• BILLIONAIRE BARRAGE: Lee Cooperman is stepping up his attack against Bill Ackman (ADP)

    Lee Cooperman, a billionaire hedge fund manager, doesn't like the way another billionaire hedge fund manager, Bill Ackman, is approaching his latest big investment.
    Ackman runs Pershing Square, an activist fund which takes positions in companies and tries to change them. 
    Pershing Square is trying to shake up ADP, the human resources and payroll company.
    Cooperman has layered on criticism, saying Ackman's approach is "destructive" and that he's full of "chutzpah."
    Billionaire investor
  • THE BOTTOM LINE: The market avoids going nuclear and a deep dive on Snap

    This week:
    Stock indices slipped last week as nuclear tensions between the US and North Korea were ratcheted higher. That anxiety was quickly forgotten, and markets recovered. Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget discusses how attention has now shifted to the decision of CEOs nationwide to leave President Donald Trump's manufacturing council in response to his comments on recent events Charlottesville, Virginia. The sudden development has some saying it reflects a broader loss
  • It took the White House few tries to dismiss the rumor that knocked stocks lower

    The White House is not exactly known for smooth communications these days.Consider its effort to reassure investors that Gary Cohn, head of the president's National Economic Council, would remain in his job. Early Thursday, a rumor was making the rounds on the Internet that Cohn was leaving. Adding to a raft of resignations from the president's two prominent business councils by high-profile CEOs, the rumor fueled fears about whether Trump's economic agenda will ever get off the ground
  • It took the White House a few tries to dismiss the rumor that knocked stocks lower

    The White House is not exactly known for smooth communications these days.Consider its effort to reassure investors that Gary Cohn, head of the president's National Economic Council, would remain in his job. Early Thursday, a rumor was making the rounds on the Internet that Cohn was leaving. Adding to a raft of resignations from the president's two prominent business councils by high-profile CEOs, the rumor fueled fears about whether Trump's economic agenda will ever get off the ground
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  • Mark Cuban says it's 'no surprise' CEOs abandoned Trump: 'It's not like it was obvious there wouldn't be future incidents'

    Billionaire businessman Mark Cuban told Business Insider Thursday that it's "no surprise" CEOs began to abandon President Donald Trump's business councils following his response to the violence at white nationalist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, this past weekend.
    By Wednesday, with CEOs exiting the councils en masse, Trump tweeted that he was ending the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative and the Strategic and Policy Forum. Members of the latter council planned to announce its disbanding in a
  • STOCKS GET CRUSHED: Here's what you need to know

    Stocks tumbled from their strongest levels of the day as false rumors swirled that Gary Cohn, President Donald Trump's top economic adviser, was resigning. They lost more ground after a van plowed into a crowd in Barcelona, Spain, in what authorities said was a terrorist attack. 
    Here's the scoreboard: 
    Dow: 21,750.73, -274.14, (-1.24%)
    S&P 500: 2,430.01, -38.10, (-1.54%)
    Nasdaq: 6,221.91, -123.19, (-1.94%)
    Walmart on Thursday reported second-quarter earnin
  • Goldman Sachs has ascended to the top of a different kind of ranking — and it's poised for a big payoff (GS)

    Wall Street banks care a lot about how they stack up against their rivals. At the top of their earnings statements, they tout where they placed in each line of business, and those rankings appear in every pitch book they hand out. 
    These rankings typically measure fees for mergers and acquisitions advisory work, or equity and debt deal work. They sometimes measure market share in fixed income trading, or equities. First place is always keenly fought over.
    Now, Goldman Sachs,
  • Cisco once created a 'Tiger Team' to attack a hated rival (CSCO, ANET)

    On Wednesday, Cisco reported its seventh straight quarter of year-over-year shrinking revenues.
    That came weeks after its rival Arista Networks posted another blow-out quarter, with revenues up 50% over the year-ago quarter, sending its stock to all-time highs.
    This is exactly the nightmare scenario that Cisco's former CEO, John Chambers, feared years ago, back in 2011, according to the Wall Street Journal's Rachael King.
    Arista was founded in 2004 by legendary Valley engineers An
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  • America's CEOs realized the deals they'd cut with Trump aren't worth it — Detroit's experience shows us why (F)

    • Trump blasted automakers like Ford during the presidential campaign.
    • Ford and GM's CEO joined his advisory councils anyway and logged an early win as a result.
    • But toxic politics are undermining any deals that would work for corporate America so they cut their losses.
    A few months after Donald Trump was elected President, I made the rounds at the Detroit auto show in January and tried to get a sense of what the car business thought of the new Chief Executive.
    After
  • 'The president is becoming more isolated': Trump's Charlottesville response may force GOP lawmakers to move on without him

    Republicans have pushed back against Trump's response to the violence in Charlottesville.
    Trump's influence on Capitol Hill was already shaky following a series of public spats with GOP lawmakers.
    Political analysts think the Charlottesville response may lead Republicans to push forward their agenda without Trump's input.
    President Donald Trump's response to the violence in Charlottesville may be driving a wedge between him and Republican lawmakers, according to policy analysts, and his in
  • Here's how the CEOs on Fortune's '40 Under 40' list are doing leading their companies

    Fortune released its annual "40 Under 40" list of the most influential people under the age of 40, which includes heads of state, musicians, lawmakers, and CEOs from across the globe.
    Business Insider took Fortune's list, and pulled out all of the CEOs (and co-founders) of publicly traded companies in order to see if being a young influencer was positive for their respective companies.
    For the most part, companies whose CEO appeared on the list fared better than the general market. On
  • Meet the finance players who made Fortune’s 40 under 40 list this year

    Finance is said to be a young person’s game, and the bankers, financiers, and founders on this year’s Fortune 40 under 40 list prove just that.
    This year's version of the annual list was led by the recently elected French president Emmanuel Macron, a former Rothschild banker.
    The other young professionals run the gamut from traditional bankers investing in algorithmic stock-picking programs, to visionaries developing new cryptocurrencies, and everything in between.
    Scroll down t
  • Ford is settling claims of alleged harassment for $10.1 million (F)

    Ford will reportedly pay $10.1 million to settle charges of alleged sexual and racial harassment at two facilities located in the Chicago area, according to a report from the Detroit News.
    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) led an investigation into the matter and said in a statement Tuesday that it found "reasonable cause to believe that personnel at two Ford facilities in the Chicago area, the Chicago Assembly Plant and the Chicago Stamping Plant, had s
  • False rumors that Gary Cohn is leaving the White House just spooked Wall Street — for good reason

    The US stock market spent the past few months grinding ever higher, setting records seemingly every week.
    On Thursday, however, a rumor that President Donald Trump's top economic adviser, Gary Cohn, was quitting his team spooked the seemingly calm markets and exposed a possible risk going forward.
    Some Twitter users spotted a tweet, later deleted, from a breaking-news service called Breaking News Live that said Cohn, a former Goldman Sachs chief operating officer, was leaving the White House. W
  • False rumors that Gary Cohn is leaving the White House just spooked Wall Street — for a good reason

    The US stock market spent the last few months grinding ever higher, setting new all-time records seemingly every week.
    On Thursday, however, a rumor that President Donald Trump's top economic advisor Gary Cohn was quitting his team spooked the seemingly calm markets and exposed a possible risk going forward.
    A number of Twitter users spotted a tweet, later deleted, from a breaking news service called Breaking News Live that said Cohn, a former Goldman Sachs COO, was leaving the White H
  • 'Simply doesn't cut it': Elizabeth Warren slams Wells Fargo's board changes (WFC)

    Wells Fargo's effort to turn the page on consumer fraud scandals is falling short.That's according to Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, who has requested the Federal Reserve remove the bank’s board members who served between May 2011 and July 2015 in response to a series of vast consumer fraud scandals.
    The bank, already in hot water for creating millions of unauthorized accounts, recently admitted to also selling auto insurance without customers’ knowledge.
  • Spending at department stores stabilizes after a rough start in 2017

    Spending at department stores appears to have stabilized after a rough start to the year.
    In a recent note to clients, a Bank of America Merrill Lynch team led by Ethan S. Harris, global economist at the bank, analyzed credit card spending at department stores.
    They found that July saw a 1.8% month-over-month uptick in department store spending, marking the fifth consecutive month of positive or flat growth.
    Growth in year-over-year terms, however, remains at -4.1%, according to t
  • An ADP director has a relationship with the activist trying to shake it up — and it shows how messy Wall Street really is

    Pershing Square, an activist hedge fund run by Bill Ackman, recently took a stake in ADP.
    ADP's board includes the dean of Columbia Business School, Glenn Hubbard.
    Pershing Square has close ties to the dean's school, donating hundreds of thousands of dollars for an investment contest for Columbia students. 
    Pershing Square's move to shake up ADP's board creates a conflict for the dean, though it's easy to fix, experts say.
    The human resources and payroll company ADP is under attac
  • How affiliate marketing uses data to drive decisions

    Using data to drive marketing decisions is more important than ever, and there is a huge amount of value to be unlocked within the affiliate marketing channel. The model is evolving, enabling brands to better recognise partners that are delivering the type of customer that is valuable to their business.
    For many retailers, their digital marketing spend is dictated by upfront costs – per click or per impression. The affiliate model has always set itself apart with a payment model focu
  • Snap executives have started selling their shares (SNAP)

    At least three Snap executives have sold shares following the company's post-IPO lockup expiration that has kept employees from selling until now, according to documents filed with the SEC on Wednesday evening.
    Chief Strategy Officer Imran Khan, CFO Drew Vollero, and Senior VP of Engineering Tim Sehn sold stock totaling $9.3 million based on an average weighted stock price of $12.50 per share on Monday.
    Sehn, who leads the app maker's engineering teams, sold the most Class A shares of the
  • Steve Bannon will crash our economy if no one stops him

    Steve Bannon, White House adviser, advocated for a trade war with China in a recent interview. 
    Bannon thinks China is taking advantage of the US and that we must fight to keep global economic dominance, but that overlooks some basic facts about what the US sells to China and how much US consumers depend on Chinese-made products. 
    A trade war would hit US businesses as hard as it hits the Chinese, in particular those with employees in parts of the country that are pro-Trump.
    Left
  • BILL ACKMAN: ADP's stock could double in five years (ADP)

    Activist investor William Ackman laid out his case for changes at Automatic Data Processing Inc on Thursday, saying the payroll processor needs to improve its profit margins and integrate its business lines.
    Ackman's hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management disclosed earlier this month an 8 percent holding in the $50 billion U.S. human resources outsourcing company and nominated three directors to serve on its board.
    ADP has strongly resisted the approach, refusing Ackman's request to exte
  • 'Hate is a cancer': Read the email Apple CEO Tim Cook sent employees after Charlottesville violence

    In the wake of the deadly protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, Apple CEO Tim Cook emailed employees to say "hate is a cancer" and that the company would be making $1 million donations to two civil rights groups, according to BuzzFeed News.
    "The events of the past several days have been deeply troubling for me, and I've heard from many people at Apple who are saddened, outraged or confused," Cook wrote. "What occurred in Charlottesville has no place in our country."
    "We must not witness or
  • The Fed just fired off a stark warning — and it highlights one of the biggest risks for stocks

    The Federal Reserve is done pulling punches. They think the stock market is too expensive, and they want investors to take note.
    In the minutes for their July meeting, the central bank explicitly highlighted stretched equity valuations, sharpening their tone compared to previous comments. Here's the key segment (emphasis ours):
    "Since the April assessment, vulnerabilities associated with asset valuation pressures had edged up from notable to elevated, as asset prices remained high or climbed fur
  • Alibaba is popping after earnings (BABA)

    Alibaba crushed its first quarter earnings report, released before the market opened Thursday.
    The Chinese e-commerce giant posted earnings of $0.82 per share, compared to Wall Street's estimate of $0.61. Revenue came in at $7.322 billion, which was above estimates of $7.186 billion.
    Shares of Alibaba are up 4.68% in early trading Thursday after the earnings beat.
    Alibaba gained 86% of its total revenue from online retail, but saw a huge jump in its cloud business. Revenue from the cloud grew 9
  • Banks are cutting back on lending to the riskiest borrowers (TRU)

    Banks are scaling back on lending to Americans with the lowest credit scores, according to a study from TransUnion. 
    Lenders processed fewer new personal loans, auto loans, and credit cards for subprime borrowers year-on-year in Q2 for the first time since 2012.
    Lenders tightened their standards after the housing crisis a decade ago following several years of reckless lending to subprime borrowers. As the economy rebounded, they opened up access to the subprime part of the market. This
  • Walmart is sliding despite posting an earnings beat (WMT)

    Walmart released its second-quarter earnings report before the bell on Thursday, and the results were mostly positive, but shares are down about 2.5% ahead of the opening bell.  
    The company announced comparable sales rose 1.8% compared to the same time last year, and merchandise volume from its online business soared by 67% compared to last year.
    Adjusted earnings came in at $1.08 per share while revenue totaled $123.36 billion, both were ahead of estimates.
    The only mark on the
  • International round-up: US TV giants cut ads & the trial aimed at reducing ad fraud

    TV giants are cutting back on advertising to ‘reduce clutter’
    US TV giants including Turner and Viacom have been experimenting with cutting down the number of ads they air during shows. They hope it will appease viewers sick of so many ads showing in their favourite programmes while also meaning they could charge a premium because there are fewer slots, therefore driving up revenue in the long term.
    However, the strategy doesn’t yet seem to be paying off. Viacom says it saw a 2
  • Here's a super-quick guide to what traders are talking about right now

    Dave Lutz, head of ETFs at JonesTrading, has an overview of today's markets.
    Walmart and Alibaba posted earnings this morning.
    The US dollar is rising.
    Gold and oil are up slightly.
    Here's Lutz: Morning – Futures under some slight pressure early - CSCO off 3% and we are waiting on WMT after BABA posts what looks like a good number.   Just a sea of red across Europe – DAX down 20bp led by a drop in Fins, while Discretionary outperforms. FTSE off 30bp, but those Mi
  • Asda returns to sales growth but brand recovery is still some way off

    Asda returned to sales growth in its second quarter for the first time in three years as investments in price and the store experience convinced shoppers to return.
    Like-for-like sales (excluding petrol) were up 1.8% in the three months to 30 June, with Asda claiming one of its most successful Easter trading periods ever with total sales up 16%. Even without Easter, comparative sales would still have been up 1.1%.
    Doug McMillon, CEO at Asda’s parent company Walmart, says he is “encou
  • Walmart beats on earnings as online sales surge (WMT)

    Walmart on Thursday reported second-quarter earnings and revenue that topped Wall Street estimates, boosted by an increase of both foot traffic and by strong online sales. However, shares trade down by about 2%. 
    America's largest brick-and-mortar retailer said US comp sales rose 1.8% versus a year ago, making for the 12th straight quarter with positive results. 
    Walmart continues to reap the benefits of its Jet.com acquisition. Gross merchandise volume in its e-commerce unit — t
  • From sausage rolls to salads: Behind the scenes at Greggs

    On joining Greggs in 2013, at a point when the brand was experiencing a sustained period of falling sales, CEO Roger Whiteside took the bold decision to switch up the core focus of the business.
    Research he commissioned suggested that while customers once bought baked goods to take home and consume they now wanted something quick and easy to eat while out and about, as well as healthier alternatives.
    It’s this insight that has reshaped the business and brought it back to life.
    Marketi
  • 10 things you need to know today (SPY, SPX, QQQ, DIA, AMZN, CSCO)

    Here is what you need to know.
    Most Fed officials support a move toward unwinding the Fed's balance sheet. Wednesday's release of the minutes from the July Federal Open Market Committee meeting showed most Federal Reserve officials supporting a move toward unwinding the Fed's $4.5 trillion balance sheet at "an upcoming meeting."
    Trump's 2 business councils disintegrate. President Donald Trump tweeted he was disbanding the Strategic and Policy Forum and a separate manufacturing council; a mass ex
  • 10 things you need to know before the opening bell (SPY, SPX, QQQ, DIA, AMZN, CSCO)

    Here is what you need to know.
    Most Fed officials support a move toward unwinding the Fed's balance sheet. Wednesday's release of the minutes from the July Federal Open Market Committee meeting showed most Federal Reserve officials supporting a move toward unwinding the Fed's $4.5 trillion balance sheet at "an upcoming meeting."
    Trump's 2 business councils disintegrate. President Donald Trump tweeted he was disbanding the Strategic and Policy Forum and a separate manufacturing council; a mass ex
  • In light of Bannon's interview, revisit China's clearest warning to Trump since his election

    On Monday, President Donald Trump signed a measure to begin exploring an investigation into China's theft of US intellectual property (IP). In the international business community, it's no secret that in China, there is little respect for trade secrets. 
    However, the way the Trump administration is handling the issue ignores a clear warning the Chinese government gave to the US back in January. It's using Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974, a law that hasn't been used in
  • Four sales trends to watch this Christmas

    What’s in store for the festive season in 2017? We know it will break all records for ecommerce and that it’s important to get plans for commerce marketing solidified early.The 2017 festive season will cap a year of retailer progress – making better use of their real-world footprints, refining merchandise focus, and embracing the power and potential of omnichannel.Omnichannel marketing drives both awareness and sales through hyper-personalised experiences, no matter where shop
  • Helen Tupper: Busy lives require better goal-setting

    Do you ever feel like days, weeks or even months go by when you’re not sure what you’ve really achieved or what your hard work has been in service of?
    All too often, our minds are reactively focused on the estimated 35,000 decisions we make each day and the management of the 150 tasks on our to-do lists that research tells us the average professional has at any given time.
    It’s easy to lose sight of where you’re headed and why when you’re running on autopilot.
    While
  • 'I think he's a greedy little man': Prospective jurors revealed contempt for 'pharma bro' Martin Shkreli

    Martin Shkreli was found guilty on two counts of securities fraud earlier this month, but the process of selecting a jury for the case against the former pharmaceutical CEO and hedge fund founder appeared to be as lively as the trial itself.
    Some of the 200 potential jurors apparently did not hold back their views toward Shkreli during court interviews held over the course of three days in June. Their court interviews were compiled by Harper's Magazine ahead of its September issue
  • 'Hate is a cancer': Apple CEO Tim Cook sends a message to employees after Charlottesville violence

    In the wake of the deadly protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, Apple CEO Tim Cook emailed employees to say "hate is a cancer" and that the company would be making $1 million donations to two civil rights groups, according to BuzzFeed News.
    "The events of the past several days have been deeply troubling for me, and I've heard from many people at Apple who are saddened, outraged or confused," Cook wrote. "What occurred in Charlottesville has no place in our country."
    "We must not witness or
  • Here's how Trump's council of business titans fell apart

    President Donald Trump's biggest gatherings of business leaders fell apart, and according to reports Trump's own comments are to blame.
    As detailed by reports, the decision to finally disband the council came after Trump's comments over the weekend that did not explicitly denounce neo-Nazi and white nationalist groups at the heart of the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.
    The Strategic and Policy Forum was announced in December 2016 for business leaders to have a direct line to Donald Trump
  • Mark Zuckerberg: Where does this hate come from? (FB)

    After the horrific events in Charlottesville on Saturday that left three dead, 19 injured and the nation in shock over the violence of racist hate groups, Facebook deleted blog posts from a well-known white supremacist blog.
    On Wednesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said "we've always taken down any post that promotes or celebrates hate crimes or acts of terrorism -- including what happened in Charlottesville. With the potential for more rallies, we're watching the situation closely a
  • What Purdey's learned from Idris Elba

    LONDON: Soft drinks firm Britvic has reported successful use of actor Idris Elba in generating sales of its Purdey’s brand, but less achievement in building the brand itself.At a recent London event, Kassy Dignam, Britvic’s global...
  • The Paramount Network's formula for success

    CANNES: The Paramount Network, a cable and satellite channel set to be officially launched by Viacom next year, believes it has some in-built advantages in terms of both brand recognition and programming as it seeks to build an audience.Kevin Kay,...
  • Global marketers make media management changes

    BRUSSELS:Global brands have made major changes, or are planning to make extensive changes, to their media governance practices across a wide range of areas, according to a new study.A survey of global marketers undertaken by the
  • Firefox against the machine

    HONG KONG: Mozilla, the internet non-profit known for its Firefox web browser, can’t compete directly with the likes of Google and instead emphasises its difference and its conscience, its CMO has said.In an interview with Marketing Magazine...
  • China's bike sharing rivalry intensifies

    SHANGHAI: China’s two leading bike-sharing firms, Ofo and Mobike, are linking up with established brands and expanding overseas even as the companies’ valuations continue to exceed their apparent revenue-generating capabilities. ...
  • Aussie SMEs struggle with marketing resources

    SYDNEY: More than half of small businesses in Australia struggle to find the time or money to invest in marketing, according to a new report.Research by marketing services company Salmat, reported in B&T, has revealed that while 51% of small...
  • Apps dominate APAC mobile advertising

    HONG KONG: More than three quarters of mobile programmatic ads served in Asia-Pacific are delivered via app, rising to 90% in Indonesia, according to a recent study.The
  • Apple to spend $1 billion on original content

    CUPERTINO, CA: Rumours of Apple’s entry to Hollywood received credence yesterday, as reports surfaced that the company had set aside roughly $1 billion to procure and produce original video content over the next year.This is according to the...
  • McCain takes ‘bold’ step to deal with misrepresentation of modern families in advertising

    McCain is placing diversity at the heart of its advertising with a new campaign focusing on “real” families, with the brand claiming consumers have “had enough” of misrepresentation in ads.
    The ‘We Are Family’ campaign, which was created by adam&eveDDB and launches today (17 August), looks to celebrate “modern day families” at meal times.
    The ad shows a host of real families, from single parents and LGBT+ families to “grandparents who act

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