DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Barbie is all the buzz this summer — and retailers hope it will make cautious consumers spend
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Melissa Repko | In Melissa-Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Bloomingdale's is just one of the retailers and brands trying to tap into Barbie buzz. With a splash of hot pink, retailers hope to chase away the summer doldrums and inflation blues. About half of Aldo's Barbie collection sold out in the first week. So far, the Barbie merchandise is "selling incredibly well" and appealing to customers across generations, said Frank Berman, the department store's chief marketing officer. Gap has sold out of some of its popular Barbie items, including rectangular pink sunglasses.

Persons: Bloomingdale's, Barbie, Aldo, Brand, Daianara Grullon Amalfitano, Aldo's, Aldo Macy's, Frank Berman, Berman, it's, Ken, Circana, Margot Robbie's, Oliver Chen, Cowen, Chen, Susan Fournier, Barbie isn't, Fournier Organizations: Warner Bros, Mattel, Companies, NPD Group, IRI, Unit, Walmart, Target, Amazon Prime, Consumers, Adobe Analytics, Aqua Locations: Manhattan, Lexington Ave, U.S, Boston, New York City

☆ Luxury homes like Beyoncé and Jay-Z's Malibu estate take a staff of up to 50 to maintain — and could cost owners $1 million a year
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-16 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

"These homes run like a well-oiled machine," Jenny Greenwood Huber, owner and founder of Heritage Estate Management, told Insider. Heritage Estate ManagementHeritage Estate Management provides household staffing and property management services for West Coast estates in places like Beverly Hills and Malibu, where the Carters' new home is located. With a staff of 20, property owners could be paying nearly $5,000 a day — or $1.8 million a year. Heritage Estate Management charges $150 per hour of property management service. Heritage Estate ManagementAccording to Huber, her staff could work 20 hours to 50 hours a month at a single estate.

Persons: Jenny Greenwood Huber, Huber, Beyoncé, Downton, nannies, Jay, housekeepers, Anthony Barcelo Huber Organizations: Service, Heritage Estate Management, Heritage Estate Management Heritage Estate Management, nannies, butlers, Heritage Locations: West, Wall, Silicon, Malibu, West Coast, Beverly Hills, chauffeurs, Los Angeles

☆ My brother and I make 7 figures in revenue from our AI newsletter. Here's how ChatGPT helped us grow and bring in more money.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Ellen Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Zain Kahn and his brother, Awais, are the cofounders of the AI newsletter Superhuman. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Zain Kahn, the 29-year-old cofounder of an AI newsletter based in Pakistan. As cofounders of the AI newsletter Superhuman, my brother, Awais, and I lead a team of eight, which consists of six full-time and two part-time employees. I first tested the newsletter content in Twitter-thread format, where I have a following of more than 400,000, and it went from there. When I launched a course last December, I saw more conversions from my 5,000 newsletter subscribers than I did from my 500,000 online followers.

Persons: Zain Kahn, Awais, I've, We've, we've, I'm Organizations: Flair, Twitter, LinkedIn Locations: Pakistan, Canada, Dubai

☆ Telecom Italia grid talks leave Vivendi in a bind
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, June 23 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Telecom Italia (TLIT.MI) is moving ahead with the long-awaited sale of its grid. The 5.5 billion euro Italian group has entered exclusive talks with private equity powerhouse KKR (KKR.N), and wants a binding offer by Sept. 30. Vivendi however is valuing the NetCo at 31 billion euros. A 26 billion euro price tag would imply an EV/EBITDA multiple of 14 times. That’s almost three times that of Vodafone (VOD.L) or Telefonica (TEF.MC), assuming the grid’s EBITDA at 1.8 billion euros, according to Barclays estimates.

Persons: Pietro Labriola, Il Messaggero, That’s, – Labriola, Pamela Barbaglia, Pierre Briancon, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Reuters, Telecom, KKR, Vivendi, hardball, Telecom Italia’s, Vodafone, Telefonica, Barclays, Twitter, Intel, Thomson Locations: Rome, York, French

KKR's approach incorporates a value for TIM's fixed landline network that could top 23 billion euros ($25 billion). TIM plans to analyse in depth the terms to be proposed by KKR, one of the sources said. Having already invested 1.8 billion euros in the grid, KKR has bid for a controlling stake in a unit comprising TIM's entire domestic fixed access network and submarine cable business Sparkle. KKR is also ready to let TIM retain a stake in its landline network. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's administration will have a say on any deal as Rome can use its "golden powers" rules to set conditions or block bids for strategic assets such as TIM's network.

Persons: Pietro Labriola's, Giancarlo Giorgetti, Giorgia Meloni's, Giuseppe Fonte, Elvira Pollina, Valentina Za, Kirsten Donovan Organizations: KKR, TIM, Telecom Italia, Macquarie, Reuters, Vivendi, Treasury, Thomson Locations: ROME, Rome

☆ AIs trained on other AI output will start producing junk within a few generations, scientists warn
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

AIs trained solely on other AIs will eventually spiral into gibberish, machine learning experts say. As more and more AI-generated content is published online, future AIs trained on this material will ultimately spiral into gibberish, machine learning experts have predicted. A group of British and Canadian scientists released a paper in May seeking to understand what happens after several generations of AIs are trained off each other. Improbable events are less and less likely to be reflected in its output, narrowing what the next AI — trained on that output — understands to be possible. In addition to being home to some of the world's largest populations of black @-@ tailed jackrabbits, white @-@ tailed jackrabbits, blue @-@ tailed jackrabbits, red @-@ tailed jackrabbits, yellow @-"Anderson likened it to massive pollution, writing: "Just as we've strewn the oceans with plastic trash and filled the atmosphere with carbon dioxide, so we're about to fill the Internet with blah."

Persons: Ross Anderson, Anderson, Mozart, Antonio Salieri, Salieri, Dr Ilia Shumailov, —, NewsGuard, Shumailov Organizations: AIs, Morning, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, Washington Post

☆ Chess photography: Body language, knowledge of the game and luck
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Ben Morse | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

“That’s always a very difficult question,” Emelianova told CNN Sport when asked how she would describe the art of chess photography. So like people who know very little of chess and of the personalities can kind of get very close to the game and feel like they are right next to this chess game. She went on to become a professional chess player before taking a break from competitive chess. Lennart Ootes“My mother was doing some photography stuff when she was younger in university, but it was analog photography,” Emelianova explained. But I already know enough to even, like – to catch a really, really subtle head shake or sitting like too straight or pretending to be very relaxed,” she said.

Persons: Maria Emelianova, Emelianova, “ That’s, ” Emelianova, “, ” Ian Nepomniatchtchi, Ding Liren, –, Carlsen, Lennart Ootes “, ”, Mobina, gazes, it’s, she’s, Emelianova –, don’t, Jennifer Shahade, Magnus Carlsen, Ian Nepomniachtchi Organizations: CNN, CNN Sport, British, “, Moscow State University Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Khanty, Mansiysk, Moscow, Uzbekistan, India

It overtook Europe's STOXX 600 (.STOXX), which is up 9%, in late May for the first time this year. In dollar terms, the STOXX 600 (.STOXXD) is still lagging, having gained 11.3% in 2023, while the euro is up 1.1%. "Relative to the U.S., European equities are looking less interesting and attractive," said Bernie Ahkong, co-chief investment officer at fund manager UBS O'Connor Global Multi-strategy Alpha. The euro zone economy was in technical recession in the first quarter, data from European statistics agency Eurostat showed last week. "But Europe looks even more unattractive than the U.S., because the temporary good data from Europe is really going to turn."

Persons: Europe's, Bernie Ahkong, UBS O'Connor, Ahkong, Geoffroy Goenen, Candriam, Graham Secker, Morgan Stanley, Hani Redha, Alex Richardson Organizations: UBS, UBS O'Connor Global, Alpha, U.S, Bank of America's, Eurostat, Barclays, Thomson Locations: U.S, Europe, China, PineBridge, United States

☆ How audio startup PodCo is cashing in on Disney and Nickelodeon nostalgia with podcasts hosted by the stars of shows like 'Wizards of Waverly Place'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Reed Alexander | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

PodCo produces podcasts themed around Nickelodeon and Disney Channel shows from the past two decades. Since their debut, several PodCo shows have ranked among the top 10 television and film podcasts on platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts, according to Chartable. Along with the hosts, other big-name alums have made appearances on PodCo shows, which are also recorded on video and viewable on YouTube. So when he heard Carlson Romano and Rooney's idea, he leapt at the chance to bring the show back in a new form. Some have written to him personally to say the "Ned's" podcast is leaving them feeling less isolated in their own lives, he added.

Persons: Stevens, Christy Carlson Romano, Brendan Rooney, Kim, Ned Bigby, Harper Finkle, PodCo, Rooney, Krystal Eve, Carlson Romano, Ren Stevens, Jenna Fischer, Angela Kinsey, Selena Gomez, Jennifer Stone, David DeLuise, Stone, Lee Citron, Stone —, California —, —, it's, wouldn't, Alyson Stoner, Zack, Cody, Devon Werkheiser, Werkheiser, Scott Simock, PodCo's, Reed Alexander Organizations: Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, Wizards, Marine Corps, Columbia University, American Film Institute, Apple, PodCo, Edison Research, Triton, Intelligence, Disney, Paramount, Netflix, YouTube, Social, Spotify Locations: Waverly, Hollywood, NBC's, California, TikTok, Texas

☆ Silvio Berlusconi obituary: former Italian PM brought burlesque to politics
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Crispian Balmer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

[1/3] Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi looks on during a news conference at Chigi Palace in Rome, Italy, August 4, 2011. As with his political party, so with his business empire, Berlusconi left no single heir apparent. After Barack Obama was elected the first African-American president of the United States, Berlusconi congratulated him for being "tall, handsome, and suntanned". Berlusconi himself had no regrets about his political career, although he clearly felt he was often betrayed. "But when I come to think about it, I cannot recall the name of a single friend in politics."

Persons: Silvio Berlusconi, Tony Gentile ROME, Brash, ebullient, Berlusconi, Donald Trump, Il Cavaliere, Bettino Craxi, Vladimir Putin, Alan Friedman, Nicolas Sarkozy, BUNGA, Karima El Mahroug, Hosni Mubarak, Veronica Lario, Marta Fascina, Barack Obama, Mark Heinrich, Andrew Heavens, Angus MacSwan Organizations: REUTERS, Chi, AC Milan soccer, Forza Italia, Senate, Roman, Socialist Party, Moroccan, Union, Thomson Locations: Rome, Italy, U.S, Milan, Ukraine, United States

MILAN, June 10 (Reuters) - U.S. fund KKR (KKR.N) strengthened its lead in the race to secure the landline grid of Telecom Italia (TIM) (TLIT.MI) when it offered to raise its bid by up to or over 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion), two people with knowledge of the matter said. The value of KKR's offer could top 23 billion euros overall, widening the gap with a rival proposal by a consortium comprising Italian state lender CDP and Australian fund Macquarie (MQG.AX). The improved offer would still be short of a valuation of more than 30 billion euros for the grid sought by TIM's top shareholder Vivendi (VIV.PA). Sources had previously told Reuters that both Labriola and some leading Italian officials already saw KKR as the strongest bidder prior to Friday's proposal. TIM's board meets to review the proposals on June 19 and is expected to take a decision on June 22.

Persons: Pietro Labriola's, Labriola, KKR, Macquarie, Akriti Sharma, Elvira Pollina, Marguerita Choy, Leslie Adler Organizations: MILAN, KKR, Telecom Italia, Macquarie, Vivendi, Reuters, TIM, Thomson Locations: ServCo, NetCo, Bengaluru, Milan

☆ 'What is there to be afraid of?' Ukrainians in frontline town hopeful about counteroffensive
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Vasco Cotovio Frederik Pleitgen William Bonnett Darya Tarasova | Vasco Cotovio | Frederik Pleitgen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The town in the Zaporizhzhia region sits just five kilometers away from a frontline where Ukrainian forces have been making a recent push. “The town is shelled every 24 hours.”And with the Zaporizhzhia frontline becoming more active because of an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive, aid deliveries may become more rare. CNN has been able to geolocate the videos to the Zaporizhzhia region but is unable to verify when they were shot. And nothing happens around town without them being well aware of it, even if that is a top-secret Ukrainian counteroffensive. She straps the food box to the back of her bike and – just before she cycles away – Ukrainian forces somewhere outside of town are heard firing a shell towards Russian positions.

Persons: “, Olga Shumska, unfazed, I’m, ” Shumska, Vasco Cotovio, CNN “, Nina Sokol, we’ll, they’re, Vitaliy Kubushka, you’d, ” Sokol, ” Organizations: Southern, Southern Ukraine CNN, CNN, Sokol, Global Empowerment, Howard Buffet Foundation, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Journalists, Ministry of Defense Locations: Southern Ukraine, Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia, Zapoprizhzhia, Ukrainian, Moscow, Kyiv, Shumska, Ukraine

MILAN, June 9 (Reuters) - Telecom Italia (TIM) (TLIT.MI) said on Friday it received two new offers for its landline grid as Italy's biggest telecoms group seeks to resolve the impasse over the sale of its main asset. U.S. fund KKR (KKR.N) and a rival consortium comprising state lender CDP and Australian fund Macquarie (MQG.AX) separately submitted bids for Telecom Italia's network, according to a statement. Debt-crippled TIM had sought improved offers for its most valuable asset after having assessed as not yet adequate the proposals received in May. The antitrust problems are linked to CDP and Macquarie's owning fibre optic wholesale provider Open Fiber. Treasury-owned CDP is the second-largest investor in TIM after France's Vivendi (VIV.PA) with a 10% stake.

Persons: Pietro Labriola's, Akriti Sharma, Elvira Pollina, Marguerita Choy, Leslie Adler Organizations: MILAN, Telecom Italia, KKR, Macquarie, Telecom Italia's, TIM, Treasury, France's Vivendi, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru, Milan

☆ Jamal Murray Lets His Play Do the Talking
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Tania Ganguli | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

But on Wednesday night, Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray walked into the interview room after winning Game 3 of the N.B.A. finals wearing an unassuming white T-shirt and baggy gray sweatpants. A few glints here and there — a glittering bracelet and large stud earrings — added a little sparkle. There are ways in which he seems unassuming, perhaps because he is often overshadowed by his teammate Nikola Jokic. But when you really pay attention, particularly throughout this year’s playoffs, his play sparkles through those perceptions.

Persons: Jamal Murray, —, Nikola Jokic Organizations: Denver Nuggets

☆ KKR, CDP rival consortium readying new bids for Telecom Italia's grid
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Elvira Pollina | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MILAN, June 8 (Reuters) - U.S. fund KKR (KKR.N) and a rival consortium comprising state lender CDP and Australian fund Macquarie (MQG.AX) are readying to submit slightly improved bids for Telecom Italia's (TIM) (TLIT.MI) network ahead of a June 9 deadline, sources said. KKR and the CDP-led consortium offered 21 billion euros($22.5 billion) and 19 billion euros, respectively, for TIM's domestic landline grid and its submarine unit Sparkle, sources have previously said. Their approach for TIM's grid is part of a plan to combine Open Fiber with the former phone monopoly infrastructure, which has been complicated by antitrust issues. People familiar with the matter told Reuters last month the Treasury CDP joining forces with KKR for TIM's grid, with one source saying government officials were pushing for CDP to drop its separate proposal. But Macquarie is raising about a possible alliance between CDP and KKR, other sources said at the time, citing clauses in the Open Fiber shareholder pact.

Persons: Macquarie, Pietro Labriola's, Elvira Pollina, David Evans Organizations: MILAN, KKR, Macquarie, Telecom Italia's, TIM, Reuters, Treasury, Vivendi, Telecom, Thomson

☆ Jewelry That Adds Face Value
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Alexandra Cheney | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Messika, a Paris jewelry brand that held a runway show in September 2022, paired Adidas streetwear silhouettes with its high jewelry, like the Golden Shield lip ring and Rising Soul septum rings. And during the fall 2022 runway shows, Louis Vuitton presented an androgynous shirt-and-tie tailored look accessorized with an oversized septum piercing. “Lips in our society are very important; there’s a femininity and sexuality that you can play with,” said Valérie Messika, founder and artistic director of her namesake jewelry house. “There’s a mood and a personality that you can assume that you can’t with classical jewelry. Prices range from $1,000 to $28,000.

☆ Sci-fi author says he wrote 97 books in 9 months using AI tools, including ChatGPT and Midjourney
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Sci-fi author Tim Boucher says he's created 97 books in nine months with the help of AI. In a Newsweek article, Boucher said he used Midjourney, ChatGPT, and Anthropic's Claude. Sci-fi author Tim Boucher says he's created 97 books in nine months with the help of AI. In an article for Newsweek, Boucher said he'd used AI image generator Midjourney to illustrate the books, and ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude for brainstorming and text generation. He wrote in Newsweek: "AI has proven to be a remarkable catalyst for my creative work.

☆ Minnesota man indicted over theft of Judy Garland’s ‘The Wizard of Oz’ slippers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Tina Burnside | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —US authorities have charged a man in connection with the theft of a pair of ruby red slippers worn by actress Judy Garland as Dorothy in the 1939 classic movie “The Wizard of Oz” nearly 20 years after they were stolen from a museum in Minnesota. Judy Garland is thought to have used at least seven different pairs of ruby slippers on the set of the 1939 classic. ShutterstockIn August 2005, authorities said a thief broke into the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota before smashing a glass display case and stealing the slippers. Regarded as among most recognizable items of memorabilia in American film history, the red slippers were, in the movie, gifted to Dorothy by Glinda the Good Witch. WCCOIt is not known how many pairs of ruby slippers Garland wore during filming, though the stolen shoes were among four remaining ones known to have survived.

☆ A Sony spinoff comes better late than never
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HONG KONG, May 18 (Reuters Breakingviews) - A long-awaited Sony (6758.T) spinoff is finally happening. The Japanese video games-to-semiconductors conglomerate may list its financial subsidiary "within the next two to three years" while retaining a 20% stake. Investors promptly bid up shares of Sony as much as 7% on the news. Partially offloading Sony Financial Services, which the company only took full control of in 2020 for $3.7 billion, makes sense. Sony stresses it is not planning any other spinoffs for now - one of them is plenty to look forward to.

☆ Inside PodCo, the startup cashing in on Nickelodeon and Disney nostalgia, drawing hundreds of thousands of listeners, and scoring brand deals with stars of shows like 'Wizards of Waverly Place'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Reed Alexander | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

"Even Stevens" star Christy Carlson Romano and her husband, Brendan Rooney, founded the startup. Since their debut, several PodCo shows have ranked among the top 10 television and film podcasts on platforms like Apple Podcasts, according to Chartable. Along with the hosts, other big-name alums have made appearances on PodCo shows, which are also recorded on video and viewable on YouTube. So when he heard Carlson Romano and Rooney's idea, he leapt at the chance to bring the show back in a new form. Some have written into him personally to say the "Ned's" podcast is leaving them feeling less isolated in their own lives, he added.

☆ Mediobanca dips toe into tech M&A shark tank
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Mediobanca (MDBI.MI), the 8.5-billion-euro financial group run by veteran CEO Alberto Nagel, said on Thursday it had agreed to buy London-based Arma Partners, an advisory boutique that specializes in technology deals. With revenue in excess of $100 million, or about 90 million euros, Arma should add more than 10% to Mediobanca’s annual net fees and commission of 850 million euros. The French boutique’s contribution, although a record, stood at 63 million euros in the financial year that ended in June 2022. Buying Arma allows Mediobanca to gain expertise in growing areas like cloud services, software and cybersecurity, which are outside the Italian bank’s core strengths. Star banker Erik Maris left Mediobanca a year after Nagel clinched the purchase of a 66% stake in the boutique.

☆ Sea’s rising tide gets a harsh reality check
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SINGAPORE, May 17 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Sea (SE.N) was sailing strong. The $41 billion Southeast Asian internet giant retreated from overseas markets, slashed marketing spend, and shed thousands of jobs. Still, that wasn’t enough for the company to meet earnings estimates on Tuesday. Li is assuring the market that the company he built – once valued at over $200 billion -- is more self-sufficient. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Home Depot cuts forecasts, signals weakness ahead for big US retailers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Deborah Mary Sophia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Home improvement retailers have now lost their pandemic-era sparkle as consumers shift away from home renovations and focus on travel, vacations and other services, driving quarterly transactions 4.8% lower at Home Depot. Home Depot kicks off a big week for U.S. retailers' earnings, with Target Corp (TGT.N) and Walmart Inc (WMT.N) scheduled to report on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. Home Depot now expects fiscal 2023 comparable sales to fall between 2% and 5%, compared to its prior outlook for nearly flat sales. The company forecast earnings per share to decline between 7% and 13%, compared to a mid-single digits decline estimated previously. The company posted a profit of $3.82 per share, above estimates of $3.80.

☆ Home Depot cuts annual sales forecast on slowing demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Shares of the largest U.S. home improvement chain tumbled about 4% in premarket trading after the company also missed first-quarter sales estimates, hit by adverse weather and falling lumber prices. The company now expects comparable sales to decline between 2% and 5% in fiscal 2023, compared to its prior outlook for sales to remain nearly flat. Analysts were expecting comparable sales to decline 0.9% this year, according to Refinitiv IBES data. The company forecast earnings per share to decline between 7% and 13%, compared to prior expectations for a mid-single digits decline. Home Depot's first-quarter comparable sales decreased 4.5%, missing estimates of a 1.74% drop.

☆ GAM’s takeover rebels have a weak hand
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The billionaire has a good track record in activism, having agitated to block a rights issue at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW.PA). But getting a better deal at GAM looks hard. NewGAMe, backed by Niel, and its partner Bruellan are right that the Liontrust offer is far from appealing. The agitators hope to exceed a 10% stake, enough perhaps to stop Liontrust from taking full ownership of GAM. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Search resuls for: "Sparkle"

25 mentions found