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Gayle King Has the Spotlight All to Herself

October 31, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Ms. King’s celebrity means she has a different relationship with the people she covers than most other anchors do. Ms. King was at Ms. Winfrey’s home in Hawaii one Christmas when Mitt Romney arrived for a visit in his van “and all these Romneys piled out.” Last year, she vacationed with Ms. Winfrey, Tom Hanks, Bruce Springsteen and Barack and Michelle Obama on David Geffen’s yacht in Tahiti.

In January, Ms. Winfrey gave an impassioned speech at the Golden Globes, causing the entire political universe to wonder if she would run for president in 2020. Ms. King fanned the flames when she said Ms. Winfrey was “intrigued” by the idea. She then clarified that her friend was not “actively considering” a run.

I confessed to Ms. King that I have a (nonpartisan) fantasy of covering Ms. Winfrey’s presidential campaign. We would, of course, grill her on policy and ask all of our usual probing questions. But after a grueling day on the campaign trail, the traveling press corps would get O as our in-flight magazine and Weight Watchers-approved diets. We’d have a book club, obviously, and practice some self-help. “It’s a bit of a fantasy for me, too,” Ms. King said. She put emphasis on the word fantasy.

Ms. King said Ms. Winfrey “is very, very, very happy with her life, and her life would drastically change” were she to run. That hasn’t stopped Ms. King from urging Ms. Winfrey to do it.

The day Ms. Winfrey called me from her Santa Barbara home, her dog barking in the background, she seemed a bit baffled by Ms. King’s persistence. The two women had just talked, and Ms. King had, again, urged her to consider running. “It’s actually really surprised me,” Ms. Winfrey said. “She is still talking about ‘the perfect ticket,’ and I said, ‘I don’t get it. I don’t get why you keep doing this? You of all people are supposed to care about my life,’ and she said, ‘The country is bigger than your life.’”

The rhythms of a morning TV host are brutal. Ms. King is 63, with two grown children, but when she tells me about her life, she sounds like a college student or one of those girls who moves to New York to live like a “Sex and the City” character. The night before we first met, Ms. King had eaten only cereal for dinner, and her Fitbit reported that she slept 3 hours and 15 minutes. She and Ms. Winfrey used to talk four or five times a day, but when she started at CBS, the late-night calls began to wane. Ms. Winfrey said, “I remember talking on the phone and then I’m like, ‘Gayle? Gayle? Are you there?” She had fallen asleep on Oprah.

Ms. Winfrey worries about Ms. King’s lifestyle. “This lack of sleep thing is going to catch up with you,” she tells her. She’d also like her to take the time to date and find a partner, maybe a professorial, bookish type who lives a quieter life, preferably someone who could cook and stock the fridge.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/31/business/media/gayle-king-has-the-spotlight-all-to-herself.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Media Business

Bust Magazine Is on a Mission

October 31, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Aileen Gallagher, an associate professor of magazine journalism at Syracuse University, agrees that Bust is respected.

“I interviewed Samantha Bee in 2003 for them. I was 25. It was my first national clip, and it meant I was legit,” said Ms. Gallagher, who was paid $150. Today, she still writes the occasional unpaid book review for Bust simply because she wants to. “I became a feminist from reading Bust,” she said. “They take chances on writers and publish a lot of women of color. Writing reviews for nothing is how I support them,” she explained. “It’s not a financially sound business model, but it is socially responsible.”

Many celebrities still seem game to be on Bust’s cover, too. Bjork, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Solange Knowles, Amy Sedaris and Cher, among many other big names, have made appearances. The comedian Jenny Slate recently hosted Bust’s 25th anniversary party, with performances by Phoebe Robinson of 2 Dope Queens, the singer-songwriter Erykah Badu and the actress Amber Tamblyn.

But the stars don’t pay the bills, so Bust has been diversifying. Three times a year, for example, it puts on the Bust Craftacular, a large indie craft fair whose vendors are mostly women, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Yet even that’s not easy.

“There’s more and more competition within the craft fair space, and we really count on these to generate income. Without them we wouldn’t be able to do this magazine,” Ms. Henzel said. “Then other people started doing them too, so we had to get creative in addition, like offering classes at the event.”

Ah, the paradox of being rebellious in a capitalistic world.

“Bust was one of the original resistance magazines,” Mr. Husni said. “They never let an ad influence their decision, they remained in touch with their audience, and they provided an antidote for women before it was the norm,” he said. “They have a lot of financial trouble, but they were on a mission. When you’re on a mission, you’re not going to let anyone stop you. Their subscribers feel the magazine is like a membership card to a community. That keeps the magazine going.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/31/nyregion/bust-womens-feminist-magazine.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Media Business

Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. Leggings That Cost $300?

October 31, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Wone’s offerings also aren’t the most expensive out there. Katie Warner Johnson, a founder and the chief executive of Carbon38, which sells fashion forward active wear, said that women’s willingness to pay about $300 for Michi leggings was “essentially the foundation of our business.” One of the first items Carbon38 offered was a style called Medusa: a swirling patchwork of black spandex, mesh and heather gray fabric that made it look as if the pants were growing up the wearer’s leg. And women were lining up for them back in 2014.

“We’ve been really able to play with the price spectrum since then,” Ms. Johnson said.

Elizabeth van der Goltz, the global buying director of Net-a-Porter, said the site was initially “nervous” to stock leggings over $200. Now there are $490 blue and black Fendi leggings printed with scribbled hearts and $345 Lucas Hugh black leggings with opalescent tape stripes and pinhole mesh inserts for ventilation.

These brands have “high sell-throughs,” Ms. Van der Goltz wrote in an email. (Their cost continues to accrue after purchase: The Fendi leggings, though designed to sweat in, require hand washing or dry cleaning.)

What does $300 and up buy you? In the case of Wone, not strategic color blocking, or extra ventilation. Instead, Ms. Hildebrand touts personalized finishing and Italian and French fabrics, which cost $20 to $25 per yard, as opposed to the $3 to $4 for fabrics more typically used in active wear.

As opposed to the standard promise of holding up through 50 machine washes, Wone’s are guaranteed through 50,000 washes — that’s every single day for the next 136 years, or at least through your lifetime, no matter how much exercise might extend it. (What will future archaeologists think when they excavate large amounts of indestructible athleisure?)

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/31/style/expensive-leggings.html?emc=rss&partner=rss

Filed Under: Small Business

working it out: Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. Leggings That Cost $300?

October 31, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Wone’s offerings also aren’t the most expensive out there. Katie Warner Johnson, a founder and the chief executive of Carbon38, which sells fashion forward active wear, said that women’s willingness to pay about $300 for Michi leggings was “essentially the foundation of our business.” One of the first items Carbon38 offered was a style called Medusa: a swirling patchwork of black spandex, mesh and heather gray fabric that made it look as if the pants were growing up the wearer’s leg. And women were lining up for them back in 2014.

“We’ve been really able to play with the price spectrum since then,” Ms. Johnson said.

Elizabeth van der Goltz, the global buying director of Net-a-Porter, said the site was initially “nervous” to stock leggings over $200. Now there are $490 blue and black Fendi leggings printed with scribbled hearts and $345 Lucas Hugh black leggings with opalescent tape stripes and pinhole mesh inserts for ventilation.

These printed Fendi leggings cost $490.

These brands have “high sell-throughs,” Ms. Van der Goltz wrote in an email. (Their cost continues to accrue after purchase: The Fendi leggings, though designed to sweat in, require hand washing or dry cleaning.)

What does $300 and up buy you? In the case of Wone, not strategic color blocking, or extra ventilation. Instead, Ms. Hildebrand touts personalized finishing and Italian and French fabrics, which cost $20 to $25 per yard, as opposed to the $3 to $4 for fabrics more typically used in active wear.

As opposed to the standard promise of holding up through 50 machine washes, Wone’s are guaranteed through 50,000 washes — that’s every single day for the next 136 years, or at least through your lifetime, no matter how much exercise might extend it. (What will future archaeologists think when they excavate large amounts of indestructible athleisure?)

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/31/style/expensive-leggings.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Small Business

Putin launches giant gem mine in Russia’s Far North (VIDEO)

October 31, 2018 by Leave a Comment

“Russia is a country of enormous natural wealth, and diamonds of Yakutia are another national treasure of which we are proud. The launch of the new field is another step towards improving the quality of life of the population in the Far North and strengthening Russia’s leadership in the global diamond market,” said Russian President Vladimir Putin, who launched the project on Wednesday.

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The Verkhne-Munskoye diamond field is the largest investment project for Alrosa. The company will invest 60 billion rubles (shy of $1 billion at the current exchange rate) by 2042. The field will produce about 1.8 million carats of diamonds a year, and its reserves are enough to continue mining operations for more than 20 years (till 2042).

The deposit aims at ensuring reliable diamond production and providing workplaces for local residents. The project’s implementation was complicated by its remoteness from the existing infrastructure. The Verkhne-Munskoye field is located 170 kilometers from the mining plant, and building a new plant was unprofitable for Alrosa. The company solved the problem by constructing a service lane.

“The start of mining operations at Verkhne-Munskoye Diamond Field is a great event for our company and our Northern industry-based towns. Verkhne-Munskoye field will compensate the decrease in production at other facilities, in particular, it will replace the retired capacities of Mir,” Alrosa CEO Sergey Ivanov said.

For more stories on economy finance visit RT’s business section

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/442724-putin-launches-giant-gem-deposit/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

Filed Under: Global Business

This market similar to worst crashes ever seen – stock guru Jim Cramer

October 31, 2018 by Leave a Comment

He warns that the Federal Reserve could cause a smaller version of the 2008 financial crisis if it doesn’t change its interest rate agenda.

“As much as it pains me to say this, the current situation combines … some of the worst characteristics of those four past breakdowns,” Cramer told investors, following the stock market slide into correction territory that he described as a “slow-motion train wreck.”

US market meltdown wipes out 2018 gains as Trump trade wars take toll on stocks

Cramer, who’s currently the host of CNBC’s Mad Money, recalled the four worst stock market declines during his career when he dumped his entire equity portfolio.

The first crash happened in October 1987 and was a one-day mechanical nosedive known as Black Monday.

“It was portfolio insurance back then; now it is algorithms and ETFs,” Cramer said, adding: “They’re like machine guns mowing down any buyers, like we saw today.”

Then there was 1998, when the market expert unloaded his stocks ahead of what he predicted would be “a total collapse” as major hedge funds ran for the exits.

However, then-Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan’s announcement of interest rate cuts propped up stocks. Cramer said dumping his stocks then was the worst professional mistake he’s ever made, adding that he hopes the Fed does the same today.

The March 2000 crash was brutal for investors, but had a “negligible” effect on the economy, he said.

“The dotcom bomb in 2000… went off because of reckless underwriting. The economy was robust, but the bankers flooded the market with too many low-quality internet IPOs and secondary offerings, then the whole thing collapsed under its own weight.”

Echoes of Black Monday: Market sell-off could get ‘significantly worse’ – strategist

Finally, there was the financial crisis of 2008, when Cramer’s sources in the business world were signaling that the economy could be on the brink of decline, but the Fed didn’t listen, with its famed “They know nothing” rant.

“Right now, the stock market is signaling that the economy’s in for pretty rapid deterioration, just like 2008… We have a Fed that’s lamentably unaware of the danger… the Fed is making the same mistakes as in 2007. They’re totally misjudging how weak some major parts of the economy are.”

Cramer explained that to avoid much deeper losses, the Fed either has to change course on rates or President Trump has to end his tariffs.

“If Fed chief Jerome Powell actually starts listening to the stock market and wakes up to the damage that [Trump’s] tariffs can do to the economy, then maybe he’ll shift gears, just like [Alan Greenspan] did in ‘98,” he said.

For more stories on economy finance visit RT’s business section

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/442723-market-worst-crash-cramer/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

Filed Under: Global Business

Dollars declined: India to pay for Russian air defense system in rubles

October 31, 2018 by Leave a Comment

The move comes as Moscow intensified recent efforts to make de-dollarization of the Russian economy one of the main pillars of its policy. The Kremlin is looking for an alternative to the US dollar in mutual settlements with international partners. The key point of the plan is to make it more profitable for Russian exporters and importers to use rubles instead of dollars.

Russia looks to eliminate US dollar from trade with African countries – official

Earlier this month, President Vladimir Putin said safety and security of the economy was the major driver behind the decision to eliminate the role of the US dollar. The measure reportedly comes amid threats from Washington to cut Russia off from dollar transactions and hit Russia’s sovereign bonds with another round of sanctions.

The Indian government has been increasing military cooperation with Russia. In early October, Russia and India agreed on supplies of Russia’s S-400 missile systems worth $5.4 billion. The deal was clinched during Putin’s two-day visit to New Delhi. The country is also reportedly planning to buy Russian T-14 Armata tanks and guided-missile frigates, and could potentially develop submarines and next-generation fighter jets in cooperation with Russia.

The S-400 is a long-range air defense system designed to protect strategically important sites like key infrastructure objects, military units or ballistic missile launch silos against enemy aircraft and missiles. The system is capable of destroying aerial targets at an extremely long range of up to 400 kilometers (nearly 250 miles).

Last week, the White House, which had previously threatened India with sanctions over Russian arms purchases, said the US could give the deal a waiver, if New Delhi agrees to buy American F-16 jets.

For more stories on economy finance visit RT’s business section

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/442716-india-s-400-ruble-settlement/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

Filed Under: Global Business

Will Iran’s oil exports fall to zero?

October 31, 2018 by Leave a Comment

More accurately, there seems to be disagreement from within the Trump administration. According to the Wall Street Journal, Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin is leaning towards a more cautious approach, which would mean refraining from punishing the European Union for its efforts at keeping business ties alive with Tehran.

One of the key issues is the use of SWIFT, a financial-messaging service that is critical to global finance. SWIFT helps process international financial payments, and the cooperation of SWIFT during the prior round of Iran sanctions between 2012 and 2016 was critical in isolating Tehran.

US pressures SWIFT to cut off Iran from global banking transactions to enforce sanctions

This time around, Europe is resisting the US’ “maximum pressure” campaign. The EU is forbidding European companies from complying with US sanctions, although the measure is mostly toothless.

Nevertheless, top officials from within the Trump administration are at odds over how far to go. “Our objective is to make sure that financial institutions do not process sanctioned transactions,” Mnuchin told the WSJ last week. The Treasury Department is “having very specific discussions with SWIFT,” Mnuchin said, before adding that “I will use all the tools in my power to make sure that sanctioned transactions do not occur.”

However, Mnuchin is wary of pressing too hard, fearing that it might lead to less help from Europe in regards to Iran. Also, others fear that the hard line will spur Europe and others into seeking an alternative financial architecture that could undermine US dominance over international finance in the long-term. Already, the overuse of sanctions seems to be adding momentum to efforts to use alternative currencies to the US dollar.

Europe’s effort at building a “special purpose vehicle” (SPV) to help European companies evade US sanctions is evidence of this danger. Recent comments from the French foreign minister hinted at a broader campaign for the SPV to undercut US influence. The SPV is being setup for the sole purpose of skirting Iran sanctions, but it could have broader uses. The SPV “aims to create an economic sovereignty tool for the European Union beyond this one case. It is therefore a long-term plan that will protect European companies in the future from the effect of illegal extraterritorial sanctions,” a spokeswoman for the French foreign minister said.

READ MORE: Iran turns to new oil importers in the face of US sanctions – top official

Meanwhile, Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton, who has long pushed for regime change in Iran, unsurprisingly favors a hardline approach. He wants to sanction SWIFT and punish banks doing business with Iran.

The internal battle is creating confusion, and the mixed messages are grating on European capitals. “Still waiting for US replies on all these issues,” a senior European diplomat told the WSJ last week. “Zero clarity.”

Iran considers SWIFT payment system alternative to bypass US sanctions

November 4 is rapidly approaching, and despite the confusion on what the US will do, the pressure campaign is nevertheless having the effect of curtailing Iran’s oil exports. The Chinese government has reportedly told its state-owned companies not to book purchases from Iran, a surprise move after repeatedly vowing not to comply with American demands. The decision by Beijing is a huge blow to Tehran, and it could translate into more export losses. The WSJ reports that CNPC and Sinopec have not secured any shipments from Iran for November. In September, China imported 600,000 bpd from Iran.

The recent decline in oil prices might provide just a bit more breathing room for countries to cut out Iran, and a bit more leverage to Washington as it seeks to eliminate Iran’s oil exports. “There may not be much need for waivers because [Tehran’s oil buyers] are stopping business with Iran even before sanctions start,” an American official told the WSJ.

However, exports will not fall to zero. India has already booked some shipments from November and is actively seeking a waiver from the United States. Iran will also be able to smuggle shipments and discount cargoes in order to keep the oil flowing to some degree.

Moreover, cutting out the 1.6-1.7 million barrels per day of oil exports from Iran (as of September) entirely would likely tighten the oil market beyond what Washington is comfortable with. As a result, Iran’s oil exports will not fall to zero.

This article was originally published on Oilprice.com

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/442709-iran-oil-exports-fall/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

Filed Under: Global Business

Facebook’s Vision for the Future: Less News Feed, More Stories

October 30, 2018 by Leave a Comment

The company’s slowdown stems from more than just the scandals it has grappled with. Facebook has also almost fully saturated some of its most important markets, including the United States and Europe. In the European Union over the third quarter, Facebook lost one million daily users, partly because of tough new data privacy regulations that were put into place, said Dave Wehner, the company’s chief financial officer.

Another challenge is that people are moving away from public sharing on the News Feed and other public arenas, Facebook said. Instead, people are shifting more toward private messaging services.

“People feel more comfortable being themselves when they know their content will be seen by a smaller group, and when they know it won’t stick around forever,” Mr. Zuckerberg said. “Public sharing will always be very important, but people increasingly want to share privately, too.”

Mr. Zuckerberg pointed to how people are sharing more on Facebook’s “Stories” product, an ephemeral photo and video service. The idea of ephemeral messaging was made popular by its rival Snap with its Snapchat app; Instagram and Facebook later adopted the same concept. People are now sharing more than one billion “Stories” on Facebook every day, the company said.

Yet Facebook does not charge as much for advertisers to run ads on “Stories” as it does in the News Feed, so shifting to ephemeral messaging may not be as lucrative, the company said. That is partly because tools to make ads for “Stories” are not fully developed yet, and it is easy for users to ignore ads on the service or skip the service altogether, analysts said.

Mr. Zuckerberg said Facebook was also looking more toward some of the properties it already owned, such as messaging apps WhatsApp and Messenger, which together have more than two billion users. It is also building a stable of original programming on Facebook Watch, its video service, to engage users, as well as working on efforts like an e-commerce marketplace, a jobs service and a dating service, he said.

“This is a journey that’s going to take years, not quarters,” Mr. Wehner said in the call with investors. “It’s going to take time.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/30/technology/facebook-earnings-growth.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Media Business

Horacio Cardo, Illustrator With a Political Edge, Is Dead at 74

October 30, 2018 by Leave a Comment

He later worked as a humorist for a newspaper, the art director for a direct sales company, and a freelance artist, before being hired in 1979 by Clarín, which served as his base for decades.

In addition to his son, he is survived by his daughters, Nuria, Ivana, Samanta and Sabrina Cardo; two grandchildren; and his sister, Edith Dodds. His marriage to Silvia Arenales, like his marriage to Ms. Kraus, ended in divorce.

Mr. Cardo was also a serious chess player who wrote books on the game’s strategy under a pseudonym and wrote and illustrated, under his own name, “The Story of Chess” (1998), a fairy tale for children that The Orlando Sentinel called “an original way of introducing a provocative game to young readers.”

And his distaste for Sigmund Freud, whom he described as greedy and dangerous, led him to create a series of critical and sometimes grotesque paintings and illustrations, one of which shows Freud as a switch preparing to send electroshock to the helmeted heads of four faceless patients. His anti-Freud work was exhibited at the Recoleta Cultural Center in Buenos Aires in 2009 and adapted into a companion book, “Sigmund Fraud and Psychoanalysis.”

“I am psychoanalyzing Freud and psychoanalysis,” Mr. Cardo said in “Psychomigrations,” a film by Tzachi Schiff about the exhibition. “If he could psychoanalyze the world and art, art could psychoanalyze him and his theories with equal authority.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/30/obituaries/horacio-cardo-dead.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Media Business
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