Today’s news: Trending business stories for December 19, 2023
The latest business news as it happens
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Loblaw’s Galen Weston accused of inaccurate claim over grocery code
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Recap for December 28
BAR HARBOR — A free online one-hour class aims to focus on financial fundamentals and give participants a tool that shows how to achieve profitability in a few clicks without complex math or troublesome spreadsheets.
Four Steps to Unlocking Profits in 2024, presented by College of the Atlantic in collaboration with Profit Decoder, is focused on helping small businesses thrive. The class is set for 11 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 9. To register, visit profitdecoder.com.
The class is part of Profit Decoder’s Cultivating Community series, which gives entrepreneurs the tools and skills to succeed. COA and Profit Decoder want to give small business owners the knowledge and skills to understand their financials and counter the number one reason for small business failure — a lack of financial engagement.
“Small businesses from bakers to graphic designers make up the backbone of our communities, and without these local enterprises, our communities would cease to exist as they are,” said Profit Decoder cofounder Jordan Motzkin, a 2010 graduate of COA, according to a news release from Rob Levin, COA director of communications. “Impacting each of these small businesses has a positive multiplier effect, including hiring employees, keeping Main Street active and improving rural community wellbeing.”
The impact of these small businesses is immense, according to the Small Business Administration. In 2019, the SBA reports, small businesses accounted for two-thirds of net new jobs and 44% of economic activity. This is economic activity that stays in the local community, according to the American Independent Business Alliance, which says that local businesses generate four times the impact of chain stores. Every dollar spent in these businesses generates an additional $1.43 in local spending, creating jobs and strengthening community infrastructure, the AIBA reports.
But being a small business is tough work. A study from the University
The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the conviction of Sam Bankman-Fried, the reassertion of union power and the turmoil at OpenAI were just some of the big business stories in a year that was full of them.
DealBook has chosen photographs of some of the biggest newsmakers, stories and trends from 2023.
Artificial intelligence had a good year. Investment poured into A.I. start-ups; big tech firms deployed their scale and cloud computing operations to build ties with the field’s new leaders; and Nvidia became the first chipmaker to hit a market capitalization of $1 trillion thanks to demand for its A.I. semiconductors.
The investor enthusiasm was matched by worry among lawmakers, who often struggled to keep pace with the companies developing the technology. But the first steps toward developing regulations for A.I. have been taken. President Biden issued an executive order in October focused on the technology’s implications for national security; China imposed restrictions on certain types of A.I.; and E.U. lawmakers passed one of the world’s first regimes to regulate the technology.
But amid the disparate efforts, there was also an attempt to achieve some measure of international collaboration. Last month, more than two dozen countries, including the rivals U.S. and China, tech executives and researchers attended Britain’s A.I. Safety Summit. The event didn’t end with an agreement for a new set of rules, but the governments warned of the dangers posed by the most advanced A.I. systems and agreed to keep talking.
On June 6, the PGA Tour, the world’s pre-eminent men’s professional golf circuit, and LIV Golf, a Saudi-funded rival that was poaching top players and posed a serious threat, tentatively agreed to join forces. The decision was a stunning
Keeping track of your competition and the state of your industry is an integral part of operating any business. Traditionally, that information has been termed “market intelligence.” In recent years, the practice of collecting market intelligence has expanded to include analytics that can help you improve your business model and projections. Market intelligence can help you understand your market better to run a more profitable business.
At its core, market intelligence uses multiple sources of information to create a broad picture of your company’s existing market. It assesses your company’s customers, problems, competition and opportunities for creating new products and services.
You can collect market intelligence by referencing sales logs, customer data, surveys and reviewing social media metrics.
Saul Dobney, CEO of research consultancy group Dobney.com, says it is easy for small companies to get started with a commonsense approach.
“It can be as simple as visiting your competitors’ websites or stores, finding published information about the number and type of potential customers, [and] keeping up to date with developments in your area from magazines, journals or business associations,” Dobney said. “It also includes checking for customer comments and feedback online that will help the business improve its offer or service.”
Market intelligence involves identifying your target market and understanding the needs and trends of your consumers.
Market intelligence is often confused with business intelligence, but they aren’t the same thing. Business intelligence refers to data specifically about a company, while market intelligence looks at the overall trends.
In general, business intelligence is information about internal company performance. This includes how many products were shipped and the total number of sales in a month.
In contrast, market intelligence focuses on external information, including customer demographics, geographic information and what consumers buy.
A Scientific Advice confirms UK MHRA could accept a marketing authorisation application for LUMEVOQ® with the most recent clinical data from existing trials (not necessarily including RECOVER data)
GenSight plans to file an application for a marketing authorisation in the UK in H2 2024, aiming for a possible decision by H2 2025
Decision to mix the two successful Drug Substance batches into one single Drug Product batch to optimise the number of available vials for patients; product now expected to be fully released in Q3 2024 (vs early Q2 2024 previously)
Extended cash runway to mid-February 2024; ongoing discussions to bridge AAC resumption in France in Q3 2024; estimated need amounting to €14 million
PARIS, December 27, 2023–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Regulatory News:
GenSight Biologics (Euronext: SIGHT, ISIN: FR0013183985, PEA-PME eligible), a biopharma company focused on developing and commercializing innovative gene therapies for retinal neurodegenerative diseases and central nervous system disorders, today provides an update on its regulatory strategy in the United Kingdom, the possible resumption of early access (“Autorisation d’Accès Compassionnel” or AAC) in France and its financial situation.
“We are grateful to the MHRA experts for their thoughtful in-depth consideration of the massive amount of clinical and experimental data generated over the past many years,” commented Pr. José-Alain Sahel, Co-founder of GenSight, Distinguished professor and Chairman of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (US), Founding Director of the Institut de la Vision, Paris (France). “It is reheartening to feel hopeful that patients affected with this blinding disease will possibly access the life-changing medicine developed by the teams at the Paris Vision Institute and the GenSight teams over close to twenty years and especially the past decade.”
Regulatory Update
A Scientific Advice meeting with the UK Medicines
Eagan, Minnesota
CNN
—
The winter holidays typically make for busier times at The Open Door Pantry food shelf here in this Twin Cities suburb.
And sure enough, on the Monday before Christmas, the day’s food appointments were chock-full. In the back warehouse, nearly 100 volunteers quickly and methodically sifted through thousands of pounds of freshly donated food.
But the activity isn’t simply a seasonal surge: The daily appointments are booked solid through the end of January, and demand has been overwhelming for The Open Door’s other community-based food distribution events.
While 2023 was the year that meaningful progress was made on slowing down painfully high inflation, 33 months’ worth of fast-rising prices took their toll on many Americans, especially those with lower incomes.
To that point, this year also marks a record year for food pantry visits in Minnesota and beyond — in many cases, by a country mile.
“The years of inflation, they stacked on top of each other,” said Jason Viana, The Open Door’s executive director. “We were seeing the impact of [rising wages], but inflation wiped all that out.”
In 2022, the US saw inflation spike to levels not seen in four decades, and the Federal Reserve was in the throes of a historic rate-hiking campaign to cool it back down.
At the start of this year, inflation had moderated some — the Consumer Price Index had cooled to 6.5% in January 2023 from its 9.1% peak in June 2022. However, the US economic outlook was clouded by ongoing fears that the aggressive Fed campaign would lead to a downturn.
Those dire predictions did not materialize.
It currently appears that the Fed has turned the corner on its lengthy battle to bring down inflation without the economy careening into a recession.
The labor market remains strong,
MINNEAPOLIS — Despite warnings, online romance scams continue to find victims across Minnesota.
The latest victim – a Lewiston business that could be out nearly four million dollars.
According to court documents from Wabasha County, 61-year old Sharon Schmalzriedt of Wabasha was charged last week with felony theft and felony financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult.
The documents state that in February 2020, the business’ owner “noticed some unexpected losses and inconsistencies” in the business’ financial statements, including “several large whole dollar transfers of cash to organizations that Victim did not do business with.”
After bring in an outside financial officer, the business owner discovered Schmalriedt had deleted multiple payments from the ledge beginning in October 2019 for a loss of $3,751,337.06.
Schmalzriedt was fired in March 2023 for gross negligence.
The documents say a special agent interviewed Schmalzriedt who stated she was having marital problems and began an online relationship with ‘Erik Lockwood’. Lockwood “claimed that he was owed seven million dollars from work he performed in Dubai. However he needed to borrow United States
currency in order to acquire the seven million he was owed.”
The dcouments say Schmalzriedt initially sent Lockwood her own money and then began transferring money from the business and then $17,150 from a vulnerable adult she’s responsible for.
The BBB says it’s a story that’s become all too common across the country.
“Especially during the holiday season and as we approach Valentine’s Day, because people are very interested in spending special moments, intimate moments with another one, ” said Bao Vang with the Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and North Dakota. “What happens is these scammers are creating these really compelling background stories with full fledged identities, picture , and stories around their travel and their work and it feels real when someone
The world moves on news. From decisions based on coverage of financial markets and political developments to those based on local news or weather reports, the news impacts our lives directly and indirectly. News is available and accessed in multiple formats: digital (online news content), print (newspapers and magazines), and broadcasting (TV and radio).
Investors looking for investments in news-only companies should carefully study the overall business of a company to ensure that its operations fit into their desired investment profile. Here are some of the world’s top news companies, arranged in the decreasing order of the available market cap figures as of September 2023.
Comcast (CMCSA) is a media giant. It is one of the largest broadcasting and cable television companies in the world by revenue. Comcast also ranks among the largest pay-TV companies, cable TV companies, and home internet service providers in the United States. The company also provides customers with home telephone services. Comcast controls the news media outlets NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC, and UK’s Sky News.
Thomson Reuters (TRI) is a Canadian-based news and media company. It also provides financial and market data across the globe including the Reuters service. It owns both news the Thomson and Reuters News publications as well as other online financial and wire services. Thomson Reuters also corporate solutions, legal products, as well
From December 17-21, a mission of 65 American business and tech executives visited Israel to extend their support to the business and tech sector of the economy, which is suffering from the war. They wanted to help the Israeli business leaders find ways to counter the war’s major economic disruption and come up with ideas to rebuild and support Israel’s tech industry.
David Siegel, the CEO of the global community platform Meetup, was a main initiator and coordinator of the mission. He worked with several others in America, including Ron Miasnik of Bain Capital Ventures, Elisha Tropper, founder and CEO of Jag Capital, and Joseph Katz, director of marketing and communications for JLIC, to put it together. Michael Eisenberg, of Aleph VC Fund in Jerusalem, was the coordinator from Israel.
“My son, who is in Israel, was barraged by friends calling from the U.S., asking what they could do to help Israel after October 7,” said Siegel. “He told me that he suggested that they understand who is in their direct sphere of impact, and focus on influencing those around them. He then told me that I should do the same. As a tech CEO, I know many tech and business leaders in the U.S., and decided that the most important thing I could do was to influence other influencers and leaders to ‘show up’ to Israel and ensure that Israelis understand that tech and business leaders will be there for them. We were able to get 65 tech, venture capital and business leaders to then drop everything and spend four to five days in Israel.”