Yahoo has been struggling to keep up with competitors like Google and has mostly reliant on its Alibaba shares for a positive stock evaluation of the company. In an effort to use cash generated by the Alibaba IPO to strengthen its online presence yahoo plans to invest 640$ million in the video platform BrightRoll. So far Yahoo’s acquisitions have not been very fruitful except of the largest acquisition of Tumblr which has been a source of revenue growth. BrightRoll is primarily acquiesced because of their unique approach to the video advertising space. It is questionable if this acquisition will benefit Yahoo since BrightRoll only has annual revenues of $100 million and Yahoo is missing the large scale customer base in video advertising. Google’s YouTube dominates the video ad market with a whopping share of 19% of online video ads sold and the acquisition will not change the situation. The acquisition however shows how Video has been a focal point for Yahoo’s turnaround strategy, since it bolsters its video site Screen, however Yahoo has failed to generate meaningful revenue from ads sold next to those videos.

http://fortune.com/2014/11/11/yahoo-brightroll-acquisition/

http://online.wsj.com/articles/yahoo-to-buy-video-ad-platform-brightroll-1415744065

Britain has always seen the developments of a European Union with skeptical eyes, seeing it as a threat to its independent policies and institutions. David Cameron’s promise to hold a referendum on Britain exiting the EU has sparked a lot of discussions on Britain’s status in the EU. It seems more and more likely that Britain will in fact exit the EU as Fringe parties like UKIP surging in electoral victories and many Conservative party members preferring an exit. Recently Cameron has proposed to disband the free movement policy of the EU in favor of a policy in which EU migrants can only come to Britain if they have a job to go to. Anyone unable to support themselves would be deported after three months. This is clearly against everything the EU stands for like the free movement of its people in its member states. The real threat of a British exit out of the EU is frightening for businesses since the trading block is the UK’s biggest trading partner and provides more political and economic clout when negotiating trade agreements with other countries like China or India.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2817630/Cameron-forced-tear-plan-cap-EU-migration-Merkel-warns-point-no-return-Britain.html#ixzz3IpLkHmEp

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-29967737

Lenovo corp. has increased its net profit by 19% largely due to its increased presence in in the global PC and Smartphone market. Contradicting a lagging PC market Lenovo managed to grow its market share in the second quarter and captured 20% of the worldwide market. Not only does Lenovo have leading presences in the PC market they also increasingly become a serious competitor in the smartphone market where they have a market share of 5.2% making them the 4 largest smartphone producer worldwide. This success stems largely from their dominance in their home market China. Lenovo’s success has primarily come with its consistency in providing innovation, producing high-quality devices and still focusing much of its attention on its PC division while other companies dismiss it in favor of smartphones and tablets. In an effort to combine the traditional PC experience with the more mobile Tablet experience Lenovo came up with the Yoga serious which is an Ultrabook and tablet in one. Innovations like this give Lenovo an upper hand over other traditional PC makers like HP and Dell.

http://www.cnet.com/news/lenovo-quarterly-profit-climbs-with-boost-in-pc-market-share/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcochiappetta/2014/05/22/lenovo-defies-the-odds-outperforms-overall-pc-market-and-overtakes-apple/

A first nation band is planning to be the first to open a on reserve medical marijuana grow up. The band has substantial support in their community as the First Nation looks at cannabis strain that caters specifically to health conditions afflicting the indigenous populations in Canada. The proposed 10$ million marijuana production facility would provide plenty of Jobs in the 900 people band and would be a great boost to the regional economic activity. The company which would build the facility is called Kaneh Bosm BioTechnology. They plan to expand across the whole of Canada by building more facilities with First Nation bands across all the territories, pursuing a corporate social responsible strategy in which they support local communities, use greenhouses and the sun as sources for their plants and provide much needed jobs in remote areas. The plan seems ready to go the nation just needs to hold a referendum before they can purchase a license trough Health Canada. The production facilities run by the first nation facilities could eventually even supply major cities like Vancouver, as they have a comparative advantage in cheap labor, land and government support.

http://www.theprovince.com/health/First+Nation+considers+growing+medical+marijuana+reserve/10366723/story.html

The small town of Westminster in Central Massachusetts United States is considering a bold step, they are planning to ban sales of all tobacco products within town lines. The Board of education will hear public comment on a regulation this Wednesday, and has thereby become a major battleground in America’s tobacco wars. In many cases the ban of all tobacco is a first which can shake up the tobacco industry worldwide. A ban in Westminster sets a dangerous precedent for other municipalities which could follow suit and enact a ban as well. This ban is dangerous as it threatens local businesses which depend partly on business generated by the sale of tobacco products and the added value brought by these customers. Brian Vincent who owns a convenience store in Westminster says that over 5% of his sales are made out of sales of tobacco products. It is questionable if a ban of tobacco in Westminster will have the desired effect of forcing more people to quit smoking as smokers can still order tobacco products online or drive to neighboring municipalities to buy tobacco products in bulk.

http://www.boston.com/business/news/2014/11/09/massachusetts-town-weighs-nation-tobacco-ban/qvaPWBQwmBZf5ZalHaH2LJ/story.html

Isis has become the most potent terror organization, they have done that to a large extend by finding better sources of income than comparable organizations primarily through their exploitation of oil fields from territory they conquered. Since ISIS is internationally condemned they have troubles selling their oil, however reports show that although ISIS sells its oil for only 20$ per barrel they still earn more than 2 million dollars per day. Clearly then the most effective way to stop the threat posed by ISIS is to cut down their income gained from selling oil at the back market. Steps have already been taken to stop this black market activity Kurdish Peshmerga militants have arrested about 360 suspects on dealing oil. The US has also been working with the Kurdistan Regional Government to identify oil routes, trucks and traders in an effort to block smuggling. Recently ISIS has been struggling to conquer more territory trough the frequent airstrikes by the American government. German news has reported that according to reports from the German Intelligence Agency BND Oil production capacity has sharply shrunken six fold, it looks like the allies are making progress.

http://rt.com/news/203723-isis-iraq-oil-smuggle/

For a long time Big Pharma in the United States have neglected tropical diseases, but this is about to change with the first American infected in the US. GlaxoSmithKline has started making 10000 does of experimental Ebola vaccine others like Johnson and Johnson’s Crucell division and NewLink Genetics are close to entering the market. Pharmaceutical firms have only spent $527 million on research and development of tropical diseases a small fraction of the total spent of 130 billion. Most US pharmaceutical firms considered tropical diseases charity work. Since in a capitalist system in which industry takes all the risk in R&D and only gets returns on investment from successful products, it does not work for diseases which primarily affect low-income countries. Through the greater exposure of tropical diseases in the US, especially the Gulf coast many pharmaceutical companies have taken up the fight against tropical diseases trough WHO donations, flexible pricing and patent policies, collaborative R&D and investments in healthcare structures. This can be seen as a strategic investment in the future, since 40% of the world’s population lives in the tropics. Economic growth in those places will see many of these nations become important commercial hubs for the pharma industry.

Sources:

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/oct/05/ebola-america-range-big-pharma