BRECKENRIDGE The Colorado Classic is more than a bike-racing festival. Its more than a four-day, tourist-luring commercial. The inaugural pro-cycling race, which wraps in Denvers River North neighborhood on Saturday and Sunday with a merry blend of bikes, beers and bands, also is serving as bait for big business.

Ive always said that Denver will be and now it has become one of the most dynamic and fastest growing cities in the country, and this level of bike race potential and support shows what we can do for a high-level company, said Colorado tech entrepreneur Jim Deters, who is hosting a cast of corporate bosses on a signature Colorado weekend of cycling, dining and dancing. This is a whole new level for a live commercial. They are not just seeing it on TV. They are putting rubber to the pavement and feeling the burn of elevation in their lungs and screaming with the bands. We are going to get them addicted to Colorado.

More than a dozen heavy hitters from IBM, Amazon, Silicon Valley Bank, Workday and venture capital firms will join Gov. John Hickenlooper and a consortium of Colorado cheerleaders includingDaVita chief Ken Thiry, real estate developer Mark Falconeand other business leaders, as well as musicians and cyclists for a bike ride, dinner and backstage boogying on Saturday. The day should highlight Colorados hallmark outdoor and cultural lifestyle that draws top talent as well as the Front Range business environment carefully crafted to welcome entrepreneurs. The hope of the so-called CEO Challenge, dreamed up by Colorado bike boss and race investor Ken Gart, is to entice corporate chieftains to invest in Colorado.

Hickenlooper, sporting a Team Rwanda bike jersey, said the inaugural Colorado Classic is all about creating a series of moments of intense beauty. The game-changing bike-race model blending music lovers and cycling spectators in a soundtracked festival of professional bike racing aims to broaden the pro-cycling tent to include all comers, including young, beer-swilling dancers who might not be familiar with bike racing.

The governor compared the Colorado Classics blended approach including Velorama, the entertainment side of the event to the common retail strategy of cumulative attraction, which groups similar stores to encourage cross-shopping that establishes locations as the most attractive places to drop some cash.

The race, the Colorado Classic and Velorama, is so cool in its own right, Hickenlooper said. The more decision makers, the more people with influence from other parts of the country who experience it, the better. This is all just marketing the state. We have a bunch of offices with Silicon Valley companies already. Wouldnt hurt to have a few more.

Deters, who has spent his career launching startups including Galvanize and gSchool will lead some of the bigwig visitors on an entire lap of the 80-mile Stage 3, pushing from Denver up Coal Creek Canyon and back down Golden Gate Canyon on Saturday. Womens cycling legend Kristin Armstrong, who has won medals each of the past three Summer Olympics, will host a 40-mile ride. Later that night, the group will dine with the governor and members of Wilco before the band plays in RiNo.

Tom Pitstick, chief marketing officer for Denvers 106-year-old Gates Corp., is hoping the race helps his company sell more of its innovative carbon-belt drive systems that are designed to push the venerable bike chain into obsolescence.

His team is participating in the CEO Challenge, helping to sell Denver to business tycoons.

Its a great business community. Its a big small city with a great pool of talent coming in and a great education system. And the work environment has everything you need, with business infrastructure like big law firms and a great international airport, Pitstick said. Weve been here 106 years and we have no intention of ever leaving. Im telling everyone: Come join us.

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Colorado Classic organizers hosting big-business bosses in hopes of enticing investment in state - The Denver Post

A spokeswoman for Qatar declined to comment.

The public disclosure that Qatar said changed its position on a possible investment was an apparent reference to Americans second-quarter financial performance, which the airline released on Friday.

American reported sales grew more than 7 percent, to $11.1 billion, in the latest quarter compared with the previous year. But profits fell 16 percent for the quarter to $803 million, in part because of rising labor costs.

Despite that drop, many stock analysts expressed optimism about the companys future. Helane Becker, an airline analyst at Cowen, elevated the firms stance on shares in American, describing the airlines outlook for next year as compelling in a research note.

Had it continued trying to obtain 10 percent of American, Qatar would have faced several hurdles. The carrier planned to build the stake by buying shares in American on the market, but Americans board has the ability to forbid any one shareholder from owning more than 4.75 percent of its stock.

American was clear from the outset that it wanted to limit the investment.

Doug Parker, Americans chief executive, said in June he was bewildered by Qatars decision to build a stake in his company and told employees that American would continue pressing its case to lawmakers that Qatar is the beneficiary of illegal subsidies.

American reinforced its skepticism of the deal in July, when the company announced it would terminate its code-share agreements with Qatar and Etihad Airways, another one of the Gulf carriers. Code sharing allows airlines to sell flights that are operated by partners.

In addition, the deal faced a review from antitrust officials in Washington and potentially other federal regulators as well. A spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment, as did a spokeswoman for the Federal Trade Commission.

Qatar promised to be a passive investor in American and said it was drawn to the company by its business fundamentals. Yet many analysts saw ulterior commercial and diplomatic motives at play in the companys interest in American.

Will Horton, senior analyst at CAPA-Center for Aviation, an industry research firm, said in an email that Qatar pursued American because it wanted to replicate partnerships that Emirates, another carrier based in the Gulf, has established with JetBlue Airways and Alaska Airlines.

Those deals provide incentives for customers on the domestic carriers to take Emirates for international trips, and for travelers on Emirates to use JetBlue and Alaska for trips within the United States.

Qatars immediate priority is to find partnerships with North American airlines that will give access to all the smaller destinations Qatar wont fly to, Mr. Horton said.

Other analysts viewed Qatars desire to invest in American in a more political lens. For months, the government of Qatar has been embroiled in a standoff with four of its neighbors in the Middle East over accusations that it supports terrorists.

Hunter Keay, an airline analyst at Wolfe Research, wrote in a research note in June that a deal with American and other purchases of products from the United States could help it fend off further isolation.

Buying Boeing jets and the stake in American intertwines Qatar with U.S. interests a bit more, making it theoretically more difficult for U.S. regulators to impose trade restrictions, Mr. Keay wrote.

Despite its reversal on American, Qatar vowed to keep looking for deals in the United States.

In its statement Wednesday, the airline promised to continue investigating alternative investment opportunities in the United States of America and elsewhere that do meet our objectives.

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Qatar Airways Drops Plans to Invest in American Airlines - New York Times

Silver Lake Partners, which owns a significant stake in WME | IMG, said in a letter to its investors that the Beverly Hills-based talent agency is about to receive a $1B investment from The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Government of Singapore Investment Fund. The company sent out a release today explaining the deal, saying that GIC,Singapores sovereign wealth fund, willjoin current investors Silver Lake, SoftBank and Fidelity as WME | IMG strategic partners.

This round of investment, as first reported by our sister company Variety, should close mid-month. In the letter, Silver Lake (which has been in invested in the talent agency for a long while) says the investment will allow the buyout of minority partners in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. It also will give WME | IMGs senior management and investors access to cash and provide for acquisitions.

A consortium led by WME | IMG acquired UFC the worlds leading mixed martial arts (MMA) franchise for $4B last year. Larger investors in the deal includedMichael Dells MSD Capital, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Silver Lake but the minority stakeholders (with 10% each) had been the Abu Dhabi government-owned Flash Entertainment, UFC president Dana White and Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta (who founded UFC).

UFC was boughtbyFrank and Lorenzo Fertitta a quarter of a centuryago. The brothers had controlledan 80% stake in the company. They will retain a minority stake moving forward under the terms of the new deal.

Other minority shareholders with 10% each had been the Abu Dhabi government-owned Flash Entertainment as well as another 10% stake for UFC president Dana White.

Half of our business is representation and half is things that we own, WME co-head Ari Emanuel said at Cannes this year. The things we represent we try to expand globally. The UFC now has a global organization to help them We do 900 events and 35,000 concerts a year. We have offices in almost every country. How we then take that and do a complement to all those businesses as a digital offering is our big challenge into the future.

Emanuel revealed that WME | IMGs marketing and advertising business has profits of about $150M.

Silver Lake is the biggest shareholder in WME | IMG. It invested$200M for a 31% stake in 2012 and raised its stake to $750M after the acquisition of IMG.In 2014, WME co-heads Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell bought leading sports agency IMG for $2.4B.In March,Japans Softbank invested $250 million in WME | IMG, valuingthe talent and sports agency at $5.5 billion.

WME | IMG in 2015 acquiredProfessional Bull Riders for an estimated $100M and the Miss Universe pageant. In 2016,WME | IMG and a consortium led by venture capital and private equity firm Sequoia Capital China unveiled a new China-based joint venture. So the agency has continued to branch out through acquisitions.

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WME | IMG To Receive $1B Investment - Deadline

Foxconn Technology Group is not saying whether it plans to invest $30 billion in the United States, as President Donald Trump claimed the company's leader told him "off the record."

Trump announced to a group of small business leaders at the White House on Tuesday that Foxconn CEO Terry Gou told him privately that the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer was going to invest $30 billion in the U.S. The company signed a deal with Wisconsin last week to build a $10 billion display panel manufacturing plant and Trump did not specify where the additional spending would be.

Foxconn reiterated in a statement Wednesday that the Wisconsin plant "will be the first of a series of facilities we will be building in several states." It did not address Trump's statement about the total investment amount or Trump's claims that Gou told it to him in confidence.

"We have not yet announced our investment plans for other sites," Foxconn said in the statement. "We will provide an update as soon as we have finalized those plans."

Gou previously said that Foxconn was considering locating in seven states before Trump announced last week that a massive liquid crystal display monitors plant would be going to Wisconsin. Other states that Foxconn said it was looking at were Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.

Foxconn is the world's largest contract maker of electronics, with factories across mainland China. It's best known for making iPhones and other Apple devices but its long list of customers includes Sony Corp., Dell Inc. and BlackBerry Ltd.

The new plant in Wisconsin, which is scheduled to open in 2020 with 3,000 employees, will construct liquid crystal display monitors used in televisions and computers. It would bring Foxconn closer to its biggest market and be the first LCD monitor factory located outside of Asia.

The Wisconsin Legislature is considering a $3 billion incentive package that must be passed by the end of September as part of the deal with Foxconn. A public hearing on the proposal was scheduled for Thursday, just six days after a draft of the plan was released and eight days after news of the state's deal with Foxconn broke.

Republicans who control the Legislature are split on how quickly to pass the bill, with state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald saying there are too many unanswered questions about the tax breaks that must be addressed before a vote. Some Democrats and others have questioned whether the incentives are too much, while also raising concerns about the proposed waiving of state environmental permit requirements and other regulations to speed up construction.

U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, a Democratic congressman who represents a swath of south-central Wisconsin that includes Madison, questioned during a news conference Wednesday how many jobs will actually materialize and how much those workers will really be paid. He added that he's worried Foxconn might abandon its plans if Trump fails to follow through on his proposal to raise import tariffs.

"We've got to be very real about what this actually means for Wisconsin taxpayers," Pocan said.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, speaking at an employee town hall in his southeastern Wisconsin congressional district, called the deal a "game-changer" that "is a generation's worth of economic development." Ryan said he pitched federal job training benefits and tax credits that make the U.S. competitive to Foxconn officials who were deciding whether to locate here.

Ryan said he believed Wisconsin's central location, and an abundance of colleges, universities and technical colleges where future workers could receive the necessary training helped the state win the project. Foxconn is eyeing property in Ryan's district.

"It's a really good deal for Wisconsin," he said.

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Foxconn steers clear of Trump's $30 billion investment claim - Chicago Tribune

MORGAN COUNTY, Ala. ULA, Dynetics, and Wolverine Tube are all planning to invest at least $139 million combined in Morgan County, which would create 265 new jobs.

The companies presented their proposed investment plans to the Decatur Industrial Development Board on Wednesday, where they received approval for tax abatement to support the plans.

Wolverine Tube outlined their plans to build and operate a $16 million dollar aluminum manufacturing facility starting this month. The plant is projected to create 250 jobs within three years.

United Launch Alliances proposed project requires capital investments for new tech and infrastructure for the new Vulcan thrust production. ULA will be investing $115 million dollars, and securing the employment of 620 people.

Dynetics plans to construct the second building of an aerospace structures complex next to ULA to the tune of $7.4 million, and add 15 new jobs in one year.

State Senator Arthur Orr (R-Decatur), who also chairs the Morgan County Economic Development Association, said in a release, Morgan County continues to attract new investments and jobs from both the aerospace and metals sector. We appreciate each company looking to spend their generous capital dollars in Morgan County to create and retain jobs in our community.

Decatur Mayor Tab Bowling was also pleased to have world-class companies continue to invest in Decatur, Morgan County. These new investments and job creation continue to expand our aerospace footprint and renew old friendships.

We are very proud to see these companies investing in Morgan County. We have a great workforce for these companies to choose from. We are here to support them along the way, added the Chairman of the Morgan County Commission, Ray Long.

34.424087-86.862183

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Hundreds of jobs, $139 million investment planned in Morgan County by major companies - whnt.com

Relative to many of its tech giant peers, Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL)research and development spending is actually quite conservative, both in absolute dollars as well as when measured as a percentage of revenue. This is one of the key benefits of focusing on product depth over breadth. Microsoft in particular has a bad reputation about frivolously investing in R&D projects that have remote prospects of commercialization, as cool as the projects may be.

The Mac maker has been ramping up R&D spending in recent years, and just hit a new high of 6.5% of sales last quarter.

Data source: SEC filings. Chart by author. Calendar quarters shown.

Here's R&D expenses in absolute dollars.

Data source: SEC filings. Chart by author. Calendar quarters shown.

To be clear, this is not a new trend, and CFO Luca Maestri has previously laid out four specific reasons why R&D expenses continue to rise: the product portfolio is growing, Apple is investing heavily in services to grow the services business, it is increasingly in-sourcing development of core technologies, and the company's building stuff it won't talk about yet. Still, it's a line item on the income statement that investors should monitor on a regular basis.

Image source: Getty Images.

If I had to guess as to which projects were priorities for Apple, the top two would be an augmented reality (AR) headset and autonomous driving systems.

CEO Tim Cook is already having trouble containing his excitement over AR. "One of the most exciting and most promising announcements from WWDC was the introduction of ARKit, a new set of tools for developers to create augmented reality apps," Cook said in his prepared remarks during yesterday's earnings call. "It's still early in the beta period, but it's clear that ARKit has captured the imagination of our developer community."

When asked about possible "near-term applications" that third-party developers might come up with, Cook said:

Mike, that is a great question. Since we -- and I could not be more excited about AR and what we're seeing with ARKit and the early going. And to answer your question about what category it starts in, just take a look at what's already on the web in terms of what people are doing and it is all over the place. From entertainment to gaming, I've seen what I would call more small business solutions. I've seen consumer solutions. I've seen enterprise solutions.

I think AR is big and profound. And this is one of those huge things that we'll look back at and marvel on the start of it. So I think that customers are going to see it in a variety of ways. Enterprise, it takes a little longer sometimes to get going, but I can already tell you, there's lots of excitement in there, and I think we'll start to see some applications there as well. And it feels great to get this thing going at a level that can sort of get all of the developers behind it. So I couldn't be more excited about it.

There are some pretty great demos already out there, as developers have already started tinkering with ARKit.

Apple is cleverly using the iPhone as the bridge to an inevitable AR headset. By starting now, it can build a repository full of AR content and apps that can quickly be repurposed to an AR headset at a later time. Given Cook's overt enthusiasm, there should be little doubt that a fair amount of R&D spending is being allocated here.

Only recently did Cook confirm that Apple is investing heavily in autonomous driving systems, even going as far as referring to it as a "core technology." In a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last year, Apple also said, "The company is investing heavily in the study of machine learning and automation, and is excited about the potential of automated systems in many areas, including transportation." When asked about autonomous systems, Cook made some cryptic remarks, hinting at use cases beyond transportation (emphasis added):

In terms of autonomous systems, what we've said is that we are very focused on autonomous systems from a core technology point of view. We do have a large project going and are making a big investment in this. From our point of view, autonomy is sort of the mother of all AI projects. And the autonomous systems can be used in a variety of ways, and a vehicle is only one, but there are many different areas of it. And I don't want to go any further with that. But thank you for the question.

Autonomous driving systems require massive R&D investments, both in terms of hardware and software. Prototypes have already been spotted, sporting the familiar LIDAR systems that characterize (non-Tesla) autonomous cars.

Don't expect that R&D spending to come down anytime soon.

Teresa Kersten is an employee of LinkedIn and is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft. Evan Niu, CFA owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Continued here:
Apple's R&D Investment Hits New High as Percentage of Sales - Motley Fool

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's finance ministry has issued guidelines on overseas investment of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), amid a campaign to tighten controls on outbound investment and financial risks.

China's giant SOEs making products from trains to chemicals have been leading the country's "go out" drive with growing overseas investments, but they have encountered low returns on investment and weak profitability, the ministry said.

The guidelines will help "strengthen financial management of overseas investment of state-owned enterprises, prevent financial risks and improve investment efficiency," the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

China is increasingly scrutinizing overseas spending by both private and state-owned firms, amid growing concerns about rising debt levels and potential systemic financial risk.

The guidelines, which come into effect from August, covered the areas of investment decisions, financial management, cost control, dividend distribution and foreign exchange business.

"Greater outbound investment by SOEs is going to take place and many of them lack the ability to properly manage risks," Xu Baoli, director of the research center at China's state-owned assets regulator told the official China Daily newspaper.

"The lack of accountability of senior executives for poor or failed investment is one of the reasons that lead to radical decision-making and loss-making deals."

China's SOE's are spearheading investment in infrastructure projects overseas along the ancient Silk Road land and sea trade routes, part of Beijing's signature 'Belt and Road' initiative.

In January, China issued regulatory rules on outbound investments by centrally controlled state firms, in a bid to tighten controls on money moving out of the country and stabilize a faltering yuan.

Beijing's crackdown on showy overseas deals has drawn in corporate giants including property developer Dalian Wanda, HNA Group, Anbang Insurance [ANBANG.UL], Fosun and Zhejiang Luosen, which was behind the purchase of A.C. Milan football club.

Reporting by Kevin Yao; Additional reporting by Adam Jourdan; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Richard Pullin

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China issues rules to curb state firms' overseas investment risks - Reuters

Consumer goods giant Unilever (ul) has announced an investment into Helpling, the Berlin-headquartered home-cleaning platform.

Helpling, which was founded by the German internet firm Rocket Internet, operates across much of western Europe, as well as Australia, Singapore and Dubai. For Unilever, the service provides a new way to sell its home care products.

The investment reportedly totals "several million euros" and comes from Unilever Ventures, an arm that the company is using to capture fast-growing opportunities while its core staples such as Dove soap and Ben & Jerry's ice cream eke out more modest gains. The venture wing's previous investments this year include meal-kit outfit Sun Basket, skincare brand True Botanicals, customer care platform Limitless and digital ad platform Celtra.

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Helpling previously announced 10 million in new funding in March of this year, from backers including Rocket Internet and Asia Pacific Internet Group (APACIG), a joint venture of Qatar-based telecoms giant Ooredoo. However, Helpling CEO Benedikt Franke said this was an entirely separate investment.

"We are both after a similar target group," Franke said, suggesting that Unilever is moving from a "make and buy" model to one that embraces the trend towards services. He compared the deal to auto-makers' investments in ride-hailing and sharing services, saying: "Big car manufacturers invest in those companies because their ultimate goal is to provide transport."

Indeed, Helpling and Unilever have been working together for some time, for example promoting the home-cleaning service on stickers attached to Unilever's products in the Netherlands.

It's not yet entirely clear how the closer relationship will work in practice. Helpling's cleaners use the products that customers already have at home, and Franke suggested this still "makes sense." However, he said ideas that will be tested include offering cleaning packages to new Helpling customers, and offering cleaning products as part of the Helpling subscription 90 percent of the service's customers use its services on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Unilever's biggest brands in cleaning are Domestos bleach and the washing powders Persil and Omo.

"We have a three-hour delivery window every week or every two weeks," Franke said. "Thats the moment which is super-suited to not only cleaning products but having things delivered. While you're at work, the cleaner can also open the door for the handyman. It's about getting the right products for your apartment to your door and make sure you don't run out of products."

Excerpt from:
Unilever's Latest Investment Targets New Route into Homes - Fortune

Dubai-based development firm DP World will pump $442 million into transforming the country's Berbera Port on the Gulf of Aden, with the ambition of creating a regional trade hub.

DP World has committed to managing the port for 30 years. The company plans to develop an ambitious new shipyard, quay, and free trade zone on the site.

The Somaliland government hopes the development will enable it to rival neighboring Djibouti as a point of entry for East African trade, and the project could also prove a much-needed economic boost.

Somaliland declared independence in 1991, breaking away from war-torn Somalia.

But despite maintaining relative stability and holding free elections, not a single country has recognized its statehood. The international community has prioritized the development of Somalia as a united country.

The deal with DP World represents a major coup for Somaliland as it demonstrates the country's clout on the world stage.

The investment is timely. Somaliland is blighted by youth unemployment of over 60%, and its worst drought in years has affected 1.5 million people - over 30% of the population.

The development divides opinion among the local population.

"Berbera Port is extremely fundamental for Somaliland," he told CNN. "(This investment) will boost the connection with the rest of Africa, especially Ethiopia. It's too early to say it's all positive, but I am confident it's a step forward."

But there are fears that land around the site will be bought up by wealthy businessmen at the expense of the wider population.

Strategic location

DP World's interest in this little-known fishing town is largely explained by its location, sitting conveniently at the apex of trade routes in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and East Africa.

"The Horn of Africa is a fast growing region with some of the fastest growing economies in the world," says DP World CEO Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem. "DP World Berbera builds on growth in the region where we are enabling trade."

The location also offers opportunities to landlocked Ethiopia, which is heavily reliant on neighboring Djibouti, with 90% of trade passing through the tiny state.

Ethiopia currently imports limited quantities of food through Berbera, but the imminent development will allow it to vastly scale up traffic through the port.

The Somaliland government claims it has an agreement for Ethiopia to take a 19% share of the port, which should deliver mutual benefits.

"Ethiopia having access to the sea is a major deal for Somaliland, and Ethiopia," says Laura Hammond, an East Africa specialist at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London.

"Ethiopia has already built a road up to the border with Somaliland basically advertizing the fact that they're waiting to do business."

For its part, Somaliland will gain a powerful partner and ally. Ethiopia is one of the most dynamic economies in Africa, the host nation of the African Union, and a key driver of international diplomacy.

After two decades in the economic and political wilderness, the unrecognized state may finally be establishing itself on the world stage.

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Somaliland secures record $442m foreign investment deal - CNN

Zhang Peng | LightRocket | Getty Images

Wanda Plaza in Yantai, Shandong Province, China. Foreign acquisitions made by property developer Dalian Wanda include cinema chain AMC and Legendary Entertainment.

Just last month, media reports said domestic banks had been asked by regulators to review their exposure to foreign debt incurred by some of China's most prolific buyers of foreign assets, including property developer Dalian Wanda, conglomerate Fosun International and insurance company Anbang.

Acquisitions made by those companies include Anbang's 2014 purchase of the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York, as well as Dalian Wanda's purchase of U.S. cinema chain AMC Theatres and Legendary Entertainment as part of its push into the entertainment business.

As recently as July 28, Fosun announced its intentions, together with Beijing Sanyuan Foods, to buy St Hubert, a French margarine manufacturer. The acquisition was "aligned" with government policy in China to drive innovation, Reuters quoted Fosun Chairman Guo Guangchang as saying.

Despite the additional scrutiny, Cao said he was not worried about a scale back in overseas Chinese investment.

"I still believe that a lot of countries see China currently as one of the biggest investors investing abroad," Cao said.

"To put it in layman's terms, if a man gets rich, it's easier for him to squander his wealth. So from the perspective of the Chinese government and our internal think tank, we should tighten the belts of companies and remind them that their investments need to be wiser."

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China isn't discouraging overseas investment, only regulating it, Beijing-backed think tanker says - CNBC