FT : Universal signs streaming deal with Tencent

Universal signs streaming deal with Tencent
World’s largest music group looks to expand reach in China and find local artists

Universal Music has signed a licensing agreement with Tencent to stream its music into China and discover more local artists, becoming the last major western music label to reach a deal with the internet group as it looks to expand its reach in the world’s second-biggest economy.

The world’s largest music company, which is owned by French conglomerate Vivendi, also announced that it will set up a music studio in China that bears the Abbey Road name. The famous London studio, where The Beatles recorded almost all of their music, was acquired as part of Universal’s takeover of EMI and is one of its most valuable brands.

Universal follows Warner Music and Sony in partnering with Tencent, giving the Chinese conglomerate an effective monopoly on streaming of western mainstream music in its home market where more than 570m people stream music each month, according to market research firm Quest Mobile.

Tencent, which owns the country’s top-three streaming platforms QQ Music, KuGou and KuWo, says it has 15m subscribers, meaning it trails only Spotify and Apple Music in paying customers. The company has a market share of 56 per cent, according to iiMedia Research Group.

Tencent has been credited with helping to clamp down on rampant piracy in the China, making the market more appealing to western music groups.

Michael Nash, head of digital for Universal Music, said: “The digital opportunity in the China’s music market is truly extraordinary, with over half a billion people enabled with smartphones. Chinese consumers are clearly embracing licensed services, fuelling an expansion of China’s music economy.”

Cussion Pang, chief executive of Tencent Music Entertainment, added: “This strategic agreement will further strengthen our efforts in copyright protection and shift the industry towards the paid subscription model.”

>>> AccorHotels in exclusive talks to acquire minority stake in Groupe Noctis fr

AccorHotels in exclusive talks to acquire minority stake in Groupe Noctis from FCDE

AccorHotels [EPA:AC] and FCDE (Fonds de Consolidation et de Développement des Entreprises) announced that they are in exclusive talks about acquiring 100% of the latter’s minority interest in Groupe Noctis.
Laurent de Gourcuff, Groupe Noctis’ Chairman, CEO and majority shareholder, established the company in 2008 and has since grown it into a key player in the hospitality market covering three segments, namely events, catering and entertainment. It has almost 800 employees and a collection of exclusive venues in Paris, wider France and abroad. It treats its French and international customers to a choice of upscale and emblematic venues (Monsieur Bleu, Loulou, Pavillons des Etangs, YOYO, Château de Longchamp, Raspoutine, Castel, etc.), and organizes over 3,000 events a year.
The FCDE invested EUR 11m in Noctis over 2013 and 2014, to help it roll out its strategically important events business, in particular through acquisitions, enabling it to grow into one of the key groups in its market and build one of the most remarkable asset portfolios in Paris. Over the past four years, it has grown revenues by 250%.
It has signed agreements to open about 10 new venues including Restaurant Girafe (Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine, Paris 16), Electric (Porte de Versailles, Paris 16), Compagnie 1837 (Saint Lazare train station, Paris 9), the rooftop restaurant at 52 Champs-Elysées (Paris 8). These projects will cement the group’s position in the hospitality market and rank it among the leading entertainment companies in Paris.
By investing in a top-tier Paris-based events, catering and entertainment specialist, AccorHotels is cementing its leadership in the City of Lights, a prominent destination for international and local customers seeking original and exclusive venues.
Through this strategic partnership, Noctis will be able to tap into AccorHotels’ unrivaled expertise in creating customer experiences, nurturing loyalty and providing top-of-the-range services with a personal touch for increasingly discerning clients – in particular to address French and international business clients’ requirements.
The operation under consideration will be submitted to employee representatives for consultation.
Laurent de Gourcuff, Groupe Noctis Chairman, CEO and founder: “The fact that the FCDE invested in our equity encouraged our business and financial partners, helped us transform our governance, added a more professional edge to our group’s management and opened the door to bank financing. The FCDE has been a very valuable partner for an entrepreneur such as myself, and has played a pivotal role in our development strategy’s success.
Now we’re starting a new, decisive chapter in our story, with AccorHotels’ investment in our equity. It’s the best partner to team up with to push ahead with our bold development plans, and we’ll be able to share a leading group’s expertise in serving upscale customers and extract synergies with their various business lines. We are very proud to be associated with AccorHotels, which, under the leadership of its President and CEO Sébastien Bazin, is pursuing a bold, demanding and ambitious strategy.”
Amélie Brossier, Member of the Board, CDG (the FCDE’s management company): “The market is consolidating and is increasingly dominated by a handful of strong players, and public authorities have kick-started several large-scale projects to promote Paris on the international scene. Laurent and his team have been rolling out their strategic vision to build Groupe Noctis in the midst of those trends and shown that they have sharp flair when it comes to spotting new, trendy celebration venues. The fact that we are signing this partnership agreement with AccorHotels today shows that this strategic vision, which the FCDE has been supporting since 2013, is the right one.”
Sébastien Bazin, Chairman and CEO, AccorHotels: “We’re very excited about teaming up with Groupe Noctis, which has come to rank among the leaders in a fiercely competitive environment in only a few years. It’s more than an enviable address book: Laurent de Gourcuff and his teams have built a portfolio of distinctive venues with strong characters that are promoting Paris on the international scene. This alliance blends naturally into our plans to transform and boost AccorHotels with a view to catering to increasingly discerning customers’ wants and needs beyond the travel universe. Its expertise and ours complement each other, and pooling our assets will put us in a position to tap into growth opportunities and synergies in France and beyond.”

>>> US Early premarket gappers

Early premarket gappers
Gapping up:
  • XGTI +24.8%, AKBA +16.6%, VRAY +7.1%, ETSY +6.7%, MGIC +6.5%, WB+6.5%, GILT +6.4%, CLBS +5.6%, SINA +5.6%, BDSI +5%, SKLN +4.5%, VOD+3.7%, SPLS +3.5%, CCUR +3.3%, CNDT +2.6%, ALDR +2.5%, ANTH +2.4%,DB +2.4%, VIPS +2.2%, VIPS +2.2%, NCSM +2.1%, LPSN +2%, WYY +2%,LOW +1.9%, HD +1.9%, SAGE +1.8%, FIT +1.7%, FATE +1.7%, CAPR +1.7%,TOT +1.5%, CHK +1.4%, BP +1.3%, RIO +1.3%, MOMO +1.2%, BIVV +1.1%,FCX +1.1%, SAN +1%, GAIN +1%
Gapping down:
  • PTX -30.2%, TEAR -15%, IPDN -11.9%, SPHS -11.2%, VOXX -9.8%, SSYS -9.8%, HOTR -9.5%, NK -6.7%, PRKR -6.6%, ETRM -5.9%, EDIT -5%, OCN -3.8%, KRNT -3%, CYRN -2.2%, DXCM -2.2%, SBGL -2%, CRME -1.7%, NETS -1.4%, FISI -1.3%, PFE -1.6%, AZN -1%, JNJ -1%, NOAH -0.7%, DXPE-0.6%, VRTU -0.6%

>>> Dick's Sporting Goods reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS above

Dick's Sporting Goods reports EPS in-line, revs in-line; guides Q2 EPS above consensus; reaffirms FY18 EPS guidance, lowers comps (47.57)
  • Reports Q1 (Apr) earnings of $0.54 per share, excluding non-recurring items, in-line with the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.54; revenues rose 9.9% year/year to $1.83 bln vs the $1.83 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
  • Comps +2.4% vs. +3-4% guidance.
  • Co issues upside guidance for Q2, sees EPS of $1.02-1.07, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.99 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; comps +2-3%.
  • Co reaffirms guidance for FY18, sees EPS of $3.65-3.75 vs. $3.72 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; lowers comps to +1-3% from +2-3%.
  • eCommerce sales increased 11.0%. eCommerce penetration for the first quarter of 2017 was 9.3% of total net sales, compared to 9.2% during the first quarter of 2016.
  • "In the first quarter, we generated non-GAAP earnings per diluted share near the high end of our guidance. Despite a challenging retail environment, we realized growth across each of our three primary categories of hardlines, apparel and footwear, and were pleased with the performance of our newly relaunched eCommerce site," said Edward W. Stack, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "We remain optimistic as we drive profitable growth on our new eCommerce platform, make marked progress on our new merchandising strategy and continue to capture market share."
  • As of April 29, 2017, the Company operated 691 DICK'S Sporting Goods stores in 47 states, with ~36.8 million square feet, 98 Golf Galaxy stores in 32 states, with ~2.1 million square feet, and 29 Field & Stream stores in 14 states, with ~1.4 million square feet

NYT : Big Pay for Hedge Fund Chiefs Despite a Rough Year

James Simons, at $1.6 billion, was the nation’s best-paid hedge fund manager last year, according to Institutional Investor’s Alpha magazine. Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Last year was a tough one for hedge funds.
Fed up with lackluster returns, investors took $70 billion out of the $3 trillion industry.
Despite that, even hedge fund managers who underperformed the broader market managed generate hefty paychecks for themselves, according to an annual ranking published by Institutional Investor’s Alpha magazine.
Nearly half of the top 25 earners made single-digit returns for their investors, even as the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index rose 12 percent, accounting for reinvested dividends.
The top earner was James Simons of Renaissance Technologies, who made $1.6 billion. Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates was a close second with $1.4 billion.
Further down the list was Robert Mercer, the co-chief executive of Renaissance and one of the biggest backers of Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign, who earned $125 million.
What’s also notable is who didn’t make the list: big names like William A. Ackman, John A. Paulson and Edward S. Lampert.
The Bezos Effect, 20 Years On
It is two decades since Amazon.com went public, and Jeff Bezos, the company’s founder, is clearly having a moment, Andrew Ross Sorkin writes in the DealBook column.
Despite fierce criticism over the years, Mr. Bezos has proved that he has “an authentic, legitimate claim on having changed the way we live,” Mr. Sorkin writes.
Amazon hasn’t just changed how we shop, but also how companies use computers and how we interact with technology by voice.
What differentiates Mr. Bezos from other chief executives is his focus on the long term — he’s not worried about the next quarter; he’s thinking about what will happen years from now.
“That is a competitive advantage that many chief executives could learn from,” Mr. Sorkin writes.
Uber Engineer Blocked From Self-Driving Car Work
A federal judge ordered Uber to bar its star engineer from working on a key component of the company’s self-driving car technology, but stopped short of telling the ride-hailing company to shut down the entire program.
Judge William Alsup of Federal District Court in San Francisco said that Waymo, the self-driving car business that operates under Google’s parent company, had “compelling evidence” that Anthony Levandowski downloaded over 14,000 confidential files from Waymo immediately before leaving to form a company that was later acquired by Uber.
But the judge also ruled that Waymo significantly “overreached” when it asked for protection on more than 120 patents it called trade secrets. Waymo had sought a temporary injunction that could have shut down Uber’s work on self-driving cars.
The judge ordered Uber to produce a timeline of events that led to Mr. Levandowski’s hiring and to do what it could to return the files to Waymo.
Quotation of the Day
“They’ve set up a perfect scheme here. It was rigged so there was no way they could lose.”
— Benjamin Poehling, a whistle-blower at UnitedHealth Group, who asserts that the big insurance companies have been systematically bilking Medicare Advantage for years, reaping billions of taxpayer dollars from the program by gaming the payment system.
Coming Up
• JPMorgan Chase shareholders will gather in Wilmington, Del., for the bank’s annual meeting at 10 a.m. Shareholders are likely to be awaiting what Jamie Dimon, the chief executive, will say about the Trump administration’s policies and the economy.
• The SkyBridge Alternatives Conference, or SALT, a three-day event for hedge fund managers, will begin in Las Vegas.

>>> Home Depot beats by $0.06, reports revs in-line; raises FY18 EPS guidance

Home Depot beats by $0.06, reports revs in-line; raises FY18 EPS guidance; reaffirms FY18 revs & comps guidance; Q1 comps +5.5% (157.33)

* Reports Q1 (Apr) earnings of $1.67 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.06 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.61; revenues rose 4.9% year/year to $23.89 bln vs the $23.74 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Comparable store sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2017 were positive 5.5 percent, and comp sales for U.S. stores were positive 6.0 percent.
* Co issues guidance for FY18, raises EPS to ~$7.15 from $7.13 vs. $7.20 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY18 revs of growth of ~4.6% to ~$98.95 bln vs. $99.18 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; Co reaffirms it sees FY18 comps sales of ~4.6%.

>>> Lone Pine Capital (Stephen Mandel) discloses updated portfolio positions in

Lone Pine Capital (Stephen Mandel) discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F filing: New CSX TMUS positions
Highlights from 2017 Q1 filing as compared to 2016 Q4 filing:
  • New positions in: CSX (~14.38 mln shares), CMCSA (~13.74 mln), TMUS (~5.98 mln), Q (~5.98 mln), ALB (~1.97 mln), SNAP (~1.79 mln)
  • Increased positions in: SYMC (to ~26.45 mln shares from ~13.27 mln shares), RICE (to ~13.7 mln from ~3.74 mln), TV (to ~18.44 mln from ~13.53 mln), NKE (to ~19.16 mln from ~14.4 mln), ATVI (to ~24.8 mln from ~20.65 mln) COMM (to ~7.43 mln from ~3.79 mln),
  • Maintained positions in: ADBE (~4.81 mln shares), FLT (~4.5 mln shares), PCLN (~0.3 mln shares)
  • Closed positions in: BAC (from ~21.67 mln shares), WMB (from ~16.33 mln), MSFT (from ~15.21 mln), PYPL (from ~12.5 mln), EBAY (from ~9.61 mln), LULU (from ~4.5 mln), ICE(from ~4.23 mln), PNC (from ~4.2 mln)
  • Decreased positions in: DLTR (to ~6.54 mln shares from ~9.32 mln shares), EXPE (to ~2.12 mln from ~4.32 mln), EA (to ~7.78 mln from ~9.42 mln), FB (to ~5.11 mln from ~5.93 mln),EQIX (to ~1.43 mln from ~1.91 mln), ULTA (to ~1.52 mln from ~1.8 mln), V (to ~6.17 mln from ~6.55 mln

>>> BP Capital (Boone Pickens) discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F fili

BP Capital (Boone Pickens) discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F filing with new HUN SND PE SUM AM PUMP positions
Highlights from 2017 Q1 filing as compared to 2016 Q4 filing:
  • New positions in: HUN (~0.22 mln shares), SND (~0.18 mln), PE (~0.17 mln), SUM (~0.13 mln), AM (~0.1 mln), PUMP (~0.06 mln), CQP (~0.04 mln), NBLX (~0.04 mln), EQM (~0.04 mln), MMP (~0.02 mln)
  • Increased positions in: EPD (to ~0.33 mln shares from ~0.11 mln shares), MPLX (to ~0.2 mln from ~0.07 mln), BHI (to ~0.13 mln from ~0.05 mln), TRGP (to ~0.12 mln from ~0.05 mln), PTEN (to ~0.23 mln from ~0.18 mln) ENBL (to ~0.24 mln from ~0.21 mln), TEP (to ~0.04 mln from ~0.02 mln) SEP (to ~0.03 mln from ~0.01 mln), NS (to ~0.06 mln from ~0.04 mln)
  • Closed positions in: SPN (from ~0.64 mln shares), SXL (from ~0.46 mln), NOV (from ~0.23 mln), NWL (from ~0.2 mln), EEP (from ~0.16 mln), OKS (from ~0.15 mln), NFX (from ~0.12 mln), JBLU (from ~0.11 mln)
  • Decreased positions in: WPX (to ~0.38 mln shares from ~0.96 mln shares), FET (to ~0.14 mln from ~0.49 mln), NR (to ~0.18 mln from ~0.51 mln), SUN (to ~0.11 mln from ~0.42 mln),HZN (to ~0.14 mln from ~0.45 mln), KMI (to ~0.49 mln from ~0.68 mln), LNG (to ~0.1 mln from ~0.27 mln), GT (to ~0.16 mln from ~0.27 mln), WPZ (to ~0.25 mln from ~0.35 mln),RSPP (to ~0.15 mln from ~0.24 mln)

>>> ValueAct Holdings (Jeffrey Ubben, Bradley Singer) discloses updated portfoli

ValueAct Holdings (Jeffrey Ubben, Bradley Singer) discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F filing reflecting increased BHI VRX NTCT ADS positions
Highlights from 2017 Q1 filing as compared to 2016 Q4 filing:
  • New positions in: BIVV (~8.48 mln shares)
  • Increased positions in: BHI (to ~31.41 mln shares from ~27.41 mln shares), VRX (to ~18 mln from ~14.99 mln), NTCT (to ~2.3 mln from ~1.65 mln), ADS (to ~5.88 mln from ~5.25 mln)
  • Maintained positions in: FOX (~53.33 mln shares), CBG (~41.87 mln shares), TRN (~15.58 mln shares), STX (~9.54 mln shares), AWI (~9.2 mln shares), WLTW (~8.11 mln shares)
  • Closed positions in: ALSN (from ~10.53 mln shares)
  • Decreased positions in: MSFT (to ~23.01 mln shares from ~38.63 mln shares), MS (to ~17.88 mln from ~26.9 mln)