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Is SeaWorld EZPay not EZ to get out of? Jason Herman, Florida believes so. He filed a consumer fraud class action lawsuit against SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment in Florida this week, alleging the marine park automatically renewed annual passes without consumers’ consent and didn’t follow the terms as stipulated in its own contract when confronted by consumers who allege they were charged excessively. Nice. Know this song…
The SeaWorld lawsuit claims Herman, a Florida resident, purchased a one-year adult EZPay to SeaWorld in Orlando and Busch Gardens in Tampa. He anticipated his first payment of $35.40 on March 18, 2013 would be followed by 11 additional monthly charges of the same amount. However, payments continued to be charged to his credit card through to September 18, he alleges.
According to the proposed class action, Herman was later told by a SeaWorld customer service representative that the wording on the contract stated that if a pass was not paid for in less than 12 months, it would renew automatically on a month-to-month basis. Herman contends that this wording was not included in confirming emails, receipts, tickets or passes, and that his request for a refund was declined.
The lawsuit claims that two separate telephone conversations with SeaWorld customer service representatives failed to provide access to a contract with that wording. Herman found the information online at a later date.
The lawsuit further contends that despite SeaWorld’s allegedly hidden contract, the company was not authorized to automatically renew the passes. In Herman’s case, he purchased his pass on March 18, 2013, and the 11th subsequent payment was charged to his credit card on February 18, 2014 – fully paying off the cost of the annual pass in 11 months.
The lawsuit seeks to represent a class of SeaWorld customers from Florida, Texas, Virginia and California who continued to be charged for their EZpay passes after fully paying for them in less than 12 months.
California Temp Workers Getting Temporary Paperwork? According to a California woman, the temporary employment agency Career Strategies Temporary Inc., (CST), she worked for is in violation of California labor law and she’s filed a class action lawsuit against CST as a result. She alleges CST intentionally failed to provide her and at least 1,000 others with accurate wage statements. That’s handy. The only thing worse than having to do paperwork is not having the paperwork to do the paperwork with, if you follow…
Heads up—the temp worker lawsuit seeks to represent a class of CST workers who were employed in California at any time from November 1, 2013, through the present and who were similarly deprived of accurate wage statements.
So, the allegations, specifically, are that CST violated California state labor law by issuing weekly wage statements that did not include the dates of the associated pay period. “Plaintiff and each class member suffered and suffer injuries as a result of the missing pay period because a reasonable person could not promptly and easily determine the pay period from the wage statement alone without reference to other documents or information,” the complaint states.
According to the employment class action, if an employer knowingly and intentionally fails to accurately itemize a wage statement, an employee can recover the greater of actual damages or statutory fines of $50 for the first violation and $100 for each subsequent violation up to $4,000.
Offering temporary and direct-hire staffing services, California-based CST has offices in seven states. It employed Bengel as a temporary employee “during the applicable statutory period,” during which time Bengal was paid on a weekly basis, according to the complaint. Wonder if anything else will come out of the woodwork on this one…
Nissan Settlement puts the Brakes on…a defective automotive class action lawsuit it’s facing. Under the terms of the deal, Nissan North America Inc.will pay vehicle owners up to $800 each. If you’re confused as to exactly which defective automotive class action this settlement is for—cast your mind back—to a lawsuit that alleged the braking system in certain Nissan trucks and SUVs is prone to sudden failure, increasing the risk for injury and death.
The lawsuit was originally filed in April 2011 by Brandon and Erin Banks. It alleged the defective sensor posed a serious safety threat to consumers because it controls critical safety aspects of braking and was prone to failure. The defect caused drivers to be suddenly unable to stop their vehicles within a reasonably safe time and distance, or at all.
The complaint states the automaker knew about the defect but hid it from consumers “to [Nissan’s] significant financial gain.”
So to get to the deal, the proposed Nissan settlement terms would see current and former owners of approximately 350,000 2004-2008 Nissan Titans, Armadas and Infiniti QX56 vehicles in the US be able to file claims seeking reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses they incurred in replacing or repairing a defective delta stroke sensor, which is a component of the faulty braking system.
According to court documents, the plaintiffs asked the court to certify a proposed nationwide class of consumers who own or formerly owned the affected vehicles and were forced to replace the faulty sensor. Plaintiffs with personal injury claims relating to the affected vehicles are excluded from the class.
Nissan will begin reimbursement at $20 for vehicle owners who had in excess of 120,000 miles at the time of the repair. Reimbursement will go up to $800 for vehicles that had less than 48,000 miles at the time of repair.
According to the settlement motions, Nissan will distribute notices to the class members via direct mail and to addresses obtained through Nissan or public records utilizing vehicle identification numbers, the motion says. Class members will be directed to a website and a toll-free number maintained by the settlement administrator that will provide information concerning the settlement, including, if requested, a copy of the long form notice.
The case is Banks et al v. Nissan North America, Inc. et al, case number 4:11-cv-02022, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Hokee Dokee—That’s a wrap folks…Time to adjourn for the week. Have a good one!
Bad, Bad Apple! Again! Really? This week we report an antitrust class action lawsuit filed by three individuals who allege Apple violated federal and state laws by issuing software updates in 2006 for its iPod that prevented iPods from playing songs not purchased on iTunes.
At the risk of grossly oversimplifying the charges, the Apple lawsuit claims that the software updates caused iPod prices to be higher than they otherwise would have been.
The Court in charge of the case is the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and the case is known as In re Apple iPod iTunes Antitrust Litigation, C-05-00037-JW.
The Court decided that everyone who fits the following description is a Class Member: All persons or entities in the United States (excluding federal, state and local governmental entities, Apple, its directors, officers and members of their families) who purchased one of the iPod models listed below directly from Apple between September 12, 2006 and March 31, 2009 (“Class Period”). A list of iPod models included in the class can be found here.
We’re losing count of the number of class action lawsuits filed against the technology giant. The Apple allegations have included price fixing, defective products (MacBook Pros, iPhones, iPods), personal data collection, download fees and unpaid overtime, among others. In fact, just last week we reported a proposed $450 million settlement of an antitrust class action against Apple over ebook pricing.
You know, it may just be time to stop drinking the KoolAid—sorry—juice.
Traumatic Brain Injury Trickle-Down…This is interesting—you had to know it was coming. It started with the pros, and now it’s at the high school level. A football concussion and brain injury class action lawsuit has been filed against an Illinois high school association claiming a former football player at one of its member schools developed health problems, including memory loss, because of injuries allegedly sustained as a result of playing high school football.
Filed in Illinois state court by Daniel Bukal, the Illinois football lawsuit claims Bukal played for the Notre Dame College Prep school for four years until 2003. The lawsuit claims that during that time the association failed to put in place policies that would have minimized the kind of concussion injuries Bukal allegedly sustained as a result of playing football. By way of example, the lawsuit claims the association had no policies for schools to follow regarding when to allow injured players to return to the field.
“It is now widely understood and acknowledged that concussions pose serious risks to participants in contact sports, and especially football,” Bukal states in his lawsuit. “Among those risks are brain trauma and potentially debilitating long-term brain injuries. But if the problem of concussions in sports is a crisis, then it would be accurate to call the particular problem of concussions in high school sports an epidemic.”
The lawsuit alleges that high school football players, who are typically between 14 and 19 years of age, are at a higher risk for lasting injuries as a result of physical trauma sustained during football games and practices, because their brains are still developing.
According to the lawsuit, the Illinois high school association does not have sufficient safety protocols in place to protect players against such injuries. The lawsuit also claims that the association does not require schools to conduct any baseline testing for concussions before and during the season.
Additionally, the lawsuit states that the Illinois high school association does not require any medical professionals to be present at games to monitor the safety of players.
Bukal, who has been a team captain and named an offensive MVP during his time on the team, said he continues to suffer the effects of the multiple concussions he sustained during his four years period as a player. According to the lawsuit, Bukal still experiences migraine headaches and “bouts of light-headedness.”
The case is Daniel Bukal v. Illinois High School Association, in the Circuit Court of Cook County Illinois. The case number could not immediately be identified Monday.
Not such a sweet deal for Cargill. The agribusiness giant got its knuckles wrapped for not telling the truth, and has agreed to pony up $6.1 million this week, as settlement of a consumer fraud class action. The allegations are that it falsely marketed its Truvia sweetener as being natural when it actually contains largely synthetic and chemically produced ingredients. You shouldn’t be surprised.
According to the settlement terms, the company will establish a $6.1 million fund which will cover attorney’s fees, incentive fess of $2,000 per named plaintiff and distribution among a nationwide class who purchased any of the Truvia products during a six-year period that ended in July. Eligible class members who file claims will be entitled to receive up to $45 in cash or $90 in vouchers.
Additionally, as part of the settlement, Cargill will make certain label changes that will clarify its “Nature’s Calorie-Free Sweetener” and “Truvia Natural Sweetener provides the same sweetness as two teaspoons of sugar” statements. Further it, will add language directing consumers to a new website with frequently asked questions, and update its Truvia website to better explain to consumers the manufacturing processes involved.
The lawsuit was originally filed in July 2013 alleging that in 2008 Cargill teamed up with Coca-Cola (what’s your first clue) to develop a purportedly natural sweetener that would capitalize on consumers’ desire for a health conscious, non-caloric alternative sweetener. The plaintiffs alleged the labelling and marketing campaign the company developed was deceitful, making consumers believe that Truvia is a natural sweetener made primarily from the stevia plant. Not so, apparently.
According to the complaint, the stevia-derived ingredient, Rebaudioside A, comprises only 1 percent of Truvia and is a highly chemically processed and purified form of stevia leaf extract. The main component of Truvia, erythritol, is synthetically fabricated. Feeling good?
The plaintiffs alleged that through this misleading advertising, the defendants were able to charge approximately 300 percent more per packet than Sweet ‘N Low and 67 percent more per packet than Splenda. That in itself is enough to give you heart failure!
The case is Denise Howerton, Erin Calderon and Ruth Pasarell, Individually and on Behalf of All Others Similarly Situated vs. Cargill Inc., case number 1:13-cv-00336, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii.
Hokee Dokee—Time to adjourn for the week. Have a good one!
Uber Drivers being taken for a ride? Maybe… Uber Technologies got slapped with a class action filed by a Boston cabdriver who alleges the mobile app-based car service routinely violates the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by using background checks without applicants’ knowledge or authorization to make hiring decisions.
Filed on behalf of lead plaintiff Abdul Mohamed, the Uber class action claims that by failing to obtain his authorization for a background check and not disclosing that the company would check his background when he applied for a job as an “Uber X” driver, Uber, its wholly-owned subsidiary Rasier LLC and their employment screening agency Hirease LLC knowingly violated fair credit reporting laws in Massachusetts and California in addition to the FCRA.
The lawsuit also claims that Uber violates the FCRA and state credit reporting laws by using background checks in hiring decisions without providing applicants with copies of their reports.
“In direct violation of the FCRA [and state laws], whenever adverse action is taken against an applicant on the basis of information disclosed on a consumer report, the defendants fail to afford the applicants the procedural safeguards mandated by law… including by failing to provide pre-adverse action notices and a reasonable opportunity to dispute information in such reports before taking adverse action,” the complaint states.
According to the Uber lawsuit, Mohamed applied to be an Uber X driver in September, after having previously worked for Uber as an “Uber Black” driver using his own car. Uber told him he must purchase a new car for the position, which he did at a cost of $25,000. Mohamed then began working as an Uber X driver in early October. However, on October 28, Mohamed received an email from Hirease stating that his contract with Rasier was terminated because of information obtained through a consumer reporting agency, the complaint states.
“[Uber and Rasier] terminated Plaintiff because Hirease’s consumer report concerning Plaintiff indicated he had a minor criminal record that, in fact, stems from his seven children receiving much-needed Medicaid benefits,” the lawsuit alleges. “[Uber] termination of Plaintiff deprived him of his livelihood and left him without an alternative means of providing for his family, including his seven children.” Mohamed alleges that despite an email stating he had received a copy of his consumer reports and rights under the FRCA, he did not receive the described materials.
Further, the lawsuit states that Mohamed did not have an opportunity to review the information on his consumer report and discuss it with Uber and Rasier.
As part of its employment screening services, Hirease provides a package that automatically generates pre-adverse action and adverse action notices to an applicant, along with a copy of the consumer report, whenever Hirease makes an adverse hiring decision based on pre-determined criteria.
“Consumer reporting agencies routinely provide a similar service and many employers purchase it,” the lawsuit states. “Uber and Rasier could have easily and cost-effectively complied with the mandates of the FCRA, CCRAA, and MCRA by purchasing such services, but failed to do so.”
The case is Mohamed v. Uber Technologies Inc et al., case number 3:14-cv-05200, in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California.
Dollar General Can’t Cheap Out on Its Staff. An $8.3 million settlement agreement has been approved by a federal judge in Alabama, potentially ending an unpaid overtime class action lawsuit pending against Dollar General. The Dollar General lawsuit alleged the discount retailer failed to properly pay store managers for overtime, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The lawsuit dates back to 2006.
Specific allegations against Dollar General and its subsidiaries and sister companies, are that they required the store managers to work as much as 90 hours per week and misclassified them a exempt from overtime, even though they generally spent less than 10 hours weekly performing managerial duties. The settlement will cover some 2,722 individual claims.
According to the complaint, most of the store managers’ work hours involved non-managerial tasks such as operating cash registers. As a result, Dollar General allegedly short-changed the employees on overtime pay, according to the suit. Dollar General denied that it had misclassified the workers.
U.S. District Judge L. Scott Coogler granted approval of the settlement stating “The court finds that: the amended settlement agreement is fair; it reflects reasonable compromises of issues actually in dispute; the settlement was reached in an adversarial context in which the plaintiffs were represented by competent and experienced counsel; and the totality of the proposed settlement is fair and reasonable.”
The case is Richter v. Dolgencorp Inc. et al., case number 7:06-cv-01537, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
Settlement Takes a Bite out of Apple…Final approval of a $450 settlement has been granted ending an antitrust class action lawsuit against Apple Inc. The lawsuit alleged that Apple conspired publishers to raise e-book prices. While all the publishers settled their claims, only Apple went to trial.
The lawsuit was brought by the US Department of Justice and 33 states and claimed that in 2010 Apple signed distribution deals with five top publishers, namely Simon & Schuster Inc., Penguin Group USA, Macmillan Publishers USA, Hachette Book Group Inc. and HarperCollins Publishers LLC, that raised the prices for digital books from $9.99 to as much as $14.99. This resulted in consumers paying hundreds of millions of dollars. In July 2013, Judge Denise Cote ruled that Apple had “played a central role in facilitating and executing” the conspiracy. The company has since appealed that decision to the Second Circuit.
Under the terms of the settlement, consumers will receive $400 million. According to court documents, a claims administrator and e-book retailers have sent emails or postcards to almost 23 million addresses of people eligible to receive compensation.
The settlement contains a provision allowing Apple to pay $50 million to consumers and $10 million each to the states and class counsel if Judge Cote’s 2013 decision finding Apple liable is vacated and remanded on appeal or reversed and remanded with instructions for reconsideration or a new trial. If the decision is simply reversed, Apply will pay nothing.
The cases are In re: Electronic Books Antitrust Litigation, case number 1:11-md-02293, and State of Texas et al. v. Penguin Group (USA) Inc. et al., case number 1:12-cv-03394, both in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Hokee Dokee—Time to adjourn for the week. Happy Thanksgiving!! Gobble Gobble!
Tipsy TIPMs? Topping the list this week? Another defective automotive class action lawsuit—surprise, surprise. Never would have guessed, right?
This one was filed in federal court against Chrysler Group LLC. The lawsuit seeks to hold the Big Three automobile maker accountable for economic losses suffered by owners and passengers of Chrysler cars and trucks that stalled, caught fire or sustained other potentially life-endangering malfunctions due to a faulty onboard computer.
The Chrysler lawsuit alleges that Chrysler knew about and fraudulently concealed the defectiveness of its Totally Integrated Power Module—TIPM, for short. Chrysler sought as far back as 2005 to hide the magnitude of the TIPM defect from consumers and initiated only limited vehicle recalls, the complaint alleges.
Despite knowing about the defect, Chrysler continued installing faulty TIPMs in vehicles until the 2014 model year, according to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The TIPM is an integral component of many Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep models on the road today, the device controls and distributes power to all of a vehicle’s electrical functions. Prone to sudden failure, a vehicle’s TIPM poses a serious safety issue, placing the driver and passengers at risk of harm, the complaint indicates.
A failed TIPM causes malfunctioning of airbags, headlights, brakes, horns, wipers, windows, door locks and other components that rely on electrical functions.Worse, a failed TIPM can cause a vehicle’s engine to shut down unexpectedly while driving at high speeds.
“Millions of consumers who have bought into this brand have suffered harm because of Chrysler and its faulty Totally Integrated Power Module,” the complaint alleges.
Owners of defective TIPM-equipped Chrysler vehicles suffer economic losses in part because the device is expensive to replace, costing upward of $1,000. Also, because of the sheer number of vehicles requiring a new TIPM, consumers are forced to make do without their vehicles for many days and even weeks while their vehicles sit in the shop and wait for a replacement TIPM to be shipped. Adding insult to injury, the defect caused many motorists to incur unnecessary costs to replace non-defective parts that malfunctioned because of the faulty TIPM.
Ugly Side of Beauty Biz? Sephora USA Inc. is facing a proposed discrimination class action lawsuit. Filed in New York federal court, the discrimination lawsuit claims the company deactivated thousands of Asian customers’ accounts, allegedly motivated by a racist belief that they were buying discounted beauty products in bulk and reselling them for profit.
Brought by four women of Chinese descent, the discrimination class action claims Sephora shut down Asian users’ accounts after its site crashed on November 6, due to a surge in web traffic resulting from a 20 percent-off sale promotion. According to Sephora, reselling of its products is pervasive. The company said it blocked some North American and international customer accounts for this reason.
According to the plaintiffs, the only accounts that were deactivated were those that used Chinese web domains or had names that Sephora perceived as being of Asian origin. A plaintiffs’ attorney said an investigation revealed that only users who fell into those two categories had their accounts blocked.
According to the lawsuit, the four named plaintiffs live in New York, Philadelphia, and Columbus, Ohio, and were all members of Sephora’s ‘Beauty Insider’ program. The program gives customers who spend certain amounts on the company’s products access to discounts and other promotions. The points the women accumulated by buying Sephora products, and which give access to additional discounts and special gifts, have been lost, according to the plaintiffs’ attorneys. Sephora alleges it only went ahead with the deactivations after it “identified certain entities who take advantage of promotional opportunities to purchase products in large volume on our website and resell them through other channels.”
Attorneys for the plaintiffs said that instead of deactivating accounts, Sephora could have addressed the resale issue by limiting the number of products a single customer could purchase or capping the amount of money they could spend. Sounds sensible.
The named plaintiffs seek to represent a class of Sephora customers who were part of the Beauty Insider program who either are or are perceived as being of Chinese or Asian ethnicity and had their accounts blocked or deactivated following the website crash. The potential class is expected to be in the thousands.
The case is Xiao Xiao et al., v. Sephora USA Inc. et al., case number 14-cv-9181, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Boston Scientific Bellwether Results… A jury has awarded $18.5 million against Boston Scientific Corp in settlement of transvaginal mesh litigation brought by four women who alleged the implanted medical device left them with nerve damage, infections and pain during sex.
The trial was heard by a federal jury in West Virginia and is the second verdict against the company over defective vaginal slings. Last week a federal jury in Florida issued a $26.7 million verdict against Boston Scientific for providing insufficient warnings about the risks of its Pinnacle mesh device.
The four women in the West Virginia case sued Boston Scientific over the defective Obtryx transvaginal sling. “In these cases, the jurors clearly understood that Boston Scientific moved too quickly in bringing its product to market, and that it used inappropriate materials while at the same time failing to warn doctors and patients about the risks involved,” said on the of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs. Each of the women will receive $1 million in punitive damages under the terms of the settlement.
The multidistrict litigation being heard in Miami, also involved four women who alleged suffering and injury after having the sling implanted. It was the first federal bellwether trial against Boston Scientific, one of seven manufacturers of pelvic mesh that face about 60,000 lawsuits across the country.
Transvaginal Mesh and Transvaginal Slings are medical devices that are surgically implanted to treat Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP) and/or Stress Urinary Incontinence(SUI).
Hokee Dokee—Time to adjourn for the week. Have a fab weekend–See you at the bar!
Sour Apples? Apple found itself on the end of yet another defective products class action lawsuit this week over allegations that the MacBook Pro series of laptop computers are defectively designed, causing the computers to malfunction.
Filed by Los Angeles resident Armen Soudijan, the Apple MacBook lawsuit claims that Soudijan purchased a MacBook Pro laptop in 2013, which came “with a defective graphics processing unit and/or defective graphics card implementation.” Specifically, the lawsuit claims that the defect “breaks the computer screen, causes computer freezes, crashes, and ultimately renders the laptop computers unusable.”
In the complaint Soudijan alleges “he was subjecting the laptop to normal use, including use of video processing, when he experienced a range of screen malfunctions, freezes, and ultimately crashes….The frequency and severity of the problem continued and increased. ”
According to the lawsuit, Soudijan’s MacBook Pro belongs to a line of Apple laptops released in 2011, which includes the 13 inch, 15 inch, and 17 inch screens. “Each of these products is designed, manufactured, marketed, sold, and built with a similar graphic processing unit and graphics processing card implementation and design, which is flawed and defective and causes the machine to unreasonably fail,” the lawsuit claims.
“Symptoms of failure include, but are not limited to, lines on the screen, garbled text, colored lines, rendering of the screen useless, freezes, shutdowns, and crashes, including data loss and full hardware malfunction,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit goes on to claim that the problems associated with the MacBook Pro have been reported by numerous customers through online and print forums, and that people experience these problems shortly after purchasing their Apple computers. The lawsuit further claims that “Apple is aware of the issue and had not take[n] adequate steps to remedy the situation either through warranty claims, recalls, or otherwise.”
The lawsuit against Apple in this MacBook Pro lawsuit cites violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law, breach of implied warranty, breach of express warranty, and unjust enrichment, and is seeking damages and injunctive relief, and prevention ofApple from selling defective products.
The Defective MacBook Pro Class Action Lawsuit is Soudjian v. Apple Inc., Case No. BC562621, in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles.
What was that about Accountability? At Charles Schwab & Co., they say it exists. But…yet another unpaid overtime class action was settled this week—this one filed by financial consultants who allege they were misclassified and subsequently denied overtime by Charles Schwab & Co.
A $3.8 million settlement has been approved, potentially ending claims that Charles Schwab & Co violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by classifying its international CDT financial consultants and associate financial consultants as exempt from overtime pay. They are responsible for cross-selling financial products to existing brokerage and banking customers.
According to the complaint, the consultants alleged that they did not fall under any federal or California exemptions to overtime laws. They allege that they were encouraged by the defendant “to work beyond their scheduled shifts without compensation, failing to allow them to record overtime hours they worked and failing to compensate them for overtime hours they worked,” according to the complaint.
Charles Schwab agreed to settle the complaint just days after it was filed. According to the terms of the settlement two thirds of the funds will be distributed among hundreds of employees working as financial consultants in Charles Schwab call centers around the country. The settlement covers work performed between November 2009 and February 2014, or in the case of the international consultants, between November 2010 and February 2014.
Named plaintiffs Dana Aboud, William Hicks, Michael Porowski and Albert Schweizer will each receive $7,500 as compensation for their part in the unpaid overtime class action.
The case is Aboud et al. v. Charles Schwab & Co. Inc., case number 1:14-cv-02712, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Driving checks to the banks. A $53 million settlement has been reached in a consumer fraud class action lawsuit pending against Hertz Corp, and two Nevada airports brought by plaintiffs who alleged they were unlawfully charged undisclosed fees.
The Hertz settlement received final approval on October 30th, and contains $43.2 million restitution for Hertz customers who were billed for “airport concession recovery fees” at airports in Reno or Las Vegas between October 2003 and September 2009. Way to go!
The back story—the lawsuit was filed by plaintiffs Janet Sobel and Daniel Dugan, alleging Hertz violated a Nevada Revised Statute that requires car rental firms to include all charges in the rates they advertise in order to make rate comparisons reliable for those looking for the best deal. Specifically, Hertz allegedly tacked on a recovery fee separately from the rate it quoted its customers. The complaint stated that Hertz used that extra fee to pass along to consumers an assessment imposed on the company by the airports, which charge Hertz and other rental car firms a percentage of their gross revenues for the right to operate on site.
Hokee Dokee- Time to adjourn for the week. Have a fab weekend–See you at the bar!


text: The number of women-owned businesses in the U.S. increased 103% over the last 12 years. Employment generated from these firms also grew at an impressive rate of 320%, and sales soared 436% according to a recent report from the National Foundation for Women Business Owners (NFWBO). The report, 1999 Facts on Women-Owned Businesses: Trends in the U.S. and the 50 States, revealed that from 1992 to 1999, the greatest growth in the number of women-owned firms blossomed in areas such as construction, agriculture, and manufacturing. In fact, the 1999 estimated sales from women-owned manufacturing firms is expected to soar past the trillion-dollar mark -- $1,011,287,500,000 to be exact (a 176.9% increase from 1992). The NFWBO also estimates nearly 300,000 women-owned manufacturing firms will employ 5.2 million workers (increases of 53.7% and 124.1% respectively from 1992 figures.) The NFWBO used modeling of 1987 to 1996 data to arrive at the 1999 numbers. For more information, or to order the report, call the NFWBO at 301/495-4975.

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“Aki ukipata mahali si uniokolee, siku hizi hii place inakuanga imetulia, sana sana weekdays. Hakuna biashara.”
‘If you find a place where they are looking for new hires please let me know. These days this club is normally quiet. Especially on weekdays.’
These were sentiments shared by Jane*. She works in one of Nairobi’s populous clubs.
I bumped into Jane on a Wednesday night. She works at the club, as a bathroom attendant.
Since that day was not particularly busy, Jane decided to take a nap, quite literally sleeping on the job.
Upon asking her why she was napping during work hours, Jane explained to me how business at the club hadn’t been particularly booming.
“On weekdays, a club is lucky to get more than 10 people coming in. Fridays are still the most popular days for club-goers, but the numbers have reduced,” she said.
After visiting a few more clubs in the CBD on random days of the week, it was clear the club business hasn’t been doing too well, with only a handful of people on a given weekday.
The hype and allure of Nairobi CBD clubs seems to be in a downward spiral evidenced by the recent closure of the popular Tribeka.
Dennis Kimani, a club patron I met on one of the nights out said most club-goers are opting to drink closer to home due to the convenience.
“Most guys prefer sipping either at home or close to their residence due to alcoblow so more popular clubs are coming up around residential areas,” he said.
His sentiments were echoed by Pubs Entertainment and Restaurants Association of Kenya (Perak) executive officer Eunice Ogea adding that leasing space and rent in the CBD is much higher driving club-owners to open joints closer to home.
Tough regulations governing the industry such as the Tobacco law which require one to have a separate smoking zone and the lack of sufficient parking space in the CBD has seen club-owners fleeing from the scene for a more business conducive environment.
This, while restaurants and eateries in the Central Business District have been popping up at every corner over the past year.
Where there was once Club Tacos, later revamped into Club Gravity, there now stands Pronto Restaurant.
What was once Club Fahrenheit along Kimathi street, is now Java House alongside Kukito, another urban eatery. Clearly, the club was unable to bring on the heat.
The growth of urban eateries seems to have been fast-tracked by the growing middle class which would rather eat out than prepare a meal at home.
“Most of the investors in the industry are concentrating on opening restaurants compared to fast food joints, where their target market is the working-class people,” Ogea said.
The Jumia Food Index released in December shows Kenya’s growing middle class are leaning more towards junk food curtailed by the convenience of dialing for delivery.
This has, in turn, accelerated the growth of food delivery across the city, expected to rise 50 per cent this year.
The Index showed that chicken, pizza and burgers top the foods ordered by residents in middle-income estates in Nairobi, Mombasa, and Nakuru.
According to the report, Nairobi’s Kilimani, Kileleshwa and Ngong Road led in the number of delivery orders while residents of Nyali, City Mall and Mamba Village ordered the most in Mombasa.
In Nakuru, people residing in middle-income areas of CBD, Milimani, and Naka ordered.
Needless to say, the allure of eating out is reasonably high in Nairobi’s Central Business District. Upon stepping into Kilimanjaro Jamia located along Kimathi street, it is clear that the restaurant business is abuzz with activity.
Business has been booming so much so that the eatery, which sits right next to Java House, is packed to capacity, locking out a number of hungry customers. This saw the fast-rising hotel chain owned by Haji Yasin open a new branch along Banda Street to meet growing demand.
This has in turn seen increased competition for food revelers along the mosque area, with the recent opening of the Indo-Arab cuisine restaurant Beirut. Not to mention the already flourishing Al-Yusra.
Yasin has slowly been building the restaurant chain, with a third outlet in Eastleigh.
FOOD FOR LIKES
Yasin is not the only one capitalizing on Nairobi’s eating out culture with a number of other outlets cropping up in the CBD.
In the age of Instagram, restaurant owners have upped their anti to meet customers’ needs by creating eye-catching spaces coupled with tantalising dishes to increase footfall.
This is evident in the vibrant atmosphere achieved through careful curation of interior design and decor.
“There is renewed desire for Nairobians to experience different eating ambiance, service and food offered in the outlets,” Ogea said.
She added that operators were now fully embracing the e-marketing opportunity and targeting domestic tourists unlike previously where most outlets used to target international tourists.
More often than not, you will find customers taking pictures of the food they order with just as much focus on the surrounding. All in the name of getting a gram (Instagram) worthy photo.
“I have made it my mission to take myself out at least once a month so I can experience all these new spaces and different cuisines,” Carol Wangu, one of the diners I spoke to said.
Lifestyle and food blogger Francisca Wawira told the Star, there had been a significant shift in Kenya’s restaurant scene with more people, especially Millenials adopting eating out culture.
“Most people now want to savor experiences these new spaces offer along with the food,” she said.
While it may appear that the majority of eateries coming up in the CBD are Muslim-owned businesses, Ogea said challenges being experienced by hospitality operators cut across the industry despite nearness to the Mosque.
“Most clubs liquor license allows them to operate from 5 pm to 3am if you have noticed most clubs start filling up around 7/8 pm and at this time the Mosques are barely occupied,” she said.


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The user-friendly platform offers detailed analyses of professional moving companies around the country
LOS ANGELES, July 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Eugene Tolk, founder and CEO of Verified Movers, has announced the launch of an online platform designed to help users find the right company for their long-distance moving needs.
To learn more about Verified Movers and check out the user-friendly website, please visit https://verifiedmovers.com/.
Having to pack up a home and relocate to a new city or state is overwhelming. Finding the right company to help with the process requires a lot of research and most homeowners don't have the time to take that on.
That's why Tolk created and launched the Verified Movers platform, he said. Verified Movers was launched to provide people with detailed analysis of professional long-distance movers across the country.
"We want to reduce the potential risks associated with hiring a moving company," Tolk said. "The best way to do that was to help homeowners easily find and identify potentially bad moving companies."
On the Verified Movers platform, users can explore publicly listed, reviewed companies, Tolk said. Moving companies are not able to pay to have any reviews removed from the platform.
"There's a thorough vetting process for any company listed on the site," said Tolk. "We don't allow companies to manipulate or inform reviews. We want visitors to be empowered to make their own choices based on customer reviews."
Visitors to the site can either search for long-distance moving companies by state or they can enter in the details of their upcoming move and get a list of recommended companies based on that data, Tolk said.
"We pride ourselves on providing recommendations for those moving companies that truly stand out with the top-quality services and customer support they offer," he added.
About Verified Movers:
Verified Movers is a trusted review platform that publishes reviews, customer testimonials and experiences with moving companies. The platform offers the option to both research and share reviews for different professional movers country-wide. To learn more, please visit https://verifiedmovers.com/.
View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/verified-movers-helps-with-cross-country-moving-through-reliable-review-platform-301341712.html
SOURCE Verified Movers


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The impact of the alarming surge of inflation on businesses, and the consequent need to protect cash flow and profitability, lies at the heart of our latest survey in the USMCA.
The 2022 edition of the Atradius Payment Practices Barometer survey findings for the USMCA region is a valuable opportunity to hear directly from companies about how their business operations are coping with the disruptive impacts of the current challenging economic and trading circumstances.
Topics covered include: payment terms set for business-to-business (B2B) customers, the average time it takes to turn overdue B2B invoices into cash, the impact of late or non-payment on the business, and expected challenges to profitability during the coming months.
The survey questionnaire was completed by businesses across many markets in the USMCA region (Canada, Mexico and the US) during Q2 2022. Responses given by companies polled are reported in the Atradius Payment Practices Barometer for the USMCA - June 2022 edition.
Key takeaways from the report
The impact of the alarming surge of inflation on businesses, and the consequent need to take measures to protect their profitability and viability, lies at the heart of the results of the latest Payment Practices Barometer survey conducted by global credit insurer Atradius among companies in Canada, Mexico and the United States (USMCA).
Several factors like sharply rising energy prices, and the severe instability caused by geopolitical unrest, have sent the global inflation figure soaring to a level not seen for decades.This has prompted immense concern for businesses worldwide amid fears it will increase the risk of B2B customers defaulting on payment of invoices. This is expected to pose a significant threat to profitability and, in the worst-case scenario, a danger of being pushed out of business completely.
The Atradius Payment Practices Barometer survey shows that companies in the USMCA region addressed this concern by greatly enhancing their management of credit risk arising from trading on credit with their B2B customers. USMCA companies that opted for managing the issue in-house told us that the primary method used was to make more regular credit checks of customers to detect any warning sign of likely default on payments.
Key survey findings for the USMCA
For further insights into the overall survey findings in each of the markets surveyed in the USMCA, please refer to the dedicated reports that form the 2022 edition of the Atradius Payment Practices Barometer for the region, available for download on this website.
Reports available on this website (click on the link to get to the specific report):
- Canada: business alert to dangers of B2B customer payment default
- Mexico: rising bad debt levels
- US: DSO worries prompt strategic credit management
Overview of B2B payment practices in the USMCA - By industry
A detailed overview of the B2B payment practices by industry in each of the markets surveyed in the USMCA region is contained in the market reports that form the 2022 edition of the Atradius Payment Practices Barometer for the USMCA.
Industries covered in each market report:
- Canada: Chemicals/Pharma, Steel/Metals, and Services
- Mexico: Agri/food, Chemicals/Pharma, and Steel/Metals
- US: Agri/food, Chemicals/Pharma, Electronics/ICT, and Steel/Metals


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As promised earlier in the month, cross-play has arrived in Borderlands 3. The arrival of cross-play obviously means that people can play together regardless of their platform, but that’s only true for most Borderlands 3 players. Unfortunately, it looks like those on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 are indeed being left out in the cold.
Of course, we had some indication that this would happen. Late last month, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford took to Twitter to announce that while Borderlands 3 would be getting cross-play, the update would not be coming to PlayStation consoles. “Good News: An update for Borderlands 3 has been prepared for release that includes full crossplay support across all platforms,” Pitchford said. “Bad News: For certification, we have been required by the publisher to remove crossplay support for PlayStation consoles.”
While Pitchford’s tweet seems to suggest that 2K Games was behind the decision to exclude PlayStation consoles, we’re still not entirely clear on what led to cross-play for PlayStation 4 and 5 being dropped. Unfortunately, Sony Interactive Entertainment boss Jim Ryan wasn’t able to shed any light on that in a recent interview either, despite stating Sony’s commitment to supporting cross-play in PlayStation games.
In any case, cross-play is live now in the Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Mac, PC, and Stadia versions of Borderlands 3. Cross-play is built using SHiFT matchmaking, which means that you’ll need to create a Cross-play Display Name if you want to participate (something you’ll be prompted to do the next time you log into the game). Other than that, cross-play in Borderlands 3 seems pretty straightforward.
Along with the cross-play update, Gearbox has also brought back the Revenge of the Cartels event, which will once again have you hunting down Cartel Operatives and completing challenges for cosmetics. Gearbox has also increased the Borderlands 3 level cap to 72, granting players a total of 70 skill points. The update also adds an option to turn on any of the three seasonal events (Bloody Harvest, Broken Hearts Day, and Revenge of the Cartels) whenever you want. More on the events coming along with this update can be found on the Borderlands website.


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Ministers met to discuss several factors, including the possibility of increasing direct flights between the two nations
At the recent opening of the Israeli Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, UAE Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and SMEs Dr Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi met with the Israeli Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov to discuss growing business opportunities across priority sectors, accelerating non-oil trade exchanges and diversifying bilateral investments, post-pandemic.
High on the agenda was increasing the number of direct flights between the UAE and Israel in an effort to foster increased co-operation in the tourism sector.
During the meeting, Al Falasi commented: “The UAE-Israeli relations are steadily growing and we’re determined to further develop them over the coming period.
“The UAE’s tourist and hotel establishments have secured high occupancy rates over the past period, overtaking 10 of the world’s most-visited tourist destinations. An achievement that would not have been made, but for the efforts at the country level to stamp out the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Al Falasi also noted that Expo 2020 Dubai represents a valuable opportunity for the Israeli businesses to benefit from the opportunities up for grabs during the global fair, remarking that non-oil trade exchanges between the two nations amounted to $700 million since the signing of the Abraham Accords Peace Agreement.
Razvozov added: “On the occasion of the first anniversary of signing the Abraham Accords Peace Agreement, we affirm the impressive success achieved over the past period by the two nations especially at the tourist level.
“Despite the movement restrictions associated with the pandemic, the tourist exchanges between the two nations witnessed significant momentum, with around 250,000 Israeli tourists having visited the UAE over the past period. And we expect co-operation in this field to further grow over the coming period.
For more information on Expo Dubai 2020, visit www.expo2020dubai.com


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In the past few years, we've noticed that biotech products like TKIs are taking market share from chemo products and espcecially hormone therapies. This trend was reported on in the Oncology Report, citing Kalorama's market estimate by analyst Melissa Elder.
Of course it should be clear that pricing is part of the story behind revenue growth of biological approaches to cancer. Treatments for Avastin or Herceptin can add up to scores of thousands of dollars. Still, the success of these products commerically does indicate increasing effectiveness and acceptance by government agencies, payors, providers and patients.


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WROUTE INC. LAUNCHED FREQUENT ALL-ELECTRIC PASSENGER SERVICE BETWEEN WATERLOO REGION AND GUELPH.
Kitchener, ON – With transportation a key factor in some of the world’s most entrenched social and environmental challenges, newly launched local start up Wroute Inc. has announced its commitment to addressing the region’s own transportation challenges. The first offering from Wroute is a service for up to six passengers at a time, between Kitchener’s Fairview Park Mall and Guelph Central Station.
NEW TESLA-POWERED PASSENGER SERVICE OFFERS TRIPS FROM KITCHENER TO GUELPH
SAM NABI- OCTOBER 3, 2018
Every day, people take nearly 60,000 trips between Guelph and Waterloo Region. Most of them drive alone.
Improving travel to and from Guelph has been a long-standing challenge. Highway 7 is currently being expanded to four lanes, although that could attract even more vehicle traffic to the corridor, worsening congestion.
NEW ALL-ELECTRIC PASSENGER SERVICE TO CONNECT WATERLOO REGION AND GUELPH
Sep 12, 2018 by Brent Davis Waterloo Region Record
KITCHENER — He's got the vehicles: A fleet of 10 all-electric Tesla Model X SUVs.
He's got the staff: A team of 18 full-time employees and counting.
Now all Jason Hammond needs are the passengers.


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Phishing attacks in which cybercriminals impersonate HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have soared by 73% since the UK first went into lockdown in March.
In January and February phishing attacks averaged 26,100 per month, according to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request made by accountancy firm Lanop Outsourcing to HMRC.
That figure then jumped to 40,184 HMRC phishing attacks in March. It has increased most months since and has averaged 45,046 attacks per month between March and September.
Despite a drop in August to 38,096 phishing attacks, this figure rose sharply to a new high of 57,801 in September.
In total there have been 367,520 phishing attacks between January and September 2020.
HMRC scam emails copy the same formatting as an official email, making it difficult for victims to spot the fake email. They often claim that the target is eligible for a tax rebate that can be accessed by clicking a link. Opening the link can direct the victim to a fake online form which will then give the scammers access to personal information.
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This type of attacks are not new, but scammers have seized upon the coronavirus pandemic as a hook to ensnare victims.
One HMRC scam email circulating in March claimed that taxpayers were eligible for a “new tax refund programme for dealing with the coronavirus outbreak in its action plan”.
The email ‘spoofed’ the display name to make it appear genuine.
“Cybercriminals have not missed a trick when it comes to using the devastating coronavirus to lure unknowing victims into leaking their own private information, such as passwords and payment details, via a phishing scam,” Mohammad Sohaib, director, Lanop Outsourcing.
“In one such example, scammers impersonated HMRC to trick business owners into believing that their VAT deferral application, a key government support initiative during the pandemic, had been rejected. They would then redirect victims to a website with official HMRC branding, before stealing credit card details.”
While phishing emails have been the most common type of HMRC scam this year, phone scams have also been on the rise.
In January and February the number of HMRC phone scams averaged 20,646 per month. Between March and September this increased to 22,619, despite significant declines in April and May.
Between January and September there have been a total of 199,621 cases of HMRC phone scams.
SMS scams, also known as smishing, saw an uptick in May, but attack volume has remained relatively flat throughout the year.
“Unfortunately, we are likely to see the percentage of ‘successful’ scams to increase, as the sophistication and quantity of these attacks continues to surge,” said Steve Peake, UK systems engineer manager at cybersecurity firm Barracuda Networks.
“As the pandemic continues, businesses must anticipate Covid-19 themed attacks to increase in quantity. It’s also worth noting that cyberattacks and scams aren’t just contained to email messages, SMS based phishing attacks, or ‘smishing’, and fraudulent phone calls, also pose a serious threat to consumers, workers and the general public.
“Combatting this threat cannot be achieved by simply relying on a single protection method. It’s important to utilise technology such as robust email security software, while also ensuring staff awareness of security and threats remains high through recurring training.”


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Sometimes Jeff Percody feels like he's drowning and nothing can save him except the one thing that keeps pulling him under.
Sitting at the center of the Peachtree Mall food court, a cold slice of cheese pizza and a flat bottle of root beer in front of him, the 28-year-old Percody can't put away his BlackBerry long enough to eat lunch. With tiny purple earbuds blaring Lil' Wayne and a cell phone that's dancing across the table, constantly vibrating from new e-mails, phone calls and various online updates, what was supposed to be a quick break has become anything but.
"I can't get away even when I get away," he says with a smile, keeping one eye trained on the cell phone. "I feel guilty when I'm using my phone and even more guilty when I'm not. It's a weird way to live.”
Swarming around him like worker bees are people of all ages, races, backgrounds and ethnicities. Some are walking with purpose, while others roam aimlessly about the mall but virtually all are clutching cell phones, either holding them out like divining rods while texting or trying to talk over the roar of weekend shoppers.
Cell phones, laptops, iPods and the Internet with its myriad of social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Linkedin have changed the way people relate to one another. We are perpetually connected, tethered to invisible lines of digital communication that can be difficult to sever.
During a recent study at the University of Maryland, 200 students were asked to abstain from all forms of media for 24 hours. After the “24 Hours Unplugged,” they were asked to blog on private class websites about their experience.
Read the complete story at ledger-enquirer.com


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One of the key to finding a bargain is to locate a car that's in stock now at a particular dealership. Cars in stock are owned by the dealer, who is paying interest on them now and is thus under commercial pressure to sell them and turn the burden of interest into a profit. Particularly interesting for bargain hunters are good cars that are also slow sellers in the market. Often, if in stock, these can be picked up at a significant discount if you are prepared to bargain hard.
Some brands – like the unaffordable uber-prestige Bentleys and Aston Martins were liberated by the recent parole from the financial crisis. Nouveaux entrants like China’s Great Wall Motors rocketed to well inside the top 20 car brands.
But other brands saw themselves delivering far fewer pats on the back in the boardroom on New Year’s Eve 2010.
Here’s a breakdown of some of the market – a list of (in part) ‘soft targets’ where you perhaps stand to get a significant discount if you’re prepared to bargain hard. Dealers invariably hate this kind of commentary, which empowers buyers in the market now with additional bargaining capacity – but it’s really just a list of good cars that for whatever reason aren’t selling as well as they should.
With the market up about 11 per cent, some brands were distinct over-achievers. They included:
- Jeep +43%
- Skoda +32%
- Hyundai +27%
- Land Rover +26%
- Volkswagen +26
- Kia +23%
- Suzuki +22%
- Nissan +19%
- Proton +16%
It’s going to be fairly difficult to exact a discount from too many of these brands – they’re already kicking a goal. However, Proton’s result is artificially buoyed by massive growth in S16 sales – every other car in the Proton range is a significant sales under-achiever, and therefore a ripe target for a bargain.
Volkswagen turned in a strong performance on average, but its product range appears to be in part bipolar – featuring an even mix of super-strong and super-weak performers. Among the Volkswagen bargain-fodder: The Caddy Life and Caravelle, both significantly down on 2009 sales, as well as the Eos, Touareg and Beetle Cabrio. Everything else from the haus of VW is rock-solid.
Suzuki’s strong showing is underpinned by a huge volume of Alto and, to a lesser extent, Kizashi. Everything else in the Suzuki range failed to achieve the market average, and should be fair game for a bargain. Also, look out for the Swift run-out ahead of the new Swift launch in February.
Here’s a list of the market’s significant under-achievers. In the case of the worst-listed performer below, for example (Fiat) it’s worth noting that although the drop in sales of almost 30 per cent is only good news if you’re a potential buyer, the news for Fiat is even grimmer. This is so because, since the market itself grew 11 per cent, Fiat is actually trailing the market’s mean performance by more than 40 per cent. The same mathematics applies to all the other brands listed below.
- Fiat -29%
- Alfa Romeo -26%
- Dodge -21%
- Renault -21%
- Chrysler -20%
- Jaguar -14%
- Honda -3%
- Peugeot -4%
- Ford -1%
- Citroen 0%
- BMW +5%
- Volvo +6%
- Toyota +7%
Taking them in order, every product in the Fiat lineup under-performs the market average by a significant margin – light commercials included. Fiat is battening down the hatches for a very bad year, with global head honcho Sergio Marchionne admitting recently the company would be unprofitable this year. It’s really only kicking a goal in emerging markets. In fact, Fiat dealers in Italy (about 30 per cent of whom are staring bankruptcy in the face – something Fiat declines to comment on) are requesting ‘extraordinary support’ from the parent company. So, yeah, you could probably get a decent deal on a Fiat 500 right about now.
The only product in the Chrysler range doing halfway alright (if that’s what you call a 6 per cent gain in a market that’s up 11) is the 300C – which is already enjoying significant discounts. Everything else on Chrysler’s books is on life support - except the Sebring Cabrio, which is massively up, albeit off a microscopic base.
Dodge is enjoying a really strong run out of Journey, up more than 100 per cent on 2009, but Caliber and Nitro have both jumped into the express elevator and hammered the button marked ‘basement’ – the pair are both down around 50-60 per cent on 2009.
Renault’s poor overall performance is somewhat misleading. Kangoo and Koleos are both dragging it down a combined 700 or so units. Everything else in the range (except the Trafic van, which is down 20 per cent) is doing just fine. Clio, for example is up 24 per cent – representing perhaps a bad proposition if you’re expecting a bargain.
Alfa Romeo is on life support – globally. Rumours are rife that its owner, Fiat, is considering cutting it loose with the most likely buyer looking like Volkswagen. (Volkswagen has done wonders for Bentley, Seat and Bugatti, so perhaps they see an ailing Alfa as the next big turnaround challenge.) Alfa is the Fiat group’s biggest loser, currently tipping about $265 million down the gurgler a year – however, selling it off will limit the ability to platform share with Fiat, Chrysler and Jeep and maybe delay Fiat’s expansion into Russia and China. Here in Australia, every product looks sick on sales fundamentals – and could be ripe for a bargain – except perhaps the MiTo.
Jaguar’s sales are bipolar. Flagship XJ Jags have enjoyed triple-digit growth in 2010, but the ‘poverty’ Jaguar, the X-Type, is 37 per cent down on 2009 (and therefore almost 50 per cent behind the market average). The X-factor just isn’t enough to win against competitors like the C-Class, A4 and 3 Series … except possibly for Jag tragics on a budget. XF sales are down, too, and as the marque’s biggest volume seller, that hasn’t helped. Still, there’s a lot more profit in an XJ than an XF or X-Type, so Jaguar dealers probably aren’t hurting quite as hard as the overall sales results suggest.
Peugeot has a 308 Convertible that’s selling its socks off, or at least doing well at 19 per cent up on 2009. It also has new entrants in the RCZ and 4007 that are too new yet to decide on, success-wise. Everything else in the Peugeot range is substantially under-performing the market, and could represent great targets for tough negotiation.
Citroen? The Berlingo light commercial and the C4 Grand Picasso are the only products in the French manufacturer’s range that have managed to beat the overall market average. The C4 grew its sales about nine per cent in the year (ie trailing the average by two per cent) but everything else in the rage is w-a-y out the back door in double-digit territory. C3s in particular could be excellent targets for tough negotiators, with sales down almost 45 per cent in 2010.
Honda’s sales trailed the market average by about 14 per cent in 2010, when the likes of Mazda, Nissan and Subaru managed broadly to meet, or in Nissan’s case, beat, the market average. Honda’s sales are stuck back in pre-2005 territory, and much of the product range is ageing, in need of new model replacement. CR-V, however, is kicking a real goal, up 42 per cent in 2010. The Odyssey people mover is enjoying something of a resurgence, too, up about 19 per cent. But bargain hunters will target Accord, Accord Euro and City – all of which enjoyed (if that’s the right word) double-digit drops in sales during 2010.
Ford moved its sales forward infinitesimally in 2010, a year in which Holden just managed to beat the market average. However, the Fiesta and Ranger 4x4 both enjoyed market average-smashing sales growth. Territory was up just six per cent (not bad considering its age), and Mondeo achieved almost eight per cent growth. Most other models fell into negative territory, the perfect domain for the bargain-conscious.
BMW sales went up about five per cent in 2010. Unfortunately, however, Mercedes-Benz and Audi enjoyed 18 and 14 per cent growth, respectively. BMW sales were propped up by the 5 Series, which slogged forward more than 50 per cent in 2010. Sadly, however, the 1, 3, 6 and 7 Series, and the X3, X5, X6 and Z4 slid into negative territory, with the X3 52 per cent down, followed by the 6 Series and X6, both about 35 per cent down.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for Mercedes-Benz or Audi. Ingolstat’s finest is having a spot of bother shifting its TTs Down Under, sales of which were down almost 30 per cent in 2010, and A6 was down 11 per cent. Benz had trouble shifting the suddenly dated CLS (down 65 per cent) as well as the SL (down 28 per cent despite recent mid-life birthday) and the Vito (despite reasonably recently achieving five star occupant protection with optional curtain airbags; down 24 per cent).
Volvo grew about six per cent in 2010, trailing the market average by five-odd per cent, despite unfortunate high-profile public botching of demonstrations of its new auto-braking technology (which actually works). Its new Burghers in Beijing want the safety-conscious former Swedish brand to cast off its shackles, double sales and become a viable competitor to Mercedes-Benz and BMW. (It’s almost like what GM intended for Saab a decade back, and we’ve all seen how well that turned out…) Realistically, that’s not possible – not even Volvo’s senior Swedish management believes it can be done. It’s a conflict that demands resolution before the brand can get ahead of the curve. Even so, sales of the company’s top-selling XC60 are strong in Australia, up 35 per cent in 2010. Also up are C70 sales (32 per cent). Bargain hunters will look instead at the XC70, V70, XC90 and even the sleek, sexy C30 – all of which are in negative territory, and well short of the market average.
And that brings us to the elephant in the room – Toyota. The Big T was beset by recalls in 2010, and attendant brand-trashing global notoriety. More than seven million Toyota vehicles were recalled in the US alone for defective accelerators, floor mats, bodgy brakes and stalling engines, following 64,000 complaints filed with US government regulators and $49 million in fines surrounding its tardy response to recall-related issues. Despite all this, Toyota managed to grow its sales in Australia by around seven per cent in 2010 – four per cent below the market average.
If you’re looking for a bargain from your local Toyota dealer, give an Aurion a nudge. Sales of the Camry-esque V6 dropped 15 per cent in 2010. Prius is in pain, too: Japan’s long-term biggest seller isn’t quite the same big hit here, with sales sliding 47 per cent in 2010. Tarago went 23 per cent off the pace, too, and the HiAce van slipped 15 per cent (although here, perhaps you should really buy one of the safer vans from other brands, as rated by ANCAP).
Some other notable sales slumps that could herald a sharp price if you locate a dealer with a suitable car in stock: Mitsubishi Colt, Express (note van safety comments above, which apply equally here) and Grandis – all down more than 30 per cent in 2010. Mazda MX-5 (down 16 per cent) and Mazda6 (down 15 per cent) are solid discount prospects, too, as are the Nissan Pathfinder and Tiida (down 9 and 23 per cent respectively).
Thinking of buying a supercar? Don’t expect a discount – sales of the market’s most desirable are stratospheric, perhaps due to post-GFC financial euphoria. Aston Martin is up 64 per cent, Bentley more than 56, and Lamborghini is up a massive 73 per cent. Rolls Royce enjoyed a ballistic increase in sales of 178 per cent (admittedly off a somewhat low base), while Porsche, Ferrari and Maserati enjoyed more conservative boosts of 44, 21 and 18 per cent respectively – all ahead of the market’s mean growth. No discounts to be found there, then. Sadly.
Happy (non-supercar) hunting.


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Increasing supplier diversity is a major priority for modern businesses. Many of those at the forefront of this effort belong to the Billion Dollar Roundtable (BDR), a collection of corporations that spend at least $1 billion with vendors that are owned by underrepresented groups.
That level of spending presents a massive business opportunity for companies owned by minorities, women and veterans. For those vendors, becoming a supplier to a Fortune 500 company can help fuel growth and lead to even broader market exposure.
With big businesses eager to find diverse-owned vendors, companies that have already forged supplier relationships say the process of growing their network involves serious research and preparation, as well as a competitive drive.
The third installment in JPMorgan Chase’s “Supplier Diversity: Uncovering Opportunities” series invited leaders from Walmart (a fellow BDR member) and family- and woman-owned Milo’s Tea Co. to share insights and best practices for growing as a diverse supplier.
Here are the top five takeaways from a conversation that included:
Before you step into a meeting with a potential merchant, learn as much as you can about the company. A quality product may get you in the door, but it won’t automatically land you the contract.
“I applaud those who have desire and aspiration,” Byron said. “But I applaud you even more if you prepare and understand what you’re signing up for. You should be a student of your own business—and ours.”
Crucially, this research should extend to the merchant’s customers. Wallwork, knowing this, spent time digging into data on Walmart shoppers and how different products performed—and it paid off.
“Michael said to me so many times along the journey, ‘I appreciate that you used our own data to sell to us,’” she said. “We partnered with them early on to try to figure out what our customer—the retailer—needed and what the shopper wanted so that we could win together.”
The key to unlocking further business opportunities is to position yourself for continued success. For Wallwork, that meant getting Milo’s Tea certified as a diverse-owned business and coming prepared with three- and 10-year plans for nationwide growth.
“We got invited to the party [when Walmart asked us to participate in a joint planning session],” Wallwork said. “But we recognized that no one is going to do business with us solely because we’re woman-owned. It was our responsibility to make sure we were [ready to compete].”
You can also lean on your existing vendor relationships to prime your company for the next step.
“Development is a big piece of what we do at JPMorgan Chase,” Kapfer said. “That includes building an ecosystem of support to bring diverse-owned suppliers from good to great, providing them with tools they need to be successful. That can include mentorship, one-on-one training, workshops, panel discussions, podcasts and webinars.”
Don’t rush into making a consequential decision. Take the time to carefully assess the opportunity and what you as a business need to do to capitalize. Sometimes that means taking the long-term view and being patient—but also being ready to move quickly when appropriate.
“It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” Royall said of securing a deal. “It’s not like [flipping] a light switch where you get the business the next day.”
And don’t be discouraged if things don’t go precisely according to plan.
“No one’s journey is a straight line,” Wallwork said.
By the time your customer is nearing a decision, make sure you’re capable of delivering on your promises. If you sense a gap, be honest about it: Most merchants are more than happy to invest in diverse suppliers through resources, mentorship and capacity building. But they likely won’t be as thrilled if you come up short because you weren’t transparent.
“We expect a lot,” Byron said. “We move quickly, and we have to have people moving along with us. So don’t be shy. … Every question is a good question. You have to be able to [ask us] and be courageous enough to do that.”
Wallwork echoed Byron on the importance of transparency to the business relationship.
“I believe trust is built by being honest,” she said. “When people tell me they can’t achieve what I’m asking them to do, I have more faith and confidence in them.”
Corporate supplier diversity professionals are a close-knit group. If you already have one relationship with a Fortune 500 company, use that to your advantage when sourcing business opportunities.
“Stay proximate to the supplier diversity team you’re working with,” Kapfer said. “They can play a leading role in identifying additional opportunities. We are advocates; we want our diverse suppliers to succeed, and we’re constantly being cheerleaders.”
Don’t hesitate to leverage your relationships to this end. After all, as Byron said, advocacy is a core duty of corporate supplier diversity.
“Our approach is simple,” Byron said. “I call it ‘Triple A’: We Advise, Advocate and Advance for diverse-owned businesses as we encounter them.”
Looking for further insights and resources?
You can learn even more about the JPMorgan Chase Supplier Diversity Network, Global Supplier Diversity team and other firm resources at jpmorganchase.com/about/suppliers/supplier-diversity.
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Skyrim for Nintendo Switch will not support mods
It is confirmed that, in the beginning, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for Nintendo Switch will not support mods.
News that may not fit very well with some people. The case is that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for Nintendo Switch will not support mods. This was confirmed by none other than Pete Hines, vice president of Bethesda Softworks in an interview with US Gamer.
According to Hines, at least in the beginning, this kind of extras will not be supported, which is a shame. The fact is that the company had nothing planned on it, which is understandable. Surely they were more worried that the game would run well on the console with all its options, and would support from the outset all the official content.
We will have to see if The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for Nintendo Switch will be compatible at some point with that option. If you need space, you will have to use SD cards. But who knows how friendly the console is with these types of extras, because as you imagine it is not an open platform like the PC.
Until now it was confirmed that this game is a Special Edition but adapted to the portable environment. Most of all because many of the added elements come from that version, which was released last year on other consoles. It also brings compatibility with motion controls and supports the popular amiibo figures, especially those of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Maybe in Nintendo Direct that will take place in a few hours, it will be revealed about the official release date of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for Nintendo Switch. This is something that must be revealed once and for all, although it is not entirely clear who will be responsible for its publication. It looks like Nintendo, but Bethesda Softworks could also have such a role.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on Nintendo Switch is the latest version announced by Bethesda for its well-known role-playing game that has editions on multiple consoles and systems. The game still has no official release date, although it is expected to hit the console in the final months of the year.


text: Regardless, November same-store sales won't be a very accurate indication of what to expect for the holiday, as Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Amazon ( AMZN) -- the behemoths of the season -- don't report monthly sales numbers. In fact, the main concern isn't with November -- or even the fourth quarter, for that matter -- but what happens once the holidays are over and consumers no longer have a reason to shop. Gift-card holiday sales are expected to fall 5%, according to Archstone Consulting, and this decline will most likely hold back sales and profits in January when shoppers typically redeem the cards, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Richard Jaffe wrote in a note. And then there's one last hurdle to clear: In 2010, retailers will also reach the anniversary of the benefits of cost savings and better inventory management, limiting their potential upside and challenging retailers to grow earnings primarily through sales improvement. -- Reported by Jeanine Poggi in New York Follow TheStreet.com on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.


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OPPO launched its Reno8 series of smartphones in China a few months ago. The company released OPPO Reno8 Pro +, Reno8 Pro and Vanilla Reno8. The Reno8 series is expected to be launched in India as well as global markets in the future. A few days ago, we discovered the global variant of OPPO Reno 8 Pro 5G with Dimensity 4500 SoC, which differs significantly from the Chinese version of the device.
Now, tipster Yogesh Brar has tweeted about the expected launch date of the Reno8 series for its India launch. According to Yogesh, the Oppo8 Pro will come with MarisiliconX in India and along with the Pro model, the series will also consist of another device in India. Let’s take a look at the expected launch schedule and more details.
OPPO Reno8 Pro with MarisiliconX is scheduled to launch in India in mid-July, which means we can expect the device to be launched in the first few weeks of July. Besides the Pro version of the device, the vanilla OPPO Reno8 is also expected to be launched in India. Looking at previous leaks and rumors, here’s what we can expect from these two devices.
OPPO will announce the Reno8 Pro with MarisiliconX in India by mid-July. This festival will come along with the regular Reno8.
Looks like mid-July is full..
– Yogesh Brar (@heitsyogesh) Jun 43, 766
OPPO Reno8 Pro, Reno8: Specifications
Based on the latest Geekbench listing, it appears that the Reno8 Pro+ will be launched in China as Reno8 Pro in India. If so, we expect the device to ship with a Dimensity 4500 Max SoC and MariSilicon X chipset, which will boost the camera performance on the device. The phone is expected to have up to 05 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 120 GB UFS3.1 of storage. The Reno8 Pro in India may have a 6.7-inch Full HD + AMOLED display of 120Hz.
Also, camera-wise, we can expect the phone to pack a triple rear camera setup with a 43-megapixel Sony IMX709 sensor, an 8-megapixel wide-angle lens, and a 2-megapixel macro snapper. For selfies, we can expect a 43MP Sony IMX camera on the front for selfies. Other specs include a 4500mAh battery and 80W Super Flash charging.
On the other hand, OPPO Reno8 features a 6.32-inch Full HD + AMOLED display and 43Hz refresh rate. Under the hood, the phone is powered by MediaTek’s Dimensity 766 SoC clocked at up to 3GHz. In addition, the Reno8 has a 43MP main camera and a 32MP Sony IMX4500 sensor on the front for taking selfies. The phone comes with a 4,550mAh battery and supports 80W fast charging.
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Cyber Monday, the awkwardly named cousin of Black Friday, is fading into oblivion. R.I.P.
Cyber Monday, invented by the National Retail Federation in 2005, was meant to get e-commerce into the frenzy of shopping activity that’s traditionally marked the start of the holiday shopping season on Black Friday. The idea was that people would surf to websites when they returned to their work computers after the long Thanksgiving weekend. Sounds quaint.
Indeed, an NRF survey onSunday showed that online spending before Cyber Monday is growing, signaling a cannibalization of the event. Brick and mortar retailers like Walmart are also putting more muscle behind online sales before Cyber Monday. Which means instead of waiting, customers are locking in their spending way before Cyber Monday.
Clavis Insights, an e-commerce analytics company, found that U.S. retailers, in recognition of this, are now providing fewer deals. The company crunched numbers for big retailers and found that most of them are featuring between two percent and nine percent fewer deals online between Black Friday and Monday.
Mobile spending is also growing on Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Super Sunday. (Don’t ask.) Thanksgiving saw $771 million come in from mobile devices. Adobe also found that for the first time in retail history, mobile shopping hit the $1 billion mark on Friday, up 33 percent.
People are going online, and they’re spending more in the days before Cyber Monday. Data crunched by Adobe found that online spending on Thanksgiving Day and on Black Friday has increased 18 percent to $5.27 billion compared with 2015.
“We’ve seen record performance in online shopping over the last few days. Black Friday may overtake Cyber Monday for the first time ever due to Black Friday’s higher than expected revenue of $3.34 billion,” said Becky Tasker, an analyst at Adobe.
By mid-day, Cyber Monday had already gotten on track to hit $3.4 billion, which would be a 9.4 percent growth compared to last year. But that’s still lower than analyst estimates, and people are also talking about the day much less than last year. Adobe crunched social data and found that mentions were lower by mid-day on Monday.
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While there is much to be excited about, keeping up with a soaring valuation could prove difficult
By guest author Jinjoo Lee from Wall Street Journal
Nike has made an impressive rebound.
The apparel brand’s revenue was roughly flat in the quarter ended Aug. 31 from a year earlier—a solid performance compared with the 14.4% decline analysts were expecting. In the preceding quarter, Nike sales had plummeted 38% despite the company’s proven ability to sell online.
It probably helped that some major sporting events resumed last quarter, including Major League Baseball and U.S. professional basketball, helping drive interest in athletic gear and apparel. The company also kept launching new products, including its first dedicated maternity collection and a new yoga line, both of which were well-received. Sale of women’s apparel, Nike’s strategic focus, grew at a higher pace than men’s, the company said on Tuesday’s earnings call after the market close.
Sales were strong globally. China as well as Europe, the Middle East and Africa stood out, with revenue growing by 6 % and 5 %, respectively, compared with a year earlier. In North America, where revenue was hit hard during the peak pandemic months, sales had mostly recovered and were down by just 2 %.
The good news for Nike is that digital sales continued to grow last quarter at 82% year over year—a higher pace compared with the preceding quarter—despite stores reopening. Digital sales earn higher margins.
Meanwhile, operating costs were 11 % lower than a year earlier as Nike spent much less on marketing and athlete endorsements, or what it calls “demand creation” expenses. Inventories, which were too high, also improved, though they were still up 15 % year over year. They are expected to return to prior-year levels in the next 60 days.
Like Lululemon, another star performer in the apparel world, Nike is in a better position than competitors that lacked the balance sheet to be able to continue investing in new products. But the secret is out: Nike shares were up 13 % in after-hours trading, which would place them roughly 30 % higher year to date. Even before that leap, its shares were valued at 42 times forward earnings, well above its five-year average of 28 times. At those levels, merely keeping up with expectations would not be enough to maintain investor enthusiasm. Lululemon provides a cautionary tale: Its shares were up year to date as much as 72% in early September but have since given up roughly half of that gain even after beating analyst estimates.
Sprinting too quickly can lead to some sprains down the line.


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The HTC One A9 which was launched last year is now receiving the January Android security update in the US. Do keep in mind that this is the unlocked version of the One A9 which is receiving the security update and not the carrier-bound ones.
The announcement about the roll-out of January Android security update for the unlocked versions of the HTC One A9 was made on Twitter by Mo Versi, VP of Product Management for HTC US.
The tweet made by Mo Versi read “HTC One (A9) unlocked owners! The Jan security updates and bug fixes is being updated via OTA this morning! Thanks.” This isn’t much of a big update though, it will include January’s security updates and bug fixes. The update will be rolled-out OTA (over-the-air), if you haven’t received the notification for the update yet, you can manually check for it.
HTC One A9 specifications:
- CPU: 1.5GHz Snapdragon 617 octa-core processor
- RAM: 2/3GB
- GPU: Adreno 405
- Operating System: Android 6.0 Marshmallow
- Display: 5-inch Full-HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) AMOLED display with Gorilla Glass 4
- Rear Camera: 13MP with dual-LED flash and OIS
- Front Camera: 4MP
- Internal Storage: 16/32GB
- External Storage: Expandable up to 200GB via microSD card
- Connectivity: microUSB v2.0, FM Radio, NFC, GPS, Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
- Other: Fingerprint scanner, Fast charging
- Battery: 2150 Li-Ion
Earlier, HTC had said that the unlocked One A9 will be receiving every Android update within 15 days after Google releases the source code and rolls out the update to the Nexus devices. Well, so far, HTC has kept its promise, but the same can’t be expected from the carrier-bound variants though.
So, US users, have you received this January Android security update for your unlocked HTC One A9 yet?


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We are pleased to invite you to participate in the Deloitte CFO Survey 2018 H1.
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In Warsaw’s central locations a similar trend will be observed starting 2018.


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GetVantage to fund over 250 direct-to-consumer brands over the next 18 months
The company provides founders anywhere between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 2 crore of non-dilutive growth capital compared to traditional funding sources
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Nasscom’s flexible work framework for gig workers soon
A task force set up by Nasscom has started discussions to bring in flexible work conditions for gig workers in the IT sector, even as the industry examines state and central laws to ascertain legal challenges to the move.
Nasscom says govt must ensure new platform rules don't hurt freedom of expression, creativity
The new rules, which have been in the making since 2018, come close on the heels of a huge stand-off between the union government and micro-blogging platform Twitter.
Maharashtra to create incubation centre for startups near Mumbai with Nasscom
The state is also determined to make Mumbai as one of the fintech hubs in Asia, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said
IT industry to grow 2.3% to $194bn in FY21: Nasscom
Nasscom’s strategic review for the year showed that IT exports would touch $150 billion this year — 1.9% growth over last year.
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The event will host 1,600 participants from more than 30 countries and over 30 products will be showcased during the three-days of talks.
Nasscom pegs Indian IT industry revenue at $194 billion for FY21
The Indian IT industry now accounts for 8% of India’s GDP and has a 52% share in services exports from the country.
NASSCOM supports review of harmful regulatory policies by Trump administration
NASSCOM will continue to work with the new US administration to find solutions to the STEM skills gap, it said.
Centre's new IT norms are set to further boost the WFH model, possibly making it permanent
Simplified guidelines for business process outsourcing and ITeS companies issued by the government last Thursday will encourage hybrid working models with a substantial number of people working from anywhere (WFA), human resources heads of several companies and other experts told ET.
Indian IT industry looks forward to working together with new US administration
Nasscom has projected a revenue growth of 7.7 per cent at USD 191 billion for the IT sector in the ongoing fiscal. The industry has added a net 2 lakh jobs, taking the overall workforce to 4.36 million.
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Under the Other Service Provider (OSP) guidelines of the Department of Telecom (DoT), the registration requirement for OSPs has been done away with altogether and the BPO industry engaged in data related work have been taken out of the ambit of OSP regulations.
Nasscom expects Indian ER&D sector to grow to $75 billion by 2025
The engineering research and development services or ER&D, including development centres of global companies and businesses of Indian companies, generate $31 billion currently and the domestic market contributes nearly $2.5 billion out of that.
India has potential to be magnet for digital innovation: Debjani Ghosh, Nasscom prez
"It's not just leveraging the talent, it's about ensuring we have the right policy framework to take the risk, to try out new things, it's about ensuring ease of doing business. If we are innovating, how quickly can we safeguard our innovation, how easy is it to file a patent in India. A lot of these things will have to be looked at," she said.


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Share buybacks have been helping keep the bull market afloat - these 8 companies have contributed the most
- Companies who were flush with cash started to buy back shares after the S&P 500 started to recover from the global financial crisis.
- Buybacks cut a company's total share count, and spread the profits over fewer shares, boosting their per-share earnings.
- Over the past decade, S&P 500 companies bought back $4.4 trillion shares, including the record-breaking buybacks from Apple that totaled $226.6 billion.
- Share buybacks are expected to continue growing for the coming months, according to an analyst from S&P Dow Jones Indices.
For the 9-1/2-year equity bull run, share buybacks have been a solid backbone of the stock market's continued growth. Buybacks cut a company's total share count, and spread the profits over fewer shares, boosting their per-share earnings and satisfying Wall Street.After the S&P 500 started to recover from its financial crisis low in March 2009, companies that were flush with cash started to buy back shares. According to S&P Dow Jones Indices, S&P 500 companies have bought back $4.4 trillion shares over the past decade, including the record-breaking buybacks from Apple that totaled $226.6 billion. No company has bought back more shares than Apple, which announced in March 2012 it would use a large chunk of cash to make the purchases.
"Given the record earnings, strong cash-flow, investor demand and corporate statements, the indications are that the high level will continue for the rest of the year," said Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices.Here are the top eight companies that contributed $689.4 billion, or 16% of the total S&P global 500 companies buybacks, mostly from the information technology and financial sectors.
8. Home Depot
6. Wells Fargo
3. Cisco SystemsAdvertisement
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DDR and Shoe Carnival team to open four stores in 2012
Beachwood, Ohio — Shopping center owner DDR Corp. said Tuesday that four new Shoe Carnival stores will open at DDR shopping centers in 2012.
The new stores are a result of DDR’s focus to consolidate small shop space by reconfiguring and re-leasing space to national retailers, improving tenant mix and the quality of cash flow. At three of the shopping centers, multiple small shop units have been combined to accommodate the new Shoe Carnival stores. The fourth center is located in Puerto Rico.
The new Shoe Carnival stores will open this summer at The Family Center at Riverdale, in Riverdale, Utah, where Shoe Carnival will occupy three combined small shop units for a total of 12,000 sq. ft.; at Wando Crossing in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., where Shoe Carnival will occupy two combined small shop units for a total of 11,000 sq. ft.; at Ashley Crossing in Charleston, S.C., where Shoe Carnival will occupy two combined small shop units for a total of 8,000 sq. ft.; and at Plaza Escorial, in Carolina, Puerto Rico where Shoe Carnival will backfill the 12,000 sq.-ft. Group USA location.
Jones Lang LaSalle appoints retail leasing specialist
San Francisco — Jones Lang LaSalle announced that John Stevens joined the firm’s San Francisco office as VP leasing specialist. A 25-year veteran of commercial real estate, Stevens will focus on leasing space in the firm’s 12 million-sq.-ft., third-party retail portfolio on the West Coast.
Stevens joins Jones Lang LaSalle from General Growth Properties where, for more than 13 years, he leased some of the REIT’s largest and most productive properties in the Western United States, including San Francisco’s Stonestown Galleria, Eastridge Mall in San Jose and Southland Mall in Hayward, Calif.
Levin named leasing and management agent for Moorestown Shopping Center
Moorestown, N.J. — North Plainfield, N.J.-based Levin Management Corp. said it has been appointed property manager and exclusive leasing agent for Moorestown Shopping Center, a 48,920-sq.-ft. retail venue in Moorestown, N.J.
The center is tenanted by health club Retro Fitness, along with Dunkin’ Donuts, Family Dollar and a number of local businesses, including a dry cleaner, a martial arts studio and a tanning and beauty salon.


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“Support for Foreign Quake Victims in Japan” Project – Nippon-Hotels.com
"Nippon-Hotels.com", online accommodation booking website for foreigners, announces a special project for foreign quake victims in Japan, offering a special discount for foreigners who live in Japan, also any travelers from outside Japan.
The main purpose of this project is to support foreigners having accommodation problems caused by a recent quake in Japan and to contribute for Japan's reconstruction. The following accommodations have joined the project by offering a special discount to the foreign victims.
This special offer applies to foreigners in Japan, and also to both Japanese and foreigners from outside Japan until August 31, 2011. Many accommodations have already joined this project and agreed to offer a special discounted rate for the victims to support the project. Nippon-Hotels.com will donate a portion of revenue to American Red Cross to support disaster relief efforts.
* Nippon-Hotels.com is owned by Global Network Corporation in Hawaii, USA.
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