Heineken rejects takeover in bid to stay independent

HONG KONG (CNNMoney)

Heineken (HEINY), which also produces Amstel, Tecate and Dos Equis, has been controlled by its founding family since 1864, and is Europe's largest brewer by volume.

The Dutch brewer said in a statement that it hopes to preserve the company's "heritage and identity" by remaining independent.

Heineken is an attractive takeover target in an industry that has seen major consolidation in recent years as Anheuser-Busch InBev (AHBIF) and SABMiller have used mergers and acquisitions to build beverage empires.

Related: The world's most popular beer is ...

AB InBev is currently the world's largest brewer, a status reinforced by its 2008 purchase of Anheuser-Busch.

The producer of Stella Artois, Corona and Budweiser owns or has a major stake in six of the world's top 10 beers by volume, and has continued to snap up brewers. Last year, regulators signed off on the company buying the rest of Grupo Modelo in a $20 billion deal.

Related: Get ready for craft beer with a Latin twist

In bidding for Heineken, it's likely that SABMiller was attempting to shield itself from a potential AB InBev takeover.

Together, Heineken and SABMiller would rival AB InBev in size and influence, and a merger could help lower distribution and brewing costs.

Heineken is likely to face additional pressure to agree to a sale in the future. Along with Molson Coors, the brewer is one of the few family-controlled firms left in the business.

First Published: September 15, 2014: 1:06 AM ET

14.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

GM compensation czar to unveil initial death toll from ignition flaw

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

GM (GM) has publicly linked 13 deaths and 54 accidents to the fault, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have said they believe the numbers to be larger. The company only counted head-on crashes where the frontal airbag did not properly deploy and victims were in the vehicles' front seats.

The families of those who died in the vehicles are eligible to apply for $1 million in compensation from the fund, plus an estimate of the victim's future earning potential. Those families must agree to not sue GM. Its 2009 bankruptcy provided a liability shield from many lawsuits, and a federal judge is deciding how that will apply to ignition switch claims.

Feinberg was hired by General Motors to oversee the fund but has stressed his independence from GM management in deciding who is eligible for compensation. He told CNN in June there is no cap on how much GM may have to pay out to victims through the program. He has previously overseen funds for victims of 9/11, the Gulf oil spill and the Boston Marathon bombing.

GM spokesman Dave Ronan said the company would comment on Monday.

In late August, Feinberg's office said the fund had received over 100 claims.

Claims will be accepted until the end of the year, and his office said he will likely not finish reviewing them all until the middle of 2015.

GM engineers first knew of the flaw a decade ago, but the company publicly acknowledged it for the first time in February. It has now recalled 2.6 million cars related to the problem.

Drivers of certain small Chevrolet, Pontiac and Saturn cars can inadvertently bump the ignition switch out of run, disabling the power steering, anti-lock braking, and airbags.

Greater scrutiny to GM's handling of vehicle issues led to a stream of recalls; the company has issued 65 this year for a total of nearly 30 million vehicles.

GM commissioned a former federal prosecutor to conduct an internal investigation. Anton Valukas found no evidence of a broad coverup or conspiracy within GM, but faulted "a pattern of management deficiencies and misjudgments," CEO Mary Barra said.

Related: GM's 'culture' blamed for current crisis

Related: Full coverage of the GM recall

First Published: September 14, 2014: 7:14 PM ET

14.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Alibaba is coming: Should you buy it?

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba is vying to raise up to $24 billion in what could be the largest IPO in history. Since last week, company executives have been on the road trying to convince mutual fund managers, hedge fund titans, and wealthy individuals that for between $60 and $66 per share, Alibaba is even better than Facebook.

And the demand from these big time investors is huge, according to reports.

Related: Alibaba 101: The biggest IPO of all time

But what about mom and pop investors...Should they get in on the action?

Successful IPOs can mean big windfalls for ordinary people who get in early, but they can also be bad news if the company's fortunes turn or the underwriters price the offering too high.

Here are the main things to consider in the Alibaba IPO:

1. Ali-who? Unlike other hot technology IPOs in recent years such as Facebook (FB, Tech30)and Twitter (TWTR, Tech30), Alibaba is still largely unheard of in the United States.

"I'd say frankly most U.S. investors don't have a lot of familiarity or experience with using the company's platforms and properties," said Scott Kessler, head of technology research at S&P Capital IQ.

But the company is a big deal. It's often described as a mix of eBay (EBAY, Tech30), Amazon (AMZN, Tech30), and everything in between. It has around 280 million annual users and delivered 6.1 billion packages in the 12 months that ended June 30th. That accounts for roughly half of all packages delivered in China over that period. Each user orders over 50 packages each year, the company claims.

Related: 7 things Alibaba users can do

2. So how profitable is it? Unlike other much-hyped technology firms such as Twitter, Alibaba is actually profitable. In a regulatory filing last month, the company said it tripled its profit to nearly $2 billion in the most recent quarter.

While there were concerns earlier in the year that revenue wasn't growing fast enough, Alibaba has since indicated that mobile advertising sales, a key growth engine in new media, doubled from the previous quarter, That's compared to Facebook IPO, which at the time of its public debut hadn't yet convinced investors of its ability to monetize mobile.

3. Is there an Alibaba precedent? Yes and no. On one hand, Aliaba's sheer size and scope makes it unlike anything Wall Street has ever seen. On the other, there are other Chinese internet stocks trading in the U.S that provide potential insight into the sector.

One example in JD.com (JD), an online electronics retailer similar to Alibaba that's surged over 50% since its May IPO.

Kessler also points out that Chinese search engine Baidu (BIDU, Tech30) has performed incredibly well since its 2005 IPO. Like Alibaba, the company isn't well-known outside of China.

4. There's always a 'but': Of course, there are risks with any IPO, and Alibaba is no different. For one, shareholders might not get much of a say in how the company is run since it has a strange corporate structure that keeps its co-founder Jack Ma firmly in control.

There's also growing alarm about counterfeit goods making their way onto Alibaba. The company says it maintains strict control measures to weed out fake products, but piracy is a problem in China, and Alibaba said in the filing that it could be subject to lawsuits and bad publicity over allegations or findings of counterfeit items.

Finally, there's some worry about Alibaba's aggressive acquisition streak in a range of industries including a local soccer club. Last month, the company revealed accounting irregularities at its recently-bought film division, causing some to wonder whether the firm is doing proper due diligence as it snaps up new ventures.

Related: Alibaba strikes deal to stream "Mad Men"

5. The end game: Ultimately, buying into Alibaba is a bet on China, a country with 1.3 billion people and a rapidly growing consumer middle class.

To put it in perspective, Alibaba did $5.8 billion in sales on "Singles Day" last year, which is biggest the shopping holiday in China. That's almost five times what Americans spent on all websites on Black Friday.

That may only be the tip of the iceberg. China has an internet population of around 600 million users, and while that sounds like a lot, it's still considered "under penetrated," according to research cited by Alibaba in its regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. China could have over 790 million users by the end of 2016, the data suggests.

"I think most investors still look at China as a place where there is significant long term growth," Kessler said. "And e-commerce would seem to have the makings of an opportunity."

First Published: September 14, 2014: 10:13 PM ET

14.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Goodell's pay: $105 million in 5 years

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell earns more than his star players.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Goodell, who is facing pressure to resign in the face of the Ray Rice domestic abuse scandal, earned a whopping $44.2 million for the 2012 season, the most recent to be reported by the NFL. That was up 50% from 2011.

The only player who came close to earning that kind of money was Drew Brees, who pulled down $40 million in salary and signing bonus that same year, according to salary tracker Spotrac.

Related: Domestic violence - How we escaped

Goodell became commissioner in 2006, and earned $105 million from the 2008 through 2012 seasons. The league has yet to file its 2013 season financials.

The best paid player in those 5 seasons was legendary quarterback Peyton Manning, who pocketed $85.7 million in the same period.

(Manning, however, pulls in a lot more money from endorsements.)

Related: NFL Richer than ever, despite controversy

Even if Goodell is forced out of his job, he may still get paid. His predecessor Paul Tagliabue earned $1 million a year through the the 2011 season, in addition to retirement and deferred compensation of at least $7.6 million.

The NFL declined to comment on Goodell's post-employment compensation package.

Most of Goodell's pay comes in the form of bonus and incentive pay. His base salary is about $3 million a year.

The NFL is the richest sports league in the world, with about $10.5 billion in annual revenue. But the league is actually classified as a non-profit since it disperses the league's profits to its 32 teams. As a result its tax filings, which include Goodell's pay, are made public.

No other major sports leagues publicly report executive pay.

Related: CBS scores huge ratings win with Thursday Night Football

Goodell makes more than many chief executive officers. Wal-Mart (WMT) CEO Michael Duke heads up the country's biggest company, with $476 billion in sales, and he earned just $20.7 million in 2012.

Rex Tillerson, CEO of the second largest company, Exxon Mobil (XOM), came close to matching Goodell's 2012 paycheck, taking home total compensation of $40.3 million that year

First Published: September 12, 2014: 4:13 PM ET

14.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Yet another 'Frozen' spinoff: An Epcot theme park attraction

Actor Josh Gad (voice of "Frozen" snowman Olaf) celebrates the kick-off to summer at the Disneyland Resort.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Walt Disney Resorts announced Friday that construction has begun on a new attraction based on the animated hit "Frozen."

It will take the place of Maelstrom, a Norwegian boat ride at Walt Disney World's Epcot center in Florida.

"From the moment we screened the film several months before its release, we were inspired by the possibility of bringing this great story to life for our guests," Tom Staggs, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts chairman, wrote on the company's blog.

Maelstrom will be missed by many (present company included), but the move makes a whole lot of sense for Disney.

Since its release last November, "Frozen" has been one of the biggest financial, critical and cultural successes in years for the Mouse House.

And Disney has done whatever it can to capitalize on that. There's "Frozen" merchandise, of course, and a Broadway show. Next spring will bring a short film, "Frozen Fever," involving the film's popular princesses.

A theme park ride was the next logical move.

"Frozen" is the highest grossing animated film of all time — giving Disney 1.2 billion reasons to build an attraction based on the film.

Disney gave no details on what the actual attraction would entail. But the pavilion will include an area where guests will be able to meet characters from the film.

In May, Disney CEO Bob Iger said "Frozen" was one of Disney's top five franchises ever. "So you can expect us to take full advantage of that over the next at least five years," he said.

A 'Frozen' karaoke app?!

It'll be a very 'Frozen' Halloween

First Published: September 12, 2014: 4:55 PM ET

14.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Apple's Tim Cook on TV, Steve Jobs, and iPhone 6

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Television is an area "we continue to have great interest in," he told Rose, mimicking what he told another interviewer, Brian Williams, in 2012: that it's "an area of intense interest."

Apple is widely thought to be working on a re-imagining of television — the distribution of TV shows, the navigation, etcetera -- that could rival the way it remade the cell phone industry with its introduction of the iPhone.

Maybe that's why Cook appeared reluctant to comment when Rose brought up the television marketplace. But he did express some dissatisfaction with the status quo, as he has before. "The interface is terrible! I mean, it's awful," Cook said. "And you watch things when they come on unless you remember to record them."

"So why don't you fix that?" Rose asked.

"Well — yeah — you know, I don't want to get into what we're doing in the future," he said. Then he explained the progress Apple has had with the Apple TV box.

The first part of Rose's interview will be shown on PBS on Friday night. It comes at the end of a busy week for the usually press-shy Cook.

Repeating what he said at a press unveiling of the Apple Watch and the iPhone 6 on Tuesday, Cook called the new phones "the biggest advance in iPhone history."

He also spoke in the interview about his time with the company's founder Steve Jobs.

Here are some highlights:

• On Steve Jobs: "His spirit will always be at the foundation of the company. I literally think about him every day," Cook said. "If you think about the thing that Steve stood for at a macro level, he stood for innovation, he stood for the simple, not the complex...The fact that despite this table being so small that you and I are sitting at, you could put every Apple product on it, every single one we ship today, and yet this year our revenues will be approximately $180 billion. There's probably no other company on the face of the earth that can say that."
• Cook gives a great tidbit about how Apple has maintained Job's 4th floor office since his death in 2011: "His office is still left as it was... his name is still on the door."
• As far as living up to Jobs' enormous legacy that was never Cook's "objective" saying "I've always been trying to be the best Tim Cook I could be."
• Concerning buying headphones manufacturer Beats Cook explained that in the company he saw "talent" and saw Dr. Dre and Jimmy Lovine as "creative geniuses." Yet, he was skeptical of Beats streaming service until he tried for himself and felt "completely different" compared to other subscription services on the market.

The second half of Cook's interview with Rose will air Monday Night on PBS.

For ABC, a coveted exclusive with Apple

IPhone 6 pre-orders crash Apple Store

First Published: September 12, 2014: 6:29 PM ET

14.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Goodell's pay: $105 million in 5 years

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell earns more than his star players.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Goodell, who is facing pressure to resign in the face of the Ray Rice domestic abuse scandal, earned a whopping $44.2 million for the 2012 season, the most recent to be reported by the NFL. That was up 50% from 2011.

The only player who came close to earning that kind of money was Drew Brees, who pulled down $40 million in salary and signing bonus that same year, according to salary tracker Spotrac.

Related: Domestic violence - How we escaped

Goodell became commissioner in 2006, and earned $105 million from the 2008 through 2012 seasons. The league has yet to file its 2013 season financials.

The best paid player in those 5 seasons was legendary quarterback Peyton Manning, who pocketed $85.7 million in the same period.

(Manning, however, pulls in a lot more money from endorsements.)

Related: NFL Richer than ever, despite controversy

Even if Goodell is forced out of his job, he may still get paid. His predecessor Paul Tagliabue earned $1 million a year through the the 2011 season, in addition to retirement and deferred compensation of at least $7.6 million.

The NFL declined to comment on Goodell's post-employment compensation package.

Most of Goodell's pay comes in the form of bonus and incentive pay. His base salary is about $3 million a year.

The NFL is the richest sports league in the world, with about $10.5 billion in annual revenue. But the league is actually classified as a non-profit since it disperses the league's profits to its 32 teams. As a result its tax filings, which include Goodell's pay, are made public.

No other major sports leagues publicly report executive pay.

Related: CBS scores huge ratings win with Thursday Night Football

Goodell makes more than many chief executive officers. Wal-Mart (WMT) CEO Michael Duke heads up the country's biggest company, with $476 billion in sales, and he earned just $20.7 million in 2012.

Rex Tillerson, CEO of the second largest company, Exxon Mobil (XOM), came close to matching Goodell's 2012 paycheck, taking home total compensation of $40.3 million that year

First Published: September 12, 2014: 4:13 PM ET

14.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Yet another 'Frozen' spinoff: An Epcot theme park attraction

Actor Josh Gad (voice of "Frozen" snowman Olaf) celebrates the kick-off to summer at the Disneyland Resort.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Walt Disney Resorts announced Friday that construction has begun on a new attraction based on the animated hit "Frozen."

It will take the place of Maelstrom, a Norwegian boat ride at Walt Disney World's Epcot center in Florida.

"From the moment we screened the film several months before its release, we were inspired by the possibility of bringing this great story to life for our guests," Tom Staggs, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts chairman, wrote on the company's blog.

Maelstrom will be missed by many (present company included), but the move makes a whole lot of sense for Disney.

Since its release last November, "Frozen" has been one of the biggest financial, critical and cultural successes in years for the Mouse House.

And Disney has done whatever it can to capitalize on that. There's "Frozen" merchandise, of course, and a Broadway show. Next spring will bring a short film, "Frozen Fever," involving the film's popular princesses.

A theme park ride was the next logical move.

"Frozen" is the highest grossing animated film of all time — giving Disney 1.2 billion reasons to build an attraction based on the film.

Disney gave no details on what the actual attraction would entail. But the pavilion will include an area where guests will be able to meet characters from the film.

In May, Disney CEO Bob Iger said "Frozen" was one of Disney's top five franchises ever. "So you can expect us to take full advantage of that over the next at least five years," he said.

A 'Frozen' karaoke app?!

It'll be a very 'Frozen' Halloween

First Published: September 12, 2014: 4:55 PM ET

14.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Apple's Tim Cook on TV, Steve Jobs, and iPhone 6

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Television is an area "we continue to have great interest in," he told Rose, mimicking what he told another interviewer, Brian Williams, in 2012: that it's "an area of intense interest."

Apple is widely thought to be working on a re-imagining of television — the distribution of TV shows, the navigation, etcetera -- that could rival the way it remade the cell phone industry with its introduction of the iPhone.

Maybe that's why Cook appeared reluctant to comment when Rose brought up the television marketplace. But he did express some dissatisfaction with the status quo, as he has before. "The interface is terrible! I mean, it's awful," Cook said. "And you watch things when they come on unless you remember to record them."

"So why don't you fix that?" Rose asked.

"Well — yeah — you know, I don't want to get into what we're doing in the future," he said. Then he explained the progress Apple has had with the Apple TV box.

The first part of Rose's interview will be shown on PBS on Friday night. It comes at the end of a busy week for the usually press-shy Cook.

Repeating what he said at a press unveiling of the Apple Watch and the iPhone 6 on Tuesday, Cook called the new phones "the biggest advance in iPhone history."

He also spoke in the interview about his time with the company's founder Steve Jobs.

Here are some highlights:

• On Steve Jobs: "His spirit will always be at the foundation of the company. I literally think about him every day," Cook said. "If you think about the thing that Steve stood for at a macro level, he stood for innovation, he stood for the simple, not the complex...The fact that despite this table being so small that you and I are sitting at, you could put every Apple product on it, every single one we ship today, and yet this year our revenues will be approximately $180 billion. There's probably no other company on the face of the earth that can say that."
• Cook gives a great tidbit about how Apple has maintained Job's 4th floor office since his death in 2011: "His office is still left as it was... his name is still on the door."
• As far as living up to Jobs' enormous legacy that was never Cook's "objective" saying "I've always been trying to be the best Tim Cook I could be."
• Concerning buying headphones manufacturer Beats Cook explained that in the company he saw "talent" and saw Dr. Dre and Jimmy Lovine as "creative geniuses." Yet, he was skeptical of Beats streaming service until he tried for himself and felt "completely different" compared to other subscription services on the market.

The second half of Cook's interview with Rose will air Monday Night on PBS.

For ABC, a coveted exclusive with Apple

IPhone 6 pre-orders crash Apple Store

First Published: September 12, 2014: 6:29 PM ET

14.44 | 0 komentar | Read More

Conundrum for networks: covering NFL news

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Anytime the NFL is the story, the networks' coverage of the story is closely watched. Why? Because their news divisions have to cover the news -- but their parent companies have to protect their multi-billion-dollar investments in football.

This tension has been on display all week on CBS, the network that had its first-ever telecast of "Thursday Night Football" on Thursday night, with the Pittsburgh Steelers playing Rice's former team, the Baltimore Ravens.

CBS paid a reported $275 million to split this fall's Thursday night rights with the NFL Network, the league-owned cable channel that previously carried the games exclusively. (If both sides are happy at the end of this season, the arrangement could become longer-term and more lucrative for both, with a heftier fee for the NFL and higher advertising rates for CBS.)

Related: NFL: Richer than ever, despite controversy

Early in the week, CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus told reporters that the Rice scandal would be addressed "early in our show, in the first segment, when we come on the air at 7:30."

Indeed, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, CBS Sports host James Brown almost immediately handed the broadcast over to "CBS Evening News" anchor Scott Pelley, who briefed viewers on the day's developments.

The producers scrapped an opening video featuring Rihanna and Don Cheadle and a comedy segment so that they'd have more time to cover the news.

Following Pelley's update, "CBS This Morning" co-host Norah O'Donnell was on the sideline in Baltimore with Brown. On Tuesday O'Donnell beat out many other journalists for the first interview with Goodell.

Related: Ray Rice cut out of Madden NFL video game

O'Donnell was widely praised for her direct, almost prosecutorial questions -- yet there were numerous questions, some asked by competitors, about whether Goodell agreed to talk to her because CBS was set to televise Thursday's game.

CBS News, for the record, said there was no connection between the parent company's NFL deal and the Goodell interview.

On the flip side, it was TMZ -- not an NFL rights-holder like ESPN or CBS -- that obtained the Rice video that is now the center of the controversy.

"The fact is that TMZ got the video. Why didn't others?" said Kelly McBride, vice president of academic programs at the Poynter Institute.

That may partly be because TMZ is willing to pay for audio and video, a practice frowned upon by many other news organizations.

Nonetheless, McBride, who formerly worked as an external ESPN ombudsman, said the Rice case highlights the difficulties that networks like ESPN have in separating themselves from sports leagues.

Related: Ray Rice likely to keep $25 million

"This is a much different story than if the Super Dome was ready for the Super Bowl or even if the NFL is ignoring the data on concussions... This is a story about the culture of the NFL," McBride said. "It's hard for journalists because they are a part of the NFL culture."

But TMZ is not. "Surely, in the brave new world of the online tabloids, few journalistic coups have enjoyed as much attention — or exploded with as much energy — as TMZ Sports's Ray Rice scoop," Lloyd Grove of The Daily Beast commented on Thursday.

ESPN, the biggest sports channel of them all, has chased TMZ's scoop all week and followed up with some groundbreaking stories of its own.

It has a $15.2 billion contract with the NFL that extends until 2021, but it also has investigative reporters who treat the league the way dogged political reporters treat the White House.

The network is adamant that its business priorities do not intersect with its news pursuits.

"We have a 'church and state' approach as it relates to our company's separate business and news operations, and the leagues we work with understand ESPN's emphasis on journalistic integrity," an ESPN spokesman said. "The direction we provide our commentators is to be fair and objective and to give their opinions."

Case in point, ESPN's Keith Olbermann first called for Goodell's resignation in August.

Richard Deitsch, who covers sports media for Sports Illustrated, commented on Twitter this week that he believes network partners are generally "soft on the NFL," but that ESPN is the "most journalistic" of the group that also includes CBS, Fox and NBC.

On Thursday Deitsch asked how much pressure CBS's McManus felt from the league about its Thursday night coverage of Goodell, and McManus said "none."

First Published: September 11, 2014: 7:07 PM ET

14.44 | 0 komentar | Read More