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Aditya Ghosh picks 25-yr-old as his boss

Mumbai: Earlier this month, Aditya Ghosh got a call from a senior executive at Tata Sons with a proposal for him to help with the group’s planned acquisition of a majority stake in Jet Airways. The proposal included Ghosh subsequently running the entire portfolio of aviation businesses that would be jointly set up by the salt-to-software conglomerate and its partner Singapore Airlines.

This was an opportunity of considerable potential for the prolific former president of IndiGo, who had steered the airline from its initial years to become one of the fastest-growing carriers in the world. The proposal offered a worthy challenge. Tata Sons, founded by the original patriarch of Indian aviation JRD Tata, is now desperate to make its presence felt in Indian aviation after years of trying. This was a shot at making another world-class airline product.

Instead, Ghosh, 43, saw more merit in joining hospitality startup OYO Hotels as its CEO.

Ghosh told ET that he sees this as an “awesome opportunity to once again create something that the world has not seen before,” adding he had been in talks with OYO founder Ritesh Agarwal for “a few months now.”

OYO, which recently raised $800 million in funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund, has in the last five years built an inventory of 330,000 rooms in 12,000 leased and franchised hotels in 500 cities in seven countries across the world.

Challenges aren’t new to Ghosh. A lawyer by education, Ghosh was with Delhi’s J Sagar Associates when he first came in contact with Rahul Bhatia of InterGlobe Enterprise, which runs IndiGo. Ghosh later joined InterGlobe as general counsel and in May 2007 was inducted into IndiGo’s board of directors. In August the following year, Ghosh, with no prior experience of running an airline or even a company, became the surprise choice as IndiGo’s second president, replacing the highly respected Bruce Ashby.

IndiGo surprised the aviation world with an order for 100 Airbus planes, following it up with bigger orders, a formidable network, profitable operations, massive cash reserves, and a successful initial public offering. The airline currently has a market cap of Rs 40,101 crore, more than 11 times that of its closest competitor Jet; controls close to half of the Indian domestic aviation passenger market; has an order for 400 planes; and plans to reach a size next year that would equal several times that of most of its rivals.

Ghosh’s time at IndiGo wasn’t without its glitches, though. His exit from IndiGo in April was marked by disagreements with the management over the expansion spree. His move was also preceded by several top-level appointments that raised rumours of separate power centres forming within the airline.

Ghosh took a short hiatus, went on multiple vacations, traveled the world, camped on hilltops, rode horses, gorged on Slurrpfarm pancakes which he has a self-confessed weakness for, focused on his passion for bodybuilding, and flooded his Instagram account with pictures tagged #busylivinglife.

Along the way, he became a member of the advisory board of Fireside Ventures—an early-stage venture capital firm focused on consumer brands, joined the board of directors at the Nani Palkhivala Arbitration Centre, and became a senior adviser to the Tata Trusts helping lead its cancer care initiative.

Ghosh’s role at OYO Hotels won’t be bereft of challenges. The hospitality industry, like the aviation sector, is cyclical and unorganized to a much higher degree. Margins are wafer thin and demand is often impacted by factors entirely beyond a company’s control. But Ghosh has his quiet confidence firmly in place with an attitude best described in a caption to a recent post-training Insta pic: “Knackered but smiling.”

Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/features/aditya-ghosh-the-man-who-chose-oyo-over-tata-sons/articleshow/66645424.cms

[weederstudy06-blog]

Anil Ambani firm to sell BIG FM to Music Broadcast

This deal will make Music Broadcast, which currently operates 39 channels, the largest private FM Channel operator.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com

Anil Ambani's Reliance Group will sell its stake in Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd (RBNL), which operates Big FM radio channels, to Jagran Prakashan-owned Music Broadcast Ltd (MBL) for an enterprise value of Rs 1,050 crore, a statement said on Monday.

The board of MBL, which operates under the brand name of Radio City, on Monday approved the acquisition of RBNL, a Reliance Group company.

Meanwhile, Reliance Capital and Reliance Land (part of the Reliance Capital Group) announced to divest their equity stake in RBNL to MBL, which would help them to reduce their loan burdens, the statement said.

This deal will make MBL, which currently operates 39 channels, the largest private FM Channel operator.

RBNL has 58 stations. Only 40 RBNL FM stations, which are part of the transaction, will be transferred to MBL.

So, post the deal, MBL will have a network of 79 stations.

As many as 18 channels out of Big FM's 58 overlap with Radio City.

In the second leg of the transaction, Reliance will sell these residual 18 stations to another existing player for Rs 150 crore, according to sources, who also added that an announcement in this regard is expected shortly.

According to MBL, the entire transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of FY2021.

"Once the BIG FM stations are added, we would have the largest Radio FM network in the country, which would give us very unparalleled reach in the market," MBL director Apurva Purohit said.

Several other synergies would also play as both brands are complementary to each other, she said adding that these synergies would help both in revenue maximisation and cost optimisation.

MBL is likely to retain both the brands -- Radio City and Big FM -- in its fold.

Purohit said that "after phase III (of the FM frequency auction) people are allowed to have multiple frequencies in a city.

“So as of now, we do not have any problem if, we have more than one frequency in a city.

“We would continue to have Radio City frequency and Big FM frequency".

While, providing details of the deal, Reliance Capital in a statement said: "MBL will initially acquire a 24 per cent equity stake of RBNL by way of a preferential allotment for a total consideration of Rs 202 crore, and thereafter subject to the receipt of all regulatory approvals, MBL will acquire all of the remaining equity stake held by Reliance Capital and Reliance Land in RBNL at a total enterprise value of Rs 1,050 crore."

Commenting on the development, Reliance Capital CFO Amit Bapna said: "This transaction is part of our overall strategy to reduce exposure in non-core businesses and will reduce Reliance Capital's debt by an estimated Rs 1,200 crore."

He further said: "Together with the recently announced stake sale in Reliance Nippon Asset Management for Rs 6,000 crore and other ongoing monetisation plans, we expect Reliance Capital's debt to reduce by approx Rs 12,000 crore (nearly 70 per cent) in the current financial year."

© Copyright 2019 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.

Source: https://www.rediff.com/business/report/tech-anil-ambani-firm-to-sell-big-fm-to-music-broadcast/20190527.htm

[weederstudy06-blog]

What a personal loan costs you

Personal loans are a way to use tomorrow’s income today, and the process involved is simple. But you must note that the interest rates are much higher than, say, for a car loan. This is because personal loans are unsecured loans. This means that the loan is not backed by any asset. The loan amount and interest rate depend on parameters such as your income, credit, repayment capacity, and others. As personal loans come with high interest rates, continuous default will put you on a downward spiral.

Here are some of the lowest personal loan interest rates offered by various banks.

Source: https://www.livemint.com/money/personal-finance/what-a-personal-loan-costs-you-1552832718097.html

[weederstudy06-blog]

Hate paying income taxes? These states don't have them

The U.S. has always been a nation on the move. Americans are motivated to pack up and start over in search of better jobs, cheaper living costs -- and lower taxes.

A small number of states wave at potential newcomers and shout, "Hey! Over here! We don't have a state income tax!" Since personal income isn't taxed, residents get to hold onto more of their paychecks -- an undeniable perk.

Here, we’ve rounded up the states that have no income tax. But when you peel back the layers, you’ll find that residents aren’t exactly living tax-free.

Source: http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/taxes/hate-paying-income-taxes-these-states-dont-have-them/ss-BBOojcj?srcref=rss

[weederstudy06-blog]

The global struggle to halt Trump’s trade offensive

Donald Trump’s campaign to remake the world’s trading system is gathering speed. The US president claimed two successes last week in his push to negotiate new one-on-one deals with big trade partners. South Korea agreed to revise its accord with Washington under the threat of punitive tariffs, and Japan gave in to pressure to start bilateral talks on a new deal.

Mr Trump has also heaped pressure on Canada to sign up to a new North American Free Trade Agreement and pushed the EU to the negotiating table while slapping record duties on more than $200bn of Chinese imports to the US.

So how far is he reshaping the realities of world trade with his shift to aggressive bilateralism? And now that the US no longer wants its traditional role of anchoring the world trade system, how successful are other big countries’ efforts to replace it?

Divide and conquer

Having abandoned the US’s flagship regional deal, the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, Mr Trump has sought to pick off trading partners across the world one by one, demanding concessions as he imposes tariffs with threats of more to come.

The US can claim some success. South Korea’s decision to tweak its trade deal with the US to limit steel exports and import more cars made the country one of the first to buckle under the pressure. In return, Seoul was granted exemptions from steel and aluminium import tariffs.

Mexico has also broken a promise to Canada that it would maintain a common front with Ottawa in the Nafta renegotiation, agreeing concessions in direct talks with the US. Those changes allowed Mr Trump to raise the pressure on Canada also to agree to alterations or be excluded from a US-Mexico deal.

Even the EU, which frequently touts its multilateralist credentials, abandoned its pledge to require steel and aluminium tariffs to be lifted before negotiating directly with the US. It is now working towards a deal that would violate both its own and World Trade Organization rules, so that it can prevent tariffs being levied on its precious car industry.

Japan has tried to keep the multilateral spirit alive, leading the successful push to revive and complete the TPP without the US. But Tokyo now also finds itself pushed down the bilateral route.

Of the big trading powers, only China, whose talks with Washington have started and collapsed several times, has declined to make concessions despite huge and expanding unilateral US tariffs.

What does Trump have to show for it?

The changes to the South Korea deal are so minimal that they can be agreed by the Trump administration. But, for any substantial negotiations within Nafta or with the EU, Congress will have a say and may block an agreement it does not like. If Brussels continues to refuse to discuss agriculture, for example, the US farm lobby will press Congress hard to refuse any deal.

Equally, if Mr Trump’s patience runs out with the Nafta countries and the EU, he may well go back to imposing punitive tariffs.

The changes the US president seeks are quite simple, if unlikely to win favour with many trade economists. In striking its deals with Korea and Mexico, the US has sought to repatriate goods supply chains to the US. By contrast, in the case of the talks with the EU, Washington’s proposals would lower tariffs and could boost transatlantic trade.

EU and Mexican officials privately argue that the concessions they are offering are relatively minimal and give Mr Trump mainly a symbolic victory. In China’s case, though, the US is demanding such deep and fundamental changes to the country’s state interventionist strategy that it will be politically extremely painful for Beijing to accept them.

How to handle Trump?

© AFP

The EU and Japan have finalised a bilateral trade deal and sought to co-ordinate with each other while coaxing the US and China into greater co-operation. Yet both are acutely aware that if they ally too closely with either Washington or Beijing, they risk getting caught in crossfire from the bilateral trade war.

The EU is traditionally less combative than the US in dealing with Chinese trade practices — Germany in particular has big export and investment interests in the country. Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, will also visit Beijing next month as part of an attempt to reach common ground on trade.

Nevertheless, Brussels and Tokyo share Washington’s concern about China’s trade-distorting interventionism, especially its subsidies of industrial over-capacity and the forced transfer of technology from foreign companies operating in the country.

But rather than replicate the US’s unilateral actions against China, the EU and Japan have sought to usher Washington down a more collaborative road with a much longer time horizon.

Despite initial scepticism from Brussels, Tokyo led a drive last year to create a trilateral EU-Japan-US initiative, which has resulted in a flurry of more-or-less co-ordinated litigation against China at the WTO over tech transfer.

After the latest ministerial meeting last week, the three also promised to work together on a common approach to so-called “non-market economies” and to reducing distorting subsidies.

The EU has also pushed for changes to the WTO to address US complaints about its ineffectiveness. Yet there is only so much that even a reformed WTO can do to address China’s trade distortions, given the limited coverage of the organisation’s rule book. Some Trump supporters in Washington are more attracted to the idea of trying to push China out of the WTO altogether.

And even as the US files cases against China at the WTO, Washington continues to hamstring the organisation’s dispute settlement process by refusing to appoint new judges to its appellate body.

What’s going to happen?

The US drive has not led to a total protectionist free-for-all. But despite some valiant efforts, the other big trading powers have struggled to find enough common ground to create a new anchor for the world trading system. So far only the US’s trading relationship with China has been seen seriously disrupted. But that may well spread to other economies if they decline to accede to Mr Trump’s demands.

Source: https://www.ft.com/content/0ac90e6a-c16c-11e8-95b1-d36dfef1b89a

[weederstudy06-blog]

Record Labels' Global Investment in A&R and Marketing Hit $5.8B in 2017, IFPI Report Finds

Record labels invested $5.8 billion in A&R and marketing worldwide in 2017, a new report released by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) finds. That figure includes a total A&R investment of $4.1 billion and $1.7 billion in marketing costs, equating to approximately 33.8% of global recorded music revenues.

These figures represent a significant increase over 2015, when IFPI calculated the combined A&R and marketing investment at $4.5 billion, representing 27% of revenues at that time. The figure in 2013 was $4.3 billion.

IFPI has set up a dedicated microsite breaking down the 2017 figures.

“Record labels are trusted partners, collaborators and a driving force helping artists to achieve their creative vision and commercial success,” said IFPI chief executive Frances Moore in a statement. “As today’s announcement makes clear, they are also the leading investors in music.”

IFPI compares A&R to Research and Development (R&D) in other industries, saying that the proportion of record company revenue invested in that area is “higher than virtually any other industry.” That comparison is based on figures included in the 2017 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard, which calculates R&D investments in the auto, biotechnology and aerospace and defense sectors, among others.

This year’s IFPI report includes case studies of artists including Aya Nakamura, J Balvin and Camila Cabello. It additionally breaks down the various ways a record label develops an artist, including in the areas of publicity, creative services, data insights and video production.

“In today’s competitive music market, the role of a record company has never been more relevant,” continued Moore. “Whilst artists have a myriad of choices in how to develop their career, a record company offers unique, unmatched support.”

Source: https://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/record-labels/8512650/record-labels-global-investment-in-ar-and-marketing-hit-58b

[weederstudy06-blog]

Rihanna Sues Her Dad for 'Fenty' Trademark Misuse, Lying About Being in Business With Her

Rihanna is suing her father, claiming that he's tricking people into believing she's involved with his company by giving it a name she made famous: Fenty.

Before digging into the details of the complaint, it's important to note that the famous singer turned makeup mogul was born Robyn Rihanna Fenty. So her dad, Ronald Fenty, effectively named his company after himself. The bulk of Rihanna's lawsuit, though, centers on allegations that her father and his business partner, Moses Joktan Perkins, took the implied association with her a step further and have been outright lying to investors about her involvement in Fenty Entertainment.

"Mr. Fenty and Mr. Perkins have used these lies in a fraudulent effort to solicit millions of dollars from unsuspecting third parties in exchange for the false promise that they were authorized to act on Rihanna’s behalf, and/or that Rihanna would perform at various locations throughout the world," writes attorney Carla Wirtschafter in the complaint. "Simply put, Mr. Fenty, Mr. Perkins and the Company are not presently, nor have they ever been, authorized to exploit Rihanna’s name, her intellectual property or the goodwill associated with her well-known 'Fenty' brand, or to solicit any business on her behalf."

Rihanna has told the men on multiple occasions to cease and desist, but her demands have been ignored.

The star has been using the "Fenty" mark in association with her businesses since 2012, and her Fenty Beauty line made Time magazine's list of best inventions of 2017.

According to the complaint, Fenty and Perkins launched Fenty Entertainment in April 2017 and lied about Rihanna's involvement in a press release announcing the company. A company called SBS Entertainment offered the fledgling production company a deal in which it would pay $15.4 million in exchange for Rihanna to perform 15 shows in Latin America and two 15 minute sets at Calibash. Fenty Entertainment accepted the deal, according to the complaint, and represented to SBS that Rihanna and Roc Nation had approved it.

Rihanna's team sent the first cease and desist last March, but the following fall, Fenty and Perkins tried to trademark "Fenty" for resort boutique hotels. A second cease and desist was sent in December.

Rihanna is suing for false designation of origin, false advertising and invasion of her rights of privacy and publicity, among other claims. She's asking the court for a declaration that defendants can't use the Fenty trademark or any other term that is confusingly similar to her name and that they can't falsely promote a business affiliation with her, as well as an injunction barring them from such activities and damages.

Rihanna v Fenty Entertainment by on Scribd

This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.

Source: https://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/legal-and-management/8493712/rihanna-sues-her-dad-for-fenty-trademark-misuse-lying

[weederstudy06-blog]

Where Brexit Goes, the Law Shall Follow

By Rebecca Christie, a visiting fellow at Breugel and a political correspondent in Brussels for Bloomberg News from 2011 to 2016. Originally published at Breugel.

The UK is leaving the European Union, in spirit if not in immediate legal jurisdiction. While the next phase of Brexit won’t emerge until October, the financial sector is already on the move. London, long the dominant hub for bankers and investors, will cede ground to a quartet of cities within the EU core. In turn, London’s lawyers are moving to Dublin, raising questions about how they can work cross-border going forward.

Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Dublin are the locales with the most to gain overall from the transition, with Luxembourg, Brussels and Warsaw all picking up business as well. Rather than a unified mass transition out of London to another singular hub, the financial industry is using Brexit as an opportunity to diversify. Just as banks have learned to keep their headquarters and back-up facilities in separate physical locations, now they are splitting up their operations in terms of function and human capital.

A lot of the discussion has focused on risk and loss. What is London giving up? What infrastructure shortcomings will emerge? What will it cost and who will shoulder the burden? The modern world has grown accustomed to seamless trading, so any threat to the financial plumbing is a serious concern.

At the same time, Brexit has sparked a transition with some positives. Each of the European cities that gains a share of London’s departing business will see a boost from the jobs and households that will relocate – not just in the short run but in the years to come, as financial firms choose not just where to move but where to set up future operations. For every big insurance company or American bank that moves its EU headquarters to Dublin, for example, a cluster of smaller supporting businesses is likely to emerge. For every executive household a bank needs to move to Paris, a corresponding drop in living expenses is likely to offset the cost of the move.

For the European Union as a whole, this transition can be promoted as offering something for everyone, with benefits spread widely among the 27 countries who remain in the bloc. There are also benefits for London, especially in the eyes of the Brexit-backing public. For those voters, a smaller City is an attraction, not a drawback. If London’s real-estate market cools off, and if global investors lose a little of their thirst for a UK pied-à-terre, it opens up housing for locals. Likewise, if London loses some of its swagger, Britain’s less urban populations may regain some of their voice.

Where the UK specifically is concerned, financial-adjacent business may bear the brunt of issues yet to be resolved. For example, lawyers will not only need to negotiate the Brexit transition, they will need to manage it for their own profession.

Ireland, one of the few EU jurisdictions that is both English-speaking and under a common-law rather than civil-law framework, has been the epicentre of changes to the legal profession. British lawyers have signed up to the Irish bar since the prospect of Brexit emerged, as big law firms register their staff en masse. As of the end of May 2019, a total of 2,970 England and Wales solicitors had been admitted to the Irish Roll of Solicitors since January 1st 2016, with about 600 more applications at various stages of being processed.[1] These lawyers in transition now make up nearly 15% of the total.

This has further raised the question of what Ireland will consider valid residency for those who practice law in its system. For now, the answer to this complex question depends on how the EU’s relationship with post-Brexit Britain takes shape. Under some scenarios, this could greatly complicate working relationships, especially for London-based clients. Will they continue to be able to use a London-based lawyer to manage their EU affairs, or will they need to switch to partners in Brussels or Dublin to make sure everything can work smoothly? In the past, Europe has been willing to travel to London, but now Londoners may need to make the journey in reverse.

The EU will face tough choices over when and if to offer mutual recognition to regulators in non-member countries. It will be difficult to create Brexit-proof legal contracts when the shape of the new legal order has yet to emerge. “The post-Brexit recognition and enforcement of English judgments across the EU remains unclear. Unless and until these issues are resolved, there is likely to be additional complexity, uncertainty and risk for businesses and individuals as a result of Brexit,” the Irish Law Society wrote.

Britain seems confident it won’t be a huge shift, and so far the financial-sector numbers back that up: banking assets leaving London amount to only about 10% of the total so far, according to think-tank New Financial. It’s possible this amounts to the tip of the iceberg, but it is equally possible that financial business flows gradually away from London in a way that shrinks but doesn’t decimate the metropolis’ role as a financial hub. Inertia is a common European response to managing thorny problems.

In the three years since the UK’s 2016 referendum on EU membership, the markets have had plenty of time to prepare. Banks and other financial firms are establishing or activating licenses within the EU, designing systems that will work under a variety of outcomes and taking a flexible approach to their workforces. Official-sector actors might have a tougher road – EU institutions may be barred from doing business with financial firms that aren’t subject to EU legal proceedings, for example. But while the financial industry would prefer an orderly and well-planned transition, in the event of a hard Brexit most private market participants will still be fine.

For most of the industry, contingency planning and transition periods are already in place: licences have been set up and activated, legal frameworks are already under revision. The European Commission said on June 12th that the financial sector has made “significant progress” in getting ready, pointing out a few areas to work on in the run-up to the next deadline. “Insurance firms, payment services providers and other financial service operators which remain unprepared regarding certain aspects of their business (for example contract management and access to infrastructures) are strongly encouraged to finalise their preparatory measures by 31 October 2019”.

Generally speaking, workarounds are possible and transition periods are part of every scenario. “After a thorough examination of the risks linked to a ‘no-deal’ scenario in the financial sector, the Commission has identified only a limited number of contingency measures to safeguard financial stability in the EU27,” the EU’s executive branch said in December. For critical pieces of financial infrastructure, the EU has already made clear that adjustment periods are part of its contingency planning. For example, the plans published at the end of last year included a 12-month extension for derivatives clearing and contract novation, and a 24-month guaranteed equivalence status for UK central depositaries used by EU firms; the latest guidance suggests those can be adjusted as needed depending on the date of exit.

It’s conceivable that after Brexit, the UK might remain within the single market or a customs union with the EU for an extended transition, or indefinitely. This would be a triumph for negotiators on both sides if it could be agreed, especially given the setbacks faced by the originally negotiated and so-far unadopted Withdrawal Agreement. Generally speaking, whatever new framework emerges is likely to have more roadblocks than the status quo and may wobble whenever Britain’s domestic politics flare up.

Also in question is what happens if Britain never leaves at all. While the UK has shown no sign of wanting to reverse course, it also is currently without a prime minister or a workable strategy. As last month’s European Parliament elections show, anyone planning a post-Brexit Europe also needs to plan around including a UK that hasn’t actually left. At its most extreme, this might even mean that a future British government revokes Article 50, hitting reset on the status quo and raising a slew of questions about what measures would remain available to a member state with one foot, but only one foot, perpetually half out the door. So far, outright discussion of these possibilities remains confined to backchannels and coffee chatter. But as October nears it has begun to leak into the public sphere, as British officials repeatedly rule out ‘no deal’ without any sign of getting closer to an agreement.

Regardless of where Brexit stands, the EU will need to integrate its capital markets more fully in order to support economic growth and guard against the next financial crisis. Anti-money laundering is a thorny EU conundrum, if not especially Brexit-linked. More generally, cross-border banking brings challenges for regulators in the ‘home’ countries of firms’ financial headquarters as well as the ‘host’ countries where they do much of their business. Should regulators require firms to tether some of their assets to specific locations, or is the system safer when capital can flow freely across borders? How can financial firms merge when every country has its own insolvency proceedings and other local infrastructure? And how will the new system decide which judges and lawyers have the authority to settle these disagreements?

Whether or not London stays in the single market, the EU will have to come to grips with whether to concentrate on a centralised, homogenous regulatory framework or allow regional differences to prosper in support of a diverse and competitive financial sector. Big countries and small countries may find they have different interests in the amount of local flexibility that should be allowed, and Europe will have to build a workable system that takes these competing interests into account. Brexit will be a catalyst for all sides to push for change on their priorities.

This entry was posted in Banking industry, Brexit, Guest Post, Regulations and regulators on June 28, 2019 by Lambert Strether.

About Lambert Strether

Readers, I have had a correspondent characterize my views as realistic cynical. Let me briefly explain them. I believe in universal programs that provide concrete material benefits, especially to the working class. Medicare for All is the prime example, but tuition-free college and a Post Office Bank also fall under this heading. So do a Jobs Guarantee and a Debt Jubilee. Clearly, neither liberal Democrats nor conservative Republicans can deliver on such programs, because the two are different flavors of neoliberalism (“Because markets”). I don’t much care about the “ism” that delivers the benefits, although whichever one does have to put common humanity first, as opposed to markets. Could be a second FDR saving capitalism, democratic socialism leashing and collaring it, or communism razing it. I don’t much care, as long as the benefits are delivered. To me, the key issue — and this is why Medicare for All is always first with me — is the tens of thousands of excess “deaths from despair,” as described by the Case-Deaton study, and other recent studies. That enormous body count makes Medicare for All, at the very least, a moral and strategic imperative. And that level of suffering and organic damage makes the concerns of identity politics — even the worthy fight to help the refugees Bush, Obama, and Clinton’s wars created — bright shiny objects by comparison. Hence my frustration with the news flow — currently in my view the swirling intersection of two, separate Shock Doctrine campaigns, one by the Administration, and the other by out-of-power liberals and their allies in the State and in the press — a news flow that constantly forces me to focus on matters that I regard as of secondary importance to the excess deaths. What kind of political economy is it that halts or even reverses the increases in life expectancy that civilized societies have achieved? I am also very hopeful that the continuing destruction of both party establishments will open the space for voices supporting programs similar to those I have listed; let’s call such voices “the left.” Volatility creates opportunity, especially if the Democrat establishment, which puts markets first and opposes all such programs, isn’t allowed to get back into the saddle. Eyes on the prize! I love the tactical level, and secretly love even the horse race, since I’ve been blogging about it daily for fourteen years, but everything I write has this perspective at the back of it.

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Source: https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2019/06/where-brexit-goes-the-law-shall-follow.html

[weederstudy06-blog]

Sunmi Announces 'Warning' World Tour: See the North American Dates

K-pop star Sunmi will be bringing a Warning around the globe with her newly-announced world tour.

The singer, who rose to prominence as both a Wonder Girls member and a soloist in her own right, will be bringing her solo tour to Asia and North America in the first half of 2018, it was announced late Tuesday night (Jan. 15). The tour will kick off in Seoul on Feb. 24, and currently is set to end in Tokyo on May 23, though the announcement post promises "more" shows to come.

Venues have yet to be announced.

Sunmi released her first solo song “Full Moon” in 2013, and each single she’s released since has gone on to become an immense hit in the South Korean music scene, largely thanks to her dynamic lyrical narratives through which she explores ideas of femininity and love, and her captivating, theatrical performances.

Her 2017 hit song “Gashina” was one of the best songs of that year, and defined her identity as a soloist in a post-Wonder Girls world after the iconic act’s breakup that January. Last year, she released the singles “Heroine” and “Siren” along with her Warning EP, which gives the tour its title.

Within hours of Sunmi’s tour being announced, the artist’s name trended worldwide on Twitter as fans expressed excitement over the news. 

The North American dates of Sunmi’s Warning world tour are as follows:

March 6 -- San Francisco

March 7 -- Los Angeles

March 10 -- Seattle

March 11 -- Vancouver

March 13 -- Calgary

March 15 -- New York

March 16 -- Toronto

March 18 -- Washington D.C.

Source: https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/k-town/8493738/sunmi-warning-world-tour-north-american-dates

[weederstudy06-blog]

Ultra-Luxury $400 Million Hotel Coming to Montana

(Bloomberg)—Montage International and CrossHarbor Capital Partners LLC, a Boston-based private equity firm, are breaking ground today on a $400 million property that will be one of the few ultra-luxury resorts in Montana.

The hotel, in an area called Big Sky, will feature 150 rooms and 39 branded residences, offering ski-in, ski-out access to the second-largest ski resort in the U.S. The site also provides access to a golf course designed by Tom Weiskopf and lies roughly equidistant from the western entrance of Yellowstone National Park and Bozeman’s international airport, appealing to fly fisherman and golfers alike.

“We like luxury destinations that have a true sense of place, and a sense of discovery,” said Alan Fuerstman, chief executive officer of Montage, based in Orange County, California. “It’s a market our customer seeks out.”

Montage, which launched in 2002 with a resort in Laguna Beach, California, currently operates eight hotels and generated $400 million in revenue last year. In addition to the Montana project, to open in 2021, it has hotels under way in Manhattan and Sonoma County, California, among other locations. The company expects annual revenue to top $1.1 billion in 2022, Fuerstman said.

CrossHarbor has been betting on Big Sky for more than a decade, starting in 2006 when it purchased a development site. In 2009, the firm bought the Yellowstone Club, a private enclave whose members have included Wall Street and Silicon Valley billionaires. In addition to the ultra-luxury Montage, CrossHarbor is building a Residence Inn by Marriott in the Big Sky area and plans to announce another hotel project soon.

“We look at this market as akin to Jackson Hole 25 years ago,” said Sam Byrne, managing partner at CrossHarbor. “It’s a market that in general has been dramatically underserved by hotels.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Patrick Clark in New York at [email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Taub at [email protected] Peter Jeffrey

COPYRIGHT

© 2018 Bloomberg L.P.

Source: https://www.nreionline.com/nrei-wire/ultra-luxury-400-million-hotel-coming-montana

[weederstudy06-blog]

Lessons India Inc can learn from Kochhargate

'Banking is a boring business but still the banker should enjoy it as fancy awards and cozy relationships with politicians, Bollywood stars and corporate honchos cannot save them if the job is not done properly.'

In the concluding part of the series Tamal Bandyopadhyay wonders how long Kochhar would need to wait for her redemption or downfall and atonement.

Part 1: EXPLAINED! How Kochhargate unfolded

Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com

Allowing the Srikrishna panel to have as much time as it wants to complete the probe was a masterstroke by the board.

By doing this, it forced Kochhar to put in her papers.

How? India’s banking law does not allow the boss of a bank to abstain from office for four months or more.

Kochhar, who went on her annual leave in June 2018 and later had to stay away for the completion of the probe, had no choice but to quit as the probe took its own time.

It was a sort of bloodless coup which thwarted any ambition harboured by her to come back to the bank as CEO.

A few days before the board sacked her, the Central Bureau of Investigation had filed its first information report alleging criminal conspiracy, cheating and quid pro quo -- ICICI Bank sanctioning Rs 3,250 crore to Dhoot’s group companies and Dhoot, in turn, investing Rs 64 crore in Deepak’s NuPower Renewables Ltd.

Going by the FIR, the bank sanctioned six high-value loans to the Videocon group between June 2009 and October 2011, violating the norms of loan sanction and Kochhar was one of the members of the sanctioning committee.

The FIR also named other senior bankers who were directors on the board of ICICI Bank then, including Kamath, current CEO Sandeep Bakhshi, Sonjoy Chatterjee, K Ramkumar, NS Kannan, Zarin Daruwala, Rajiv Sabharwal and independent director Homi Khusrokhan.

While Kamath is the president of the New Development Bank of BRICS countries, others are prominent names in Indian finance, heading foreign and local banks and non-banking finance companies.

Of course, the CBI will have to probe these allegations - something which the country’s premier investigative agency is not good at, particularly when it comes to the banking sector.

Both Arun Jaitley and Piyush Goyal have come down heavily on CBI’s “investigative adventurism”.

What’s the Kochhar side of the story?

Well, barring issuing a release,  expressing her shock, she has been keeping mum.

She has appointed a lawyer to deal with the cases with the market regulator and other agencies but not the bank.

Those who know her well are wondering why would the Videocon group do a favour to Kochhar’s husband as a quid pro quo to get money from the bank when it was getting money from the entire banking industry on a platter?

They also claim that Kochhar all along made the statutory disclosures about her husband’s companies but she did not disclose Videocon’s investments as she was not aware of them.

Finally, they say that a particular corporate house has been after Kochhar’s blood because she has stopped giving it fresh loans and has been hounding it to recover money already lent to it.

How would she recuse herself from the credit committee when she was not aware of her husband’s dealings, they are asking, pointing out that out of the six loans, mentioned in CBI’s FIR, she was involved in sanctioning only two.

Finally, Dhoot’s Rs 64 crore investment in her husband’s company is not gratification for her; it’s an investment by Dhoot which he can liquidate after 2021.

But her bank is not taking these arguments seriously.

For it, Kochhar is a closed chapter.

Even before the Srikrishna report was submitted, the bank wrote to the Securities and Exchange Board of India, requesting it to “decouple” the bank from Kochhar’s case.

For her, it will be a lone battle and the outcome will depend on how Sebi, the CBI, income tax authorities and the Enforcement Directorate move.

Kochhar’s fall from the grace has dealt a blow to the personality cult which the Indian banking sector is known for -- in many cases the CEOs don a larger-than-the-institution persona.

Many saw the seeds of Kochhar’s downfall in November 2014 when Shah Rukh Khan danced at the sangeet ceremony of her daughter’s wedding in a Mumbai hotel.

I don’t know whether he performed there or was a guest like many others, including Amitabh Bachchan, and chose to shake a leg well past midnight but it got wide media publicity which would not have been possible if the Kochhars did not want that.

At the 60th anniversary of the ICICI group in January 2015, she shared the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi who graced the occasion to dedicate to the nation the first digital village adopted by the bank -- Akodara in Gujarat.

But when it came to the crux, brushing shoulders with the high and mighty and the penchant for glitz and glamour didn’t come to her aid.

In sync with the feudal style that she adopted after moving to the corner office, Kochhar never had to wait for the lift at the bank’s headquarters as someone would always be there to press the button and hold the lift when her high-end car entered the premises.

She could always say that was a legacy but the rest is not.

We don’t know how long she would need to wait for her redemption or downfall and atonement.

What are the lessons from Kochhargate?

The boards of all private banks are not necessarily efficient and independent. The directors, including the chairman, could be a handmaiden of the CEO. First, rushing to give Kochhar a clean chit and later making a volte-face expose the quality of the board of ICICI Bank.

All along, the Reserve Bank of India has been maintaining a stony silence.

Shouldn’t the banking regulator take a re-look at its perceived “hands off” approach for a systemically important entity such as the ICICI Bank?

Does the larger than life image of a CEO in a company (not necessarily only banks) sow seeds of mis-governance, particularly when the leaders’ tenure is long? Should there be a cap on the tenure of the CEO?

Does this case send a clear message to eminent persons not to defend in public media a high profile professional accused of misconduct without possessing all the facts?

Finally, the recent developments in a few private banks, including ICICI Bank, say that the days of personality cult in Indian banking are over. The bankers should spend more time on bringing down the cost of funds, pushing up the quality of assets and governance. Yes, banking is a boring business but still the banker should enjoy it as fancy awards and cozy relationships with politicians, Bollywood stars and corporate honchos cannot save them if the job is not done properly.

Tamal Bandyopadhyay, a consulting editor with Business Standard, is an author and senior adviser to Jana Small Finance Bank Ltd.

Source: https://www.rediff.com/business/column/lessons-india-inc-can-learn-from-kochhargate/20190222.htm

[weederstudy06-blog]

Katla Building to a Major Event?

They claim that all the world’s nations combined pumped nearly 38.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil, according to new international calculations on global emissions published in the journal Nature Climate Change. That is 32 kilotons per day when one volcano Katla, which is a huge hidden volcano 650 feet beneath the ice cap in Iceland, is emitting 20 kilotons of C02 every day. There are only two volcanoes worldwide that are known to emit more CO2, and now scientists are concerned that Katla may be headed toward a major eruption. Obviously, the UN should be imposing a tax on Iceland for all this added Co2.

Katla has had about 20 eruptions in the last 1100 years. There were eruptions which have been documented in the years 920 and 1612, and from 1821 to 1823. These latter eruptions in the 19th century helped to cool the planet contributing to the mini ice age at that time. The last eruption that actually broke through the ice cap occurred in 1918. There have been subglacial flood events in 1955, 1999 and 2010-2011 that melted ice but it did not break the surface. These events do create flooding as the ice melts. Volcanic activity produced two eruptions in 2010 at Eyjafjallajokull, on March 20 and April 14. The second eruption created the giant ash cloud over Europe which diverted air traffic.

The 1918 ash plume was documented to have reached heights of 14 km. That event looked like a mushroom cloud from an atomic bomb. It is hard to draw a conclusive model since the majority of eruptions only melt ice beneath the surface. The best we can do with an approximation for the events that break through the surface puts it in 2020-2021 for the next ideal event. But the data series is not definitive on this event. It does appear that Katla has become active again since 2010 and is building to a climax. This could also be an event that contributes to global cooling as we saw during the 19th century.

Source: https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/nature/katla-building-to-a-major-event/

[weederstudy06-blog]

Chinese stock market hits 31-month low as Xi and Putin blast protectionism - as it happened

The license delay applies to industries Beijing has promised to open to foreign competitors, according to Jacob Parker, vice president for China operations of the U.S.-China Business Council. The group represents some 200 American companies that do business with China.

In meetings over the past three weeks, Cabinet-level officials told USCBC representatives they are putting off accepting applications “until the trajectory of the U.S.-China relationship improves and stabilizes,” Parker said.

Chinese authorities have promised to increase foreign access to areas including banking, securities, insurance and asset management.

“There seem to be domestic political pressures that are working against the perception of U.S. companies receiving benefits” during the dispute, Parker said.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2018/sep/12/china-president-xi-protectionism-trade-war-oil-hurricane-florence-business-live

[weederstudy06-blog]

Russia Launches "Floating Chernobyl" Bound For The Arctic

Next month, the world’s first floating nuclear power unit (FPU) dubbed ‘Academik Lomonosov’ will be towed via the Northern Sea Route to its final destination in the Far East, after almost two decades in construction.

Russia’s first floating nuclear power plant has two KLT-40S reactor units that collectively generate 70 MW of energy.

A year ago we noted video of the beginning of the ships' voyage (from St.Petersburg to Murmansk)

A floating nuclear power plant made by Russia headed out for its first sea voyage on Saturday. The floating plant, the academic lomonosov will provide power for a port town and for oil rigs. pic.twitter.com/Eo0uBjVfht

— ANews (@anewscomtr) April 28, 2018

The vessel is now expected to be towed “along the Northern Sea Route to the work site, unloaded at the mooring berth, and connected to the coastal infrastructure in Pevek,” added the press release.

Pevek is a small Arctic port town and the governmental center of Chaunsky District in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, located on Chaunskaya Bay.

Once the floating nuclear power plant is moored and connected to the coastal infrastructure in Pevek, the nuclear reactors aboard will be used to power 100,000 homes in the region, a desalination plant, and critical energy infrastructure assets. Rosatom said the floating power plant “will replace the Bilibino nuclear power plant and Chaunskaya TPP that are technologically outdated,” and become the most northerly nuclear facility in the world.

However, the floating nuclear power plant has been extensively criticized by antipollutionist — Greenpeace has called it a “floating Chernobyl.”

“Nuclear reactors bobbing around the Arctic Ocean will pose a shockingly obvious threat to a fragile environment, which is already under enormous pressure from climate change,” Greenpeace nuclear expert Jan Haverkamp said in a statement.

“The floating nuclear power plants will typically be put to use near coastlines and shallow water … contrary to claims regarding safety, the flat-bottomed hull and the floating nuclear power plant’s lack of self-propulsion makes it particularly vulnerable to tsunamis and cyclones.”  

Meanwhile, Rosatom states  the vessel meets all requirements from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and “does not pose any threat to the environment.”

“The FNPP is designed with the great margin of safety that exceeds all possible threats and makes nuclear reactors invincible for tsunamis and other natural disasters. In addition, the nuclear processes at the floating power unit meet all requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and do not pose any threat to the environment.”

Why would Russia want a floating power plant in the Arctic? 

Speaking to reporters in 2017 after a conference with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that Russia’s proposal to jointly explore the Northern Sea Route was “a great idea,” and that “China welcomes this idea and supports efforts with partners in the region to develop a ‘Silk Road on ice’.”

The Answer:  To provide the needed energy to build infrastructure for the ‘Ice Silk Road.’ 

As CNN concludes, the last Russian nuclear project of a comparable scale was completed in 2007, when the "50 Years of Victory" nuclear-powered icebreaker finally sailed after sitting in the docks since 1989. Now, after more than 20 years of arguments, changes of contractors and economic crises, Russian engineers can finally take pride in launching the world's only nuclear floating rig.

Source: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-06-30/russia-launches-floating-chernobyl-bound-arctic

[weederstudy06-blog]

CNBC: 13 Women CEOs Have Taken Companies Public So Far In 2019

Thirteen female CEOs took their companies public in the first half of 2019, which represents 15% of all companies that went public during that time and the highest proportion since at least 2014, according to CNBC.

What Happened

The number of women-led newly public companies is already close to eclipsing 2014's record of 15, CNBC said. 

Some of the more notable IPOs led by female CEOs include luxury consignment company RealReal Inc (NASDAQ: REAL), led by Julie Wainwright, and China-based coffee chain Luckin Coffee Inc (NASDAQ: LK), led by Jenny Zhiya Qian.

Invest in IPO shares before the stock hits the market with ClickIPO. Check it out here

Why It's Important

Female CEOs may have a more difficult time in taking their companies public, as they are less likely to raise venture capital, according to CNBC.

Companies founded by women account for just 2.3% of all capital allocated toward startups, the cable channel said, citing data from PitchBook. 

Female CEOs are "evaluated more negatively" when pitching for capital "despite identical personal qualification and firm financials," according to a University of Utah study quoted by CNBC. 

What's Next

Recent successful IPOs could help support women CEOs indirectly over the coming years. Institutional investors "have clearly demonstrated their enthusiasm" for companies that boast attractive growth rates regardless of whether they're run by "Jim or Julie or Jennifer or John," Lise Buyer, founder of Class V Group, told CNBC.

Related Links:

Women Execs React To Cannabis Trends Report Highlighting The Rise Of Females In The Marijuana Industry

The Difference In How Men And Women Invest

© 2019 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Source: https://www.benzinga.com/news/19/07/14034622/cnbc-13-women-ceos-have-taken-companies-public-so-far-in-2019

[weederstudy06-blog]

The "How To Build a SOC" Paper Update is OUT!

by Augusto Barros  |  September 7, 2018  |  Submit a Comment

Anton and I have been probing the social media for some time about the trends related to SOC and incident response teams. All that work finally made its way into our “How to Plan, Design, Operate and Evolve a SOC” paper. It is the same paper we published a couple of years ago, but updated to reflect some things we’ve seen evolving since the first version, such as:

SOAR tools evolution and growth in adoption

Further convergence between security monitoring and incident response

Higher adoption of services to supplement internal capabilities

We also updated the guidance figure to include more details for each phase:

Please provide feedback if you read it via https://surveys.gartner.com/s/gtppaperfeedback

Category: incident-response  siem-and-log-management  threat-detection  

Tags: incident-response  new-research  research  soc  

Augusto Barros Research VP 3 years at Gartner 21 years IT Industry

Augusto Barros is Research Director in the Gartner for Technical Professionals (GTP) Security and Risk Management group. Read Full Bio

Source: https://blogs.gartner.com/augusto-barros/2018/09/07/the-how-to-build-a-soc-paper-update-is-out/

[weederstudy06-blog]

No new cases of Nipah in Kerala: Health Minister

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan Sunday said no new case of Nipah virus infection has been reported in Kerala and informed that the clinical condition of the patient suffering from the disease, the only case this year, is improving.

A case of Nipah was reported from Kerala's Ernakulum district on June 3 and the condition of the infected college student is improving, Vardhan said.

The Nipah virus had claimed 17 lives in the state in May last year.

As on Sunday, blood and serum samples of all seven suspected patients who were admitted at a quarantine facility at the Government Medical College in Kerala's Ernakulam district have tested negative for the virus, while the sample from the eighth patient is being tested, the minister said.

On Saturday, four patients from the isolation unit were discharged as their clinical condition improved.

National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune has collected three blood samples from pigs and about 30 samples from bats from Thodupuzha in Idukki district of the state for testing.

Experts from National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD) in Bhopal are supporting Kerala's Animal Husbandry Department in the investigation. Multi-disciplinary central teams, including experts from the the NCDC, AIIMS and ICMR, have been deployed to support the state in conducting contact tracing, sample testing and management of the infection.

A designated control room has also been established at the district collector's office and isolation facilities have been set up at medical colleges in Calicut, Thrissur and Kottayam.

All healthcare facilities have been asked to ensure high index of suspicion in cases with similar symptoms and also ensure availability of isolation and emergency management facilities before referral.

According to the World Health Organisation, Nipah virus infection is a newly emerging disease that can be transmitted from its reservoir (natural wildlife host), the flying foxes (fruit bats), to both animals and humans.

Symptoms range from asymptomatic infection, acute respiratory infection and encephalitis.

Infected people initially develop influenza-like symptoms of fever, headache, vomiting and sore throat. This might get followed by dizziness, drowsiness, altered consciousness, and neurological signs that indicate acute encephalitis.

Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/no-new-cases-of-nipah-in-kerala-infected-patients-condition-improving-health-minister/articleshow/69714868.cms