All posts by James Cannon

About James Cannon

James Cannon is an experienced hedge fund analyst. He has served on the advisory boards for various different Fortune 500 companies as well as serving as an adjunct professor of finance. James Cannon has written for a variety of Financial Magazines both on and off line. Contact James at james[at]businessdistrict.com

Brooklyn Commons: For Business and Pleasure

Art, Companies, Education, Real Estate, , , ,

Brooklyn Commons is the new name of the Brookfield Properties 16-acre business and cultural campus between Flatbush Avenue and Jay Street. Once named MetroTech Center, Brooklyn Commons has everything: offices for rent, trendy eateries, cultural programming, lush parks, and inviting open spaces. With an investment of $50 million, three Brooklyn Commons buildings are being overhauled and outfitted with new lobbies, terraces, and retail spaces on the entrance level.

Brooklyn Commons
Brooklyn Commons campus map

The renovations also include Brooklyn Commons Park, the 3.5-acre public park at the heart of the campus. With an ice skating rink that is open now, and new seating and lounging areas planned for the future, the space is already a great option for a day out. Brooklyn Commons also offers cultural programming for the public. The Arts Brookfield program at Brooklyn Commons has a robust schedule of educational lectures, art exhibits, film viewings, theater performances, concerts, food festivals, and holiday festivities.

A Reason to Raise Your Spirits

Companies, Consumerism, Lifestyle, News, , , , ,

Beam Suntory, one of the largest producers of distilled beverages in the world, has been working to shift its image to higher-end spirits. Its popular Knob Creek bourbon has sported a new look for the past three years, with an updated label design that has brought back its nine-year age statement, and a new line of 12-year and 15-year versions of the whisky. While prices once ranged from $25 to $50 per bottle, prices are now anywhere from $36 to $200. Following the company’s conscious efforts to step into the higher-end market, international sales reportedly rose 11% in 2021.

CEO Albert Baladi said in an interview: “Two years ago, in 2020, we weren’t as affected as a lot of companies, so the bounce back isn’t as strong as some of the other numbers that you’re still seeing, but still I think double-digits against 2019 is quite powerful.” Baladi continued to explain that the spirits industry generally does well even in times of economic crisis, and that raising prices encourages the company to continue upgrading its beverages. An advantage has been that customers are less sensitive to price hikes made to counterbalance inflation, as they’re pleased to pay more for higher-end drinks.

Ready to tap into another beverage line, Beam Suntory has announced plans to expand its ready-to-drink cocktail line and has partnered with Sam Adams brewer Boston Beer. Although unexpected, this trendy market line has proven lucrative and ranked as the fasting growing of any spirit category, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. Beam Suntory’s premixed brands Sauza and Truly Vodka will be released this spring.

Stevens Student Innovator Showcase

Education, Health Tech, , , ,

Every year, student entrepreneurs at the University of Southern California, Zachary Dell’s alma mater, have an opportunity to showcase their startup and business ideas. This year, the 14th Annual USC Stevens Student Innovator Showcase was held on Zoom due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The ten finalist teams competed for over $30,000 in cash prizes and other valuable awards. There were six winning teams and two of them, WaterShield and DYME, were awarded cash prizes of over $10,000.

WaterShield has conceptualized a unique medical device for cancer patients that provides a central venous catheter with a moisture barrier, increasing comfort and decreasing the chance of infection when patients shower. The team, led by second-year biomedical engineering Ph.D. student Farbod Amirghasemi, earned the $10,000 USC Stevens Transformational Innovation Award at the conference held at USC, where Zach Dell attended college. WaterShield also won the in-kind Pillsbury Mentorship Award, valuing at over $15,000, and offering strategic counseling and patent services.

The Best Business Concept Award is a $10,000 prize and was presented to DYME, a startup created by George Pappas, a recent graduate of the USC Marshall School of Business. DYME is a platform where college athletes can monetize their media through experiential media content for paying sports fans. Additional cash prizes and in-kind awards were given to four other teams at the special annual event at University of Southern California, Zachary Dell’s alma mater.

Zachary Dell
Zach Dell

Third Pixar Film in a Row to be Released Directly to Streaming Service

Companies, Film, , , , , ,

Due to the uncertainties in movie-theater attendance because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Pixar has decided to skip theaters when it releases its latest full-length animate film, “Turning Red” straight to Disney+. This is the third straight film to be released that way after “Soul,” released in October 2020; and “Luca,” released in December 2020. “Onward” was the last such movie from Pixar released to theaters in March 2020, right at the cusp of the pandemic arriving in the United States forcing theaters to close. Soon after “Onward” could be seen on Disney+.


Pixar’s latest release is expected to begin streaming on Disney+ at the beginning of March 2022, according to Kareem Daniel, the head of distribution for Disney. He explained that the pandemic and the slower recovery for family films at the box office persuaded Disney for a streaming release.


“Turning Red” is about a “confident, dorky 13-year-old torn between staying as her mother’s dutiful daughter and the chaos of adolescence” explained a Pixar representative. The film was directed by Domee Shi, who also made a Pixar short film called “Bao”, is the first of Pixar’s films directed solely by a woman, and voices are done by Sandra Oh and Rosalie Chiang.

Google Investing Big in Australia

Companies, , ,

In what will be Google‘s largest investment in Australia to date, the tech giant said it will build a research hub, enlarge cloud computing, and fund joint projects with local organizations to the tune of $740 million.


The investment is called “The Digital Future Initiative” and will likely create about 6,000 jobs directly and support 28,000 more secondary jobs.


“Australia can help lead the world’s next wave of innovation, harnessing technology to improve lives, create jobs, and make progress,” said Sundar Pichai, a Google executive who spoke at the launch in Sydney.


Scott Morrison, prime minister of Australia, also spoke at the launch, saying: “The decision by Google has major benefits for Australian businesses as we engage with the economic recovery before us.”


Other Australian groups will take part in the initiative, including the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Australia’s government science agency.


A representative of DivisionX Global, a hi-tech investment company, Joshua Kennedy-White said Google’s initiative is a “huge win” for the Australian tech sector.


“It takes money to move an idea into innovation and the first money is the hardest to come by. If Google cut $250k cheques to promising start-ups, they could fund 4,000 new tech companies in Australia,” Kennedy-White said.