Sales & Marketing news

• A 28-year-old hedge fund short-seller who famously took on Bill Ackman says it's a 'sad day for the markets' as one of her short bets soars (WCAGY)

  26-03-2019 21:46 via feedproxy.google.com
  The German payments-processor Wirecard soared 30% after an external report found suspicious transactions in its Asian business would have "no material impact" on its financial statements.
  Fahmi Quadir, a short-seller who's betting against the stock, responded on Twitter, noting the report found current employees likely engaged in criminal activity.
  Quadir splashed on the scene with bearish bets on Valeant in 2015, taking on the hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman.
  German payments-processor Wirecard s
  
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• Google is revitalizing its robotics division, according to report, but this time it will focus on AI-software instead of human-like mobility (GOOG, GOOGL)

  26-03-2019 21:26 via feedproxy.google.com
  Google is getting back into robotics after giving up on earlier, high-profile attempts, according to a report in the New York Times.
  Today, Google's new effort — known as Robotics at Google — is led by Vincent Vanhoucke, who served as a key player in the company's artificial intelligence project, Google Brain. 
  Perhaps a result of Vanhoucke background in AI, Robitics at Google will focus more on advanced software that can train a robot to learn new tasks, instead of expensive de
  
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• Bed Bath & Beyond explodes by more than 25% after activist investors attack (BBBY)

  26-03-2019 21:24 via feedproxy.google.com
  Three activist hedge funds have launched a proxy contest against Bed Bath & Beyond.
  The hedge funds seek to replace CEO Steven Temares and the company's board.
  Shares of the home-furnishings retailer rocketed higher nearly 30% on the news.
  Watch Bed Bath & Beyond trade live.
  Ancora Advisors, Legion Partners Asset Management, and Macellum Advisors are leveraging their combined 5% stake in Bed Bath & Beyond to launch a proxy context to replace the retailer's CEO and entire board o
  
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• MoviePass' parent company raised $6 million by selling new shares, and sent its stock crashing another 50% to under one penny

  26-03-2019 20:27 via feedproxy.google.com
  Helios and Matheson Analytics (HMNY), the parent company of MoviePass, announced on Tuesday that it had raised $6 million in new financing.
  To raise the money, HMNY sold a bunch of preferred stock.
  The move dilutes current shareholders and sent the stock down over 50% to less than a cent (around $0.006). 
  On Tuesday, MoviePass' parent company, Helios and Matheson Analytics (HMNY), announced in a press release that it had raised $6 million in new financing.
  To raise the money, HMNY sold 60,0
  
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• Careem's CEO ribbed Uber for making a rookie error in the Middle East. Now Uber's paying $3.1 billion to buy it.

  26-03-2019 20:26 via feedproxy.google.com
  Uber is buying Careem, its major rival in the Middle East, for $3.1 billion.
  For Uber, it's a way to buy dominance in a fiercely competitive region.
  Careem has built a moat to keep out western competition, founder and CEO Mudassir Sheikha told Business Insider in a recent interview.Just weeks ahead of its highly anticipated IPO, Uber announced a $3.1 billion deal to acquire one of its largest rivals in the Middle East, Careem.
  While Careem will remain an independent brand, Uber will acquire key
  
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• Companies bought back a record $223 billion of their own stock last quarter — even though Congress has been criticizing the practice

  26-03-2019 19:53 via feedproxy.google.com
  Both Democrats and Republicans have blasted corporate buybacks.
  But political pressure hasn't deterred America's publicly traded companies, mostly in the tech sector, from buying back their own stock.S&P 500 companies bought back a record $223 billion worth of stock in the fourth quarter, according to a new S&P Dow Jones Indices report, bringing last year's total to an all-time high of $806.4 billion.
  The end-of-year buying marked the fourth consecutive quarterly record for buybacks, the
  
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• The US just got the latest sign that hiring could continue to slow

  26-03-2019 19:43 via feedproxy.google.com
  Consumer sentiment fell in March, with particular uncertainty apparent on the employment front.
  The gap between the number of respondents who thought jobs were plentiful and those who thought they were hard to get — known as the labor market differential — slid to its lowest level in eight months.But economists expect the US will continue to add north of 100,000 jobs each month, the amount needed to keep up with growth in the working-age population.
  Americans were less sure of t
  
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• There's a group of stocks that’s helped investors survive the worst crashes since the 1920s — and it looks like the perfect hedge for an inverted yield curve

  26-03-2019 17:32 via feedproxy.google.com
  The inversion of a portion of the yield curve late last week reignited fears of a US economic recession.
  If the infamous Treasury-market signal is positive this time, stocks will be vulnerable to losses.
  Societe Generale has identified a group of stocks that's fared better than the broader market during downturns since the 1920s — one it says is poised to be an effective hedge against another market crash.In the realm of recession indicators, the yield curve's track record is hard to beat.
  
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• Wall Street bonuses plunged 17% in 2018

  26-03-2019 16:45 via feedproxy.google.com
  Wall Street bonuses plunged 17% in 2018, according to data from the Office of the New York State Comptroller.
  The average bonus for New York City securities industry professionals fell from $184,400 in 2017 to $153,700 last year.
  The total bonus pool of $27.5 billion was down 14% from the previous year, while the number of industry workers grew by 3% to 181,300.
  Wall Street booked a record profit of $27.3 billion in 2018, yet the average bonus of New York City securities professionals fell 14%,
  
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• New Jersey lawmakers postponed a critical vote to legalize marijuana — here are all the states where pot is legal

  26-03-2019 16:38 via feedproxy.google.com
  New Jersey lawmakers on Monday postponed a vote to legalize marijuana.
  Democratic Governor Phil Murphy couldn't marshal enough support for the bill in the state's 40-member Senate.
  Despite the bill's failure in New Jersey, marijuana legalization initiatives swept the US last year. 
  Recreational marijuana is now legal in 10 states; medical marijuana is legal in 33.New Jersey lawmakers on Monday postponed a vote to legalize marijuana, despite support from the state's governor, legislative lea
  
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• Post-Brexit Britain and the future of marketing

  26-03-2019 15:59
  In June 2016 a big black cloud parked its backside over the UK and started pouring uncertainty all over the country.
  It’s been raining for almost three years now and days of certainty are but a distant memory on a turbulent wind. Will they, won’t they? Deal or no-deal? Hard or soft? Now, we’re heading for ‘meaningful vote’ number who-knows-what because it seems no one knows what they’re doing and MPs have nothing better to do than shout and wave their hands.
  
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• Apple's big event leaves many unanswered questions (AAPL)

  26-03-2019 15:21 via feedproxy.google.com
  Wall Street analysts weighed in on the special event that Apple held on Monday, where the company unveiled new offerings.
  While many analysts kept their ratings unchanged, at least one firm bumped up its price target for Apple shares.
  Goldman Sachs analysts said the event was "materially different than we had expected," and expected investors' focus to return to Apple's slowing iPhone business.
  Watch Apple trade in real-time.
  Apple's highly anticipated event in Cupertino, California, on Monday w
  
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• McDonald's made a $300 million deal to sell you things like Amazon does (MCD)

  26-03-2019 14:56 via feedproxy.google.com
  McDonald's is acquiring artificial-intelligence startup Dynamic Yield in a $300 million deal. 
  With the new tech, McDonald's drive-thru menus will update instantaneously based on factors such as the time of day, weather, and customers' current selections. 
  Chains such as McDonald's, Burger King, and Starbucks are working to better personalize the restaurant experience to convince customers to spend more.  McDonald's is making major investments to keep up in an increasingly di
  
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• A marketer’s view of martech

  26-03-2019 14:24
  Marketing is now a technology-powered discipline because software is how marketing ‘sees’ and ‘touches’ customers in a digital world.
  Anybody working in marketing today is dealing with marketing technology (martech), since digital by its very nature is technology-based. The customer and their adoption of digital – and particularly mobile – is one of the driving forces of this change.
  The relevance of technology to high-tech Silicon Valley companies is obvious
  
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• Read the email Uber's CEO sent employees about the company's $3.1 billion acquisition of a major competitor

  26-03-2019 13:54 via feedproxy.google.com
  Uber is buying its rival Careem for $3.1 billion, it confirmed Tuesday.
  The acquisition is a bid for dominance in a fiercely competitive region.
  Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told employees that Careem would remain an independent brand.Uber is buying Careem, one of its biggest competitors in the Middle East, in a $3.1 billion deal for dominance in a highly competitive region.
  The deal was confirmed Tuesday after more than nine months of start-and-stop negotiations. Careem will remain an independent
  
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• Marketoonist on being aligned

  26-03-2019 13:41
  Tom Fishburne is founder of Marketoon Studios. Follow his work at marketoonist.com or on Twitter @tomfishburne
  See more of the Marketoonist here
  The post Marketoonist on being aligned appeared first on Marketing Week.
  
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• Cannabis producer Cronos sinks after revenue comes up short (CRON)

  26-03-2019 13:26 via feedproxy.google.com
  Cronos missed earnings and revenue expectations for the fourth quarter.
  Shares slid more than 4% early Tuesday.
  Watch Cronos trade live.
  The cannabis producer Cronos fell more that 4% early Tuesday after missing Wall Street's revenue estimate for the fourth quarter.
  Cronos reported revenue of 5.6 million Canadian dollars, well below the consensus estimate of 10.8 million Canadian dollars and below all analyst estimates. Expectations for the quarter were high, with analysts surveyed by Bloomberg
  
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• GOLDMAN SACHS: Here's why the latest yield-curve inversion pales in comparison to past signals — and why you shouldn't give up on the economy just yet

  26-03-2019 13:16 via feedproxy.google.com
  The three-month to 10-year US Treasury yield curve, a bond market recessionary indicator, inverted for the first time since 2007 last week. 
  But, it shouldn't cause alarm because the "curve inversion signal could be less powerful for recessions than in the past," according to Goldman Sachs in a note. 
  Recessions can take a long time after inversions and the proportion of the curve that has inverted is lower than in the past. Yield curve inversions have been all over the news in re
  
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• 10 things you need to know before the opening bell (SPY, SPX, QQQ, DIA, BA, AAPL, WFC)

  26-03-2019 11:53 via feedproxy.google.com
  Here is what you need to know.MPs seize control of Brexit. Members of Parliament have voted in favor of holding a series of "indicative events" designed to guide the UK government on its next steps for Brexit.
  The inverted yield curve will cause asset bubbles, economist says. The US is able to "finance relatively good growth at artificially suppressed interest rates," which will lead to asset bubbles and not a recession, according to Tom Porcelli, RBC's chief US economist.
  A Wall Streeter who c
  
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• Former Goldman Sachs exec Harvey Schwartz reportedly turned down the top spot at Wells Fargo

  26-03-2019 11:06 via feedproxy.google.com
  Former Goldman Sachs executive Harvey Schwartz is said to turn down opportunity to take on Wells Fargo CEO role. 
  It counters previous reports that the ex-president at the bank had interviewed for the role. 
  Schwartz missed out on replacing Lloyd Blankfein as Goldman CEO to David Solomon a year ago. A year after missing out on becoming Goldman Sachs CEO Harvey Schwartz is keeping his options open. 
  Reports suggested that the former Goldman exec had interviewed for the role of
  
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• The inverted yield curve will cause asset bubbles, not recession, economist says

  26-03-2019 11:02 via feedproxy.google.com
  A yield-curve inversion, which occurred last week, often signals a recession is coming in the medium term.
  But RBC's chief US economist, Tom Porcelli, argues that last week's yield-curve inversion is different.He says asset bubbles are the real risk as the US economy outperforms the rest of the world.
  The inversion of the yield curve, in which short-term Treasury yields exceed those of longer-term notes, has many market commentators claiming that a recession is near. Last Friday, the yield on th
  
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• The Wall Street expert who called the last stock meltdown explains how investors could be falling into a catastrophic trap

  26-03-2019 10:59 via feedproxy.google.com
  Ed Clissold, the chief US equity strategist at Ned Davis Research, says many investors fall victim to a major misconception surrounding corporate earnings growth.
  He says this misunderstanding could be sending traders down an overly optimistic path that could come back to bite them.If you were to take a blind survey of investors, most would tell you that corporate earnings are a rare bright spot in a landscape increasingly riddled with macro headwinds.
  Ed Clissold, the chief US equity strategist
  
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• Government upskills marketers for future where ‘everything is digital’

  26-03-2019 08:42
  The Government is preparing to launch an upskilling programme for its marketers as it looks to position for a future where “everything is digital”.
  The ‘accelerate’ programme for marketers focuses on four key areas: campaign management, programmatic, social media and paid search. It came about after the Government Communication Service (GCS) mapped the skills and capabilities of its comms departments to find areas where there might be gaps.
  A team of marketing leaders fr
  
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• Marketers must get closer to supply chain or risk long-term brand damage

  26-03-2019 08:00
  People Tree supplier Creative Handicrafts celebrating Fashion Revolution Week 2018.As consumers become increasingly conscious of the cost of fast fashion, their plastic consumption and the looming threat of climate change, they are looking for brands to take a stand and show some leadership.
  Whether it is enhancing the transparency of their supply chains, committing to sustainable production or dramatically reducing their reliance on single-use plastic, businesses which fail to deliver for today
  
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• The IAB continues to dig deep on direct brands

  26-03-2019 01:00 via warc.com
  The Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) 2019 Annual Leadership Meeting provided an in-depth view of the direct-brand revolution. Geoffrey Precourt, WARC’s US Editor, outlines some of the highlights from the event in Phoenix,...
  
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• Tapping e-sports sponsorship opportunities

  26-03-2019 01:00 via warc.com
  There are many similarities with traditional sports when it comes to sponsoring e-sports but marketers also need to understand the significant differences in this fast-growing market, an industry figures advises.E-sports revenues are already at...
  
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• New Apple services: the details

  26-03-2019 01:00 via warc.com
  Apple TV+, the new Apple streaming service announced yesterday, pitches the device manufacturer into a crowded market as it shifts its business strategy towards original content and digital services.The widely expected move into SVOD comes with...
  
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• India FMCG market slows

  26-03-2019 01:00 via warc.com
  After several years of impressive growth, India’s FMCG category registered a downturn in 2018, latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel show – but branded products appear to be faring well.Category sales volume dipped by 1.14%, in...
  
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• Dark social top for sharing content

  26-03-2019 01:00 via warc.com
  Almost two thirds of internet users in the UK and US are sharing content and recommendations using private messaging apps, new research suggests – a greater proportion than use public social media or word of mouth.A study from GlobalWebIndex...
  
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• Content vital for Kopari Beauty

  26-03-2019 01:00 via warc.com
  Content vital for Kopari BeautyKopari Beauty, the direct to consumer brand, is putting content at the heart of its efforts to reach its target audience and drive purchases among online shoppers.Bryce Goldman, Kopari’s co-founder/CEO,...
  
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• Brands can boost China's sharing economy

  26-03-2019 01:00 via warc.com
  China’s sharing economy has strong potential to move beyond its current transport focus and embrace other categories, but trust issues will have to be overcome first, according to new research.Mintel’s
  
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