BFC Quiz 7 - Industry Update
Bed Bath & Beyond Sells One Kings Lane
Bed Bath & Beyond sold its home decor unit One Kings Lane, as part of a larger effort to slim down and improve its liquidity after taking large losses from the Coronavirus pandemic. CEO Mark Tritton said the company also had plans to sell PersonalizationMall.com to 1-800-Flowers for $252 million, but the deal fell through. Additionally, Tritton mentioned on a conference call that his stores have 220 leases up for renewal this year, which will give them a chance to consider closing many brick-and-mortar locations.
China's CanSino Bio Advances COVID-19 Vaccine into Phase 2 on Preliminary Safety Data
CanSino and its collaborators at the Academy of Military Medical Sciences' Institute of Biotechnology plan to move their adenovirus type-5 vector-based recombinant COVID-19 vaccine, Ad5-nCoV, into phase 2 clinical trial in China soon. In fact, virtual enrollment of the phase 2 study where interested individuals can sign up via a QR code has already started, putting CanSino ahead of all the others on a long list of COVID-19 vaccine developers.
Companies Devote Shrinking Tech Budgets to Cloud, AI
Companies are shifting their capital spending away from IT hardware into cloud services and artificial intelligence. Cloud services serve as an alternative as companies move away from using costly in-house data centers and servers. As companies cut their IT budgets due to the coronavirus pandemic, corporate spending on enterprise technology is expected to drop this year.
Ready for Another Streaming Service? NBC's Peacock Starts Rollout
On Wednesday, Comcast's NBCUniversal will offer its long-in-the-works streaming platform, Peacock, to some cable subscribers before making it widely available to everyone in the summer. The platform is a milestone in NBCUniversal's history. Peacock is expected to be streamed into the homes of the more than 10 million Comcast subscribers who have Xfinity X1 and Flex devices. Peacock will include NBC shows like "30 Rock", "Law & Order: SVU", "Jurassic Park" and "E.T." Starting next year, it will also be streaming "The Office".
Shale Giants Clash Over Oil-Supply Cut to Survive Crude Rout
Diamondback Energy Inc., one of the biggest Texas shale explorers, threatened to halt all drilling if forced to cut production, a choice that would hurt its current workers. Some against the quotas believe that restrictions would actually help drilling companies void contracts and interfere with the free market, while others support quotas in favor of helping the U.S. oil industry.
EU Backs Coronavirus Contact-Tracing Apps Similar to Apple-Google Proposal
European officials have started to plan to use smartphone applications to track the spread of the coronavirus and individuals' exposure to the virus without using people's locations. The European Commision called on member states to build a system of voluntary apps that use short-range radio waves such as bluetooth to measure distance and proximity to one another. This system will not be using GPS and is not going to track users' locations, the Commision claimed.
With German Renewables At Over 50%, Is 100% Renewables On the Horizon?
In the first quarter of 2020, renewable energy was responsible for 52% of Germany's total energy, which is an all time high. This time last year, renewables were only responsible for 44% of Germany's energy. Their goal to be 100% renewable by 2050 is now looking quite realistic.
French Telecom Group Orange to Cut Dividend by 30%
In the wake of the coronavirus, Group Orange, France's biggest telecom operator, recently announced that they would be cutting their fiscal year 2019 dividend by 30%, from 0.70 euro to 0.50 euro, and are currently in the process of reviewing additional changes to their dividend policy for fiscal years 2020-2023. On the whole, the company expects a reduction in dividend payments of 530 million euro with the decision coming amid pressure from French government to limit or cancel dividend payments since some telecom operators benefit from state-supported schemes.
'Pretty Catastrophic' Month for Retailers, and Now a Race to Survive
The official numbers back up what everyone has been expecting: retail sales fell 8.7 percent in March. Clothing and apparel stores faced the biggest losses, with revenue down over 50 percent from a month ago. Retailers now find themselves in a race to stay afloat, with Best Buy, for instance, furloughing 51,000 of its 125,000 employees and many others scrambling to increase their online presence in the midst of the pandemic.
Santander Launches PagoFX in the UK, a Money Transfer App to Take on Transferwise and Other Fintechs
U.S. based bank Santander has recently launched its standalone money transfer app PagoFX to take on the growing success of international money transfer companies, specifically London-headquartered challenger TransferWise. PagoFX allows anyone with a debit card in the U.K. to transfer money abroad at normal exchange rates with a "low transparent fee," and it is reportedly one of the cheapest platforms amongst its competitors to do so. PagoFX's business positioning is unique because it is co-branded alongside the bank Santander, with the idea that users are more likely to trust an incumbent bank than a challenger such as TransferWise.
Verizon Buys Zoom Conferencing Rival BlueJeans
Verizon Communications Inc. acquired BlueJeans Network Inc. for less than $500 million. Blue Jeans Network is a videoconferencing company, who can now give Verizon the ability to help support its corporate customers in their virtual training and remote learning activities. Unlike competitors, however, BlueJeans' tools are not free, although they currently have 15,000 customers.
Labster's Latest Partnership, and What It Tells Us About the Future of Remote Learning
Labster is a virtual science edtech company that has raised $34.7 million in venture capital funding. It is partnering with California Community Colleges, the largest system of higher education in the U.S., to bring 130 virtual laboratory simulations to 2.1 million students in 115 schools. Given that the coronavirus pandemic has caused schools to close, the company's products are alternatives to in-person science labs.
OTE Telecom Will Cut Costs to Safeguard Targets as Virus Hits Revenue
Looking to hit consensus targets for fiscal year 2020, Greece's biggest telecom operator OTE Telecom looks to cut expenses significantly to maintain or improve EBITDA and free cash flow despite a drop in revenues recently indicated by the company's current CEO Michael Tsamaz.
Moderna Obtains $483M In BARDA Funding For COVID-19 Vaccine Research
Moderna said the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, has committed up to $483 million in funding to accelerate the development of its mRNA vaccine against the novel coronavirus — SARS-CoV-19. Moderna also provided the likely timeline for the initiation of Phase 2 and 3 studies, with the midstage study to start in the second quarter and the late-stage study in fall 2020. The stock rallied 18.62% to $48.16 in Friday's premarket session.
New York's Hospital Systems Each Losing up to $450 Million a Month Battling Coronavirus
New York's big hospitals are losing $350 to $450 million dollars a month primarily because of the surging labor, equipment, and capital costs. Moreover, all the elective procedures which make up a large part of these hospitals' revenues, are not happening which is again really hurting these large hospitals financially. Looking down into some of the smaller independent hospitals, they are being hurt even more, with many of them on the "financial brink".
Google Is Raising Money to Give 5,000 Needy Families Cash, with CEO Sundar Pichai Donating $1 Million
On Monday, Google announced their plan to raise cash for 5,000 Bay Area families that have been affected heavily by the Covid-19 pandemic. The company's philanthropic arm, Google.org, and chief executive Sundar Pichai are each donating $1 million to the nonprofit organization GiveDirectly. The collaboration is aiming to raise $5 million so that each family receives $1,000.
Cellnex to Buy NOS's Telecom-Tower Business in 375 Million Euro Deal
On Tuesday, Spanish telecom operator Cellnex announced that it had agreed to acquire Portuguese mobile operator NOS's telecom-tower business for an initial valuation of 375 million euros ($409.69 million). The acquisition will be financed entirely by cash with NOS's business adding 2,000 additional phone masts resulting in an expected increase in sales backlog of nearly 2 billion euros while also improving EBITDA by roughly 50 million euros.
WarnerMedia in Distribution Deal for HBO Max with Charter
On Wednesday AT&T's WarnerMedia signed a distribution agreement with Charter Communications that will allow Charter's customers to access its upcoming streaming service HBO Max. The platform, which is set to launch next month, will be available for no extra charge to Charter customers with an HBO subscription.
Amazon Retools With Unusual Goal: Get Shoppers to Buy Less Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
Amazon is changing the algorithm behind its e-commerce site to limit strain of order surge. They've also recently canceled the Mother's Day and Father's Day promotions typically visible on the site to encourage spending. Amazon has been struggling to meet the surge in order volumes while a great amount of logistics workers are being absent during the coronavirus pandemic.
Apple Store to Reopen in South Korea With an Emphasis on Fixing Macs and iPhones
Apple reopened one of its South Korea locations in Seoul after shutting it down in response to the Cronavirus. The store will be the first to open outside of mainland China, where the company opened all of its stores last month. South Korea and China were two of the first countries hit by the virus and many see this as a sign that normalcy is starting to return in the region.
New Yorkers Step Up to Help Mom-and-Pop Businesses
As the global pandemic has shut down countless small businesses, New Yorkers have begun to take matters into their own hands and attempt to help these businesses as well. One person, for instance, created a spreadsheet with struggling businesses to support, while others have taken to Facebook to pledge they will choose smaller stores over large chains whenever possible. This comes in addition to a $2 trillion federal stimulus package that is largely targeted at helping small- and medium-sized businesses.
Green New Deal Would Fuel 'Massive Increase' In Mining For China
A report by the Heartland Institute says that replacing fossil fuels and nuclear energy with renewable energy would require a heavy increase in mining. This will also take its environmental toll, and is a cost that we have to weigh as we transition to renewables. The Green New Deal's requirements would especially cause a massive increase in mining, and have harmful effects on the environment and humans.
Pentagon Watchdog Says White House Didn't Influence Decision to Deny Amazon $10 Billion Contract
According to a new report issued on Wednesday, the Defense Department's inspector general found the $10 billion JEDI cloud contract was not influenced by the White House. Microsoft was awarded the contract in October last year and Amazon immediately filed a lawsuit protesting that decision. The new 313-page report summarizes the discovery from the inspector general, who said they did not find any evidence that the contract evaluation and award process was pressured by any leaders and the White House.
U.S. Treasury Yields Rise After Oil Agreement, Coronavirus Updates
After OPEC+'s agreement to cut oil production and belief that coronavirus in the U.S. will soon peak, the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury rose 0.722%. Though the yield briefly dropped during Monday's trading session likely due to investor skepticism, after Governor Cuomo announced that coronavirus in New York may soon be getting better, yields rose once more.
Saudi Telecom Extends Vodafone Egypt Stake Purchase Process by 90 Day
Currently in the process of acquiring a 55% stake in Vodafone Egypt, Saudi Telecom (STC), the kingdom's largest telecom operator, announced on Monday that it would require more time to complete the necessary processes to finalize their acquisition of the stake. The primary reason for the delay appears to be logistical issues caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Cutera, Inc. Announces Pricing of Public Offering of Common Stock
Cutera, a provider of laser and other energy-based aesthetic systems for practitioners worldwide, today announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 2,385,000 shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $10.50 per share. Cutera expects to receive gross proceeds of approximately $25.0 million, and uses it to fund growth initiatives, market development activities related thereto and to provide for general corporate purposes.
UnitedHealth Reports Profit, Citing Falling Demand for Elective Care
Despite the coronavirus circumstances, UnitedHealth (a major health insurer in the U.S.), has not seen declining earnings, rather they saw a 3% increase in Q1. This is largely because elective surgeries and operations that cost lots of money have not proceeded which offsets a lot of the high coronavirus costs that UnitedHealth now is facing. The company even announced that coronavirus would have "minimal" impact on its earnings.
Stripe Raises $600 Million as COVID-19 Gives Fintech a Boost
Despite the crushing global pandemic, FinTech continues to be a sector prospering from the pressures facing the financial system. In particular, Stripe Inc, a U.S. fintech startup who provides products that allow companies to bill their customers and receive online payments, has recently raised $600 million bringing the total company value to $36 billion.
The News Is Making People Anxious. You'll Never Believe What They're Reading Instead
Despite the daily deluge of bad news on all our headlines, there's a lot of good news out there too. And many people are interested in reading it as content creators dedicated to good news . have seen follower counts skyrocket in recent weeks. Google searches for "good news" spiked a month ago and have only continued to rise. Companies such as Upworthy with a commitment to positive storytelling have seen an unprecedented level of growth in the past four weeks. The company saw a 65 percent growth in followers on Instagram and a 47 percent increase in on-site page views in March, compared to the previous month.
Wind Turbine Factories Struggle for Parts in Virus Lockdown
Due to factory shutdowns and delays at ports, airports, and border crossings, delivery of raw materials essential to wind farm construction has been slowed. Although the renewable energy sector must expand now in order to hit future net-zero emissions goals, the lockdowns meant to combat the pandemic have hugely impacted the renewable energy supply chain, putting up to 25 gigawatts of wind farm projects in danger.
Shale Driller Yuma Energy Files for Bankruptcy
Due to nearly running out of clash and coronavirus' impact on energy prices, Yuma Energy Inc. has filed for bankruptcy. Yuma Inc. was also hurt by its early drilling failures and huge debt, especially its debt to Red Mountain Capital Partners LLC.
Poland's 5G Auction Delayed Due to Coronavirus
Due to the global pandemic, recently Polish regulators pushed the deadline for the country's first 5G auction. The country's regulators were originally scheduled to evaluate preliminary offers from telecom companies interested in acquiring spectrum on April 23rd.
PayPal, Square Start Lending to Small Businesses Hurt by Virus
During the coronavirus pandemic, firms like PayPal and Square are providing relief funds for many small businesses that are not able to secure funds through U.S. banks. These fintech firms are able to provide funds faster to the most vulnerable businesses and were granted permission by the Small Business Administration.
Facebook Cancels Gatherings With 50 or More People Through June 2021
Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg is planning a gradual emergence from coronavirus disruption and city lockdown. The company said on Thursday that it is canceling all gatherings with 50+ people through June 2021. Mr. Zuckerberg also said that the majority of Facebook employees will continue to work from home until at least the end of May.
GE Healthcare and Microsoft Are Bringing a COVID-19 Patient Monitoring Tool to Health Systems
GE Healthcare and Microsoft are collaborating to release a cloud-based patient monitoring software for COVID-19 patients in intensive care units. It can be distributed quickly through Microsoft's Azure Cloud to hospitals, and everything but installation costs are waived until January 2021. The platform collects data from ventilators, electronic medical records, labs, and patient monitoring systems into a hub.
Pipeline Operator Sues Chesapeake Energy over Payment Dispute
Glass Mountain LLC is currently suing oil and gas producer Chesapeake Energy Corp, accusing them of defaulting on an oil transportation contract. Chesapeake Energy lost a lot of money when gas prices began to fall, making them less likely to pay back their many debts. By the end of 2019, the company had about $9 billion in debt.
Green Loans Take Root In Japan
Green Ninja Loans, loans taken from companies with renewable energy goals abroad from Japan, are gaining popularity in the country. The recent trend is gaining popularity with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. Companies like Bancomext, CAF, Australia's Macquarie Group, and Empresas CMPC have all taken part in these loans.
New Gilead Remdesivir COVID-19 Data Show Up Old Problems with Limited Data
Remdesivir, a nucleotide analogue prodrug originally tested in Ebola patients, has emerged as one of the top near-term hopes of improving outcomes in COVID-19 patients. Gilead Sciences has posted data on 53 severe COVID-19 patients who received remdesivir on a compassionate use basis. More than two-thirds of the patients improved after receiving remdesivir, although the lack of a control arm makes it hard to tell what role the antiviral played in their recoveries.
Roche Prepares to Launch COVID-19 Antibody Test System
Roche announced the development and upcoming launch of its Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 serology test to detect antibodies in people who have been exposed to the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Roche is eying May for the launch of the test in Europe and is in talks with the U.S Food and Drug Administration for emergency approval of the system. Roche's test will join a number of other antibody tests that have recently come on the market.
Roku Sees First-Quarter Revenue Above Estimates as Lockdown Boosts Engagement
Roku Inc reported preliminary first-quarter revenue above estimates on Monday as more people used its video streaming devices during the COVID-19 pandemic. Shares of the company jumped 10% in extended trading after the company stated they expected viewers to stream about 13 billion hours of content on its platform in the first quarter, a 49% jump from a year earlier.
Microsoft Lands a Deal With the NBA to Use Azure and Surface Starting With the 2020-21 Season
Starting in the 2020-21 season, the NBA will use Microsoft's Azure cloud and Microsoft Surface tablets to improve the online experience. Since the NBA suspended the current season back in March, it is moving to add more features to its website and apps, including letting fans chat during games, showing better camera angles, and present shows in different languages.
Amazon's Investment in Virus-Hit Deliveroo Provisionally Cleared by UK Antitrust Watchdog
The Competition and Markets Authority in the United Kingdom approved Amazon's $575-million investment in Deliveroo, a food delivery competitor of Uber Eats. Deliveroo has struggled, perhaps counterintuitively, during the spread of the virus but looks to be helped by Amazon's cash injection and name recognition. Amazon also recently made a $7.7-billion investment in a similar Dutch company called Takeaway.com.
The Western U.S. Has Some Of America's Strongest Clean Energy Goals. It Needs More Grid Flexibility To Achieve Them
The Western Flexibility Assessment recently released a report saying that if western states like California or Colorado are to meet their goals of having half of their energy come from renewables by 2050, they must increase their grid flexibility. This means that grids must be able to adapt better to short term fluctuations in demand, which right now they are not doing at a high enough level. Increased grid flexibility could result in renewable energy making up 69% of the western power supply in 2035.
L.A. Times Owner to Buy Closed Los Angeles Hospital
The billionaire owner of the L.A. Times has agreed to buy a closed hospital that recently filed for bankruptcy in order to help fight the coronavirus pandemic. This hospital is St. Vincent Medical Center and was bought from the hospital operator, Verity Health System of California Inc., for $135 million. Dr. Soon-Shiong (L.A. Times owner) intends to open the hospital back up as soon as possible.
Clean Energy Shed 106,000 U.S. Jobs In March, Erasing A Year Of Gains
The clean energy sector lost over 100,000 jobs in March as new measures to control the Coronavirus halted a lot of manufacturing and home improvements. Although this may seem like a lot, the sector is doing better than the overall economy, which has seen 16.8 million people file for unemployment in the past three weeks. The recent loss in jobs erases the gain in jobs that the sector saw in 2019.
Trade Republic, a German Robinhood, Raises $67m Led by Accel and Founders Fund
Trade Republic, a German fintech company that allows users to trade stocks and ETFs in a similar manner to the popular U.S. trading platform Robinhood, has announced that it has raised $67 million in funding to expand into new markets in Europe. The Series B is led by Accel and Founders Fund. Trade Republic's total funding is estimated to be just over €80 million.
Bob Iger Thought He Was Leaving on Top. Now, He's Fighting for Disney's Life
When Bob Iger finally retired from Disney, he was under the impression that this was the end of a successful era at the company. With successes like launching a massively popular streaming service, publishing an autobiography, and being hailed as "Hollywood's nicest C.E.O." by Time, things were going well for Iger. But no big media company is more dependent on its customers' physical proximity than Disney, with its many theme parks and cruises. Unsurprisingly, Disney has been one of the media companies hit hardest by the pandemic. This has prompted Iger to regain control and is working closely with the executive board to build a new Disney for this new era.
Stay 6 Feet Apart, We're Told. But How Far Can Air Carry Coronavirus?
While this article does not dispute that six feet is a good distance for social distancing, it inspects the idea that social distancing is all about probability. Studies show that while sneezing and coughing, those big droplets are likely to not travel farther than six feet, aerosols (through breathing and coughing) can travel over 20 feet though because of how light and easy they are to spread through air. Therefore, there is no real "safe" social distance, but obviously the farther you are from others, the less likely that coronavirus can spread to you.
Trump Expected to Ease Coronavirus Social Distancing Guidelines for Some States
With more and more economic reports revealing the devastating position of the economy currently, Trump is eager to open up operations in some states. While Trump cannot mandate governors and such to end the stay-at-home orders, his guidelines could open the pathway for states that are less affected by the outbreak to gradually begin opening restaurants, work, and etc. This obviously has and will receive pushback from many officials and health experts.
Banking On Mobile Up 35-85% Thanks To Coronavirus (After 1 Trillion App Opens In 2019)
Within the U.S. fintech space, there was a 35% increase in the amount of user time spent within the last three months, while Japan and South Korea saw an 85% increase within the same time frame. CashApp, Zelle, and Venmo saw the largest growth within the U.S. market. This transformation is a result of the coronavirus pandemic speeding up the process of digital transformation in the banking sector.
