All posts by Alison Meadows

About Alison Meadows

Alison Meadows has a PHD in Economic Trends in Modern Times and is a known writer who focuses on hedge fund investments. Meadows, her husband, and three kids live in Boston, where she grew up and attended college. Contact Alison at alison[at]businessdistrict.com

Huge Deal Brings DirecTV to AT&T

Tech News, , ,

DirecTVConsolidation is the name of the game these days in the telecommunications industry. This observation is exemplified by the upcoming purchase of DirecTV for a figure approaching $50 billion by the mother of all telecoms, AT&T. The idea behind the merger is for AT&T to expand its customer base exactly at a moment in history when the industry is facing several complex challenges.

The merger was approved by the boards of both companies on Sunday. In addition to widening the customer base, the companies are looking for ways to also control their content and its delivery. Faced with the threat of new technologies such as streaming and wireless, cable and satellite service providers are struggling to stay competitive by offering a wider range of services and products while simultaneously keeping their shareholders happy by growing revenue.

The deal will see AT&T paying DirecTV shareholders $95 per share. Including DirecTV’s debt that AT&T also agreed to pay, the entire value of the deal is estimated at $67.1 billion.

“Customers will be able to get wireless, voice, data, TV and home security from the same company nationwide,” says Roger Entner, an analyst at Recon Analytics. “It allows (AT&T) to grow the share of consumers’ spending on telecom.”

News of the upcoming deal was first leaked on April 30, and since that date the share price of DirecTV stock soared 12%.

“This is a unique opportunity that will redefine the video entertainment industry and create a company able to offer new bundles and deliver content to consumers across multiple screens,” said Randall Stephenson, AT&T’s chairman and CEO.

Heartland Shareholders Awarded Dividend

Companies,

Heartland Financial USA, Inc., is a diversified financial services company valued at about $5.7 billion. Among the services they offer are banking, mortgage, wealth management, investment, insurance and consumer finance, to both individuals and businesses.

Heartland announced that its board of directors voted for a regular quarterly cash dividend of 10 cents per share on their common stock. The dividend will be payable on June 6, 2014 to all those stockholders who are on record as owners as of May 23, 2014. As of March 31, 2014 there were 18,454,048 common stocks outstanding and listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market.

Heartland has 78 branches around the country in 56 different communities.

Despite Bad Weather FedEx Posts Profits

Companies

 

Profits did not meet expectations
Profits did not meet expectations

FedEx announced a 5 percent rise in their profit margin compared to last year, which fell short of expectations of analysts.

The announcement was made last Wednesday and proclaimed net income of $378 million, which translates to $1.23 per share for the quarter which ended on February 28. This fell short of the prediction by analysts of $1.45 per share.

Revenue climbed by 3 percent to $11.3 billion, also lower than Wall Street’s expectation of $11.43 billion. Most of the increase can be credit to improvements in the ground shipping business since express-delivery has been languishing.

By the end of FedEx’s fiscal year, which will be in May, earnings are expected to reach between $6.55 and $6.80 per share. Not bad, but below the expected $6.89. In pre-market trading FedEx shares fell by 2 percent. Their shares had dropped by 3.6 percent this year after gaining a startling 57 percent last year.

Top Ten Grad Schools for 2015

Education,

It’s just a ‘sneak peek,’ but US News surveyed 453 accredited master’s programs in business, and came up with the following as the coming year’s ten best. The list is in alphabetical order, since the entire survey will not be available until March 11, 2014, at usnews.com.

  • Columbia University (NY)
  • Dartmouth College (Tuck) (NH)
  • Harvard University (MA)
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)
  • New York University (Stern)
  • Northwestern University (Kellogg) (IL)
  • Stanford University (CA)
  • University of California—Berkeley (Haas)
  • University of Chicago (Booth)
  • University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)

US Business Groups Protest New Zealand Tobacco Branding Law

Trade, ,

Six umbrella groups representing US business interests issued a joint statement condemning a proposed New Zealand law which will de-brand cigarettes and package them in plain, generic packaging.

The groups, the Emergency Committee for American Trade, the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Foreign Trade Council, the U.S.-ASEANBusiness Council, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the United States Council for International Business say the law violates international trade obligations and intellectual property rights.

The law is part of New Zealand’s campaign to end tobacco use in their country by the year 2025. Australia has already passed a similar law, and if the New Zealand version passes in the Parliament this week New Zealand will be in line with Australia in its approach to eliminating tobacco use.

The business groups expressed their “deep concern” in a statement released on Monday.

“This Bill, in effect, eliminates the right of a business to use its trademarks in everyday commerce. We respect the right of New Zealand to regulate in the public interest, but this is the wrong approach. It will violate New Zealand’s international-trade obligations, while facilitating illicit trade and counterfeiting,” said the statement.

“We would hope that the government of New Zealand would be cognizant of the importance of complying with its international trade and investment obligations and that it will await the outcome of the multiple legal challenges to Australia’s legislation before going forward with this unwise plain-packaging legislation, especially given the recent indications the Australian policy experiment is not working as intended,” it continued.

“We see this as a systemic threat to rules which intellectual property rights and the trading system, with their nexus to regulation, are dependent upon. We encourage the New Zealand government to consider the concerns we have raised for the possible impact on New Zealand exports, such as dairy and wine, should other governments feel emboldened to take similar unwarranted measures.”

New Zealand has stated previously that it would wait before enacting this legislation for the outcome of a lawsuit brought by a Hong Kong subsidiary of a US tobacco company against Australia.