Business

NBA star LeBron James has been synonymous with Coca-Cola for around 18 years but he has now decided to switch allegiances. James is now reportedly joining the PepsiCo brand and is set to sign a new endorsement deal. As per the new deal with Pepsi, James is expected to promote the upcoming drink ‘Rise Energy’ of Pepsi’ Mountain Dew brand. It is being said that the deal could be extended companywide. The development comes at a time when the company has already signed deals with several other NBA players. One of the prominent players who signed the deal is Zion Williamson.

It must be noted that James signed a deal with Coca Cola way back in 2003. At that time, he had not even started his NBA career and remained with Cola ever since. In 2014, the beverage conglomerate launched ‘Sprite 6 Mix by LeBron James’. It was his signature drink and also featured its own campaign. But the NBA player’s pact with Coca Cola came to an end in September 2020. Sources privy to the development said that the contract of LeBron came for renewal at a time when both the NBA star and the beverage company were actively reviewing all options.

“The company wanted to make sure that its investment goes for a long term and benefit the company,” Coca-Cola said. The company said that the decision was mutually agreed upon. “After many rounds of discussion with the player and his team, it was mutually agreed that we should part ways.” Interestingly, Coca Cola was replaced by Pepsi as the official food and beverage partner of the WNBA and NBA in 2015. This had ended 30 years of partnership with Coca Cola. On the other hand, PepsiCo continued to grow its dominance and grabbed an even larger share of the market space by acquiring Rockstar in March 2020 for a huge USD 3.85 billion.

Almost two months after the Department of Justice (DOJ) raised antitrust concerns, Visa has scrapped USD 5.3 billion acquisition deal with Plaid. The antitrust lawsuit was filed by the DOJ on the grounds that the deal would reduce competition in the payments industry. But the company had denied it saying it in no way was trying to eliminate the competition. However, Visa has announced that the deal is being scrapped on mutual understanding. The move is being considered as a setback to Visa as it has been trying to add the fintech services to its payments business. Plaid is known for providing software solutions to companies like Venmo and Mint. The services help payments groups and financial planning companies to connect with their bank accounts.

The deal between the two companies was in January last year. Al Kelly, chief executive officer of Visa, had then said that the deal would have brought the combined company at the epicenter of the fintech firms. However, the DOJ moved the antitrust lawsuit in November 2020 alleging that Visa decided to acquire Plaid as it was developing its own platform. This would have challenged the dominance of Visa in the sector. The lawsuit had cited an internal Visa document wherein an executive of the company allegedly referred to Plaid as a ‘volcano.’ The executive had said that the ‘current capabilities of Plaid are just the tip which is visible above the water.’

According to the lawsuit, senior management of Visa had warned directors of the company about the potential downside risk of around USD 400 million if any rival company manage to buy Plaid. These claims were outrightly rejected by Visa and Plaid echoed it. However, the DOJ has now claimed that the termination of the deal between the two companies is a victory for consumers as well as small businesses. Plaid has now said that it will work with Visa as a partner and an investor going forward.

Google, Apple, and Amazon have suspended social media platform Parler over posts inciting violence in the United States Capitol riot. Parler has been in the news for the past few months and gained popularity. The social network says that the platform promotes ‘free speech’ and pitches itself as an alternative to Facebook and Twitter. Millions of US President Donald Trump supporter has been increasingly using Parler as other social media platforms cracked down on post inciting violence and spreading misinformation. The rising popularity of the platform can be gauged by the fact that it was listed as the No. 1 free app by Apple for its iPhones till Saturday morning. But, by night same day, it was struggling to be alive in the Apple store.

Similarly, search engine giant Google too removed the app from the play store saying Parler is not screening posts of users properly which is resulting in encouraging violence and crime. Amazon too follows the two big companies and told the platform that it would be booted over repeated violation of the company’s rules. The move comes as a big setback for Parler as the decision means that the entire platform would go offline, unless and until it managed to find a new hosting service soon. Amazon, in a letter to Parler, sent some of the posts that apparently encouraged violence. Amazon said many of these posts are still active.

The company said it clearly found that Parler had no efficient to identify content that encourages violence against others. “We are providing services across the political spectrum but we cannot allow such posts.” Reacting to the development, Parler CEO John Matze said that big tech companies are doing everything to kill competition. “They really don’t want any competition. But I have a lot of work to do in order to ensure that the data of everyone using our platform is not permanently deleted from the internet,” Matze said.

Search engine giant Google is testing to add a new feature to show videos to users from Instagram and TikTok. The latest decision aims at retaining users on its platform. According to Google, the new tool will show videos from the two platforms in the dedicated carousel in the Google app. Reports say that the company has been indexing videos for the past few years. It remains unclear whether Google has entered into any agreement with Instagram and TikTok. Google said that the feature is being tested on mobile devices on a pilot basis. Google has made available the feature in a limited way for mobile devices and also on the mobile web.

Google said that the new dedicated carousel will be expanded for testing soon. It is exclusively for video content on Instagram and TikTok. While in the testing phase, the company has introduced a carousel of short videos. It is made available within Google Discover. Google Discover was previously called Google Feed. It is a personalized content feed. It focuses on aggregating videos from platforms like YouTube, Tangi, Trell, and others. The short videos are different from the Google Discover page’s Web Stories feature. It functions quite similarly to Instagram Stories and Snapchat. Google said that the stories carousel will enable users to look for the best content available online.

Google has not rolled out the feature for everyone. It is only testing it with limited users. When users click on the Instagram and TikTok videos in the short videos carousel, it directs them to the web version. This happens even when the app is installed on the device. It means that users will need not to switch apps to watch videos. In other words, Google wants users to come back to its page every time they wish to watch videos. Google’s announcement to test the feature is an indication that it has also some expansion plans in place. The company is likely to expand Web Stories to more countries. Besides, the new feature could also soon debut on more Google products.

America’s popular hotel chain company Airbnb has announced a major change in its online booking policy. The company has restricted bookings of home rental services in multiple countries. The decision was taken in order to check unauthorized parties on the occasion of the New Year. The development comes in the backdrop of a spurt in Covid cases. People across the globe plan New Year Eve parties and make bookings. The company doesn’t want to invite a bad light in the midst of the pandemic. Airbnb said that the change in the booking policy has been introduced to deter unauthorized house parties and large gatherings.

The restriction is applicable in seven countries. These countries are the United States, Canada, Mexico, Britain, France, Australia, and Spain. Airbnb said that guests without a history of positive reviews will not be allowed to make one-night bookings reservations in entire home listings. The company said it will bring in place technology to restrict some local and last-minute bookings. It will block reservations by people without a history of positive reviews. Those having a history of positive reviews will not be covered under this restriction. The company said that already planned one-night bookings will be allowed. Its data showed that one-night New Year’s Eve reservations rarely lead to unauthorized parties.

The San Francisco- headquartered vacation rental firm had in October announced a similar measure. It blocked bookings for the Halloween festival. The company said that the restriction was aimed at helping to protect communities from the virus. Airbnb suffered as coronavirus wreaked havoc on the travel industry worldwide. Its revenue was hit hard by the pandemic. The company reported a 39 percent loss in its gross booking revenue till September. It filed for an initial public offering in November. The company has maintained silence on the number of shares it will offer and the price range. Its IPO will be released after the Securities and Exchange Commission completes its review process. The SEC is currently reviewing Airbnb’s market and other conditions.

Google’s cloud gaming service Stadia is expanding its footprint. The search engine giant has announced that Stadia will be extended to iPhone and iPad soon. Google said that Stadia will be available through an upcoming web app. The company said that it has made significant growth in building Stadia’s web app version. It will run in the mobile version of Safari. Safari is a web browser developed by the iPhone maker. Stadia was launched in November 2019 with access being limited to Pixel smartphones and Chromecast TV dongle. Google could not launch Stadia on iOS devices because of Apple’s restrictions. The company in the last year has added over 80 games and taken multiple measures to meet the competition.

Earlier in August, Apple said that cloud gaming services were permitted on the App Store. The Cupertino-based tech giant said that each game must face a review by the App Store team. Google said that its team will soon begin in-house testing of Stadia’s web app version and then go for public testing to iron out the issues. It is believed that the web app will be similar to Microsoft turning to the mobile web to launch its xCloud service on iOS. xCloud could become a reality on iOS sometime next year. Launching a web app version will help companies to circumvent the App Store’s restrictions.

Google is competing with Microsoft and other players in launching its services on iOS. Another American multinational company Nvidia has also announced to stream GeForce NOW Cloud gaming on the iOS. The company has brought a web app version of its cloud gaming service. It has already launched the beta version and is working on the stable version. Nvidia said that it will soon begin to offer Fortnite. The popular game was shunted out from the App Store following a dispute with Apple. In another related development, Amazon said that it is also developing a web app version of Amazon Luna to launch its services on iOS devices.

Financial services company Wells Fargo has fired employees for allegedly misusing COVID-19 funds that were meant for struggling small businesses. The company, in an employee memo, said that it has detected some false representations made by bank staff while applying for coronavirus relief funds. The relief program was an initiative by the US Small Business Administration. The abuse involved the loan program of Economic Injury Disaster, reports said. Funds for Economic Injury Disaster Loan came directly from the SBA. The bank stated that the action by its employees was outside of their assigned work responsibilities. “These employees of the bank have been terminated with an immediate effect. We will give full corporation in the investigation of the matter by law enforcement,” Wells Fargo said.

David Galloreese, head of human resources, said that wrongful actions were employees’ personal actions and our customers were not involved in it. “We follow the zero-tolerance policy. We will continue to monitor these matters. If we identify any more employees involved in wrongdoing, we will take appropriate action,” he added. There are around 100 to 125 employees against whom action has been taken. According to an employee of the company, the investigation initiated by Wells Fargo is still underway.

It must be noted that Wells Fargo is not the first bank that has unearthed abuse of government programs by its own employees. JPMorgan Chase is one of them. It found that over 500 of its employees were among the beneficiaries of the coronavirus pandemic relief programs. Reports suggest that dozens of them did improper things to receive assistance. The advance of up to USD 10,000 is offered under the Economic Injury Disaster Loan of the SBA. The best part about the assistance is that it needs not to be repaid. Not only employees of the bank, others too are abusing such programs. The SBA has been encouraging banks to be alert about such suspicious deposits in accounts of both customers as well as staff from the disaster loan program. The SBA has flagged serious concerns about potential fraud in the disaster program. A memo regarding this was issued in July.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd has decided to suspend all cruises until November 30. The world’s third-largest cruise line, in terms of passengers, also operates brands like Norwegian Cruise Line, Regent Seven Seas Cruises and, Oceania Cruises. The company has issued a press release stating that all cruises between November 1 and November 30 have been canceled. It has also suspended all voyages onboard Norwegian Spirit, Norwegian Star, and Norwegian Dawn until March 2021. The company has asked its guest of canceled voyages to contact the cruise line of their travel advisor for more information.

The company has assured that guests who had an active reservation on a suspended cruise in November 2020 through March 2021 will receive a refund of their cruise fare automatically and that too in the original form of payment for the total amount paid within 25 days. Additionally, a 10 percent off coupon will be given to such guests and it will get added to their account. The discount coupon will be valid for one year from the date of issue. Guests can use the coupon for any Norwegian Cruise Line voyage going for a trip through 2022. Norwegian, the third-largest cruise operator in the world, has a combined fleet of 28 ships with approximately 59,150 berths.

The decision comes at a time when the White House has cleared the way for cruising from November 1. Meanwhile, the company has said that it will continue to work with the public health authorities and global government and expert advisors of its Healthy Sail Panel to take all measures required for the safety of the guests. Not only Norwegian but Carnival Cruise Line has scrubbed all of its remaining 2020 cruises except those sailing out of Florida, its home ports. Royal Caribbean too has suspended all its cruises till October 31 and has canceled Australian and European itineraries beyond that date. Earlier, the CDC orders to suspend cruising in US waters has been extended multiple times.

An iconic landmark of Midtown Manhattan, The Roosevelt Hotel will close this month amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The lockdown and restrictions because of the pandemic have resulted in huge losses following which the hotel has decided to shut down. The 96-year-old hotel will reportedly close its doors at the end of October. The hotel covers an entire city block and is extremely famous or interiors that include enormous vases, old-school chandeliers, and a grand lobby. A statement issued by the hotel said that the difficult decision by the owners of The Roosevelt Hotel has been taken considering the continued uncertain impact of the coronavirus. According to the statement, the associates of the hotel have been notified about the decision this week.

The hotel has informed employees about the decision on social, reports said. According to the Hotel Trades Council, a union that represents workers, the hotel owners have violated the 60-day notice to inform workers that they are going close. A spokesperson of the hotel has not responded to queries in the regard. Earlier in March, the hotel had issued furloughs. At that time there were around 500 people employed with the hotel. The 16-story structure, which is located on West 45th Street near Madison Avenue, is also famous for its subterranean tunnel. The tunnel connected to nearby Grand Central Terminal and offered a link to guests of the hotel heading out for a night on the town. However, the tunnel was sealed in 2015.

The decision to close Roosevelt Hotel came soon after similar announcements were made by hotels like the Courtyard by Marriott, Times Square Hilton, and the W Hotel. The hotel has also been immortalized as it featured in several Hollywood blockbuster movies such as Men In Black 3, Wall Street, and Malcolm X. It has been named after former President Theodore Roosevelt. He died in the year 1919. Opened in 1924, the hotel was just a few years from celebrating 100 years in business.

McDonald’s has decided to add new bakery items to its permanent menu for the first time in nearly a decade. The decision comes at a time when the breakfast war is at its peak heat during the pandemic. Customers of the fast food giant will add McCafé bakery lineup from October 28. The lineup will have three new options – a blueberry muffin, an apple fritter, and a cinnamon roll. These items will be available in all the restaurants in the United States all day across.  Vice president of brand and menu strategy Linda VanGosen said that the company knows that customers need a break more than ever. “We are excited to offer them another reason to pay a visit to their favorite breakfast destination by giving them delicious flavors they crave,” VanGosen said.

The decision is important because the breakfast sales of McDonald’s saw a downfall through the coronavirus. This is because many consumers were doing work from home and others opted not to venture out in order to keep themselves safe from getting infected with the COVID-19. This disrupted the company’s usual commutes. According to NPD Group, major restaurant chains witnessed a fall of 18 per cent in morning meal transaction in the week that ended June 7 compared to the same period last year.

While the sales of lunch and dinner of McDonald’s bounced back much quicker, the breakfast sale saw a very low response. The company is therefore trying everything to get back its sales target of pre COVID-19 era.  More importantly, the company’s most notable competitor is Wendy’s (WEN) has launched a breakfast menu option earlier this year. The option includes a mix of sweet and salty items such as Frosty-ccino and the Breakfast Baconator. Ever since, Wendy’s breakfast sale has seen an upward trend. Breakfast sales now account for 8 per cent of the company’s total sales. Not only Wendy’s but Taco Bell and its other rivals have also launched new breakfast menus.

The European Commission is planning to appeal July 2020 ruling by the General Court that sided with the tech giant. The development hints that the European Commission is not in the mood of backing down against the juggernaut technology company and the Irish government’s tax arrangements. The Commission is of the opinion that the General Court made a ‘number of errors of law’. Now it wants the case to be reassessed by the European Court of Justice. This is the highest form of scrutiny in the European Union and is equivalent to the Supreme Court of Europe. European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager said that they will continue their efforts to put in place the right legislation. “We will do everything to ensure that all loopholes are addressed and transparency prevails,” Vestager said in a statement.

The ruling by the court had overturned the original USD 15 billion fine on Apple and Ireland. The court had ruled this while stating that there was no evidence to suggest that Apple broke rules related to tax paid there. European Commission argued that this allowed the iPhone maker to avoid taxes European Union revenues. However, Ireland did not raise any dispute with the arrangement. The European Union is saying that paying the right amount of tax was the first priority. Apple has already issued a statement saying that it will review the appeal. But the company maintains that it sees the July 2020 decision by the General Court as final.

A spokesperson of Apple said that the July ruling proves that we have abided by the law in Ireland. The spokesperson also said that nothing has changed since then and the case was never about how much tax the company needs to pay, rather it was about where it is required to pay. Earlier in 2016, the court ruled that Dublin gave illegal tax breaks to Apple. But the European Commission claims that Apple attributed almost all of its earning in EC to an Irish head office which existed only on papers and this helped the company on avoiding paying tax.

With the continuous slump in sales during the coronavirus pandemic, Kohl’s has decided to reduce its corporate workforce by around 15 per cent. The retailer took a hit amid the COVID19 pandemic and closed more than 1,100 stores in the spring season. Its sales went down by 32.8 per cent in the last six months ending August 1. The cost cutting decision will help the company save more than USD 100 million in annual expenses. Jen Johnson, Kohl’s Senior Vice President of Communications, said that the company took the difficult but necessary decision because of the ongoing pressure of the coronavirus pandemic. The companywide cost saving measure is expected to save millions, it said in a filing with SEC.

The decision has impacted employees of the corporate office in New York and California and Menomonee Falls headquarters. But the company has not revealed the number of the position that will be affected by the decision. The stores that depended on in person visits for about 75 per cent sales in 2019 were the most affected. There are thousands of workers employed as the corporate staff and hence the decision will result in lots of jobs. There were 122,000 workers with the company as full time and part time in different stores and corporate offices in 2019.

Johnson said that Kohl’s will continue to exercise the best discipline for the better management of the company. But this is not an isolated case as there are several retailers that have struggled to survive during the pandemic. According to the United States Census Bureau, the retail and food services sale are down by 2.1 per cent across the country. Clothing and accessories stores are even more affected by the pandemic. They have registered the downfall of 36.5 per cent in comparison to 2019. But the company is hopeful of coming out of the tough situation with long term strategic planning. “With the help of disciplined investment and prudent management, we e are in a good position to make a comeback,” the company said.

Rio Tinto chief executive officer Jean-Sebastien Jacques has resigned over the destruction of a very ancient cave in Pilbara, Western Australia. Jacques was under extreme pressure from investors after the company went ahead with the blowing up of a 46,000-year-old sacred Indigenous site. The decision to destroy the Aboriginal cave in order to expand an iron ore mine. The company drew widespread condemnation from the public as well as from shareholders. The company said that Jacques would remain at the top post until his successor is chosen or at the end of next March, whichever date comes first. Two other senior executives will also leave the company at the end of 2020.

Simone Niven, group executive for corporate relations, and Chris Salisbury, head of the iron ore business are the two executives who will leave the company. While Niven will exit the company at the end of this year, Salisbury is immediately stepping down from his position but will stay with the company at the end of December. Rio Tinto chairman Simon Thompson said, ‘What happened at Juukan was wrong.’ He was referring to the cave that was destroyed. The cave was a heritage site and there were artifacts of tens of thousands of years with huge cultural and archeological significance.

Simon Thompson said that the company will ensure that no such incident takes place at a Rio Tinto operation. Three top executives have been penalized a combined USD 5 million in cut bonuses. They will however still receive some salary as part of the terms of their contracts. The cave was destroyed on May 24 despite strong opposition from local custodians of the land. The battle with the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people went for around seven years. The company had accepted the fault and said that it failed to meet some of its own standards. But it drew strong criticism from investors group for not firing any executives. The announcement that the chief executive officer has stepped down has been welcomed by some advocacy groups in Australia.

Citigroup is going to have a woman chief executive officer for the first time in its history. The major Wall Street bank has announced that current CEO Micahel Corbat will retire in February next year after being with the bank for 37 years. He will be succeeded by cur current head of Citi’s consumer banking business. Consumer lending veteran Jane Fraser will be the next CEO of the bank. She has been the top contender for the job ever since she was promoted to her current role last year. She has been with Citigroup for the last 16 years.

Fraser was also being reported to join the board of directors, effective immediately. Fraser, a banking veteran, holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and also a master’s degree in economics from Cambridge University. She has overseen several other businesses of the bank and served as chief executive of its Latin American region, its private bank, its commercial bank, and mortgage business. Before joining Citi in 2004, she was associated with Goldman Sachs and McKinsey & Company. Citi’s chairman John C Dugan said in a statement that Fraser is the right person to carry forward the legacy of Mike and take Citi to the next level.

Dugan said that Fraser has vast experience across Citigroup’s lines of business and regions and the group has a lot of confidence in her. “Her ability to operate a business and think strategically is a unique combination that will serve Citi well,” Dugan added. Currently, Fraser is looking after the consumer business in 19 countries. She started her career with the company’s corporate and investment banking in 2014. The move will put 53-year-old Fraser in a very small group of woman leaders at major corporations. According to the advocacy group Catalyst, there are just 31 females among the chief executive officers of the 500 companies that make up the S&P 500 stock index.