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The Morning Risk Report: Amazon’s Reversal Highlights Risks of Public Perception |
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Backlash against Amazon’s proposed new headquarters in New York may indicate the company miscalculated risks in the process, consultants say. PHOTO: DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES
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Hello. Amazon’s decision to cancel plans for a new headquarters in New York highlights, on a grand scale, one of the biggest risks companies face when planning ambitious expansions: shifting public sentiment.
Despite polls that indicated support for the campus in Long Island City, Queens, Amazon faced backlash from local officials and community groups after the plans were announced in November—indicating that the company may have miscalculated and mismanaged the potential risks in the process, according to experts.
[Continued below…]
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Site-selection consultants say it’s wise for big companies, before moving into a new city, to build local coalitions and give the community a private venue to air their concerns. And when facing significant public opposition in one locale, companies should look elsewhere, no matter how great the location is, said Dennis Donovan, a principal at Wadley Donovan Gutshaw Consulting LLC.
Raymond Walker, national director of site-selection services at Colliers International, often advises clients to spend time in their prospective neighborhoods, staying at local hotels, eating at neighborhood restaurants and striking up conversations with residents. “You always try to identify what you think are skeletons in the closet,” Mr. Walker said.
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Holiday Schedule for The Morning Risk Report |
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The Morning Risk Report won't be published Monday in observance of Presidents’ Day in the U.S.
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German Subsidiary Hid Sales to Cuba, Treasury Says |
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A German company was fined $5.5 million for selling chemical reagents to Cuba after it devised a scheme to conceal the effort from its American parent, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
AppliChem GmbH, based in Darmstadt, Germany, continued sales to Cuba after it was bought in 2012 by Glenview, Ill.-based Illinois Tool Works Inc., the Treasury said. Illinois Tool Works learned from a tip on its ethics hotline that AppliChem had designed and implemented a scheme by which it referred to its Cuban business as the “Caribbean procedures,” the Treasury said. Senior AppliChem management conducted training of company staff to help perpetuate the scheme, the Treasury said.
The AppliChem case comes a week after the Treasury reached a settlement with a Virginia company over allegations that its Turkish subsidiary had hidden its Iranian business from the U.S.-based parent. Neither AppliChem nor Illinois Tech Works could immediately be reached for comment.
—Samuel Rubenfeld
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U.S. Vice President Mike Pence speaking next to the Warsaw Uprising Monument in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday. PHOTO: KACPER PEMPEL/REUTERS
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Vice President Mike Pence lashed out at Washington’s major European allies for helping what he called a “murderous” Iran escape U.S. sanctions, warning at a global conference here that their actions would exacerbate a divide between Europe and the U.S.
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A Chinese-born scientist was arrested on charges of trying to steal trade secrets from companies doing research with Coca-Cola Co., with the intent to set up a competing venture in China and win a reward from a Chinese government-backed program, authorities said.
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Apple Inc. said it would make some older iPhone models available for sale again in Germany, two months after it had removed the models because a court ruled here that the smartphone maker had infringed on a patent by Qualcomm Inc.
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Guggenheim Partners LLC said the SEC won’t take action against the firm following an investigation into its asset-management business.
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The world’s tax collectors have been gunning for Silicon Valley. Now they’re trying to figure out how to divide up the spoils. For years, U.S. tech giants like Alphabet Inc. and Facebook Inc. have shifted around profit so they pay little income tax in many countries where they operate. But dozens of countries are now considering new taxes aimed at the largest tech firms.
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Emirates planes are parked at the Dubai International Airport. PHOTO: KAMRAN JEBREILI/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest international hub, briefly suspended flights Friday because of the suspected presence of a drone, the latest in a string of global airports to have to ground flights because of illicit unmanned aircraft operations.
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Exchange giant Intercontinental Exchange Inc., known as ICE, plans to impose a three-millisecond “speed bump”—or brief delay—on some trades in gold and silver futures, a proposal that would blunt the edge of ultrafast traders.
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Six Flags Entertainment Corp. said it would delay opening new theme parks in China as the country’s economy slows, resulting in lower-than-expected revenue in its latest quarter.
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Univision Communications Inc. swung to a loss in the fourth quarter, hurt by a large impairment charge on its English-language digital unit and a carriage dispute with Dish Network Corp. that negatively affected the Spanish-language broadcaster’s revenue.
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Ant says WorldFirst would help expand the customer base, global reach and cross-border money-transfer capabilities of its Alipay mobile-payments network. PHOTO: RICHARD B. LEVINE/ZUMA PRESS
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Ant Financial Services Group, the world’s most valuable financial-technology startup, is acquiring U.K.-based money-transfer company WorldFirst for about $640 million.
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Credit-card companies are hiking a range of fees that U.S. merchants will pay to process transactions, a move likely to inflame already fractious relations between many businesses and card networks.
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Nestlé SA reported higher annual sales driven by improved performance in the U.S. and China, a sign that Chief Executive Mark Schneider’s efforts to revive growth are gaining traction.
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General Electric moved to Boston from Fairfield, Conn., in 2016. PHOTO: CJ GUNTHER/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK
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Caesars Entertainment owns Caesars Palace, shown, Harrah’s and other properties on the sought-after Las Vegas Strip PHOTO: JOHN LOCHER/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Billionaire shareholder activist Carl Icahn, who owns roughly 10% of Caesars Entertainment Corp., plans to push the casino operator to consider selling itself after it received at least two approaches.
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FedEx Corp. said its No. 2 executive David Bronczek is leaving the company and stepping down from its board, just a few weeks after the company veteran became a director.
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