All posts by Amelia Jacobs

About Amelia Jacobs

Amelia Jacobs began her career in business following a surprisingly successful trip to China. Having visited the region as a tourist, she returned to America as an import-exporter. Today, Jacobs runs a thriving import-export company, splitting her time between Chicago and Shanghai. Contact Amelia at amelia[at]businessdistrict.com

Franz Replacing Humer at Roche Next Year

Companies, , ,
New Chairman of Roche, Christoph Franz
New Chairman of Roche, Christoph Franz

Pharmaceutical giant and the world’s largest producer of anti-cancer drugs, Roche Holding AG, is hiring the chief executive officer of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Christoph Franz. He will be taking the place of Chairman Franz Humer beginning next year.

The nomination of Franz will be presented to the shareholders at the annual shareholder meeting to be held on March 4, 2014. Franz’s contract with Lufthansa will end on May 31.
The outgoing chairman, Humer, has led Roche for over ten years, is given the credit for leading Roche’s unique strategy of coupling its diagnostics and drugs groups together to create boutique medications which can be targeted to individual patients.

Humer is 67, and was CEO when Roche purchased a 30 percent stake in the US biotech company Genentech Inc in 1999. Ten years later Humer helped to oversee the complete takeover of the company as chairman. The buyout allowed Roche to acquire its best-selling oncology drugs Rituxan and Herceptin. Herceptin is the company’s flagship “personalized” tumor treatment. It is an anti-breast cancer medication which is teamed up with a diagnostic test which reveals which women it is most likely to help.

Christoph Franz is 53 and has been the CEO of Lufthansa since 2011. Before that he was the CEO of Swiss International Airlines.

Home Sales Boding Well for Economy

Economy, Real Estate, , ,

In what many economists believe may be the highest numbers in at least three years, home sales are going up as demand for residential real estate continues to give added home sales are upstrength to the economic recovery.

Taken together, the number of new and existing homes which were bought reached the annualized pace of 5.64 million as of last month. This is the quickest pace since November of 2009.

Builder confidence is rising in response to improved sales even while the cost to borrow is going up. The limited supply of homes, lots and materials are also adding to builder confidence.

Federal spending cuts combined with improvements in the housing and auto markets will most likely boost economic growth in the last half of this year.

“The economy is slowly improving,” said Washington-based Roberto Perli, a partner at Cornerstone Macro LP. “I look for the housing recovery to continue. The fundamentals of the market are strong enough to overcome higher mortgage rates.”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk Demonstrates Ease of Refueling the Model S

Automobile Industry, , , , , ,
Tesla Electric Car
Tesla Model S Has a Frunk (Trunk in Front)

In the Los Angeles design studio of Tesla Motors, a crowd of local owners of one of the top electric cars around today, Tesla’s Model S, is ready to see a unique demonstration of the powers of their car.

Onto the stage outfitted with wheel guides and a pit like the kind you see in a Jiffy Lube shop rolled the Tesla electric car. At precisely the same moment a live video feed of an Audi pulling into a traditional gas station appeared on a big screen next to the Tesla Model S. On screen a timer starts counting off the seconds while the Audi’s driver begins to pump gas into his car and robot arms under the stage begins to change the Model S’s batter pack.

By the time the counter gets to 93 seconds the Model S is done, rolls off the stage, and another Model S pulls over the pit and begins to have his batter changed as well. Meanwhile the Audi is still pumping gas. Another 91 seconds pass and the second Model S finishes having its battery changed just as the Audi’s gas tank reaches its capacity 20 gallons.

This demonstration, which shows just one of the ways how electric cars work, is convincing evidence of the electric car’s worthiness. At the end of the demonstration CEO Elon Musk commented:

“There are people that take a lot of convincing. Hopefully, this is what will finally convince people that electric cars are the future.”

traducción español

Judge to Decide If Airlines Can be Sued for Negligence in WTC Attack

News,
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein

US District Court Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, the same judge who has presided over much of the litigation stemming from the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, said he will decide after hearing witnesses whether owners of the World Trade Center will have the right to try and recover damages from airline companies to the tune of billions of dollars.

The hearing does not involve a jury and is most likely going to last three days. The judge will listen to arguments from World Trade Center Properties and its affiliates, the owners of the WTC, saying that airlines acted negligently, allowing terrorists to enter airplanes and overcome crew which resulted in billions of dollars in damage to their property.
However, Hellerstein has already stated that the most the owners of the WTC could recover from aviation defendants was $3.5 billion. The owners already received $4.9 billion in insurance payments for their loss. The owners maintain that they have already spent $7 billion to replace the twin towers, and another $1 billion to rebuild one other building that collapsed.

The airline defendants counter that not only have the owners been paid for their loss already by insurance companies, but  that the new buildings which are replacing the old ones are much more costly due to being more modern and fancy than the old buildings.

The lawyers stated that the WTC owners “built a new, state-of-the-art ‘green’ building that bears little resemblance to the office building that collapsed as a result of the September 11 terrorist attacks”.

traducción español

Paul Soros, 87 Dies in New York City Home

News, , , , ,
Paul Soros

Paul Soros, philanthropist and shipping leader, died on Saturday at the age of 87 in his New York City home, announced his son, Jeffrey Soros.

Soros, who is the older brother of famed billionaire George, was in ailing health. He was being treated for Parkinson’s disease, cancer, renal failure and diabetes when he passed away.

“Through his engineering innovations, philanthropy and personal relationships, he profoundly impacted many lives,” said his son. “He was loved dearly and will be sorely missed.”

Soros was born in Hungary in 1926, studied mechanical engineering in Budapest, and defected from his home country in 1948 when it was under the rule of the communist regime. Eventually Soros ended up in the United States.

Soros Associates was founded in 1956 and soon became a well-respected engineering and shipping company. Paul’s company forged several new practices that changed the bulk shipping industry. He also built new ports and offshore terminals in many countries.

Soros wrote dozens of articles on technical subjects as well as holding patents in material handling and offshore technology. Later on in his life Paul worked together with his younger brother George and invested in mining and industrial companies.