Raphael Stevens

More stories

  • 138 Shares189 Views

    in Business

    Ford to expand profitable truck lineup with new small Maverick pickup

    In this articleFWorkers at Ford’s Michigan assembly plantFordDETROIT — Ford Motor will expand its highly profitable truck lineup with a new small pickup called Maverick, the company confirmed Thursday.The compact vehicle is expected to be smaller than Ford’s F-150 full-size pickup as well as its midsize Ranger. It could be among the smallest and cheapest pickups in the U.S., filling a void for some buyers as trucks have grown increasingly larger and pricier.”We do think there’s some opportunity there because of how expensive trucks have gotten, how big they’ve gotten and the overall popularity of trucks,” said Michelle Krebs, executive analyst at Cox Automotive.The pickup is being produced at Ford’s Hermosillo plant in Mexico alongside the company’s new Ford Bronco Sport SUV.The Maverick is expected to go on sale by the end of this year, however a Ford spokeswoman declined to comment on additional details of the vehicle other than its name and unveiling next week.”Months of rumors, spy shots and speculation have all led to this moment. It’s true – Ford is adding an all-new small pickup to the lineup, and it’s called Maverick,” Ford said in a release.The Maverick will debut Tuesday with the help of actress Gabrielle Union on her Instagram and TikTok channels as well as Ford’s social media and Hulu, according to the company.Automakers have largely offered compact pickups in international markets, leaving the U.S. for larger trucks. The vehicle could help Ford attract new customers, specifically on the West Coast, where smaller pickups and nondomestic brands perform well, according to Krebs.Thursday is the first time Ford has confirmed the vehicle as well as its name. It comes a week after Ford’s stock price cracked $15 a share for the first time since 2015 following its inaugural investor day under CEO Jim Farley.The event focused on Farley’s new “Ford+” plan to turn around its operations and expand into emerging markets such as connected vehicles and subscription services.The Maverick was referenced during the event as a new unnamed “white space product” that would have better profit margins than the Ford Fusion sedan, which was previously produced at the plant.The name Maverick is not new to Ford. It produced a two-door sedan with that name from 1969 to 1979. The company also used the name Maverick in Australia, China and Europe for several vehicles.Analysts have said the Maverick will need to be priced well below the Ford Ranger and other midsize pickups to be competitive in the U.S. market. A two-door version of the Ranger starts at about $25,000. A four-door model starts at about $27,000, according to Ford’s website.Additional details about the Maverick will be released during the vehicle’s unveiling next week, according to Ford. More

  • 100 Shares179 Views

    in Finance

    Will poorer countries benefit from international tax reform?

    INTERNATIONAL TAX reform pits tax-hungry governments against giant multinational companies and their armies of tax advisers. It sets high-tax jurisdictions against low-tax havens. And it requires rich- and poor-country governments to somehow reach agreement. The 139 countries haggling at a forum run by the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries, have yet to reach a consensus. Poorer countries worry that the proposals on the table discussed are too complicated, inflexible and unfair.Developing countries are thirsty for revenue in general, and reliant on corporate tax in particular. In 2017 African countries raised 19% of their overall revenue from corporation tax, compared with an average of just 9% for OECD members. That is partly because large informal sectors mean that they raise less in, say, personal-income tax.The current system for global tax dings poor countries in two ways. For a start, multinational companies shift their reported profits to low-tax havens, depriving them of revenue. Then the rules allocate taxing rights to countries that are home to company headquarters, which tend to be rich. Poor countries’ tax revenues are depressed by as much as 5% relative to an alternative system in which profits are taxed based on the current location of companies’ revenues, their employees and their wage bills, according to an estimate by Petr Jansky of Charles University and Javier Garcia-Bernardo of the Tax Justice Network, an advocacy group. By contrast, those in rich countries are only 1% lower.The reforms being discussed, and supported by America’s Biden administration, would reallocate the right to tax a slice of some companies’ profits, and agree on a global minimum corporate-tax rate, perhaps of 15%. Poor countries want to crack down on tax avoidance as much as rich ones. But a lack of cash and personnel makes it harder for them to engage in negotiations. Though low-income countries represent 22% of negotiating members, they make up only 5% of those attending important working-party meetings. Those constraints apply to the ability to administer tax and police evasion, too. On May 12th the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF), a group of national agencies, criticised the idea of reallocating the right to tax the portion of multinationals’ profits above some “routine” level, as “far too complex”, suggesting that a share of total profits be reallocated instead.Another worry is that the new deal will become a straitjacket. The Biden administration has proposed a “binding, non-optional” dispute-resolution process as a way of reassuring anxious companies that they will not be taxed several times over. But some poor countries fear being on the wrong end of rulings too often, and see broadly applied binding arbitration as a “red line”. (A process applying to a narrower set of disputes could fly, however.) Another concern is that a minimum tax could threaten poorer countries’ use of tax incentives to reel in investment. But a minimum rate of 15% is still well below most poor countries’ statutory tax rate, leaving room for enticement. A global floor might encourage some countries to go the other way, by emboldening them to raise taxes on profits that are reported at home.Perhaps the biggest complaint is that rich countries may get the bulk of taxable profits being grabbed back from havens, while poor ones are left with the scraps. In October the OECD estimated that a reallocation of taxing rights on some companies might help raise corporate-tax revenues in poor countries by around 1% (a newer proposal from the Biden administration should yield a similar sum). One negotiator for an African country called that a “disaster for developing countries”. ATAF suggested that more companies be included, by drastically lowering the revenue threshold from €20bn ($24bn) to €250m. It is hard to imagine rich countries agreeing to that. The complex knock-on effects of a proposed minimum tax of 15% could raise poor countries’ corporate-tax take by another 2-4%. Even so, rich countries will probably make bigger gains still. ■This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Fighting for the scraps” More

  • 225 Shares99 Views

    in Finance

    Jack Ma's Ant Group gets nod to operate consumer finance firm, a key step in fixing regulatory issues

    In this article9988-HKA logo of Ant Group is pictured at the headquarters of the company, an affiliate of Alibaba, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China October 29, 2020.Aly Song | ReutersGUANGZHOU, China — China has given its approval to Ant Group to operate a consumer finance company, a key positive step in the forced restructuring of its business just months after regulators slammed the breaks on its record-breaking listing.Ant will hold a 50% stake in the new entity and contribute 4 billion Chinese yuan ($625.93 million) in registered capital, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said on Thursday.Another six shareholders will contribute 4 billion yuan and hold the remaining 50%. The company will be registered in the southwestern city of Chongqing with a total registered capital of 8 billion yuan.The business will be able to give out personal loans and issue bonds among other things. The consumer finance company will also house Ant’s credit businesses Huabei and Jiebei. These are critical for the company and previously big drivers of revenue.In November, Ant Group, which is controlled by billionaire Jack Ma, was set to carry out a record-breaking $34.5 billion initial public offering in Shanghai and Hong Kong. But Chinese authorities pulled the plug on the listing two days before it was supposed to happen, citing regulatory concerns.The People’s Bank of China ordered Ant Group to come up with a rectification plan in December and approved a series of steps in April. One of those includes Ant Group becoming a financial holding company, which could mean the company becomes regulated more like a bank.While that has not yet happened, the creation and operation of a consumer finance company is a big first step for Ant Group to resolve its regulatory issues.”Under the guidance of regulators, Ant will work with other shareholders of Chongqing Ant Consumer Finance Co., Ltd. to serve the needs of consumers, and to continue enhancing the quality of financial services and risk management capabilities,” a spokesperson for Ant Group said Thursday.Before the suspension of the IPO, Chinese regulators were becoming concerned about technology companies offering bank-like services such as lending and the impact on financial stability.Ant Group offers loans which are independently underwritten by the company’s partner financial institutions, which includes around 100 banks. In the six month ended of June 30, 2020, this accounted for around 39% of its revenues, the largest portion. The loans were previously offered via the Huabei and Jiebei products.Now Ant will be required to clearly label which financial institution is giving the loan, an unnamed CBRIC official told the 21st Century Business Herald publication. Any loans via the Huabei and Jiebei brand will need to be partly underwritten by Ant’s consumer finance company, the report said. A person with knowledge of the matter, who preferred to remain anonymous, confirmed to CNBC that the details in the report were correct.The scrutiny on Ant kicked off a regulatory assault on Ma’s empire which included a $2.8 billion fine in an anti-monopoly investigation of e-commerce giant Alibaba. More

  • 138 Shares169 Views

    in Business

    United Airlines will buy 15 ultrafast airplanes from start-up Boom Supersonic

    In this articleUALUnited Airlines is planning to turn the friendly skies into the ultrafast skies with the addition of supersonic jets.The carrier announced Thursday it’s buying 15 planes from Boom Supersonic with the option to purchase 35 more at some point.  Boom’s first commercial supersonic jet, the Overture, has not been built or certified yet. It is targeting the start of passenger service in 2029 with a plane that could fly at Mach 1.7 and cut some flight times in half. That means a flight from New York to London that typically lasts seven hours would only take 3½ hours.A rendering of a United Supersonic JetSource: United Airlines”Boom’s vision for the future of commercial aviation, combined with the industry’s most robust network in the world, will give business and leisure travelers access to a stellar flight experience,” United CEO Scott Kirby said in a release announcing the deal.While the terms of the sale were not disclosed, the companies believe the deal will generate immediate benefits.Since it was founded in 2014, Denver-based Boom Supersonic has raised $270 million in capital and has grown to 150 employees. For founder and CEO Blake Scholl, landing a firm order with a legacy airline validates his vision of bringing back supersonic flights.The supersonic Concorde flew commercial flights from 1976 until October 2003.”The world’s first purchase agreement for net-zero carbon supersonic aircraft marks a significant step toward our mission to create a more accessible world,” Scholl said in a statement.For United, ordering Boom supersonic jets fits with the strategy Kirby has outlined since becoming CEO a year ago. United Airlines CEO Scott KirbyChip Somodevilla | Getty ImagesKirby is aggressively trying to develop opportunities for the airline. Earlier this year, United took a stake in eVTOL start-up Archer Aviation while partnering with Mesa Airlines to order 200 electric aircrafts being designed to fly short distances. That came after United announced a multimillion dollar investment in a carbon capture start-up and committed to be carbon-neutral by 2050. Part of what made buying supersonic jets appealing to United is Boom’s plan to power the planes with engines that will run on sustainable aviation fuel.A rendering of a United Supersonic JetSource: United AirlinesStill, it remains to be seen whether Boom’s plan to bring back supersonic commercial airplanes will get off the ground.The company plans to make its first flight later this year with a demonstrator jet called the XB-1. If it goes as planned, Boom will begin production of the Overture in 2023 and conduct its first flight in 2026. The ultimate hurdle will be winning certification by regulators, including the Federal Aviation Administration.When that happens, United expects to target long-haul international flights between key large cities around the world, like San Francisco to Tokyo and New York to Paris.United vice president of corporate development Mike Leskinen said the Overture could dramatically alter some of the airline’s busiest international routes. “If we can cut the time to fly from the East Coast of the U.S. to certain cities in Europe and do it with lower emissions, we think that’s very attractive,” he said. More

  • 188 Shares129 Views

    in Business

    Space debris tracker LeoLabs raises $65 million as satellites launch to orbit at unprecedented rate

    The company’s radar site in Costa Rica.LeoLabsLeoLabs, a private venture that tracks objects and debris in low Earth orbit through a network of radars around the world, raised $65 million in capital in a new fundraising round, the company announced on Tuesday.”It’s a great endorsement of our success to date and where we’re headed,” LeoLabs CEO Dan Ceperley told CNBC. “We’re the largest data provider for [low Earth orbit] in the world now … we’ve stepped beyond anybody in the public or private [sectors].”LeoLabs raised the new capital from Insight Partners and prior investor Velvet Sea Ventures. Including this round, the company has raised more than $100 million in total since its founding five years ago, with existing investors including Airbus Ventures, WERU Investment, Space Capital and Horizons Ventures.Ceperley declined to comment on LeoLabs’ valuation after this round, but the company added Insight Partners senior advisor Nick Sinai to its board of directors. The LeoLabs board now stands at four, with chairman Manish Kothari, director Kiichiro DeLuca and director Peter Jackson.LeoLabs will use the fresh funds to scale its business in three major ways, with Ceperley expecting the company’s headcount to grow from above 40 to more than 60, increase the rate at which it builds radar locations, and roll out new Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) products. So far LeoLabs has built space radars on the ground in Texas, Alaska, New Zealand and Costa Rica.The number of satellites and spacecraft launched per year has “shifted into high gear,” Ceperley said, as evidenced by the past few years of growth. According to a report by industry firm Bryce Tech, the number of spacecraft launched to orbit in 2020 jumped to 1,085 — doubling last year’s total and multiple times that of the average annual total. A significant driver of that increase has been launches by SpaceX of its Starlink satellite internet network, with more than 1,700 satellites launched to date.”The reason we’re a business is low Earth orbit is now a commercial economy. It used to be primarily defense and science, now it’s all about these commercial deployments,” Ceperley said. “The amount of space traffic is only going to go up.”A visualization of objects in low Earth orbit, including active satellites, discarded rocket bodies, and debris.LeoLabsLeoLabs works with a variety of customers, from Starlink to satellite operators to the Pentagon. Customers pay for a monthly or annual subscription, with LeoLabs providing services such as post-launch spacecraft identification or possible collision warnings.”We’re squarely in this mode of working with these industry leaders like SpaceX and others that are rolling out these satellite constellations and helping them actually define the new ways of operating in space,” Ceperley said.The company estimates there are about 250,000 pieces of debris orbiting the Earth, with LeoLabs offering a fully-automated collision avoidance service to give early warnings to customers. LeoLabs has used potential close calls between large, defunct pieces of debris — such as two out-of-control spacecraft that had a near miss in January 2020 — to demonstrate the importance of space situational awareness.As LeoLabs is a for-profit company, it has come under criticism from in the space industry has having an incentive to exaggerate the danger or likelihood of possible collisions. Ceperley responded to those criticisms in three ways, noting that the events LeoLabs highlights are “debris-on-debris,” the company’s success depends upon the safety of satellite operators, and that sharing its data publicly helps forward the discussion of how to confront the issue of space debris.”Until we came along, nobody was even computing those possible [debris] collisions — nobody was actually calculating them, nobody had the statistics, nobody had an idea just how likely they were,” Ceperley said. “We can inject that knowledge now into the sustainability conversation.”Become a smarter investor with CNBC Pro.Get stock picks, analyst calls, exclusive interviews and access to CNBC TV. Sign up to start a free trial today. More

  • 138 Shares199 Views

    in Business

    AMC files to sell 11 million shares — stock immediately tanks

    In this articleAMCAMC Entertainment said Thursday it plans to sell more than 11 million shares amid the trading frenzy in its stock.”In accordance with the terms of the Distribution Agreement, we may, through our sales agents, offer and sell from time to time up to an aggregate of 11,550,000 shares of our Class A common stock,” AMC said in an SEC filing.Shares of AMC reversed course in premarket trading, dropping 7% after popping more than 20%.Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwardsAMC Entertainment is garnering attention from WallStreetBets traders in recent weeks, pushing the stock up nearly 140% this week to an all-time high of $62.55 on Wednesday. AMC is up 512% this quarter and a whopping 2,850% this year. The market value has ballooned to above $31 billion.”We believe that the recent volatility and our current market prices reflect market and trading dynamics unrelated to our underlying business, or macro or industry fundamentals, and we do not know how long these dynamics will last,” the company said in the filing. “Under the circumstances, we caution you against investing in our Class A common stock, unless you are prepared to incur the risk of losing all or a substantial portion of your investment.”In a parallel to the epic short squeeze of GameStop in January, short-sellers have increased their bets against AMC shares over the last month, possibly fueling the move higher. About 18% of the AMC shares available for trading were still sold short through Wednesday, according to S3 Partners.AMC has embraced its new status as a meme stock. On Wednesday, the company launched AMC Investor Connect for its retail investors, providing them with exclusive promotions like a free tub of popcorn and direct communications with CEO Adam Aron, who has been dubbed “Silverback.”The encouragement of retail traders comes as the company moves to sell millions of shares into the market to raise capital. In typical times, a share sale from a company hurts the stock price in the short term as it dilutes the number of share outstanding.AMC said it plans to use the money from the stock sale for “general corporate purposes,” which may include paying down existing debt and acquisition of theater assets. B. Riley Securities and Citigroup Global Markets are AMC’s sale agents for the stock sale.Separately, AMC on Tuesday announced a sale of 8.5 million shares to Mudrick Capital at approximately $27.12 per share — worth about $230.5 million. Despite that share sale, the stock continued to go higher as retail investors cheered the capital raise. More

  • 150 Shares139 Views

    in Finance

    Tesla recalls hundreds of Model 3 cars that were shipped to China

    Tesla China-made Model 3 vehicles are seen during a delivery event at its factory in Shanghai, China January 7, 2020.Aly Song | ReutersBEIJING — Tesla is recalling more than 700 units of its Model 3 electric car that were imported into China, the central government’s market regulator said Thursday.The announcement follows recalls of tens of thousands of Tesla vehicles in China and the U.S. in the last several months. Elon Musk’s automaker has also come under increased regulatory scrutiny in China in the last several months after a slew of negative consumer and media reports on brake failures and collisions.Thursday’s recall affects a total of 734 vehicles produced in 2019, the State Administration for Market Regulation said on its website, citing a recall plan that Tesla filed.The cars either have a seat belt issue that could increase the risk of passenger injury in the event of a collision, or a tire-related problem that could increase the risk of collision, the regulator said.Tesla will notify affected car owners, and conduct free inspections and repairs, the statement said.Read more about electric vehicles from CNBC ProCiti upgrades Nio, says growing EV demand in China can lift stock more than 50%JPMorgan says buy puts in flagging momentum stocks like TeslaThe battery market is booming. One company believes it’s made a key change to how they’re madeTesla shares were mildly lower in extended-hours trading, after falling 3% during Wednesday’s trading session in New York.A representative for Tesla did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.The U.S.-based automaker opened a factory in Shanghai in 2019. Tesla began delivering China-made Model 3 cars to customers last year, and China-made Model Y vehicles this year.Tesla’s Model 3 has ranked among the three best-selling electric cars in mainland China, outselling similarly priced models from Chinese start-ups such as Nio. However, a budget car called the Wuling Hongguang Mini EV has climbed into first place in recent months. More

  • 225 Shares149 Views

    in Finance

    Russia's top digital bank wants to offer crypto — but tough central bank policy stands in its way

    Tinkoff, the biggest online bank in Russia, wants to offer cryptocurrency trading to its clients but says this will take time due to a tough stance from the country’s central bank.Oliver Hughes, Tinkoff’s CEO, said Thursday that “qualified investors who know what they’re doing” want to invest in crypto.”There’s no mechanism for us to offer that product to them in Russia at the moment because the central bank has got this very tough position,” he told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.A Bitcoin ATM in a grocery store in Russia.Yegor Aleyev | TASS via Getty ImagesRussia gave cryptocurrencies like bitcoin legal status in 2020 but banned digital assets from being used in payments, saying that only the Russian ruble could be considered legal tender.Earlier this week, Russian central bank governor Elvira Nabiullina told CNBC that digital currency was the “future for our financial system.” But she was referring to central bank digital currencies rather than crypto.Unlike cryptocurrencies, which are designed to be decentralized, CBDCs are issued and controlled by authorities. Like China and the U.S., Russia is exploring a digital version of its currency.Alexander Shulgin, CEO of Russian e-commerce firm Ozon, said a digital ruble would help his business.”If everyone has the opportunity to pay with digital currency online, it’s (an) easier transaction for companies like us,” he told CNBC Thursday, also speaking from the forum.Governments have become increasingly wary of cryptocurrencies, due in no small part to their use in illegal activities like money laundering and terrorist financing.Digital assets are also incredibly volatile, with the price of bitcoin having fallen from a record high of $64,829 in April to as low as $30,001 the following month.Hughes said he recognizes concerns over the use of crypto in money laundering, as well as retail investors “who see cryptos glittering at the moment and maybe make poor investment decisions.”But he added that professional investors are warming to the asset class.”Hopefully over time this will evolve and we’ll be able to achieve the aims of the central bank, making sure there’s no money laundering issues, making sure we’re protecting investors, but also offer products in a responsible way,” Hughes said. More