Tag Archives: Time Warner

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Avon Chairman Hassan Departs Suddenly

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By 24/7 Wall St.

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In another sign that the nonexistent turnaround at Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) may be in even more trouble, its non-executive chairman, in office for only a few months, is leaving — without explanation.

Avon’s fortunes have been awful for two years, mostly because former CEO Andrea Jung ruined the company through wild expansion. Her replacement, Sheri McCoy, has done nothing to reverse the slide.

Avon announced both Chairman Fred Hassan‘s departure (he severed his relationship so sharply that he will not stay on the board) and the name of his replacement:

Fred Hassan has resigned from the Avon Board of Directors in order to focus more time on his other professional commitments. Mr. Hassan serves as a non-executive chairman of Bausch + Lomb and is a Managing Director, Partner at Warburg Pincus LLC. He also serves on the Board of Time Warner, Inc.

Doug Conant, who currently serves on the Board, has been elected to the position of non-executive Chairman. Both are effective immediately.

“Avon is a great company and I am honored to have served on the Board of Directors,” said Mr. Hassan. “However, my other professional commitments have intensified, requiring more focus. So I have decided it is in the best interest of Avon for one of my Board colleagues to take on the Chairmanship.”

If he was so honored to serve, why did he leave so quickly?

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Corporate Governance, Management Change Tagged: AVP

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

What Is Important in the Financial World (4/29/2013)

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By 24/7 Wall St.

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Consumer Confidence in Europe

In another blow to the recovery of the European economy, consumer confidence across the region fell in April. The reading was the lowest since December and is another marker that whatever brief recovery there might have been late last year is over. Europe‘s number can be added to evidence in the United States that its economic activity has slowed. That leaves the world’s two largest economies tipping more negative. (The EU is often measured as on nation for GDP measurement purposes). Some data out of China show that its normally white hot economy has flagged also. Bloomberg said of economic confidence in Europe:

Economic confidence in the euro area decreased more than economists forecast in April as the 17- nation currency bloc struggled to emerge from a recession and the bailout of Cyprus renewed debt-crisis concerns.

An index of executive and consumer sentiment dropped to 88.6 from a revised 90.1 in March, the European Commission in Brussels said today. That’s the lowest since December. Economists had forecast a decline to 89.3, according to the median of 26 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.

Business confidence and investor sentiment in Germany, Europe‘s largest economy, dropped more than expected in April.

Avon Chairman Departs

In another sign that the nonexistent turnaround at Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) may be in even more trouble, its non-executive chairman, in office for only a few months, is leaving — without explanation. Avon’s fortunes have been awful for two years, mostly because former CEO Andrea Jung ruined the company through wild expansion. Her replacement, Sheri McCoy, has done nothing to reverse the slide. Avon announced both Chairman Fred Hassan‘s departure (he severed his relationship so sharply that he will not stay on the board) and the name of his replacement:

Fred Hassan has resigned from the Avon Board of Directors in order to focus more time on his other professional commitments. Mr. Hassan serves as a non-executive chairman of Bausch + Lomb and is a Managing Director, Partner at Warburg Pincus LLC. He also serves on the Board of Time Warner, Inc.

Doug Conant, who currently serves on the Board, has been elected to the position of non-executive Chairman. Both are effective immediately.

“Avon is a great company and I am honored to have served on the Board of Directors,” said Mr. Hassan. “However, my other professional commitments have intensified, requiring more focus. So I have decided it is in the best interest of Avon for one of my Board colleagues to take on the Chairmanship.”

If he was so honored to serve, why did he leave so quickly?

Disappointing Corporate Revenues

Earnings may be up as U.S. public companies report their quarterly results. Revenues, however, are not. This may be a sign of trouble ahead, perhaps driven largely by a slowing in exports to Europe. The USA Today reports on U.S. corporate revenues:

Investors were hoping by this point in the economic cycle, companies would be able to find growth selling new products and services or tapping new customers. But

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Killing "Vampires" With Nothing More Than a Bow and Arrow

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By Tim Beyers, The Motley Fool

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Forget the legends. An old-fashioned arrow to the heart is all you need to slay a vampire — especially if said vampire sports perfect hair and a sculpted teenage body.

Arrow, the DC Comics adaptation Time Warner introduced in October, now ranks as the CW network’s top rated show, beating the Twilight-inspired The Vampire Diaries. More than 3 million viewers on average tune in weekly to see Stephen Amell‘s avenging archer, Nielsen reports, versus 2.8 million for the bloodsuckers.

Surprised? You shouldn’t be, says Tim Beyers of Motley Fool Rule Breakers and Motley Fool Supernova in the following video. AMC Networks‘ top-rated drama The Walking Dead is inspired by a comic book of the same name, and Walt Disney is preparing to launch Iron Man 3 in the U.S  on May 3. All signs suggest that the film will be one of the summer season’s biggest.

Do you enjoy Arrow? How much TV do you consume daily? Please watch this short video to get Tim’s full take, and then leave a comment to let us know what you think of the show and whether you’d buy, sell, or short Time Warner stock at current prices.

For further analysis of Disney’s entertainment empire, tune into our newest premium research report in which we go inside for an up-close tour of The House of Mouse and tell you what the company is really worth, and whether there’s reason to add the stock for your portfolio. Access your report now by clicking here.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

"Game of Thrones" Will Never Beat "Mad Men" — Here's Why

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By Tim Beyers, The Motley Fool

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So far, Game of Thrones is beating Mad Men in the ratings war. The second episode of the fantasy epic based on author George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Fire and Ice” books drew in 4.3 million viewers, versus 3.4 million for the Mad Men premiere.

As far as I’m concerned, both shows are well written and worth watching. Yet if HBO were spun off from Time Warner as an independent company, I’d still rather own shares of Mad Men distributor AMC Networks .

Sources: HBO, YouTube.

Why? Accessibility. By bundling its content with cable providers, HBO makes it unnecessarily difficult to cater to the increasing number of viewers who are just as comfortable watching via tablet as they are on TV.

Consider how Comcast‘s obtuse Xfinity service handles streamed HBO content. Watching on my Mac requires a log-in to comcast.net and then navigating to a “watch TV” tab, where I can look up episodes and movies. Once I’ve done that, starting or picking up an episode works great — just so long as I haven’t changed devices. The Comcast Web experience is self-contained.

So is the iPad experience, where HBO GO is available. Logging in there with my Comcast credentials gets access to episodes but no viewing history, making it a poor substitute for Netflix and Apple‘s iTunes, both of which bookmark video content across devices.

But where Xfinity really fails is in the living room. Prior seasons of Game of Thrones simply aren’t available through Xfinity On Demand. Interested catch-up viewers are instead pushed to the Web to experience Comcast’s streaming weaknesses live and in living color.

Meanwhile, synchronized viewing is only going to get more important. According to IDC, tablets are on track to outsell desktop PCs this year and will outsell laptops come 2014. Hundreds of millions of mini-TVs are out in the wild, waiting to be fed. Hundreds of millions more are coming.

Separately, a recent survey conducted by Belkin and Harris Interactive found that roughly 30% of viewers surveyed said they were at least somewhat interested in replacing traditional cable with digital services such as Netflix. It’s a good bet a number of these rule-breaking TV fans already are, or are about to be, tablet owners.

Liberty Media‘s John Malone, a cable industry insider, may have said it best when he questioned the long-term veracity of cable network efforts to bundle content in order to preserve profits.

Cable network operators “have to face reality that maybe you need to segregate your market like everybody else,” Malone said in an interview with CNBC’s David Faber.

Malone is right: Bundling doesn’t make sense anymore. Time Warner is only limiting HBO‘s options — and devaluing its content — by sticking with the dinosaurs that insist upon it.

For further analysis of how Netflix is changing entertainment, tune into our newest premium research report, in which we take you inside Netflix’s entertainment empire and tell you

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/14/game-of-thrones-will-never-beat-mad-men-heres-why/

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

I Can't Wait to Ditch My Cable Company for Google

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By Evan Niu, CFA, The Motley Fool

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Search giant Google  recently outlined plans to expand its Google Fiber service to Austin, Texas. That represents a disruptive threat to local incumbent cable providers such as Time Warner Cable  and AT&T . Austinites will probably switch en masse to the new service, which will hurt both Time Warner and AT&T. Ma Bell promptly responded by announcing its own intention to build a gigabit fiber optic service if it could wrangle the same incentives as Google.

In the following video, Austin-based Fool contributor Evan Niu, CFA, explains why he’s excited to ditch his cable company.

As one of the most dominant Internet companies ever, Google has made a habit of driving strong returns for its shareholders. However, like many other Web companies, it’s also struggling to adapt to an increasingly mobile world. Despite gaining an enviable lead with its Android operating system, the market isn’t sold. That’s why it’s more important than ever to understand each piece of Google’s sprawling empire. In The Motley Fool’s new premium research report on Google, we break down the risks and potential rewards for Google investors. Simply click here now to unlock your copy of this invaluable resource.

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From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/14/i-cant-wait-to-ditch-my-cable-company-for-google/

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

What If Netflix Has a Flop on Its Hands?

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By Rick Munarriz, The Motley Fool

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Netflix is in a good groove these days.

Goldman Sachs bumped its target on the shares from $125 to $184 on Thursday, encouraged by Netflix’s widening addressable market — not just the 84.2 million U.S. homes with broadband connectivity, but the fact that Netflix is now a viable subscription option for those embracing Web-enabled mobile devices.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings tooted his own company’s horn on Thursday, pointing out in a Facebook status update that the service delivered 4 billion hours of content through the first three months of the year.

Then we have a catalyst that has yet to play out. Hemlock Grove — the latest show that will be exclusively available on Netflix for the time being — begins streaming next weekend. After February’s wildly successful House of Cards, if Netflix can nab another magnetic property, it will be that much harder for folks to cancel subscriptions between programming lulls. Netflix will have proved itself worthy of scoring magnetic content, and the comparison’s with Time Warner‘s HBO will be even more apropos.

Is Netflix on the same level as HBO? Not exactly. As anyone knows who has seen House of Cards available as a DVD preorder on rival Amazon.com , Netflix is often merely paying for exclusive streaming rights or just the benefit of carrying a particular show first. If it’s a hit, it may very well be made available through other outlets down the line.

But what if we don’t get that far with these next shows? What if Hemlock Grove isn’t scary? What if Arrested Development‘s fourth season next month isn’t funny?

We may not be dealing with hypothetical questions here.

“Weird can be good, but this isn’t intentionally weird so much as it is plain bad,” reads a scathing Hollywood Reporter review of Hemlock Grove from Tim Goodman.

Let’s be fair here. Goodman also panned the similarly creepy American Horror Story, the sleeper gothic horror hit of 2011 where the Harmon family moved into a haunted house — and paid the price.

“Unlike the Harmons, watching what goes on in that house even once is enough to know better than to go back again,” he concluded.

He was wrong then. The show fared well on FX and went on to have a second season. Maybe he’s wrong this time, too. Then again, maybe it’s better for Netflix if Goodman is right. Netflix will have some duds on its hands. That’s inevitable.

Amazon is in the process of greenlighting a bunch of pilots. It will then see which ones are fit to bankroll complete seasons for based on the streaming audience’s initial reaction. However, even that hurdle won’t guarantee that Amazon won’t have some clunkers of its own.

Netflix has more money to spend than anybody else on streaming content, because it can justify the content land grab as it spreads it around its 33.2 million streaming accounts worldwide. However, when a show falls

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/13/what-if-netflix-has-a-flop-on-its-hands/

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

The Monster Merger Deal to Watch For

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By Dan Radovsky, The Motley Fool

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There have been a number of huge merger deals in the not-too-distant past whose buyout numbers reached into low orbit. The most notorious — and most scoffed at — must be when AOL met Time Warner: $182 billion exchanged hands in 2000 before eventually vaporizing (most of it, anyway) along with the supposed synergies the transaction was supposed to generate.

But that was at right at the peak of the dot-com madness. No company would ever fall for that kind of hysterical dealmaking again, right? Maybe not. Never underestimate the appeal of financial madness, especially to those who should be minding the asylum.

The latest deal to end all deals — by quite a lot — is rumored to be brewing in the telecom world, this one between Verizon and Vodafone , partners in the joint venture called Verizon Wireless. Oh, and one other company, which I’ll get to later.

Verizon Wireless has been very good to the partners, and they have been able to split sizable profits from the deal over the past couple of years. Last year, Vodafone received $8 billion in dividend payments for its 45% share of the venture.

However, Verizon, which holds the other 55%, can choose to withhold those payments if it wants to use the money for acquisitions or capital expenditures. That makes Vodafone a bit nervous, especially as Verizon Wireless has been, as Australian hedge fund Bronte Capital‘s chief investment officer John Hempton wrote on his company’s blog last month, the only bright spot over the last 10 years in Vodafone’s “collection of modest success and abject failures.”

So instead of thinking about shooting its golden goose, Hempton had another suggestion:

“Any deal where Vodafone sells its Verizon Wireless stake rather than selling itself … would be insane, … The best outcome would be the sale of the whole of Vodafone at a good price.”

An astronomical price
And that price would be $245 billion, the enterprise value of Vodafone according to sources who spoke to the Financial Times earlier this month. And, still according to those unnamed sources, Barclays USA will put together a three-way deal which would divvy up Vodafone between Verizon and AT&T . Verizon would assume full control of Verizon Wireless, and AT&T would acquire Vodafone’s many overseas assets.

Verizon’s interest should be obvious — the whole slice of the pie — but why would AT&T want to get a piece of Vodafone? That answer has to do with AT&T’s being essentially blocked from acquiring much more of substance in the United States. The FCC’s and Department of Justice’s nixing of the company’s bid to buy T-Mobile USA for $39 billion in 2011 has caused AT&T to look elsewhere for expansion.

Verizon isn’t talking … much. Ten days ago it filed an 8-K current report with the SEC to say this:

Verizon Communications (‘Verizon’) notes the recent press speculation regarding a potential merger with or purchase by Verizon of Vodafone.

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/13/can-verizon-pull-off-the-biggest-deal-in-us-hist/

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Why Google Fiber Is Cable's Biggest Nightmare

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By Tim Brugger, The Motley Fool

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What’s faster than a speeding cable Internet connection, and able to leap between mobile computing and old-school TV in a single bound? If you ask Google , the answer’s simple: lightning-fast fiber-optic Internet service.

As it stands, broad access to Google’s service has been limited to the greater Kansas City area, so Fiber’s been little more than an intriguing notion. But with news that Austin, Texas, is next up on Google Fiber‘s hit parade, the prospects are becoming intriguing that Google could build an entirely new source of revenue and turn the Internet industry upside down.

Austin, here we come
The official announcement that Fiber is coming to Austin was supposed to be a closely guarded secret, but that didn’t last long. A local news outlet leaked the story a week ago that Google Fiber was going to be the subject of the joint press conference with Google and Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell. Austin seems like a natural for Fiber, since it’s widely viewed as a domestic hotbed of IT. Beginning in mid-2014, local residents will be able to choose Internet service for $70 a month, or $120 a month with Fiber TV service, at connection speeds 100 times faster than cable, according to Google.

With two new Fiber announcements in a matter of weeks — the service is also expanding to Olathe, Kan. — it appears Google Fiber is ramping up after its K.C.-area beta test. Though most industry insiders don’t believe Google intends to take over the Internet connectivity market, Google CFO Patrick Pichette did say, “We really think that we should be making business — a good business — with this opportunity [Fiber], and we’re going to continue to look at the possibility of expanding.” Investors and Google shareholders should like the sound of that; more revenue streams mean less reliance on Internet advertising.

Cable companies must be scared, right?
Are cable Internet providers concerned about the threat posed by Google Fiber? If so, they aren’t showing it yet. It’s probably just a coincidence that my cable provider, Comcast , recently offered to crank up my Internet connectivity speed at no charge. That’s right — a cable company opted to improve service without charging. Interesting.

Time Warner Cable , Comcast, and Charter Communications , have all been on the other side of the Internet subscriber fence. Phone companies such as AT&T and Verizon began losing customers to these and other cable Internet providers some time ago, largely because of speed and connectivity issues. And now along comes Google Fiber with an alternative that blows the doors off anything Comcast, Time Warner, or Charter can offer, and often for the same or less money. If the cable industry isn’t worried, it should be.

Not all the growth in cable companies’ Internet customers comes from defections from the phone companies, but Internet continues to be a profitable area of growth in the industry. Charter saw an 8% jump in Internet customers in 2012

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

2 Dividend Stocks With Super Growth Potential

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By Tim Beyers and Erin Miller, The Motley Fool

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Walt Disney‘s Marvel Entertainment is entering phase two of the rollout if its cinematic universe with next month’s Iron Man 3. Time Warner is exciting audiences with June’s Superman reboot, Man of Steel. At least one of these films has the potential to earn $1 billion at the box office.

But there’s also more than growth at work in these stock stories. Disney and Time Warner are also outstanding dividend stocks, having upped their payouts 25% and 11%, respectively, last year. Time Warner is also preparing to spin off Time to existing shareholders as a distinct, publicly traded entity.

Add it up and you’ve the makings of a sort of stock nirvana: growth and income combined in a tidy package, says Tim Beyers of Motley Fool Rule Breakers and Motley Fool Supernova.

Please watch this short video to get Tim’s full take, and then leave a comment to let us know which dividend stocks you’re investing in now, and why.

If you’re on the lookout for high-yielding stocks, The Motley Fool has compiled a special free report outlining our nine top dependable dividend-paying stocks. It’s called “Secure Your Future With 9 Rock-Solid Dividend Stocks.” You can access your copy today at no cost! Just click here.

The article 2 Dividend Stocks With Super Growth Potential originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Tim Beyers is a member of the 
Motley Fool Rule Breakers
stock-picking team and the Motley Fool Supernova Odyssey I mission. He owned shares of Time Warner and Walt Disney at the time of publication. Erin Miller owned shares of Disney. Check out Tim’s web home and portfolio holdings or connect with him on Google+, Tumblr, or Twitter, where he goes by @milehighfool. You can also get his insights delivered directly to your RSS reader.The Motley Fool owns shares of Walt Disney. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Buying Netflix Stock Doesn't Have to Be Scary Stuff

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By Rick Munarriz, The Motley Fool

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Netflix wants to creep you out next week, but that’s a good thing.

Hemlock Grove — a new show with blood-curdling aspirations based on a Brian McGreevy novel and directed by horror guru Eli Roth — will stream exclusively on Netflix starting a week from Friday.

True to its “binge viewing” mantra, Netflix won’t string viewers around with weekly cliffhangers. All 13 episodes of the series will be made available at the same time. It’s a strategy that may have been criticized by industry analysts and television veterans with House of Cards in February, but viewers obviously don’t have a problem with dictating the pace of their content consumption.

Netflix stock is on fire these days, and the leading streaming service provider has to make sure that it has the programming to match.

The show is unlikely to make the same kind of Emmy-magnetic waves that House of Cards did earlier this year, but it’s hard to argue against the subject matter. American Horror Story has made Gothic horror trendy, and fans of Twilight may want to know that there are werewolves involved.

It remains to be seen how this busy slate of exclusive first-run programming on Netflix this year will fare. It doesn’t help that it no longer provides monthly churn metrics, so all we have to go on is the ultimate net growth of subscribers.

Netflix began the year encouragingly strong on that front with 33.2 million global streaming accounts.

Most of the original programming buzz has been generated by House of Cards and next month’s Arrested Development revival, but Netflix also has a few more shows along the lines of Hemlock Grove that could prove to be sleeper hits.

At a time when Netflix stock has more than tripled, the restored dot-com darling will need to make sure that it has more hits than misses along the way.

It’s not as if Netflix will lose ground to the competition if it whiffs here and there. After all, have you assessed the competition?

Time Warner‘s HBO is the premium platform that Netflix often drums up as its biggest rival, but it’s not a fair comparison. HBO has the quality proprietary content that Netflix craves, but the old-school model where costly subscriptions are tethered to even more expensive cable and satellite television plans prevent it from being a fast-growing service.

Amazon.com has the ambition — matching Netflix in terms of the streaming smorgasbord as a stand-alone offering — but its catalog remains vastly inferior to what Netflix has amassed over the years.

If Hemlock Grove is lucky, it will be as scary as the frightening lead the competition has let Netflix amass largely unchecked.

Research worth viewing
The tumultuous performance of Netflix shares since the summer of 2011 has caused headaches for many devoted shareholders. While the company’s first-mover status is often viewed as a competitive advantage, the opportunities in streaming media have brought some new, deep-pocketed rivals looking for their …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Liberty Interactive Corporation to Hold Annual Meeting of Stockholders

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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Liberty Interactive Corporation to Hold Annual Meeting of Stockholders

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Liberty Interactive Corporation (Nasdaq: LINTA, LINTB, LVNTA, LVNTB) will be holding its Annual Meeting of Stockholders on Tuesday, June 4, 2013, at 10:00 a.m., Mountain Time, at the corporate offices of Starz, 8900 Liberty Circle, Englewood, Colorado 80112. The record date for the meeting is 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on April 10, 2013. At the meeting, Liberty Interactive Corporation may make observations regarding the company’s financial performance and outlook.

The presentation will be broadcast live via the Internet. All interested persons should visit the Liberty Interactive Corporation website at http://www.libertyinteractive.com/events to register for the webcast. An archive of the webcast will also be available on this website for 30 days.

About Liberty Interactive Corporation

Liberty Interactive Corporation operates and owns interests in a broad range of digital commerce businesses. Those interests are currently attributed to two tracking stock groups: Liberty Interactive Group and Liberty Ventures Group. The Liberty Interactive Group (Nasdaq: LINTA, LINTB) is primarily focused on digital commerce and consists of Liberty Interactive Corporation‘s subsidiaries Backcountry.com, Bodybuilding.com, Celebrate Interactive (including Evite and Liberty Advertising), CommerceHub, MotoSport, Provide Commerce, QVC and Right Start, and Liberty Interactive Corporation‘s interests in HSN and Lockerz. The Liberty Ventures Group (Nasdaq: LVNTA, LVNTB) consists of Liberty Interactive Corporation‘s interests in TripAdvisor, Expedia, Interval Leisure Group, Time Warner, Time Warner Cable, Tree.com (Lending Tree), AOL and various green energy investments.

Liberty Interactive Corporation
Courtnee Ulrich, 720-875-5420

KEYWORDS:   United States  North America  Colorado

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:

The article Liberty Interactive Corporation to Hold Annual Meeting of Stockholders originally appeared on Fool.com.

Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Social Media and the SEC: A Love Story?

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By Caroline Bennett, The Motley Fool

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In the beginning, there was the Internet. Then, in a big bang of light, sound, and tweets, there was social media. Since then, companies haven’t known quite what to do with themselves.

There has always been some gray area as to what’s appropriate for a business‘ social-media presence, and what isn’t. Now the SEC is getting involved, and its latest decision doesn’t crack down nearly as hard as you might think. In fact, Netflix is already reaping major benefits from it, not to mention Facebook itself.

The latest ruling
In a statement released on April 2, the SEC said it was perfectly ethical for companies to take to social media for releasing “key information,” just so long as they abide by the SEC‘s Regulation Fair Disclosure.

To find out what constitutes key information, take a look at the company that sparked the action: Netflix. Last July, CEO Reed Hastings posted on Facebook that users were streaming more than 1 billion hours of video a month. Within one day, Netflix’s stock jumped from $70.45 to $81.72, which raised quite a few red flags about the post.

But now, as far as the SEC is concerned, this kind of self-promotion is A-OK among public companies, just so long as they clarify which social-media tool they plan to use. If a company says its news will be available on Facebook, for instance, and it pops up on Twitter or (suspend your disbelief for a moment) Pinterest, then there’s a problem.

Are Facebook and Netflix better off?
Facebook’s stock took a noticeable jump after the SEC announcement, rising 5% from $25.32 to $26.67. This reaction suggests that the market is celebrating the SEC‘s decision, and the good news couldn’t come soon enough for Facebook. Even after the success of Graph Search‘s unveiling, the company is still struggling to return to its IPO price, so any positive press must feel like a breath of fresh air for Facebook and its investors.

The news is also Netflix’s second SEC victory in a month. A few weeks ago, the company finally got the government‘s go-ahead to make its social-media service, Netflix Social, available to U.S. residents. So why hasn’t its stock reflected these victories accordingly?

For one thing, the SEC news coincided with whispers that investor Carl Icahn had sold 10% of his share in Netflix. Even though Icahn later denied the rumor, the damage was already done. That news, paired with the announcement that Time Warner had released its own online streaming service, was enough to sink Netflix’s stock by 4%.

But don’t cry for Netflix just yet. The company’s annual revenue has more than doubled since 2008, and while it possesses a market cap of $9.46 billion, it has just $400 million on the books in long-term debt and boasts $3.9 billion in assets. And that doesn’t include the revival of Arrested Development.

There’s always money in the social-media stand
By and large, the market has met the SEC‘s …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

The Deal That Rocked the Dow to New Highs

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By Alex Planes, The Motley Fool

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On this day in economic and business history …

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed over 9,000 points for the first time in its history on April 6, 1998. The 9,033.23 close was reached largely on news of a merger between Citicorp — now Citigroup — and Dow component Travelers , the largest corporate tie-up in history to that time, defying the weakness in other, broader indexes. Travelers soared 21% on news of the deal, and non-component Citi rose 16%. The divergence between the Dow and other indexes prompted Charles Pradilla of Cowen to tell The New York Times that “this market is probably a little ahead of itself.”

It was a big year for big deals in 1998. At that point in the year, more than 2,500 deals worth more than $316 billion had already been announced, a 50% increase over 1997’s total for the comparable period. Stock-based transactions in an environment of ballooning stock prices surely helped to drive the year-over-year growth in deal value. The path to 9,000 also saw divergence in the Dow’s components — nine components, primarily heavy-industry and commodity stocks, were lower when the index reached 9,000 than they had been at Dow 8,000. This was offset by big gains of at least 30% in eight other Dow stocks, during that period. This group included all of the Dow’s financially focused components, including Travelers, American Express, and JPMorgan Chase .

The Citi deal, however, was far and away the largest of the year’s deals to date. Announced at a value of $70 billion, the stock-based merger swelled to $84 million during the day as investors bid up shares of the two companies, anticipating a clear path through regulatory hurdles that at that point would have made such a deal technically illegal. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley act had yet to be proposed, and a similar Glass-Steagall-destroying effort had died in the House of Representatives not a week before the deal was proposed. To become Citigroup, with an estimated $50 billion in revenue, $700 billion in assets, and $140 billion in market cap, the two companies would have to work hard to undo decades of regulatory precedent. Victory would have gained the new company top ranking among the world’s largest financial-services companies. Ultimately, they succeeded, ushering in a new era of financial consolidation — but talk of records would fade as the dot-com bubble produced ever more outlandish merger valuations, culminating in the disastrous AOL and Time Warner tie-up that wound up destroying the vast majority of its shareholders’ wealth after the bubble popped.

One man’s junk …
Drexel Burnham Lambert created the junk bond in 1977, and it found great success when offered for the first time on April 6, 1977. Drexel’s rise and fall would become the stuff of Wall Street legend (you can read more on its collapse by clicking …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Time Warner Will Crush the Market Again This Year

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By Tim Beyers, The Motley Fool

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After running neck-and-neck with Walt Disney in 2012 — with both more than doubling the market‘s average return — Time Warner has moved ahead of the pack this year, up 22% so far in 2013, versus 16% for Disney, and 9% for the S&P 500.

Expect Warner to keep leading. A plan to spin-off its slowly deteriorating publishing business should allow the company to enjoy even greater earnings impact from forthcoming box office blockbusters such as July’s Man of Steel, says Tim Beyers of Motley Fool Rule Breakers and Motley Fool Supernova in the following video.

Do you agree? Will Time Warner outpace Disney this year? Please watch and then leave a comment to let us know what you think of the company’s prospects.

For further analysis, try our newest premium research report in which we take you on a tour of Disney’s entertainment empire and tell you what the House of Mouse is worth, and whether the stock deserves a place in your portfolio. Access your report now by clicking here.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

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Netflix Isn't Afraid of Superman

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By Rick Munarriz, The Motley Fool

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What is Time Warner thinking with this week’s rollout of Warner Archive Instant?

The same company that has a legitimate challenger to Netflix through its HBO Go streaming platform is now offering up a smorgasbord of its earlier catalog titles through Warner Archive Instant.

Subscribers can pay $9.99 a month for what is presently a very unimpressive catalog of very old shows and movies. Throwback buffs may recall these classics, but there’s something funky about the fact that the graphic accompanying the pitch is a still from a 1952 The Adventures of Superman episode.

The “most watched” selections currently include Yul Brynner’s The Ultimate Warrior, Marilyn Monroe’s The Prince and the Showgirl, and a season of 77 Sunset Strip.

Now, there may very well be nostalgic appeal for some of these selections for older viewers, but are they really the type to be streaming shows off their computers or to even own Roku boxes? That’s pretty much the only way that subscribers can consume Warner Archive Instant at the moment.

There’s a reason that Netflix has exploded to more than 33 million global streaming customers so quickly. No one can match it on breadth of content, so rivals have tried different strategies.

Coinstar‘s new Redbox Instant matches Netflix on price, but also throws in four nightly DVD rental credits so members can get the new releases that aren’t available through Netflix streaming. Amazon.com competes on price with its Prime catalog, bundling the growing library of offerings with free two-day deliveries of Amazon purchases.

Where does Warner Archive Instant fit in?

The good news is that it doesn’t require a cable subscription. Outside of Scandinavia, you can’t get HBO Go unless you’re a paying cable or satellite customer with HBO. There’s also something to be said about its retro focus. If the future moves away from cable and satellite to piecemeal channels and services, TV fans may find themselves subscribing to several different offerings if they’re cheap enough.

However, as it stands, this is an offering with little chance of succeeding.

Sorry, Superman of 1952. Netflix is kryptonite. 

Deep thoughts on Netflix
The tumultuous performance of Netflix shares since the summer of 2011 has caused headaches for many devoted shareholders. While the company’s first-mover status is often viewed as a competitive advantage, the opportunities in streaming media have brought some new, deep-pocketed rivals looking for their piece of a growing pie. Can Netflix fend off this burgeoning competition, and will its international growth aspirations really pay off? These are must-know issues for investors, which is why The Motley Fool has released a premium report on Netflix. Inside, you’ll learn about the key opportunities and risks facing the company, as well as reasons to buy or sell the stock. The report includes a full year of updates to cover critical new developments, so make sure to click here and claim a copy today.

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Market Minute: Time Warner Enters Streaming Movie Business

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By DailyFinance Staff

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Jin Lee/Bloomberg

Produced by Drew Trachtenberg

There’s a big new player in online movies, and Best Buy is expanding its connection with a major phone maker.

Time Warner (TWX) is jumping into the business of streaming online video, focusing on its vast library of classic movie and TV shows. A subscription will cost $10 a month – about two dollars more than Netflix (NFLX) charges. Still, Time Warner could present a challenge to Netflix, Amazon (AMZN) and others.

Rival entertainment giant Walt Disney (DIS) is closing down its video game-making unit, LucasArts. Disney paid $4 billion in December to buy the parent company, Lucasfilm.

Best Buy (BBY) is planning to set aside prime space in its stores dedicated to mobile phones, cameras and other products made by Samsung. Samsung, which will soon roll out its Galaxy S4 phone, does not have its own retail stores. Best Buy is also planning to sell the Apple (AAPL) iPad3 at a 30 percent discount.

Facebook (FB) is expected to unveil a deal with smartphone maker HTC that will feature the social network site as a possible homepage on the Android phones. The aim is to prompt users to spend more time on Facebook, which will result in higher ad revenue.

The chief product officer at Lululemon (LULU) is taking the fall for the see-through yoga pants fiasco that forced the company to issue a major recall: Sheree Waterson is leaving the company. As you may recall, the material became too sheer when the wearer bent over. The recall is expected to cost the company as much as $67 million dollars.

And the KFC unit of Yum Brands (YUM) will soon allow customers to pre-pay for food by using a mobile wallet when they call in an order. The program will start in the U.K. and soon expand to the U.S. McDonald’s (MCD) and Starbucks (SBUX) already offer similar programs.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

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3 Cable Companies America Hates the Most and 1 You Love

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By Rich Smith, The Motley Fool

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The results are in. After polling  its readers — habitual evaluators of the relative “goodness” of products — Consumer Reports announced this month which cable TV companies are the most hated in America, and which one actually might be worth a try.

Worst of the worst
I won’t keep you waiting for the results. Privately owned (and redundantly named) Mediacom Communications comes in at the very bottom of the list of 17 rated cable companies. It’s followed in short order by three publicly traded firms that were rated only marginally better in quality: Charter Communications , Time Warner Cable , and Comcast , ranked Nos. 16, 15, and 14, respectively.

All four of these cable companies get Consumer Reports‘ absolute worst rating for the “value” of the service they provide — a big black circle. (Indeed, Mediacom gets more fully blackened circles than anyone else, scoring unacceptably in five out of eight categories rated.) Of the three firms (barely) outscoring Mediacom, Charter and Time Warner avoid completely black marks on reliability, while Comcast actually scores a middle-of-the-road white circle for the dependability of its service.

Time Warner, meanwhile, can boast of at least the middling quality of its “cable guys” when they come to fix the cable. They probably get a lot of practice at fixing stuff, too. I mean, have you seen Time Warner‘s lousy dependability rating?

Charter, meanwhile, scores equally badly on both reliability and in-home customer support.

Is bigger better?
But what about the one company I said “actually might be worth a try”? Interestingly, according to Consumer Reports‘ findings, the best outfit in cable just might also be the biggest outfit in cell phones.

Topping the CR list for “cable” providers this year is a company that actually strings fiber-optics to the home — Verizon‘s FiOS service. According to CR readers, Verizon’s fiber-optic lines get top marks for reliability and picture and deliver decent audio, and the company offers customer service that’s only half-bad, to boot. And as I mentioned above, Verizon is also the country’s biggest cell phone provider, through its Verizon Wireless partnership with Vodafone. So if you’re a fan of “bundled” services, Verizon might be a good way to go.

Sometimes, bigger is better
Verizon’s stock doesn’t look like a half-bad value, either. Although possessed of an obscene-looking P/E, the company churns out a lot of cash from its business. “Doing well by doing a good job,” you might say. This gives the stock a price-to-free cash flow ratio of just 9.3 — which seems cheap relative to mid-6% growth estimates and a 4.2% dividend yield.

Meanwhile, the stock‘s occupying the bottom of Consumer Reports‘ list are a varied lot. Comcast, at a price-to-FCF ratio of 12.3, could actually turn out to be a better investment than the best cable provider if it lives up to expectations of a 17%-plus growth rate. Time Warner, also with strong free cash flow, looks slightly undervalued. Charter, unprofitable, but …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

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Vodafone Group Reaches 5-Year High

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By Sam Robson, The Motley Fool

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LONDON — Vodafone  continued its recent climb, rising 5.4% to reach 196.65 pence, off the back of further speculation surrounding Verizon Communications mulling its options regarding Vodafone’s shares in their joint venture, Verizon Wireless.

The move in share price comes following reports from the Financial Times Alphaville blog that Verizon and AT&T have been working on a “share break-up bid,” valuing Vodafone at 260 pence per share, around $245 billion. This would surpass AOL and Time Warner‘s $165 billion merger, and even Vodafone AirTouch’s acquisition of Mannesmann AG for $202.8 billion in 1999, the current record holder.

Vodafone’s shares had previously reached 191 pence in early August 2012, with today likely to end on a new five-year high. Following the recent rumors, the telecom company’s share price has climbed as the market appeared to have new-found hope for the stock. And on a price-to-earnings ratio of below 12 and a healthy yield forecast of 5.1%, well above the FTSE 100‘s average of around 3%-3.5%, it’s not hard to see why.

Rising over 46 pence to 6,458 pence at the time of writing, the news has helped push the FTSE 100 back toward its own five-year high of 6,533.99, reached on March 12.

If you already hold Vodafone shares and you’re looking for a stock on a similar yield, then you may wish to read this exclusive free in-depth report. The FTSE 100 company in question offers a 5.6% income, and might be worth 850 pence versus around 775 pence currently. Just click here to download the report — it’s absolutely free.

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The article Vodafone Group Reaches 5-Year High originally appeared on Fool.com.



Sam Robson owns shares of Vodafone. The Motley Fool recommends Vodafone. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Will Verizon and AT&amp;T Seal the Biggest M&amp;A Deal Ever?

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By Alex Dumortier, CFA, The Motley Fool

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After falling back from their record high yesterday, stocks are back in black this morning, with the S&P 500 and the narrower, price-weighted Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.6% and 0.57%, respectively, as of 10:05 a.m. EDT.

Pick up the ‘fone
According to the Financial Times‘ Alphaville blog, Dow components Verizon Communications and AT&T are together mulling the acquisition and subsequent breakup of Vodafone . According to the report, a potential offer would award Vodafone shares a 40% premium to their current price in a transaction with an enterprise value (i.e., equity value plus net debt) of $245 billion. That would surpass AOL‘s acquisition of Time Warner in 2000, so the possibility of such a deal is stirring up some excitement — nowhere more so than at Barclays. The bank is reportedly working on the deal, and a successful transaction of this size would be a huge fee bonanza.

Here’s the logic and mechanics behind the transaction:

  • Verizon buys back Vodafone’s 45% stake in Verizon Wireless. Verizon has made no secret that it seeks full control of the joint venture. For its part, Vodafone is not opposed to ceding the stake: In February, CEO Vittorio Colao told The Wall Street Journal he didn’t know whether the relationship would be the same in a year and that Vodafone has an open mind “on everything.” However, this could fairly describe the company’s stance on the joint venture since plans for a public offering collapsed in 2003.
  • AT&T takes the non-U.S. assets in a bid to become a global wireline provider and a more effective competitor against Verizon Wireless domestically.

For Verizon, this three-way structure might be the winning combination after merger talks with Vodafone reportedly got bogged down in December over the issues of leadership and domicile. Vodafone, meanwhile, would realize a premium for Verizon Wireless without the associated tax liability. For AT&T, empire-building is usually a good pretext for corporate mergers and acquisitions. Need we mention that the bankers will be pushing hard to see the deal through?

The vaunted cash piles of U.S. companies are said to be dry powder for M&A activity — but that would not be the case in this deal. Between them, Verizon and AT&T had more than $110 billion in net debt at the end of 2012. Sounds like more work for the bankers on the financing.

There is necessarily quite a bit of uncertainty on a deal of this size and complexity, but wilder things have happened (remember the RBS-Fortis-Banco Santander acquisition of ABN Amro in 2007?). The market seems to be taking it seriously: Vodafone shares are up 5.5% as of 10:20 a.m. EDT.

Get ahead of the curve
The amount of data we store every year is growing by a mind-boggling 60% annually. To make sense of this trend and pick out a winner, The Motley Fool has compiled a new report called “The Only Stock You Need to …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

A Cash Monster: Basketball &amp; March Madness

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By Steve Symington, The Motley Fool

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With each passing year, the growing popularity of the March Madness continues to astound me.

In fact, according research from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an estimated 3 million employees recently said they would spend between one and three hours per day watching this year’s tournament during work hours, potentially costing American companies more than $134 million in “lost wages” over the first two days of March Madness alone. Of course, that assumes each of those workers would have been productive otherwise, which is certainly a debatable topic in its own right.

Now don’t get me wrong. I love college basketball and recognize the many reasons the NCAA tournament is so alluring, from its rowdy fans to the inevitable stunning upsets and the obvious irony that unpaid players can consistently bring such passion to the game.

Watching the games
Of course, this unique mix helped drive nearly 21 million people to watch last year’s championship game and helps explain why CBS and Time Warner‘s  Turner Broadcasting were willing to pay $10.8 billion three years ago to secure broadcast rights for the tournament through 2024, outbidding rival offers at the time from such competitors as Fox and Disney‘s ABC and ESPN.

Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons.

Of course, that easily eclipsed CBS‘s previous $6 billion, 11-year deal that began in 2003 and absolutely dwarfs the old seven-year, $1.725 billion agreement that ran from 1995 through the end of 2002.

Watching the ads
So why, exactly, did CBS and Turner have to pay so much this time around? According to research firm Kantar Media, NCAA men’s basketball last year became the first-ever postseason sport for which national TV ad spending exceeded the $1 billion mark.

You read that right: March Madness ad spending in 2012 managed to outpace even the NFL‘s postseason take, which came in at a respectable $976.3 million. What’s more, advertisers spent more dough on the NCAA tournament in 2012 alone than on the NBA, MLB, and the NHL postseasons combined.

In addition, those companies were willing to spend more than $1.3 million for each 30-second spot in last year’s NCAA championship game, or more than triple the cost of an ad to appear in the NBA championship series games. Even still, and perhaps unsurprisingly, Super Bowl commercials still took the cake in 2012 at an average cost of $3.5 million.

So who’s willing to spend those big bucks to get their names out to the masses? General Motors was last year’s whale, dropping a grand total of $80.3 million and leaving AT&T a distant second at $54.2 million. Naturally, Anheuser-Busch InBev and Coca-Cola were both eager to quench viewers’ thirst, throwing down $31.9 million and $31.7 million, respectively.

There was also no shortage of restaurant advertisements from the likes of Dominos Pizza and Yum! Brands-owned Pizza Hut, but the well-suited and comparatively small Buffalo Wild Wings — which incidentally remains a prominent NCAA sponsor this year — seemed to have gotten the best bang for its buck in 2012. Despite not even showing up in …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance