• These 14 giant corporations dominate the global auto industry

    These 14 giant corporations dominate the global auto industry
    The automotive industry has experienced some incredible growth over the past couple of years. In the US alone, more than 30 automotive brands vie for the 17 million autos that are sold each year.
    Around the world, even more brands are selling everything from tiny economy cars to million-dollar exotics for the world's plutocracy. But the industry is highly consolidated — a handful of major corporations own nearly all of the world's major car brands.
    This graphic does not include every car c
  • GOLDMAN: American companies could spend a record amount buying their own shares in 2017

    GOLDMAN: American companies could spend a record amount buying their own shares in 2017
    The biggest US companies are set to spend a record amount of cash buying their own shares in 2017, according to Goldman Sachs.
    The bank's chief US equity strategist, David Kostin, and his team estimate that S&P 500 buyback spending will total $780 billion next year. That would be more than their estimate for $602 billion in 2016, which is on track to be a record.
    In theory, companies buy their own shares with the belief that they are undervalued — and because there's nothing better to
  • STOCKS JUMP TO RECORD HIGHS: Here's what you need to know

    STOCKS JUMP TO RECORD HIGHS: Here's what you need to know
    Stocks once again hit record all-time highs on a holiday-shortened trading day.
    All three indexes ticked up slightly, but oil slid after reports Saudi Arabia may not attend the next OPEC meeting. The bond market was closed all day for the Thanksgiving holiday.
    We've got the headlines from the short day, but first, the scoreboard:
    Dow: 19,138.07, +54.89, (+0.29%)
    S&P 500: 2,210.66, +5.97, (+0.27%)
    Nasdaq: 5,392.70, +12.11, (+0.23%)
    WTI crude oil: $46.28, -$1.71, (-3.56%)
    Saudi Arabia may not
  • CONFIRMED: Johnson & Johnson is looking to buy a nearly $20 billion drugmaker (ATLN, JNJ)

    CONFIRMED: Johnson & Johnson is looking to buy a nearly $20 billion drugmaker (ATLN, JNJ)
    Johnson & Johnson is looking to buy the Swiss drugmaker Actelion in what could be a nearly $20 billion deal.
    Actelion on Friday confirmed Johnson & Johnson's interest, after Bloomberg first reported the potential takeover Thursday.
    Shares of Actelion have jumped 16.7%, to 184.40 Swiss francs ($182), since Thursday morning, giving the company a market cap of around 19.4 billion Swiss francs.
    The two companies are in early talks, Bloomberg reported, and a deal may not necessarily material
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  • Growing up digital: How to protect kids online

    Growing up digital: How to protect kids online
    Children face many online dangers – including pornography, sexual grooming and trolls – and the threat is growing thanks to their evolving digital behaviour. They are spending more time online, tablet and smartphone ownership is on the rise, and kids’ digital capabilities are outpacing those of parents and carers, who often feel ill-equipped to advise.
    Although many digital content and service providers are now expected to help parents, charities and teachers to deal with
  • Digital transformation is about more than new technology

    Digital transformation is about more than new technology
    Marketers at Argos, Microsoft and Citi Bank have urged brands to acknowledge that people now work for purpose, not just money, which they will need to recognise if they want to undergo a successful digital transformation.
    Speaking at The Global Academy of Digital Marketing’s Digital Transformation event yesterday (24 November), Roman Rock, product owner at Argos said having been part of two digital transformations – one at BT and EE, which involved
  • KRUGMAN: No matter what Trump does, manufacturing jobs are not coming back to the US

    KRUGMAN: No matter what Trump does, manufacturing jobs are not coming back to the US
    Paul Krugman, the Nobel-winning economist and New York Times columnist, took to Twitter on Friday to address the state of the US labor market and President-elect Donald Trump's promises to bring back manufacturing jobs.
    To Krugman, the decline in manufacturing employment in the US isn't because of outsourcing, but rather a decades-old feature of the industry.
    "The story of US manufacturing is basically one of high productivity growth allowing demand to be met with ever fewer workers," Krugman wr
  • Legendary physicist Freeman Dyson talks about math, nuclear rockets, and astounding things about the universe

    Legendary physicist Freeman Dyson talks about math, nuclear rockets, and astounding things about the universe
    Legendary physicist Freeman Dyson talks about math, nuclear rockets, and astounding things about the universeJoin the conversation about this story »NOW WATCH: Scientists have discovered why American honey bees are turning into zombies
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  • Fitch just revised South Africa's outlook to negative — and the rand is sliding

    Fitch just revised South Africa's outlook to negative — and the rand is sliding
    Fitch just revised South Africa's outlook to negative from stable.
    The ratings agency also affirmed the country's long-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings at BBB-.
    In the accompanying statement, Fitch noted that the negative revision reflects various factors, including political in-fighting and depressed business confidence despite some economic recovery.
    "Political risks to standards of governance and policy-making have increased and will remain high at least until the e
  • Voice search has created a huge vulnerability at the heart of Google's business (GOOG, GOOGL)

    Voice search has created a huge vulnerability at the heart of Google's business (GOOG, GOOGL)
    When the world shifted from desktop to smartphones, one thing didn't change: the existence of a screen on both devices.
    The screen shrunk, but it remained the medium through which we interact with computers.
    For Google, that meant its core online advertising business — visible search ads on a webpage — remained intact and lucrative.
    Today, Google may be at the beginning of a new shift — one toward artificially intelligent virtual assistants, in which we use our voice to interac
  • A $19 billion hedge fund is pushing into a fresh corner of the credit market

    A $19 billion hedge fund is pushing into a fresh corner of the credit market
    King Street Capital, a $19 billion hedge fund focused on the credit markets, is planning to launch its own collateralized loan obligation.
    A CLO bundles up bank loans of differing credit quality and then sells tranches to investors like insurance companies. They're closely related to collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs, which had a big part to play in the financial crisis.
    King Street said it was an opportune time to launch a CLO given regulatory requirements, according to a client letter d
  • Matching corporate marketers to startup businesses

    Matching corporate marketers to startup businesses
    Union Hand-Roasted Coffee hired former Coca-Cola senior brand manager Kerttu Inkeroinen as marketing director.Recruitment is one of the biggest headaches facing small businesses. Emerging brands depend on finding the right marketing talent to propel them forward, but often this is a tricky task for firms with limited resources. Bringing in marketers that have experience working for large corporations can be a vital way of hiring ready-made skills, but how can small businesses find these people,
  • P&G, John Lewis & Lidl: 5 things that mattered this week

    P&G, John Lewis & Lidl: 5 things that mattered this week
    Lidl lets customers vote on Christmas prices
    Lidl unveiled an ‘industry first’ social media initiative that allows customers to crowdsource the prices of select Christmas products. The Twitter-based strategy means the more customers tweet about a featured Lidl product, the lower its final price will be.
    The Lidl ‘Social Price Drop’ (a concept created by agency 360i Europe) started on Monday (21 November) with Christmas lobster. And thanks to people tweeting, it will
  • Industry looks to ban sexual portrayal of under-18s in ads

    Industry looks to ban sexual portrayal of under-18s in ads
    The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) are launching a consultation in a bid to ban the sexual portrayal of under-18s in advertising.
    The social responsibility rules already allow the ASA to uphold complaints about such sexual portrayal but they do not automatically prohibit it.
    “Without a specific age-related prohibition, advertisers have no explicit signal not to include such imagery and no certainty as to what images are l
  • 10 things you need to know before the opening bell (TGT, AMZN, UTX)

    10 things you need to know before the opening bell (TGT, AMZN, UTX)
    Happy Thanksgiving. Here's what you need to know:
    UK GDP growth came in at 0.5% in the third quarter, as expected, according to a second estimate. This shows that the economy was steady amid concerns about the fallout from Brexit. On a year-on-year basis, GDP growth was 2.3%, in line with the initial reading. 
    Johnson & Johnson has approached the Swiss pharmaceutical Actelion about a potential takeover. Bloomberg reported that discussions were&nbs
  • Surevine: Full-stack Marketer

    Surevine: Full-stack Marketer
    Competitive :Surevine:
    We have a great opportunity for a Full Stack Marketer to join our growing company.London (Southbank)
  • American shoppers are about to answer a $655 billion question about Trump's economy

    American shoppers are about to answer a $655 billion question about Trump's economy
    The election of Donald Trump as the next US president filled many Americans with a sense of uncertainty.As the holiday shopping seasons kicks off with Black Friday, the country is about to get an answer to a crucial question: what happens to the retail industry now that Trump has been elected? 
    This year, sales in the holiday shopping season of November and December, excluding cars, gas, and restaurant sales, are expected to hit $655.8 billion, the National Retail Federation reported in Oct
  • UK retailers tap Black Friday hopes

    UK retailers tap Black Friday hopes
    LONDON: This year's Black Friday event in the UK is set to generate significantly greater sales than last year, not least as product prices across most categories will rise in the new year as a result of the weakness of sterling.A study from...
  • Retailers weigh value of mobile payment

    Retailers weigh value of mobile payment
    NEW YORK: Digital wallet options are growing but retailers need to weigh up whether investment in new POS systems is justified given that mobile payments still account for only a tiny amount of all sales. Earlier this year Piper Jaffray, the...
  • Kellogg lowers IVT levels

    Kellogg lowers IVT levels
    NEW YORK: Kellogg, the food group, could save almost $2m in wasted digital ad spending in the US this year by further reducing its already impressively low invalid traffic levels (IVT).The costs of IVT include not only wasted ad impressions, but...
  • Facebook India targets relevance

    Facebook India targets relevance
    NEW DELHI: Facebook India is seeking to increase its relevance by expanding its reach to include more non-English speakers and attracting more small business advertisers in lower tier cities.Umang Bedi, managing director of Facebook India and...
  • Canon focuses on creativity, community

    Canon focuses on creativity, community
    SYDNEY: Canon, the camera brand, overhauled its brand experience by refocusing on creative inspiration and community, a senior marketer at the brand has revealed. Nina Spinnari, Head of Digital for Canon Australia, outlined the approach at the...
  • Blog: GDPR - all you need to know

    Blog: GDPR - all you need to know
    Marketers need to start thinking about the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which comes into effect in 2018. Todd Ruback, Chief Privacy Officer at Ghostery, outlines the basics.
  • Audio is the new video

    Audio is the new video
    LONDON: Digital audio accounts for only a small part of UK advertising expenditure but it is growing as more consumers listen to music and podcasts on smartphones and as media owners seek to take advantage of cross-media opportunities. "We've...

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