investment – Page 3 – Take off with Natarajan

These Skyscrapers Look Normal, But Something Amazing Happens When The Sun Hits Them….

November 21, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

The United Arab Emirates is known for their incredible, luxurious views. Gorgeous architecture punctuates the entire region, but these towers in the capital city take things to a whole new level.

Designed to resemble the ornate mashrabiya shades that have been used in their culture for centuries, these majestic skyscrapers have a secret that makes them even more unique.

These intricate shades wrap around the Al Bahar buildings in Abu Dhabi.

YouTube / WikiArquitectura

They bring a unique texture to the tall structures.

YouTube / WikiArquitectura

And on top of that, they totally morph when the sun hits them from different angles.

YouTube / CNBC International

No one ever has to worry about the mid-afternoon glare of the sun beating down on those inside.

YouTube / WikiArquitectura

The architects at Aedas are responsible for the incredible effect.

The architects at <a href="http://www.aedas.com/" target="_blank">Aedas</a> are responsible for the incredible effect.

YouTube / WikiArquitectura

These shades are perfect for beating the heat.

YouTube / CNBC International

(via Bored Panda)

The blending of traditional design and innovative technology has never looked more beautiful. If only I could hire them to do the same thing for my house…

Source…. Jessica Catcher……www.viralnova.com

Natarajan

Ships Made of Concrete ….!!!

November 18, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Perhaps the most bizarre choice of material humans ever made to make a vessel that floats was reinforced concrete. For centuries ships have been made of wood, which later gave way to tougher materials such as steel. But steel was expensive and not readily available, which became a major issue during the World Wars when there was an acute shortage of the metal.

Long before the war, in 1848, Joseph-Louis Lambot, the inventor of reinforced concrete, tried and successfully fashioned a small boat out of ferrocement, jumpstarting the small and short-lived industry of concrete shipbuilding. Before long, ferrocement barges were regularly plying the canals of Europe, and just as the century was drawing to an end, an Italian engineer made the first concrete ship.

The concrete ship SS Palo Alto on Seacliff State Beach, California. Photo credit: David Wan/Flickr

As suspected, concrete was not the most ideal material to build ships with. The basic problem with concrete ships is that they require a very thick hull to be as strong as a steel ship. This made the ship very heavy and consequently burned more fuel to move around. And if the hull is breached, they sink quickly owing to their weight. The sailors of WWI often called them “floating tombstones” and hesitated to serve on them.

Nevertheless, ferrocement ships continued to be made and their sizes gradually increased. The largest of these was the 425-foot SS Selma, an oil tanker launched in 1919. Today, its wreckage remain partially submerged in Galveston Bay in Texas Gulf Coast and visible from both the Houston Ship Channel and Seawolf Park.

After the United States entered the First World War, President Woodrow Wilson approved the construction of 24 concrete vessels as support ships to the Navy. However, none of them could be completed on time and put into service. By the time the ships were ready — only 12 of them— the war had ended. The completed ships were sold to private companies who used them for light-trading, storage and scrap.

Photo credit: Joost J. Bakker/Wikimedia

Similar scarcity of steel occurred during the Second World War, and another 24 concrete ships as well as barges for transporting supplies were commissioned. This time, all ships were completed on time and due to innovations in cement mixing and materials, the second fleet was much stronger than the previous. The ships played an important role during the war, particularly in the D-Day Normandy landings, where they were used for fuel and munitions transportation, and as floating pontoons. Some were fitted with engines and used as mobile canteens and troop carriers.

When war ended, steel was once again available and the more efficient steel ships were back in production. The concrete ships were de-commissioned and towed to various harbors to be sunk or made into breakwater. The largest collection is found at Powell River, British Columbia, where ten of them were arranged in an arc to function as a breakwater. Another nine were sunk in shallow water in Chesapeake Bay off the coast of Kiptopeke Beach, Virginia to create a breakwater for the local ferries.

The oil tanker SS Palo Alto was towed to Seacliff State Beach in Aptos, California, and made into an amusement park with amenities including a dance floor, a swimming pool and a café. The park closed two years later when the company went bankrupt. Today, it’s yet another wreck on the beach, its hull fractured through the mid-section.

SS Palo Alto on Seacliff State Beach, California. Photo credit: Ted Silveira/Flickr

SS Palo Alto on Seacliff State Beach, California. Photo credit: Verifex/Flickr

SS Palo Alto on Seacliff State Beach, California. Photo credit: Don DeBold/Flickr

SS Selma at Seawolf Park in Galveston. Photo credit: Louis Vest/Flickr

The wreck of the San Pasqual, off the coast of Santa Maria, Cuba. Photo credit: phamhoanghai/Panoramio

The Kiptopeke Breakwater in Chesapeake Bay, Virginia. Photo credit: Douglas MacGregor/Panoramio

Breakwater created out of concrete ships at Powell River, British Columbia. Photo credit: David Stanley/Flickr

The wreck of SS Selma at Seawolf Park in Galveston. Photo credit: Katie Mague/Flickr

Sources: www.concreteships.org / Wikipedia / www.mobileranger.com and http://www.amusingplanet.com

Natarajan

” Get Ready to Face a Revolution in Financial Market …”

November 5, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

COMING SOON : REVOLUTION IN FINANCIAL MARKET

If you want to watch the presentation by Mr. Nandan Nilkeni kindly go to the following link https://t.co/Y3VBCCHCyG and get the digital experience.

PREPARE YOURSELF FOR A REVOLUTION

IN FINANCIAL MARKET

WHICH NEVER HAPPENED IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND!

-NANDAN NILKENI

Recently, Mr. Nandan Nilkeni, a founder team member of Infosys and generator of the concept of Aadhar made one presentation of the

impact this Aadhar linked cell phone will create and revolutionize the market in general and finance market in particular in India / world is a worth watching clip. I think the presentation of those 30 minutes will make you spell bound and speechless. How the technology is going to change the way we live in this world since the decades…. Major highlights of the presentation are as under.

1. There will be a massive disruption in financial services on back of technology revolution.

2. The telecom revolution has changed the desktop based environment to mobile interned based environment.

3. “WhatsApp movement” is the concept to understand this revolution because today 30 billion messages in a day are passed through WhatsApp in the world surpassing the SMS by large margin. This WhatsApp movement like revolution is going to take place in the world of finance making the concept of traditional banking and lending to go away.

4. We are moving from cash based society to cashless and digital society very very fast. Today India has more 900 million mobile users (More than 90 crores) which is a record in itself. The Aadhar when linked with the mobile set with IRIS authentication on will change the world we live in.

5. Today electronic clearing service NEFT-RTGS and IMPS have overtaken traditional payment system. With these 900 million mobile users, a mega trend is underway, which we are unable to apprehend. To put it in simple words, every mobile user will be an ATM.

6. When IRIS authentication (Biometric authentication linked with Aadhar server) will be on, the 900 million mobile users will be able to have online kyc, online authentication, online payment and online receipt on the basis of Unified Payment Interface (UPI). Smart phone will replace all type of debit and credit cards and Paytm like system will be fully operational. Physical cash to digital cash and digital cash to physical cash convertibility will be a game changer. Digital wallet and digital locker will revolutionize the security system. Enabling pear to pear payment system will do away many intermediaries and will be reimagining the infrastructure we have at present.

7. The whole process will lead to explosion of innovation, death of many businesses and birth of new ventures and business. India will become data scare to data rich country in five years in both, on consumer and business side. Credit process and credit appraisal will become obsolete and online loan payment will become possible. Think of 900 million people coming on one platform and remain connected!!! Almost all functions of the bank, government and taxation department will be done by Aadhar linked phones. This is even more important in the sense that IRIS authentication on cell phone is available only in India, no one has this system in the world!!!

8. Friends, this is not far away because the IRIS authentication on cell phone is practically started and will become a mass reality soon. So prepare yourself to live in the digitalized India with absolute transparency, no paper work, no bureaucratic intervention, no tax terrorism and much much more.

If you want to watch the presentation by Mr. Nandan Nilkeni kindly go to the following link https://t.co/Y3VBCCHCyG and get the digital experience.

Source….Input from a friend of mine

Natarajan

This Canadian giant is being haunted by its decision to challenge Airbus and Boeing……

October 28, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

In 2004, Bombardier, maker of business jets and high speed trains, decided it was going to build a larger airliner.
Called the C-Series, the jet is meant to compete with Boeing’s 737 and Airbus’ A320 — which dominate the medium range airliner market.
Bombardier is a sprawling business, making everything from Learjet’s for wealthy businessmen to cars for New York’s subway system.
But the C-Series has become an anchor around its neck. More than a decade after the plan was conceived, the jets still aren’t in commercial service.

Bombardier spent $US5.5 billion on their development, and delays and cost overruns have meant its debt has ballooned. Ratings agencies are worried about future cash flow, and the shares have fallen by two thirds this year.

The company, which had nearly $US10 billion of debt on its books at the end of June, burned through $US1.6 billion of cash in the first half of 2015, according to Moody’s analyst Darren Kirk.

“Bombardier needs to the get the plane into service, prove that it is successful and generate more demand if it wants to correct its cash flow shortage,” he said.

With this as a backdrop, the Canadian firm will release its results for the third quarter on Thursday. Analysts expect sales and profits to continue falling, but a day ahead of the report investors got a glimmer of hope: Canada’s LaPresse reported Wednesday that Quebec may announce an aid package for Bombardier as well.

The company says things are better than investors recognise. The aviation business currently $US34 billion worth of orders on the books with $US22 billion in business aircraft and $US12 billion in commercial aircraft.
Bombardier’s relatively small size means it doesn’t require nearly as many orders as Boeing and Airbus to keep the factory busy, spokesman Yan Lapointe said.
And the company isn’t way off its target of 300 C-Series jets sold by the time the aircraft is ready to ferry passengers. Bombardier Aerospace vice president Ross Mitchell told Business Insider that, with the jet scheduled to enter service next year, the company has 243 firm orders on the books.

But the concern is that those orders aren’t coming fast enough. A whole year has come and gone since the last time Bombardier announced a new buyer for the C-Series, and one of its largest buyers so far, Republic Airways, could be about to bolt.

Republic, which originally ordered the plane for its now-sold Frontier subsidiary, has said it is considering backing off from its commitment to the aircraft amid a slowdown in its own business.

“The Republic Airways planes are never going to be delivered to Republic,” Airways News senior business analyst Vinay Bhaskara said in an interview.

In June, Bombardier flew both the CS100 and the larger CS300 to the Paris Air Show. The planes arrived at Le Bourget airport with great fanfare, but left without booking a single new order.

The painful thing for Bombardier is that there’s nothing wrong with the aeroplane. In fact, the C-Series has garnered generally positive reviews.

“The CS300 kills the Boeing 737 Max 7 and the Airbus A319neo in terms of ability and efficiency,” Bhaskara said.

Bombardier CS300 in Republic Airways livery.

At the Paris Air Show, aircraft leasing company, Air Lease Corp.’s president and CEO John Plueger told the Seattle Times that it’s not enough for people to like the plane because what Bombardier needs are orders.

It’s a stark contrast to Bombardier’s other aircraft. The company’s CRJ-Series regional jets are among the most in-demand aircraft of its type with nearly 2,000 examples in service. Its Q-Series turboprop airliner is a staple of regional airlines around the world with more than 1,000 of the planes in service. That’s on top of the company’s iconic Challenger, Global, and Learjet families of private jets.

Part of the problem is that the C-Series is tapping a part of the market that the world’s largest aircraft makers have deemed unworthy because of thin profits. Boeing and airbus both discontinued their regional jets, the 737-600 and A318.

All may not be lost.

Analysts such as Bhaskara predict room for as many as 2,500 planes in the 100-150-seat jet category, and Bloomberg recently reported that Bombardier is in talks about a possible order with JetBlue Airways.

Another major buyer, according to Bloomberg, could be United Airlines which told pilots it plans to order small jetliners, Bloomberg also reports.
There’s also room for the C-Series to recover as the older Boeing and Airbus aircraft are phased out and need to be replaced, said Tom Capital, Deloitte’s vice chairman and head of global aerospace and defence.

Boeing and Airbus are focusing on larger aircraft with longer range,” Captain said. “This has left an opening for others such as Bombardier to come in with new and efficient equipment.”

The trick for Bombardier now, is to turn that optimism into actual orders. And fast.

Source….. BENJAMIN ZHANG……..www.businessinsider.com.au

Natarajan

This Made-In-India Chip Can Use TV Spectrum to Take the Internet to Rural India….

October 23, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

An Indian organization has come up with a technology that can help increase internet connectivity and take it to the rural parts of the nation as well.

A postal stamp-sized chip, called Pruthvi might have the potential to connect India’s rural population to the internet.

Developed by the Bangalore-based semiconductor firm, Saankhya Labs, the chip powers a system called Meghdoot that can use television White Space to transmit internet to many households.

chip

Picture for representation only. Photo Credit: Matt Laskowski/Flickr

White Space refers to the underutilised portion of the radio frequency spectrum. According a report in CNET, networks often leave a buffer between channels for safety purposes. Thus, large portions of the spectrum, usually in the 470 MHz to 790 MHz band, allocated for television broadcasting are unused or wasted, like the spectrum traditionally used for over-the-air transmission using TV towers and rooftop antennas. These spaces are at a lower frequency, and therefore a longer wavelength. This gives the signal a longer range, which can be used to deliver fairly low-speed Internet access over a wide area.

Saankhya Labs was founded in 2007 by Parag Naik, Hemant Mallapur and Vishwakumara Kayargadde. Pruthvi’s use is to allow Meghdoot to connect to a user-side modem to translate the white space signals to the more common internet bands that smartphones, tablets and computers use.

This technology can provide internet for up to a radius of 10-15 km depending on the height of the antenna tower and transmission power. The range can also be increased.

Saankhya labs is set to carry out field trials across the country in collaboration with IIT-Bombay, IIT-Delhi and IIT-Hyderabad. Discussions with Microsoft are also going on with the view of conducting trials in at Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh.

“World over regulatory authorities are using or planning to use this spectrum for their respective connectivity programmes. India can take the lead in both technology and the markets for TV White Space-based broadband delivery,” Parag Naik, CEO and co-founder of Saankhya Labs, told The Economic Times.

The chip is crucial in today’s times when the country is taking various measures to increase the impact of digital India, and also when various technology companies are working on similar goals. Saankhya Labs has now joined the likes of Google, Facebook and Microsoft.

The Meghdoot product line is also compliant to the Wi-FAR standard. This makes it suitable for use in other countries as well. The organization is also engaged with partners in the Philippines, the US and Singapore for trials.

Source….Tanaya Singh …www.thebetterindia.com

Natarajan

India’s global ad giant taking on Google and Facebook…

October 22, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

“I am a very proud Indian and I want to see our country succeed,” says Naveen Tewari, chief executive of mobile advertising giant InMobi.

“I thought if I could do something from here that can be successful, maybe I’ll have a small role in creating great companies out of India that can compete with the iconic companies in Silicon Valley.”

It’s fair to say that eight years after starting the company with three co-graduates from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, Mr Tewari has done just that.

Today InMobi, based in Bangalore, India, is the third largest player in the fast-growing mobile advertising industry, with only Facebook and Google outstripping it.

The company has 24 offices in 17 countries and employs more than 900 people. Last year it posted 720 billion mobile adverts on the phones of more than a billion users.

In just a few years he hopes they will send adverts to 2.5 billion people every day.

Naveen Tewari’s family hoped he would pursue a career in academia

”That level of ability for us to touch so many lives and impact their decision-making is a huge responsibility,” says Mr Newari.

“I want to ensure we deliver value to them.”

Smartphone revolution

The advertising giant has grown quickly because of the fast proliferation of smartphones and tablets across the world.

“InMobi creates audience networks for advertisers to reach through mobile devices,” explains Ian Maude, the director of digital media at Enders Analysis.

InMobi places adverts on smartphone content apps such as games

“These companies sign up digital publishers, like app makers, so they can access their audiences, package them up and sell them on to advertisers.”

India is the world’s third-largest smartphone market and many users are upgrading to smartphones for the first time from basic handsets.

Chinese mobile companies, like Xiaomi, OnePlus and Coolpad, are now investing in India, providing competition for home-grown brands, such as Micromax and Karbonn, as well as for global giants Samsung and Apple.

”InMobi is directly relevant to what is happening in India at a macro point of view because of its distribution and ability to access people on mobile devices, which people in India are adopting very quickly,” says Eileen Burbidge, who invests in technology companies for Passion Capital.

Global gamble

It has not been a clear road to global success for Mr Tewari and co-founders Abhay Singhal, Amit Gupta and Mohit Saxena.

The company was originally called mKhoj and offered a search engine that worked via text message.

In 2009, with mKhoj failing to take off, they rebranded as InMobi, funding the new business with credit card debt.

The gamble quickly paid off – that year InMobi became the largest mobile ad network in South Africa and opened offices in Europe, expanding to North America the following year.

InMobi has 24 offices around the world but is headquartered in Bangalore

“People asked us why are you building this as a global business when there is no past success like this,” Mr Tewari says.

“But we said we think we can make it happen; we have a great product and there is a market for it. Logic suggested that if we looked at the past we shouldn’t go for it, but my gut suggested that we should. We went for it and we are successful.

”You have to make decisions with 10% of the available information. If you had 100% information then decision-making would be very easy,” he adds.

Tech ambition

Mr Tewari says the turning point in his career was when he got to work with a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley during his summer breaks from his MBA [Master of Business Administration] at Harvard Business School.

”It was my first introduction to the world of start-ups and I learnt that I could make a difference, define the vision and actually make things happen.”

His chosen career path was a disappointment to some of his more academic family members.

”Everyone was disappointed when I did not go down the path of doing a PhD and taking up something with potential at the Indian Institutes of Technology.

“Now what I do is very different and it’s a big change,” he says.

Pl watch this video clip from you tube too….

By Kinjal Pandya-WaghBusiness reporter, Bangalore

Source….www. bbc.com and http://www.youtube.com

Natarajan

A 23-year-old Google employee lives in a truck in the company’s parking lot…!!!

October 20, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Justin Sullivan/GettyGoogle’s headquarters.

When 23-year-old Brandon S. headed from Massachusetts to the Bay Area in mid-May to start work, he opted out of settling into an overpriced San Francisco apartment.

Instead, he moved into a 128-square-foot truck.

The idea started to formulate while Brandon — who asked to withhold his last name and photo to maintain his privacy on campus — was interning at Google last summer and living in the cheapest corporate housing offered: two bedrooms and four people for about $US65 a night (roughly $US2,000 a month), he explains to Business Insider.

“I realised I was paying an exorbitant amount of money for the apartment I was staying in — and I was almost never home,” he says. “It’s really hard to justify throwing that kind of money away. You’re essentially burning it — you’re not putting equity in anything and you’re not building it up for a future — and that was really hard for me to reconcile.”

Brandon S.

Brandon lives in this 2006 Ford, which cost him exactly $10,000.

He started laying the groundwork for living out of a truck immediately, as he knew he’d be returning to work full-time in San Francisco. A school-year later, he was purchasing a 16-foot 2006 Ford with $US157,000 miles on it.

It cost him an even $US10,000, which he was able to pay upfront with his signing bonus. His projected ‘break-even point’ is October 21, according to the live-updating ‘savings clock‘ he created on his blog, ‘Thoughts from Inside the Box.’

Brandon S.

The dark, minimalist space includes only a bed, a coat rack, and dresser.

His one fixed cost is truck insurance — $US121 a month — as he doesn’t use electricity, and his phone bill is handled by Google.

‘I don’t actually own anything that needs to be plugged in,’ he explains on his blog. ‘The truck has a few built-in overhead lights, and I have a motion-sensitive, battery-powered lamp I use at night. I have a small battery pack that I charge up at work every few days, and I use that to charge my headphones and cell phone at night. My work laptop will last the night on a charge, and then I charge it at work.’

The space is sparse and minimal, he says: ‘The main things that I have are a bed, a dresser, and I built a coat rack to hang up my clothes. Besides that, and a few stuffed animals, there’s pretty much nothing in there.’

Brandon can shower and eat on Google’s campus.

As for food and showers, that’s all on Google’s campus. He eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner at work, and showers every morning in the corporate gym post-workout.

So few expenses means significant savings: ‘I’m going for a target of saving about 90% of my after-tax income, and throwing that in student loans and investments,’ he says.

He graduated with $US22,434 worth of student loans, and has paid it down to $US16,449 over the course of four months. ‘As a conservative estimate (and taking bonuses into consideration), I expect to have them paid off within the next six months, saving thousands of dollars over the standard 10-year, or even 20-year plans,’ he says.

Additionally, saving on rent has allowed him to dine at nice restaurants and enjoy San Francisco more than if he opted for living in an apartment.

Brandon S.

Inside the box.

Another perk: His commute from a parking spot on the periphery of Google’s campus is a few seconds on foot, rather than a few hours sitting in San Francisco traffic.

Besides one friendly run-in with security after getting home late from a movie one evening, his truck lifestyle hasn’t been a problem. He was greeted by about 10 security personnel that night, but after showing them his corporate badge — and even offering to move the truck — they apologised for waking him and even said he had a ‘sweet setup.’

The trade off for such low-cost housing is space — and modern conveniences such as heat, air conditioning, and a bathroom — but Brandon says the 128-square-foot space is larger than any of the bedrooms he’s ever lived in prior, and he’s usually only home to sleep.

Brandon S.

Brandon is really only home to sleep.

The truck lifestyle provides more than financial freedom. It forces him outside of his comfort zone, an essential learning experience considering he hopes to travel the world in the future.

‘If I do plan on travelling the world, I’ll need to be comfortable with unconventional living situations, and this is certainly a good place to start,’ he writes. ‘Plus, there is never going to be a better time in my life for me to try this. I’m young, flexible, and I don’t have to worry about this decision affecting anyone else in my life.’

He’s not sure how permanent life inside a box will be, so he hasn’t put a deadline on it. ‘It’s been five months so far, and I don’t see it stopping soon for any reason,’ he says.

Business Insider has reached out to Google for comment on this story and will update if we hear back.

Source….KATHLEEN ELKINS http://www.businessinsider.com.au

Natarajan

These 16 companies control almost everything you buy….

October 18, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Powerful companies create brands and products that we might not know are theirs.

Companies’ signature brands add to their annual revenues and provide an edge to competition.

To determine how powerful each company is, we factored together fiscal 2014 revenue, the number of employees, and press mentions on Google News over the past year.

Here is a list of retail companies that own brands and products that we use every day.

Procter and Gamble

2014 revenue: $83 billion

Number of employees: 118,000

P&G is the global leader in consumer goods with an unparalleled production scale and international reach. Some of the top P&G brands are everyday household items such as Tide, Swiffer, Crest, Olay, Pampers, Pantene, Herbal Essences, Old Spice, Vicks, Gillette, and Head and Shoulders.

CVS

2014 revenue: $139.38 billion

Number of employees: 200,000

More people than ever pick CVS as their go-to spot for filling prescriptions, making it the biggest retailer of prescription drugs in the US. CVS, headquartered in Rhode Island, will purchase Target’s pharmacy and clinics businesses for about $1.9 billion, adding almost 2,000 pharmacies to its business.

eBay

2014 revenue: $17.9 billion

Number of employees: 34,600

In its 20th year of operation, eBay has a huge command over online shoppers spanning 203 markets worldwide. While it previously ran PayPal, it continues to run the online-ticketing-company StubHub.

Costco

2014 revenue: $110.2 billion

Number of employees: 195,000

Costco, which sells in bulk for lower prices, consistently outperforms competitors Walmart and Target. Costco’s Kirkland signature collection includes food, clothes, and household supplies. It’s more than just home goods and food — it’s also a growing force in car sales.

Starbucks

2014 revenue: $16.4 billion

Number of employees: 191,000

While some of its stores are also rolling out beer, wine, and gourmet-food options, Starbucks is the fifth-most-admired brand in the world, according to Fortune. With 22,000 retail stores in 66 countries, the Seattle-based coffee retailer spent most of 2014 dedicated to going green and launching plans to send its employees to college and hire more of America’s military families and veterans.

Nike

2014 revenue: $27.7 billion

Number of employees: 56,500

Selling sneakers, fitness tech, athletic clothing, and outdoor wear, Nike is predicted to outperform the industry for the next five years. Athletic gear is becoming a mainstream clothing staple — whether you actually work out or not — and no one does it better than Nike.

Kroger

2014 revenue: $108.56 billion

Number of employees: 400,000

Kroger is the largest supermarket chain by revenue in America. It operates more than 2,500 stores under some two dozen different banners. In addition to Kroger Stores, its groceries include Cala Foods, City Markets, Dillons, Foods Co, Fred Meyer Stores, Fry’s, King Soopers, Quality Food Centers (aka QFC), Ralphs, Food 4 Less, and Smith’s Food and Drug. It also owns Barclay, Fox’s, Fred Meyer, and Littman jewelers and the Kwik Shop, Loaf ‘N Jug, and Quik Stop convenience stores.

Coca-Cola

2014 revenue: $45.99 billion

Number of employees: 129,200

Chances are, you’ve consumed at least one of the 657 billion Coca-Cola products purchased annually. Powerade, Sprite, Fanta, Minute Maid, Vitamin Water, Odwalla, Smart Water, Simply Orange, Fresca, Dasani, Fuzi, Ciel, and Burn are all brands from Coca-Cola.

Disney

2014 revenue: $48.8 billion

Number of employees: 180,000

The Disney name is everywhere: toys, movies, television, apparel, and theme parks. Its last major movie release, “Inside Out,” brought in $7.4 billion worldwide at the box office, and the much-anticipated “Star Wars” sequel debuts in December.

McDonald’s

2014 revenue: $27.4 billion

Number of employees: 420,000

With 36,258 chains worldwide, McDonald’s food options are adapting to consumer trends in favor of fast casual by rolling out all-day breakfast and revamping some of its stores to launch the “create your own” gourmet-burger option.

McDonald’s lists eight countries, including China and Russia, as high-growth markets — aka locations with high expansion and franchising potential, which is important since a large majority of McDonald’s restaurants (about 80% by the end of 2014) operate as franchises.

PepsiCo

2014 revenue: $66.7 billion

Number of employees: 271,000

As America’s leading beverage producer, PepsiCo owns 22 of the most well-known food and drink brands in the world, including Gatorade, Frito-Lay, Tropicana, 7-Up, Doritos, Cheetos, Quaker, Lipton, Ruffles, Tostitos, Aquafina, Brisk, Fritos, and Starbucks ready-to-drink beverages.

Johnson and Johnson

2014 revenue: $74.33 billion

Number of employees: 126,500

Johnson and Johnson, a healthcare company, manufactures everyday-use, in-home products such as Neutrogena, Rogaine, Aveeno, Band-Aid, Neosporin, Bengay, Listerine, Splenda, Lactaid, and Visine.

Apple

2014 revenue: $182.9 billion

Number of employees: 92,600

Apple is the world’s most valuable brand, according to Forbes. Its products and services include the iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, iPod, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Apple Music, and iCloud. It sells its products worldwide through its retail stores, online stores, and direct-sales force and third-party cellular-network carriers, wholesalers, retailers, and value-added resellers to the consumer.

Amazon

2014 revenue: $88.99 billion

Number of employees: 154,100

As the largest ecommerce site in the country, Amazon recently surpassed Walmart as the most valuable retailer in America in terms of market capitalization. Amazon currently owns over 40 subsidiaries, including Zappos, IMDb, GoodReads, AbeBooks, Book Depository, Create Space, and Audible. It also has a huge consumer-electronics market by including an e-reader and tablet and launched Amazon Instant Video, which has produced an award-winning original television series, “Transparent.”

Target

2014 revenue: $72.61 billion

Number of employees: 347,000

Target owns a number of exclusive food, clothing, and supply brands, including, Archer Farms, Market Pantry, Champion, Cherokee, Circo, Up&Up, Xhilaration, Merona, Mossimo, Room Essentials, Gillian & O’Malley, and Threshold.

Walmart

2014 revenue: $485.62 billion

Number of employees: 2.2 million

With 11,500 stores in 28 countries, Walmart’s scope is undeniable. Walmart is also the single-largest employer in America and announced earlier this year that it’s raising wages for 500,000 of its 1.4 million US workers. The company sits at No. 1 on the Fortune 500. Walmart brands include Equate, Ol’Roy, Dr. Thunder, Special Kitty, Price First, Play Day, Mainstays, and Sam’s Choice.

Source…..Marina Nazario in http://www.businessinsider.com.au

Natarajan

Term Of the Day…” STOCK “….

October 15, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

What is ” STOCK ” ?

1.A share of a company held by an individual or group. Corporations raise capital by issuing stocks and entitle the stock owners (shareholders) to partial ownership of the corporation. Stocks are bought and sold on what is called an exchange. There are several types of stocks and the two most typical forms are preferred stock and common stock.

2.British term for (1) A fixed interest government debt security issued usually in denominations, and (2) Inventory.

Use stock in a sentence

When the company was just forming, Joe bought most of the stock and when the company became large, he sold his stock and became rich.

I am happy that I bought stock in a company when I was younger, because it became very valuable 20 years later.

The board of directors decided to use a secondary stock offering to raise additional capital to pay for expansion in China.

Notable Quotes

The Only Time a Company Should Repurchase its Shares

“There is only one combination of facts that makes it advisable for a company to repurchase its shares: First, the company has available funds — cash plus sensible borrowing capacity — beyond the near-term needs of the business and, second, finds its stock selling in the market below its intrinsic value, conservatively-calculated. To this we add a caveat: Shareholders should have been supplied all the information they need for estimating that value. Otherwise, insiders could take advantage of their uninformed partners and buy out their interests at a fraction of true worth.”

Owning Options Compared to Owning Stocks

“Ironically, the rhetoric about options frequently describes them as desirable because they put managers and owners in the same financial boat. In reality, the boats are far different. No owner has ever escaped the burden of capital costs, whereas a holder of a fixed-price option bears no capital costs at all. An owner must weigh upside potential against downside risk; an option holder has no downside. In fact, the business project in which you would wish to have an option frequently is a project in which you would reject ownership. (I’ll be happy to accept a lottery ticket as a gift — but I’ll never buy one.)”

– Warren Buffett
Approaching Stocks After a Huge Crash

“Nobody who has ever been on a falling elevator and survived ever approaches such a conveyance without a fundamentally reduced degree of confidence. (Stated by Robert Reno after the 1987 stock market crash)”

– Robert Reno

Source….. http://www.businessdictionary.com

Natarajan

Have you ever seen a Goddess Durga idol this tall?…..

October 9, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

This Durga Puja, the world’s largest Durga idol will be installed at the Deshapriya Park in south Kolkata.

Reportage: Indrani Roy/Rediff.com. Photographs: Abhiroop Dey Sarkar

Artisan Mintu Pal is working round the clock at the Deshapriya Park Puja Committee workshop in Kolkata.

Eto Boro? Shotti! (This tall? Really?)

A teaser advertisement like this was doing the rounds of Kolkata since August.

While some thought it to be a telecom company advertisement, others felt it was about the tallest residential building that is about to come up in Kolkata soon.

Artisans give shape to Goddess Durga’s bahana — the lion — at the Deshapriya Park Puja Committee workshop in Kolkata.

Star Cement revealed recently that the teaser was its campaign for the world’s largest Durga idol to be installed at Deshapriya Park in south Kolkata.

“This year, Kolkata will see an idol of Goddess Durga that will touch the sky. Star Cement and the Deshapriya Park Puja Committee are the joint organisers of this event,” said Sanjay Kumar Gupta, CEO, Star Cement.

Artisan Mintu Pal stands next to the idol of Mahishasura at the Deshapriya Park Puja Committee workshop in Kolkata.

“This is an exciting challenge for me,” he told Rediff.com

About 40 artisans were at work at the Deshapriya Park Puja Committee workshop in Kolkata.

The fibreglass idol will be transferred to a huge platform at the centre of the park.

An assistant rubs clay on the fibre-glass hand of the idol.

Pal earlier created a 62-foot idol at the Salt Lake FD Block Durga Puja in 2011.

This year, Pal is all set to break his own record. This idol will be close to 100 foot, the artisan said.

He was in China recently to witness the making of the tallest Buddha statue (250 feet).

Artisans give final touches to the pandal at the Deshapriya Park in Kolkata.

Though the organisers are not giving away details of the budget, Star Cement is said to have already spent Rs 2.5 crore (Rs 25 million) for the teaser ads.

“The idol alone would cost Rs 50 lakh (Rs 5 million),” a source told Rediff.com

An artisan adds finishing touches to the idol.

The Puja committee is taking precautions for crowd management and security during the four days of the festival, starting October 19.

The Puja organisers have also applied for a certificate to the Guinness Book of World Records and eagerly await ratification.

Indrani Roy / Rediff.com in Kolkata

Source…..www.rediff.com

Natarajan