Financial Times names first woman top editor

For the first time in its long history, The Financial Times will be led by a woman.

On Tuesday, the daily known for its robust coverage of international markets, its distinctive salmon-hued paper and its impenetrable digital paywall, announced that Roula Khalaf will be its top editor, starting in January. Khalaf, a 24-year veteran of the newspaper, which has its headquarters in London, will succeed Lionel Barber, a Financial Times journalist since the 1980s and its editor since 2005.

Barber, 64, said in an interview Tuesday that he had consulted with the newspaper’s owners about a transition for more than a year. “You mustn’t see this as some kind of ‘woke’ gesture — it’s got nothing to do with that,” he said. “She is one of our most outstanding journalists. She’s been deputy editor for 4 years, she’s been tested in all sorts of areas, and that’s why she’s the next editor.”

The newspaper, which was founded in 1888 and has a paid circulation of 1 million, including digital and print subscribers, declined to make Khalaf available for an interview. In a statement Tuesday, she said, “It’s a great honor to be appointed editor of The FT, the greatest news organization in the world.”

Born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon, and educated in the United States at Syracuse University and Columbia University, Khalaf has served as the publication’s Middle East editor, foreign editor and deputy editor. Before joining The Financial Times, she wrote for Forbes magazine, where she made waves with a feature article on Jordan Belfort, the shady stockbroker who became known as the wolf in Martin Scorsese’s 2013 film, “The Wolf of Wall Street.” A character based on Khalaf appears in the movie.

Khalaf returned to the subject of Belfort in a 2014 Financial Times article, writing, “I am the journalist who in the movie wrote the 1991 ‘hatchet job’ on Belfort and his respectably named but disreputable Stratton Oakmont outfit. My character — I was a Forbes reporter when I wrote the profile — gets a few seconds’ play, followed by a scene in which Belfort is infuriated by my story. I had described him as sounding like a twisted version of Robin Hood who takes from the rich and gives to himself and his merry band of brokers. That was rather charitable since he was also probably fleecing widows and orphans.”

During his 14-year tenure as top editor, Barber guided the newspaper through a decline in the industry, as well as its sale four years ago from Pearson, the British media company, to Nikkei, the Japanese financial news publisher, for $1.3 billion.

He noted that he had traveled in the Middle East with Khalaf, interviewing the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, in 2013 and, in 2015, visiting Mohammed bin Salman, then Saudi Arabia’s deputy crown prince.

Barber’s legacy will include presiding over the newspaper as it reoriented its business model to be focused on circulation revenue — subscribers paying for access. Many legacy media news organizations, including The New York Times, have made this move in recent years. The Financial Times was among the pioneers, instituting an online paywall as early as 2007.

“We said, ‘We’re going to charge for content,’” Barber said. “By saying that, and also raising prices, that was a message to the outside market that we’re worth it. But it was also an incredibly powerful message to the newsroom: ‘Now we’re really going to have to be the very best.’”


2019 The New York Times Company

source: news.abs-cbn.com

PH's Amanpulo among Financial Times' top luxury beach resorts

MANILA – A resort in the Philippines was recognized by the Financial Times as it released a list of best beach hotels in the world.

Called “Pink Sand 2017,” the list was divided into five categories: top luxury beach resorts, favorite remote resorts, best destinations for the family, top spots for design lovers, and UK’s finest beach getaways.

Amanpulo, a five-star resort in Palawan, was included in FT’s top luxury beach resorts and is the only Philippine entry in the list.

 “This is the place to live out luxury desert island fantasies,” James Jayasundera of Ampersand Travel was quoted as saying.

Other properties mentioned in FT’s top luxury beach resorts lineup came from Seychelles, France, Fiji, Italy, Maldives, Zanzibar, South Africa and Australia.

The Pink Sand 2017 list is based on choices made by a panel of travel industry experts.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Pfizer nears deal to acquire Medivation for close to $14-B -sources

NEW YORK - Pfizer Inc. is in advanced talks to acquire U.S. cancer drug company Medivation Inc. for close to $14 billion, as it seeks to boost its oncology portfolio, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday.

Pfizer has agreed to pay a little more than $80 per share for Medivation, one of the people said, a substantial premium to the $52.50 offer for Medivation that France's Sanofi made in April, which eventually resulted in the company putting itself up for sale.

Medivation shares ended trading in New York on Friday at $67.16.

Reuters reported earlier this week that Pfizer, Sanofi, Merck & Co Inc., Celgene Corp. and Gilead Sciences Inc. had submitted expressions of interest to acquire Medivation.

The strong acquisition interest in the San Francisco-based company illustrates how demand for new cancer treatments, which can possibly add years to patients' lives, could spell billions of dollars in revenue to the companies that own them.

Pfizer has so far prevailed in the auction for Medivation and could announce a deal as early as Monday, although the negotiations still could fall apart at the last minute, the people said. The deal is expected to be paid for by Pfizer in its entirety, or at least mostly, with cash, one of the people said.

The sources asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential. Pfizer and Medivation declined to comment. The Financial Times first reported on Pfizer nearing a deal for Medivation on Sunday.

Pfizer, whose oncology offerings include breast cancer drug Ibrance and several other promising immuno-oncology products, is now set to get access to Medivation's successful prostate cancer drug Xtandi, as well as Talazoparib, another breast cancer treatment under development by Medivation.

Medivation earlier this year rejected two acquisition offers from Sanofi, the latest for $58 per share in cash and $3 per share in the form of a contingent value right relating to the sales performance of Talazoparib.

However, Medivation agreed in July to share confidential information with potential buyers after Sanofi agreed to drop a campaign to oust Medivation's board of directors.

In its second-quarter earnings call earlier this month, Medivation reported continued double-digit year-over-year growth for Xtandi, affirming the company’s expectations of more than 50 percent revenue growth for the year.

Medivation also cited positive late-stage data for Talazoparib, a drug the company believes will account for a significant part of its long-term value.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Ex-NY mayor Bloomberg considering presidential bid: report

NEW YORK - Michael Bloomberg, the former New York mayor and billionaire media owner, has stated for the first time that he is considering launching a White House bid this year.

The move would thoroughly upend a presidential race that has already kicked into high gear, as Republicans and Democrats battle it out for prominence in Tuesday's crucial New Hampshire primary.

Bloomberg, who mulled running in previous elections and has criticized the quality of debate in the 2016 race, told the Financial Times he was "looking at all options" when asked whether he was considering throwing his hat in the ring.

"I find the level of discourse and discussion distressingly banal and an outrage and an insult to the voters," he said, adding that Americans deserved "a lot better."

The comments came after The New York Times reported last month that Bloomberg had instructed advisers to draft plans for a potential independent presidential bid that could see him spend at least $1 billion of his estimated $40 billion fortune.

Associates told the Times late last month that Bloomberg was alarmed by the rise of Donald Trump on the extreme right wing of the Republican Party and troubled by Hillary Clinton's lurch to the left in a bid to contain self-described democratic socialist Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Bloomberg, 73, is the founder of the eponymous financial news agency.

His estimated net worth far exceeds that of Trump, a billionaire real estate magnate whose fortune Forbes puts at $4.5 billion.

A pragmatist rather than an ideologue, Bloomberg is driven by results and wedded to statistics. He was a Democrat before turning Republican in 2001 and then switched his affiliation to independent in 2007.

His entry could radically re-shape the race and in particular impact Democratic efforts to hold the White House, as experts see him drawing more Democrats than Republicans because of his liberal stance on gun control, abortion and the environment.

Trump and Sanders have both said they would relish the opportunity to run against Bloomberg.

"I think the American people do not want to see our nation move toward an oligarchy, where billionaires control the political process," Sanders said last month.

Clinton recently called Bloomberg "a good friend" and said she would "relieve him" of the need to enter the race by winning the nomination herself.

Bloomberg has set a self-imposed deadline of early March to make a decision.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Kerry says Paris climate deal will not be legally binding: report

LONDON, United Kingdom - A crunch climate summit in Paris will not deliver a legally binding treaty requiring countries to cut carbon emissions, US Secretary of State John Kerry told the Financial Times on Wednesday.

"It's definitively not going to be a treaty... They're not going to be legally binding reduction targets like Kyoto or something," Kerry said, according to the newspaper, referring to the 1997 Kyoto protocol committing states to limit emissions.

The UN Conference of Parties (COP21) meeting of some 100 heads of state and government in December aims to secure a deal to stave off catastrophic levels of global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels.

The nations most at risk have appealed for the a stricter goal than limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius -- which the vulnerable nations say will still leave one billion people at risk of rising sea levels and other dire impacts.

An effective deal may rely on the world's biggest polluters such as China and the United States signing up to the pledge.

But a global poll last week found that residents of China and the US were among the least concerned about climate change, in contrast to a global consensus that it is a pressing problem, and US President Barack Obama faces opposition from a hostile Senate in pushing through efforts to combat it.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

EBay supports Google over Brussels antitrust probe: FT

EBay Inc Chief Executive John Donahoe has supported arguments made by Google Inc in its defense in an antitrust case, saying the two companies are direct competitors in online shopping, the Financial Times reported.

Barriers between different areas of online commerce are breaking down, Donahoe said in an interview with FT, highlighting the challenges the European Commission faces in bringing the high-profile case. (on.ft.com/1Idg4Ff)

The European Union accused Google of cheating consumers and competitors by distorting Web search results to favor its own shopping service, after a five-year investigation that could change the rules for business online.

Google said in a blog post that it strongly disagreed with the EU's statement of objections and would make the case that its products have fostered competition and benefited consumers.

EBay and Google were not available for comment outside regular U.S. business hours.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Twitter boss launches global cash register service

Twitter's co-founder outlined plans to make cash registers a thing of the past on Thursday as he held a global launch for new software that he said would help small businesses grow.

Jack Dorsey, who is chairman of Twitter and chief executive of the mobile payments company Square, said the software would allow shopkeepers to track sales and provide digital receipts.

"We think it's a great replacement to any cash register," Dorsey said at a Financial Times conference in London.

"It means we're now a global company," he said.

The software, Square Register, was only available in Canada, Japan and the United States, where it tracked around four million sales a day.

It can now be downloaded for free everywhere else and supports 130 currencies, although it will not allow actual payments for the moment.

The company offered testimonials from businesses in Australia, Hungary, Mexico, Philippines and Vietnam and Dorsey said many had already begun using the software by getting around national controls.

Square teamed up with the smartphone app Snapchat earlier this week for a service that allows users in the United States to send money to friends by simply typing dollar amounts into new "Snapcash" messages.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Facebook faces UK probe over psychological experiment on users

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) in the UK is investigating whether Facebook Inc broke data protection laws when it allowed researchers to conduct a psychological experiment on users of the social network, the Financial Times reported.

The data regulator is probing the experiment and plans to ask Facebook questions, the newspaper reported. It was too early to tell exactly what part of the law Facebook may have infringed, the FT quoted a spokesperson for the ICO as saying.

Facebook's psychological experiment on nearly 700,000 unwitting users in 2012 has caused a social-media furor. The experiment was to find if Facebook could alter the emotional state of its users and prompt them to post either more positive or negative content.

"It's clear that people were upset by this study and we take responsibility for it. We want to do better in the future and are improving our process based on this feedback. The study was done with appropriate protections for people's information and we are happy to answer any questions regulators may have," a Facebook spokesman said in an email reply.

Representatives for ICO did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The ICO monitors how personal data is used and has the power to force organizations to change their policies and levy fines of up to 500,000 pounds ($839,500).

Internet privacy concerns shot up the agenda last year when former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden revealed details of mass U.S. surveillance programs involving European citizens and some heads of state.

Last week, Google Inc said it has begun removing some search results to comply with a European Union ruling upholding citizens' right to have objectionable personal information about them hidden in search engines.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

International alarm over euro zone crisis grows

BERLIN/ROME - International alarm over Europe's debt crisis hit new heights on Tuesday, with President Barack Obama pressing the bloc's big countries to show leadership as talk of a Greek default escalated and markets heaped pressure on Italy.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel sought to quash talk of an imminent Greek default or exit from the euro zone, but confusion over whether she would issue a joint statement on Greece with French President Sarkozy sent markets gyrating up and then down.

Confidence in the 17-nation currency area was further dented when Italy was forced to pay the highest interest rates since joining the euro in 1999 to sell 5-year bonds.

"I think there is a possibility, if the wrong steps are taken, that the system goes off the rails," Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of Italian carmaker Fiat, told reporters in Frankfurt when asked if the euro's survival was at risk.

Merkel said in a radio interview that Europe was doing everything in its power to avoid a Greek default and urged politicians in her own coalition to weigh their words carefully to avoid creating turmoil on financial markets.

Her economy minister said earlier this week that there should be no taboos in stabilizing the euro, including an orderly bankruptcy of Greece. And lawmakers from her coalition have said in recent days that Greece may have to leave the euro zone -- a move Citigroup's chief economist warned would lead to "financial and economic disaster."

"As soon as Greece has exited, we expect the markets will focus on the country or countries most likely to exit next from the euro area," Willem Buiter said in a note published on Tuesday.

Merkel, in an interview with RBB inforadio, said Europe would use all the tools at its disposal to prevent a Greek default and warned that an exit from the bloc would immediately lead to "domino effects.

In financial markets, stocks and the euro rose on Tuesday on hopes Europe's top powers will supply fresh support for Greece.

MSCI's all-country world equity index rose 0.9 percent and Wall Street rebounded. The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 44.73 points, or 0.40 percent, at 11,105.85. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 37.06 points, or 1.49 percent, at 2,532.15.

BERLIN-PARIS CONFUSION

Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy conferred by telephone on the crisis at the start of the week, and senior French sources told Reuters they would issue a joint statement on Greece, sending the euro and Greek bank stocks higher.

Less than an hour later, a spokesman for Sarkozy changed course and denied a statement was planned, sending markets into reverse.

The mixed signals reinforced the sense in the markets that European countries are unable to unite behind a common approach

U.S. President Barack Obama told Spanish journalists in a group interview published on Tuesday that euro zone leaders needed to show markets they were taking responsibility for the debt crisis. Weakness in the global economy would persist so long as it is not resolved, he said.

The Institute of International Finance, a bank lobbying group, warned in a report that prolonged inability to deal with Europe's debt issues put its banking system at severe risk.

"In a pattern echoing that of the 2007-2009 financial crisis, there is a growing risk of the real economy and financial conditions being locked into a mutually reinforcing downward spiral," the IIF warned.

In a measure of the alarm in Washington, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will take the unprecedented step of attending a meeting of EU finance ministers in Poland on Friday. It will be his second trip to Europe in a week after he met his main EU counterparts at a G7 meeting last weekend.

Obama said that while Greece is the immediate concern, an even bigger problem is what may happen should markets keep attacking the larger economies of Spain and Italy.

"In the end the big countries in Europe, the leaders in Europe must meet and take a decision on how to coordinate monetary integration with more effective coordinated fiscal policy," the news agency EFE quoted him as saying.

Geithner is likely to urge euro zone finance ministers on Friday to speed up ratification of changes to their bailout fund, but a U.S. official said he would not push for an increase in the fund's size.

ITALY YIELDS SOAR

Markets have already priced in the near certainty of a Greek debt default. Credit default swap prices suggest a 90 percent probability of default in the next five years, according to CDS pricing data provider Markit.

Greece has said it only has a few weeks' cash and needs the 8 billion euro tranche in October to pay salaries and pensions.

Domenico Lombardi, president of the Oxford Institute for Economic Policy and a senior fellow at Washington's Brookings Institution, said European policymakers must act fast to ward off a full-blown market attack on Italy.

"Italy is the key to contain this crisis. It is the last window of opportunity before a serious prospect of a meltdown of the euro," Lombardi said.

Pressure on Italy mounted on Tuesday at a bond auction that showed the limits of European Central Bank efforts to hold down Rome's borrowing costs by buying government bonds in return for austerity measures to cut its budget deficit.

The five-year bond yield hit a euro lifetime high of 5.60 percent despite ECB purchases in the secondary market that led to the resignation of the central bank's German chief economist, Juergen Stark, last Friday.

"Nothing that we've had, be it at a domestic level in Italy, be it at a pan-euro zone level, or above all from Germany, indicates that anyone really is getting to grips with presenting euro zone policy with one voice," said Marc Ostwald, an analyst at Monument Securities in London.

A Financial Times report that Rome had asked China to buy "significant" quantities of its bonds in recent talks provided little support.

A Brazilian government official told Reuters that BRICS major emerging markets were in initial talks about increasing their holdings of euro-denominated bonds in an effort to help ease the euro zone crisis.

A Treasury spokesman said Italian Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti met Chinese officials last week including the head of its sovereign wealth fund. But an Italian ministerial source told Reuters the talks had centered on possible Chinese investments in Italy's industrial sector, not its bonds.

Chinese leaders have repeatedly offered verbal support to Greece, Portugal and Spain but encouraging words have not so far been matched by spectacular action.

Obama's comments suggested that Washington is trying to nudge European governments toward closer fiscal union or a bigger bailout fund to recapitalize teetering banks but European politics, especially in Germany, make that difficult. — Reuters

source: gmanews.tv