Return of the bench seat: Concept EVs show space big enough for sofas - Reuters

The interior of the Audi's new concept AI: ME with automated driving system is seen during the media day for Shanghai auto show in Shanghai, China April 17, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Electric vehicle (EV) concepts shown in Shanghai this week, such as the Audi AI:me and Infiniti QX Inspiration, point to a future of living-room-like comfort in cars with flat floors and ample space for sofa-like bench seats.

In the design studies, automakers have taken advantage of the space freed up by the electric motor, which takes less room than the bulky internal combustion engine, cooling apparatus and complex transmission gears needed for gasoline cars.

As most batteries in an EV are laid out flat under the floor, the EVs shown in the Shanghai auto show, which started on Tuesday, also have more height and, in fact, many are sport-utility vehicles (SUVs).

Both the AI:me urban car and Infiniti’s QX Inspiration SUV have flat floors, interiors large enough to accommodate what looks like a sofa in the back and more leg room and storage.

Because there is no tunnel, which often houses the drive shaft and exhaust apparatus in a gasoline car, running through the length of the EV cabin, the center of the rear seat “can become just as valuable” as the space on its sides, design chief for Nissan’s premium brand Infiniti, Karim Habib, said.

That in turn points to the possibility of “a return of the bench seat” in the front and the rear - a throwback to American cars of a bygone era, Habib told Reuters.

The EV’s flat and slightly elevated floor allows passengers to slide into it, Habib said. “You can kind of comfortably sit into it ... You can cross your legs, stretch your legs out,” he added, referring to the QX Inspiration concept car.

Audi’s AI:me offers what the company’s China operations chief, Thomas Owsianski, described as “maximum space comfort” despite its smallish urban car profile.

“We are fundamentally changing the perception of a (urban) car, particularly car experience,” Owsianski said in Shanghai on Monday. “The AI:me has very compact dimensions but ... it shows the urban mobility, especially premium mobility, doesn’t need to feel small. Cars are becoming a living room space.”

Reporting By Norihiko Shirouzu; Editing by Himani Sarkar

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-autoshow-shanghai-ev-design/return-of-the-bench-seat-concept-evs-show-space-big-enough-for-sofas-idUSKCN1RV0O9

2019-04-19 10:22:00Z
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'National Enquirer' To Be Sold To Hudson News Heir James Cohen - NPR

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American Media Inc., parent company of the National Enquirer, struck a deal to sell the tabloid and two other publications. Scott Olson/Getty Images hide caption

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Scott Olson/Getty Images

American Media Inc. has made a deal to sell the National Enquirer, following months of scandals involving the tabloid's ties to President Trump and its reporting practices.

The company announced on Thursday that it had reached an agreement with James Cohen, magazine distributor and son of the founder of Hudson News. The sale would include two other publications, Globe and National Examiner.

In a statement, American Media President and CEO David Pecker said that Hudson News has the "long-term vision needed to ensure the growth of these brands." Announcing its intent to sell last week, AMI said it wanted to focus on its teen and active lifestyle brands.

The company has become embroiled in controversies surrounding Trump's presidential campaign, the details of which emerged as a result of federal investigations.

As part of a deal with federal prosecutors in New York City last year, AMI admitted that it helped arrange a payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal in order to help Trump's campaign keep her quiet. The Enquirer allegedly used a tactic known as "catch-and-kill" — buying the rights to a damaging story in order to bury it.

Pecker, who has deep ties to Trump, personally agreed to collaborate with federal prosecutors to avoid prosecution himself.

AMI also ran into a recent controversy with Amazon CEO and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, who accused the company of blackmailing him by threatening to publish potentially embarrassing personal photos. Bezos said that the company demanded he stop an investigation into how the tabloid obtained other private photos and texts of him and his girlfriend. AMI denied the accusations and said it had engaged "in good faith negotiations" with Bezos.

The company has run into financial trouble in recent years and said that the sale would reduce its debt to $355 million. The agreement also includes a multi-year service contract that AMI says will generate "substantial fees" for publishing, financial and distribution services, according to the company.

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https://www.npr.org/2019/04/19/715050724/national-enquirer-to-be-sold-to-hudson-news-heir-james-cohen

2019-04-19 09:59:00Z
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National Enquirer sold to US magazine distributor - BBC News

The owner of US tabloid newspaper the National Enquirer has agreed to sell the title to magazine distributor James Cohen.

American Media Inc (AMI) said it would sell the title and two of its sister publications to Mr Cohen.

The tabloid has been embroiled in high-profile scandals involving US President Donald Trump and Amazon's Jeff Bezos.

The sale terms were not disclosed but the Washington Post reported a sale price of $100m (£77m).

In a statement, AMI said it had reached an agreement in principle with Mr Cohen to sell the title's US and UK editions, along with the Globe and National Examiner.

"The sale of these brands shows their vitality in today's newsstand marketplace where they continue to generate nearly $30 million in profit annually," AMI chief executive David Pecker said.

Mr Cohen's family built the Hudson chain of airport newsstands. The family now owns US magazine and book distributor Hudson News Distributors.

"Year after year, the Enquirer has continued to be one of the best-selling and most profitable newsstand titles," Mr Cohen said.

He said he plans to boost the National Enquirer's video and documentary collaborations, as well as its theme park business.

High-profile scandals

The National Enquirer is best known for its outlandish celebrity gossip and crime coverage.

• Amazon boss accuses tabloid of blackmail
• What is the National Enquirer?

Last year the publisher admitted to helping Mr Trump's presidential campaign bury a report about an alleged extramarital affair with a former Playboy model.

Federal prosecutors announced in December that AMI had admitted paying Karen McDougal $150,000 for a "catch and kill" on her story in the run-up to the 2016 election.

In February, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos accused its owners of trying to blackmail him over lewd photographs.

He said AMI wanted him to stop investigating how they had obtained his private messages.

Earlier this month the publisher announced it was looking for a buyer for the 93-year-old title.

The tabloid was originally founded as The New York Evening Enquirer back in 1926, when it was distributed as a broadsheet on a Sunday.

At its peak it had a weekly circulation of millions, but the internet has had a huge impact on sales.

Last year it was announced circulation had dropped to about 265,000 - 18% down in one financial year.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47985820

2019-04-19 06:13:34Z
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Uber's self-driving unit gets its own CEO and a $1 billion investment - Engadget

ASSOCIATED PRESS

As Uber finally closes in on its IPO, its self-driving car unit is getting a big cash infusion and some independence. The company announced tonight that Toyota, Denso and Softbank are investing a total of $1 billion in its Advanced Technologies Group (Uber ATG), in a deal that values that part of the company at $7.25 billion. This adds onto Toyota's $500 million investment last year, which the two said would lead to the creation of an autonomous fleet based on Toyota's Sienna minivan.

So far, many of the big car companies are teaming up to develop autonomous tech combined with ridesharing angles as it's expected to be a huge market in the next few years. According to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, "The development of automated driving technology will transform transportation as we know it, making our streets safer and our cities more livable. Today's announcement, along with our ongoing OEM and supplier relationships, will help maintain Uber's position at the forefront of that transformation."

In the statement Toyota EVP Shigeki Tomoyama said "Leveraging the strengths of Uber ATG's autonomous vehicle technology and service network and the Toyota Group's vehicle control system technology, mass-production capability, and advanced safety support systems, such as Toyota Guardian™, will enable us to commercialize safer, lower cost automated ridesharing vehicles and services."

The deal won't close until Q3, which should be well after Uber's initial public offering that's on track to occur in May. It's also being announced after Arizona prosecutors announced they did not find the company criminally liable for a 2018 self-driving car crash that killed a pedestrian. The deal makes Uber ATG its own corporate entity that's controlled by Uber. Reuters reports that it has ATG head Eric Meyhofer as CEO reporting to a newly-formed board of directors, with six appointed by Uber, one by Toyota and one by Softbank.

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https://www.engadget.com/2019/04/18/uber-atg-investment-toyota/

2019-04-19 04:33:25Z
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McDonald's Just Announced a Shocking Shift in Strategy That Will Affect Every Customer - Inc.

Absurdly Driven looks at the world of business with a skeptical eye and a firmly rooted tongue in cheek. 

The fast food business encourages fast thinking.

Competitors strategize quickly in order to gain that extra percentage of margin, the chance to bite a tiny morsel out of their rivals.

This leads them easily into going one way and then veering in the opposite direction.

Perhaps one shouldn't be surprised, then, at McDonald's suddenly deciding it's not quite as fancy as it promised to be.

In an announcement that was so matter-of-fact that it seemed as if the facts didn't matter, McDonald's declared there would be "A fresh new Quarter Pounder lineup."

That sounds uplifting, doesn't it?

Indeed, the burger chain explained that its experiment with actually serving customers fresh beef, rather than frozen, has proved popular. 

McDonald's decided to begin its announcement with a recap of its fresh successes: 

Our customers have said they love our fresh beef. With our new Quarter Pounder Deluxe and Quarter Pounder Bacon, we've introduced even more ways to enjoy the classic burger toppings they know and love, now on the fresh beef Quarter Pound patty.

You knew there was bad news coming. The only question was what it would be.

In just a few more lines of PR-sanitized speak, the company admitted: 

Based on their feedback, we'll move away from the Signature Crafted Recipes line on our national menu. 

Move away.

When companies insist their customers insisted on a change, there's always a tiny moment of pause. Did the customers really insist on this move away? Or did the CFO have a move-away say?

Should you have omitted to sample McDonald's upscale crafted recipes, these were glories such as the Mushroom and Swiss Burger, the Double Mushroom and Swiss Burger and the Mushroom and Swiss Buttermilk Crispy Chicken. And, of course, the Bacon Smokehouse Burger.

When they were introduced two years ago, some might have had an inkling that McDonald's was drifting upscale. Or, at least, embracing an upscale element.

Now, it seems that it's compelled to return to its more hard-nosed roots.

At the time, it used wording that wouldn't have disgraced the most cynical of PR operatives: 

We'll be simplifying what's served after midnight so customers can get the most popular favorites as fast as possible. 

Of course, it was all about serving the most popular items more quickly.

It seems now, though, that the after midnight part may have been merely a sneaky tease for the big, bad news.

Perhaps one shouldn't lament.

It may be true that the experiment of classier fare simply didn't inspire McDonald's regular customers.

It may also be that the company is ceding the strategic upper echelons to the likes of Shake Shack.

With Burger King ahead of McDonald's in launching a Veggie Burger -- the Impossible Whopper -- one can understand McDonald's wanting to simplify at least a few things in order to address competitive pressures.

At heart, though, one can't help thinking that having more standard fare based on the Quarter Pounder will allow the chain to raise the speed limit at its drive-thru and within its restaurants, and that's what this is all about.

Strategic changes aren't often easy. You need both employees and customers on your side.

Are there enough Signature Crafted fans out there, ready to protest?

The next few weeks might reveal the truth.

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https://www.inc.com/chris-matyszczyk/mcdonalds-just-announced-shocking-shift-in-strategy-that-will-affect-every-customer.html

2019-04-19 04:30:38Z
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Pinterest shares soar 25 percent on trading debut - UPI News

April 18 (UPI) -- Social media company Pinterest began its first day of trading at $23.75, up 25 percent from its initial public offering of $19 per share.

The move pushed Pinterest' market cap above $12 billion, compared to the company being valued at $10 billion had it stayed with the IPO topping out at $19.

Furthermore, the stock kept rising more than 28 percent to a market cap of $13 billion.

The company had raised $1.4 billion for its IPO.

Pinterest last saw a valuation in 2017, when a private funding round pegged it at $12.3 billion.

A valuation lower than $12 billion could have created losses for some investors, but the company's "road show" pitches ahead of its debut attracted investors, spurring the increase in share price.

The digital bulletin board debuted Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange in one of this year's big tech IPOs. It follows the debut of ride-hailing company Lyft earlier this month.

Pinterest, which traded under the ticker symbol PINS, originally set a price range of $15 to $17 per share but investors showed strong demand for the stock, which pushed the price up.

Atlantic Equities analyst James Cordwell said Pinterest is probably worth $16 billion, putting it on par with Snap Inc. Pinterests calls itself a "visual discovery" platform where people search for inspiration for food, clothing combinations, vacations, weddings or home decor.

"The ability to monetize that audience is much higher," Cordwell said. "When you're at Snap you're in the business of communicating with friends or wasting time; when you're going to Pinterest there's high purchasing intent: you're planning something, looking for a product. That's exactly what advertisers are looking for."

Founded in 2010, Pinterest has 265 million monthly users but experts say growth has slowed in recent years. Founder Ben Silbermann's stake is worth $1 billion at the IPO price. Various venture firms have similar stakes.

One of the year's most highly anticipated IPOs is that of ride-share giant Uber next month. Experts say it should be valued at more than $100 billion. Zoom Video debuted Wednesday and began trading Thursday. Other tech IPOs this year could include Slack Technologies Inc., Postmates Inc., Palantir Technologies and Airbnb.

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https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2019/04/18/Pinterest-to-debut-on-NYSE-with-value-of-10B/7021555584517/

2019-04-18 19:43:00Z
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Sears sues former CEO Eddie Lampert, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and others for alleged 'thefts' of billions from retailer - CNBC

Sears on Thursday lodged a lawsuit against its former CEO Eddie Lampert and a string of its high-profile past board members, including his former Yale roommate Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, for allegedly stealing billions of dollars from the once-storied retailer.

Sears Holdings filed for bankruptcy this past October, after years of losses under Lampert, who was then its chairman, CEO and largest shareholder. Lampert saved the retailer from complete liquidation by buying it through Transform Holdco, an affiliate of his hedge fund ESL Investments.

But Sears' unsecured creditors repeatedly argued that Lampert was the cause of, not the solution to, Sears' downfall. They believe that Lampert, along with Sears' biggest shareholders, unduly benefited from deals that occurred under Lampert's watch, including its spinoff of Lands' End in 2014, and the carve out of many of its best properties into Seritage Growth Properties, a real estate investment trust Lampert created a year later.

Those claims laid the groundwork for the unsecured creditors to pursue their claims against Lampert and others on behalf of Sears. Lampert had requested a release from potential ligation as part of his deal to buy Sears out of bankruptcy but was denied the protection.

"Altogether, Lampert caused more than $2 billion of assets to be transferred to himself and Sears' other shareholders and beyond the reach of Sears' creditors," the lawsuit alleged on Thursday.

Among the allegations lobbed at Lampert, the company said he rejected a $1.6 billion offer for Lands' End from private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners and the Tommy Hilfiger investment group in favor of a spin that would keep his stake in the brand untouched.

It cites an email from the company's then-CFO, Robert Schriesheim, who explained to another Sears employee that "[Lampert] was trying to optimize cash for [Sears] while maximizing his (esl) equity stake ... because he knows that [Lands' End] is worth a great deal outside of [Sears]."

The filing claims Lands' End was distributed to Lampert, ESL and other Sears' shareholders for no consideration, following a prespin dividend of $500 million. On the stock's first day of trading, its value topped $1 billion, with Lampert's share worth at least $490 million. The stock currently has a market value of $591.3 million.

It further alleges that Seritage's deal with Sears to give it ownership of 266 of Sears' best retail stores was not negotiated and undervalued the properties at least $649 million.

"The appraisals were fundamentally flawed and, among other things, intentionally used under-market future lease rates as the sole basis for their valuations," the suit alleged.

Sears created committees to review each of its transactions, but the suit alleges those committees relied on "solvency opinions and appraisals based on false projections" even as Sears was in its financial "death spiral."

The suit also claims that, "In an effort to create a false record to cover up their asset stripping, at Lampert's personal direction, Sears employees repeatedly produced financial plans reflecting fanciful, bad-faith predictions that the company would experience an immediate and dramatic turn-around from deep and mounting losses to sudden profitability."

The suit names numerous defendants besides Lampert and Mnuchin, including two high-profile directors: Bruce Berkowitz, a hedge-fund manager who was a large investor in Sears, and Kunal Kamlani, president of ESL.

"ESL Investments, Inc. vigorously disputes the claims in the debtors' complaint against ESL, Mr. Lampert and Mr. Kamlani, which repeats baseless allegations and fanciful claims. As we have previously said, the debtors' allegations are misleading or just flat wrong," a spokesman from ESL said.

Mnuchin, who resigned from the Sears board when he was nominated to head Treasury, wasn't immediately available to comment.

"Fairholme is in the process of reviewing the filings," said a spokesman for Berkowitz's hedge fund, Fairholme Capital Management.

Berkowitz took his own swing at Lampert's management of Sears last year, when a lawyer for Fairholme told the bankruptcy court that Sears was "not so much a melting ice cube as it is a puddle." He called the retailer's tumble from grace a "multi-year liquidation" that happened "without court supervision."

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https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/18/sears-sues-eddie-lampert-steven-mnuchin-others-for-alleged-thefts.html

2019-04-18 18:27:49Z
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