FedEx CFO Responds to “Horrific” Income Drop
As more companies enter the shipping business, and more consumers demand faster shipping times, longstanding brands face greater logistical and financial challenges. For the past year, stalwart industry leader FedEx has been struggling. Recently, the company posted a net income that’s 40% lower than the same period the prior year. Revenue is down as well, leading to a significant drop in operating income. FedEx CFO Alan Graf didn’t mince words, though he did promise the downturn was temporary, saying in an analyst call reported by business media, “We are at the bottom… Our adjusted operating profit decline is horrific… it’s going to improve. We’re going to come off the mat and improve into next year…” Analysts point to several different…
Read MoreRussia Pushing Back Hard Against Olympic Ban
The Olympic Games are coming in 2020, and the soccer World Cup follows two years later. If a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) sanction holds up, Russian athletes will not be allowed to compete under their country’s flag or wear their nation’s colors, a penalty Russian President Vladimir Putin has called “unfair.” Russia has announced plans to file an appeal challenging the four-year ban that came as a result of sanctions, stemming from a WADA decision finding that representatives “manipulated doping laboratory data” in an effort to hide previous infractions. Putin said the sanctions defied common sense and law, calling out the agency for the wholesale ban and suggesting WADA should impose individual sanctions, rather than blanket bans. Russian advisors called…
Read MoreHallmark Reverses Course on “Inclusion”
The voice of the public can get loud in a hurry these days, especially on social media. A handful of influencers, or a few key people on Twitter or Instagram, and suddenly it feels like the world is against your brand. Just ask The Hallmark Channel. Last week, a story started trending on social media with people reacting to an announcement that Hallmark Channel would not be running ads for a wedding planning website,which featured a same-sex couple kissing at the altar. The decision to pull the ads were, reportedly, in response to complaints from the American Family Association, via One Million Moms. When it was announced that the ad would be pulled, the AFA celebrated on social media, with…
Read MoreStarbucks Agrees to Pay Restitution
Starbucks has an up and down relationship with the media and consumers on social media. From positive interactions to overstepping baristas to Christmas cups, the brand seems to find a way into the headlines, good or bad, with some frequency. Occasionally, though, the news is more serious than a red cup or a hapless employee. This is one of those crisis cases. Various media reports announced recently that Starbucks Corp has agreed to “pay restitution and accept greater oversight” as part of a settlement in response to allegations that the company “illegally required New York City employees to find substitutes when they needed to use sick leave.” Starbucks has since changed its sick leave policy, but that doesn’t mean the…
Read MoreNFL Taking Hits Over Officiating
Since the disastrous Saints-Rams NFC Championship no-call last year, NFL officiating has been under intense scrutiny. With new technology allowing fans at home and in the stands to clearly and easily see where refs make mistakes, the pressure was on. And the officials are not making it any better on themselves with more than a few high-profile blown calls throughout this season. Some legitimately could be said to have changed the outcomes of games. The league says it may look into a “rules adjustment,” but they already did that. After the NFC Championship debacle, the league gave coaches the chance to challenge pass interference calls, or the lack thereof. This change hasn’t had much effect on the perceived issues that…
Read MoreCan GameStop Survive a Shifting Market?
Streaming media has slowly transformed multiple different industries. It began with music. As the iPod sliced away at market share, retailers and production companies tried to ignore the interloper. Apple didn’t stop, and, in the space of a decade, the entire industry was transformed. The example was plain to see, as were the trends, but many booksellers did not pay much attention. When the Kindle came out, they scoffed. Then, stores started closing, as Amazon book sales and digital book sales exploded. People still buy and love “real” books, there are still big box booksellers and independent bookshops, but the market potential shrank considerably. It was only a matter of time before the video game market followed suit. Like movies,…
Read MoreGM Hoping to Make a Big Splash with First Electric Pickup
When Tesla announced it was working on a fully-electric pickup, many people laughed. Too soon, they said. Unfeasible, others agreed. Tesla, of course, soldiered on in their efforts, which do not have a scheduled release date. One company, though, has jumped ahead of the competition, announcing plans to release the first American fully electric truck by the fall of 2021. That company is General Motors. The announcement was met with some skepticism among the auto crowd. Could a fully electric pickup really meet the demands of the tough truck market? GM’s CEO Mary Barra tried to quell fears and misgivings by banking on GM’s reputation for making strong, capable pickups: “General Motors understands truck buyers and … people who are…
Read MorePeloton Ad Lampooned and Criticized
Is it sexist, fat-shaming, dystopian, a miscue, or just a missed opportunity? That’s the question marketers at Peloton are being confronted with after reaction to their now-infamous Christmas-themed commercial went off the rails. The concept is simple: guy buys girl an exercise bike for Christmas. She’s initially uncertain, but comes to love the bike, as well as the culture around it, which is a huge selling point for the high-priced luxury interactive stationary bike. So far, so good, right? Not so much. Depending on who you ask, the reasons for the barrage of negative feedback about the ad are legion. Is it the expression on the woman’s face? The audacity of the guy to insinuate she needed to exercise? The…
Read MoreElon Musk in Court Over ‘Pedo Guy’ Tweets
In July of 2018, British diver Vernon Unsworth took part in a daring, life-threatening rescue of 12 boys and their soccer coach, all of whom had been trapped inside a quickly flooding cave system. It could have been one of the purest and best “good news” stories of 2018; for most people, it certainly was. But there was one aspect of the round-the-clock news about the story that went off the rails, thanks to comments made by Unsworth, and the response from billionaire Elon Musk, who famously offered to assist with rescue efforts. That offer of assistance included the use of a mini-submersible. While some involved in the rescue expressed appreciation and politely said “no, that won’t work for this…
Read MoreSprint Trying to Survive as T-Mobile Pulls Away
For some time now, the mobile telecom market in the United States has been a four-horse race. Verizon maintained a strong lead, AT&T managed to keep pace, and two companies – T-Mobile and Sprint – fought for third place using a revolving combination of pricing incentives and cool consumer PR. Now, though, it appears a clear, consistent third-place brand has emerged, one that will essentially erase one of these brands, but make the company an instant contender to challenge the perennial top two. How’s that? T-Mobile and Sprint are trying to merge. And, if the $26 billion merger is approved, things in mobile telecom will change immediately. No one needs this more than Sprint. The company has tried, and failed,…
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