Sales & Marketing news

• Tencent joins Facebook, Apple, and Amazon in the $500 billion club

  24-11-2017 20:05 via feedproxy.google.com
  Chinese tech giant Tencent has had a stellar year, and on Tuesday, it became the first Asian company to be worth more than $500 billion. As we can see in this chart from Statista, the company is now more valuable than Facebook.
  Tencent's stock has more than doubled this year, largely thanks to the surge in popularity of its mobile game Honour of Kings. The fantasy role-playing game has amassed 200 million players since its release last year, and at one point became so popular that Peop
  
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• Black Friday sales have already passed $3.5 billion — and it reveals a dark truth about the future of the holiday

  24-11-2017 19:28 via feedproxy.google.com
  Black Friday shoppers have spent more than $3.5 billion online. 
  The deals have never been steeper.
  The demand for discounts and rise of online shopping could be a problem for some retailers if they fail to adjust their strategies. 
   
  Black Friday sales are surging, with shoppers spending more than $3.5 billion online as of Friday morning. 
  Shoppers spent a total $2.9 billion online on Thanksgiving — a 18% increase over last year, according to Adobe Analytics. By
  
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• Jeff Bezos' net worth grew to over $100 billion after a Black Friday stock surge (AMZN)

  24-11-2017 19:19 via feedproxy.google.com
  Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos' net worth has hit $100 billion.
  Retail stocks have surged after strong Black Friday sales figures, pushing Amazon stock to record highs and adding $1.7 billion to Bezos' fortune.
  He would be the first person in the modern era with a known fortune of $100 billion.Jeff Bezos, the world's richest person, has a net worth of $100 billion after Black Friday buzz sent Amazon stock soaring to record highs.
  Retail stocks are surging after Americans went crazy for B
  
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• BLACK FRIDAY SENDS STOCKS HIGHER: Here's what you need to know

  24-11-2017 19:02 via feedproxy.google.com
   
  Stock markets closed early on Friday, as the Black Friday shopping holiday continues across the US.
  Retail stocks got a boost on Friday, with Macy's rising more than 4% as one of biggest winners. The CEO told CNBC that Macy's online business is going strong. The company, along with its retail competitors, still have a lot of work ahead this holiday season, as consumer trends have shifted online, and brick-and-mortar stores have been struggling.
  Here's the scoreboard:
  Dow: 23,55
  
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• A popular cryptocurrency exchange is hiring to build products for Wall Street's fastest traders

  24-11-2017 18:56 via feedproxy.google.com
    
  The exploding market for digital assets has caused headaches for some cryptocurrency exchanges. 
  Customers of Kraken, one of the largest exchanges in the space, recently experienced connection problems caused by record-level trading volumes. 
  Still, the firm is hiring across departments, including one to build products for high-frequency trading firms.
   
  Kraken has not been immune to the problems facing cryptocurrency exchanges as money continues to pour into the
  
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• Black Friday searches reveal a big change this year (BBY, WMT, TGT)

  24-11-2017 18:14 via feedproxy.google.com
  Best Buy, Walmart, and Target are the most popular searches for stores "near me," according to data from Captify. 
  Macy's and Home Depot, which made the list last year, were replaced by the big box names.Before heading out to find this Black Friday’s hottest deals, millions of Americans will first whip out their phones and search for stores nearby
  Marketing firm Captify analyzed 33 billion searches containing the phrase "near me" to see which stores shoppers were looking fo
  
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• Getting to the business case for advertising

  24-11-2017 17:55
  The advertising industry has undergone rapid change over the past decade as the emergence of new forms of advertising in digital and changes in consumer behaviour have led to growing competition for investment.
  That has led to huge debate around how effective advertising now is, as well as which media should be attracting marketers’ attention and budgets. The likes of Google and Facebook have won over many with their plethora of data and claims of reach and targeting. But there are still m
  
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• Follow this simple rule if you can't decide whether to buy or lease a new car on Black Friday

  24-11-2017 17:54 via feedproxy.google.com
  Use this basic rule: Don't buy a car if all you want is transportation.
  If transportation is what you need, leasing is better.
  Black Friday is a good time to shop because dealers are clearing out old inventory.Buy or lease? It's the question I get asked most often by people who aren't car experts.
  With Black Friday and end-of-the-year deal pitches hitting inboxes across the land, a lot of folks are probably asking themselves that question right now.
  I've offered some convoluted and customi
  
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• RBC: CVS’ Aetna deal is an offensive move against Amazon (CVS, AET)

  24-11-2017 17:23 via feedproxy.google.com
  CVS Health has reportedly been in talks to buy health insurer Aetna for $66 billion.
  The move is seen as defense against Amazon's potential entry to the pharmacy space.
  RBC Capital Markets said Tuesday the deal is more than just defense and could benefit both companies as well as their shareholders. Pharmacy giant CVS Health’s proposed $66 billion buyout of health insurer Aetna could be finalized “by the end of November,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
  In the roug
  
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• Macy's is luring online shoppers and its stock is winning Black Friday (M, AMZN)

  24-11-2017 17:14 via feedproxy.google.com
  Macy's stock rose 4% to $21.45 on Black Friday, outperforming other large retailers.
  CEO Jeff Gennette said on CNBC the company had "very robust online demand" on Black Friday this year.
  Gennette said the company is doing better this year than last year but has a lot of work to do if it wants to post a good holiday quarter.
  The stock is struggling amidst an ongoing retail apocalypse and is down 39.01% this year.
  "We have got to earn our dollar every day," Gennette told CNBC.See h
  
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• Ethereum soars to new all-time high above $440

  24-11-2017 16:40 via feedproxy.google.com
   
  The price of ether hit an all-time high of $445 Friday morning, according to data from Markets Insider.
  The digital currency is up more than 5,200% year-to-date.
   
  The price of ether, the scorching-hot rival to bitcoin, soared to an all-time high above $445 Friday morning, up more than 9% against the US dollar.
  The new high follows a record-setting day for the cryptocurrency on Thursday when it broke through $400 for the first time since June.
  Ether has flown under the radar si
  
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• A top hedge fund recruiter explains the 4 most misunderstood aspects of hedge funds

  24-11-2017 16:27 via feedproxy.google.com
  Ilana Weinstein is the founder of The IDW Group, which focuses on recruiting investment talent for all kinds of investment strategies.
  We asked Weinstein about the biggest trends in the hedge-fund business and how to get a senior-level job today.
  She says there are four major misconceptions people have about the industry.llana Weinstein, founder of the The IDW Group, is a tour-de-force within the hedge fund industry.
  She recruits top-level talent for the world’s most prestigious investmen
  
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• Black Friday is giving retail stocks a boost (AMZN, WMT, HD, JCP, BBY)

  24-11-2017 16:22 via feedproxy.google.com
  Black Friday is one of the most important days for retail, with 0ne third of annual sales occurring in the fourth quarter.
  Many retail stocks are trading higher on Friday.
  Macy's is seeing the biggest boost, rising more than 3%.It's Black Friday in the US, and shoppers across the country are waking up early to take advantage of the shopping holiday. Retail stocks are mostly higher on Friday, as some companies could post their best sales days of the year.
  Goldman Sachs estimates that as much as
  
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• Amazon just hit a record high on Black Friday (AMZN)

  24-11-2017 16:05 via feedproxy.google.com
  Shares of Amazon hit an all-time high of $1172.25 Friday morning.
  The Black Friday shopping day is key for both physical and digital retailers, with shoppers planning to spend 51% of their holiday shopping budget online, compared to 42% in stores, according to a Deloitte survey of more than 4,000 Americans.
  More than 500 employees at the company’s main Italian distribution hub in Piacenza are striking.
  Amazon stock is up 55.37% so far this year.
  Join the conversation about this story
  
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• Amazon, Autumn Budget, Uber: 5 things that mattered this week and why

  24-11-2017 15:22
  Amazon launches first UK pop-up for Black Friday
  If there’s one company that wants to go big on Black Friday, it’s Amazon. This week, it even launched its first ever UK pop-up as an informal countdown to the event. The retail space looks to engage consumers with the brand in a more direct way, and aims to make the shopping experience as easy as possible.
  The 3,000-square foot space features more than 100 curated products within five themed rooms. This includes a kitchen and living ar
  
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• Hedge funds are betting billions that these 17 stocks are going to implode

  24-11-2017 15:05 via feedproxy.google.com
  One way hedge funds make money is by betting against stocks that they see running into trouble. 
  To get a sense of some likely targets of those funds, Goldman Sachs puts together a quarterly Very Important Short Position list of S&P 500 stocks that are being heavily bet against, based on the dollar value of overall outstanding short interest on those stocks.
  Here are the 17 stocks Goldman identified with at least $2 billion in short interest:SEE ALSO: Every US state's mo
  
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• How brands can navigate mistrust, misinformation, and multiple mindsets

  24-11-2017 15:00 via warc.com
  Each year the landscape that marketers face becomes more complex. Mobbie Nazir, We Are Social’s CSO, explores the themes the agency believes will affect the industry in the coming year.It’s been a year of...
  
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• YouTube promises ‘zero tolerance’ for predatory comments as it faces fresh ad boycott

  24-11-2017 12:55
  YouTube has promised it will “aggressively crackdown” on predatory comments left on videos featuring young children as it faces another brand boycott amid allegations it has not done enough to tackle paedophiles on the site.
  Two reports in The Times and the BBC claim that videos showing children brushing their teeth, rolling around in bed or doing the splits have attracted predatory comments. Most of the videos have been uploaded innocently, but the comments are a major concern and h
  
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• An executive at a $3 trillion money manager shares her advice for female entrepreneurs

  24-11-2017 12:10 via feedproxy.google.com
  UBS' Lori Feinsilver co-created Project Entrepreneur to help women start high-growth, high-impact companies. 
  She told Business Insider women need to have more confidence in the companies they start and stand for something meaningful. When you think of the largest companies in the world — Apple, Google, Amazon, etc. — they were all founded by men.  Lori Feinsilver, UBS' Head of Community Affairs & Corporate Responsibility in the Americas,
  
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• Here's the true cost of the 12 Days of Christmas

  24-11-2017 12:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  Every year, PNC calculates the real-world prices of all the gifts in the "12 Days of Christmas" carol. 
  Their so-called Christmas Price Index rose 0.6% this year, driven by higher costs of pear trees, more demand for gold rings, and higher wages for Lords-a-leaping.  
  While it's frivolous, PNC's index mirrors some of the underlying trends in the US economy. 
   
  A partridge in a pear tree and all the other 11 gifts would set you back $34,558.65 this year.
  That's slightly
  
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• Shell on overcoming the B2B challenges of GDPR

  24-11-2017 08:00
  Conversations around the EU General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) often focus on consumer concerns and expectations but the challenges for B2B brands are equally if not more complex.
  Encouragingly, most B2B marketers (72%) do have a good awareness of GDPR, and the majority (64%) believe their organisations are somewhat or extremely prepared for the new data laws, 6% higher than the average, according to the DMA’s latest research.
  However, more concerning is the fact 21% still don
  
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• Hedge funds have run out of ideas

  24-11-2017 02:42 via feedproxy.google.com
  Hedge funds are neglecting to protect against the downside in stocks, with one hedging gauge sitting close to the lowest in five years.
  These funds are also seeing a near-record concentration in a small group of outperforming tech stocks, showing a lack of diversification.
  The top five stock holdings among hedge funds right now are Facebook Amazon, Alibaba Alphabet and Microsoft, according to Goldman Sachs.
  At the same time, funds overall are faring worse than the S&P 500.Hed
  
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• Retailers need to look beyond Amazon

  24-11-2017 01:00 via warc.com
  NEW YORK: The great majority of sales still take place in physical stores, and while Amazon is undoubtedly a threat, retailers need to be more methodical in assessing where the real battleground lies, according to four McKinsey consultants. ...
  
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• Mobile boosts Diageo's research in Africa

  24-11-2017 01:00 via warc.com
  ACCRA: Rapid and effective qualitative market research using mobile phones is helping drinks giant Diageo revamp its advertising and better understand the positioning of its brands in African markets.Traditional research methods can be expensive...
  
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• Few winners with subscription news model

  24-11-2017 01:00 via warc.com
  LONDON: English-language newsbrands operating internationally face stark choices in terms of which business model they follow, with only a handful likely to find success with paid subscriptions, according to a senior News Corp executive. ...
  
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• Email marketers need to tap power of copywriting

  24-11-2017 01:00 via warc.com
  LONDON: Email remains the trusted workhorse of digital marketing, but new research shows a majority of consumers don’t think such communications are done well and many have a separate address just for marketing messages.The DMA’s
  
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• Brand purpose is a delicate balancing act in Asia

  24-11-2017 01:00 via warc.com
  SINGAPORE: Aligning with a social or cultural purpose continues to be a popular strategy for many brands in Asia but customers are increasingly wary of brands that seem inauthentic in doing so, according to analysis of more than 180 ad campaigns...
  
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• Australian retailers brace for Amazon assault

  24-11-2017 01:00 via warc.com
  MELBOURNE: Amazon’s expected full-scale launch in Australia today is stressing small business owners and focusing the minds of top executives at large retailers.PayPal research, based on a survey of 200 small and medium-sized business...
  
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