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Is It Online? (Miscellaneous) - Bus1nessN3wz
Snedeker gifted Canadian crown after Johnson collapse - Bus1nessN3wz
| By Steve Keating OAKVILLE, Ontario (Reuters) - American Brandt Snedeker took advantage of a Dustin Johnson meltdown to claim a three-shot victory at the Canadian Open on Sunday. Snedeker, who began the final round with a wafer-thin one-shot cushion atop the leaderboard, could not be nudged from his perch all day, carding a two-under 70 to collect his sixth career PGA Tour win and second of the season. "This is a tournament I said early on in my career I wanted to win just because my caddie (Scott Vail) is actually from Canada and it's his national open," Snedeker told reporters. "Third oldest tournament on Tour and it's got some great history to it and now to put my name on that trophy, it means a lot. "I obviously didn't drive the ball the way I wanted to or hit some particular shots but I hung in there really well and made the key putts I needed to and I was able to survive. "That's what today is all about." While the margin of victory appeared comfortable, Snedeker's three-shot win over Johnson (70), world number six Matt Kuchar (71), William McGirt (68) and Jason Bohn (71) was not without considerable suspense. Level with Johnson with three holes to play, Snedeker was suddenly gifted breathing space when Johnson botched the par four 17th, carding a triple-bogey seven to leave the FedExCup champion two clear of his nearest challenger. After driving his tee shot out of bounds, Johnson was soon in more trouble finding the bunker, where he drove his next shot into the lip and the ball rolled back to a stop at his feet. "Not too happy but I felt really good with my golf game," said Johnson. "I'm looking forward to the next several weeks. "Other than the one drive I hit today on 17, I'm actually driving it really well. That is one thing I have been struggling with is the driver. "It's nothing, nothing to worry about. I'll go get them next weekend." Unaware of Johnson's collapse, Snedeker birdied the 16th and coolly sealed the victory by parring his final two holes for a winning total of 16-under 272. After a week of near ideal conditions that produced record equalling scores, the Glen Abbey Golf Club showed its teeth in a testing final round as gusty winds whipped across the Jack Nicklaus designed layout. "After the first hole I realized it (was more difficult)," said Snedeker. "The wind was blowing very hard. "Every fairway was tough to hit, every green was getting firm. It placed an importance on managing your golf ball. "Miss it in the right spot, place importance on getting it up and down, which is all kind of things I'm really strong in." NICE PRESENT Hunter Mahan, who turned his back on a potential million dollar pay day by walking away from a two-shot lead on Saturday to rush home when his wife went into labour, made it back to Dallas in time for the birth of his first child. Mahan, who made the trip in a private jet, tweeted, "What a whirlwind of a day, but I'm happy to announce the birth of my daughter Zoe Olivia Mahan born at 3:26 am. Thanks for all the support!" A smiling Snedeker said later that he would be using some of his $1 million winner's purse to buy Mahan's new born daughter a nice present for her perfect timing. "Zoe will be getting a very nice baby gift from me," said Snedeker. "I can't thank Kandi enough for going into labour early, otherwise I don't know if I'd be sitting here if she hadn't. "But that is a way more important thing than a golf tournament. "I missed a golf tournament when my first was born and it was the best decision I ever made. I'm sure Hunter would say the same thing." The search for the first Canadian winner of the national championship since 1954 will continue another year after the home grown contingent fell flat. Eighteen Canadians teed off on Thursday and just four survived the cut with David Hearn recording the best result firing a final round 73 to finish in a tie for 44th. Former Masters champion Mike Weir was one shot further back on three-under 285 a distance 13 behind the winner. (Editing by Gene Cherry) |
(28-07-2013) The World's Most Expensive Cities For Expats - Bus1nessN3wz
The World's Most Expensive Cities For Expats Jul 28th 2013, 16:05
10 Costliest Cities For Expats
Quick, what's the most expensive place to station an employee overseas? London? Tokyo? Sao Paolo? Try Luanda, Angola.
That's the finding of a survey by Mercer, the global human resources consulting firm. Two African cities were in the top 10, along with four in Europe, three in Asia and one in Australia. Switzerland alone had three cities in the top 10.
Mercer's 2013 Cost of Living Survey examined data from 214 cities worldwide, comparing a market basket of over 200 goods and services, including unfurnished luxury two-bedroom apartments or three-bedroom houses, movie tickets, blue jeans, international newspapers, coffee, fast food restaurant meals, gasoline, milk and soda.
If it sounds odd that Angola would be the most expensive, Mercer's Barb Marder explains that "Despite being one of Africa's major oil producers, Angola is a relatively poor country yet expensive for expatriates since imported goods can be costly. In addition, finding secure living accommodations that meet the standards of expatriates can be challenging and quite costly." The survey found similar supply issues in Ndjamena, Chad, the other top 10 city in Africa.
Mercer measured locations worldwide against New York, on a U.S. dollar basis, meaning that interest rate shifts could impact the rankings. For example, although Tokyo is Asia's most expensive city for expats, the weakening of the Japanese yen against the dollar makes it seem cheaper than it was a year ago. Canada, too, has become a relative bargain as the U.S. dollar strengthens against the Canadian dollar.
Measurements were taken in March, 2013.
What's the trend in the United States? "Overall, U.S. cities either remained stable in the ranking or have slightly decreased due to the movement of the U.S. dollar against the majority of currencies worldwide," explains Mercer's Steven Nurney. However, that may change as real estate prices rise nationwide. New York is the nation's most expensive place to station expats.
While housing is generally the most important factor in the survey rankings, the survey revealed some other stark differences in prices. For example, you may need a vodka chaser after paying $8.29 for a cup of coffee in Moscow, but the equivalent coffee in Managua, Nicaragua would cost only $1.54. Expect to pay $20.10 for a movie ticket in London, versus $5.91 in Johannesburg.
(28-07-2013) 10 Costliest Cities For Expats - Bus1nessN3wz
10 Costliest Cities For Expats Jul 28th 2013, 16:05
The capital of Angola tops the list largely because of housing. A luxury three-bedroom house rents for an estimated $15,000 per month, over $1,500 more than the next costliest location, Hong Kong. And it's cheaper to buy your blue jeans virtually anywhere else; Mercer calculates the price at over $204. All figures in this slide show are in US$.
Picture: View of city from the Bay of Luanda.
(28-07-2013) CEO Brett Yormark Reflects On Brooklyn Nets As Lifestyle Brand, Plans To Turn Up Heat For Future - Bus1nessN3wz
CEO Brett Yormark Reflects On Brooklyn Nets As Lifestyle Brand, Plans To Turn Up Heat For Future Jul 28th 2013, 16:00
Barclays Center and Brooklyn Nets CEO Brett Yormark (left) is happy with his success in Brooklyn, but is not satisfied. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
The amount of uncertainty concerning the Brooklyn Nets' relocation to the New York borough of Brooklyn was not a well-kept secret. According to Nets CEO Brett Yormark, the level of uneasiness probably exceeded what competing franchises have experienced in historically similar processes. Yet, Yormark has reason to smile a year removed from officially relocating the organization from New Jersey to New York.
"The delay in getting to Brooklyn gave us a lot of time to educate not only consumers but the industry on 'why Brooklyn' and the merits of Brooklyn," Yormark explained to FORBES this week. "It also gave us a chance to develop deep-rooted relationships in all of the areas of sports and entertainment. Relationships carry the day. People gave us a chance and we rewarded them with a venue, a market and a fan-base that has exceeded everyone's expectations."
Just recently, Billboard and Pollstar magazines named the Barclays Center as the top-grossing U.S. venue for concerts and family shows, with the arena ranking No. 2 worldwide in gross ticket sales revenue ($46.9 million). Additionally, during the 2012-13 NBA calendar year, the Brooklyn Nets jumped from No. 31 to No. 4 in merchandise sale revenue.
According to Yormark, through "great content and a great customer experience, one that defines the marketplace," the chief objective is having fans and consumers consistently returning to the Barclays Center, an arena that will host 228 events from September of last year through September 2013.
Specifically with regards to the Brooklyn Nets, Yormark has seen an enhancement of the club through the development of its 'lifestyle brand', which was adopted in large part because of the uncertainty surrounding the team's relocation.
"For us, developing the lifestyle brand gave consumers a multitude of reasons to like us," Yormark added. "They like us because we wore Brooklyn every night. They advocate 'Brand Brooklyn'. They like us because they like black and white; it is a timeless color palate. People like us because of our connectivity to the entertainment world and Jay Z; that was a motivator for some consumers. Other consumers like us because we're the home team and we're a basketball team."
As Yormark stated, "People have voted 'yes' with their wallets." Whether it was Nets games, Brooklyn Boxing, Brooklyn Hoops, or any number of sports and entertainment events, consumers experienced memorable content at the Barclays Center in varying capacities.
The Nets and the Barclays Center have also partnered with the Disney Institute. The Institute trained all team and arena employees, with the goal of ensuring an unparalleled customer experience. In year one of the relationship, it has been no surprise that there has been a common theme recurring throughout consumers' reviews: the organization is praised for its conscious focus on raising the bar regarding fan treatment.
Still, Yormark is not allowing the early success of being in Brooklyn to equate to a sense of complacency for him and the franchise. With his 'happy, but not satisfied' mantra, he is hoping to improve upon the lifestyle brand in the coming years.
"You want to turn up the heat on the fans and give them a reason to go from casual to hardcore," Yormark said. "It takes time to do that, but ultimately that's what you want." A large part of turning up the heat will be to field a competitive Brooklyn Nets team that will be able to go toe-to-toe with the two-time defending NBA Champion Miami Heat. To Yormark's credit, he and his team of executives with the Nets have made plenty of off-season moves in an effort to challenge the back-to-back champions, which bring Brooklyn new faces including Andrei Kirilenko, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.
Darren Heitner is a Partner at Wolfe Law Miami, P.A. in Miami, Florida, Founder of Sports Agent Blog, and Professor of Sport Agency Management at Indiana University. Learn more about him at http://www.darrenheitner.com.
Follow @DarrenHeitner
This article included contributions by Mark J. Burns.
(28-07-2013) Links 28 July: Zynga Falls On Better Results But No Real Money Gaming Licence - Bus1nessN3wz
Links 28 July: Zynga Falls On Better Results But No Real Money Gaming Licence Jul 28th 2013, 16:02
Zynga's results were better than Wall Street Expectations so we would assume that the stock rose on them. It is, after all, beating expectations that causes price rises:
Zynga faces an uphill climb as its user base continues to erode. The troubled games maker — whose top- and bottom-line results bested Wall Street's expectations — reported that daily active users fell 45% from 72 million in the second quarter of 2012 to 39 million this past quarter. Monthly active users dropped 39% from 306 million in the second quarter of 2012 to 187 million in the earnings period reported.
The games maker reported second-quarter revenue of $230.7 million. Analysts were expecting Zynga to report revenue of $183 million, according to the survey of estimates from Thomson Reuters.
They're clearly not great results but that's not the point at all. The market has an idea of where it thinks results will be and beating those should mean a rise in the stock price. This isn't what happened though:
Shares of Zynga plunged 14% on Friday to $3.01.
Hmm, clearly that didn't happen. So what was it?
Zynga, the troubled social gaming company, admitted on Thursday that the company had no future in online gambling and would abandon its effort to get a gambling license in the U.S.
Ah, that's the news that the market wasn't looking for. Zynga's still going to pursue a UK licence but that's a market where there's a lot of competition already, online gambling having been legal all along there. It's the US where they're not going to go for a licence.
"While the company continues to evaluate its real-money gaming products in the U.K. test, Zynga is making a focused choice not to pursue a license for real-money gaming in the U.S.," the San Francisco-based company said yesterday in a statement. The stock tumbled as low as $2.81.
It seems a slightly odd decision. For we know that there's a huge appetite for such real money online gaming in the US. Congress had to pass laws to stop people doing it after all. And as those laws are relaxed one might have thought that there's a good opportunity there. There was a certain hope that the company could really clean up in that sector:
The one thing Zynga had going for it was that it was well positioned to own the real-money gambling (RMG) market in the United States if it became legalized. Yesterday, Zynga announced its decision to pull away from RMG all together. The only excuse given, frustratingly without elaboration: that Zynga needs to focus on casual games.
If the reasoning seems odd here's another take at it:
As for why Zynga decided to abandon real money gaming in the U.S., Ko said essentially that Zynga decided it needed to focus on its core competency, social gaming. The decision makes sense, but also is basically an admission that all the talk about real money gaming in recent months has been a massive distraction. "The decision we made around real money gaming centered around focus. We looked at social gaming, free-to-play. It continues to grow and we're not executing against that. It really centered around focus."
No person or company can do everything and decisions do have to be made about where the limited resources should be concentrated. It's the flip side of the economists' obsession with opportunity costs. If Zynga's to do social gaming then it has to give up trying to do RMG. And they do see social gaming as still growing:
"The next few years will be a time of phenomenal growth in our space and Zynga has incredible assets to take advantage of the market opportunity," said former Xbox boss and now Zynga CEO Don Mattrick.
It may or may not be the right decision for the company:
The most notable news in Zynga's earnings release had nothing to do with earnings: The company is no longer pursuing online gambling—a category that Wall Street analysts perceived as having huge potential.
This is a distinct turnaround from the company's prior stance of pursing the potential for real-money gaming in the U.S., applying for various licenses.
Here's what my suspicion is, as someone who has had to wait on regulatory approval in entirely different markets and lines of business. There's a huge cost associated with entering that regulatory bearpit. And you never know whether you'll ever get a licence, or whether one you do get will be viable, or whether people are going to change the rules on you after you have. So chasing such regulated business is a large risk: perhaps Zynga just thought that it was too much of one and that social gaming offers greater certainty?
(28-07-2013) Box Office: 'The Wolverine' Tops With "Soft" $55 Million Debut - Bus1nessN3wz
Box Office: 'The Wolverine' Tops With "Soft" $55 Million Debut Jul 28th 2013, 15:13
Also of note, while The Wolverine is opening at around 65% of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, it also cost around 80% of what that picture cost. It also stands to gross exponentially more than the $373 million that X-Men Origins: Wolverine earned worldwide due to four years of overseas box office expansion and the invaluable 3D conversion. If 20th Century Fox thought a second Hugh Jackman-as-Logan adventure was going to return the franchise to X2 heights, they wouldn't have opened it in late July and they wouldn't have made it so cheaply. But they did and they did, so anyone who thought that Fox was expecting another $85 million debut is well, probably very wrong.
This solid B-movie action drama was merely the franchise placeholder to whet fans' appetites for next year's class reunion. Fox is biding its time, presuming that X-Men: Days of Future Past will play like Fast & Furious ("Hey, the whole band is back together!") and close out summer 2014 with a bang. While you'll be reading a few more X-Men comparisons, the real template for this one is basically G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Paramount rebounded from a disliked but somewhat financially successful first film by going cheaper and adding 3D to snag foreign grosses. The gambit worked, as G.I. Joe 2 had a smaller domestic opening and a smaller domestic gross than The Rise of Cobra but made noticeably more overseas for an overall higher worldwide gross ($371 million vs. $300 million) on a somewhat smaller budget ($130 million vs. $175 million).
The good news is that unlike G.I. Joe: Retaliation (and Fox's own 'do it on the cheap' A Good Day To Die Hard), The Wolverine doesn't feel small-scale and borderline direct-to-DVD and it's actually an improvement over its predecessor. Not that a quality upswing will matter for this film, as the X-Men franchise has the worst legs of any major franchise outside of the Harry Potter and Twilight films. X-Men had a 2.8x weekend-to-final domestic multiplier ($54m/$157m), X2 had a 2.5x multiplier ($85m/$215m), X-Men: The Last Stand had a mediocre 2.2x multiplier ($102m/$235m), Wolverine had a horrible 2.11x multiplier ($85m/$179m), and X-Men: First Class rebounded just a tad with a 2.6x multiplier ($55m/$146m).
So the final domestic gross for The Wolverine looks to fall over/under 2.5x, for over/under $140 million. Which isn't too bad when you acknowledge that the film had absolutely nothing to sell other than Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine for the sixth time. There was no marquee villain or major 'added value element' to entice moviegoers, just the pure drawing power of Jackman as Wolverine yet again. Sadly, the other wide release of the weekend, The To-Do List, failed to make much of an impact. The terrific Aubrey Plaza coming-of-age sex comedy earned just $1.5 million on 591 screens. On the plus side, the film cost just $1.2 million. Let's hope it becomes a cult film and/or a favorite for teen girl sleepovers right alongside Pitch Perfect.
In what may be the real "big news" of the weekend, Warner Bros. The Conjuring dropped just 47% in weekend two, a drop basically unheard of for a horror film in today's climate. For comparison, The Purge, Texas Chainsaw 3D, and The Devil Inside all dropped around 75% in weekend two while Evil Dead dropped 63%. Even Mama and The Strangers dropped around 55% in their second frame. For a horror film to open near the top of the horror record books and hold steady in weekend two ($22 million in its second weekend) is eye-popping. In ten days, the $20 million possession thriller has earned $82 million, making it already the seventh-highest-grossing R-rated supernatural horror films of all-time. It will easily cross $100 million and may even challenge The Blair Witch Project ($140 million) for the number two R-rated non-sequel horror film outside of The Exorcist.
It looks like Warner Bros. had its annual mid-July summer smash after all, it just wasn't Pacific Rim. Pacific Rim fell another 53% in weekend two, grossing $7.5 million for a $84 million 17-day total. It's crossed $200 million worldwide, so it may be an eventual break-even picture if it can cross $300 million and if all of the hard-cores bother to buy the Blu Ray when the time comes, but the picture is destined to be an example of 'just for the converted'. The world spins on. In limited release, Woody Allen's Jasmine Blue debuted with a scorching $102,128 per-screen on six screens. That's his highest per-screen average ever, and the third biggest such for a film playing on six or more screens. Of course, pretty much every Woody Allen film opens to gangbusters limited release figures, but time will tell if this is another Match Point or Scoop.
Fruitvale Station successfully expanded to over 1,000 screens this weekend, earning a solid $4.66 million for its troubles. The true-life drama about the wrongful death of a young black man at the hands of a beat cop has now grossed an impressive $6.34 million. Where it goes from here is a matter of keeping up the momentum into the Oscar season. Despicable Me crossed $300 million today, the sixth animated film to do so and the first for a non-Pixar/Disney or Dreamworks title. It surpassed Man Of Steel ($286 million as of today) as the year's second-biggest domestic grosser and it's burning up the overseas charts too with $660.9 million worldwide. However, it's not going to be playing in China (China is limiting the number of American animated films), so it can only fly so high at this point. Still, it's the third-biggest film worldwide of 2013 behind Iron Man 3 and Universal's own Fast & Furious 6, which debuted with $24 million in China this weekend, bumping its worldwide cume to $741 million.
The Heat is also hanging tough, with a $6.8 million weekend (-26%) for a robust $141 million total. The film just passed Identity Thief to become the year's highest grossing comedy. Wow, the star of Identity Thief is going to be pissed… Last weekend's mega-bomb R.I.P.D. dropped 54% for a $5.8 million second weekend. Frankly, I thought the drop would be worse, but the $130 million+ supernatural action comedy has now earned $24 million domestic. More troubling was the 48% drop for Red 2, which earned $9.4 million off of a $18 million debut weekend. The film has $35 million and won't come anywhere near the $90 million that the leggy Red finished with. That would be fine if the film cost the same $57 million as Red, but Summit had to go and spend $84 million this time.
Turbo earned another $13.33 million, down a not great 37% off a lower-than-expected $21 million debut. With $55 million in the can, this may be the first Dreamworks film not to cross $100 million since Flushed Away back in 2006. Now only Fox's foreign muscle can save it. The Way, Way Back expanded to 889 theaters and earned $3.3 million for its troubles. That brings the coming-of-age story's total to $8.9 million, or about what it could have made in one weekend with a decent semi-wide release. Monsters University now has $576 million worldwide while The Lone Ranger has $167 million worldwide. World War Z is now at $192 million, Star Trek Into Darkness still sits at $225 million, while Pain and Gain has been sitting at the $49 million mark for about a month now. Someone cut Paramount a check to get that one over $50 million!
And that's it for this weekend. Join us next time for The Smurfs 2: Smurf Into Darkness (Gargamel planned to get caught the whole time! Papa Smurf, look out behind you! Noooooooooo!) and the Denzel Washington/Mark Wahlberg action film 2 Guns (I have no jokes for that one).
