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STATES CHRONICLE – Baidu officials announced that Dr. Qi Lu will be the company’s new Chief Operating Officer and President and will be in charge of various company operations.

Baidu, Inc. is a Chinese company. It is based in Beijing, China and was founded in 2000. The company offers web services. It is considered one of the world’s largest Internet companies.

Its services are quite varied. They include, for example, a web browser. This can look for websites, images, and audio files. Baidu also offers Baike and Music. The latter is a music service. Baike is an online encyclopedia.

And now, the services will have a new COO. Qi Lu is a computer scientist. He was born and educated in China. In 1996, Lu finished his Carnegie Mellon Ph.D. His segment was computer science. Since then, he has worked for a number of big names in the industry. After starting at IBM, Lu moved to Yahoo.

After departing from the company, he was personally recruited by the then Microsoft CEO. The computer scientist has been on leave from Microsoft. This has been effective as of September 2016.

As part of Yahoo, Lu became senior vice president. He was in charge of the Yahoo advertising and search technologies. In 2007, he took over the executive vice president role.

In 2008, Lu joined the Microsoft search engine section. He was part of the team to launch Bing. Qi Lu then went to lead the Microsoft Office business. He was also Microsoft’s global executive vice president.

Now, Qi Lu will be moving to a new Internet giant company. His COO and President activity will include the following. He will be in charge of the products and technology. And also of the organization operations. His responsibilities will also include their sale and marketing area.

Baidu stated that the announcement is effective immediately. This was released Tuesday, on January 17.

Robin Li, the group CEO and Baidu chairman, also released a declaration. He stated his delight at the new addition. Qi Lu will be joining their senior executive team.

Li continued as follows. According to him, Dr. Lu possesses quite a wealth of knowledge in the area. He has prior experience in management and leadership. The man is also an authority in another domain. More exactly, the artificial intelligence area.

Li stated his belief that Qi Lu will be an added strength. His contributions will strengthen the company’s technology and management areas.

Qi Lu also released a statement. He too expressed his delight at joining the Baidu team. According to him, Baidu has quite a renown. It is considered one of top technology companies in the country.

It is also very well known at a global level. Especially for its contributions in the AI domain. Lu will be helping them develop the area. Baidu reportedly has quite a visionary strategy involving AI.

Lu will help the further development of the area. Baidu is seeking to become a world leader in the artificial domain. And also a class technology company.

The aforementioned CEO, Li, offered details about these plans in October. Company’s third quarter results were released at the time. Li stated that the organization will try to bring further innovations. It will be developing its digital assistant. And also its autonomous cars segment.

Baidu will also try to introduce new AI-based applications on the market.

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STATES CHRONICLE – Luxottica, possibly best known for being the producer of brands such as Ray-Ban, will be merging with Essilor.

Luxottica Group S.p.A. is an eyewear company. It is based in Milan, Italy and was founded in 1961. The company is considered the largest in the world in the eyewear domain. Luxottica is specialized in the design, manufacturing, and retail of its brands.

These include Ray-Ban, Oakley, and Persol. Sears Optical, Pearle Vision, and Target Optical are also on the list.

The company also produces prescription frames and sunglasses for other designer brands. Burberry, Armani, Prada, Miu Miu, or Chanel are amongst such brands.

Essilor International S.A. is an ophthalmic lenses producer. It is based in Charenton-le-Pont, France. The company was founded in 1849. Essilor also manufactures ophthalmic optical equipment. It is considered the largest producer of ophthalmic lenses in the world.

The company also develops Varilux. This is a progressive lens, the first in the world. It can help correct presbyopia. It also allows for a clear vision. Essilor operations spread over 5 five continents. More than 100 countries are included.

Now, the two companies will be merging. The announcement came this Monday. On January 16, Delfin and Essilor revealed that they signed an agreement. Delfin S.a.r.l. is Luxottica’s majority shareholder. It owns almost 62 percent of all Luxottica shares.

The Luxottica and Essilor merger could create an integrated player in the industry. Its outreach would have a global outreach.

A transaction between the two would entail a strategic businesses combination. Delfin would reportedly be contributing with its entire Luxottica shares. These would be traded for newly-released Essilor ones.

Following the merger, Essilor would acquire a new name. “EssilorLuxottica” will be a holding company. its operating activities would be hived-down into Essilor International. This later would be a wholly-owned company.

Following the transactions, Delfin will still possess shares. It will have in between 31 to 38 percent of the future EssilorLuxottica shares. As such, it would still be the largest shareholder.

The merger of Essilor with Luxottica will increase their outreach. Their products would sell in over 150 countries. They would also have over 140,000 employees.

Essilor’s Board of Directors met on January 15. It unanimously approved the Delfin agreement. Luxottica’s Board of Directors unanimously acknowledged its utility. More exactly, they recognized that it is in the company’s best interests. They also shared the business combination’s strategic rationale.

Essilor and Luxottica will keep their respective Board of Directors. EssilorLuxottica will have a newly created one. It would be composed of 16 members. Essilor and Delfin will each nominate 8 members.

The merger agreement is expected to close by 2017’s second-half. It will come to address the optical needs of around 7.2 billion people at a global level. 2.5 billion of them are believed to still have uncorrected vision problems.

By merging, the two companies will have an estimated worth of around $49 billion. Reports state that the companies had previously considered a deal. This would have taken place in 2014. However, the conditions were reportedly “not right” at the respective time.

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STATES CHRONICLE – Mars, Incorporated, the giant candy maker, has announced its intention of acquiring VCA, the pet hospital care chain.

Mars is a global manufacturer company. It was founded in 1911 and is based in McClean, Virginia. It is specialized in confectionery, other food products, and pet food. Its most famous products include Mars, Milky Way, M&Ms, Snickers, and Skittles. They are also the producers of Orbit, Winterfresh, and Spearmint. Their pet food sector produces several brands. Pedigree and Whiskas are amongst them.

Now, the company will be expanding its pet services. Earlier this week, Mars Inc. announced that it intends to acquire VCA. The announcement was released on January 09. The company made a purchase offer worth $9.1 billion.

VCA, Inc. or the Veterinary Centres of America is a veterinary medicine company. It is based in Los Angeles, California. VCA Inc. operates the VCA Animal Hospitals. These are spread throughout the United States and Canada. The company is said to operate over 700 animal hospitals and care centers.

The pet care sector is considered as being a booming industry. With the acquisition, Mars Inc. could be expanding its outreach in the area. On Monday, the company stated that it intends to buy VCA for around $7.7 billion. Said value will not be including debts.

This would translate into a $93 value share. It would mark a 30 percent increase when compared to the current closing price. On Friday, the pet hospital chain had a $70.77 per share value.

An acquisition would most likely propel Mars’s position in the sector. It could make it a dominant force in the pet care domain. It may also help increase current company pet-targeting areas. Mars is the producer of brand pet food products.

A total sales value could come to about $9.1 billion. This would also include company debt. VCA has an outstanding debt of about $1.4 billion. Following the sales announcement, VCA shares marked an increase. On Monday, company shares rose by 29 percent. As such, they reached a $91.03 value.

Mars Inc. would be advantaged by the acquisition. It would mark their deeper integration in the area. Besides its pet food sector, the company also offers other animal services.

It has already established a Mars Petcare division. This latter already includes the former Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Inc. producer. It has also acquired various Procter & Gamble Co. pet-food brands.

Mars also operates several other pet care centers. It is the owner of BluePearl Veterinary Partners and the Banfield Pet Hospital.

The American pet care and products industry has marked an increase. In recent years, residents have been investing more in the care and food of their pets. This trend is believed to have been influenced by the “humanization” of pets.

VCA is considered as quite a pioneer in the animal care field. The company has expanded by buying other veterinary hospitals. Its acquisition of hundreds of such services has fueled its growth. As such, it now operates and manages about 800 hospitals.

Grant Reid, the Mars CEO, went to offer a statement. According to him, the company considers VCA a tremendous opportunity. The latter is considered a leader in pet healthcare services. The CEO considers that the acquisition will come to advantage both companies. Pets, pet owners, veterinarians and other such health care authorities may also be advantaged.

Mars expects the VCA acquisition to close sometime in this year’s third quarter. It will mark a further diversification of its services. Such a variety may be especially needed as the human packaged-food sector was seen to stagnate.

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STATES CHRONICLE — Fiat Chrysler has announced that it will be investing in the company’s Michigan and Ohio-based facilities.

Many rumors have been flying as to the auto industry future production plans. On Sunday, some were put to rest as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles revealed its investment and production targets.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles or FCA is an Italian-controlled corporation. The multinational was formed back in 2014. It saw the merging of Fiat S.p.A. into Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. Fiat currently has two main subsidiaries.

One of them is the FCA US, previously known as Chrysler LLC. It is based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The Chrysler brand as well as the Jeep, Ram Trucks, and Dodge are amongst its most famous products.

On Sunday afternoon, Fiat Chrysler revealed its 2017 – 2020 plans. The manufacturer announced that it will be investing in its United States-based facilities. The targeted facilities are in Michigan and Ohio.

The announcement came at the North American International Auto Show. This later took place in Detroit.

FCA is planning to invest an approximated $1 billion. The value will mostly target the Toledo and Warren plans. These will be transformed so as to allow the manufacturing of new models.

More exactly, they will serve as a production line for a new Jeep model. The investment will also bring back an older model. The Wagoneer nameplate will be reintroduced.

Fiat Chrysler estimates 2020 as an investment finish date. By that time, it will have created about 2,000 new workplaces. FCA will reportedly have to reach tax incentive agreements with the local authorities.

The automaker also announced a new, potential plan. It could come to change its Warren Trucks heavy-duty pickups assembly location. Currently, these are produced in the company’s Mexico facility. In the future, the heavy-duty vehicles could come to be assembled in the U.S.-based Warren plant.

Fiat Chrysler released a few details about its investment plans. The corporation named them the second phase of a bigger plan. This latter would set out to shift current assembly locations. Future shifts and changes will target all of the FCA plants. Changes will be made to the United States, Mexico, and Canada-based facilities.

Sergio Marchionne, the FCA CEO, went to explain. According to him, the moves would expand company key segments. They have reportedly been long in the making.

The changes should help the manufacturer meets its United States growing demands. It should also help increase international market exports. These latter will target both mid-size and larger vehicles.

FCA announced its future product assembly line distribution. As such, the Warren plant will build Grand Wagoneer and Wagoneer SUVs. The Toledo Assembly Complex south plant will build Jeep pickups.

Reports show that the Wagoneer was the first in a full-size Jeep series. The Wagoneer nameplate was used in between 1963 and 1983. It adorned all full-size wagons.

The new Wagoneer will be the Jeep premium nameplate, according to the said Marchionne. Last year, he stated that the Wagoneer has historically been a premium model.

A Wrangler pickup model has long since been expected. Such a model’s design has yet to be established. Over the years, Fiat Chrysler has released various concepts. The Jeep Gladiator and the Wrangler Red Rock Responder are amongst such concepts.

The Sunday announcement is on top of a previous investment. Last year, FCA announced that it will be moving and expanding various products. As such, its Toledo-produced Jeep Wrangler will be expanded.

The Jeep Cherokee will be moved to the Belvidere, III. plant. It will come to replace the Jeep Patriot and the Jeep Compass. This latter’s latest model will be produced in Toluca, Mexico.

More details regarding the Sunday announced investments are expected to emerge. On Monday, Sergio Marchionne was previously scheduled to hold a news conference during the aforementioned auto show.

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STATES CHRONICLE – Since last week’s election, government bonds have been registering a surge. The 2-year note managed to rise by over 1 percent, while the 30-year note registered a rise of 3 percentage points. Even better, the United States is not the only one registering an oscillation in the business market sector.

The 30-year note of Italy managed to rise by 1 percent. Germany registered the same surge after six months of stagnation.

President-elect Donald Trump managed to convince the world that his administration will boost the American economy by heavily investing in infrastructure. This move will generate a rise in Federal Reserve rates, making investors abandon bonds and focus their attention on equities.

Since the first item on the President-elect’s list is the repealing of the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies are predicting a fruitful 2017. However, this is not the only industry that will gain profit from the future administration. As Mr. Trump stated on numerous occasions, he will be focusing on American industry, a sector that has suffered at the hands of green energy and environmental restrictions.

The copper industry’s market values rose higher than it has in five years during the last week, a sign that Donald Trump’s campaign promises are starting to take shape.

Furthermore, copper is not the only metal that is registering record share values. All metal stocks have been skyrocketing, the market recording streaks that haven’t been matched in more than three decades.

On the other hand, companies such as Amazon are already paying for their Secretary Clinton endorsement as their share value has significantly dropped since last week, Jeff Bezos’ company losing over $30 billion.

The FANG ban is also taking a toll on Facebook, Netflix, and Google, their revenue continuously plummeting ever since last Tuesday when Hillary Clinton lost the presidential race.

However, the biggest surprise yet is gold. Even though all forecasts were centered around the idea that the precious metal will reach record values, its market value dropped by over 10 percent.

Contrary to popular belief, the future administration might succeed in jumpstarting the economy as the US dollar is already registering off the chart values. In a turn of events similar to that of the elections, the dollar index surged over the 100-handle limit, while the euro’s value dropped at a level that hasn’t been registered in over a year.

Image source: Pixabay 

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STATES CHRONICLE – Reportedly, 2,850 Microsoft employees from its smartphone and sales units will be laid off globally over the next 12 months. Earlier this year, the tech giant slashed  1,850 more positions within the struggling mobile division.

In Europe, the company announced earlier this spring about 1,350 cuts because of a plan to revamp its smartphone hardware division. That move also affected 500 more jobs worldwide. The European smartphone sales unit, which is based in Finland, was not impacted by the decision.

The latest lay-offs are also part of a larger plan to streamline mobile and sales business worldwide. According to a June report, Microsoft had 63,000 employees in the U.S. and 51,000 more overseas.

About 38,000 Microsoft employees work in technical support, distribution and manufacturing businesses, 37,000 work in R&D divisions, 29,000 are sales representatives, and 10,000 more are working in administration.

Last summer, MS chief executive Satya Nadella said that the company was about to dump 7,000 employees worldwide. Nadella tied the job cuts to huge loses in the smartphone sector as Nokia Devices and Services business proved less profitable than expected and cost Microsoft $7.6 billion. Moreover, the company hemorrhaged up to $850 million as restructuring costs during the same time period.

Windows Phone is not faring too well. In the first quarter, it had just 2.54 percent market share heavily lagging behind Android’s 61 percent and Apple’s 31.76 percent. Last year, during the same quarter Windows phone had no more than 2.57 percent slice of the smartphone market.

The figures are all the more concerning as the tech giant launched Windows 10 in the meantime and gave the handset a long-awaited reset.

In April, during an annual developer conference, Microsoft’s Terry Myerson said that the struggling smartphone is no longer a priority. Myerson said that developers should better focus on more profitable products such as Windows 10, Xbox and Hololens.

“If you wanted to reach a lot of phone customers, Windows Phone isn’t the way to do it,”

Myerson said.

He added that Xbox and Hololens are more exciting topics to have a discussion on than the Windows Phone. The Windows boss’ statements may mean that the company has admitted defeat in the war against Apple and other smartphone giants.

So, apparently the company won’t invest more resources in the failing business until it finds a way to lure in more customers.
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Amazon.com has recently joined forces with banking giant Wells Fargo & Co to help it gain a competitive edge on the student loan market. Reportedly, the e-commerce giant will be able to offer lower interest rates to student loan borrowers under a new service called Amazon Prime Student.

A spokesperson for Wells Fargo deemed the new partnership a “tremendous opportunity” to bring two “great” companies together.

Under the new deal, students will see their interest rates cut by half a percentage point if they apply for any of the bank’s student loan products through Amazon Prime Student. Interest rates can get even lower if students opt for a loan repayment plan which runs automatically every month.

Wells has educational loan offers ranging from 5.94 percent to 11 percent in fixed-rate system. These rates can get slightly lower if the borrower enlists a co-signer.

The new Amazon service for students will cost $49 per year. The good news is that students won’t be forced to remain subscribers through their college years or until they repay their loan. Amazon hopes, however, for students to remain interested in the service after they graduate, while Wells hopes for more loans under the deal from that point on.

Nevertheless, Amazon and Wells Fargo are not the first case of retail and banking industry joining forces. Banks and retailers have been doing business for years. This is how supermarkets can offer discounts to credit-card users.

And the private student loan market leaves room for growth. Currently, the market accounts for just 7 percent of the $1.3-trillion educational loan market in the U.S. The market has been dominated by the U.S. government after the Obama administration decided to lend money directly to students six years ago.

However, private lenders lives are not easy as the competition is fierce and everyone is looking to offer tempting alternatives to the government’s Parent Plus loan program. Sallie Mae and Wells are currently the most prominent lenders in the nation. Both firms scored $6.4 billion in loans last quarter, which marks a 7 percent rise from last year.

Since the federal loan plan is the most affordable, parents go for private loans only when in need for extra cash as the federal government has put strict caps on the amount of cash to be borrowed for higher education.

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STATES CHRONICLE – After a series of unfortunate airplane-related news, it’s time for something more light-hearted… hopefully. No, this article isn’t about a crashed or missing aircraft, and nor is it about a shameful act of persecution aboard an airplane, as so many other recent articles were. No, it might, in fact, be about one of the most epic ways to quit your job.

I’m saying that it ‘might’ be about that because neither the airline nor the flight attendant involved answered any questions so far. So what is this all about? According to eye witnesses and video footage from a passenger in a different plane, a UA flight attendant quit by sliding down emergency slide, walking away.

Immediately after landing at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston on Monday morning, the United Airlines employee made her daring exit. She quickly deployed the emergency ramp, threw her bag out of the plane, and she soon followed after. She didn’t miss a stride as she picked up her bag and proceeded to walk away.

As expected, the flight attendant was immediately suspended from further flying duties, as United Airlines apologized for her behavior and went to say that how she acted in no way represents the attitude or discipline of their entire staff. No more information was given related to the incident other than there was no actual emergency to warrant the deployment of the safety chute.

Other data regarding the flight would be that the plane landed in Texas at 11:26 a.m., carrying 159 passengers after departing from Sacramento, California. The aircraft was delayed for forty minutes before continuing on its way to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

According to witnesses, there was a man having trouble breathing at the back of the plane, something which distracted the other flight attendants long enough to make the daring stewardess’ escape easier. No other conflicts aboard the plane were reported, although that doesn’t mean that none took place.

Even though the flight attendant’s behavior was reckless and dangerous, you can’t really say that you never wanted to just walk away from your job. Sadly, the situation isn’t clear yet, as the woman could have been suffering from something, but since the company condemned her actions, she probably wasn’t under duress.

Still, the fact remains that if there are no mediating actions she might be held legally accountable for her actions, as the emergency chute can only be deployed once, then having to be replaced. But depending on her situation, paying for the chute might be worth quitting her job.

Image source: Twitter