Quartz Daily Brief—Fast food wars, pork sale delay, mega drug deals, powdered alcohol
Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Barack Obama flies into a China-Japan spat… The US president embarks on a week-long Asia tour after canceling one last October for the US government shutdown. He arrives as a Chinese court recently impounded a Japanese cargo ship, and the Japanese prime minister is returning from Yasukuni Shrine.
… and Biden meets in Ukraine. The US vice-president Joe Biden will meet Ukraine’s interim prime minister and president to discuss the country’s upcoming elections. Currently set for May 25, optimists hope the elections will solve the political crisis facing the country.
Fast food giants report earnings. Both McDonald’s and Yum! Brands (owner of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC), report earnings. Food price inflation and stiffer competition are clipping McDonald’s margins, while weakness in China dents expectations for Yum.
Comcast rides high. Analysts are predicting a strong quarter for the US cable firm on the back of high ratings for NBC Universal’s coverage of the Sochi Olympics and increasing demand for broadband internet. The company also appears to be ready to absorb Time Warner Cable.
AT&T’s copycat strategy reaps rewards. The US telecoms giant’s first-quarter earnings are expected to rise after it took a leaf from the T-Mobile book and offered installment plans. This gets AT&T out of the trap of having to subsidize handsets, and thus Apple’s profits.
While you were sleeping
The world’s biggest pork company downgraded its IPO. China’s WH Group will sell fewer primary shares in its planned Hong Kong IPO, previously due for April 30, according to IFR. Pricing of the deal, originally due for today, was also delayed. The company cited a lack of demand for the decision.
Japan and the US face issues over trade. Japan’s economics minister said he sees significant distance between Japan and the US over a broad trade agreement. A deal with Japan is critical to the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is important to Obama’s expansion in Asia.
Philips recorded a poor quarter and warned of trouble. A bigger-than-expected fall in quarterly operating profit was blamed on exchange rates and falling demand. EBITA for the quarter dropped 22% to $433.4 million, and missed a consensus of $471 million.
Nike’s Chinese shoe supplier tried to stop strikes. Yue Yuen, whose clients include Nike and Adidas, said it offered its workers an extra 230 yuan ($37) per month in wages, in addition to other benefits. Factory staff have been on strike for six days, part of a growing number of Chinese workers demanding higher salaries.
Novartis, GSK and Eli Lilly did a big deal: The three pharma companies announced asset sales to each other worth nearly $30 billion, as the industry moves to specialization. Novartis buys GSK’s cancer drugs portfolio, GSK buys Novartis’s vaccines and Lilly gets Novartis’s animal health business.
South Korea’s ferry death toll surpassed 100. 104 have been confirmed to have died, and 198 are still missing. Seven crew members have been arrested as reports suggest confusion occurred over whether or not to evacuate passengers while the ship listed.
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Quartz obsession interlude
John McDuling on how the global music industry is trying—and failing—to crush Pandora. “Internet-based music platforms are legitimate businesses now, but tensions between the music establishment and new media remain as bitter as ever. They came to a head in the courts last month in a fascinating case between Pandora Media, now America’s biggest internet radio company, and the 100-year-old American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). It concerned the arcane issue of music publishing royalties, and uncovered some questionable behavior.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Mocking NGOs will make the bad ones better. A rise in satire aimed at charities might force the less-than-professional ones to think about what they’re doing.
iOS 8 will have a healthbook built in. Your phone will let you know how healthy you are.
The most important book of this decade is wrong. Thomas Piketty’s rapturously reviewed book on the inevitability of inequality is packed with good data that doesn’t support his conclusions.
The post-PC era isn’t what you think it is. Apple will probably reveal this week that iPad sales are slowing, which could mean people are replacing PCs with phones, not tablets.
We’re going back to the age of the media baron. With billionaires like Jeff Bezos buying up newspapers, the future could see ad revenue replaced with old-fashioned influence.
Technology adoption is not speeding up. It all depends on when you decide something was “invented”.
Surprising discoveries
Game your wedding registry. Here’s how to get the gifts you really want.
How to consume powdered alcohol. Number 1: Do not snort it.
Any parent can suffer from postpartum depression. Moms, dads, gay, straight, adoptive, non-biological—the first five years of a child’s life are rough on everyone.
The Big Bang is not the origin of the universe. According to most Americans.
A “robotic woman” from the Mad Men era. British Pathé, the newsreel archive company, has put its entire catalogue on YouTube for free, including a “robotic woman”—with all the cliches you would expect from 1968.
Best wishes from Quartz for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, robotic journalists, and theories of the origin of the universe to [email protected]. You can follow us on Twitter here for updates during the day.