Dec 7 (Reuters) – Twitter owner and Tesla (TSLA.O) boss Elon Musk briefly lost his title as the world’s richest person on Wednesday, according to Forbes, following a steep drop in the value of his stake in the electric-car maker and a $44 billion bet on the social media firm.
Bernard Arnault, the chief executive of luxury brand Louis Vuitton’s parent company LVMH (LVMH.PA), and his family briefly took the title as the world’s richest, but were back at No. 2 with a personal wealth of $185.3 billion, according to Forbes.
Musk, who has held the top spot on the Forbes list since September 2021, has a net worth of $185.7 billion. Musk took over the title from Amazon.com (AMZN.O) founder Jeff Bezos.
[1/2] Tesla CEO Elon Musk gestures as he visits the construction site of Tesla’s Gigafactory in Gruenheide near Berlin, Germany, August 13, 2021. Patrick Pleul/Pool via Reuters – RC2B4P9PCFBM/File Photo
Tesla shares, which have lost more than 47% in value since Musk made his offer to buy Twitter earlier this year, were down 2.7%.
Musk’s net worth dropped below $200 billion earlier on Nov. 8 as investors dumped Tesla’s shares on worries the top executive and largest shareholder of the world’s most valuable electric-vehicle maker is more preoccupied with Twitter.
Tesla has lost nearly half its market value and Musk’s net worth has dropped by about $70 billion since he bid for Twitter in April. Musk closed the deal for Twitter in October with $13 billion in loans and a $33.5 billion equity commitment.
Besides Tesla, Musk also heads rocket company SpaceX and Neuralink, a startup that is developing ultra-high bandwidth brain-machine interfaces to connect the human brain to computers.
Reporting by Akriti Sharma and Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta
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BEIJING, Sept 19 (Reuters) – Before the pandemic, Doris Fu imagined a different future for herself and her family: new car, bigger apartment, fine dining on weekends and holidays on tropical islands.
Instead, the 39-year old Shanghai marketing consultant is one of many Chinese in their 20s and 30s cutting spending and saving cash where they can, rattled by China’s coronavirus lockdowns, high youth unemployment and a faltering property market.
“I no longer have manicures, I don’t get my hair done anymore. I have gone to China-made for all my cosmetics,” Fu told Reuters.
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This new frugality, amplified by social media influencers touting low-cost lifestyles and sharing money-saving tips, is a threat to the world’s second-largest economy, which narrowly avoided contraction in the second quarter. Consumer spending accounts for more than half of China’s GDP.
“We’ve been mapping consumer behaviour here for 16 years and in all of that time this is the most concerned that I’ve seen young consumers,” said Benjamin Cavender, managing director of China Market Research Group (CMR).
China’s ‘zero-COVID’ policy – including stringent lockdowns, travel restrictions and mass testing – has taken a heavy toll on the country’s economy. The government’s crackdown on big technology companies has also had an outsized effect on the young workforce.
Unemployment among people aged 16 to 24 stands at almost 19%, after hitting a record 20% in July, according to government data. Some young people have been forced to take pay cuts, for example in the retail and e-commerce sectors, according to two industry surveys. The average salary in 38 major Chinese cities fell 1% in the first three months of this year, data collated by online recruitment firm Zhilian Zhaopin show.
As a result, some young people prefer to save than splurge.
“I used to go see two movies every month, but I haven’t stepped inside a cinema since the pandemic,” said Fu, an avid movie fan.
Retail sales in China rose just 2.7% year-on-year in July, recovering to 5.4% in August but still well below the mostly 7%-plus levels during 2019, before the pandemic.
Almost 60% of people are now inclined to save more, rather than consume or invest more, according to the most recent quarterly survey by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), China’s central bank. That figure was 45% three years ago.
Chinese households overall added 10.8 trillion yuan ($1.54 trillion) in new bank savings in the first eight months of the year, up from 6.4 trillion yuan in the same period last year.
That is a problem for China’s economic policymakers, who have long relied on increased consumption to bolster growth.
China is the only leading economy that cut interest rates this year, in an effort to spur growth. China’s big state-owned banks cut personal deposit rates on Sept. 15, a move designed to discourage saving and boost consumption. read more
Addressing the rise in people’s inclination to save, a PBOC official said in July that when the pandemic eases, the willingness to invest and consume will “stabilize and rise.”
The PBOC did not respond to Reuters requests for comment; neither did China’s Ministry of Commerce.
’10 YUAN DINNER’
After years of increasingly ardent consumerism fuelled by rising wages, easy credit and online shopping, a move toward frugality brings young people in China closer to their more cautious parents, whose memories of lean years before the economy took off have made them more inclined to save.
“Amid the tough job market and strong downward economic pressure, young people’s feelings of insecurity and uncertainty are something they never experienced,” said Zhiwu Chen, chair professor of finance at Hong Kong University Business School.
Unlike their parents, some are making a show of their thriftiness online.
A woman in her 20s in the eastern city of Hangzhou, who uses the handle Lajiang, has gained hundreds of thousands of followers posting more than 100 videos on how to make 10 yuan ($1.45) dinners on lifestyle app Xiaohongshu and streaming site Bilibili.
In one minute-long video with nearly 400,000 views, she stir-fries a dish made from a 4-yuan basa fillet, 5 yuan of frozen shrimp, and 2 yuan of vegetables, using a pink chopping board and pink rice cooker.
Social media discussions have sprung up to share money-saving tips, such as the ‘Live off 1,600 yuan a month challenge,’ in Shanghai, one of China’s most expensive cities.
Yang Jun, who said she was deep in credit card debt before the pandemic, started a group called the Low Consumption Research Institute on networking site Douban in 2019. The group has attracted more than 150,000 members. Yang said she is cutting spending and is selling some of her belongings on second-hand sites to raise cash.
“COVID-19 makes people pessimistic,” the 28-year-old said. “You can’t just be like before, spend all the money you make, and make it back again next month.” She said she is now out of debt.
Yang said she has cut out her daily Starbucks coffee. Fu said she switched her makeup powder brand from Givenchy to a Chinese brand called Florasis, which is about 60% cheaper.
French luxury brands leader LVMH (LVMH.PA), which owns Givenchy, and coffee giant Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O) both said sales fell sharply in China in the latest quarter. read more
China has given no signal on when or how it will exit from its zero-COVID policy. And while policymakers have taken various measures in hopes of boosting consumption, from subsidies for car buyers to shopping vouchers, far more money and attention has been directed towards infrastructure as a way of stimulating the economy.
Stability has been the key theme for China’s policymakers this year, experts say, as President Xi Jinping gears up for a third leadership term at next month’s congress of the ruling Communist Party.
“In the past, when you had economic slowdown, consumers were more likely to feel that government policy is going to fix this problem very quickly,” said Cavender at CMR. “I think right now the challenge is when you interview younger consumers they really don’t know what the future holds.”
Fu, the marketing professional, said she has deferred plans to sell her two small apartments to buy a bigger one in a better school district for her son, and has given up for now on upgrading from her Volkswagen Golf.
“Why do I dare not upgrade my house and my car, even if I have the money?” she said. “Everything is unknown.”
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Reporting by Albee Zhang and Tony Munroe
Editing by Bill Rigby
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HOSTENS, France, Aug 10 (Reuters) – Wildfires tore through the Gironde region of southwestern France on Wednesday, destroying homes and forcing the evacuation of 10,000 residents, some of whom had clambered onto rooftops as the flames got closer.
Black-and-orange skies, darkened by the smoke billowing from forests and lit up by the flames, were seen across the area as the fires continued to burn out of control despite the efforts of firefighters backed by water-bombing aircraft.
Fires, which have razed about 6,200 hectares (15,320), have now crossed in the neighbouring Landes region.
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France, like the rest of Europe, has been struggling this summer with successive heatwaves and its worst drought on record. Dozens of wildfires are ablaze across the country, including at least eight major ones.
“Prepare your papers, the animals you can take with you, some belongings,” the Gironde municipality of Belin-Beliet said on Facebook before evacuating parts of the town.
In the nearby village of Hostens, police had earlier been door to door telling residents to leave as the fire advanced. Camille Delay fled with her partner and her son, grabbing their two cats, chickens and house insurance papers.
“Everyone in the village climbed onto their rooftops to see what was happening – within ten minutes a little twist of smoke became enormous,” the 30-year-old told Reuters by telephone.
Firefighters said more evacuations were likely. Even so, some Hostens residents were reluctant to abandon their homes.
“It’s complicated to go with the dogs and we cannot leave them here,” said Allisson Horan, 18, who stayed behind with her father.
“I’m getting worried because the fire is in a plot of land behind ours and the wind is starting to change direction.”
Numerous small roads and a highway were closed.
Flames engulf trees during a fire in Hostens, as wildfires continue to spread in the Gironde region of southwestern France, in this screen grab taken from a handout video August 9, 2022. Sdis33 via Facebook/ Handout via REUTERS
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HEATWAVES
More than 57,200 hectares have gone up in flames so far in France this year, nearly six times the full-year average for 2006-2021, data from the European Forest Fire Information System shows.
“The fire is creating its own wind,” senior local official Martin Guespereau told reporters, adding that efforts to fight it were made more difficult by how unpredictable it was.
Sweden and Italy are among countries preparing to send help to France, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.
He repeated calls for everyone to be responsible – nine out of 10 fires are either voluntarily or involuntarily caused by people, he said.
The Gironde wildfire is one of many that have broken out across Europe this summer, triggered by heatwaves that have baked the continent and brought record temperatures.
In Portugal, nearly 1,200 firefighters backed by eight aircraft have battled a blaze in the mountainous Covilha area some 280 km (174 miles) northeast of Lisbon that has burned more than 3,000 hectares of forest since Saturday.
Spain and Greece have also had to tackle multiple fires over the past few weeks.
The Gironde was hit by major wildfires in July which destroyed more than 20,000 hectares of forest and temporarily forced almost 40,000 people from their homes.
Authorities believe the latest inferno was a result of the previous fires still smouldering in the area’s peaty soil.
Fires were also raging in the southern departments of Lozere and Aveyron. In the Maine et Loire department in western France, more than 1,200 hectares have been scorched by another fire.
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Reporting by Stephane Mahe in Hostens and Layli Foroudi in Paris; Additional reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Writing by Richard Lough, Ingrid Melander; Editing by Jane Merriman, Alexandra Hudson and Mark Heinrich
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PARIS, July 15 (Reuters) – American tourist Shawna Wilson says she has splashed out on four dresses at the high-end LVMH-owned department store La Samaritaine in Paris, tempted by the prices as the euro reached parity with the U.S. dollar.
The euro tumbled below $1 on Wednesday for the first time in two decades on fears that rising energy prices triggered by the Ukraine conflict could tip the European Union into a prolonged economic crisis. read more
“It’s like it’s on sale here,” said Wilson, 49, from Colorado, whose purchases included two dresses for her daughter. “Because the euro and the dollar are about the same, it definitely encourages us to spend.”
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The weak euro is big draw for tourists, particularly Americans – who are flagged as a key growth driver for the European luxury goods sector in the second quarter, according to analysts from Barclays.
The strong dollar versus the euro contributed to a four-fold rise in tourism spending in Europe in June compared with last year, with an acceleration in spending from Americans, analysts at UBS, citing data from VAT refund provider Planet, said.
The luxury sector has rebounded quickly from the pandemic as people rushed to spend money saved during lockdowns — buying themselves treats as socialising resumed.
But sales in China, the world’s largest luxury goods market, have plunged this year as a new wave of strict COVID-19 lockdowns shuttered shops, crimped demand and also meant fewer high-spending Chinese tourists in Europe. read more
So as Americans fill up transatlantic flights, their eagerness to cash in on the weak euro is helping to replace business lost as a result of the lack of Chinese visitors, who were the main source of luxury sales growth in Europe pre-pandemic.
Luxury goods companies Richemont (CFR.S) and Burberry on Friday reported higher sales in Europe, which helped to offset a drop of more than 30% in China. read more
France has benefited most from the tourists’ splurge.
Sales to tourists in France in June climbed to just 11.3% below 2019 levels, a positive sign for French luxury labels that have a big exposure to their home market, UBS analysts said.
The Dior logo is seen on a building under renovation of luxury brand Dior on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, France, July 13, 2022. REUTERS/Rali Benallou NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES
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American tourists were thronging Paris’s Avenue Montaigne this week, browsing in the luxury boutiques, which include designer names such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Gucci.
Cheryl Penn, 70, a realtor from Delray Beach, Florida, had already bought herself a skirt and stocked up on baby clothes for her granddaughter.
“We just got on the Avenue, so we just started our shopping spree,” said Penn.
“I like that the euro and the dollar are equal so I know exactly what I’m spending,” she said.
Jennifer Groner, a TikTok influencer, went on a shopping spree in Paris in April when the euro was under pressure versus the dollar.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in terms of the price savings,” she told Reuters, estimating that she snapped up a Birkin bag from Hermes in Paris for $4,000 less than it would have cost her in the United States, paying little over $9,000, thanks also to a VAT refund.
“You’re able to travel to Europe, take in the culture but at the same time buy a bag,” said Groner, who also bought handbags and accessories from Prada, Dior, Louis Vuitton and Chanel, for overall savings of $8,000 compared with U.S. prices, based on her calculations.
Monika Arora, founder of pursebop.com, a news and information website for luxury brands, said she believes the brands will eventually “harmonise” prices.
“They’ve done that many times before,” she said.
Chanel told Reuters in May it could implement further price increases in July to account for currency fluctuations – particularly the weakness of the euro – and inflation. read more
The pull of Paris remains strong for American shoppers even though New York’s high end shopping streets teem with luxury European designer brands.
“So many of my friends more than ever are taking little weekend trips to Paris and other places and they are shopping while they are there — because that’s what you do while you’re in Paris,” said Jennifer Tumpowski, outside Gucci’s flagship store on New York’s Fifth Avenue.
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Reporting by Lea Guedj, Doyinsola Oladipo, Gigi Zamora and Mimosa Spencer. Editing by Jane Merriman
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A woman holds a Juul e-cigarette while walking in New York, U.S., September 27, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
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June 22 (Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is preparing to order Juul Labs Inc to take its e-cigarettes off the market in the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Shares in tobacco giant Altria Group (MO.N), which owns a 35% stake in the vaping products maker, fell 8.5% following the report. The decision could come as early as Wednesday, the report said.
Juul has faced heightened scrutiny from regulators, lawmakers and state attorneys general over the appeal of its nicotine products to teenagers. Under pressure, the company in late 2019 had halted U.S. sales of several flavors.
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The FDA declined to comment on the report, while Altria and Juul did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters.
“This clearly comes as a surprise to the market … we would expect that Juul would appeal the decision, and remain on the market through that process, which would likely take a year or more,” Cowen analyst Vivien Azer said.
The looming verdict comes nearly two years after Juul had applied for approval to keep selling e-cigarettes in the country.
The FDA’s review of the applications was based on whether the e-cigarettes are effective in getting smokers to quit and, if so, whether the benefits to smokers outweigh the health damage to new users, including teenagers.
In October, the FDA had allowed Juul rival British American Tobacco Plc (BATS.L) to market its Vuse Solo e-cigarettes and tobacco-flavored pods, the first-ever vapor product to get clearance from the health regulator. read more
The estimated fair value of Altria’s investment in Juul was $1.6 billion as of March end, a fraction of the $12.8 billion it paid in 2018, as a crackdown on vaping has upended the once fast-growing industry.
“The investment in Juul was always a mistake, the company paying top dollar for a business which was already clearly (on) the wrong side of the regulators,” said Rae Maile, analyst at Panmure Gordon.
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Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam and Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Sriraj Kalluvila
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Hermes ‘deeply concerned about situation in Europe’
Russians spend $9 bln/year on luxury goods -Jefferies
PARIS, March 4 (Reuters) – The world’s leading luxury brands said on Friday that they planned to temporarily close stores and pause business operations in Russia.
Birkin bag maker Hermes and Cartier owner Richemont were the first firms to announce such moves, followed by LVMH (LVMH.PA), Kering (PRTP.PA) and Chanel.
Doing business in Russia has become complex since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which prompted the United States, Britain and the Europe Union to impose sweeping sanctions.
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“Given our increasing concerns about the current situation, the growing uncertainty and the complexity to operate, Chanel decided to temporarily pause its business in Russia,” the French luxury fashion house said in a LinkedIn post.
Luxury giant LVMH, which owns such brands as Christian Dior, Givenchy, Kenzo, TAG Heuer and Bulgari among others, will close its 124 boutiques in Russia from Sunday but will continue to pay the salaries for its 3,500 employees in the country, a spokesperson told Reuters.
French multinational Kering, whose brands include brands as Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta and Boucheron among others, has two shops and 180 employees, which the company will continue to support.
While affluent Russians are keen consumers of luxury goods, analysts say the proportion of luxury sales generated from Russian nationals is small compared to the industry’s main growth engines, China and the United States.
Richemont, which also owns Dunhill, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Montblanc, Piaget, and Van Cleef & Arpels among other brands, has around a dozen directly operated stores, mostly in Moscow. It said in a statement it had suspended commercial activities in Russia on March 3 after stopping Ukraine operations on Feb. 24, the day Russia launched its invasion.
Hermes, which has three stores in Moscow, had planned to open an outlet in St. Petersburg later this year.
Investment bank Jefferies estimates that Russians account for around $9 billion in annual luxury sales, which is around 6% of Chinese spending and 14% of U.S spending on luxury goods.
Swiss watchmaker Swatch Group (UHR.S), which owns high end watches and jewellery labels including Harry Winston, said it would continue its operations in Russia, but was putting exports on hold “because of the overall difficult situation”.
L’Oreal (OREP.PA), LVMH (LVMH.PA) and Kering (PRTP.PA) have all pledged financial support to help Ukrainian refugees and Richemont said on Friday it was initiating a “significant donation” to Medecins Sans Frontieres.
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Reporting by Mimosa Spencer, Silvia Aloisi and Layli Foroudi; Editing by Tassilo Hummel, Jon Boyle, Susan Fenton, Alexander Smith and Sandra Maler
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March 3 (Reuters) – Sneaker maker Nike and home furnishings firm IKEA shut down stores in Russia on Thursday, as trade restrictions and supply shutdowns added to political pressure for companies to stop business in Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine.
French bank Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) said it was working to cut its risks in Russia, fearing a tit-for-tat response by Moscow to Western sanctions, as more companies from vodka maker Diageo (DGE.L) to IKEA suspended business in the country.
Globally known companies including Apple, Ford and Shell have condemned Russia’s attack, but some of the announcements on Thursday were more practical, focused on supplies and sanctions as shipping routes closes and governments banned exports to Russia.
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Boeing Chief Executive David Calhoun, in a note to staff, acknowledged the violence in Ukraine but avoided politics.
“Moving forward, Boeing will continue to follow the lead of the U.S. government and strictly adhere to the export controls and restrictions that have been announced governing work in Russia,” he said in the note seen by Reuters, which described suspension of work in Russia and Ukraine.
Brazilian plane-maker Embraer (EMBR3.SA) joined Airbus and Boeing in halting parts supplies to Russian airlines.
Home furnishings retailer IKEA (IKEA.UL) said it would close outlets in Russia and Russian ally Belarus, affecting 15,000 workers, and described its shutdowns in non-political terms.
“The war has both a huge human impact and is resulting in serious disruptions to supply chain and trading conditions, which is why the company groups have decided to temporarily pause IKEA operations in Russia,” IKEA said in a statement. read more
Nike Inc said it was “deeply troubled by the devastating crisis in Ukraine” and described its closing of stores in this way: “Given the rapidly evolving situation, and the increasing challenges of operating our business, Nike will be pausing operations in Russia.”
Some companies and investors added up the costs of their actions.
Norway’s $1.3 trillion wealth fund said its Russian assets, worth around $3 billion before the invasion, have now become effectively worthless. read more “They are pretty much written off,” CEO Nicolai Tangen told Reuters.
TJX Cos Inc (TJX.N) said on Thursday it would sell its 25% stake in Russian low-cost apparel retailer Familia, which cost it $225 million in 2019. Because of a decline in the rouble and TJX said it may take an impairment charge due to the sale.
SANCTIONS RISKS
A man wearing a protective face mask amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) walks past a Nike brand store in central Kyiv, Ukraine December 10, 2020. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
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Underscoring the challenges global companies are facing as they comply with sanctions against Russia, Societe Generale said on Thursday it could see an “extreme scenario” where Russia strips the bank of its local operations. The lender has a $20 billion exposure to Russia. read more
Citigroup Inc (C.N) said on Wednesday it could face billions of dollars in losses on its exposure to Russia and was looking to exit Russian assets. Bank shares have taken a drubbing in recent days amid fears of possible writedowns and weaker economies. read more
Western sanctions, including shutting out some Russian banks from the SWIFT global financial network, new export controls, and closure of air space, have led dozens of global companies to pause operations in the country, hammered the rouble and forced the central bank to jack up interest rates. read more
Spanish fashion retailer Mango said on Thursday that it was temporarily closing its shops and its online sale website in Russia, and Spirits company Diageo (DGE.L), the maker of Smirnoff vodka and Guinness, said it had paused exports to Ukraine and Russia. read more
Accenture said it was discontinuing its Russian business, which had nearly 2,300 employees. read more
Britain said on Thursday it will ban Russian companies from the London insurance market, the world’s largest commercial and specialty insurance centre. read more
Hundreds of Russian soldiers and Ukrainian civilians have been killed and more than one million people have fled Ukraine in the week since President Vladimir Putin ordered the attack. read more
Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” that it says is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its southern neighbour’s military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists.
SCRAMBLED SUPPLIES
With a shortage of components, more carmakers are halting production at their factories in Russia, including Russia’s biggest carmaker, Avtovaz (AVAZI_p.MM) – controlled by France’s Renault (RENA.PA) – which said it would close two plants on Saturday and from March 9 to 10 due to shortage of electronic components. read more
Nissan Motor Co <7201.T > said on Thursday it has suspended vehicle exports to Russia, while Japanese peer Toyota (7203.T) said it would halt production at its Russian factory from Friday and indefinitely stop vehicle exports to the country.
The world’s biggest shipping lines, MSC and Maersk (MAERSKb.CO) have suspended container shipping to and from Russia, with Maersk saying food and medical supplies to Russia risk being damaged or spoiled due to delays at ports and customs. read more
Japan Airlines (9201.T) and ANA Holdings (9202.T), which normally use Russian airspace for their Europe flights, said they would cancel all flights to and from Europe on Thursday, joining other carriers that have canceled or rerouted flights between Europe and north Asia. read more
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Reporting by Tassilo Hummel in Paris, Jamie Freed in Sydney, Gwladys Fouche in Oslo, Illona Wissenbach in Frankfurt, Anna Ringstrom in Stockholm, Richa Naidu in London
Additional reporting by Tim Hepher in Paris, Satoshi Sugiyama in Tokyo, Mehr Bedi, Chavi Mehta, Praveen Paramasivam, Uday Sampath in Bengaluru, Megan Davies in New York, and in Madrid by Emma Pinedo
Writing by Peter Henderson, Sayantani Ghosh and John Revill
Editing by Lincoln Feast, Simon Cameron-Moore, Tomasz Janowski, Frances Kerry and Nick Zieminski
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Outdated laws date back to end of Prohibition in 1933
Treasury will streamline tax reporting
States urged to review anticompetitive impacts of laws
WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday flagged concerns about consolidation in the $250 billion annual U.S. alcohol market and outlined reforms it said could boost competition and save consumers hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
New merger and acquisition scrutiny, different tax rates and lifting regulatory burdens to new entrants in the wine, beer and spirits market would make the market fairer for new brewers and cheaper for consumers, Treasury said in a 63-page paper.
The long-awaited report is part of a July executive order on competitiveness. Its focus on the beer industry, in particular, marks the latest push by the Biden administration to fight what it calls excess consolidation in industries from meatpacking to shipping.
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Treasury, responding to over 800 public comments on the issue, suggested stiffer Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission oversight, tougher enforcement of existing rules and development of new ones in the report, which was first reported by Reuters.
“American consumers, small business owners, entrepreneurs, and workers should not have to suffer under the thumb of a highly concentrated beer industry,” said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter. “Enforcement and regulatory authorities should have the courage to learn and the fortitude necessary to enforce the law and protect competition.”
The U.S. market for beer, wine and spirits has spawned thousands of new breweries, wineries and distilleries over the past decade.
But a web of complicated state and federal regulations, some dating back to the end of Prohibition in 1933, coupled with “exclusionary behavior” by massive producers, distributors and retailers means small entrants can struggle to compete and flourish, U.S. officials said.
The two largest brewers selling beer in the United States – Anheuser Busch InBev (ABI.BR) and Molson Coors (TAP.N) – account for 65% of U.S. beer revenues.
“We’re determined to protect what has been a successful, vibrant industry with a lot of small businesses entering it,” while tackling issues that “lead to excessive prices for consumers,” said one senior U.S. official.
So-called “post and hold” laws, which restrict price competition, mean beer consumers alone pay $487 million more a year than they should, and can drive up the cost of a bottle of wine by up to 18% and a bottle of spirits by over 30% the report said, citing studies.
The DOJ and FTC, who share the work of antitrust enforcement, should take a closer look at proposed acquisitions of smaller players by bigger ones, Treasury said, noting that price benefits promised in past deals had failed to materialize.
The report also called for the Treasury Department’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) to change labeling rules to protect public health and to limit the impact of lobbying. As of 2017, alcohol companies reported 303 lobbyists in Washington.
U.S. states – which control the bulk of oversight – should examine the anticompetitive impact of regulations and franchise rules on small producers, Treasury said.
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Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Diane Bartz; Editing by Heather Timmons, Aurora Ellis, Alexandra Hudson
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LONDON, Dec 24 (Reuters) – You might be tempted to pop corks if you’ve invested in vintage champagne this year – the most coveted bottles have outperformed all major financial market assets, from Big Tech to bitcoin.
Online platforms that allow you to trade desirable wine, champagne and spirit vintages, much like stocks or currencies, have seen record activity and bumper price movements this year.
Data from LiveTrade, which runs the “Bordeaux Index” of drinks, showed champagne accounted for 15 of the 20 top price rises on the platform in 2021.
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The charge was led by Salon le Mesnil’s 2002 vintage, described by its producer as “captivating like a samurai sword”. It has surged more than 80% in value in 2021 on both LiveTrade and another wine platform Liv-ex, and currently sells for roughly 11,700 pounds a bottle ($15,700).
That beats bitcoin’s 75% rise and is nearly five times more than the 18% made by the NYFANG+TM stocks index (.NYFANG) of Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google, Tesla and Microsoft which have powered world equity market gains of late.
Taittinger’s Comtes de Champagne 2006 also sparkled, along with Krug’s 2002 and 1996 vintages, with price rises of more than 70%, while the Krug 2000, Bollinger La Grande Année 2007, Cristal Rosé 2008 and Dom Pérignon P2 2002 have seen rises of 54%-55%.
LiveTrade CEO Matthew O’Connell said several factors had fuelled a boom in fine-wine trading this year – “from low interest rates and high levels of savings accumulated by the wealthy during numerous global lockdowns, to a growing focus on hard assets in the face of rising inflationary pressures”.
Champagne benefited early in the year as it was exempt from the 25% U.S. tariffs put on European wines by Donald Trump’s U.S. administration which were then suspended shortly after Joe Biden took over.
Cristal’s 2012 and 2013 champagnes were the most-traded bottles of the year overall, LiveTrade said, followed by leading fine wine, the 6,450-a-bottle Lafite Rothschild 2014.
The prized claret brand’s stellar performance was driven by normally less coveted “off” vintages – namely 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2017 – all of which enjoyed 25% plus sales growth.
A record 220,000 bottles were traded this year on LiveTrade at an average bottle price of about 230 pounds ($308.50) apiece. A tenth of all bottles traded saw their prices rise by over 30%.
The Champagne 50 index was the top-performing sub-index in the Liv-ex Fine Wine 1000, up 33.8% year-to-date.
($1 = 0.7455 pounds)
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Champagne outperforms big tech and bitcoin
Reporting by Marc Jones; Editing by Pravin Char
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Bottles of alcoholic beverages are seen for sale in a shop in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain, May 1, 2018. REUTERS/Russell Cheyne/File Photo
July 26 (Reuters) – EMBARGOED UNTIL 8:00 PM ET
Light-to-moderate alcohol consumption is linked to a reduced risk of heart attack, stroke and death among those with heart disease, according to a study published in the journal BMC Medicine on Monday.
The largest benefit – a 50% reduction in risk compared with non-drinkers – was seen in people with heart disease who drank an average of 6 grams of alcohol per day. (A standard “unit” of alcohol is 8 grams in the UK, whereas the average drink in the United States contains 14 grams.)
People who averaged 8 grams per day had a 27% lower risk of death from heart attack, stroke or angina, compared with those who did not drink. Those who drank 7 grams per day had a 21% lower risk of death due to any cause.
Drinking higher amounts, up to an average of 15 grams of alcohol daily, were linked with smaller reductions in risk. https://bit.ly/3kV2xN9
“Our findings suggest that people with CVD (cardiovascular disease) may not need to stop drinking in order to prevent additional heart attacks, strokes or angina, but that they may wish to consider lowering their weekly alcohol intake,” said study coauthor Chengyi Ding, a research student at University College London. She noted, however: “Alcohol consumption is associated with an increased risk of developing other illnesses.”
Ding cautioned that non-drinking individuals should not be encouraged to take up light drinking because of known adverse effects on other health outcomes, such as cancers.
The researchers, who assessed more than 48,000 patients with heart disease, found that higher alcohol consumption, up to 62 grams per day, was not associated with increased risks of recurrent heart attack or death compared with no alcohol consumption.
Overall, the alcohol amounts that were linked with benefit are lower than those recommended in most current guidelines. For example, the American Heart Association’s guidelines for heart patients recommend up to 2 U.S. drinks per day for men and 1 per day for women.
A 2019 study found older people with heart failure who consume up to seven drinks a week may live longer than those who completely avoid alcohol. (https://reut.rs/3y5VwwH)
However, researchers in the past have found that heavy drinking was associated with increased levels of blood biomarkers that indicate damage to the heart.
The new study analyzed data from the UK Biobank, the Health Survey for England, the Scottish Health Survey and from 12 previous studies.
The researchers caution that their findings may overestimate the reduction in risk for moderate drinkers with heart disease due to the under-representation of heavy drinkers and categorization of former drinkers who may have quit.
Reporting by Dania Nadeem in Bengaluru; Editing by Nancy Lapid and Dan Grebler
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.