The Star Online: Business
The Star Online: Business |
- O&M M’sia picks up 4 Lions
- G20 puts growth before austerity, seeks to calm markets
- Microsoft shares hit by biggest sell-off since 2009
| O&M M’sia picks up 4 Lions Posted: OGILVY & Mather Malaysia swept a record four Lions − two silver and two bronze − at the recent Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The agency says in a statement that it clinched the silver Lions for Nestle Malaysia (Milo Cans "Twisted Football") and Pizza Hut ("When Friends Invite Friends Invite Friends" poster campaign). Meanwhile, the bronze Lions were for Pictionary's "Quick Draw Wins" campaign. O&M Malaysia, the first Malaysian agency to net a Lion at Cannes back in 2001, was the only Malaysian agency to win at the competition last month. Chief creative officer Gavin Simpson attributes the winning of the Lions to "great clients that are open to exciting and relevant ideas." "We hope this would inspire creatives and clients in Malaysia alike to create work that's world-class," he adds. The Milo Cans "Twisted Football" integrated campaign, covering digital, on-ground activation and public relations, aimed to redefine the age-old rules of football. "Selected goalpost designs, each with its own unique shape and dimensions, were built at football fields across Malaysia. Through Facebook, teens were invited to redefine football for themselves and give it a new lease of life by creating their own football twisted designs which were uploaded and shared among their friends," O&M says. Over 16,000 designs were submitted, and the winning design as voted by teens were built and used in the inaugural nationwide Twisted Football Tournament. The Pizza Hut poster campaign dramatises a local quirk whereby Malaysians would invite friends to a party even if they aren't the host, hence leading to having extra mouths to feed come mealtime. The Pictionary "Quick Draw Wins" campaign shows, through a series of posters, drawings of a matchstick man winning over an elaborate illustration of its opponents. It illustrates that simple doodles drawn quickly trumps overcomplicated artistic renditions. Besides the four metals, another 17 of O&M Malaysia's entries were finalists. The Ogilvy & Mather network, which racked up 155 Lions this year (the first agency to win over 100 in a year), was named Network of the Year for the second consecutive year. |
| G20 puts growth before austerity, seeks to calm markets Posted: MOSCOW: The Group of 20 nations put growth ahead of austerity, seeking to rebalance a multi-speed global economy and pledging to shift policy carefully so recovery is not derailed by volatile financial markets. Finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Moscow on Saturday put the finishing touches to a joint communiqué that delegates said was little changed after they met for dinner on Friday night. Indications that the U.S. Federal Reserve would scale back its monetary stimulus dominated the debate, with emerging economies most concerned hit by a resulting selloff in stocks and bonds, and a flight to the dollar. Hosts Russia said G20 policymakers had soft-pedalled on goals to cut government debt in favour of a focus on growth and how to exit central bank stimulus with a minimum of turmoil. "(G20) colleagues have not made the decision to take responsibility to lower the deficits and debts by 2016," Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told Reuters. "Some people thought that first you need to ensure economic growth. While the U.S. recovery is gaining traction, China's export motor is sputtering, Japan's bid to break out of deflation has not reached escape velocity, and demand in the euro zone is too weak to sustain a job-creating recovery. "We do not see any revival of growth in Europe yet, and Japan - we're keeping our fingers crossed," said Indian Finance Minister Chidambaram Palaniappan. "The best case scenario for today would be for the advanced economies to get growth going. They must keep in mind the impact of their actions on the large emerging economies." A final draft, obtained by Reuters, said an action plan to boost jobs and growth, while rebalancing global demand and debt, would be readied for a G20 leaders summit hosted by President Vladimir Putin in September. "We remain mindful of the risks and unintended negative side effects of extended periods of monetary easing," the draft said. "Future changes to monetary policy settings will continue to be carefully calibrated and clearly communicated." In return for its pledge to 'message' its monetary policy intentions clearly, Washington managed to ensure that the text contained no binding fiscal targets, saying that consolidation should be "calibrated" to economic conditions. Sources at the meeting said Germany was less assertive than previously in seeking binding targets to reduce borrowing to follow on from a deal struck in Toronto in 2010, with the improving U.S. economy adding weight to Washington's call to focus on growth. With youth unemployment rates approaching 60 percent in euro zone strugglers Greece and Spain, the growth versus austerity debate has shifted - reflected in the fact that G20 finance and labour ministers held a joint session on Friday. The crisis in the euro zone periphery has been exacerbated by capital outflows, and the communiqué pledged to move "decisively" towards creating a banking union in Europe that could revive cross-border lending. Unlike at previous G20 gatherings, exchange rates and the threat of competitive devaluations barely figured, delegates said. TREAD WITH CARE Ben Bernanke's announcement two months ago that the Fed may start to wind down its $85 billion in monthly bond purchases sparked a panicky sell-off, particularly in emerging markets. Investors were calmed by testimony to Congress this week by Bernanke, who is not in Moscow, although he said the exit plan from money-printing remained on the cards. The spillover effects on developing countries from the withdrawal of quantitative easing policies by developed nations, and the United States in particular, dominated the weekend's discussion, Siluanov said. "There were no arguments but there was discussion," he said. The G20 accounts for 90 percent of the world economy and two-thirds of its population - many living in the large emerging economies at greatest risk of a reversal of capital inflows that have been one of the side effects of the Fed stimulus. China is under pressure to encourage domestic demand-driven growth and allow greater exchange rate flexibility as part of wider efforts to rebalance the global economy which features a huge Chinese surplus and matching U.S. deficit. Beijing offered an early olive branch, removing a floor on the rates banks can charge clients for loans, which should reduce the cost of borrowing for companies and households. Yet this was not discussed at the G20 talks. Siluanov said he and others would monitor progress in Beijing and Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso labelled China's move a step in the right direction. Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said he would "strongly pursue" quantitative easing policies to lift growth and end deflation. Japan, which holds an upper house election on Sunday, in turn drew criticism for giving little detail on structural reforms billed as the 'third arrow' of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic turnaround plan, G20 sources said. - Reuters |
| Microsoft shares hit by biggest sell-off since 2009 Posted: NEW YORK: Microsoft Corp shares fell more than 11 percent on Friday, their biggest plunge in more than four years, a day after the software company posted dismal quarterly results due to weak demand for its latest Windows system and poor sales of its Surface tablet. The stock's selloff, from five-year highs, is the biggest in percentage terms since January 2009, when the world's largest software company cut 5,000 jobs during the recession. At one point in the day, losses exceeded 12 percent, making it the biggest fall since the Internet stock bubble burst in 2000. About $34 billion was wiped off Microsoft's market value on Friday, exceeding the size of rival Yahoo Inc. Microsoft's earnings were wrecked by a $900 million writedown on the value of unsold Surface tablets after it cut prices in a bid to excite buyers. The poor results shocked Wall Street, which had believed the company's strength with business customers would help it ride out a downturn in consumer PC sales. The results provoked fresh skepticism of Chief Executive Steve Ballmer's new plan to reshape the company around devices and services, unveiled last week. "The recent reorganization does not fix the tablet or smartphone problem," Nomura analyst Rick Sherlund said in a note to clients on Friday. "The devices opportunity just received a $900 million hardware write-off for Surface RT and investors may not even like the idea of wading deeper into this territory." Sherlund suggested that activist investors will pressure Ballmer to reconsider his strategy this summer, a reference to ValueAct Capital, which took a $2 billion stake in Microsoft in April and is in talks to get a seat on Microsoft's board. "This (the results) was much more disruptive than investors have expected, with Microsoft missing its guidance in every division and guiding lower," wrote Sherlund. "Everything an activist investor could ask for." Other Wall Street analysts were similarly dismayed by Microsoft's latest financial report. Brokerages Raymond James and Cowen & Co cut their ratings on Microsoft stock by a notch to "market perform" and at least five others trimmed their price targets by as much as $3. Price targets were cut as low as $35, below Thursday's closing price of $35.44. The shares fell as low as $31.02 on Friday and closed at $31.40 on Nasdaq, an 11.4 percent drop. FBR Capital Markets analyst David Hilal said Microsoft's revenue from Windows operating system in the fourth quarter was 9 percent below his expectations. "The key potential growth drivers (Windows 8, Surface) of the Microsoft story appear to be fading, heading into FY14," Hilal wrote in a note. Earlier this week, Microsoft said it was drastically cutting Surface prices to entice buyers, reducing the value of the devices in its inventory. Microsoft launched Surface tablets last year to challenge Apple Inc's iPad, but sales have failed to meet expectations. "The new Windows RT operating system has not been the hit MSFT had hoped for," Cowen analyst Gregg Moskowitz said in a note, adding that investor expectations for the tablet had never been very high. Janney Capital Markets analysts said the writedown was an admission that Microsoft's first attempt in the tablet market had not been successful. The company also said on Thursday it expected revenue from Windows software to continue to fall due to a weak PC market. Microsoft's outlook points to a weaker PC market, shifts toward subscription revenue and a pause ahead of the Xbox One gaming console release, all of which are expected to pressure revenue growth, Morgan Stanley analysts said in a note. Xbox is the only device by Microsoft that has found a following among consumers and a new version is expected to launch this year. - Reuters |
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