Investment banking company Morgan Stanley has appointed Sammy Kayello to be the new chairman and chief executive of the Middle East and North Africa division of their business. Kayello replaces Kamal Jabre, who will be moving to the London branch of Morgan Stanley as a senior investment banker.
Kayello is a 25-year Morgan Stanley veteran. He led the investment bank’s sales and trading operations in MENA and has made his headquarters in Dubai since 2006.
Jabre’s immediate boss in London will be Franck Petitgas, who is the global co-head of investment banking. The other head of the investment banking team for Morgan Stanley’s London office is Mark Eichorn.
“He (Jabre) is inheriting a bigger business and a wider region in the new role, so this is effectively a promotion for him,” said an unnamed source.
In order to win back some market share from the less expensive smartphones running Android software, Apple will be introducing yet another iPhone this coming summer.
The launching season for iPhone, at least the last two models, has been in the fall, but consumers can expect a newer and less expensive iPhone appearing relatively soon.
According to the Wall Street Journal the target market for this new Apple product is developing countries where the high price of iPhone has directed people to the less expensive Android-running smartphones.
It is Apple’s company policy not to discuss future products before their launch events. Apple execs emphasize consistently that it is Apple’s goal to make the best products and not necessarily the cheapest.
The WSJ added that Apple is ready to begin production of their latest addition to the iPhone line within the next three months.
Stock markets in Europe soared to the highest they have been since the infamous financial crisis of 2008 on Wednesday. Pushing up the trading was good news from the US economy and the anticipation of additional support for growth and expansion from key central banks.
The outcome of the meetings scheduled this week is for the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, and the Bank of Japan to all agree to adhere to the simple-to-follow monetary policies. This was decided when the US Federal Reserve assured the banks that the US stimulus policy will remain in place.
This situation combined with optimistic economic statistics sent the New York market’s Dow Jones Industrial Index to an historic high on Tuesday. In response the European markets joined in an upward direction the next day.
"It's panic buying," said Nick Xanders, who heads up European equity strategy at BTIG. "At this stage everyone wants to buy it, everyone wants to get involved, and everyone is scared of underperforming."
It’s been about ten years since the entertainment industry tried to aggressively to end illegal downloading of movies, music and TV shows with huge lawsuits that attacked everyone from children to seniors, ending from time to time in huge monetary payouts.
Noting that the lawsuits had little effect on halting the copyright infringement which is still rampant, a new tactic is about to be launched on internet pirates who share their downloaded files. Anyone illegally sharing their files online will receive warning notices from their internet providers, telling them bluntly that they are in violation of federal laws prohibiting the copy and use of protected intellectual property. If the warnings go unheeded those in violation can be subjected to a 48-hour internet slowdown. Those who believe they are being falsely accused can file a protest, but it will cost them.
The hope is that the implementation of the Copyright Alert System, which uses warnings and education, will be enough to curb much of the abuse, while giving violators multiple chances to make amends will reduce the number of lawsuits.
“There’s a bunch of questions that need to be answered because there are ways that this could end up causing problems for Internet users,” such as the bureaucratic headache of being falsely accused, said David Sohn, general counsel for the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington-based civil liberties group. But he added: “There’s also the potential for this to have an impact in reducing piracy in ways that don’t carry a lot of collateral damage.”
The program begins this week, and is being implemented by the five biggest internet service providers in the country: Verizon, AT&T, Time Warner Cable, Comcast and Cablevision; plus two key organizations that represent the entertainment industry: the Motion Picture of America and the Recording Industry Association of America.
In advance of the $23 billion buyout this month of H.J. Heinz Company, the famous ketchup and condiments producer is selling of its China packaged food business, Shanghai Long Fong Company.
The buyer is Zhengzhou Sanquan Foods Company whose stock rose on the Shenzhen stock exchange to its highest point in eleven months as a response to the announcement of the purchase. The company, which sells frozen snacks and meals on the Chinese mainland, hopes to enlarge market share and increase its competitive edge as a result of the purchase of Long Fong. The companyannounced that it will be using internal financing and has not released the value of the deal.
Heinz stated that the sale is consistent with its “global strategy to de- emphasize non-core frozen food businesses outside the U.S.”
The Pittsburgh-based company added that the move is not connected with its sale to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and 3G Capital Inc. for approximately $23 billion.
“The decision to seek a buyer for our Long Fong frozen foods business in China is unrelated to the merger agreement with Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital,” a spokesperson for Heinz stated.
