating technology at its own booth (S15033).|
On its own stand (S15033), meanwhile, RocTool is molding an electronic box/hub that undergoes a laser texturing (etching) process (technology from +GF+) to apply decorative patterns. The component is molded from Sabic Innovative Plastics materials on a KraussMaffei KM160-380CX press. Upon removal from the mold, the part shows no sign of weld lines or sink marks according to Roctool. This reportedly demonstrates one of the strengths of RocTool's technologies, namely to be able to make attractive parts directly from the mold, thereby obviating the requirement for post-process finishing steps.
RocTool is also introducing RocTool Ready to the market at NPE, aiming to simplify access to the supplier's premium technologies, which are already reportedly well established in the market. "RocTool is proposing a new simplified commercial offer, available to large organizations and SMEs alike: a plug-and-play concept marketed within a package that includes a product feasibility study, technology license, installation and training," explains Stéphane Hersen, CEO of RocTool. Furthermore, RocTool has put an ecosystem in place which includes software vendors, injection machine manufacturers, mold makers and resin and composite material suppliers. "In other words, it is up to us to provide additional means of measuring interest in our technologies, from the simulation step, to promoting optimization of its use, and integrating each step of product development," concludes Hersen.
Processes developed by RocTool are already in use at industry leaders such as Motorola, Flextronics, Mini Cooper, and Volvo. They reportedly possess numerous advantages including reduced cycle times and enhanced quality, resulting in an overall cost reduction.