Snapchat Hires Credit Suisse Banker Who Led Alibaba IPO | ||
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Snapchat has hired Imran Khan, the Credit Suisse banker who led Alibaba’s IPO earlier this year, the Financial Times reports. His title will be chief strategy officer. Khan joins a bunch of senior-level hires at the messaging app who might all be filed under the category "adult supervision." They include Emily White (formerly of Instagram and Facebook) as COO and Jill Hazelbaker (who did political PR for Google, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and US Sen. John McCain). They all report to Evan Spiegel, Snapchat's 24-year-old founder and CEO. Snapchat used to stumble in terms of public relations — by ignoring hackers, for instance, and by having a public fight with a former founder. But these days the company operates in a much more slick, professional way, and Spiegel looks as if he is controlling events rather than being ambushed by them. Khan is the most interesting hire because of his IPO experience. He and Credit Suisse have led IPOs for Alibaba and King, the maker of "Candy Crush Saga." Khan has personally led IPOs for Alibaba, Groupon, Bazaarvoice, Taome and Toudu.
The company is already valued at $10 billion after taking $163 million in venture capital investment. It has recently bolted on a revenue stream, letting companies experiment with ads, and has added a mobile payments function. Universal, Macy's, Amazon, and Hollister are clients. Snapchat is huge: BI Intelligence estimates it has 100 million monthly active users. It is second only to Facebook's Messenger in the Apple App Store, according to The Wall Street Journal.
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We can't say that Snapchat is gearing up for an IPO, of course. But we can say that it is building a management team that is more than capable of helming a major transaction for the company, like an acquisition or a public offering of stock.
A 3-Star General Explains Why America Lost The Global War On Terror | ||
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I am a United States Army general, and I lost the Global War on Terrorism. It’s like Alcoholics Anonymous; step one is admitting you have a problem. Well, I have a problem. So do my peers. And thanks to our problem, now all of America has a problem, to wit: two lost campaigns and a war gone awry. We should have known this one was going to go bad when we couldn’t even settle on a name. In the wake of the horrific al-Qaeda attacks on September 11, 2001, we tried out various labels. The guys in the Pentagon basement at first offered Operation Infinite Justice, which sounded fine, both almighty and righteous. Then various handwringers noted that it might upset the Muslims. These were presumably different kinds of followers of Islam than the nineteen zealots who had just slaughtered thousands of our fellow citizens. Well, better incoherent than insensitive, I guess. So we settled on Operation Enduring Freedom. Our efforts in Afghanistan certainly lived up to the “enduring” part, dragging out longer than the ten-year Trojan War as we desperately tried to impose “freedom” on surly Pashtuns.
Still, that Enduring Freedom idea reflected the preferred brand. Few could have been much surprised when, in 2003, the next major campaign in the ill-named war drew the title Operation Iraqi Freedom. As in World War II, the Iraq intervention was seen, rightly, as yet another theater in what the military formally called the Global War on Terrorism. Like many veterans, I earned campaign ribbons with that designation. I lost eighty men and women under my charge; more than three times that number were wounded. Those sad losses are, all my fault. We waged a Global War on Terrorism against enemies referred to vaguely as terrorists, cowards, evildoers, and extremists. Although those descriptions were rather generic, somehow we always ended up going after the same old bunch of Islamists. Our opponents had no illusions about who our targets were, even if some of us did. This GWOT sputtered along for years, with me in it, along with many others much more capable, brave, and distinguished. I was never the overall commander in either Afghanistan or Iraq. You’d find me lower down on the food chain, but high enough. I commanded a one-star advisory team in Iraq in 2005–06, an Army division (about 20,000 soldiers) in Baghdad in 2009–10, and a three-star advisory organization in Afghanistan in 2011–13. I was present when key decisions were made, delayed, or avoided. I made, delayed, or avoided a few myself. I got out on the ground a lot with small units as we patrolled and raided. Sometimes, I communed with the strategic-headquarters types in the morning and at sunset grubbed through a village with a rifle platoon. Now and then, Iraqi and Afghan insurgents tried to kill me. By the enemy’s hand, abetted by my ignorance, my arrogance, and the inexorable fortunes of war, I lost eighty men and women under my charge; more than three times that number were wounded. Those sad losses are, to borrow the words of Robert E. Lee on that awful third day at Gettysburg, all my fault. What went wrong squandered the bravery, sweat, and blood of these fine Americans. Our primary failing in the war involved generalship. If you prefer the war-college lexicon, we — guys like me — demonstrated poor strategic and operational leadership. For soldiers, strategy and operational art translate to “the big picture” (your goal) and “the plan” (how you get there). We got both wrong, the latter more than the former. Some might blame the elected and appointed civilian leaders. There’s enough fault to go around, and in this telling, the suits will get their share. But I know better, and so do the rest of the generals. We have been trained and educated all our lives on how to fight and win. This was our war to lose, and we did.
Master Sun put it simply: “Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril.” We failed on both counts. I know I sure did. As generals, we did not know our enemy — never pinned him down, never focused our efforts, and got all too good at making new opponents before we’d handled the old ones.
We then added to our troubles by misusing the US Armed Forces, which are designed, manned, and equipped for short, decisive, conventional conflict. Instead, certain of our tremendously able, disciplined troops, buoyed by dazzling early victories, we backed into not one but two long, indecisive counterinsurgent struggles ill suited to the nature of our forces. Time after time, despite the fact that I and my fellow generals saw it wasn’t working, we failed to reconsider our basic assumptions. We failed to question our flawed understanding of our foe or ourselves. We simply asked for more time. Given enough months, then years, then decades — always just a few more, please — we trusted that our great men and women would pull it out. In the end, all the courage and skill in the world could not overcome ignorance and arrogance. As a general, I got it wrong. And I did so in the company of my peers. Excerpted from Why We Lost: A General's Inside Account of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars by Daniel Bolger. Excerpted with permission by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Copyright © 2014 by Daniel Bolger. All rights reserved. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Russia's Economy Is In Deep Trouble Next Year | ||
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Moscow (AFP) - The World Bank on Tuesday predicted that Russia's economy would shrink by 0.7 percent in 2015, but warned that the contraction would be worse if oil prices were to keep sliding. The World Bank said its forecast is based on a scenario of crude prices averaging at $78 in 2015. But if oil prices fell to $70, Russia's output would shrink by 1.5 percent, it said.
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10 Things In Tech You Need To Know Today (TSLA, SNE, AAPL, AMZN, FB) | ||
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Good morning! It's pouring in New York City. Here's the tech news you need to know today. 1. The city of Portland has declared Uber illegal. It's even suing the company. 2. Tesla stock was getting hammered on Monday. It closed at $214 yesterday, down from a recent peak of $259. 3. Uber is now banned in New Delhi after one of its drivers was accused of rape. The company is still operating in the city, though. 4. Sony hackers released a trove of new stolen data. It includes the secret aliases for celebrities like Tom Hanks and Daniel Craig. 5. The class action lawsuit against Apple over iPod restrictions is looking more shaky. The sole remaining plaintiff could soon be disqualified. 6. Amazon sent a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration to warn that it could have to move its drone research outside of the US. It can't test commercial drones outside yet. 7. Apple has patented a stylus. Steve Jobs famously hated them. 8. Amazon has been testing bike messengers who will deliver packages within an hour. It has been testing the scheme in Manhattan. 9. Facebook now lets you search for your friends' past posts. Results will be ranked by things ike engagement and closeness. 10. Samsung's Gear VR headset is now up for sale. It retails for $199. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Banned doping doctor denies Astana cycling link | ||
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Milan (AFP) - A doctor banned for life for doping offences involving top athletes including Lance Armstrong has hit back at reports of a secret meeting with members of the embattled Astana cycling team. A report in Gazzetta dello Sport on Monday claimed Dr Michele Ferrari, reputed for his expertise in helping athletes avoid detection while using banned doping methods, met with members from Tour de France champion Vincenzo Nibali's team at a training camp in Italy last year. Ferrari, who advised Armstrong throughout the disgraced American's career, has been banned for life by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) from working in sport or with athletes. Likewise, athletes are banned from consulting Ferrari under threat of suspension. In a statement on his website Ferrari admitted he worked with Astana "up to a few years ago", but flatly denied visiting the team at Montecatini Terme in November 2013. "I feel obliged, albeit very reluctantly, to once again deny the latest MEDIA BULLSH*T with regards to my presence at the Astana Team Training Camp in Montecatini in November last year," Ferrari said on www.53x12.com. "I've been in that town, if I remember correctly, in 1994 to taste the famous waffles. "The bombshell of 'the dark shadow of Ferrari' is absolutely FALSE and whoever has published it will respond about it in the appropriate courts: I hope that the Kazakh team will ask adequate compensation for the damages." Astana's World Tour future is currently hanging in the balance after brothers Valentin and Maxim Iglinskiy, and three riders from the Astana Continental team, tested positive for banned substances in the past year. Ferrari's reported link with the team run by reigning Olympic champion Alexandre Vinokourov, who served a two-year blood doping ban from 2007, would do little to help their bid to gain a World Tour licence from the International Cycling Union (UCI), which is required to guarantee entry to all the major cycling events. Astana's Continental team was suspended over a week ago and the UCI is expected to decide Wednesday whether to grant the Kazakh team a World Tour racing licence. If the UCI rules against Astana, the team could effectively fold. Ferrari added: "Up to a few years ago I coached some of the Astana athletes, including Vinokurov: it has never been a secret, we never hid anything, we attended training venues where there were many other athletes, all in broad daylight." Monday's report, however, claimed Ferrari is firmly back in the sights of prosecutors from Padua, who have been investigating the notorious doctor and his business activities since 2010. It said prosecutors have handed "500 pages of evidence, including the names of 90 cyclists" to anti-doping officials at the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI). Among that evidence is a "photograph of Ferrari chatting to certain members of the team" in November 2013, although Gazzetta said the evidence contains "nothing to link...Vincenzo Nibali with Ferrari". Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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European Stocks Are Selling Off | ||
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European stocks are slumping Monday morning, after last night's announcement Greek presidential elections are being pushed ahead two months to Dec. 17. Here's the scorecard: France's CAC 40: -0.90% Germany's DAX: -0.82% UK's FTSE 100: -1.03% Spain's IBEX: -1.06% Italy's FTSE MIB: -0.82% Asian markets also closed way down. Japan's Nikkei finished 0.68% lower, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 2.34%, and China's Shanghai Composite plummeted, ending down 5.43%. US futures are also trading low. The Dow is now off 51 points from Monday's close, and the S&P is down 5.75 points. Later today, from the US, we have JOLTS data coming out at 3 p.m. GMT. The figure measures the number of job openings, and analysts think it will climb to 4.79 million for October, up from 4.735 million in September. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Snapchat Hires Credit Suisse Banker Who Led Alibaba IPO | ||
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Snapchat has hired Imran Khan, the Credit Suisse banker who led Alibaba’s IPO earlier this year, the Financial Times reports. His title will be chief strategy officer. Khan joins a bunch of senior-level hires at the messaging app who might all be filed under the category "adult supervision." They include Emily White (formerly of Instagram and Facebook) as COO and Jill Hazelbaker (who did political PR for Google, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and US Sen. John McCain). They all report to Evan Spiegel, Snapchat's 24-year-old founder and CEO. Snapchat used to stumble in terms of public relations — by ignoring hackers, for instance, and by having a public fight with a former founder. But these days the company operates in a much more slick, professional way, and Spiegel looks as if he is controlling events rather than being ambushed by them. Khan is the most interesting hire because of his IPO experience. He and Credit Suisse have led IPOs for Alibaba and King, the maker of "Candy Crush Saga." Khan has personally led IPOs for Alibaba, Groupon, Bazaarvoice, Taome and Toudu.
The company is already valued at $10 billion after taking $163 million in venture capital investment. It has recently bolted on a revenue stream, letting companies experiment with ads, and has added a mobile payments function. Universal, Macy's, Amazon, and Hollister are clients. Snapchat is huge: BI Intelligence estimates it has 100 million monthly active users. It is second only to Facebook's Messenger in the Apple App Store, according to The Wall Street Journal.
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GREECE IS CRASHING | ||
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Stocks are sinking in Athens, down by 10% at 6:23 a.m. EST on Tuesday. That's the worst fall since mid-2010, before Greece's first bailout. The steep declines comes after announcement that Greece's presidential elections are being brought forward to Dec. 17.
The presidential election is conducted by Greece's legislators, not its population. But the government needs a super-majority to install a president, which it doesn't have. If it can't elect a president, that might precipitate a general election and right now the radical Coalition of the Left (Syriza) is leading the polls. The uncertainty also means sovereign bond yields are breaking out of the region they've been in for the past few days, up from 7.2% to beyond 7.75%. The yield on a 10 year bond is a common measure used to show how expensive it is for governments to finance their debt. Yields saw a recent peak just below 9% in October, when far-left anti-austerity party Syriza took a polling lead, and the government was planning to exit its bailout early. Deutsche Bank's Jim Reid explains the situation here:
Deutsche's George Saravelos also says there's a 60/40 chance of a Greek parliamentary election. With Syriza in the lead, that's a big risk for bondholders. The insurgent party wants Greece's creditors to take a major haircut (drastically cutting the value of their investment), and for existing bailout programmes to be cancelled. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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