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The Morning Ledger: New European Data Rules Cost Companies Millions |
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Harm Ohlmeyer, chief financial officer of Adidas AG, says ‘You cannot spend enough to protect yourself.’ PHOTO: KRISZTIAN BOCSI/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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Good morning. Finance chiefs are spending millions on their security infrastructure ahead of new European data protection rules, but some worry that the law’s lack of clear technical guidelines may mean that these steps aren’t enough, reports CFO Journal's Nina Trentmann.
The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, is forcing both multinationals and small manufacturers and even restaurants to change how they gather and handle information about Europeans, even if the companies have no physical footprint in Europe, writes the WSJ's Sam Schechner.
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The legislation doesn’t specify how regulators will assess compliance, making it difficult for companies to decide if they have made sufficient changes to their data policies or invested enough in upgrading their systems. Regulators are preparing to brandish their new enforcement powers shortly after the new law enters into force Friday, report the WSJ's Natalia Drozdiak and Mr. Schechner.
German sportswear maker Adidas AG, U.K. recruiting firm Hays PLC and French building materials maker Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA are among the firms wrangling investments to comply with the new laws. Around 60% of companies surveyed by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said they would spend more than $1 million on preparing for GDPR, while 12% reported allocating more than $10 million.
Firms that aren't fully prepared, including Los Angeles Times publisher Tronc Inc., are blocking European Union consumers from accessing sites, as they scrambled to comply with the regulation, write Ms. Drodzdiak and Mr. Schechner.
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Macy’s Inc. has named Paula Price, the former finance chief of the parent of grocery chains Peapod, Stop & Shop and Giant Food, as its new chief financial officer. She replaces Macy’s longtime CFO Karen Hoguet, who is retiring on Feb. 2, 2019.
Ms. Price is currently a full-time senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, a role she has held since 2014. She also serves as a director on several company boards, including that of consulting firm Accenture PLC, where she chairs the audit committee and is a member of the compensation committee.
“She’s on several boards in eclectic businesses which keeps you very sharp intellectually because you’re engaging with different companies, different problems, different markets everyday,” said Peter Crist, chairman for executive recruiter Crist|Kolder.
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CAE Inc. and Foot Locker Inc. are among the companies slated to report earnings today.
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Pedestrians walk past the GAP flagship store in Shanghai, China. QILAI SHEN/SHUTTERSTOCK
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Gap Inc. executives said they had to resort to heavy discounting to move unsold clothes that had piled up at stores, a decision that weighed on profit in the first quarter and could carry over into the current period.
Total SA signed a deal Thursday to take a 10% stake in a massive Russian gas project, as the French oil giant doubles down on controversial efforts to ship supercooled natural gas from the country’s Arctic peninsula.
United Continental Holdings Inc. has named its first female chairman. Jane C. Garvey, a United board member since 2009, was selected as the new nonexecutive chairman, the U.S. airline said Thursday.
Russian aluminum giant United Co. Rusal PLC Friday said Oleg Deripaska has resigned as a nonexecutive director, expanding a sweeping overhaul of the company’s management and board in an effort to escape the Trump administration’s sanctions program.
Diageo PLC is selling Canadian whisky Seagrams VO and cinnamon schnapps Goldschlager among other brands as it looks to pivot toward higher-growth products, according to people familiar with the matter.
Best Buy Co.’s sales jumped in the latest quarter as the electronics retailer continued to benefit from shoppers spending more freely, but shares fell as some investors feared there might not be much more room to run.
Some Merrill Lynch brokers are bracing for a pay cut this summer as the firm’s parent, Bank of America Corp., rolls out a new compensation program that punishes advisors who don’t meet certain sales targets.
A U.S. short seller has intensified its attack on Samsonite International SA after the luggage maker’s chief executive admitted he never graduated with a Ph.D. even though some corporate filings and regulatory documents included the “Dr.” designation.
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Apple says Samsung stole key elements of the iPhone’s design. CALLAGHAN O'HARE/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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Samsung Electronics Co. must pay Apple Inc. $539 million for infringing patents related to the iPhone’s design, a federal jury found Thursday, a new victory for Apple in a yearslong legal battle over the spoils of the smartphone market’s boom.
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Sixteen months after Donald Trump took office, financial regulators have a crowded to-do list. It grew even longer as the president signed into law a bipartisan bill enacting some long-sought changes to the industry rule book.
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Representatives of large retailers including Walmart Inc. and Home Depot Inc. met with federal regulators this week to raise concerns about a new online payment initiative that Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. are preparing to roll out.
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The U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board censured Deloitte & Touche LLP and imposed a $500,000 penalty against the Big Four firm for overlooking material accounting errors during three consecutive audits of Jack Henry & Associates Inc., a Missouri-based IT provider for banks and credit unions, reports Accounting Today.
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A California jury on Thursday ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $4 million in punitive damages to a woman who said she developed cancer after being exposed to asbestos in the company’s baby powder, pushing the total damages award in the case to $25.7 million, reports Reuters.
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Pfizer Inc. has agreed to pay nearly $24 million to resolve allegations that it violated federal law by using a charity to pay Medicare patients’ out-of-pocket costs for the company’s prescription drugs, federal prosecutors said.
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The European Union settled its multiyear antitrust case against PAO Gazprom on Thursday, clinching promises of cheaper and freer natural-gas flows from Russia as President Donald Trump pressures the bloc to tap U.S. energy exports and cut its dependence on Moscow.
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Criminals have stolen about $1.2 billion in cryptocurrencies since the beginning of 2017, as bitcoin’s popularity and the emergence of more than 1,500 digital tokens have put the spotlight on the unregulated sector, according to estimates from the Anti-Phishing Working Group released on Thursday, reports Reuters.
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The Congressional Budget Office forecast that the tax cut President Donald Trump signed into law in December, along with differing economic forecasts, would lead to lower revenues over the next decade. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/GETTY IMAGES
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The Congressional Budget Office estimates the U.S. government will take in $1.9 trillion less in revenue and spend $300 billion more over the next decade than the White House estimated under its latest budget proposal if the plan were enacted.
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Owners of restaurants, hotels and other seasonal businesses across the U.S. are scrambling for the second year in a row, as limits on visas for temporary foreign workers and a tight U.S. labor market make it difficult to staff up for the summer rush.
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Rising bond yields have pushed up borrowing costs for home buyers, raising questions about whether higher rates will curb the appetites of consumers looking at big-ticket purchases.
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The Bank of England could forgo planned rises in its key interest rate, or even ease policy, if the U.K.’s departure from the European Union were to be “sharper” than it expects, Gov. Mark Carney said Thursday.
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La-Z-Boy Inc., the Monroe, Michigan furniture retailer, named Melinda Whittington as chief financial officer, effective June 21. She succeeds Louis “Mike” Riccio, who in September 2017 announced plans to retire following the company’s fiscal 2018 year-end report.
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Mr. Riccio will remain at La-Z-Boy through August 1 in an advisory role to assist with the transition. Ms. Whittington was most recently CFO at Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc. from February 2016 until June 2017. Prior to that, she served as senior vice president at Kraft Heinz Co. from July 2015 to October 2015. Before that, she was corporate controller and principal accounting officer of Kraft Foods Group Inc. from January 2014 to June 2015. Compensation details were not immediately available.
Outfront Media Inc., the New York billboard company, named Matthew Siegel as finance chief, effective June 4. He succeeds Donald Shassian, who previously announced plans to retire. Mr. Siegel most recently served as CFO of CBS Radio Inc. from November 2016 to November 2017. Before that, he served as acting co-CFO, senior vice president and treasurer of Time Warner Cable Inc. from 2015 to 2016, and as senior vice president and treasurer from 2008 to 2015.
Mr. Siegel’s compensation includes a base salary of $650,000, an annual bonus targeted at 75% of his salary, and a one-time restricted stock-unit grant valued at $300,000. He is also eligible to receive annual grants of long-term incentive compensation with a target value of $1.2 million commencing in 2019, according to a filing.
Fossil Group Inc., the Richardson, Texas accessories maker, named J.M. Smucker Co. CFO Mark Belgya to its board of directors, effective May 23. Mr. Belgya was also appointed to Fossil’s audit committee and finance committee. Mr. Belgya has served in several finance and accounting roles, including treasurer and corporate controller since joining J.M. Smucker in 1985. He has also served on the board of directors of Hamilton Beach Brands Holding Co. since 2017.
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Every weekend we select a handful of in-depth articles we think are worth a bit of your time, either because they peel back the layers on a compelling business story, or somehow make us look at business in a different light.
High-end brands such as Kering SA’s Gucci and Salvatore Ferragamo SpA are increasingly looking to sneakers for growth, putting them in direct competition with sportswear giants like Nike Inc., Puma SE and Adidas AG, and giving rise to ever-more striking and expensive designs, reports Reuters.
Websites like Wish, AliExpress, LightInTheBox, and even Amazon are cutting out the middleman by enabling more Chinese sellers to penetrate the U.S. market. There, they compete with manufacturers and retailers who themselves have been importing goods from China, writes The Atlantic.
Norway’s Salmon farmers are deploying laser-wielding robots in the battle against the scourge of tiny fish-killing sea lice, reports Wired magazine.
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