Australia Says Google Misled Consumers Over Location Tracking - The New York Times

SYDNEY, Australia — Australian regulators on Tuesday accused Google of misleading consumers about its collection of their personal location information through its Android mobile operating system, the latest government action against a tech company over its handling of vast quantities of user data.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission alleged in a lawsuit that Google falsely led users to believe that disabling the “Location History” setting on Android phones would stop the company from collecting their location data. But users were actually required to also turn off a second setting, “Web and App Activity,” that was enabled by default.

Google did not properly disclose the need to disable both settings from January 2017 until late 2018, the suit alleges. The company changed its user guidance after The Associated Press revealed in August 2018 that it was continuing to collect the data even after the Location History setting was switched off.

The commission also said that while Google made it clear to users what features they would lose by turning off location services, the company did not inform them adequately about what it would do with the data collected.

“This is part of a system of not being able to make informed choices about what’s being done with your data,” said Rod Sims, the commission’s chairman.

Mr. Sims called the lawsuit the first of its kind by a national government against a tech company over its use of personal data. The agency is seeking what he called significant financial penalties against Google, among other corrective measures. He added that he hoped the case would raise awareness among consumers over how much data is being collected.

“We need to be getting ahead of them, because this is a whole new world,” he said of data collection issues.

A Google spokeswoman said in a statement that the company was reviewing the allegations. She said Google would continue to engage with the commission over its concerns but intended to defend itself.

The action by Australian regulators comes as governments and consumer groups around the world have expressed growing concern about the power of tech companies, including their collection of personal data from devices that are indispensable to the lives of billions of people.

Consumer groups from several European countries had already sued Google over the location tracking issue under a comprehensive data privacy law adopted in Europe last year. Under that law, a French agency fined Google 50 million euros, or about $55 million, in January for not properly disclosing to users how it collected data to create personalized ads.

In the United States, regulators approved a $5 billion fine against Facebook this year over its role in allowing Cambridge Analytica, a political data firm hired by President Trump’s 2016 election campaign, to gain access to private information on more than 50 million Facebook users.

While Google has made changes to Android in later iterations that limit the location data it gathers, the business incentives for collecting as much personal data as possible remain great. Location-targeted advertising is worth an estimated $21 billion a year, and Google, along with Facebook, dominates the mobile ad market.

The Australian lawsuit is in part the product of a 19-month investigation by the consumer commission into the market power of Google and Facebook. It issued 23 recommendations, including an overhaul of privacy laws, to limit their reach and force them to take more responsibility for the content they disseminate.

The Australian government has also passed legislation challenging the power of tech companies, including a law in 2018 that compelled tech-industry giants to disable encryption. And under a new law criminalizing “abhorrent violent material” online, Australia is using the threat of fines and jail time to pressure platforms like Facebook to block such content, and it is moving to take down websites that hold any illegal content.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/29/world/australia/australia-google-location.html

2019-10-29 10:07:00Z
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Stocks Slip Ahead of Earnings, Fed; Bonds Steady: Markets Wrap - Yahoo News

U.S. Futures Dip, Europe Stocks Drop as Bonds Rise: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. index futures drifted lower and European stocks dropped as investors awaited a possible Federal Reserve interest-rate cut and some of the season’s biggest corporate earnings. Treasuries edged higher and most European bonds rose.

Contracts on the S&P 500 nudged down a day after the U.S. equity benchmark hit a record, and ahead of results from drug giants Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipped after six straight sessions of gains, led lower by energy producers. BP Plc shares declined even as the driller’s profit beat estimates. In Asia, Japan’s Topix benchmark closed at a 2019 high, while equities dropped in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Yields on Japanese 10-year bonds hit the highest since June and their Australian counterparts jumped almost nine basis points, while peers in the U.S. and Germany halted a surge that’s lasted several days.

Investors are struggling to find fresh impetus to extend the record-breaking rally in U.S. stocks. Optimism on the China trade front from President Donald Trump is aiding the bull case, and an anticipated Fed rate cut on Wednesday may add further fuel. Still, recent data has come in mixed and while corporate earnings are topping estimates on average, the bar has been set low.

“What we’ve had happening in markets in the last few weeks is a lifting of that perceived uncertainty” about U.S.-China trade and Brexit, with central bank easing providing a lift, Sue Trinh, a global macro strategist at Manulife Investment Management, told Bloomberg TV. “The real risk is that we’re seeing a boost to asset prices but no real uptick in the real economy,” she said.

Meanwhile, the pound weakened as U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he’ll keep pushing for an early election despite failing for a third time to trigger a snap poll. In metals, spot palladium slipped after a record close Monday.

Here are some key events coming up this week:

Earnings include: Pfizer and Merck on Tuesday; Airbus, Apple, Credit Suisse, Facebook and PetroChina on Wednesday; Mitsubishi Heavy on Thursday; Exxon Mobil and Macquarie Group on Friday.The Fed is expected to lower the main interest rate when policy makers decide on Wednesday.U.S. economic growth is forecast to have slowed to 1.6% in the third quarter. GDP data are due Wednesday. The Fed’s preferred inflation metric, the core PCE deflator, is due Thursday.The Bank of Japan sets policy on Thursday and Governor Haruhiko Kuroda will hold a news conference.Friday brings the monthly U.S. non-farm payrolls report.

These are some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

Futures on the S&P 500 Index fell 0.1% as of 6:29 a.m. New York time.The Stoxx Europe 600 Index sank 0.5%.Japan’s Topix index climbed 0.9%.India’s Sensex Index surged 1.5%.

Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%.The U.K. pound weakened 0.1% to 86.411 pence per euro.The euro decreased 0.2% to $1.1075.The South Korean Won jumped 0.6% to 1,163.19 per dollar.

Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 1.83%.Britain’s 10-year yield decreased three basis points to 0.696%.Germany’s 10-year yield fell two basis points to -0.35%.Australia’s 10-year yield jumped nine basis points to 1.1855%.

Commodities

The Bloomberg Commodity Index dipped 0.2%.Gold was little changed at $1,492.50 an ounce.West Texas Intermediate crude decreased 1.3% to $55.07 a barrel.

--With assistance from Andreea Papuc, Tian Chen and Livia Yap.

To contact the reporter on this story: Todd White in Madrid at twhite2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Anstey at canstey@bloomberg.net, ;Samuel Potter at spotter33@bloomberg.net, Yakob Peterseil

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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2019-10-29 08:32:00Z
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Google joins in Amazon’s spending spree, but to a lesser degree - MarketWatch

MarketWatch First Take

By Therese Poletti

Published: Oct 28, 2019 8:51 pm ET

Earnings from two of tech’s biggest names are hit by return to investing in the future of the businesses

The cost of new hires and real estate added up for Google last quarter.

Alphabet Inc.’s big earnings shortfall was not just the result of its equity investment losses: Continued heavy spending on hiring and real estate by the internet search and advertising behemoth also played a role.

Google’s parent company reported third-quarter profit far lower than Wall Street’s estimates Monday afternoon. Alphabet GOOG+1.97% GOOGL+1.95%  reported net income of $7.07 billion, or $10.12 a share, a year-over-year profit decline of more than 22% that missed estimates by nearly 18%. The stock fell by more than 1% in after-hours trading following the results.

Full earnings results: Alphabet earnings miss estimates, driving shares down

Alphabet executives blamed the profit decline on free spending, a longtime habit for Google that has declined since Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat arrived from Wall Street. That is the same reason another big name in tech, Amazon.com Inc. AMZN+0.89% gave for its earnings downturn this year, as the two companies battle in new arenas — such as Amazon’s growing ad business and Google’s rising enterprise-cloud offering — for a more promising future.

Hiring was a big part of Google’s spending, Porat said in Monday’s conference call, along with investments in cloud data centers and offices to house all the new employees. Alphabet added 19,724 workers in the past year, and 6,450 in the third quarter.

“Head-count growth on an absolute basis in the third quarter was unusually high, reflecting the addition of new college hires,” Porat said, while promising that employee count will “be in line with growth in 2018.”

The company also said it spent $7.2 billion on capital expenditures, up from $5.3 billion a year ago. The spending this quarter included building out data centers and spending on new offices and campuses in the Bay Area and in Seattle. Technical infrastructure, such as data-center technology, accounted for only 60% of capex in the quarter, Porat said.

“Investments in office facilities included the $1 billion acquisition of a portfolio of buildings in Sunnyvale and in the purchase of two buildings to expand our presence in the Seattle area,” the CFO said.

Going forward, however, Porat said she expects that the primary driver of its capital expenditures will continue to be expanding its data centers and increasing the compute requirements to support machine learning, cloud search and YouTube.

Compared with Google’s rival in Seattle, Alphabet’s spending still seems anemic. Amazon added nearly 100,000 employees in the third quarter, which means that it hired roughly as many people every week as Alphabet did in the entire quarter. It also said it spent $4.7 billion in the quarter on purchases of property and equipment, which ostensibly includes its data center and warehouse build-outs.

Neither company has made a big splash in acquisitions recently, though Alphabet is reportedly eyeing a well-known name: Fitbit Inc. FIT+30.86%  . Reuters on Monday reported that Alphabet was considering purchasing the wearables company to round out its growing hardware offerings, which could lead to a lot more money heading out the door.

Alphabet definitely was on a big spending spree last quarter, and it is worthwhile to keep an eye on Google’s costs as potential antitrust litigation becomes a bigger factor in the next year or two. But if the tech titans are going to keep spending amid tariff fears and whispers of the end of the current tech boom, investing in the future is a much better target than even more stock repurchases.

See original version of this story

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2019-10-29 01:51:00Z
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Louis Vuitton owner eyes jewelry icon Tiffany & Co - CNN

LVMH, which is run by billionaire CEO Bernard Arnault and owns brands such as Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior, confirmed its interest on Monday after several media outlets reported over the weekend that it had made a takeover offer for Tiffany.

The French fashion conglomerate acknowledged only that it held "preliminary discussions" regarding a "possible transaction" with Tiffany, adding that "there can be no assurance that these discussions will result in any agreement."

Bloomberg and others have reported that LVMH approached the jeweler with an all-cash proposal earlier this month that would value Tiffany at about $14.5 billion, or $120 a share. That's roughly 20% more than the stock's closing price Friday.

Tiffany (TIF) has brought on advisers to review the offer and so far hasn't responded to LVMH (LVMHF), according to Reuters, which cited anonymous sources familiar with the matter.

Shares of Tiffany skyrocketed nearly 20% in premarket trading Monday, while LVMH stock was up 0.4% in Paris. Tiffany did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNN Business.

"A takeover of Tiffany could make a lot of sense," analysts at Bernstein wrote in a research note. While Tiffany is one of the world's best-known luxury brands, the analysts said it still has room to grow, particularly in jewelry and watches.

The deal would boost LVMH's presence in the United States, which accounts for about a quarter of its revenue. It would also bolster the French company's jewelry and wristwatch lineup, which include European legacy brands such as Bulgari, Hublot and TAG Heuer. As of January, the jewelry and watch unit only brought in 9% of overall revenue, according to a letter to shareholders.

LVMH is the world's biggest luxury group. The company is home to 75 different brands, and it has for years been the top seller of high-end goods, according to a Deloitte analysis published this year. Last year, the retail giant took in 46.8 billion euros ($51.9 billion) in revenue.

Tiffany has had a more complicated story. The company has long dealt with slumping sales, and in 2017 it replaced its CEO after disappointing financial results. Since then, it has been working to rebrand its image to attract more millennials — adding more products that are designed to appeal to young shoppers, rolling out more targeted marketing and revamping its historic flagship store in New York City to draw in more customers.

In the company's most recent earnings report in August, it said that global sales dropped 3% in the first half of this year. But it also said it enjoyed "strong growth" in mainland China, where the slowing economy has put pressure on the broader luxury sector.

The company's "long-term growth potential in China" is one of the main factors that makes it attractive to buyers, analysts at Cowen wrote in a note on Sunday.

An acquisition of Tiffany would be one of LVMH's splashiest deals to date. In 2017, the company took over Christian Dior for $13 billion, and last year it snapped up the ritzy Belmond hotel chain for $2.6 billion.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/28/investing/lvmh-tiffany-co-louis-vuitton/index.html

2019-10-28 11:34:00Z
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Louis Vuitton owner eyes jewelry icon Tiffany & Co - CNN

LVMH, which is run by billionaire CEO Bernard Arnault and owns brands such as Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior, confirmed its interest on Monday after several media outlets reported over the weekend that it had made a takeover offer for Tiffany.

The French fashion conglomerate acknowledged only that it held "preliminary discussions" regarding a "possible transaction" with Tiffany, adding that "there can be no assurance that these discussions will result in any agreement."

Bloomberg and others have reported that LVMH approached the jeweler with an all-cash proposal earlier this month that would value Tiffany at about $14.5 billion, or $120 a share. That's roughly 20% more than the stock's closing price Friday.

Tiffany (TIF) has brought on advisers to review the offer and so far hasn't responded to LVMH (LVMHF), according to Reuters, which cited anonymous sources familiar with the matter.

Shares of Tiffany skyrocketed nearly 20% in premarket trading Monday, while LVMH stock was up 0.4% in Paris. Tiffany did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNN Business.

"A takeover of Tiffany could make a lot of sense," analysts at Bernstein wrote in a research note. While Tiffany is one of the world's best-known luxury brands, the analysts said it still has room to grow, particularly in jewelry and watches.

The deal would boost LVMH's presence in the United States, which accounts for about a quarter of its revenue. It would also bolster the French company's jewelry and wristwatch lineup, which include European legacy brands such as Bulgari, Hublot and TAG Heuer. As of January, the jewelry and watch unit only brought in 9% of overall revenue, according to a letter to shareholders.

LVMH is the world's biggest luxury group. The company is home to 75 different brands, and it has for years been the top seller of high-end goods, according to a Deloitte analysis published this year. Last year, the retail giant took in 46.8 billion euros ($51.9 billion) in revenue.

Tiffany has had a more complicated story. The company has long dealt with slumping sales, and in 2017 it replaced its CEO after disappointing financial results. Since then, it has been working to rebrand its image to attract more millennials — adding more products that are designed to appeal to young shoppers, rolling out more targeted marketing and revamping its historic flagship store in New York City to draw in more customers.

In the company's most recent earnings report in August, it said that global sales dropped 3% in the first half of this year. But it also said it enjoyed "strong growth" in mainland China, where the slowing economy has put pressure on the broader luxury sector.

The company's "long-term growth potential in China" is one of the main factors that makes it attractive to buyers, analysts at Cowen wrote in a note on Sunday.

An acquisition of Tiffany would be one of LVMH's splashiest deals to date. In 2017, the company took over Christian Dior for $13 billion, and last year it snapped up the ritzy Belmond hotel chain for $2.6 billion.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/28/investing/lvmh-tiffany-co-louis-vuitton/index.html

2019-10-28 10:54:31Z
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The Popeyes Chicken Sandwich: Chain announces official return date for sold-out item - Fox News

November 3 is the official return for the fast food chain's beloved, yet short-lived, sandwich. (Popeyes)

Have you heard the word? Popeyes' highly anticipated (and ridiculed and sexy) chicken sandwich, which sold out just two weeks after its debut, is officially returning to stores in early November.

November 3 to be exact.

POPEYES TEASES 'BRING YOUR OWN BUN' CAMPAIGN, SUGGESTS CUSTOMERS MAKE THEIR OWN SANDWICHES

Popeyes' press release confirming the news was as simple as the chicken sandwich itself, and contained only two words: “I’m Back.”

Franchise owners had tipped their hand about the sandwich’s comeback last week, but the fast-food chain only confirmed the nationwide return in the Monday press release. Popeyes also debuted an advertisement for the sandwich's return that takes aim at its now-competitor Chick-fil-A, and the unavailability of their chicken sandwiches on Sundays.

The sandwich, which most fast-foodies are very much aware of at this point, was released in August and sold out two weeks later. It was then removed from menus across the nation while fans waited for the chain to announce a return date.

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During that time, the sandwich sparked a Twitter beef between Chick-fil-A — which Popeyes seems intent on drawing out, according to its new marketing campaign — as well as an intense "Chicken War" that eventually grew to involve Buffalo Wild Wings and Wendy's.

Popeyes appears to be taking its beef with Chick-fil-A out of the kitchen and onto the streets. (Popeyes)

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For those unfamiliar, the sandwich at the center of this controversy features a breaded chicken filet on a brioche bun, with pickles and either mayo or spicy Cajun spread.

And it can (maybe) be yours stating Nov. 3 — because if history tells us anything, you might want to get there sooner rather than later.

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https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/popeyes-chicken-sandwich-official-return-date

2019-10-28 11:33:41Z
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Luxury goods firm LVMH eyes Tiffany takeover - BBC News

Luxury goods firm Louis Vuitton (LVMH) has confirmed it has held "preliminary discussions" about buying US jeweller Tiffany,

The statement followed reports that LVMH had made a $14.5bn (£11.3bn) offer to buy the company.

"The LVMH Group confirms that it has held preliminary discussions regarding a possible transaction with Tiffany," it said.

LVMH is owned by France's richest man, Bernard Arnault.

It produces a wide range of luxury goods including clothing, cosmetics, perfumes, drinks and fashion accessories, including its signature Louis Vuitton handbags.

It also owns brands such as Christian Dior, Givenchy and Kenzo, as well as many of the best-known champagne brands, including Dom Pérignon and Moët & Chandon.

Global demand for its products has held up well in recent years, but the same cannot be said for Tiffany, which has seen worldwide sales fall this year.

LVMH said there was "no assurance" that its talks with Tiffany would produce an agreement.

The announcement by LVMH came after media reports that the firm had submitted a preliminary, non-binding offer to Tiffany earlier this month.

The offer is said to value Tiffany at about $120 a share.

Analysts say LVMH is keen to expand in the US, where Tiffany is based.

LVMH has 75 brands, 156,000 employees and a network of more than 4,590 stores, while Tiffany employs more than 14,000 people and operates about 300 stores, including its flagship outlet on Fifth Avenue in New York.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50205953

2019-10-28 10:38:09Z
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