This year is set to be a banner year for ecommerce as online sales for Thanksgiving weekend increased 22% from last year. Meanwhile, retail sales fall.
North America
Essilor announces acquisition of Canadian eyewear firm Suntech Optics
France-based ophthalmic lenses firm Essilor International has acquired Canada-based sunglasses and reading glasses distributor Suntech Optics Inc to develop its prescription and non-prescription eyewear product portfolio.
Afghanistan woos corporate India amid concerns over US pact
Indian investors at a December 14 speech by Afghan President Hamid Karzai were not convinced that the latter's country is safe enough to carry out their investment plans, according to a Bloomberg report.
Robinsons Retail buys local operator of Shiseido, Benefit cosmetic unit in the Philippines
Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. has bought Beauty Skinnovations Retail Inc. (BSRI) for an undisclosed sum. BSRI operates the Philippine stores of Japan's Shiseido Co. Ltd. and US' Benefits Cosmetics LLC.
Gold loses its shine as funds predict 31% drop this year
Dara compiled by Bloomberg indicated that investors are exiting from their gold-backed exchange-traded products this year. $69.5 billion in value was removed in the ETPs and analysts expect an additional 311 tons will be removed from the ETPs next year.
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The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported on Friday including ITC Holdings, Dave & Buster, Time Warner Cable, Banca Etruria, Cube Capital, Cargolux, Simon Property and Versace.
Some industry observers believed excess liquidity spurred by central banks' economic monetary policies could result to asset bubbles in niche markets by year 2014.
A Sprint and T-Mobile merger will most likely not happen as the former needs to overcome certain hurdles to ensure that a smooth transition could take place, according to a ZDNet article.
Last-minute bettors on Friday were said to have driven the amount of jackpot money for Mega Millions from an estimated $425 million to over an estimated $550 million, according to lottery officials on Saturday.
New York-based money manager BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Telecom Italia to 10%, becoming its second-largest shareholder. This could potentially tip the balance at a shareholder meeting set to vote on the proposed ouster of Telecom Italia's board, according to a Reuters report.
Yahoo Inc had a bad time this week, observed TechCrunch as the company struggled to appease its customers, including small business owners due to the outage of some of its key Web services.
The fight between Pay-television companies and major US broadcasters, and TV over Internet startup Aereo would most likely see intervention from the US government, according to a report on Investors Business Daily today.
With the reported bid for Time Warner Cable said to be readied by Charter Communications dominating the news, the New York Post reported that Cablevision may soon be approached by private equity players.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission or CSRC revealed new plans on public share sales as initial public offerings are set to resume in January next year, Reuters reported.
