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ABC Veteran Is Al Jazeera America’s New Leader

July 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Ms. O’Brian, a 30-year veteran of ABC, has overseen all news gathering for the network news division since 2007. A spokesman for Al Jazeera said Ms. O’Brian would have full responsibility for the new channel’s strategy and editorial operations.

Ms. O’Brian will report to Ehab Al Shihabi, Al Jazeera’s executive director for international operations, who has been overseeing the creation of the American channel in the absence of a president or senior leadership team. On Monday, he was named the interim chief executive, making him responsible for everything but the editorial decisions.

The continued involvement of Mr. Al Shihabi was expected, but the appointment of Ms. O’Brian is a surprise; her name was not mentioned in any of the speculation about who Al Jazeera might pick to run the American channel.

“Kate’s arrival speaks volumes about what we intend to do and how we intend to do it,” said Mostefa Souag, the acting director general of Al Jazeera, in a statement. “She is a highly experienced and award-winning journalist who fully understands what Americans want to see and hear when they watch the news.”

The announcement of Ms. O’Brian’s appointment follows a personnel search that began shortly after Al Jazeera acquired Current TV — the low-rated channel co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore. That acquisition, announced in January, provided Al Jazeera with something it had been seeking for years: access to tens of millions of American viewers.

Ms. O’Brian will inherit a mostly formed news organization, with hundreds of new employees in New York, Washington and elsewhere. Those employees have been producing practice newscasts and preparing stories that will be shown after the channel has its debut on Aug. 20.

The channel also has a partly formed programming schedule, centered on “America Tonight,” a nightly broadcast that Al Jazeera says will distinguish it from other news channels.

Ms. O’Brian said in a statement, “As I bring everything I learned to this new role, I’m looking forward to showing the Al Jazeera viewers that there is a strong demand for the type of in-depth reporting for which Al Jazeera is so well known.”

The channel also appointed three other TV news veterans to top posts on Monday. David Doss, a CNN veteran known for his work on Anderson Cooper’s prime-time program, was named senior vice president for news programming; Marcy McGinnis was named senior vice president of news gathering, a role similar to the one she held at CBS News for years; and Shannon High-Bassalik, formerly of CNN and MSNBC, was named senior vice president for documentaries and programs.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/23/business/media/new-leader-for-al-jazeera-america.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Media Business Tagged With: , ,

Wal-Mart’s India Venture Suspends Executives as Part of Bribery Inquiry

November 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment

It is the latest in a series of setbacks for the retail giant’s international operations and comes at a particularly sensitive time here because Indian policy makers recently allowed foreign retailers like Wal-Mart to open stores in the country. The investigation seems to have emboldened opposition lawmakers in New Delhi who are trying to overturn the government’s decision on foreign retailers.

In a statement, Bharti Walmart, a 50-50 joint venture between the Indian conglomerate Bharti Enterprises and Wal-Mart, said it had suspended “a few associates” to ensure “a complete and thorough investigation.” The Economic Times, an English-language daily, reported that the suspended employees included its chief financial officer and its legal team, but the company would not confirm that.

This month, Wal-Mart disclosed that it had expanded a bribery investigation that was initially focused on Mexico to India, China and Brazil. In April, The New York Times reported that executives at the company’s Arkansas headquarters had suppressed an internal investigation that found credible evidence that its Mexican subsidiary had paid bribes in an effort to open more stores in that country.

Bharti Walmart operates 18 wholesale stores in India that are allowed to sell goods to other businesses like retailers, hotels and restaurants. Most of its stores are in northern India, but it had planned to expand in the coming months in the south and west. Those plans have now been delayed, but the company said in a statement that “we remain excited about the opportunity to grow our business in one of the world’s most vibrant economies.”

Wal-Mart’s Indian joint venture also supplies about 200 supermarkets that are wholly owned by its partner’s Bharti Retail, and which operate under the brand Easyday.

In a separate inquiry, Indian authorities are looking into whether Wal-Mart violated foreign investment rules by giving Bharti Retail an interest-free loan of $100 million that would later convert into a controlling stake in that company. Both companies have maintained that they did not violate Indian investment regulations.

In September, Indian policy makers said foreign companies like Wal-Mart could directly enter the retail business with a local partner as long as they did not own more than 51 percent of the business. The long-delayed move came with significant political opposition — one important regional political party withdrew its support from the governing coalition in New Delhi, which is led by the Indian National Congress Party, as a result. Days after that change, Wal-Mart officials said they would open retail stores in the country in as little as 18 months.

On Thursday and Friday, opposition lawmakers disrupted the first days of the winter session of Parliament, demanding that the government allow a debate and vote on the change in its retail policy. The demand was turned down.

The latest developments in Wal-Mart’s internal investigation could strengthen the opposition’s hand because Indian policy makers are already struggling to recover from accusations of corruption involving industries like telecommunications, energy and mining.

“It showcases that these are Wal-Mart’s practices worldwide,” Prakash Javadekar, a lawmaker for the country’s largest opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, said in a telephone interview. “This will sharpen the debate.”

Though it is unclear exactly what Wal-Mart’s investigators are examining, Indian analysts say it is common to encounter corruption in industries like retailing that are governed by numerous overlapping federal, state and local rules.

In some Indian states, retail chains have to secure 50 to 60 regulatory approvals before they can open a store, a process that can take months and provides numerous opportunities for bribery, said Arvind Singhal, chairman of Technopak Advisors, a consulting firm that specializes in the retail business. Often the regulatory requirements are holdovers from a distant era. Stores that want to sell thermometers, for instance, usually have to obtain approval from a department in charge of weights and measures, Mr. Singhal said.

“To me, much beyond the Wal-Mart example, I sincerely hope that there is a serious debate about why is it so difficult to do business in India,” he said. “All of these conditions have only made India a poorer country.”

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/24/business/global/wal-marts-india-venture-suspends-executives-as-part-of-bribery-inquiry.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Global Business Tagged With: , ,

DealBook: Ally to Sell International Operations to G.M. for $4.2 Billion

November 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment

An Ally Financial building in Charlotte, N.C.Chris Keane/ReutersAn Ally Financial building in Charlotte, N.C.

Ally Financial‘s international operations are about to find a new home — with the lender’s former parent, General Motors.

Ally agreed on Wednesday to sell its European and Latin American businesses, as well as a share of a joint venture in China, to G.M.’s financial arm for about $4.2 billion.

The sale is the latest effort by Ally to raise money to help pay back its government bailouts, made to help prop up a company struggling under the weight of souring mortgages. The Obama administration pumped money into the firm as part of its bailout of the auto industry in 2009.

Since then, Ally has stabilized, largely by focusing on its online banking operations. But it remains largely a ward of the federal government, which owns about 74 percent of the company’s common shares and $5.9 billion worth of convertible preferred securities.

(The Treasury Department has recovered about $5.9 billion from its investment in Ally thus far, largely by selling shares and receiving dividend payments.)

The lender has sought to go public, but struggled with what it said were unfavorable market conditions, delaying its efforts to repay the government. So it has turned to asset sales to raise cash, selling off a Mexican insurance division for $865 million and its Canadian arm for $4.1 billion.

But the sale of its remaining international operations is its biggest yet.

“Our goals were to find the best solution for each of the businesses, while also maximizing shareholder value, and we believe those goals have been achieved,” Michael A. Carpenter, Ally’s chief executive, said in a statement.

G.M., which sold Ally — then known as GMAC — six years ago, had long been considered the leading buyer of Ally’s international businesses. It is striking the deal through its G.M. Financial arm, built in part through its 2010 acquisition of AmeriCredit for $3.5 billion. Through Wednesday’s transaction, G.M. will add international financing operations.

The operations being sold include auto finance units in Germany, Britain and Brazil, totaling some $16.1 billion in assets.

“G.M. is entering the most aggressive rollout of new vehicles in its history, and this acquisition will make us an even more formidable competitor by ensuring that competitive financing is available to our customers and dealers around the world,” Dan Ammann, the company’s chief financial officer, said in a statement.

G.M. is paying a premium to tangible book value of about $550 million.

Ally was advised by Citigroup and Evercore Partners, while G.M. was advised by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Barclays.

Article source: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/11/21/ally-to-sell-international-operations-to-g-m-for-4-2-billion/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Global Business Tagged With: , ,

G.M.’s Earnings Triple in First Quarter

May 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Earnings were higher than expected, and included $1.9 billion in one-time gains for the sale of G.M.’s ownership interests in the Delphi parts maker and the Ally Financial credit company. G.M. also took charges of $500 million related to its international operations.

Earnings were $1.77 a share, compared with 55 cents in the quarter a year ago. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected earnings of $1.73 a share.

Without the charges and gains, the automaker earned about $1.7 billion, its best quarterly performance in more than a decade. In the quarter a year ago, G.M. reported a profit of $865 million.

“We are on plan,” Daniel F. Akerson, G.M.’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. “G.M. has delivered five consecutive profitable quarters, thanks to strong customer demand for our new fuel-efficient vehicles and a competitive cost structure that allows us to leverage our strong brands around the world and focus on driving profitable automotive growth.”

G.M. said revenue in the quarter increased 15 percent to $36.2 billion , and it ended the quarter with $30.6 billion in cash reserves. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected revenue of $35.59 billion.

The company’s core North American operations, once a huge trouble spot, reported earnings before interest and taxes of $2.9 billion, compared to $1.2 billion a year ago.

It also reported pretax profits of $100 million in South America, and $500 million for its overseas unit in Asia. The company’s lone regional loss was recorded in Europe, where G.M. said it had a $400 million pretax loss.

The strong first-quarter earnings resulted from steadily improving vehicle sales in the United States, and a considerably lower debt load since G.M. emerged from its government-sponsored bankruptcy in 2009.

The earnings follow a $4.7 billion profit in 2010, the first profitable year for G.M., a Detroit automaker, since 2004.

G.M.’s sales in the United States increased 25 percent in the first four months of this year compared to the same period in 2010. The overall industry, by comparison, went up about 20 percent. But the company is still spending more than its rivals on incentives. In April, G.M. spent about $3,000 in incentives on each car and truck it sold, versus about $2,100 for the industry average, according to Edmunds.com   

The company has benefited from a better lineup of fuel-efficient cars and crossover vehicles in an environment where the national average for gasoline is almost $4 a gallon.

The new Chevrolet Cruze, for example, has been G.M.’s most successful entry in the compact car segment in years. G.M. has also transitioned away from large, seven-passenger S.U.V.’s to smaller crossovers like the Chevrolet Equinox.

Industry analysts said that G.M. gained sales early in the year with higher incentives but has since backed off costly rebates. “For G.M., the first quarter was good, but the second quarter should be better,” said Jessica Caldwell, an analyst with the auto-research Web site Edmunds.com. “G.M. has already dropped incentive spending below $1,000 a car for some models.”

The automaker has also reduced excess capacity in its assembly plants, and cut tens of thousands of jobs through buyouts and early retirements. Its break-even point in the United States has been lowered to about two million vehicles, a sales goal that it should achieve easily this year.

With Japanese automakers struggling to maintain inventory levels in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake, G.M. is in position to make further gains in the American market. Its share in April was about 20 percent, more than a percentage point higher than the period a year earlier.

Automakers have reported a recent surge in sales, in part because of new improved models of small, fuel-efficient or alternative fuel vehicles. Earlier this week, automakers reported that car sales in April were up 18 percent from the month a year ago as the demand for compact and subcompact cars kept the industry on track for a slow but steady recovery from recession-era sales levels.

G.M.’s American sales rose 27 percent in April. Chrysler said its sales increased 23 percent and Ford reported a 16 percent increase.

The first quarter performance exceeded Ford’s $2.55 billion profit in the period. But G.M. is a much healthier and better positioned company than it has been for at least a decade. And given the quake-related troubles at Toyota, G.M. could retake the crown as the world’s largest automaker this year.

G.M.’s future performance will probably determine how soon the Treasury Department will sell more of its nearly 26 percent stake.

For several weeks the company’s stock has been below the $33-a-share initial public offering price, although on Wednesday it closed at $33.04. The Treasury Department will be permitted to sell some or all of its remaining 500 million G.M. shares beginning on May 22 — the day its lockup period expires after last fall’s public offering.

Going forward, Mr. Akerson said, G.M. was concentrating on cutting costs in its product development processes, primarily by reducing complexity in engineering and manufacturing new vehicles. “I won’t say the fruit is hanging low, but it’s within a fair reach for us,” he said during a conference call with analysts.

He also characterized this summer’s contract talks with the United Auto Workers as “critically important” to staying competitive with American factories operated by foreign automakers. He said that G.M., as well as the U.A.W. union, want to make “these negotiations a plus and not a negative.”

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=8b862e3270be16001898f6e00a8092c8

Filed Under: Business News Tagged With: , ,