The world's largest food company, Nestle, and the world's largest coffee retailer, Starbucks, have made a $7.15 billion deal that will allow Nestle to sell Starbucks branded coffees around the world. Starbucks announced: As part of the alliance, Nestlé will obtain the rights to market, sell, and distribute Starbucks®, Seattle’s Best Coffee®, Starbucks Reserve®, Teavana™ , Starbucks VIA® and Torrefazione Italia® packaged coffee and tea in all global at-home and away-from-home channels. Nestlé will pay Starbucks $7.15 billion in closing consideration, and Starbucks - with a focus on … [Read more...]
Archives for May 2018
America Takes a Hard Line with China at Summit
A U.S. delegation to China, led by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has demanded China take steps to narrow the trade deficit with America to $200 billion by 2020. Also targeted by the team were China's state subsidies for strategic industries. Gabriel Wildau reports: The target represents a doubling of a previous White House demand that China cut the bilateral deficit by $100bn. The negotiators also asked that Beijing cut import tariffs to levels at or below those imposed by the US on the same goods from China. The proposal further calls on Beijing to eliminate all subsidies linked to … [Read more...]
Storied Gibson Guitar Company Falls to Debt Overload
For nearly a decade it has gone without question that companies would take on debt to finance acquisitions. With interests rates so low, investor groups were practically forcing companies to buy competitors and other businesses to expand revenue streams. Managers were only to happy to oblige. Gibson, maker of guitars and audio equipment, is the latest storied business to fall victim to low rate debt offered by private equity groups looking to cash in on a strong brand. Now, the private equity crowd will take control of Gibson after its bets have gone bad. Becky Yerak reports: Under a … [Read more...]
Lowest Unemployment in 18 Years
Today's employment report from the BLS recorded the lowest unemployment since 2000. CNBC reports: The unemployment rate fell to 3.9 percent in April, an 18-year low, even as nonfarm payrolls rose by just 164,000, according to a report Friday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economists surveyed by Reuters had expected payroll growth of 192,000 and the jobless rate to drop by one-tenth of a percent to 4.0 percent. The official jobs tally showed an increase from an upwardly revised 135,000 in March. Read more here. … [Read more...]
Your Retirement Life: The Vineyard Vines Story
When Shep and Ian Murray quit their jobs in New York City back in 1998 to sell ties in parking lots on Martha’s Vineyard, their business plan was simple: “Twenty years ago, as Silicon Valley casual wear spread east, the timing for a necktie business seemed awful. But the Murrays settled on a contrarian thesis: Yes, guys were wearing ties less often, but when they did, they wanted to make a statement. And neckwear had high margins and no sizing issues,” writes Steven Bertoni in Forbes. Every summer, when my family visits their flagship store in Edgartown, Vineyard Vines is packed. The brothers … [Read more...]
Is Musk Losing Wall Street?
Fore years Wall Street has ceaselessly promoted Elon Musk and Tesla. But last night, on a quarterly earnings conference call the already strained bond between analysts and the Tesla CEO may have been broken beyond repair. After being asked some questions he didn't like, Musk said "Next. Next. Next. Boring bonehead questions are not cool. Next." The FT reports what happened next. The next 20 minutes of the call was devoted to questions from Galileo Russell, who hosts a YouTube channel called HyperChange TV and had campaigned via Twitter beforehand to be able to field questions to “give … [Read more...]
America Exports More than Ever Before in March
America's trade deficit shrank for the first time in 10 months in March thanks to exports that were the highest in the nation's history. Paul Wiseman reports for the AP: The Commerce Department says the trade deficit — the difference between what America sells and what it buys in foreign markets — slid to $49 billion, down from $57.7 billion in February and lowest since September. Trump has vowed to bring down America's massive deficits, which he blames on bad trade agreements and abusive practices by U.S. trading partners. Exports rose in March to a record $208.5 billion, led by … [Read more...]
Your Retirement Life: Imagine if the Best Years are Behind You
Where will you live in retirement? Having recently been to New York City it’s a wonderful place to visit, but nowhere I’d like to spend most of my time. Plus, who can afford it? Check out the quote at the end of this piece. But first… Imagine retiring in 1999 and dreaming about the trips you would take using the profits from the stock market. Well for ten-years hence, the Dow lost money. That’s right, from March 1999 to March 2009 the Dow went from over 9,800 to just under 7,300—not including dividends. And that’s the key. For dividend-centric investors, living through such periods of … [Read more...]
These Cities will Pay you to Move There
Desperate times call for desperate measures. With unemployment rates so low, towns and cities are competing for the workers they need to fill their factories and service jobs. Some have gotten creative, offering new residents cash to relocate within their borders. David Harrison and Shayndi Raice report: Jobs at the paper mills and safe manufacturers on this stretch of the Great Miami River mostly dried up by the early 2000s, leaving behind closed factories and an abandoned downtown. Today, a spruced-up waterfront, loft apartments and help-wanted signs give the appearance of economic … [Read more...]
Will These Gentle New Robots Replace Even More Employees?
For years the most delicate work has been reserved for human hands. Carefully picking items out in warehouses has been a growing place of employment for real live people as online retail has decimated service positions like cashiers and sales representatives. But now it appears robots may even be coming for the warehouse picking jobs. Soft Robotics is developing robots with "pliable grasp," capabilities that will enable the automatons to replace humans in an even greater number of tasks. Jennifer Smith reports: Soft Robotics Inc., which makes pliable grippers to pick up objects from pens … [Read more...]
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