March, 2017

• 2 March

  Japan’s amusement parks are no joke

  

    What use would a country with more people over the age of 70 than under 20 have with amusement parks? More than you might think. U.S. cable giant Comcast Corp. certainly seems to think so, judging by its decision to spend $2.3 billion buying full control of Universal Studios Japan. Comcast’s NBCUniversal unit previously paid $1.5 billion for 51 …

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• 2 March

  What’s wrong with Bill Gates’ robot tax

  

    Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates made a splash in a recent interview, when he suggested that robots should be taxed in order to help humans keep their jobs. Right now, the human worker who does, say, $50,000 worth of work in a factory, that income is taxed and you get income tax, social security tax, all those things. If …

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• 2 March

  McDonald’s sees $100 billion delivery market as way to grow

  

    Bloomberg After years of seeing fewer US customers come in its doors, McDonald’s Corp. is increasingly embracing a different philosophy: take the food to them. The fast-food chain will rely heavily on delivery to reignite sales, especially in the US, according to executives speaking at McDonald’s investor day in Chicago. The company also is turning more aggressively to digital …

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• 2 March

  BCBG Max Azria files for bankruptcy as retail glitz fades

    Bloomberg BCBG Max Azria Group Inc., the glitzy fashion house founded by designer Max Azria, filed for bankruptcy in a third attempt in two years to rescue a business beset by changing consumer habits. The latest turnaround effort began in January when the chain started closing 120 of its stores, Chief Restructuring Officer Holly Felder Etlin said in court …

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• 2 March

  MTN moves closer to Nigeria exchange listing

    Bloomberg MTN Group Ltd. has been having a tough time of it in Nigeria, its most lucrative market. Protesters last week vandalized the company’s headquarters in the capital, Abuja, in retaliation for xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa, singling it out among more than 100 other Johannesburg-based businesses. It suffered its first-ever loss last year after Nigeria’s regulator …

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• 2 March

  Canada Goose seeks to raise $240mn in luxury Parka IPO

  

    Bloomberg Canada Goose Holdings Inc., the maker of $900 parkas worn by celebrities from Toronto rapper Drake to Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista, is seeking to raise as much as C$320 million ($240 million) in its initial public offering. The Toronto-based retailer and its backers, which plan to list shares both in the company’s home city and in New …

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• 2 March

  Wells Fargo pulls bonuses, claws back top executives’ awards

  

    Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. will withhold 2016 cash bonuses from eight senior executives and claw back compensation received in 2014 as the board holds managers accountable for the company’s bogus-account scandal. The actions cut a total of about $32 million in pay and equity awards from managers including Chief Executive Officer Tim Sloan and Chief Financial Officer John …

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• 2 March

  Bank of Baroda South Africa to close Gupta-linked accounts

  

    Bloomberg Bank of Baroda’s South African unit has started closing accounts of companies controlled by the Gupta family, according to three people familiar with the matter, potentially leaving the friends of President Jacob Zuma without banking facilities in the country. The Mumbai-based lender is winding down its relationship with companies related to the Gupta family to ensure it is …

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• 2 March

  Nordea Bank fights Sweden on crisis fees

  

    Bloomberg Scandinavia’s biggest bank is in talks with the Swedish government to stop it raising industry payments towards a national reserve intended to shield the country from the next financial crisis. Nordea Bank AB is trying to make the case that the government’s proposal poses ‘a risk,’ in part because the fees paid by lenders will go into the …

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• 2 March

  Inflation spike puts South-east Asian central banks on watch

    Bloomberg After more than a year of disinflation, price pressures are quickly mounting across South-east Asia as fuel costs rise, putting central banks on watch after years of policy easing. In Malaysia, consumer prices rose at the fastest pace in almost a year in January and economists see that as closing the door on another interest-rate cut this year …

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