Sales & Marketing news

• Here's why Amazon is buying Whole Foods (AMZN, WFM)

  18-06-2017 19:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Amazon swooped in to buy high-end grocer Whole Foods Friday, paying $13.7 billion — and a healthy 27% premium over the previous day's closing price.
  So what's in it for Amazon? 
  There are a couple strategic plays at work for the online-retailing giant. 
  For starters, acquiring Whole Foods' 440 US stores — many of them in primo locations — will bolster the network for AmazonFresh, the company's online grocery delivery service.
  "To ship efficiently groceries to con
  
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• The CEO of Whole Foods called activist investors 'greedy bastards,' then struck a deal that will lead to a huge payday for one (WFM, AMZN)

  18-06-2017 18:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Days after it came to light that he had lambasted activist investors as "greedy bastards," Whole Foods CEO John Mackey has struck a deal that is set to net one such investor a massive payday.
  Amazon on Friday announced it would buy Whole Foods in a megadeal valued at $13.7 billion, or $42 a share.
  Jana Partners, an activist hedge fund that has been a thorn in Mackey's side, is the third-largest shareholder, with a stake of more than 8%.
  Its share of the company is worth $1.1 billion at the deal
  
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• BANK OF AMERICA: There's one big difference between now and the 1999 tech bubble

  18-06-2017 17:33 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  The boom in stocks is not yet irrational, Bank of America Merrill Lynch strategists say.
  About three-quarters of those managing large funds whom the bank surveyed said tech stocks were either expensive or bubble-like. The survey was conducted June 2-8, right before the tumble on Friday and Monday, and offers more insight into why investors dumped tech stocks.
  Also, the share of investors who thought that stocks were overvalued jumped to a record high.
  Unlike 1999, BAML said, investors are not re
  
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• 'Cars 3' wins the weekend box office as the Tupac biopic surprises and 'Rough Night' bombs

  18-06-2017 17:19 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Pixar's latest movie, "Cars 3," may have won the weekend box office, but that was hardly the most interesting thing that went down at the multiplex the last couple of days.
  The latest movie in the "Cars" franchise took in an estimated $53 million, according to Exhibitor Relations, the lowest opening for any "Cars" movie.
  In second place with $40 million is "Wonder Woman," which continues to be a cash cow for Warner Bros./DCEU with a domestic total of $274 million and over $500 million worldwide.
  
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• Traders betting against Snap have made a killing since its IPO (SNAP)

  18-06-2017 17:02 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Now that Snap's stock has tumbled back to its IPO price, the only people making money on the stock are those betting against it.
  And they've reaped some big gains, to the tune of $195 million, according to data compiled by financial analytics firm S3 Partners. That includes Thursday's 4% share decline in Snap, which went public in early March.
  Short interest in Snap now sits at $1.13 billion, making it the third most-shorted stock in the application software sector, S3 data show. That
  
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• Bank tellers are in danger of extinction as the ATM of the future takes over (JPM, BAC)

  18-06-2017 16:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Retail bank branches remain stubbornly relevant, despite an onslaught of digital and tech innovations.But bank tellers' days in those branches could be numbered.
  The largest banks in the US have been investing millions in updating the capabilities and physical appearances of their thousands of ATMs — an invention that turns 50 years old this month.
  As those capabilities continue to grow, customers at retail branches will spend more time interacting with machines for their day-to-day needs
  
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• While he's taking a break, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick should study Elon Musk (TSLA)

  18-06-2017 15:37 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  You can easily make the argument that Tesla is the hottest company of the post-financial-crisis period.
  A surging stock price at the beginning of 2017 and a market cap bigger than Ford, GM, and BMW has helped that case, but even before the finances were turbocharged, the Tesla story was compelling.
  But Tesla is 13 years old. Everyone wants to keep the plot fresh, and to satisfy that craving, for the past few years we've had Uber and its $70-billion valuation — more than Tesla's booming mar
  
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• Should you be scared of Amazon? (AMZN)

  18-06-2017 15:37 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  About a month ago, New York Times columnist Farhad Manjoo helped coin a new term for the top-five tech companies that are increasingly dominating our lives: The Frightful Five, better known as Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook.
  The top of his list? Amazon.
  Farhad's argument was that he's increasingly dependent on Amazon for buying stuff and entertaining his family. That's true.
  But I'd argue Amazon's reach goes deeper than that, deeper than any other company inside or
  
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• A predictor with a perfect track record on the American economy is moving closer to signaling a recession

  18-06-2017 15:05 via feedproxy.google.com
  A key predictor of the health of the American economy is inching closer to signaling a recession.
  The indicator in question is the US Treasury yield curve, a measure of the gap between short- and long-term interest rates. When it is steep — meaning it costs more to borrow money for the long term — that's a good sign investors expect a quickly growing economy.
  A flattening one suggests a slowing one. That's what's occurring now.
  The spread between the yields on two-year and 10-year Tr
  
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• Big banks may have an extra $100 billion to spare thanks to Trump, but it's probably not going to go where he wants it to (JPM, GS, C)

  18-06-2017 15:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Big banks could have an extra $100 billion in capital to play with if President Donald Trump's financial regulation plans come to fruition.
  After the financial crisis, regulators required banks to build up billions in capital reserves to mitigate "too big to fail" concerns. The Trump administration would like to roll back those demands — and many others — it made clear in a 150-page report from the Treasury Department this week.
  Goldman Sachs noted that the five-largest US
  
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• The US economy looks a lot like the period before the tech bubble

  18-06-2017 14:59 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  The stars are aligning for the stock market, but not in the way bulls might like.
  There are four economic indicators that show remarkable similarities to 1999, the year before the dot-com bubble burst and stocks were plunged into a bear market, says Brad McMillan, the chief investment officer of Commonwealth Financial Network in Waltham, Massachusetts, which oversees $114 billion.
  While McMillan isn't making an exact prediction for the top of the stock market, he thinks investors
  
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• Trump tries to get back on message, tweets his frustration with Russia investigation 'Witch Hunt'

  18-06-2017 14:48 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  President Donald Trump is beginning his day with a stream of tweets defending his record and lashing out at the investigation into Russian interference in the election.
  In a two-part tweet posted before 7 a.m. Sunday, Trump wrote: "The MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN agenda is doing very well despite the distraction of the Witch Hunt."
  He continued by saying: "Many new jobs, high business enthusiasm ...massive regulation cuts, 36 new legislative bills signed, great new S.C.Justice, and Infrastructure,
  
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• Talk of a skills gap in the labor market is 'an incredible cop out'

  18-06-2017 13:03 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Heidi Shierholz, former chief economist at the Labor Department, has a great saying when it comes to an alleged "skills gap" in the job market: "If you hear an employer complain they can’t find skilled workers, always ask, at what wage?"
  The Business CEO Roundtable has published a report discussing what it says is a shortage of skilled workers in America, and hosted a conference in Washington featuring high profile CEOs, a top aide to Donald Trump and two US senators.
  "There are a lot
  
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