The last time President-elect Donald Trump used tariffs to wage the US-China trade war, it upended US ports. Suppliers rushed to frontload inventory ahead of implementation dates, straining infrastructure ill-equipped to handle the volume surge. The COVID pandemic only accelerated the untangling of global supply chains. Logistics firms say the lessons from those experiences and the changes implemented since may help cushion the blow if Trump makes good on promises to hike tariffs on US imports . “What I think people learned was not to make huge volume rash decisions,” said Paul Brashier, vice president of global supply chain for ITS Logistics, referring to the 2018 trade war. “[There was] a lot of knowledge and infrastructure that was put in place to be able to handle situations like this that still exists so it mutes the overall effect when there are these changes in booking behavior.” To be clear, some businesses are rushing to get ahead of any tariff hikes. At the country’s largest port, cargo volume was up 16% year on year in November, according to Port of Los Angeles director Gene Seroka, although he attributed much of that spike to geopolitical issues and a strong economy. Read more: How do tariffs work, and who really pays them? But as firms dust off their 2018 tariff playbooks, many are confronting a very different global trade landscape that is more diversified to withstand potential shocks. For example, while China’s share of US imports amounted to 20% in 2017, today that share has declined to a 20-year low of 13.5%, according to research by Goldman Sachs. That shift has been especially pronounced in sectors like technology, where firms have increasingly distributed manufacturing outside of China to regional hubs like Southeast Asia and Mexico . Earlier this year, Mexico overtook China as America’s largest trading partner for the first time in decades. Brashier has personally overseen the supply chain changes for ITS Logistics. Since 2018, the firm has opened new distribution facilities in Indianapolis, Reno, Nev., and Fort Worth, Texas. It expanded operations to 4 million square feet and added 3,500 additional transportation assets, including tractors, trailers, and chassis. “There's a lot more infrastructure now that allows folks to ebb and flow and respond to what's going on with these kinds of headwinds that we see almost, it seems like, regularly,” he said. “I think that's the biggest thing that came out of 2018 and post-COVID.” Those reinforcements are sure to be tested as US ports brace for what could be the perfect storm. In addition to the impact of potential tariff hikes, companies are bracing for disruptions that could stem from possible dockworker strikes at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports and the annual surge ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday in Asia. Seroka said front-loading started in the third quarter of the year, but unlike in 2018, many businesses are taking a wait-and-see approach. "We know there's a long way from the campaign trail to the implementation of public policy," he said. "What we need now is a clear line of sight as to where and when this policy may take shape." US policy concerns only add to the long list of challenges shippers have had to navigate this year, particularly in response to disruptions in the Red Sea , where 12% of global trade used to pass through. Companies have spent much of the year building inventories in the face of frequent delays and service reconfigurations, even as demand for container shipping remained strong. Container volumes for November are projected to be up 14.4% year on year, according to Global Port Tracker . The Port of Los Angeles is on track to process 10 million container units for only the second time in its history, Seroka said. Brashier has already begun mapping out contingency plans with importers for additional disruptions that are likely to emerge. That includes finding alternative points of entry into the US and monitoring the traffic flow. The ability to track freight the minute it hits water overseas gives imports a four- to six-week buffer, he said. Brashier said other firms have begun seeking out additional warehouse space to store inventory. Overseas suppliers are also weighing their options and negotiating lower prices for goods ahead of additional tariffs. They are concerned about losing business like they did in 2018. One New Jersey-based home goods importer, who did not want his name used, said US firms are in a stronger position to "hit suppliers," particularly in China, since growth in the world’s second-largest economy has stagnated. He has no plans to reroute his supply chain, even if it means passing down higher costs to consumers. “There [are] certain commodities that the infrastructure of China cannot be beat on, whether it's the raw material, access to ports, access to ships, access to transportation, access to a labor force,” he said. “We're not selling products at a loss. We're a for-profit entity.” Click here for the latest economic news and indicators to help inform your investing decisions Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
Hawaii’s best places to eat and drinkOn game day, the Allstate Championship Tailgate, taking place just outside Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the Home Depot Backyard, will feature country acts on the Capital One Music Stage, including global superstar Kane Brown and iHeartCountry “On The Verge” artist Ashley Cooke. The concerts are just two of the festivities visiting fans can enjoy in the days leading up to the big game. The fan experience for both ticket holders and the general public has been a focus for event planners. All weekend long, an estimated 100,000 people from across the country are expected to attend fan events preceding kickoff. “It will be an opportunity for fans of all ages to come together to sample what college football is all about, and you don’t have to have a ticket to the game to be a part of it,” said Bill Hancock, executive director of the CFP in a press release. “We’ve worked closely with the Atlanta Football Host Committee to develop fan-friendly events that thousands will enjoy come January.” On Saturday, Jan. 18, Playoff Fan Central will open at the Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta. The free, family-friendly experience will include games, clinics, pep rallies, special guest appearances, autograph signings and exhibits celebrating college football and its history. That day, fans can also attend Media Day, presented by Great Clips, which will feature one-hour sessions with student-athletes and coaches from each of the College Football Playoff national championship participating teams. ESPN and social media giants X, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will be taping live broadcasts from the event. On Sunday, Jan. 19, the Trophy Trot, both a 5K and 10K race, will wind its way through the streets of downtown Atlanta. Each Trophy Trot participant will receive a T-shirt and finisher’s medal. Participants can register at atlantatrackclub.org . On Sunday evening, the Georgia Aquarium will host the Taste of the Championship dining event, which offers attendees the opportunity to indulge in food and drink prepared by local Atlanta chefs. This premium experience serves as an elevated exploration of local cuisine on the eve of the national championship. Tickets to the Taste of the Championship event are available on etix.com . Atlanta is the first city ever to repeat as host for the CFP national championship. The playoff was previously held in Atlanta in 2018. “We are honored to be the first city to repeat as host for the CFP national championship and look forward to welcoming college football fans from around the country in January,” said Dan Corso, president of the Atlanta Sports Council and Atlanta Football Host Committee. “This event gives us another opportunity to showcase our incredible city.” The College Football Playoff is the event that crowns the national champion in college football. The quarterfinals and semifinals rotate annually among six bowl games — the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, Capital One Orange Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential and the Allstate Sugar Bowl. This year’s quarterfinals will take place on Dec. 31, 2024 and Jan. 1, 2025, while the semifinals will be Jan. 9-10, 2025. The CFP national championship will be Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. For additional information on the College Football Playoff, visit CollegeFootballPlayoff.com .
Bright pink color, a new typeface, and a missing cat in its emblem – Jaguar’s rebrand campaign has been the talk of the town since its launch. It certainly divides opinions for a car maker with a rich history of nearly 100 years. How do you decide if a marketing campaign is an absolute hit? Of course, if it gets the world talking about you, it must be a hit, right? But what if the world is collectively mocking you? But hey, bad PR is still PR, eh? So it’s safe to say that the metrics which decide if a marketing campaign is a hit or a miss are, after all, subjective. During Miami Art Week earlier this month, Jaguar debuted its daring rebrand alongside the . The focal point of the event was its new "Copy Nothing" revamp, which brought bold fashion and vibrant aesthetics to usher in a new age before going all-electric. Jaguar intends to completely transition away from internal combustion engines, and adopt a new design and technology philosophy in order to become an all-electric premium brand by 2025. The brand's identity is being completely redefined as part of this makeover, which goes beyond simple electrification. I have to say, Jaguar's redesign has done more for the company than any other in recent memory. After all, it got people talking about Jaguar, at the very least. Jaguar’s managing director Rawdon Glover said, "If we play the same way that everybody else does, we’ll just get drowned out. So we shouldn’t turn up like an auto brand." While it did get the world talking about Jaguar, the move was widely criticized, with some claiming it was damaging the brand's legacy and others complaining that Jaguar had not actually displayed a car – which was the whole crux of this campaign. You have to understand that car badges are more than merely ornamental accessories. They impact people's decisions to buy the vehicles. According to recent data, daily sales of Jaguar have reportedly decreased by 9% since the British brand's controversial rebranding earlier this month. shows that in the seven days after Jaguar's "Copy Nothing" rebranding on November 19, the average number of used Jaguars sold per day was just 133. By contrast, used Jaguar sales averaged 146 at the beginning of November, representing an 8.9% discrepancy. Leaving the sales and the car in question aside, let’s put our focus on the rebrand itself. Now it’s not every day you see a historical brand commit to a full-scale rebrand. From the logo to colors, and even the company vision – Jaguar’s rebranding is more than just a madman’s marketing campaign. Jaguar was criticized by certain X users for being "woke" and deviating from its typical demographic. Lulu Cheng Meservey, co-founder of Rostra PR group, called the rebrand "disastrous," saying "It's possible a marketing exec read too many think pieces about how millennials shop based on values and forgot that people want cars that are really well built." For me, personally, the core message has been lost as a result of the campaign’s direction, which has alienated its older core audience. And why the company wishes to undermine its core clientele is beyond me. Alright, if you feel you are losing out on a certain group, strive to win them over, but not at the expense of others. From a business perspective, it's ludicrous to be so polarizing and ignore your main client base. The whole rebrand campaign appears to be a well-made fashion concept with juvenile taglines that have no real substance for a car manufacturer. I’m not half as offended by the quirky colors as I am with Jaguar for not presenting itself as a carmaker first and as a luxury brand second. But it’s important to understand why Jag opted for a rebrand. The company has been experiencing a steep decline in sales – less than 67,000 Jaguar vehicles were sold globally last year, which is almost half of the total sales during the fiscal year that coincided with the onset of COVID. Per , there are currently only 122 Jaguar dealerships in the United States, a sharp decrease from a peak of about 200. So, it’s easy to see how perfectly Jaguar's rebranding initiative aligns with the company's major product transition. Thus, it should come as no surprise that Jaguar declared it was "not afraid to polarize." It's not like the company didn't know it would lose a major chunk of itds existing customer base. "We anticipate that 10 to 15 percent of our current Jaguar customers will follow us," Glover stated in an interview earlier this year. So, I come back to where I started – it's tough to say if Jag's rebrand campaign was a hit or a miss. You can't deny that the campaign can be seen as a huge success if all that the company wanted to do was to get people talking about it – without even releasing any cars yet. Controversy is a weird thing. It certainly gets you headlines. If you’re Jaguar and that’s all that you wanted, bravo. Source:
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Lil Wayne, GloRilla, Camila Cabello to perform at College Football National ChampionshipSingapore, Dec. 17, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Webuy Global Ltd. (Nasdaq: WBUY) (the "Company”), a Southeast Asian community-oriented e-commerce retailor with a focus on grocery and travel, today announced the closing of its previously announced registered direct offering with certain institutional investors for the sale and purchase of an aggregate of 21,013,239 of the Company's Class A ordinary shares, par value $0.000000385 per share (the "Shares”) (or Class A ordinary share equivalents in lieu thereof) in a registered direct offering at a purchase price of $0.1756 per share. The purchase price for the pre-funded warrants is $0.1755 to the purchase price for Shares, less the exercise price of $0.0001 per share. The gross proceeds to the Company from the registered direct offering are estimated to be approximately $3.7 million, before deducting the placement agent's fees and other estimated offering expenses. D. Boral Capital LLC acted as the exclusive placement agent for the offering. Ortoli Rosenstadt LLP acted as counsel to the Company and Hunter Taubman Fischer & Li LLC acted as counsel to D. Boral Capital LLC. The proposed offering of the securities described above is being offered by the Company pursuant to a "shelf” registration statement on Form F-3 (File No. 333-283356) filed by the Company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC”) and declared effective by the SEC on December 3, 2024, and the accompanying prospectus contained therein. The offering was made only by means of a prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus. The prospectus supplement describing the terms of the public offering was filed with the SEC. Copies of the prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus relating to this offering may be obtained on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov or by contacting D. Boral Capital LLC Attention: Syndicate Department, 590 Madison Avenue, 39th Floor, New York, NY 10022, by email at [email protected] , or by telephone at +1 (212) 970-5150. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction. About Webuy Global Ltd Webuy Global Ltd. (Nasdaq: WBUY) is a forward-thinking, technology-driven company aimed at becoming the leading e-commerce and travel platform in Southeast Asia. Leveraging advanced AI technologies, the Company enhances its 'group buy' model by providing personalized recommendations, predictive demand analytics, and seamless community interactions. In addition, Webuy integrates AI-powered travel solutions, such as its proprietary AI Travel Consultant, to deliver personalized itineraries, group travel planning, and real-time support. These innovations streamline the traditional supply chain, foster a community-driven shopping experience, and simplify travel planning for its users. Webuy is committed to improving the lives of millions of families in Southeast Asia with high-quality, affordable products, services, and travel experiences. For more information, visit http://webuy.global Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding the Company's current expectations. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties described more fully in the Company's filings with the SEC. Forward-looking statements are made as of this date, and the Company undertakes no duty to update them, except as required by law. CONTACT: Webuy Global Ltd. Email: [email protected]
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Regulating OTTs comes under preview of I&B ministry, concerns of Telecom Service Providers are raised: Jyotiraditya ScindiaWhat does Big Tech hope to gain from warming up to Trump?LAS VEGAS — Players Era Festival organizers have done what so many other have tried — bet their fortunes in this city that a big payoff is coming. Such bet are usually bad ones, which is why so many massive casino-resorts have been built on Las Vegas Boulevard. But it doesn't mean the organizers are wrong. They're counting on the minimum of $1 million in guaranteed name, image and likeness money that will go to each of the eight teams competing in the neutral-site tournament that begins Tuesday will create a precedent for other such events. EverWonder Studios CEO Ian Orefice, who co-founded Players with former AND1 CEO Seth Berger, compared this event to last year's inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament that played its semifinals and final in Las Vegas by saying it "did really well to reinvigorate the fan base at the beginning of the year." "We're excited that we're able to really change the paradigm in college basketball on the economics," Orefice said. "But for us, it's about the long term. How do we use the momentum that is launching with the 2024 Players Era Festival and be the catalyst not to change one event, but to change college basketball for the future." Orefice and Berger didn't disclose financial details, but said the event will come close to breaking even this year and that revenue is in eight figures. Orefice said the bulk of the revenue will come from relationships with MGM, TNT Sports and Publicis Sport & Entertainment as well as sponsors that will be announced later. Both organizers said they are so bullish on the tournament's prospects that they already are planning ahead. Money made from this year's event, Orefice said, goes right back into the company. "We're really in this for the long haul," Orefice said. "So we're not looking at it on a one-year basis." Rick Giles is president of the Gazelle Group, which also operates several similar events, including the College Basketball Invitational. He was skeptical the financial numbers would work. Giles said in addition to more than $8 million going to the players, there were other expenses such as the guarantees to the teams. He said he didn't know if the tournament would make up the difference with ticket sales, broadcast rights and sponsorship money. The top bowl of the MGM Grand Garden Arena will be curtained off. "The math is highly challenging," Giles said. "Attendance and ticket revenues are not going to come anywhere close to covering that. They haven't announced any sponsors that I'm aware of. So it all sort of rests with their media deal with Turner and how much capital they want to commit to it to get these players paid." David Carter, a University of Southern California adjunct professor who also runs the Sports Business Group consultancy, said even if the Players isn't a financial success this year, the question is whether there will be enough interest to move forward. "If there is bandwidth for another tournament and if the TV or the streaming ratings are going to be there and people are going to want to attend and companies are going to want to sponsor, then, yeah, it's probably going to work," Carter said. "But it may take them time to gain that traction." Both founders said they initially were met with skepticism about putting together such an event, especially from teams they were interested in inviting. Houston was the first school to commit, first offering an oral pledge early in the year and then signing a contract in April. That created momentum for others to join, and including the No. 6 Cougars, half the field is ranked. "We have the relationships to operate a great event," Berger said. "We had to get coaches over those hurdles, and once they knew that we were real, schools got on board really quickly." The founders worked with the NCAA to make sure the tournament abided by that organization's rules, so players must appear at ancillary events in order to receive NIL money. Strict pay for play is not allowed, though there are incentives for performance. The champion, for example, will receive $1.5 million in NIL money. Now the pressure is on to pull off the event and not create the kind of headlines that can dog it for years to come. "I think everybody in the marketplace is watching what's going to happen (this) week and, more importantly, what happens afterwards," Giles said. "Do the players get paid on a timely basis? And if they do, that means that Turner or somebody has paid way more than the market dictates? And the question will be: Can that continue?" CREIGHTON: P oint guard Steven Ashworth likely won’t play in the No. 21 Bluejays’ game against San Diego State in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas. Ashworth sprained his right ankle late in a loss to Nebraska on Friday and coach Greg McDermott said afterward he didn’t know how long he would be out. Get local news delivered to your inbox!Social media firms raise 'serious concerns' over Australian U-16 ban
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — When the MLS playoffs began late last month, everyone who follows Inter Miami assumed coach Tata Martino would be preparing his team for the conference semifinals this week. Instead, the runner up for MLS Coach of the Year was in the Chase Stadium interview room on Friday morning announcing his resignation two weeks after the team’s shocking first-round playoff exit. Martino said he wanted to diffuse rumors and stress that he is leaving strictly for personal reasons, that he must return to his hometown of Rosario, Argentina, and that his decision was made before the first playoff game in late-October. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings. Get the latest sports news delivered right to your inbox six days a week.Is Outlook down? 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