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IJM Corporation	[ "1983 establishments in Malaysia", "Conglomerate companies of Malaysia", "Companies based in Petaling Jaya", "Holding companies established in 1983", "Malaysian companies established in 1983", "Construction and civil engineering companies of Malaysia", "Companies listed on Bursa Malaysia", "Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1983", "1980s initial public offerings" ]	1,513	10,697	IJM Corporation Berhad () is one of Malaysia's leading conglomerates and is listed on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad ("Bursa Securities"). Its core business activities encompass construction, property development, manufacturing and quarrying and Infrastructure concessions. Headquartered in Selangor, Malaysia, IJM's regional aspirations have seen it establish a growing presence in neighbouring developing markets with operations presently spanning 10 countries, with primary focus in Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, United Arab Emirates, China, Indonesia and India. Corporate Profile The result of a merger between three medium-sized local construction companies – IGB Construction Sdn. Bhd. (Ipoh Garden Bhd.), Jurutama Sdn Bhd and Mudajaya Sdn Bhd, IJM was formed in 1983. In April 2007, IJM acquired the Road Builder Group ("RBH"), its nearest competitor, to augment its position as one of the country's biggest builders. In addition to bolstering its construction order book, property land bank and infrastructure portfolio, the enlarged Group enabled IJM to attain considerable synergistic benefits, greater local prominence as well as attain a more sizeable balance sheet to bid for larger jobs and facilitate its expansion into overseas markets. IJM Land Berhad is one of the largest property developers in Malaysia with townships, commercial buildings and high-rise condominiums under development in key growth areas throughout the country. IJM has also undertaken ventures overseas in the past such as in Orlando USA, Singapore and Australia. Initially supporting in-house needs, the Group's Industry Division quickly grew its operations into scale-able core activities focused on catering to demand from outside the Group. IJM continued to expand on its operations in this division with strategic acquisitions such as the takeover of Industrial Concrete Products Berhad in 2004 and market diversifications into China, India and Pakistan. Amongst the Group's present investments in major overseas infrastructure projects are the Western Access Tollway in Argentina, five tolled highways and the Gautami power plant in India, and the Binh An water treatment concession in Vietnam. In Malaysia, the Group owns and operates three highways and port concessions from the RBH merger. The Group had previously invested in and sold several infrastructure assets in China. The Group also ventured into oil palm plantations in 1985 as a source of steady income to cushion the cyclical nature of its core construction business. It is currently expanding its plantation operations into Indonesia. When IJM went public in 1986, it had a market capitalisation of RM66 million and total assets of RM172 million. The Group's market capitalisation stood at RM9.83 billion as of 30 June 2014 and total assets stood at RM18.4 billion as of 31 March 2014. Company history I → IGB Construction Sdn Bhd was incorporated in 1981 J → Jurutama Sdn Bhd was incorporated in 1970 as Soon Tat Construction Sdn Bhd M → Mudajaya Construction Sdn Bhd was incorporated in 1965 as Chye Hin Construction Co Ltd. In 1997, the name was changed to Mudajaya Corporation Berhad (a construction company of Mudajaya Group Berhad) In 1982, in a friendly takeover, IGB Corporation Bhd acquired all the shares in Jurutama and Mudajaya. Following this acquisition, Solidstate Sdn Bhd was incorporated (1983) and, in 1984, the name was changed to IJM Engineering and Construction Sdn Bhd. IGB then transferred all its equity interests in Jurutama and Mudajaya together with that of IGB Construction in exchange for shares in this newly incorporated company. IJM had thus become IGB's holding company for its construction interests. In 1986, IJM turned public. An application made for its shares to be listed on the Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad was subsequently obtained in September 1986. To better reflect the Group's diversified nature of activities, the present logo and a new name, IJM Corporation Berhad, was adopted in 1989. Subsidiaries Construction IJM Construction Sdn Bhd Road Builder (M) Sdn Bhd Jurutama Sdn Bhd Commerce House Sdn Bhd GR Commerce Sdn Bhd IJM (India) Geotechniques Private Limited IJM (India) Infrastructure Limited IJM Building Systems Sdn Bhd IJM Construction (Middle East) Limited Liability Company IJM Construction International Limited Liability Company Insitu Envirotech (M) Sdn Bhd Insitu Envirotech (S.E. Asia) Pte Ltd Insitu Envirotech Pte Ltd Nilai Cipta Sdn Bhd Prebore Piling & Engineering Sdn Bhd Properties IJM Land Berhad IJM Properties Sdn Bhd IJM RE Sdn Bhd Aqua Aspect Sdn Bhd Aras Varia Sdn Bhd Bukit Bendera Resort Sdn Bhd Casa Warna Sdn Bhd Chen Yu Land Sdn Bhd Delta Awana Sdn Bhd Dian Warna Sdn Bhd Emko Management Services Sdn Bhd Emko Properties Sdn Bhd ERMS Berhad IJM Australia Pty Limited IJM Lingamaneni Township Private Limited IJM Management Services Sdn Bhd Liberty Heritage (M) Sdn Bhd Manda’rina (M) Sdn Bhd NPE Property Development Sdn Bhd NS Central Market Sdn Bhd Pilihan Alam Jaya Sdn Bhd RB Development Sdn Bhd RB Land Sdn Bhd RB Property Management Sdn Bhd Seremban Two Holdings Sdn Bhd Seremban Two Landscape Sdn Bhd Seremban Two Properties Sdn Bhd Seremban Two Property Management Sdn Bhd Serenity Ace Sdn Bhd Shah Alam 2 Sdn Bhd Sinaran Intisari (M) Sdn Bhd Suria Bistari Development Sdn Bhd Swarnandhra-IJMII Integrated Township Development Company Private Limited Titian Tegas Sdn Bhd Unggul Senja Sdn Bhd Worldwide Ventures Sdn Bhd Industries Industrial Concrete Products Sdn Bhd Malaysian Rock Products Sdn Bhd Aggregate Marketing Sdn Bhd Azam Ekuiti Sdn Bhd Concrete Mould Engineering Sdn Bhd Durabon Sdn Bhd Expedient Resources Sdn Bhd Global Rock Marketing Sdn Bhd ICP Investment (L) Limited ICP Jiangmen Co. Ltd ICP Marketing Sdn Bhd ICPB (Mauritius) Limited IJM Concrete Products Pakistan (Private) Ltd IJM Concrete Products Private Limited Kamad Quarry Sdn Bhd Kemena Industries Sdn Bhd Kuang Rock Products Sdn Bhd Oriental Empire Sdn Bhd Scaffold Master Sdn Bhd Strong Mixed Concrete Sdn Bhd Tadmansori Rubber Industries Sdn Bhd Ubon Steel Sdn Bhd Plantations IJM Plantations Berhad Akrab Perkasa Sdn Bhd Ampas Maju Sdn Bhd Berakan Maju Sdn Bhd Desa Talisai Palm Oil Mill Sdn Bhd Desa Talisai Sdn Bhd Cahaya Adil Sdn Bhd Firdana Corporation Sdn Bhd Gerbang Selasih Sdn Bhd Excellent Challenger (M) Sdn Bhd Gapas Mewah Sdn Bhd Golden Grip Sdn Bhd Gunaria Sdn Bhd IJM Agri Services Sdn Bhd IJM Edible Oils Sdn Bhd Kulim Mewah Sdn Bhd Laserline Sdn Bhd Minat Teguh Sdn Bhd Rakanan Jaya Sdn Bhd Rantajasa Sdn Bhd Ratus Sempurna Sdn Bhd RB Plantations Sdn Bhd Sabang Mills Sdn Bhd Sijas Plantations Sdn Bhd Sri Kilau Sdn Bhd Infrastructure Toll operators Besraya Sdn Bhd ( Sungai Besi Expressway) New Pantai Expressway Sdn Bhd ( New Pantai Expressway) Lebuhraya Kajang-Seremban Sdn Bhd ( Kajang–Seremban Highway) Jaipur – Mahua Tollway Private Limited RB Highway Services Sdn Bhd Rewa Tollway Private Limited Roadstar (India) Infrastructure Private Limited Sukma Samudra Sdn Bhd Swarnandhra Road Care Private Limited Port operators Konsortium Pelabuhan Kemaman Sdn Bhd (Kemaman Port) Kuantan Port Consortium Sdn Bhd (Kuantan Port) KP Port Services Sdn Bhd Others Essmarine Terminal Sdn Bhd IEMCEE Infra (Mauritius) Limited IJM International Limited IJM Investments (L) Ltd IJM Investments (M) Limited IJM Overseas Ventures Sdn Bhd IJM Rajasthan (Mauritius) Limited IJM Rewa (Mauritius) Limited IJM Trichy (Mauritius) Limited IJMII (Mauritius) Limited
Stadium subsidy	[ "Social programs", "Subsidies", "Sports venues", "Stadiums", "Sports business", "Government finances", "Politics and sports" ]	4,552	49,793	A stadium subsidy is a type of government subsidy given to professional sports franchises to help finance the construction or renovation of a sports venue. Stadium subsidies can come in the form of tax-free municipal bonds, cash payments, long-term tax exemptions, infrastructure improvements, and operating cost subsidies. Funding for stadium subsidies can come from all levels of government and remains controversial among legislators and citizens. Surveys of economists show a significant majority of them support eliminating public subsidies for professional sports franchises. According to economists, state and local subsidies to build stadiums for professional sports teams are unlikely to result in economic benefits that exceed the costs to taxpayers. Stadium subsidies have distributional effects, primarily benefitting wealthy owners, players and other staff of sports franchises while imposing costs on the public. Stadium subsidies are widely criticized for using taxpayer funds to benefit franchise owners, who are often billionaires, to the detriment of public schools and infrastructure. In the United States Prior to the 1950s, stadium subsidies were essentially unheard of, with funding for professional sports stadiums coming from private sources. In 1951, MLB commissioner Ford Frick decided that league teams were bringing large amounts of revenue to their host cities from which owners weren't able to profit. He announced that cities would need to start supporting their teams by building and maintaining venues through public subsidy. Most new or renovated professional sports stadiums are financed at least partly through stadium subsidies. While Frick may have been a catalyst, this change has been primarily caused by the increase in bargaining power of professional sports teams at the expense of their host cities. Many studies suggest that there are a number of direct and indirect economic benefits associated with hosting a professional sports team, although each city experiences this to a different degree. Even so, a 2017 survey found that "83% of economists polled believed that a subsidy's cost to the public outweighed the economic benefits". The economics behind issuing billions of dollars to professional athletic organizations are still unclear, but cities have clearly showed that they are willing to assume the bets, as both the number of subsidies issued and the amount of money issued per subsidy have increased. 27 of the 30 stadiums built between 1953 and 1970 received more than $450 million in total public funding for construction. During this period, publicly funding a stadium grew in popularity as an effective incentive to attract professional sports teams to up and coming cities. Famous examples include the Brooklyn Dodgers leaving New York in exchange for 300 acres in Chavez Ravine and the New York Giants moving to San Francisco for what would eventually become Candlestick Park. Over time, a market for subsidies has come into existence. Sports teams have realized their ability to relocate at lower and lower costs to their private contributors. Because local governments feel that keeping their sports teams around is critical to the success of their cities, they comply and grant teams subsidies. This creates a market for subsidies, where professional athletic organizations can shop between cities to see which municipality will provide them with the most resources. Teams in the NFL have a major incentive to keep their stadium up to date, as the NFL allows teams to bid to host the Super Bowl and takes recent and planned renovations into account. Many NFL teams in recent years have asked for subsidies for the construction of entirely new stadiums, like the Atlanta Falcons, who were subsequently awarded the contract for Super Bowl LIII. In Europe Public subsidies for major league sports stadiums and arenas are far less common in Europe than in the United States. The relationship between the local clubs and the cities that host them is typically much stronger than in the United States, with the team being more intrinsic to the cities' identity. Cities would be significantly more upset at the departure of their beloved local teams, and viable alternative cities already have their own clubs to whom their residents are loyal. As a result, the leagues in Europe have significantly less bargaining power, and that the stadiums are largely privately funded instead. They will not threaten to relocate to another city if not provided with a subsidy, or at the very least the threat would not be credible. Other factors to consider regarding the differences in the use of public subsidies for stadiums in North America and in Europe are both the differences in how the leagues are organized in their respective continents as well as the internal geographical differences between the United States and European countries. In North America, franchises operate inside of a closed league, in which the leagues have a fixed, maximum number of teams (e.g., 32 teams at maximum) for the sake of scheduling. This monopolistic structure, coupled with the large geographic size of both the United States and Canada, has resulted in a considerable imbalance between the number of teams in the four main North American sports leagues and the number of eligible major cities and/or metropolitan areas in the United States and Canada who desire and/or can sustain such teams. This disparity affords franchise owners significant bargaining power, as they have a considerable market of urban areas to which they could consider relocating their teams and request subsidies for new stadiums if their team's current host cities are unwilling or unable to do so. By contrast, European sports leagues generally use a league system and promotion and relegation, in which sports clubs from various cities can be promoted to higher leagues based on their performance in the completed season. This inclusive approach, coupled with the fact that most of the large cities in European countries would have their own clubs, deprives club owners in Europe of the effectiveness in the threats of relocating their clubs to other cities if their current city fails to provide subsidies for new stadiums. Types of Subsidies There are two primary ways that a city facilitates the construction of a stadium. The first, and most commonly used method, is a direct subsidy. This involves a city promising a certain amount of revenue to go towards the construction, maintenance, and renovation of a stadium. Other times, the city will give tax breaks to teams or stadium owners in lieu of a direct cash transfer. Over a period of time, a reduction in the taxes paid against the stadium generally saves the organization building the stadium around the same amount as a subsidy would be worth. In the US, annual subsidies provided by states for the construction of stadiums range into billions of dollars. A 2005 study of all sports stadiums and facilities in use by the four major leagues from 1990 to 2001 calculated a total public subsidy of approximately $17 billion, or approx. $24 billion in 2018 dollars. The average annual subsidy during that period was $1.6 billion ($2.2 billion in 2018 dollars) for all 99 facilities included in the study, with an average of $16.2 million ($22.8 million in 2018 dollars) per facility annually. A 2012 Bloomberg analysis estimates that tax exemptions annually cost the U.S. Treasury $146 million. +Professional American Sports Stadium FundingTeams using stadiums that have not received taxpayer subsidies: Teams using taxpayer-subsidized stadiums: NBA NFLMLBNHL Sources: Benefits In granting stadium subsidies, governments claim that the new or improved stadiums will have positive externalities for the city. Proponents tout improvements to the local economy as the primary benefits. Economists who debate the issue have separated the effects on a local economy into direct and indirect effects. Direct benefits are those that exist as a result of the "rent, concessions, parking, advertising, suite rental, and other preferred seating rental", and direct expenses come from "wages and related expenses, utilities, repairs and maintenance, insurance," and the costs of building the facilities. Generally, these benefits vary widely. The Baltimore Orioles, for example, estimate that each game they host brings $3 million in economic benefits to the city. Over the course of an entire baseball season, the Orioles will have 81 home games, a benefit of $243 million a season. For NFL teams, there are only 8 home games a season; even so, over the lifetime of a stadium, between 20 and 30 years, the accumulated benefit is still substantial, which is the argument teams make to municipalities when they request the subsidy. Supporters further argue that the stadiums attract tourism and businesses that lead to further spending and job creation, representing indirect benefits. All of the increased spending causes a local multiplier effect that leads to more spending and job creation and eventually finances the subsidy through increased tax revenues from ticket and concessions sales, improved property values and more spending nearby the stadium. In some cases, there has been an observed reduction in crime during a game, although the aggregate effect of professional sports on crime is disputable. Additionally, there has recently been research that suggests that home games generate what is called a "sunny day benefit". There is a measurable drop in local spending that occurs within a city on a rainy day, but with a professional sports team playing a game, spending increases significantly. Jordan Rappaport, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, estimates that this benefit is between $14 and $24 million a year, which can be compounded over the life of a stadium. Advocates for stadium subsidies also claim less quantifiable positive externalities, such as civic pride and fan identification, so that hosting a major sports team becomes something of a public good. Local sports fans enjoy the benefit even if they do not pay for it. When a city conducts a calculation to assess what they are willing to pay for a subsidy, they use an economic model that attempts to quantify the various social benefits for each dollar invested. This is done through a social marginal benefit evaluation, which takes the sums of all of the private benefits that result from investing, intended or not. Economists consider all the economic effects of having a professional athletic team in a city, like the "sunny day" benefit, job creation, civic pride, increased tourism, decreases/increases in crime rates, etc. The social marginal cost is equal to the sum of the private marginal benefits. The marginal cost is known only by the government, who deliberates with franchises to decide how much bringing a team to their city will cost. Many criticisms exist regarding the use of stadium subsidies. First, critics argue that new stadiums generate little to no new spending (consumption). Instead, what fans spend in and around the stadium are substitutes for what they would otherwise spend on different entertainment options. Thus, this argument contends, new stadiums do not cause economic growth or lead to increased aggregate income. In fact, this suggests that money being substituted towards concessions, tickets, and merchandise actively harms the economy surrounding a stadium. For example, the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan, was subsidized by a bond issue, diverting taxes paid by local businesses into stadium construction. Annually, an estimated $15 million in taxpayer funds earmarked for public schools are used to subsidize the stadium. Another criticism of stadium subsidies is that much of the money the new stadiums bring in does not stay in the local economy. Instead of going to stadium employees and other sources that would benefit the local community, a lot of the money goes toward paying the organizations. Those payments come from either the state or city government, where spending normally goes towards social welfare programs or salaries for government employees. It has been argued that the opportunity cost of a subsidy for a sports team is far greater than the benefit, since the billions of dollars that are spent on a stadium could be better spent on schools, firehouses, public transportation, or police departments. Critics also argue that the construction of new stadiums could cause citizens and businesses to leave a city because of eminent domain issues. If a city is forced to take land from its citizens to build a new stadium, those who have lost land could become angry enough to leave the city. If they are business owners, then they will likely take their businesses with them. These trade-offs are a part of the marginal cost calculation the city does. Much like the social marginal benefit calculation the city performed to find what benefits teams brought to the city, the social marginal cost calculation sums up all of the unintended negative effects from a particular spending plan. A review of the empirical literature assessing the effects of subsidies for professional sports franchises and facilities reveals that most evidence goes against sports subsidies. Specifically, subsidies cannot be justified on the grounds of local economic development, income growth or job creation. See also Corporate welfare Crony capitalism Professional sports Public finance Stadium
Danièle Nouy	[ "1950 births", "Businesspeople from Rennes", "Living people", "20th-century French businesswomen", "20th-century French businesspeople", "Nationality missing", "Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite", "Officers of the Legion of Honour", "21st-century French businesswomen", "21st-century French businesspeople" ]	458	5,233	Danièle Nouy is a French public servant who served as Chair of the Supervisory Board at the European Central Bank from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2018. She was regarded as the effective head of European Banking Supervision. Early life and education Nouy grew up in Brittany. She studied political science at Sciences Po and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Law from Assas University. She came second at the nationwide Banque de France exam. Career Nouy worked at Banque de France from 1976 to 1996. She later served as secretary general of the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority from 9 March 2010 to 31 December 2013. As head of the ECB Supervisory Board, Nouy later oversaw the implementation of European Banking Supervision. For her nomination, Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, declared, “The appointment of the Supervisory Board Chair marks an important milestone as the ECB establishes a single supervisory mechanism for banks in the euro area. Mrs. Nouy brings almost 40 years of experience in banking supervision. Her appointment will allow the Supervisory Board to take up its work soon and put in place all organisational requirements to assume our supervisory responsibilities starting on 4 November 2014.” Other activities European Investment Bank (EIB), Member of the Appointment Advisory Committee
Mezzanine capital	[ "Bonds (finance)", "Corporate finance", "Debt", "Private equity" ]	1,083	8,003	Mezzanine capital is a type of financing that sits between senior debt and equity in a company's capital structure. It is typically used to fund growth, acquisitions, or buyouts. Technically, mezzanine capital can be either a debt or equity instrument with a repayment priority between senior debt and common stock equity. Mezzanine debt is subordinated debt that represents a claim on a company's assets which is senior only to that of the common shares and usually unsecured. Redeemable preferred stock equity, with warrants or conversion rights, is also a type of mezzanine financing. Mezzanine capital is often a more expensive financing source for a company than secured debt or senior debt. The higher cost of capital associated with mezzanine financings is the result of it being an unsecured, subordinated (or junior) obligation in a company's capital structure (i.e., in the event of default, the mezzanine financing is only repaid after all senior obligations have been satisfied). Additionally, mezzanine financings, which are usually private placements, are often used by smaller companies and may involve greater overall levels of leverage than issues in the high-yield market; they thus involve additional risk. In compensation for the increased risk, mezzanine debt holders require a higher return for their investment than secured or more senior lenders. Structure Mezzanine financings can be completed through a variety of different structures based on the specific objectives of the transaction and the existing capital structure in place at the company. The basic forms used in most mezzanine financings are subordinated notes and preferred stock. Mezzanine lenders, typically specialist mezzanine investment funds, look for a certain rate of return which can come from securities made up of any of the following or a combination thereof: Cash interest: A periodic payment of cash based on a percentage of the outstanding balance of the mezzanine financing. The interest rate can be either fixed throughout the term of the loan or can fluctuate (i.e., float) along with LIBOR or other base rates. PIK interest: Payable in kind interest is a periodic form of payment in which the interest payment is not paid in cash but rather by increasing the principal amount by the amount of the interest (e.g., a $100 million bond with an 8% PIK interest rate will have a balance of $108 million at the end of the period, but will not pay any cash interest). Ownership: Along with the typical interest payment associated with debt, mezzanine capital will often include an equity stake in the form of attached warrants or a conversion feature similar to that of a convertible bond. The ownership component in mezzanine securities is almost always accompanied by either cash interest or PIK interest, and, in many cases, by both. Mezzanine lenders will also often charge an arrangement fee, payable upfront at the closing of the transaction. Arrangement fees contribute the least return, and their purposes are primarily to cover administrative costs or as an incentive to complete the transaction. The following are illustrative examples of mezzanine financings: $100 million of senior subordinated notes with warrants (10% cash interest, 3% PIK interest and warrants representing 4% of the fully diluted ownership of the company) $50 million of redeemable preferred stock with warrants (0% cash interest, 14% PIK interest and warrants representing 6% of the fully diluted ownership of the company) In structuring a mezzanine security, the company and lender work together to avoid burdening the borrower with the full interest cost of such a loan. Because mezzanine lenders will seek a return of 14% to 20%, this return must be achieved through means other than simple cash interest payments. As a result, by using equity ownership and PIK interest, the mezzanine lender effectively defers its compensation until the due date of the security or a change of control of the company. Mezzanine financings can be made at either the operating company level or at the level of a holding company (also known as structural subordination). In a holding company structure, as there are no operations and hence no cash flows, the structural subordination of the security and the reliance on cash dividends from the operating company introduces additional risk and typically higher cost. Uses Leveraged buyouts In leveraged buyouts, mezzanine capital is used in conjunction with other securities to fund the purchase price of the company being acquired. Typically, mezzanine capital will be used to fill a financing gap between less expensive forms of financing (e.g., senior loans, second lien loan, high yield financings) and equity. Often, a financial sponsor will exhaust other sources of capital before turning to mezzanine capital. Financial sponsors will seek to use mezzanine capital in a leveraged buyout in order to reduce the amount of the capital invested by the private equity firm; because mezzanine lenders typically have a lower target cost of capital than the private equity investor, using mezzanine capital can potentially enhance the private equity firm's investment returns. Additionally, middle market companies may be unable to access the high yield market due to high minimum size requirements, creating a need for flexible, private mezzanine capital. Real estate finance In real estate finance, mezzanine loans are often used by developers to secure supplementary financing for development projects (typically in cases where the primary mortgage or construction loan equity requirements are larger than 10%). These sorts of mezzanine loans are often secured by a second ranking real property mortgage (that is, ranking subordinate to the first mortgage lenders). Standard mortgage foreclosure proceedings can take more than a year, depending upon the relationship between the first mortgage lenders and the mezzanine debt lender, governed by an Intercreditor Deed. See also Growth capital History of private equity and venture capital Hybrid security Private equity Private equity secondary market
Doug Green (Louisiana politician)	[ "1950s births", "Living people", "Businesspeople from Louisiana", "Politicians from Baton Rouge, Louisiana", "Louisiana insurance commissioners", "Louisiana Democrats", "Politicians convicted of extortion under color of official right", "Politicians convicted of mail and wire fraud", "American people convicted of money laundering", "American politicians convicted of bribery", "Louisiana politicians convicted of crimes", "Year of birth missing (living people)" ]	965	10,115	Douglas D. Green, known as Doug Green (born c. 1950), is the former Louisiana insurance commissioner who held the office from 1988 to 1991, when he received a 25-year federal sentence for taking $2 million in illegal campaign contributions from owners of insurance companies doing business with the state. Green's predecessor and fellow Democrat Sherman A. Bernard, whom he unseated in the 1987 nonpartisan blanket primary, pleaded guilty to extorting bribes disguised as campaign contributions and served forty-one months during the middle 1990s in a federal prison in Alabama. Election in 1987 The 37-year-old Green, a candidate previously unknown, was described by one publication as having "looked like the boy next door". Green nevertheless upset Bernard in the 1987 primary, 773,026 votes (55.3 percent) to 456,539 (32.6 percent). Green had run on a platform calling for reform in the department - he even called himself "Mr. Clean". Trial in 1991 However, Green was subsequently heavily implicated in the Champion insurance scandal and received a far greater sentence than had Bernard for similar offenses but involving much less money. Champion wrote high-risk automobile policies for premium coverage at a lower price than was offered by its competition. In exchange for regulatory favors, Champion made more than $2 million in campaign contributions to Green. The failed Champion company left $150 million in unpaid claims covered by taxpayers. Unwilling to admit wrongdoing and to accept a plea bargain, Green was convicted of the charges against him and had to resign his office before the end of his term. Specifically, Green was found guilty on March 13, 1991, of twenty-eight counts of conspiracy and mail fraud and two counts of laundering campaign loans. He was first suspended without pay, and Governor Buddy Roemer appointed an acting commissioner pending the regular November election. United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana George Arceneaux, of Houma ordered Green to serve the maximum under federal guidelines: twenty-eight concurrent five-year terms on the conspiracy/mail fraud and two concurrent 20-year terms for money laundering. A jury determined that Green conspired with John and Naaman Eicher of the Champion Insurance Company, his largest campaign donors, to keep the failing company intact. According to prosecution evidence, Green received $2.7 million in bribes. Imprisonment, 1991-2003 Green reported to prison on August 1, 1991. In June 1992, he lost his appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans. The appellate judges noted that Green had been paid $2,000 per month to "run for office" and was provided with a fashion consultant. The Eichers also gave funds to hire Green's brother as his driver and pay for an apartment. Green's attorney was the court-appointed counsel, former State Representative Risley C. Triche of Napoleonville. After serving almost half of the 25-year sentence at the U.S. prison in Pensacola, Florida, Green was released on September 17, 2003. Comeback Sherman Bernard attempted a comeback in October 1991 but was defeated in the primary. Victory ultimately went to James H. "Jim" Brown, the former Louisiana Secretary of State and state senator from Concordia Parish, who won the general election over the Republican Peggy Wilson, a member of the New Orleans City Council. Brown later had his own legal troubles and was forced to vacate the office in 2000.
Open Road Films	[ "2011 establishments in California", "2017 mergers and acquisitions", "2019 mergers and acquisitions", "American companies established in 2011", "AMC Theatres", "Companies based in Los Angeles", "Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018", "Entertainment companies based in California", "Film distributors of the United States", "Film production companies of the United States", "Former joint ventures", "Mass media companies established in 2011", "Regal Entertainment Group" ]	2,783	27,191	Open Road Films, LLC (formerly known briefly as Global Road Entertainment) was an American independent film production and distribution company based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded by Tom Ortenberg on March 26, 2011, as a joint venture between the two largest American theatrical exhibitors, AMC Theatres and Regal Entertainment Group, which both owned the company until it was bought out by Tang Media Partners, a media company owned by Donald Tang, in August 2017. After Tang's purchase, both companies Open Road and IM Global merged and formed "Global Road Entertainment". In September 2018, Open Road declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The bankruptcy did not affect TMP, IM Global or IM Global TV. On November 6, 2018, Open Road agreed to be purchased by Raven Capital Management. Raven completed its acquisition in February 2019. Company history Open Road Films (first incarnation) In March 2011, rival theater chains AMC Entertainment and Regal Entertainment Group announced the hiring of Tom Ortenberg as chief executive officer of a new company, Open Road Films. Ortenberg, previously an executive of Lionsgate Films and The Weinstein Company, filled out his executive team with the April 2011 hirings of Jason Cassidy (president of marketing), Elliott Kleinberg (General Counsel and executive vice president of operations and business affairs), Steven Andriuzzo (chief financial officer), and Ben Cotner (senior vice president of acquisitions). Open Road's titles are distributed in the home entertainment market by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (UPHE), a deal that was signed in June 2011. In June 2011, a few months after it started operations, Open Road Films signed a pay-TV deal with Netflix, which expired in 2016. After Showtime expires in 2020, Netflix re-added Open Road movies in 2020. The studio released its first film, Killer Elite, on September 23, 2011, directed by Gary McKendry and starring Jason Statham, Clive Owen and Robert De Niro. Open Road's 2015 film Spotlight received six Academy Award nominations and became the surprise winner for Best Picture at the 88th Academy Awards, also winning for Best Original Screenplay. These were the first Oscar wins for the company. Despite these wins, Spotlight was the subject of controversy including some criticism from an author of The New York Times calling it, "a misrepresentation of how the Church dealt with sexual abuse cases", arguing that the movie's biggest flaw was its failure to portray psychologists who had assured Church officials that abusive priests could be safely returned to ministry after undergoing therapy treatments. The film's false portrayal of Jack Dunn, the public relations head and a member of the board at Boston College High School, as a member of the Boston Archdiocesan cover-up (for which the dialogue itself was mythologised) also received criticism. In October 2013, the studio signed a pay-TV deal with Showtime that began in 2017 and expires in 2020. Open Road and UPHE extended its home distribution deal in February 2014 through 2017. On October 30, 2014, Open Road announced an international deal with FilmNation Entertainment. The deal would allow the company to purchase worldwide rights and FilmNation selling and servicing international distribution. Global Road Entertainment thumb\|Logo of Global Road Entertainment. Tom Ortenberg left Open Road Films and it was purchased by Tang Media Partners in August 2017. Rob Friedman joined Tang Media Partners in August 2017 as chairman and CEO of TMP Entertainment to oversee Open Road, IM Global and IM Global TV. Open Road Films merged with IM Global and formed Global Road Entertainment on October 30, 2017, with Friedman assuming the Global Road chairman and CEO posts. In 2017, the company announced plans to have a slate of approximately 15 films per year by 2020. At the European Film Market in February 2018, Global Road announced that it anticipated spending $1billion on film and television productions over the next three years, with production budgets projected to be in the $20million to $100million range. In 2018, the company made an agreement with Blumhouse Productions to co-develop and co-finance low budget Chinese language genre films. Global Road's 2018 film distribution slate includes the teen drama Midnight Sun, starring Bella Thorne and Patrick Schwarzenegger; family comedy Show Dogs, starring Will Arnett; science fiction thriller The Silence, which it acquired for US distribution; the action-thriller Hotel Artemis, starring Jodie Foster and Sterling K. Brown; science fiction family adventure A.X.L.; and animated family adventure-comedy Playmobil: Uncharted. Upcoming Global Road productions include Serenity, a neo-noir thriller starring Anne Hathaway, Matthew McConaughey, Diane Lane and directed by Steven Knight; Richard Says Goodbye aka The Professor, a comedy-drama starring Johnny Depp and directed by Wayne Roberts; the science-fiction romance Zoe, starring Ewan McGregor; and Mortal, directed by André Øvredal. The company's film I Think We're Alone Now, starring Peter Dinklage, Elle Fanning and Paul Giamatti, premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Global Road's television arm develops scripted and non-scripted programming for both U.S. and global markets. Shows being developed include Cat's Cradle, a limited series based on the novel by Kurt Vonnegut, being written and executive produced by Noah Hawley for FX; Kilroy County, a dark comedy from Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor being developed for Showtime; Jenji Kohan's Lifetime drama American Princess; Muscle Shoals, a drama in development at ABC with Johnny Depp as executive producer; the eight-part crime drama Cold Courage, based on the novels by Pekka Hiltunen; Fried Chicken and Latkes, an adaptation of Rain Pryor's one-woman comedy show; Jett, a crime drama starring and executive produced by Carla Gugino for Cinemax; the reality cooking competition Fridge Wars for Canada's CBC network; and global rights to Idiotest, based on the Game Show Network quiz show. In January 2018, Global Road signed a development deal with Reginald Hudlin and Byron Phillips through their company New Nation Networks, under which Hudlin and Phillips would develop and produce original content for Global Road. Later that month, the company signed a first-look television deal with Adam Shankman and Jennifer Gibgot's production company Offspring Entertainment; projects announced under this deal include Wolfgang, based on the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and an untitled comedy from husband-and-wife actor-producers Carlos and Alexa PenaVega. Around the same time, Global Road also announced co-development deals with French production company Newen and the Ukrainian Film.UA Group. Financing issues Global Road's film unit was taken over by its primary lenders, Bank of America and East West Bank, in August 2018 as Donald Tang had not raised enough funds for Global Road. Lenders did have Global Road release A.X.L. while stopping the release of City of Lies, slated for September 7, 2018. With A.X.L. not doing well at the box office, the company was forced to lay off employees without severance, a requirement of the lenders. The company was also looking to sell a number of its upcoming films, Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank, City of Lies, The Silence, Duck Duck Goose, Arctic Justice and Playmobil The Movie; it was also "backing out of" development for The Secret Garden. The company was also sued along with TV rights distributor Miramax by lender Bank Leumi over loans for City of Lies. On September 6, 2018, Global Road's film unit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. On October 23, 2018, Global Road filed with the court plans for an auction of its assets beginning November 7 with a stalking horse bidder selected with term of $800,000 in expenses coverage and a $2.1million outbid fee if approve by the judge. In November 2018 after lack luster auction bidding, Open Road agreed to be purchased by Raven Capital Management for $87.5million pending court approval. On December 19, 2018, a Delaware bankruptcy judge approved the purchase and the acquisition took effect on February 7, 2019. Open Road Films (second incarnation) Open Road Films indicated its comeback in June 2020 at the virtual Cannes by announcing its recapitalization by Raven and named the production company's leadership of Raven principal James Masciello with key assistance from Matt Sidari. The company also announced it was partnering with Briarcliff Entertainment, Tom Ortenberg's new company, in acquiring and releasing films starting with Honest Thief. Raven also indicated that it was a financier of Sculptor Media, whom Raven would look toward for development and production of films. Management In August 2017, Rob Friedman was named Global Road's chairman and CEO after Eric Hohl left the company. Rodolphe Buet was named president of international in October 2017, and the following month Lynn Harris was named president of worldwide production. In early 2018, Jack Pan was named president of worldwide theatrical marketing. In March 2018, the company announced several new hires to their international operations division, including Charlotte Van Weede as President of International Sales (replacing Michael Rothstein); Brad Kembel as Executive Vice President of Distribution and Operations; Melissa Martinez as Executive Vice President of International Marketing; and Sarah Genazzani as Director of International Marketing, with Executive Vice President of International Sales Tatyana Joffe extending her contract to work with the new team. Distribution library
Menu cost	[ "Business terms", "Pricing", "New Keynesian economics" ]	2,672	20,862	In economics, the menu cost is a cost that a firm incurs due to changing its prices. It is one microeconomic explanation of the price-stickiness of the macroeconomy put by New Keynesian economists. The term originated from the cost when restaurants print new menus to change the prices of items. However economists have extended its meaning to include the costs of changing prices more generally. Menu costs can be broadly classed into costs associated with informing the consumer, the cost of planning for and deciding on a price change, and the impact of consumers' potential reluctance to buy at the new price. Examples of menu costs include updating computer systems, re-tagging items, changing signage, printing new menus, mistake costs and hiring consultants to develop new pricing strategies. At the same time, companies can reduce menu costs by developing intelligent pricing strategies, thereby reducing the need for changes. Menu costs and nominal rigidity Menu costs are the costs incurred by the business when it changes the prices it offers customers. A typical example is a restaurant that has to reprint the new menu when it needs to change the prices of its in-store goods. So, menu costs are one factor that can contribute to nominal rigidity. Firms are faced with the decision to alter prices frequently as a result of changes in the general price level, product costs, market structure, regulation and demand level. Despite frequent market changes, businesses may be hesitant to update prices to reflect these changes due to menu costs. If the menu cost outweighs the expected increase in revenue associated with the price change firms would prefer to exist in disequilibrium and stay at the original price level. When the nominal price level remains constant despite market change is said that there is nominal rigidity or price stickiness in the market. For example, a restaurant should not change its prices until the price change generates enough additional revenue to cover the cost of printing a new menu. Thus, menu costs can create considerable nominal rigidity in other industries or markets, essentially amplifying their impact on the entire industry through a chain reaction of suppliers and distributors. History The concept of the menu cost has originally introduced by Eytan Sheshinski and Yoram Weiss (1977) in their paper looking at the effect of inflation on the frequency of price changes. Sheshink and Weiss concluded that even fully anticipated inflation results in an actual menu cost for the business. They suggested that businesses will change prices in discrete jumps rather than continual changes when in an inflationary environment. This justifies the fixed costs of changing prices when revenues are expected to increase. The idea of applying menu costs as an aspect of Nominal Price Rigidity was simultaneously put forward by several New Keynesian economists in 1985–1986. In 1985, Gregory Mankiw concluded that even small menu costs create inefficient price adjustment and push equilibrium below the point which is socially optimal. He further suggested that the subsequent loss of welfare far exceeds the menu cost that causes it. Michael Parkin also put forward the idea. George Akerlof and Janet Yellen put forward the idea that due to bounded rationality firms will not want to change their price unless the benefit is more than a small amount. This bounded rationality leads to inertia in nominal prices and wages which can lead to output fluctuating at constant nominal prices and wages. The menu cost idea was also extended to wages as well as prices by Olivier Blanchard and Nobuhiro Kiyotaki. The new Keynesian explanation of price stickiness relied on introducing imperfect competition with price (and wage) setting agents. This started a shift in macroeconomics away from using the model of perfect competition with price taking agents to use imperfectly competitive equilibria with price and wage setting agents (mostly adopting monopolistic competition). Huw Dixon and Claus Hansen showed that even if menu costs were applied to a small sector of the economy, this would influence the rest of the economy and lead to prices in the rest of the economy becoming less responsive to changes in demand. In 2007, Mikhail Golosov and Robert Lucas found that the size of the menu cost needed to match the micro-data of price adjustment inside an otherwise standard business cycle model is implausibly large to justify the menu-cost argument. The reason is that such models lack "real rigidity". This is a property that markups do not get squeezed by large adjustment in factor prices (such as wages) that could occur in response to the monetary shock. Modern New Keynesian models address this issue by assuming that the labor market is segmented, so that the expansion in employment by a given firm does not lead to lower profits for the other firms. Magnitude of menu costs When a company's menu costs a lot in economic markets, the price adjustment is usually major. The company would not engage in price adjustment if profit margins start to fall to the point where menu costs lead to more revenue losses. The type of company and the technology used determine factors that change prices and costs. For example, it may be necessary to reprint the latest menu, contact the distributor, to change the price list and the prices of items on the shelf. Menu costs in some industries may be small, but the scale may influence business decisions about whether to reprice. A 1997 study published by Harvard College and MIT used data from 5 multistore supermarket chains to investigate the magnitude of menu costs. They considered the cost of: Labour to change shelf prices Printing and delivering new labels Mistakes during the changeover process Supervision during the changeover process Results of the study showed that the menu cost was on average $105,887 per year, per store. This figure comprised 0.7% of revenue, 32.5% of net margins and $0.52/price change. Subsequently in order for updating prices to be beneficial the profitability of an item needed to decrease by more than 32.5%. The study concluded that menu costs have a magnitude large enough to be of macroeconomic significance. Factors influencing menu costs Pricing regulation Pricing and regulatory requirements such as requiring individual price stickers on each item can increase menu costs by increasing the time needed to update prices in stores physically. The study summarised above, which detailed the magnitude of menu costs in multistore supermarkets, also investigated the impact of pricing laws that required individual price tags to be placed on items. The study found that menu costs were 2.5 times higher for the store impacted by the local pricing requirements. Further, firms not subject to the requirements were found to change the prices of 15.6% of products every week compared to 6.3% of products in the chain subject to the laws. Number of product variants A 2015 study published by the MIT Press, used data from a national retailer operating a large number of stores selling groceries, health and beauty products to investigate the impact of that the number of product variants has on the frequency of price change. The study concluded that cost increases led to price increases on 71.2% of occasions for products with a single variant compared to 59.8% of the time where there were seven or more variants. This result was linked with the increased price stickiness associated with the additional cost of labour required to change the price of multiple items. A shift to e-commerce has seen a decrease in menu costs. A study on the price setting of Amazon Fresh (an online grocery store) found that product prices of the online retailer are less rigid than the prices of traditional brick and mortar grocery stores. The study found that on average a product listed on Amazon Fresh had 20.4 price changes in a year and the median magnitude of these changes was 10%. The study suggests that decreased pricing rigidity could be attributable to automated pricing algorithms allowing businesses to respond in real time to market shocks. Menu costs and inflation We may intuitively think that the relationship between menu cost and inflation rate may be very simple. A key prediction of any menu cost model is that the fraction of firms that re-price in a given time interval will increase with increases in the inflation rate. And for deflation, even large disinflations have small real effects if credibly carried out. So, the higher the inflation rate, the lower the menu cost. The two may be a clear positive correlation. But the actual situation may not be the case. Mikhail Golosov et al. found in a 2007 study that the real cause of menu cost changes (i.e. menu price adjustments) comes from idiosyncratic shocks – kind of unexpected shocks. When the idiosyncratic shocks in the model are shut down, the frequency of price adjustments is roughly unchanged in high inflationary environments but it is much reduced when inflation is low. That is to say, in the context of stable high inflation, sellers will not frequently adjust menu prices. Mikhail Golosov et al. also explained the way in which idiosyncratic shocks work. Although idiosyncratic shocks may seem like a sudden change in price, their most important role is shocking to productivity or demand. That is to say, it is not simply a sudden increase in the amount of currency - therefore, the role of currency in influencing menu costs is neutral. On the other hand, even though idiosyncratic shocks cause most of the price adjustments, new prices reflect both firm-level and aggregate shocks. Thus even a small inflationary shock, one which is not sufficient to lead to a price change on its own, is quickly reflected in new prices as firms react to other shocks. To summarize, the essence of menu costs is the result of actual factors affecting the enterprise, rather than monetary factors. This is also why when discussing "Factors influencing menu costs" in the previous section of this article, only actual factors such as Pricing regulation, Number of product variables, and Industry/market are mentioned. Analysing menu cost When to use menu cost Consider a firm in a hypothetical economy, with a normally distributed graph describing the relationship between the price of its goods and the firm's corresponding profit. The firm seeks to maximise profit at the corresponding price value M. Now suppose a shock to the market shifts the profit curve to a new theoretical model. The firm must decide whether to maintain price M with a suboptimal profit level A, or adjust the price to N, which corresponds to the new maximised profit level B. Let menu cost (the cost of adjusting prices) equal Z. If Z < B − A, then the menu cost is less than the theoretical increase in profits and adjusting prices to N is economically profitable. Daily fluctuations in the economy lead to small shifts in firm structure, supply and demand affecting the profits curve. However, firms do not in turn adjust their prices constantly as Z acts as a buffer, making such small benefits economically unviable compared to the menu cost. Note that as Z approaches 0, prices will constantly adjust to match the optimal profit level from the shifting economy as there is no cost to do so. Finding menu cost Menu cost encompasses the cost of informing consumers in the form of advertising and labour involved in repricing/ repackaging, as well as information cost for accurate profit curves and quantity demanded. Z(qi, rj, sk) = A(q1, . . .,qi) + L(r1, . . .,rj) + N(s1, . . ., sk) where A, L, and N are advertising, labour and information respectively and i, j, k are integers equal to the number of variables required for each function (e.g. L(r1,r2) is the production function labour cost of repackaging using wage per hour and quantity of boxes as two variables, therefore, j = 2). Each firm will have a different set of A, L and N functions depending on their market and firm structure. It can be reported by examining the menu prices of the restaurants in detail. See also New Keynesian economics Bounded rationality Sticky (economics) Shoe leather cost Inflation
David de Stern	[ "1807 births", "1877 deaths", "19th-century German Jews", "Date of birth missing", "Viscounts of Portugal", "English bankers", "Jewish German bankers", "Businesspeople from Frankfurt", "Immigrants to the United Kingdom", "Stern family (banking)", "19th-century English businesspeople" ]	416	3,576	David Jacob de Stern, Viscount de Stern (1807 – 19 January 1877) was a German-born British banker and senior partner of the firm of Stern Brothers. Life and career Stern was born in Frankfurt am Main to the prominent Stern banking family. In 1833 he moved to London and in 1844 was joined by his brother Hermann. Together, they co-founded Stern Brothers, a financial institution based in London. Stern was a member of the Commission of Lieutenancy of the City of London, and he was a director of the Imperial Bank. In 1869, King Luís I of Portugal conferred the noble title of visconde (viscount) on him in recognition of the work of Stern's bank in floating Portuguese loans. Marriage and children Stern married Sophia Goldsmid, daughter of Aaron Asher Goldsmid, brother of Sir Isaac Goldsmid. Their son was Sydney Stern, 1st Baron Wandsworth, and their daughter Alice Theresa Lucas was a prospective Conservative Party candidate who was nearly their first woman MP. Stern died in 1877 and his wife died in 1900.
Jean Claude Mimran	[ "1945 births", "Living people", "Businesspeople in the sugar industry", "Agriculture in Senegal", "French art collectors", "French bankers", "French billionaires", "French expatriates in Switzerland", "French hoteliers", "20th-century French Sephardi Jews", "French people of Algerian descent", "French people of Corsican descent", "Lamborghini people", "People from Gstaad" ]	937	9,485	Jean Claude Mimran (born 1945) is a French businessman with extensive agricultural interests in Senegal, and banking and industrial investments. He is the president of The Mimran Group. Mimran has two brothers, Robert and Patrick. The Swiss business magazine BILANZ has listed Mimran as one of the 300 richest people in Switzerland, with a wealth of CHF 2 billion. Early life Mimran was born in 1945, one of three sons of Jacques Mimran, a Sephardic Jew from Morocco. His mother came from the French island of Corsica. Mimran joined his family's company after high school. He started working for his family's eponymous Mimran Group aged 18, later working at a sawmill and undergoing his French military service. After leaving the army he went to live in Africa and worked for his father's company. Business career Mimran's father died in 1975, and the family invested in sugarcane, which provided the basis for their future wealth. Mimran now runs the Mimran Group with his brothers. Mimran has been married twice and is the father of five children, among them his sons, Nachson and David Mimran. Mimran spends two months of every year on his yacht in the Mediterranean sea. In September 1992 Mimran and his brothers were listed by Fortune as being based in Geneva, Switzerland, and having a combined wealth of $1.5 billion. Fortune listed their wealth as having derived from "Sugar and flour production, animal feed, plastic extrusion, banking, real estate". Mimran owns 15 cars and is a collector of impressionist and post-impressionist art. In January 1981 Mimran and his brother Patrick bought the assets of the Italian automotive manufacturer Lamborghini for $3 million. Lamborghini was sold to Chrysler Corporation in 1987. Senegal Mimran has been nicknamed "The Sugar King of Africa", and through the Mimran Group, is the largest flour miller and alcohol distiller in the west African region. He also has interests in raw materials handling and shipping. The Mimran Group is based in Monaco. It is the largest employer in Senegal after the country's government. Mimran is the owner of the Compagnie Sucrière Sénégalaise (CSS) who cultivate 8,000 hectares of sugarcane in Senegal, and have more than 5,000 employees during harvest time. The operations of CSS expanded the population of the Senegalese town of Richard Toll from 2,000 to over 60,000 inhabitants. Gstaad Mimran is the majority owner of the Alpina Gstaad, a luxury hotel in Gstaad, Switzerland, that opened in December 2012. The 56-room hotel cost $336 million to build, an average cost of $5 million per room. The building of the hotel was completed without any debt, having been funded by the construction of chalets and apartments on the site. It was the first luxury hotel to open in Gstaad for 100 years. The minority partner in the hotel is a Swiss businessman, Marcel Bach. In 2005, with the British businessman and Formula One Executive Bernie Ecclestone, Mimran and Bach bought ski lifts and the rights to Glacier 3000, a nearby skiing area in Gstaad's neighbouring Les Diablerets district. Personal life Mimran has 5 children with his two wives, including sons David and Nachson. David's first wife Lucy is a former fashion model, and his second wife is the Swiss model Julie Ordon. David Mimran is a film producer and founder of Mimran Schur Pictures. He has produced a number of films including Warrior, Stone, Pawn Shop Chronicles, and others. In 2015, David Mimran became the CEO of his family's Mimran Group, and the primary stakeholder in Canada's Teranga Gold.
Chad Hurley	[ "1977 births", "American businesspeople in the online media industry", "American computer businesspeople", "American technology company founders", "Formula E people", "Google employees", "Internet pioneers", "Living people", "People from Birdsboro, Pennsylvania", "Businesspeople from Palo Alto, California", "PayPal people", "YouTube", "YouTube channels launched in 2005", "Indiana University of Pennsylvania alumni" ]	1,214	13,692	Chad Meredith Hurley (born January 24, 1977) is an American webmaster and businessman who serves as the advisor and former chief executive officer (CEO) of YouTube. He also co-founded MixBit, a since closed video sharing service. In October 2006, he and Steve Chen sold YouTube for $1.65 billion to Google. Hurley worked in eBay's PayPal division, one of his tasks involved designing the original PayPal logo, before co-founding YouTube with fellow PayPal employees Steve Chen and Jawed Karim. Hurley was primarily responsible for the tagging and video-sharing aspects of YouTube. Early life and education Hurley was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, the second child of Don and Joann Hurley, and grew up near Birdsboro, Pennsylvania. He has an older sister, Heather, and a younger brother, Brent. Since childhood, Hurley showed interest in the arts, and became interested in computers and electronic media during high school. He was a standout runner for Twin Valley High School's cross-country program, which won two of its PIAA State titles with him as a member in 1992 and 1994. He was also a member of the Technology Student Association during high school. He graduated from Twin Valley High School in 1995 and earned a BA in Fine Art from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1999. Career YouTube Hurley founded YouTube in 2005 with Steve Chen and Jawed Karim. On October 16, 2006, Chen and Hurley sold YouTube to Google Inc. (now Alphabet) for $1.65 billion. It was reported in The Wall Street Journal that Hurley's share was $345.6M at Google's February 7, 2007, closing stock price of $470.01. He received 694,087 Google shares directly and another 41,232 shares in a trust. YouTube's other two co-founders, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim, received 625,366 shares and 137,443 shares, respectively valued at $326.2M and $64.6M. The Journals report was based on Google's registration statement with SEC filed on February 7, 2007. Hurley resigned as CEO of YouTube in October 2010, but stated he would remain as an advisor of YouTube. Salar Kamangar was appointed to the CEO position following Hurley's resignation. MixBit In August 2013, Hurley launched another company called MixBit, which provided video editing while using smartphones. According to Steve Chen, it was Hurley's idea to turn Avos into MixBit even before the inception of YouTube. The app resembles other short-video recording smartphone apps such as Vine, Instagram and Vyclone. Its limit of recording stretches up to 256 clips, and each clip can be maximum 16 seconds long. It also features the editing tools similar to its other competitor apps. Formula One Hurley was involved as a major investor with US F1 Team, one of the new entrants in Formula One automobile racing for the 2010 season. On March 2, 2010, the team's personnel were dismissed from their duties and the team was unofficially shut down. Neither Hurley, team principal Ken Anderson nor sporting director Peter Windsor would comment on the team's failure to make it to the grid. Investments Hurley has made several investments. He is a minority owner of the NBA's Golden State Warriors and the MLS' Los Angeles Football Club. On the January 25, 2021, Hurley announced on Twitter that he had become an investor at Leeds United, the English Premier League football club. Personal life Hurley was formerly married to Kathy Clark, the daughter of Silicon Valley entrepreneur James H. Clark. They divorced in 2012. Hurley remarried in 2020 to Elise Walden.
Gloria Vanderbilt	[ "1924 births", "2019 deaths", "American socialites", "American fashion designers", "Clothing brands", "Jeans by brand", "American company founders", "American women company founders", "American women business executives", "Businesspeople from New York City", "20th-century American businesspeople", "21st-century American businesspeople", "American memoirists", "American women memoirists", "American women novelists", "Novelists from New York (state)", "20th-century American novelists", "21st-century American novelists", "21st-century American non-fiction writers", "20th-century American women writers", "21st-century American women writers", "Writers from New York City", "American television actresses", "20th-century American actresses", "21st-century American actresses", "Actresses from Manhattan", "Vanderbilt family", "20th-century American trials", "Anderson Cooper", "1970s fashion", "1980s fashion", "Art Students League of New York alumni", "Miss Porter's School alumni", "People from Nassau County, New York", "Deaths from stomach cancer in New York (state)", "Lumet family", "20th-century American businesswomen", "21st-century American businesswomen", "American people of Dutch descent", "American women fashion designers", "Burials at the Vanderbilt Family Cemetery and Mausoleum", "Socialites from New York City", "Trials in New York (state)", "Leopold Stokowski" ]	4,296	40,404	Gloria Laura Vanderbilt (February 20, 1924 – June 17, 2019) was an American artist, author, actress, fashion designer, heiress, and socialite. During the 1930s, she was the subject of a high-profile child custody trial in which her mother, Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, and her paternal aunt, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, each sought custody of her and control over her trust fund. Called the "trial of the century" by the press, the court proceedings were the subject of wide and sensational press coverage, due to the wealth and prominence of the involved parties and the scandalous evidence presented to support Whitney's claim that Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt was an unfit parent. In the 1970s, Vanderbilt launched a line of fashions, perfumes, and household goods bearing her name. She was particularly noted as an early developer of designer blue jeans. Early life Vanderbilt was born on February 20, 1924, in Manhattan, New York City, the only child of railroad heir Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt of the Vanderbilt family and his second wife, Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt. When Vanderbilt was born, her father was heard to exclaim in delight, "It is fantastic how Vanderbilt she looks! See the corners of her eyes, how they turn up?" She was baptized in the Episcopal Church by Bishop Herbert Shipman as Gloria Laura Vanderbilt. After her father's death, she was confirmed and raised in the Catholic Church, to which her mother belonged. From her father's first marriage to Cathleen Neilson, she had one elder half-sister, Cathleen Vanderbilt. Upon their father's death from cirrhosis, when Vanderbilt was 18 months old, she and her half-sister became heiresses to a half share, each, in a $5 million trust fund, equivalent to $ million in value. The control of Vanderbilt's share, while she was a minor, belonged to her mother, who, for years, traveled to and from Paris, taking her daughter with her. They were accompanied by a beloved nanny—Emma Sullivan Kieslich, whom young Gloria had named "Dodo"—who would play a tumultuous part in the child's life, and her mother's identical twin sister, Thelma, who was the lover of the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII), during this time. As a result of her spending habits, her mother's use of finances was scrutinized by the child's paternal aunt, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. A sculptor and philanthropist, Whitney wanted custody of her niece, which resulted in a custody trial. The trial was so scandalous that at times, the judge would make everyone leave the room, so as to listen to what young Vanderbilt had to say without anyone influencing her. Some people heard weeping and wailing from inside the courtroom. Testimony was heard depicting Vanderbilt's mother as an unfit parent, including an allegation from Marie Caillot, her discharged French maid, of a lesbian affair with the Marchioness of Milford Haven, a relative of the British royal family, which Lady Milford Haven would subsequently deny in her own testimony. Vanderbilt's mother lost the battle, and Vanderbilt became the ward of her aunt Gertrude. Litigation continued, however. Vanderbilt's mother was forced to live on a drastically reduced portion of her daughter's trust, which was worth more than $4 million, at the end of 1937, equivalent to $ million in value. Visitation was also closely watched, to ensure that Vanderbilt's mother did not exert any undue influence upon her daughter with her supposedly "raucous" lifestyle. Vanderbilt was raised amidst luxury at her aunt Gertrude's mansion in Old Westbury, Long Island, surrounded by cousins her age who lived in houses circling the vast estate and in New York City. The story of the trial was told in the 1980 Barbara Goldsmith book, Little Gloria... Happy at Last, and a 1982 NBC miniseries of the same name based on it, which was nominated for six Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. Actress Jennifer Dundas played Gloria. Vanderbilt attended the Greenvale School on Long Island; Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut; and then the Wheeler School in Providence, Rhode Island, as well as the Art Students League in New York City, developing the artistic talent for which she would become increasingly known during her career. When Vanderbilt came of age and took control of her trust fund, she cut her mother off entirely, though they later were reconciled. Her mother died in Los Angeles, in 1965. Theater arts From 1954 to 1963, Vanderbilt applied herself to acting. She studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse, with teacher Sanford Meisner, and debuted in 1954, in The Swan, staged at Pocono Playhouse in Mountainhome, Pennsylvania. In 1955, she appeared on Broadway, as Elsie, in a revival of William Saroyan's The Time of Your Life. Vanderbilt also appeared in a number of live and filmed television dramas, including Playhouse 90, Studio One in Hollywood, and The Dick Powell Show. She made an appearance in a two-part episode of The Love Boat, in 1981. Other TV programs on which she appeared include Person to Person, with Edward R. Murrow, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Live! with Kelly and Michael and CBS News Sunday Morning. Fashion Vanderbilt began her career as a fashion model when she was 15 years old, appearing in Harper's Bazaar. During the 1970s, Vanderbilt ventured into the fashion business itself, first with Glentex, licensing her name and a collection of her paintings for a line of scarves. In 1976, Indian designer Mohan Murjani's Murjani Corporation proposed launching a line of designer jeans carrying Vanderbilt's signature embroidered on the back pocket, as well as her swan logo. Her jeans were more tightly fitted than other jeans of that time and were an immediate success with customers. In 1978, Vanderbilt sold the rights to her name to the Murjani Group and re-launched her own company, GV Ltd, which she had founded in 1976. With her company, she launched dresses, blouses, sheets, shoes, leather goods, liqueurs, and accessories. In the period from 1982 to 2002, L'Oreal launched eight fragrances under the brand name Gloria Vanderbilt. Murjan sold rights to the name Gloria Vanderbilt to the owners of Gitano Group Inc. in 1988. Jones Apparel Group acquired the rights to Gloria Vanderbilt jeans in 2002. Gloria Vanderbilt herself became an icon thanks to the numerous portrait shots. Among the famous photographers were Cecil Beaton, Gordon Parks, Horst P. Horst, Gianni Penat, Jeff Riedel, Paul Schutzer, Thomas Iannaccone, Ron Galella and Jack Robinson. Fraud trial In the 1980s, Vanderbilt accused her former partners in GV Ltd. and her lawyer of fraud. After a lengthy trial (during which time the lawyer died), Vanderbilt won and was awarded nearly $1.7 million, but the money was never recovered. She was also awarded $300,000 by the New York City Bar Association. Vanderbilt also owed millions of dollars in back taxes, since the lawyer had never paid the IRS, and she was forced to sell her Southampton, New York, and Upper East Side homes. Art Vanderbilt studied art at the Art Students League of New York. She became known for her artwork, with one-woman exhibitions held of her oil paintings, watercolors, and pastels. Her first exhibition was held in 1948. This artwork was adapted and licensed, starting about 1968, by Hallmark Cards and by Bloomcraft (a textile manufacturer), and Vanderbilt began designing specifically for linen, pottery, and glassware. In 2001, Vanderbilt returned to art and opened her first art exhibition, "Dream Boxes", at the Southern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester; it was a critical success. She launched another exhibition of 35 paintings at the Arts Center in 2007. Two years later, Vanderbilt returned to the Arts Center as a panelist at its Annual Fall Show Exhibition, signing copies of her latest novel, Obsession: An Erotic Tale. When Vanderbilt celebrated her 90th birthday on February 20, 2014, a collection of her drawings, paintings and collages was placed on display in the 1stdibs Gallery at New York Design Center in New York City, in an exhibit called "The Left Hand Is The Dreamer". Writings Vanderbilt wrote two books on art and home decor, four volumes of memoirs, three novels, and a singular collection of short stories, The Things We Fear Most. She was also a regular contributor to The New York Times, Vanity Fair and Elle. In November 2010, Vanderbilt was the subject of a new book chronicling her life, The World of Gloria Vanderbilt, written by Wendy Goodman, New York magazine's design editor. The book, published by Abrams Books, featured many previously unreleased photographs. In January 2017, HarperCollins Publishers released a book coauthored by Vanderbilt and her son Anderson Cooper, The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss. The book was described by its publisher as "{a} touching and intimate correspondence between Anderson Cooper and his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, offering timeless wisdom and a revealing glimpse into their lives". Nothing Left Unsaid documentary On April 9, 2016, HBO premiered Nothing Left Unsaid: Gloria Vanderbilt & Anderson Cooper, a two-hour documentary produced and directed by Liz Garbus. It features a series of conversations between the mother and son, covering her life and family history in the public eye. Personal life Marriages In 1941, aged 17, Vanderbilt went to Hollywood, where she became the second wife of Pat DiCicco, an agent for actors and an alleged mobster. They divorced in 1945 and had no children together. She later alleged that DiCicco was an abusive husband who called her "Fatsy Roo" and beat her. "He would take my head and bang it against the wall," Vanderbilt said, "I had black eyes." In April 1945, within weeks of divorcing DiCicco, Vanderbilt married conductor Leopold Stokowski, who was 42 years her senior. He had three daughters by his previous marriages to Olga Samaroff, an American concert pianist, and Evangeline Love Brewster Johnson, a Johnson & Johnson heiress. She was his third and last wife. The marriage ended in divorce in October 1955 and produced two sons: Leopold Stanislaus "Stan" Stokowski (born August 22, 1950), and Christopher Stokowski (born January 31, 1952). Vanderbilt's third husband was the director Sidney Lumet. She was the second of his four wives. They were married on August 28, 1956, and divorced in August 1963. They had no children together. Vanderbilt's fourth marriage was to author Wyatt Emory Cooper, on December 24, 1963. The marriage, which lasted 15 years, ended with his death in 1978 while he was undergoing open-heart surgery. They had two sons: Carter Vanderbilt Cooper (January 27, 1965 – July 22, 1988), who died by suicide at age 23 by jumping to his death from the family's 14th-floor apartment, and Anderson Hays Cooper (born June 3, 1967), a CNN news anchor. Relationships Vanderbilt maintained a romantic relationship with photographer and filmmaker Gordon Parks for many years until his death in 2006. Other relationships included Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Howard Hughes and Roald Dahl. Vanderbilt was very close friends with fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg. While appearing as a guest on her son Anderson Cooper's television talk show, Anderson on September 19, 2011, Vanderbilt referred to comedian and actress Kathy Griffin as her "fantasy daughter". Truman Capote was speculated to have modeled the character of Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's on Vanderbilt, but others say it was based on her friend Carol Grace. Religious beliefs Vanderbilt was baptized into the Episcopal Church as an infant, but was raised a Roman Catholic and received the Catholic Sacrament of Confirmation. She was particularly fascinated with St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Although religious in her youth, she was not a practicing Catholic in her later years. Death and burial Vanderbilt died at her home in Manhattan on June 17, 2019, aged 95, of stomach cancer. While she was rumored to be worth $200 million, upon her death Vanderbilt left son Anderson her estate, which was worth approximately $1.5 million. Works Art and home decor References Citations
Clive Peeters	[ "Consumer electronics retailers of Australia", "Retail companies established in 1973", "Retail companies disestablished in 2011", "Defunct retail companies of Australia", "1973 establishments in Australia", "2011 disestablishments in Australia" ]	683	5,939	Clive Peeters was an Australian electrical, computers, kitchens and whitegoods retailer with stores in Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania. Under the original owners, the first stores opened in Melbourne in 1973 and Brisbane in 2001. In 2005, Clive Peeters bought the Rick Hart chain of retail stores in Western Australia, however the stores continue to trade under the Rick Hart name. Clive Peeters stores carried more than 140 brands and over 20,000 individual models. Certain locations were acquired by Harvey Norman (The Derni Group) in July 2010, who will continue to operate both retailers independent of their other major retail brands, Harvey Norman, Joyce Mayne and Domayne. Internal fraud In 2009 it was discovered that the Clive Peeters payroll manager, Sonya Denise Causer, had defrauded the company by falsely inflating the company payroll expense and then using her company online banking access to transfer the difference between the actual and reported expense to bank accounts she controlled. Causer had stolen over A$20 million during the period November 2007 to June 2009 and used the money to purchase 43 properties and 3 cars. The company took civil action to have Causers' assets transferred to Clive Peeters. Administration Clive Peeters shares ceased trading in the Australian Securities Exchange on Wednesday, 19 May 2010, after the company brought in McGrathNicol as voluntary administrators to try and sell off the business. New management Nik Papa was appointed General Manager in July 2010. Papa had previously been a Harvey Norman franchisee. On 11 August 2011, Harvey Norman Executive Chairman Gerry Harvey announced that the Clive Peeters brand was "stuffed" and tainted beyond repair, admitting that it was a bad business decision for Harvey Norman to take over Clive Peeters in the first place. As a result, 13 Clive Peeters stores and 5 Rick Hart stores will be converted to Harvey Norman stores (with the exception of two stores, which will be converted to Joyce Mayne stores), with the remaining four Clive Peeters stores and three Rick Hart stores being closed down and sold off, because of proximity to existing Harvey Norman stores in those areas.
Kazakhstan Deposit Insurance Fund	[ "1999 establishments in Kazakhstan", "Bank regulation", "Deposit insurance", "Non-profit organizations based in Kazakhstan", "Financial services companies established in 1999" ]	806	5,922	Kazakhstan Deposit Insurance Fund (KDIF) is a non-profit organization that guarantees deposits of individuals (including individual entrepreneurs) and placed with second-tier banks of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The basic objective of the mandatory deposit insurance system is to maintain stability of the financial system in the Republic of Kazakhstan, including strengthening public confidence in the Kazakhstani banking system via reimbursing depositors in the event of a deposit insurance system member bank failure. The governing laws and regulations are laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On banks and banking activity” (1995) and Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On mandatory insurance of deposits placed with the second-tier banks of the Republic of Kazakhstan” (2006). KDIF was established in 1999. The Sole Shareholder and the founding organization of the KDIF is National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Deposit Insurance System In accordance with the Deposit Insurance Law of 2006, the deposit insurance system has the following features: - Compulsory membership for banks that hold licenses for cash transactions and opening and maintenance of bank accounts of individuals, - Transparency, - Mitigation of risks associated with operations, - Accumulative basis of generation of the special reserve fund for payouts. Mission, Mandate and Powers Mission of KDIF is to maintain public confidence in Kazakhstani financial system and its stability as one of the financial safety net organizations by insuring deposits of individuals and encouraging member banks to conduct their operations with prudence and responsibility. The strategic objectives are: - Sound corporate governance - Operational preparedness for bank failures - Enhanced public awareness of the National deposit insurance system - Continuing professional development opportunities for staff. The key functions of the Fund are: - to reimburse depositors in the event of forced liquidation of a member bank, - to maintain and publish a to-date register of member banks, - investment management, - to accumulate special reserve for payouts, - to select the agent bank for payouts, - to act as a party of temporary administration of a bank in conservatorship or in period of withdrawal of the licenses for banking operations, - to act as a party of the liquidation commission and the creditor committee as long as the claim of the Fund has been unsettled, and other civil functions. Scope of Coverage and Maximum Coverage Limit In Kazakhstan, membership in deposit insurance system is compulsory for those banks which hold license for cash transactions and opening and maintenance of bank accounts of individuals, except for Islamic banks;. As of August 2019, 26 out of total 28 banks are members of deposit insurance system. The scope of coverage are bank accounts of individuals and individual entrepreneurs of all types with resident banks in the Republic of Kazakhstan in any currency. On the per-depositor-per-bank basis, the maximum deposit coverage limit for all deposits and bank accounts of individuals shall amount to: savings deposits in the national currency: 15 million tenge, other deposits in the national currency: 10 million tenge, deposits in any foreign currency: 5 million tenge (in equivalent, at the currency exchange rate established as of the date of the enactment of the court's decision on the member-bank's forced liquidation). Should a depositor have 2 or more deposits allocated with one and the same bank in both national and in foreign currency, this depositor shall be reimbursed in the total amount up to 15 million tenge. The Reimbursement Cases As of August 2019, there have been 7 cases of bank failures and reimbursing depositors in Kazakhstan. Payouts to depositors of the banks has amounted to approximately 76 billion Kazakhstan tenge. International cooperation KDIF has maintained membership in the International Association of Deposit Insurers since 2003.
Government final consumption expenditure	[ "Macroeconomic indicators", "National accounts", "Expenditure" ]	385	3,819	Government final consumption expenditure (GFCE) is an aggregate transaction amount on a country's national income accounts representing government expenditure on goods and services that are used for the direct satisfaction of individual needs (individual consumption) or collective needs of members of the community (collective consumption). It consists of the value of the goods and services produced by the government itself other than own-account capital formation and sales and of purchases by the government of goods and services produced by market producers that are supplied to households – without any transformation – as in kind (for more detail, see, for example, Lequiller and Blades (2014) Data Data on government final consumption expenditure shed light on the involvement of governments in providing goods and services for the direct needs of the population. A high government share in the provision of individual consumption goods and services is often found in countries known as welfare states. This may be illustrated by looking at data for the European Union (downloadable from Eurostat's database providing figures on ): Approximately one quarter of the economy-wide final consumption expenditure in the European Union of 27 member states is made by governments; countries with relatively large government shares in final consumption expenditure are Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden (around one-third of their final consumption expenditure). 60% of the governments' final consumption expenditure in the European Union of 27 member states is individual consumption; the largest shares of individual consumption in government final consumption expenditure are observed for Sweden (more than 70%). These findings mirror the importance of social transfers in kind in European countries, where the share of household final consumption expenditure in actual final consumption of the households is often less than 80%. See also Final consumption expenditure Household final consumption expenditure Government spending
Robert Kraft	[ "1941 births", "Living people", "American billionaires", "American chief executives of professional sports organizations", "American corporate directors", "American financiers", "American manufacturing businesspeople", "American media executives", "American people of Canadian descent", "American philanthropists", "American businesspeople in real estate", "American soccer chairmen and investors", "Boston College people", "Boston Uprising", "Brookline High School alumni", "Businesspeople from Boston", "Carnegie Hall Medal of Excellence winners", "Columbia College (New York) alumni", "Columbia University people", "Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences", "Harvard Business School alumni", "Jewish American sports executives and administrators", "Kraft family", "Major League Soccer executives", "Major League Soccer owners", "New England Patriots executives", "New England Patriots owners", "New England Revolution", "Businesspeople from Brookline, Massachusetts", "People named in the Paradise Papers", "Activists against antisemitism", "Anti-BDS activists", "Opposition to antisemitism in the United States", "American Zionists", "Jews from Massachusetts", "World TeamTennis owners" ]	7,111	74,721	Robert Kenneth Kraft (born June 5, 1941) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Kraft Group, a diversified holding company with assets in paper and packaging, sports and entertainment, real estate development, and a private equity portfolio. Since 1994, Kraft has owned the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He also owns the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer (MLS), which he founded in 1996. In 2017, he founded the Boston Uprising, an Overwatch League esports team that competed from 2017 until its disbandment in January 2024. As of July 2024, he has an estimated net worth of US$11.1 billion according to Forbes. Early life and education Kraft was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, the son of Sarah Bryna (Webber) and Harry Kraft, a dress manufacturer in Boston's Chinatown. His mother was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia; his father was a lay leader at Congregation Kehillath Israel in Brookline and wanted his son to become a rabbi. The Krafts were a Modern Orthodox Jewish family. Robert attended the Edward Devotion School and graduated from Brookline High School. As a child, he sold newspapers outside of Braves Field in Boston. During high school, Kraft was unable to participate in most sports because it interfered with his after-school Hebrew studies and observance of the Sabbath. Kraft attended Columbia University on an academic scholarship and he served as class president. He played tennis and safety on the school's freshman and lightweight football teams. During that time, Kraft also lived in Carman Hall. He met Myra Hiatt at a delicatessen in Boston's Back Bay in 1962, and they married in June 1963. Kraft graduated from Columbia that same year, and he received an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1965. Kraft was elected chairman of the Newton Democratic City Committee when he was 27. Kraft considered running against Representative Philip J. Philbin in 1970 but chose not to, citing the loss of privacy and strain on his family that politics would have caused. Kraft was further discouraged from entering politics by the 1970 suicide of his friend State Representative H. James Shea Jr. Business career Kraft began his professional career with the Rand-Whitney Group, a Worcester-based packaging company run by his father-in-law Jacob Hiatt. In 1968, he gained control of the company through a leveraged buyout. Kraft remains the chairman. In 1972, he founded International Forest Products, a trader of physical paper commodities. The two combined companies make up the largest privately held paper and packaging companies in the United States. Kraft has stated that he started the company out of a hunch that the increase in international communications and transportation would lead to an expansion of global trade in the late twentieth century. International Forest Products became a top 100 US exporter/importer in 1997 and in 2001 was ranked No. 7 on the Journal of Commerce's list in that category. Kraft said of the business in 1991 that, "We do things for a number of companies, including Avon, Kodak, cosmetics companies, candies, toys." The company produced both corrugated and folding cartons, which he stated, "are used to package everything from the Patriot missile, to mints, to Estee Lauder, Indiana Glass and Polaroid." Kraft acquired interests in other areas, and ultimately formed the Kraft Group as an umbrella for them in 1998. Kraft was an investor in New England Television Corp., which gained control of the channel 7 license for Boston in 1982, and he became a director of the board a year later, after the newly licensed station, WNEV-TV, signed on, replacing the former WNAC-TV. In 1986, Kraft was named president of the corporation. In 1991, Kraft exercised his option to sell his shares for an estimated $25 million. Sports ownership Boston Lobsters In 1974, Kraft, Harold Bayne, Herbert Hoffman, Bob Mades, and Paul Slater purchased the Boston Lobsters of World TeamTennis (WTT). The group spent heavily to lure a number of top players, including Martina Navratilova, and the Lobsters became one of the best teams in WTT. Following the 1978 season, Kraft announced that the franchise would fold. The league itself folded soon thereafter. After the Lobsters folded, Kraft was also mentioned as a bidder for the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Celtics. New England Patriots Kraft has been a New England Patriots fan since their American Football League days and had been a season ticket holder since 1971 when the team moved to Schaefer Stadium. In 1985, he bought a 10-year option on Foxboro Raceway, a horse track adjacent to the stadium, and the purchase prevented Patriots owner Billy Sullivan from holding non-Patriot events at the stadium while races were being held. Kraft took advantage of the fact that the Sullivans owned the stadium but not the surrounding land, and it was the beginning of a quest to buy the stadium and the Patriots. Sullivan's family was reeling from a series of bad investments, principally The Jackson Five 1984 Victory Tour, for which they had to pledge Sullivan Stadium as collateral. Those problems ultimately forced Sullivan to sell controlling interest of the team in 1988, while the stadium lapsed into bankruptcy. In 1988, Kraft outbid several competitors to buy the stadium out of bankruptcy court from Sullivan for $22 million. The stadium was considered to be outdated and nearly worthless, but the purchase included the stadium's lease to the Patriots which ran through 2001. Kraft placed a bid on the Patriots franchise as well, but he lost the bidding to Victor Kiam. Sullivan and Kiam then tried to move the team to Jacksonville, but Kraft refused to let them break the lease. Kiam was nearly brought down by bad investments of his own and was forced to sell the Patriots to James Orthwein in 1992. In 1994, Orthwein offered Kraft $75 million to buy out the remainder of the team's lease at Foxboro Stadium so he could move it to St. Louis, but Kraft turned it down. Orthwein was no longer interested in operating the team in New England and decided to sell it. However, due to terms in the operating covenant, any potential buyer would have to negotiate with Kraft. With this in mind, Kraft launched what amounted to a hostile takeover, offering $172 million for an outright purchase. Future St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke offered more money ($200 million) with intent to move to St. Louis. However, Orthwein would have not only been saddled with all relocation expenses, but any legal expenses from breaking the lease. When Kraft let it be known that he would go to court to enforce the covenant and force Kroenke to stay in Foxboro, Orthwein was in an untenable position. He had little choice but to accept Kraft's offer, the highest ever made for an NFL team at the time. Kraft said that his passion for the Patriots led him to "break every one of my financial rules" in his pursuit of the team. Indeed, Kraft still believes he "overpaid" for the franchise. Kraft still keeps a Victory Tour poster in his office as a reminder of what set in motion the events that allowed him to buy the Patriots. Following the NFL's approval of the sale, the Patriots sold out their entire 1994 season, the first full sell-out in franchise history. Every Patriots home game–preseason, regular season, and playoffs–has been sold out ever since. In 2023, the Patriots were one of the most valuable franchises in the NFL, estimated by Forbes to be worth $7 billion. In 1998, Kraft considered moving the Patriots to Hartford, Connecticut, based on an offer that the state of Connecticut would finance a new stadium, but he terminated the deal just before it became binding to instead build a new stadium in Foxborough with Massachusetts infrastructure funding. In 2002, Kraft financed a $350-million stadium for the Patriots initially called CMGI Field but renamed Gillette Stadium. In 2007, he began to develop the land around Gillette Stadium, creating a $375-million open-air shopping and entertainment center called Patriot Place. The development included "The Hall at Patriot Place presented by Raytheon," a multi-story museum and hall of fame attached to the stadium, and the "CBS Scene," a CBS-themed restaurant. On January 27, 2000, Kraft traded a first round draft pick to the New York Jets for the rights to hire Bill Belichick as head coach. The trade was met with criticism at the time, but proved to be successful after Belichick led the Patriots to win six Super Bowl championships, nine conference championships, and 16 division titles. In 2000, the Patriots drafted quarterback Tom Brady in the sixth round, who would be the team's starter from 2001 to 2019. The relationship between Kraft, Belichick, and Brady has been credited with producing one of the most successful sports dynasties in football, although in later years the personal relationship between the three grew strained. Under Kraft's ownership, the Patriots experienced sustained success for the first time in franchise history. While they appeared in Super Bowl XX under the Sullivans, this was one of only six playoff appearances in 34 years. Indeed, that Super Bowl season saw only the second playoff victory in franchise history. However, the Patriots have made the playoffs 21 times in Kraft's 27 years as owner. They have won 19 AFC East titles, including all but three since 2001 and 11 in a row from 2009 to 2019. The Patriots represented the AFC in the Super Bowl in 1996 (lost), 2001 (won), 2003 (won), 2004 (won), 2007 (lost), 2011 (lost), 2014 (won), 2016 (won), 2017 (lost) and 2018 (won). After having never won more than 11 games prior to Kraft's arrival, the Patriots have won at least 12 games 14 times, including finishing the 2007 regular season undefeated before losing to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII. Indianapolis Colts center Jeff Saturday, referring to Kraft's role in helping to settle the NFL lockout before the 2011 season, said "He [Kraft] is a man who helped us save football." In 2005, during a visit to Saint Petersburg, Kraft gave Russian President Vladimir Putin his third Super Bowl ring. Kraft released a statement some days after the visit claiming that it was a gift out of "respect and admiration" for the Russian people and Putin's leadership. Kraft later said that he did not originally intend to give the ring as a gift and that his statement had been issued under pressure from the White House after Putin had kept the ring. The ring is on display with state gifts at the Kremlin. Former Patriot Ryan O'Callaghan wrote in his book that Kraft supported him when he publicly came out as gay in 2017. According to O'Callaghan, Kraft invited him to a reception and said, "What you did took a lot of courage. I'm so proud of you" and that he would be "forever a Patriot." In 1996, Kraft founded the New England Revolution, a charter member of Major League Soccer which began playing alongside the Patriots at Foxboro Stadium. Kraft also owned the San Jose Clash (later San Jose Earthquakes) from 1998 to 2000. In November 2005, Kraft met with Rick Parry, the chief executive of English Premier League team Liverpool. Kraft was rumored to be interested in investing money into the 2004–05 Champions League winners. He told BBC Radio 5 Live: "Liverpool is a great brand and it's something our family respects a lot. We're always interested in opportunities and growing, so you never know what can happen." However, the club was eventually sold to American duo George Gillett and Tom Hicks. Liverpool is now owned by Fenway Sports Group, owners of fellow Boston-based sport team the Boston Red Sox. In October 2017, Kraft said that he was "still intrigued" by the possibility of buying a Premier League football club, but that he was concerned about the lack of a salary cap in British football. In 2017, Kraft was named the Honorary Chairman of the board of directors for the successful joint Canadian-Mexican-American bid for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. In 2019, Kraft hired Bruce Arena as head coach and sporting director of the New England Revolution. In 2020, the team had their first playoff win in six years. Esports Blizzard Entertainment announced in July 2017 that Kraft bought ownership in the Boston Uprising, one of the first seven teams for the professional esports Overwatch League. They played in Season 1 of the Overwatch League. Preseason for the league began December 6, 2017, and the regular season started on January 10, 2018. Boston Uprising finished third in the Overwatch League's inaugural season. Philanthropy The Krafts have donated hundreds of millions of dollars to philanthropic work including education, child- and women-related issues, healthcare, youth sports and American and Israeli causes. Among the institutions the Krafts have supported are Columbia University, Harvard Business School, Brandeis University, the College of the Holy Cross, Boston College, Tufts University, Yeshiva University, the Belmont Hill School, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston. In 1989, Myra and Robert Kraft launched the Passport to Israel Fund, in collaboration with Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston (CJP), to help parents send their teenage children to Israel. One of their most distinctive projects is supporting American Football Israel, including Kraft Family Stadium in Jerusalem and the Kraft Family Israel Football League. In 1990, Kraft, his wife, and his father-in-law funded a joint professorship between Brandeis University and the College of the Holy Cross, forming the Kraft-Hiatt endowed chairs in comparative religion – the first inter-religious endowed chairs in the United States. In 2000, Kraft donated $11.5 million to construct the Columbia/Barnard Hillel which is made of the same white stone used in Jerusalem. In 2007, after a $5 million payment to Columbia's intercollegiate athletics program, the playing field at Columbia's Lawrence A. Wien Stadium at the Baker Field Athletics Complex was named Robert K. Kraft Field. In 2011, the Krafts pledged $20 million to Partners HealthCare to launch the Kraft Family National Center for Leadership and Training in Community Health, an initiative designed to improve access to quality healthcare at community health centers throughout New England. The Krafts supported the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Following the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, Kraft announced he would match up to $100,000 in donations made for the victims through the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation. In 2017, Kraft announced a contribution of $6 million to build the first regulation-size American football field in Israel. In June 2017, Kraft, along with several NFL Hall of Famers, traveled to Israel for the grand opening of the new Kraft Family Sports Campus. He has led additional "Touchdown in Israel" trips to Israel, with Patriots and Hall of Famers, since that 2017 trip. That same year, Kraft funded a new van as part of the Kraft Center for Community Health at Massachusetts General Hospital in order to help combat the opioid crisis in Boston. The vans allow those with opioid addiction to seek health services in their own neighborhoods. In 2018, Kraft donated $10 million to Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston for the renovation of its headquarters in downtown Boston. In 2019, Kraft, along with Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich, hosted a soccer match between the New England Revolution and Chelsea F.C., called Final Whistle on Hate, to raise money to combat antisemitism. The match raised an estimated $4 million, with Kraft personally contributing $1 million toward the fund. In June 2019, Kraft received Israel's Genesis Prize. While at the event in Jerusalem, Kraft pledged $20 million to establish a foundation that will fight antisemitism and combat the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. The next month, he pledged $100,000 to the families of seven motorcyclists killed in a crash the month before. Kraft donated $20,000 and attended the memorial in Worcester to honor fallen firefighter Christopher Roy on the one-year anniversary of his death. Kraft teamed with recording artists Jay-Z and Meek Mill, as well as Michael G. Rubin, the executive chairman of Fanatics, among others to announce a foundation of criminal justice reform called REFORM Alliance. In coordination with the REFORM Alliance, Kraft invited more than 50 children (ages 5–17) to fly on the Patriots' team charter to attend the Patriots game against the Buffalo Bills at Gillette Stadium. The children attending the game each had parents who have been incarcerated for technical probation violations. As of 2019, Kraft had led 27 missions to Israel. In 2020, Kraft partnered with Chinese company Tencent to purchase 1.2 million N95 masks to donate to medical workers in New York and Massachusetts to help combat the coronavirus pandemic, sending the Patriots' private team plane to China to pick up the supplies. Kraft initially negotiated for 1.7 million masks, but only 1.2 million fit on board. They were allowed three hours on the ground in China at Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport. The plane was used to deliver 500,000 vaccines to El Salvador in May 2021. Using the Patriots truck, they distributed 300,000 masks in New York City, 900,000 masks in Massachusetts and 100,000 in Rhode Island. In May 2020, Kraft put his Super Bowl LI ring up for auction with proceeds designated to help feed those facing food insecurity as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Kraft lent the Patriots team plane to the University of Rhode Island Rams football team in October 2021 after the team's charter flight fell through. He covered all costs despite the URI Rams expecting to pay expenses through the team's budget. In April 2022, Harvard Business School announced the creation of the Robert K. Kraft Family Fellowship Fund, committing $24 million to benefit potential students with limited means to attend HBS. On October 30, 2022, the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism (FCAS), which was founded by Kraft, sponsored an ad encouraging people to denounce hate against Jewish people. The ad aired during NFL games and was titled ”Stand Up to Jewish Hate.” This action came in response to antisemitic comments made by Kanye West and later Kyrie Irving. Kraft invested $25 million in the "Stand Up to Jewish Hate" campaign which launched through the foundation in March 2023 to raise awareness concerning antisemitism found online. The foundation's executive director indicated that ads would air during the NFL draft, NBA and NHL playoffs as well as by social media influencers. In April 2024, during the Columbia University pro-Palestinian campus protests and occupations during the Gaza War, Kraft stopped funding Columbia University because of its treatment of Jewish students and staff, citing "virulent hate." Personal life In June 1963, Kraft married Myra Nathalie Hiatt, a 1964 graduate of Brandeis University and the daughter of the late Worcester, Massachusetts, businessman and philanthropist Jacob Hiatt. She died on July 20, 2011, of ovarian cancer, at the age of 68. The Krafts were members of Temple Emanuel in Newton, Massachusetts. A patch bearing Kraft's initials (MHK) appeared on the Patriots' uniform jersey throughout the 2011 season. The couple had four sons: Jonathan A. Kraft, Daniel A. Kraft, Joshua M. Kraft, and David H. Kraft. In June 2012, Kraft began dating actress Ricki Noel Lander, who was 38 years his junior. In July 2012, Kraft assisted Lander in creating an audition video for a role in The Internship. The lines in the script were sexual in nature, and Kraft released a statement in which he stated that he regretted that the audition tape was made public. Lander and Kraft broke up in 2018. In 2017, Kraft donated $1 million for Trump's inauguration day celebrations. In 2020, NBA coach Gregg Popovich called Kraft "hypocritical" for supporting Trump while claiming to advocate for social justice. In 2019, Kraft was among 25 people facing first-degree misdemeanor charges for soliciting prostitution at a day spa. His attorney electronically entered a not-guilty plea, and later submitted a court filing where Kraft waived arraignment, pled not guilty to all charges and requested a jury trial. A memo filed by Kraft's attorneys revealed that hidden cameras had been installed when investigators entered the facility under the guise of suspected human trafficking. A Palm Beach County judge ruled that prosecutors could not use the videos in their case, citing privacy concerns. A Florida appeals court also ruled that Kraft's constitutional rights were violated, and all the charges were dropped. US District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz ordered the videos to be destroyed. In early 2022, his engagement to Dana Blumberg was announced by Tommy Hilfiger at the inaugural amfAR Gala Palm Beach event. They married in New York City in October 2022. Awards and honors NFL Six-time Super Bowl champion (as the owner of the Patriots: XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX, XLIX, LI, LIII) George Halas Award (2012) NCAA Theodore Roosevelt Award (2006) John Jay Award from Columbia University (1987) Alexander Hamilton Medal from Columbia University (2004) Columbia University football field renamed Robert K. Kraft Field. Honorary doctorate in humane letters (2015) from Yeshiva University. MLS New England Revolution (as the owner): 2021 Supporters Shield, 2007 U.S. Open Cup, 2008 North American SuperLiga Organizational Inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2011). Carnegie Hall Medal of Excellence (2013) Genesis Prize (2019)
Frederick Zetteler	[ "1812 births", "1896 deaths", "Dutch emigrants to the United States", "Businesspeople from Rotterdam", "Politicians from Madison, Wisconsin", "Politicians from Milwaukee", "Businesspeople from Milwaukee", "Democratic Party members of the Wisconsin State Assembly", "Businesspeople from Madison, Wisconsin", "19th-century American businesspeople", "19th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature" ]	628	4,859	Frederick Tobias Zetteler (February 11, 1812 – August 19, 1896) was an American real estate developer, pioneer, and politician. Born in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Zetteler was the son of a royal tailor. On March 5, 1841 he married Sarah Jacoba (Smith) Fagg, a widow who was a Vlissingen native from a prominent local family of English and Dutch ancestry, who had managed the family business for two years after the death of her husband, Captain John Fagg. After Zetteler's second bankruptcy the family came to the United States, taking passage at Antwerp on a sailing ship that landed them at New York City. They proceeded to Albany, New York and thence by canals and the Great Lakes to Milwaukee, landing July 3, 1848, and there they settled down on a farm. In 1853 Zetteler moved the family to Madison, Wisconsin and opened a general store. The mother and children ran the store and Zetteler worked for official offices of the State, including the Secretary of State of Wisconsin and the State Register of Deeds. He became a notary public in 1855. In 1858, a fire destroyed all of the family's property, and Zetteler returned to Milwaukee and went into the real estate business as a developer. He served as a justice of the peace, a notary public, and was a deputy United States Marshal. In 1863 Zetteler was elected to serve as a Democrat in the 6th Milwaukee County district (the 6th and 9th wards of the City of Milwaukee) of the Wisconsin State Assembly, succeeding fellow Democrat Adam Pœrtner (or Poertner). He was assigned to the standing committee on engrossed bills. He was succeeded in the 1865 term by Jacob Oberman, another Democrat. In 1867, he was elected as a delegate to the convention which revised the city charter of Milwaukee. In 1874, Zetteler was elected to the Assembly (again as a Democrat), this time from the 9th Milwaukee County district (9th and 10th wards), with 922 votes, against 675 for Republican Andrew Keye. In this second term, he served simultaneously with his stepson Peter Fagg, who represented the 2nd Milwaukee County district. He was not a candidate for re-election, and was succeeded by George H. Walther of the Reform Party (to which Peter Fagg belonged).
Institutionalization process	[ "1970s in Cuba", "1980s in Cuba", "1970s in economic history", "1980s in economic history", "Cold War history of Cuba", "Economy of Cuba", "Fidel Castro" ]	2,632	25,258	The institutionalization process, sometimes more formally referred to as the "process of institutionalization", or the "institutionalization of the Cuban Revolution", was a series of political reforms, typically identified by historians as to have taken place between 1976 and 1985, although sometimes identified as having begun in 1970. This process was proceeded by a period of government that was directly managed by Fidel Castro without much input from other officials, which had been status-quo since the conclusion of the Cuban Revolution. The institutionalization process was also proceeded by a deepening of Cuba-Soviet relations in the early 1970s, which had soured before in the 1960s. Institutionalization was kickstarted by the first official congress of the Communist Party of Cuba in December 1975. The meeting approved the development of a "System of Direction for Economic Planning" (SDPE), which was modeled on soviet economic planning and prioritized profit making. The implementation of the SDPE took ten years. In 1976, a new constitution was also approved. The constitution was modeled off the Soviet system, and introduced the National Assembly of People's Power as the institution of indirect representation in government. Scholars Emily J. Kirk, Anna Clayfield, Isabel Story, have commented that the "institutionalization" periodization is hazy. While the adoption of a new constitution in 1976 is considered a hallmark of the "institutionalization" phase, there is no universally accepted date range as to when the "institutionalization" phase truly began, and when it truly ended. What is clear is that the "institutionalization" phase was generally concluded to have ended by the Rectification process in 1986. Background Provisional government of Cuba After the Triumph of the Revolution, Castro held de facto veto power during the process of establishing a provisional government. This de facto power came from his position as commander-in-chief of the rebel army. Political positions in the first two years after the Cuban Revolution were extremely fluid, and poorly defined in legal terms. It was often loyalty that was the determining factor in being appointed to a government position. On April 9, 1959, Fidel Castro announced that elections would be delayed for fifteen months, utilizing the legitimizing slogan: "revolution first, elections later". On May Day of 1960, Fidel Castro cancelled all future elections, under the guise that citizens legitimized his rule by defending his government, thus elections were unnecessary. In July 1961, Castro officially merged the 26th of July Movement, the Popular Socialist Party, and a smaller third party, to form one group called the Integrated Revolutionary Organization. In December 1961, Castro declared that he was personally a Marxist–Leninist. Relations with the Soviet Union By the mid-1960s, Cuba's relationship with the Soviet Union became increasingly strained. Castro refused to sign the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, declaring it a Soviet-US attempt to dominate the Third World. Diverting from Soviet doctrine, Castro suggested that Cuba could evolve straight to pure communism rather than gradually progress through various stages of socialism. In turn, the Soviet-loyalist Aníbal Escalante began organizing a government network of opposition to Castro, though in January 1968, he and his supporters were arrested for allegedly passing state secrets to Moscow. Recognising Cuba's economic dependence on the Soviets, Castro relented to Brezhnev's pressure to be obedient, and in August 1968 he denounced the leaders of the Prague Spring and praised the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. Economy of Cuba A political campaign titled "the Revolutionary Offensive" began in Cuba in 1968, to nationalize all remaining private small businesses, which at the time totaled to be about 58,000 small enterprises. The campaign would spur industrialization in Cuba and focus the economy on sugar production, specifically to a deadline for an annual sugar harvest of 10 million tons by 1970. The economic focus on sugar production involved international volunteers and the mobilization of workers from all sectors of the Cuban economy. The ten million ton harvest goal was not reached. Other sectors of the Cuban economy were neglected when large amounts of urban labor mobilized to the countryside. The demise of the 1970 zafra was seen as an economic embarrassment, and encouraged Castro to begin decentralizing economic command, and building formal institutions. The Revolutionary Offensive and 1970 zafra were constructed with a Guevarist economic philosophy, after their demise, soviet economic philosophy appeared more pragmatic to Castro. History Early institutionalization Seeking Soviet help, from 1970 to 1972 Soviet economists re-organized Cuba's economy, founding the Cuban-Soviet Commission of Economic, Scientific and Technical Collaboration, while Soviet premier Alexei Kosygin visited in October 1971. In 1970, the political bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba held a meeting to initiate a series of studies as to how to build state institutions. This process of study was accelerated in 1972, and by the end of the year the Council of Ministers was restructured with a new Executive Committee. In July 1972, Cuba joined the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon), an economic organization of socialist states, although this further limited Cuba's economy to agricultural production. In 1973 the judicial system was made subservient to executive decision-making. In 1974, early plans were put in place to form a new municipal government system. This system was tested in the Matanzas province, and eventually became the National Assembly of People's Power. On October 24, 1974, a constitutional commission was established to draft a new constitution. Drafts of the constitution were passed around workplaces and civil societies. After popular debate and critique, a final draft was passed to the Communist Party for approval. The Communist Party of Cuba for the first time allowed for its members to vote on leadership, in 1975. Despite this electoral reform, average Cubans were still not allowed to join the party. Membership was exclusive, and intended for politically exemplary people identified by the party. 1976 constitution The first congress of the Communist Party of Cuba which met in December 1975, approved the new constitution. The constitution was ratified on February 24, 1976. According to scholar Carmelo Mesa-Lago, the constitution was 32% based on the Soviet constitution of 1936, and 36% was based on the Cuban constitution of 1940. The constitution established the National Assembly of People's Power as the democratic forum of law-making. While members of the body are elected, only one political party is legal (the Communist Party of Cuba), and candidates can only campaign on biographies, without presenting political opinions. Economic policy Beginning with the first Communist Party congress in 1975, the economy was to be managed by the System of Direction for Economic Planning (SDPE). This was done with the goal of boosting "revolutionary consciousness" among the workers, and maximizing efficiency. The SDPE recognized the law of value, financial transactions amongst state enterprises, defined taxes, and interest rates. All economic function was done to maximize profits, and successful managers were allowed to retain portions of profits. Self-employment was legalized in 1978. "Mercados Libres Campesinos" were started in 1980 to alleviate economic bottleneck. They were markets where private farmers and home gardeners could sell their surplus produce directly to consumers, instead of to the state. Their creation was authorized by Decree No. 66 of the Council of State. A series of economic reforms in Cuba, officially titled the "Rectification of Errors and Negative Tendencies", began in 1986, and lasted until 1992. The reforms were aimed at eliminating private businesses, trade markets, which had been introduced into the Cuba, during the 1970s. The new reforms aimed to nationalize more of the economy and eliminate material incentives for extra labor, instead relying on moral enthusiasm alone. Castro often justified this return to moral incentives by mentioning the moral incentives championed by Che Guevara, and often alluded to Guevarism when promoting reforms. Historiography Style of government The historian Lillian Guerra claims that the politics of Fidel Castro's provisional government are best described as a "grassroots dictatorship". The government from 1959-1968 was illiberal, and enabled by mass participation in government programs, and a mass enthusiasm for the removal of civil liberties. According to Guerra, the "grassroots dictatorship" of the provisional government eventually morphed into a "total state" that assumed the right to direct every detail of citizens' lives. All claims of hegemonic mass support for the Cuban government became inaccurate and cosmetic by the 1980s. Political researcher Yanina Welp has contended that the drafting of the 1976 constitution was not a truly democratic process, since participation in drafting and revising was restricted by the government. Welp claims that any illusions to a democratic process at the time were a "smokescreen" for the Cuban government, which is more akin to a hybrid regime. Some scholars like Peter Roman, Nino Pagliccia, and Loreen Collin have written books concluding that the system that developed after the 1976 constitution, particularly with the National Assembly of People's Power, is a highly participatory democracy. Julio Cesar Guache offers a critical view of the "democracy" that developed, and argued it is informally controlled by the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, who vet candidates. Samuel Farber argues that the National Assembly of People's Power is legally prohibited form political debate, and that real decision-making power still lied with the Castro brothers as heads of the Communist Party of Cuba. Farber mentions that the Communist Party often passes legislation without any consideration from the National Assembly of People's Power. The sovietization thesis is a historiographical model proposed by scholars like political scientist Piero Gleijeses, and economist Carmelo Mesa-Lago. The sovietization thesis defines Cuba's political developments, and military actions, in the 1970s, completely in relation to the Soviet Union. The thesis proposes that Cuba's economic dependence on the Soviet Union, encouraged the Cuban government to model itself after the Soviet Union, and for the Cuban military to follow Soviet whims. According to Mesa-Lago, the sovietization of Cuba, reduced Cuba to a state subordinate to the Soviet Union, akin to how Batista's Cuba was subordinate to the United States. Historian Anna Clayfield argues that Soviet influence does not wholly explain the political developments in Cuba in the 1970s. Clayfield argues that the Cuban intervention in Angola represented a clear break from Soviet foreign policy, and the constant promotion of national poet Jose Marti in Cuban media, represented a distinctly Cuban approach to culture, meaning Cuban culture did not become completely sovietized. See also 1973 Soviet economic reform Grey years Soviet-type economic planning
Veris Residential	[ "1994 initial public offerings", "Companies based in Jersey City, New Jersey", "Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange", "Real estate companies established in 1997", "Real estate investment trusts of the United States", "Residential real estate" ]	1,908	21,009	Veris Residential, Inc. is a real estate investment trust headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, investing primarily in multifamily real estate in New Jersey and Boston. As of February 21, 2024, it owned or had interests in 22 apartment complexes, as well as a substantial land bank. With the exception of a few properties in New York and Massachusetts, the majority of the properties are in New Jersey. The company was formerly known as Mack-Cali Realty Corporation. Investments Notable investments owned by the company include: The BLVD Collection, three skyscrapers including the 17th tallest building in Jersey City. When it was completed in 2003, it was the tallest residential building in New Jersey. It is now ranked 26th on the list of tallest buildings in Jersey City. Jersey City Urby broke ground on January 15, 2014, with joint venture partner Ironstate Development Company to consist of 3 towers of 69 stories each containing 763 apartments, or 2,359 apartments in total. The first tower, Urby Harborside 1, was topped off in September 2015. Haus25 History The company was founded in 1949 as Cali Associates by John J. Cali, Angelo R. Cali, and Edward Leshowitz. In the 1950s, Cali Associates was a developer of single family homes in northern New Jersey. In 1969, the company completed construction of its first office building, 14 Commerce Drive, in Cranford Business Park, Cranford, New Jersey. During the 1970s and 1980s, Cali Associates capitalized on increasing population and commerce in New Jersey by building 2.2 million square feet of class A office space. In August 1994, Cali Associates became a public company through an initial public offering of stock, and it changed its name to Cali Realty Corporation, under a management headed by Brant Cali, John R. Cali, and Thomas A. Rizk. In 1997, Cali Realty acquired the Robert Martin Company for $211 million in cash and 1,401,225 operating-partnership units, then valued at $44 million, and the assumption of $185 million of debt. The transaction added 65 properties and 4.1 million square feet to its portfolio, mostly in Westchester County, New York, and Connecticut. In 2019, Robert Martin re-acquired most of the portfolio from Mack-Cali for $487.5 million. In December 1997, Cali Realty Corporation completed a $1.2 billion merger with Patriot American Office Group and the Mack Company (founded by H. Bert Mack and operated by his four sons: Earle I. Mack, William L. Mack, Fredric H. Mack, and David S. Mack). The company changed its named to Mack-Cali Realty Corporation. At the time, this merger was the largest real estate investment trust transaction. Mitchell E. Hersh became a member of the board of directors in 1997. He became the chief executive officer (CEO) in 1999. In 2004, he became president of the company in addition to its CEO. In 1998, the company acquired $450 million worth of office properties, which boosted its holdings by 12%. It also bought properties in Washington D.C. and Maryland and properties in the Southwest. In 2006, the company acquired the Gale Company, a private real estate firm headquartered in New Jersey that owned 2.8 million-square-foot of office buildings. In 2012, the company acquired Roseland Partners, a property developer in New Jersey, for $134.6 million. It was developing the $120 million RiverTrace waterfront tower at Port Imperial, which was completed in October 2013. In 2013, the company sold 19 Skyline Drive for $17.5 million. In November 2014, Roseland opened Portside at East Pier in East Boston. The second phase, which includes 550 luxury residences and 70,000 square feet of retail space, opened in 2018. In 2015, Mitchell E. Rudin became CEO and Michael J. DeMarco became the company's president and chief operating officer. The same year, the company moved its headquarters to Jersey City. In June 2020, the company reconstituted its board of directors, electing MaryAnne Gilmartin as chair. Gilmartin also served as Interim Chief Executive Officer prior to the appointment of Mahbod Nia as permanent CEO in March 2021. Nia has served on the company's board since June 2020. Concurrently, Gilmartin stepped down as chair and was replaced by former Lead Independent Director Tammy K. Jones. In December 2021, the company changed its name to Veris Residential, Inc, reflecting a pivot from office to multifamily residential buildings. In April 2023, the company completed the sale of Harborside 1,2, & 3 in Jersey City for $420 million USD, and in 2024 they sold their final office property, completing the shift to residential buildings.
Beau Rivage (Mississippi)	[ "Buildings and structures in Biloxi, Mississippi", "Casinos in Mississippi", "Skyscraper hotels in Mississippi", "Resorts in Mississippi", "Casinos completed in 1999", "Hotel buildings completed in 1999", "Towers in Mississippi", "Skyscrapers in Mississippi", "MGM Resorts International", "1999 establishments in Mississippi", "Steve Wynn", "Casino hotels in Mississippi" ]	724	6,377	Beau Rivage is a waterfront casino resort in Biloxi, Mississippi, USA. It is owned by Vici Properties and operated by MGM Resorts International. The Beau Rivage hotel is the tallest building in Mississippi. The term 'Beau Rivage' is French for 'beautiful shore'; the original, well-known hotels of that name are the Beau-Rivage Geneva and Beau-Rivage Palace, both in Francophone Switzerland. The name of Beau Rivage was originally meant for the Bellagio casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip, however, developer Steve Wynn of Mirage Resorts changed Beau Rivage into Bellagio, and reserved this name for his new waterfront casino in Biloxi. The Beau Rivage, with 1,740 rooms, opened in March 1999. At that time of its opening, it was the largest hotel/casino in the United States outside of Nevada. The casino was located on a series of floating barges as required by local law confining all casinos to mobile marine vessels at the time of the resort's construction. The hotel, restaurants, parking garage, and associated facilities were constructed on land. The height of the 29-floor hotel-casino is . Beau Rivage was seriously damaged by the storm surge caused by Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005, and was rebuilt by W.G. Yates & Sons Construction (the contractor that originally built it) and more than 50 subcontractors. Beau Rivage Resort & Casino re-opened its entire resort August 29, 2006 — the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Although the hotel tower survived relatively unscathed, the casino barge was significantly damaged. Beau Rivage was one of the few still recognizable buildings remaining on Biloxi's coast. In the weeks following Hurricane Katrina and in the wake of the catastrophic damage to the coast's casinos in the hurricane, the Mississippi state legislature changed its laws regarding the placement of casinos. Instead of having to be on barges on the water, casinos may now be built on land as long as they are within of the shore. In November 2006, the resort opened a new Tom Fazio-designed championship golf course named Fallen Oak. In 2009 there were news reports that Beau Rivage's parent company MGM Mirage had hired investment firm Morgan Stanley to assist the company in finding possible buyers for the Biloxi property and its cousin the MGM Grand Detroit. The Beau Rivage and MGM Grand Detroit were considered to be MGM Mirage's top performing properties and if sold could fetch a total of $1–$2 billion which then would be used to lower MGM Mirage's debt load. In the event, no sale happened. Ownership of the Beau Rivage, along with many other MGM properties, was transferred to MGM Growth Properties in 2016, while MGM Resorts continued to operate it under a lease agreement. Vici Properties acquired MGM Growth, including the Beau Rivage, in 2022. See also List of tallest buildings by U.S. state List of integrated resorts
Carlos Palanca (born 1844)	[ "1844 births", "1901 deaths", "Filipino people of Chinese descent", "People from Xiamen", "19th-century Filipino businesspeople", "Filipino diplomats", "19th-century Chinese diplomats", "Chinese emigrants to the Philippines", "Businesspeople from Fujian", "Chinese businesspeople" ]	1,606	13,436	Carlos Palanca y Lim (Tan Quien Sien) (1844–1901) (Hokkien ), also known as Tan Chuey Leong (Hokkien ) or Tan Chueco (Hokkien ), was a late 19th century local Sangley Chinese community leader, government official, diplomat, legal mediator, lawyer and businessman in the Philippines then part of the Spanish East indies of the Spanish Empire. During the latter part of the Spanish colonial era in the islands he served three times (1875-1877, 1885, and 1894) as the Gobernadorcillo de los Sangleyes or Capitan Chino (Chinese Captain) or cabecilla (leader) in Binondo, Manila and two times as interim headman. He was also the first acting consul general of Qing China to Spanish Philippines from July 28, 1898 to January 1899. Early life Carlos Palanca y Lim was born on June 6, 1844, named in Hokkien (later romanized in Spanish Philippines as "Tan Quien Sien") in Tong'an (), Amoy, Fukien, Qing China. His mother was named Lim Chia. He first came to the Philippines in 1856 when he was twelve years old as an apprentice in a draper business by his relative. Initially he was poor and uneducated, but he later taught himself how to read and write, such as Spanish and Classical Chinese. Later, he converted to Roman Catholicism in the 1860s and adopted his non-Chinese name from an influential padrino (godfather), Spanish Diplomat and Field Marshal Carlos Palanca y Gutiérrez of the Spanish colonial army. Years later, he would become a successful businessman and an established political figure in the local Chinese community of Binondo, Manila. He lived at a house and owned a store in Calle Rosario (modern Quintin Paredes St.) of Binondo, Manila. In nearby Calle San Fernando (modern San Fernando St.), he would report to work as Gobernadorcillo de los Sangleyes or Capitan Chino in the Tribunal de los Sangleyes (Chinese Tribunal), the Communidad de Chinos, and the Gremio de Chinos (Chinese Guild). Carlos Palanca had one son, Engracio Palanca Tan Kang () and a daughter, Alejandra Palanca, who would later marry Emiliano Boncan, scion of another powerful Hokkien merchant family, who in turn intermarried with leading mestizo families, like the Limjaps. As an affluent businessman and Chinese community leader, he along with Lim Ong donated land for the Manila Chinese Cemetery and financed the construction of the Chong Hock Tong Temple built in 1878 there, the oldest surviving Chinese temple in Manila, Philippines, with syncretic features of Buddhism, Taoism, ancestral veneration, and Christianity. During the late 19th century, Chinese migrants to the Philippines were required to gain appropriate documentation from the Spanish consulate in Amoy (Xiamen) first before settling in the Philippines. As early as the 1880s, Carlos along with other Chinese cabecillas (community leaders) petitioned Beijing under Qing China and the Spanish authorities of the Philippines to set up a Qing consulate in Manila instead, especially for the protection of the economic and physical well-being of Chinese migrants and expatriates. At some point, he would later also have Carlos Palanca Tan Guin Lay as a protégé. In 1891, Carlos Palanca along with his son, Engracio, and Mariano Velasco Chua Cheng-co financed the establishment of the Chinese General Hospital, the oldest hospital for the Chinese community in the Philippines. It was also in this same year that José Rizal's second novel, El Filibusterismo (1891), was released, where it describes a certain character known as Quiroga the Chinaman. In Rizal's Chinese Overcoat, Alfonso Ang asserts that the character Quiroga in José Rizal's novel El Filibusterismo was based on Palanca. Wilson (2004) also asserts this, that Rizal portrayed the character of Quiroga the Chinaman as a tacky and duplicitous opportunist, as a form of critique on Carlos Palanca's political and economic influence. Quiroga is portrayed just like Carlos Palanca where he is dressed as a mandarin bureaucrat with a blue-tasseled cap, advocating to open a Chinese consulate in Manila with himself as consul general. Later in 1898, Carlos Palanca's son, Engracio, would later serve as the first official consul general of Qing China to Spanish Philippines, appointed on July 28, 1898 and approved for service in September 1898, and arriving by January 1899, due to some delays on approval by the changing acting Spanish Governor-Generals during the Philippine Revolution, which from July 28, 1898 to January 1899, Carlos Palanca Tan Quien Sien acted instead as the de-facto acting consul general. His son's tenure would be cut short though due to the change in political control from the Spanish authorities to the Americans after the Philippine Revolution on 1899 and complaints to the American authorities from Cantonese, British, and German merchants that Carlos had previously made enemies of. Also due to the recent death of Carlos' wife around 1899, his son decided to step down as consul-general by March 1899 to observe a period of mourning. By April 15, 1899 though, his son would instead help the Communidad de Chinos found the Anglo-Chinese School (modern-day Tiong Se Academy), the first and oldest Chinese Filipino school in the Philippines, offering foreign language, math, science, and the Confucian classics. Later, his son would instead act as the Chinese consul general in Havana, Cuba during its US military rule, but then would return again by 1900 in Manila to serve as interim consul during US military rule of the Philippines. Death Carlos Palanca y Lim (Tan Quien-Sien) would later pass away in September 1901 at the age of 57 years old, passing his role to other cabecillas (community leader). Legacy Carlos Palanca Tan Guin Lay, a successful influential Chinese Filipino businessman during the American colonial era, would ascribe him as his godfather using his name too and later started the La Tondeña Distillery, Inc. by 1902 in Manila, which later became part of San Miguel Corporation (SMC) and was renamed as Ginebra San Miguel in 2003. For Carlos Palanca (Tan Quien-Sien's) legacy, streets were named after him and a memorial and statue of himself were made displayed in the Manila Chinese Cemetery, primarily at the Chong Hock Tong Temple, in the same land he had donated for the cemetery and temple's founding.
Disposable income	[ "Personal taxes", "Household income", "Family economics", "National accounts" ]	872	8,884	Disposable income is total personal income minus current taxes on income. In national accounting, personal income minus personal current taxes equals disposable personal income or household disposable income. Subtracting personal outlays (which includes the major category of personal [or private] consumption expenditure) yields personal (or, private) savings, hence the income left after paying away all the taxes is referred to as disposable income. Restated, consumption expenditure plus savings equals disposable income after accounting for transfers such as payments to children in school or elderly parents' living and care arrangements. The marginal propensity to consume (MPC) is the fraction of a change in disposable income that is consumed. For example, if disposable income rises by $100, and $65 of that $100 is consumed, the MPC is 65%. Restated, the marginal propensity to save is 35%. For the purposes of calculating the amount of income subject to garnishments, United States' federal law defines disposable income as an individual's compensation (including salary, overtime, bonuses, commission, and paid leave) after the deduction of health insurance premiums and any amounts required to be deducted by law. Amounts required to be deducted by law include federal, state, and local taxes, state unemployment and disability taxes, social security taxes, and other garnishments or levies, but does not include such deductions as voluntary retirement contributions and transportation deductions. Those deductions would be made only after calculating the amount of the garnishment or levy. The definition of disposable income varies for the purpose of state and local garnishments and levies. The consumer leverage ratio is the expression of the ratio of total household debt to disposable income. Meanings of disposable income Disposable income can be understood as: National disposable income of a country: The national income minus current transfers (current taxes on income, wealth etc., social contributions, social benefits and other current transfers), plus current transfers receivable by resident units from the rest of the world. Disposable personal (or family/household) income: The income that individuals or households have for their spending. Discretionary income Discretionary income is disposable income (after-tax income), minus all payments that are necessary to meet current bills. It is total personal income after subtracting taxes and minimal survival expenses (such as food, medicine, rent or mortgage, utilities, insurance, transportation, property maintenance, child support, etc.) to maintain a certain standard of living. Expenses that persist with zero income are termed autonomous consumption. Discretionary income is the amount of an individual's income available for spending after the essentials have been taken care of: The term "disposable income" is often incorrectly used to denote discretionary income. For example, people commonly refer to disposable income as the amount of "play money" left to spend or save. In the national accounts The system of national accounts defined the concept of disposable income for all institutional sectors of the economy. For corporations it is equal to profit retained, and for the government it is equal to taxes + income received from public corporation. The sum of disposable income across all institutional sectors is called the national disposable income. See also List of countries by disposable income List of countries by GNI per capita growth
Medical underwriting	[ "Health insurance in the United States", "Actuarial science", "Life insurance", "Underwriting" ]	2,173	19,560	Medical underwriting is a health insurance term referring to the use of medical or health information in the evaluation of an applicant for coverage, typically for life or health insurance. As part of the underwriting process, an individual's health information may be used in making two decisions: whether to offer or deny coverage and what premium rate to set for the policy. The two most common methods of medical underwriting are known as moratorium underwriting, a relatively simple process, and full medical underwriting, a more in-depth analysis of a client's health information. The use of medical underwriting may be restricted by law in certain insurance markets. If allowed, the criteria used should be objective, clearly related to the likely cost of providing coverage, practical to administer, consistent with applicable law, and designed to protect the long-term viability of the insurance system. It is the process in which an underwriter considers the health conditions of the person who is applying for the insurance, keeping in mind certain factors like health condition, age, nature of work, and geographical zone. After looking at all the factors, an underwriter suggests whether a policy should be given to the person and at what price, or premium. Health insurance Underwriting is the process that a health insurer uses to weigh potential health risks in its pool of insured people against potential costs of providing coverage. To search the medical underwriting, an insurer asks people who apply for coverage (typically people applying for individual or family coverage) about pre-existing medical conditions. In most US states, insurance companies are allowed to ask questions about a person's medical history to decide whom to offer coverage, whom to deny and if additional charges should apply to individually-purchased coverage. While most discussions of medical underwriting in health insurance are about medical expense insurance, similar considerations apply for other forms of individually-purchased health insurance, such as disability income and longterm care insurance. Purpose From the insurers' point of view, medical underwriting is necessary to prevent people from purchasing health insurance coverage only when they are sick, pregnant or need medical care. Adverse selection is a system that attracts high-users and discourages low-users from participating. Proponents of underwriting believe that if given the ability to purchase coverage without regard for pre-existing medical conditions (no underwriting), people would wait to purchase health insurance until they got sick or needed medical care. Waiting to obtain health insurance coverage until one needs coverage then creates a pool of insureds with "high use," which then increases the premiums that insurance companies must charge to pay for the claims incurred. In turn, high premiums further discourage healthy people from obtaining coverage, particularly when they realize that they will be able to obtain coverage when they need medical care. Effects Proponents of medical underwriting thus argue that it ensures that individual health insurance premiums are kept as low as possible. Critics of medical underwriting believe that it unfairly prevents people with relatively minor and treatable pre-existing conditions from obtaining health insurance. Diseases that can make an individual uninsurable include serious conditions, such as arthritis, cancer, and heart disease but also such common ailments as acne, being 20 lb. over or under the ideal weight, and old sports injuries. An estimated 5 million of those without health insurance are considered "uninsurable" because of pre-existing conditions. One large industry survey, from 2004, found that roughly 13% of those who applied for individual health insurance were denied coverage after undergoing medical underwriting. Declination rates increased significantly with age, rising from 5% for individuals 18 and under to just under a third for individuals to 64. The same study found that among those who received offers for coverage, 76% received offers at standard rates 22% were quoted higher rates. The frequency of increased premiums also increased with age so for applicants over 40, roughly half were affected by medical underwriting, either in the form of denial or increased premiums. The study did not address how many applicants offered coverage at higher premiums decided to decline the policy. A study conducted by the Commonwealth Fund in 2001 found that, among those 19 to 64 who sought individual health insurance during the previous three years, the majority found it expensive, and less than a third ended up purchasing insurance. However, the study did not distinguish between consumers who were quoted increased rates by medical underwriting and those who qualified for standard or preferred premiums. Measuring the percentage of applicants who were denied coverage does not capture any effect that occurs before an application is submitted. If individuals with serious health conditions never apply because they expect that they will be denied coverage, they will not show up in the declination rate. Conversely, if they apply with multiple insurers in hopes of finding one that will issue them a policy, they will be overrepresented in the declination rate. The 2001 Commonwealth Fund study found that a majority of adults reported that it was at least somewhat difficult to find an affordable health insurance policy. Among adults over 30, the percentage reporting difficulty did not vary significantly by age. Those with health problems were somewhat more likely to report having difficulty obtaining affordable health insurance (77% versus 64% of those in good health). Some American states have made medical underwriting illegal as a prerequisite for health coverage, which means anyone who asks for health insurance and pays for it will get it. States that have outlawed medical underwriting include New York, New Jersey, Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont, which also have the highest premiums for individual health insurance. Renewals Prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, health insurance was primarily regulated by the states. Some states mandated individual health insurance policies as "guaranteed renewable:" once a policy had been issued, the policyholder could keep it forever regardless of medical conditions as long as the required premiums were paid. There had been instances in which insurers increased premiums at annual renewals based on an individual's claim history or changes in their health status. That was possible when coverage was marketed to individuals by discretionary group trusts, escaping some states' rules governing the individual health insurance market. The insurer that was first identified by The Wall Street Journal as reunderwriting policyholders has since publicly stated it will discontinue the practice. However, in most cases, an insurer's ability to "re-underwrite" an existing guaranteed renewable policy is limited by contract provisions and the Affordable Care Act (previously by state law). Even so, premiums fluctuated significantly for existing policies if the average health of the policyholders with a particular product deteriorated, as often happened when rising premiums drove healthier individuals (who were able to buy other policies on more favorable terms) out of the product, leaving those who were relatively less healthy. One factor that drove that is the increase in costs, as individuals who initially pass underwriting develop health problems. In general, claim costs rose significantly over the first five years that an individual health insurance policy is in force. Several solutions were proposed for the "closed block" problem, including requiring insurers to "pre-fund" for cost increases over the lifetime of a product, providing cross-subsidies between blocks of products by pooling products across durations, providing cross-subsidies by placing limits on the allowed variation in premiums between products, or creating state-sponsored risk pools for individuals trapped in a closed block. The American Academy of Actuaries performed a study of the proposed solutions for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and modeled the likely impact of each. All of the solutions would increase the initial cost of a new policy and reduce cost increases over time. Rescissions Insurers have the right to cancel individually purchased insurance if the insurer finds that the applicant provided incomplete or inaccurate information on the application, thereby affecting the medical underwriting process. The practice, called rescission, protects insurers from intentional fraud and affects only about 1% of individual policyholders but appears to be on the increase. Rescission practices by several large insurers have attracted media attention, class-action lawsuits, and regulatory attention in several states. In 2007, California passed legislation to tighten the rules governing rescissions. In December 2007, a California appeals court ruled that a health insurer could not rescind coverage without showing that either the policyholder willfully misrepresented health or that the insurer had investigated the application before issuing coverage. Life insurance underwriting A distinction between underwriting of individually purchased life insurance and the underwriting of health insurance is generally recognized in US state-specific regulation of insurance. The general legal posture is for states to view life insurance as less of a necessity than health coverage. Moratorium underwriting Moratorium underwriting is an alternative method of health insurance which primarily allows for applicants to receive cover without disclosing their entire medical history. Instead, individuals will typically have any pre-existing medical conditions excluded if those have developed within the past five years. If related symptoms occur within a set period of time, then this will affect the final policy. Moratorium underwriting is, therefore, best suited for healthy individuals who don't foresee any medical difficulties developing. Full medical underwriting (FMU) Full medical underwriting requires that applicants disclose their entire medical histories to the insurer. This then allows the insurer to provide the applicants with lists of specific exclusions based on their disclosed pre-existing medical conditions. See also Body mass index (BMI) Rohrer's index Underwriting, Medical
Jeronis de Soysa	[ "Gate Mudaliyars", "Sri Lankan planters", "Sri Lankan bankers", "Sri Lankan philanthropists", "Sinhalese people", "Sri Lankan medical doctors", "Sri Lankan educational theorists", "Sri Lankan businesspeople", "Planters from British Ceylon", "Sri Lankan Christians", "Sri Lankan Buddhists", "Sri Lankan farmers", "De Soysa family", "Ayurveda", "1797 births", "1860 deaths", "People from Moratuwa", "People from Kandy", "Businesspeople from Colombo", "19th-century philanthropists", "19th-century British businesspeople" ]	2,425	21,132	Gate Mudaliyar Jeronis de Soysa (19 April 1797 – 28 May 1862) was a pioneering Ceylonese entrepreneur and philanthropist. He was a pioneer coffee planter and an industrialist who became the wealthiest Ceylonese of the 19th century by establishing the largest native commercial enterprise of the era. He was instrumental in the establishment of the first Ceylonese bank and is often referred to as a father of private enterprise in British Ceylon. He was the first Mudaliyar to be elevated in recognition of his philanthropy. Early life Jeronis de Soysa was born on 19 April 1797 at Moratuwa. He was the second son of Warusahennadige Joseph Soysa (Jose Rala), an Ayurveda practitioner and Kurukulasuriya Senadige Francisca Peiris. He had seven brothers and three sisters and was affectionately known as Babaseñor. Both his father and grandfather Bastian Soysa and earlier ancestors; Don Francisco, Juan and Manual Soysa Muhandiram were salt and grain merchants having interests in the transportation, boat building and the agricultural sectors. Their ancestor was the lay custodian of the Devinuwara Temple, Matara at the time of its destruction by the Portuguese in 1587. De Soysa's parents originally wanted him to become a Buddhist monk and sent him to the Palliyagodella Temple Rawatawatta Moratuwa for studies. He excelled in the Ayurvedic system of medicine, the Sinhala language and Astrology. He became an Ayurvedic practitioner and possessed a charming personality. De Soysa married Francesca Coorey, daughter of Mututantrige Bastian Cooray and Kurukulasuriya Senadige Justina Pieris in 1833. Mututantrige Sebastian Coorey, an ancestor of Francesca had built the Rawatawatte Dutch Chapel in 1675. Trade and Industry De Soysa inherited a small fortune from his uncles Daniel Peiris and Hendrick Peiris III, who were ship owners with Yatra building yards at Oruwella, Panadura and Grandpass, Colombo. He invested this in expanding the trading network between the Maritime and Kandyan Provinces with the assistance of his brothers. In 1820 he established himself as a general merchant in Kandy, becoming one of the first Sinhalese to do so. He introduced cart transportation between the seaports and the plantations which had till then been carried out on foot and was able to dominate the industry till the building of the railway. Meanwhile, de Soysa also became famous as Babasingha Vedamahatmaya, a sought-after Ayurvedic physician in Kandy and was reputed to have saved the lives of numerous plantation Tamils. De Soysa's business prospered and he received several government supply contracts, including one that involved in the construction of the Colombo-Kandy road. These investments enabled him to accumulate the large capital necessary to rent the franchising for the supply of arrack. Later, he curtailed his investment in the distillery and tavern industry. In 1836 de Soysa bid for the Diyatalawa kanda 'Kings Garden-Rajmal Uyana' in Hanguranketha (against British planters such as George Bird) at the request of the administrative officer of the region that had been appointed by king Sri Vikrama Rajasinha. This was an overgrown coffee (flower) estate previously used by the Kandyan kings as a country retreat. He also purchased many of the cinnamon estates that were previously owned by the Dutch administration in Moratuwa, Ratmalana, Dambuwa and Katunayake, citronella plantations in Ahangama and coconut plantations throughout the island. His land holdings in Colombo consisted of several estates that stretched between Galle Face and Panadura. The De Soysa and Peiris family established the first Ceylonese-owned bank, the Bank of Kandy at Dalada Weediya and Pettah, Colombo in 1839 & 1860, at a time when European owned banks were reluctant to extend credit to the Ceylonese and the high interest rates of the Nattukkottai Chettiars. De Soysa was also reputed for his treatment of employees and had relied to a greater extent on the low country population. He played a significant role in improving agriculture and the infrastructure in the Kandyan province and the coastal districts. Agriculture and infrastructure De Soya's agricultural properties in the up-country were mostly in the Hanguranketha, Haragama and Talatuoya areas which were then thick jungle with no roads. He took the lead and with an improvised measuring stick demarcated the areas to be cleared for road and tank building. He had a network of roads built and supplemented the village infrastructure by building reservoirs for irrigating paddy fields and chena cultivations. The large scale road building projects of de Soysa include the road from Mailapitiya to Hanguranketha and Haragama and the road from Haragama to Kolongaha and Maha Oya in the Central Province. He also had the Polgasowita-Mattegoda-Delgahakanda roads of Salpiti Korale constructed. In 1839 he constructed the road from Galle road to Kospalankissa and several roads in Chilaw district. The roads from Telawela to Katubedda and Mampe, the Angulana road to Kuda-Kalapuwa and the Uyana road were also constructed in the Western Province. De Soysa was also an avid builder of tanks and reservoirs. In 1848 he rebuilt the ancient Malulla tank (Maloluwawe) at Hanguranketa. The Gonagama, Talatuoya, Naranvila, Kandewela and Gonawatte tanks and dams of the Central Province and the Moratuwa-Ratmalana tank in his home town are noteworthy. He also facilitated irrigation works at Kandewela and gifted land to the poor residents of Gonagama and Hanguranketa for cultivation. De Soysa also built the Tibotuwawewatte Ambalama in Haragama and the sprawling rest house and gardens at Moratuwa for public use. As a result of the medical and financial assistance given to the landslide victims of Kadugannawa, de Soysa's caravans were safeguarded by Saradiel, the Robin Hood of Ceylon. De Soysa had also met Puran Appu, a hero of the Matale Rebellion, who had on occasion disguised himself as a carter in spying missions to Kandy. Religious and educational work On his land stood the ancient temple; Pothgul Viharaya of Hanguranketha, which was in a state of collapse. After rebuilding and renovating the temple he nominated the Ven. Attadassi Thero as its Chief Incumbent and gifted the surrounding lands to the Temple. De Soysa also built a Chaitya in Moratuwa to enshrine the ashes of his teacher Ven. Meddegama Thero. He built and financed a free primary school and facilitated an Oriental Library in Hanguranketa. He empowered the traditional Gam Sabhas, established a Legal Aid Society, a library and an association for social reform (Sadarana Sarana Samagama) in Moratuwa. Towards the end of his life, de Soysa embraced Christianity in appreciation of the blessings and recognition that had been bestowed on him. To commemorate this event the Mudaliyar decided to build the Holy Emmanuel Church. On 27 December 1857, Bishop James Chapman laid the cornerstone of the church, designed by Thomas Skinner. On 27 December 1860, the Holy Emmanuel Church was consecrated by Dr. James Chapman, the first Bishop of Colombo and the event was attended by the Governor Charles Justin MacCarthy. His brother Mudaliyer Susew de Soysa (1809-1881) gifted an estate opposite the Mount Lavinia Hotel for its maintenance and a part of it was later transferred to relocate S. Thomas' College. Death Jeronis de Soysa Dharmagunawardane Vipulajayasuriya Karunaratne Dissanayake died at the age of 65 on 28 May 1862. He was buried in the Holy Emmanuel Church, engraved as per his wishes using the Sinhala script. Legacy De Soysa, often referred to as a father of private enterprise was the pioneer native entrepreneur, philanthropist and social reformer who played the role of a path-finder. He died, leaving Charles de Soysa, aged 26, entrusted with the management of an estate worth millions. His infrastructure and tank building projects were commendable, considering the fact that it came after the abolition of the traditional rajakriya system of free compulsory labour and the devastation caused following the Kandyan convention. In 1853, de Soysa was appointed Gate Mudaliyar by the Governor George William Anderson. He was the first native headman to be appointed for public benefactions as opposed to government service. See also Coffee production in Sri Lanka Jeronis
Alison Evans	[ "Living people", "Alumni of the University of Sussex", "Academics of the University of Sussex", "World Bank people", "British economists", "British women economists", "Year of birth missing (living people)", "Place of birth missing (living people)", "British officials of the United Nations" ]	276	2,466	Alison Evans is a British economist. She is director general of Independent Evaluation Group at the World Bank Group since January 2019. Before her current role, Evans was the Chief Commissioner of the UK's Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) based in London, England, where she led the evolution of that organization's scrutiny mandate. Prior to joining ICAI, she was executive director of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) in the United Kingdom. For six years, Evans was a senior economist at the World Bank, and a member of the team producing the World Development Report 1997, as well as a senior evaluation specialist in the World Bank Operations Evaluation Department (former name for the Independent Evaluation Group). She earned a Ph.D. in development studies from the University of Sussex and a master's degree in economics and politics from the University of Cambridge. Evans has served as a trustee on multiple boards, including Oxford Policy Management, BBC Media Action, The Christian Michelsen Institute (CMI), The Baring Foundation and Social Finance UK.
Saudi Investment Company	[ "Bin Laden family", "Conglomerate companies of Saudi Arabia", "Companies based in Geneva", "Financial services companies established in 1980", "Swiss companies established in 1980", "Saudi Arabian companies established in 1980" ]	309	2,716	The Saudi Investment Company (SICO), headquartered Geneva, Switzerland, and founded on May 19, 1980, represents the worldwide interests of the Saudi Binladin Group. Overview The Geneva-based SICO is the parent house for the group's international financial activities and investments, with branches in London and Curaçao. The Curaçao branch, established in 1984, manages the bin Laden group's partnership with the American Daniels Realty Corporation (Duspic), part of the Fluor Corporation conglomerate. It is partly through the bin Ladens' influence that the Fluor group was one of the major recipients of reconstruction contracts in Kuwait. Personnel The company is chaired by Yeslam bin Laden, a half-brother of the more infamous Osama bin Laden. Board members include Beatrice Dufour (a sister-in-law of Yeslam), the noted Swiss lawyer Baudoin Dunant, Charles Rochat and Tilouine el Hanafi. Included among SICO's more notable business partners is the Pakistani businessman Akberali Moawalla, who, on December 5, 2001, came under the scrutiny of French investigative authorities for his role in a €241 million transfer made to Pakistan in 2000 from an account belonging to a company called Cambridge, an SBG subsidiary, that was opened at Deutsche Bank in Geneva, according to the Le Monde. U.S. authorities were aware of the existence of those funds, which they believe were transferred into an account belonging jointly to Osama bin Laden and someone of Pakistani nationality, according to the French paper.
Startup.com	[ "2001 films", "American business films", "American documentary films", "Artisan Entertainment films", "Documentary films about business", "Documentary films about the Internet", "2001 documentary films", "2001 independent films", "Dot-com bubble", "Films directed by Jehane Noujaim", "2000s English-language films", "2000s American films", "Films about companies", "English-language documentary films", "English-language independent films", "Films directed by Chris Hegedus" ]	760	6,964	Startup.com is a 2001 American documentary film directed by Jehane Noujaim and Chris Hegedus. D. A. Pennebaker served as a producer on the film. It follows the dot-com start-up govWorks.com, which raised $60 million in funding from Hearst Interactive Media, KKR, the New York Investment Fund, and Sapient. The startup did not survive, but it became a reference for lessons learned, as it was the subject of a 2001 documentary that follows govWorks founders Kaleil Isaza Tuzman and Tom Herman from 1999 to 2000, as the Internet bubble was bursting. The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 21, 2001. It was released on May 11, 2001, by Artisan Entertainment. Production The film was produced by D. A. Pennebaker, and was directed by Chris Hegedus and Jehane Noujaim. Noujaim had been Kaleil Tuzman's Harvard classmate and began filming Tuzman as he quit his job at Goldman Sachs, to begin govWorks with his high school friend Tom Herman. Noujaim contacted Hegedus and Pennebaker for help in financing the project. The film was distributed by Artisan Entertainment (which was later acquired by Lions Gate Entertainment). The film was shot in digital video. The filmmakers shot for over two years, and were editing the more than 400 hours of video and film right up to their Sundance Film Festival premiere in early 2001. They re-edited the last few minutes of the film just prior to its May 2001 theatrical release. Since the film's release, Herman and Tuzman worked together again at Recognition Group and JumpTV. Critical response Startup.com received positive reviews from film critics. On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 93% approval rating, based on 94 reviews, with an average rating of 7.55/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Startup.com is more than just a look at the rise and fall of the new economy. At its center is a friendship being tested to the limit, and that's what makes it worth viewing." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 75 out of 100, based on reviews from 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". David Rooney of Variety called it a "timely, topical film, which goes beyond its potentially dry diet of facts to incorporate the juicy human drama of Machiavellian manipulations, ambition, torn loyalties and crushing betrayal." See also e-Dreams Startup company Venture capital
Xuxa	[ "Xuxa", "1963 births", "Living people", "People from Santa Rosa, Rio Grande do Sul", "Brazilian people of German descent", "Brazilian people of Italian descent", "Brazilian people of Venetian descent", "Brazilian people of Portuguese descent", "Brazilian people of Polish descent", "Brazilian people of Swiss descent", "Brazilian female models", "Brazilian film actresses", "Brazilian film producers", "Brazilian women film producers", "Brazilian women songwriters", "Brazilian Latin pop singers", "Brazilian television actresses", "Brazilian television presenters", "Brazilian television show creators", "Brazilian television talk show hosts", "Brazilian women philanthropists", "Brazilian children's television presenters", "Brazilian children's musicians", "Children's songwriters", "Latin Grammy Award winners", "Latin pop singers", "Som Livre artists", "Portuguese-language singers of Brazil", "Spanish-language singers of Brazil", "English-language singers from Brazil", "20th-century Brazilian actresses", "21st-century Brazilian actresses", "20th-century Brazilian businesspeople", "21st-century Brazilian businesspeople", "20th-century Brazilian women singers", "20th-century Brazilian singers", "21st-century Brazilian women singers", "21st-century Brazilian singers", "Brazilian women television presenters", "Brazilian philanthropists", "Pseudonymous television presenters", "21st-century Roman Catholics", "Women in Latin music", "Brazilian Roman Catholics" ]	10,472	111,403	Maria da Graça Xuxa Meneghel ( , ; born Maria da Graça Meneghel on 27 March 1963) is a Brazilian TV host, actress, singer, and businesswoman. Nicknamed "The Queen of Children", Xuxa built the largest Latin and South American children's entertainment empire. In the early 1990s, she presented television programs in Brazil, Argentina, Spain and the United States simultaneously, reaching around 20 million viewers daily. According to different sources, the singer's sales range between 30 and 50 million copies. However, in 2025, the record label Som Livre, with which the artist recorded almost all of her albums, gave her an award for 28 million copies sold in her career and 10 billion streams to date. Her net worth was estimated at US$100 million in the early 1990s. Also successful as a businesswoman, she has the highest net worth of any Brazilian female entertainer, estimated at US$400 million. Early life and education Maria da Graça Meneghel was born in Santa Rosa, Rio Grande do Sul, to Alda () and Luís Floriano Meneghel. Xuxa is of Italian and Polish descent by paternal side and of German, Swiss and Portuguese descent by maternal side. Her paternal great-grandfather emigrated to Brazil from the northern Italian town of Imer, in the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, in the end of the 19th century. In 2013, Xuxa obtained Italian citizenship by jus sanguinis. During Xuxa's birth, her father was told that both mother and child were at risk. He opted to save his wife, and prayed to Our Lady of Graces, promising to name his daughter after the Blessed Virgin Mary if all went well. Although she was named for the Virgin as promised, Xuxa, the youngest member of the Meneghel family, received her famous nickname from her brother, Bladimir. When their mother arrived home with the baby, she said to him: "Look at the baby that I bought to play with you," he replied: "I know, it's my Xuxa." The nickname stuck, though it was not until 1988 that she officially changed her name to Maria da Graça Xuxa Meneghel. Xuxa spent her early years in her hometown Santa Rosa. When she was seven, she and her family moved to Rio de Janeiro where they lived in the Bento Ribeiro neighborhood. At 15 years old, she was discovered by a modeling agency, and began her professional career as a model at 16. During this time period Xuxa modeled in Brazil and the United States for both fashion and men's magazines, such as Playboy, and began an affair with Brazilian retired footballer Pelé. In 1984, she was hired as a model by Ford Models. Career 1983–1986: A beginning by chance at Rede Manchete Xuxa started a career in television through an offer to host a children's program, Clube da Criança in the newly created Rede Manchete which was the sixth broadcaster to have national reach in Brazil. In this period, she worked as a model during the week in New York City and taped her show during the weekends in Rio de Janeiro. The program's reach gradually increased and she began to receive proposals from other broadcasters, until in 1986, she ended up accepting one made by Rede Globo de Televisão to present a new children's program that would bear her name. 1986–1992: Xou da Xuxa and breakthrough On 30 June 1986, Xou da Xuxa debuted on TV Globo. It aired in the mornings from Monday to Saturday until its final episode on 31 December 1992, after some 2,000 episodes. Xuxa would usually enter on a pink ship, which awakened in the children the dream of flying beside her. Children from all over Brazil ran to have breakfast with the song "Quem Qué Pão?" She would end the show with the famous "Xuxa kiss", where she would put on bright lipstick and kiss the children onstage with her and children in the audience on the cheek, leaving a mark. In addition to entertainment, she also aired positive messages to the public, such as "Want, Power and Reach!", "Believe in Dreams" and "Drugs do Bad". In Christmas 1986, Xuxa received her eighth platinum record, a prize awarded to every 250,000 copies sold. The album Xou da Xuxa, from the record company Som Livre, had sold more than 2.6 million copies, achieving by then the South American record for a single album. Xuxa sold more than Brazilian singer Roberto Carlos that year. In the following years, the presenter still released six more albums of the series, such as Xou da Xuxa 2 and 3, which established themselves as the best-selling albums in Brazil, with 3.2 and 5 million copies sold, respectively, the latter being the best-selling album in Brazil. With the recorded songs, it left in tours by Brazil that were seen by millions of people. In 1987, the French newspaper Libération included Xuxa in the list of 10 women of prominence on the planet, next to the British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. In the same period, Xuxa began a relationship with the Brazilian Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna, who died in 1994. In parallel to the Xou da Xuxa, the presenter commanded Bobeou Dançou, between 9 July and 31 December 1989, on Sunday afternoons of TV Globo. Initially created as Xou of Xuxa frame, it was so successful that the station decided to launch it as an independent program aimed at the adolescent public. The Bobeou Dançou was a program of rumba based on riddles with two teams formed by adolescents between 13 and 17 years disputed the first place of the competition. In 1990, the film Lua de Cristal, Xuxa's biggest box office hit, sold 4,178 million tickets and ranked 21st in the ranking of most-watched national films from 1970 to 2011 according to Ancine (Agência Nacional do Cinema). Xuxa accumulated the highest-grossing of Brazilian cinema, with more than 37 million people watched her films. She was also chosen by the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences of the United States to deliver the International Emmy Awards in the category of best children's program and present one of their songs in the awards party. In 1991, Xuxa appeared in 37th place for Forbes among the 40 richest celebrities of that year, with a turnover of $19 million. Xuxa was the first Brazilian to join the list. The Paradão da Xuxa emerged as an independent program after the success of the picture of the same name presented in Xou of Xuxa. The program was aired between 25 April and 26 December 1992 on Saturday mornings of TV Globo, replacing Xou of Xuxa on that day. The program was three hours long, and different singers and musical groups performed on the show. The musical selection went from the samba to the rock, going through the sertanejo music. On the last Saturday of each month, Super Paradão (Vacation Specials) was shown, highlighting the most successful songs of the period. 1991–1993: International career After reaching success with her record sales in her home country, her popularity surpassed the Brazilian market and released her first Spanish-language album, Xuxa 1, which performed well in the Argentine market. Xuxa widened her appeal among Spanish-speaking audiences when she recorded an adapted version for Spanish-speaking markets of Xou da Xuxa, called El Show de Xuxa. The Los Angeles Times reported in 1992 that "more than 20 million Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking children watched El Show de Xuxa in 16 countries of Latin America every day, as well as Univision in the United States. The first two seasons of the show, were produced by main Argentine TV channel Telefé while the third season, held in 1993, was produced independently in Buenos Aires and was sold to El Trece. Her last Spanish speaking show aired in Latin America on 31 December 1993. The New York Times highlighted her success in Brazil and Argentina in an article by correspondent James Brooke. The publication highlighted the record sales of albums of the singer, which in 1990 reached 12 million copies, and its success in the Hispanic market, where it reached 300,000 copies with their first album in Spanish. At the time, she was called by New York magazine as "Latin American Madonna". In 1992, the Los Angeles Times said that Xuxa was "probably better known to most Latin American pre-adolescents than Michael Jackson." In 1992, taping programs in Brazil and Argentina, Xuxa was invited to host the program Xuxa Park in Spain. Released by Telecinco channel, the game show was shown on Sundays, with high ratings, and lasted two years. Her Xuxa Park album sold well for 8 weeks and was certified gold. Billboard magazine published in September 1992, that the album Xuxa 2 was at the top of the Spanish charts, and appeared in position 77 of the 100 most sold albums in the world. The biggest hits on this disc were: Loquita Por Ti (#29 on the billboard chart), Luna de Cristal (#35 on the billboard chart) and Chindolele (#10 on the billboard chart). The album reached the fifth position in the U.S. Billboard Top Latin Albums of 1991. In 1992, People magazine chose Xuxa as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. In 1993, Xuxa hosted an English-language series in the United States titled Xuxa (which was produced by MTM Enterprises). Broadcast by a pool of 100 stations and with an average of 3 million viewers per episode, significant numbers, Xuxa lasted only one season on The Family Channel (renamed Freeform in 2018), remaining on the air between 1993 and 1996, including reruns. It was initially broadcast by 124 stations across the country. The shows were produced on Sound Stage 36 at CBS Television City in Los Angeles. Sixty-five episodes were taped for the first season of the show. Taping of the episodes was done in a 5-week period in the summer of 1993. The shows were broadcast Monday through Friday, generally in the early morning or mid-afternoon. All 65 episodes were broadcast during the initial 13 weeks before there was a repeat. Helping Xuxa on the show were the Pixies (three U.S. "Paquitas" plus one Brazilian Paquita), the Mellizas (uncredited), Jelly, Jam, and ten "child wranglers" for 150 kids on the set. Starting in September 1994, Xuxa began airing on The Family Channel cable network, at 8:00 am ET/PT. They reprised original episodes on a new children's block until 19 February 1996 when Xuxa stopped airing on The Family Channel. The show was sold to other countries including Japan, Israel, Russia, Australia, Romania and some Arab states. Her international ambitions apparently ended after the grueling taping schedule for her American show. She was hospitalized for several days due to exhaustion, and decided to give up her international career. In the U.S., Sony Wonder released two of her videos and a record that includes English translations of some of her most successful songs in Portuguese and Spanish. 1994–2000: Weekend shows After some serious health problems due to an overload of work, Xuxa decided to return to work exclusively in the Brazilian market. The presenter returned to her children's audience with Xuxa Park, the Brazilian version of a project of the same name that commanded in Spain. Some elements of the Xou da Xuxa remained, others were modified or completely removed, but still present. The program also directed by Marlene Mattos and gathered games, specials and musical attractions was exhibited between 4 June 1994 and 6 January 2001 on Saturday mornings of TV Globo. The show was canceled abruptly due to a fire that occurred on 11 January 2001 in the recording of its carnival special. In parallel to Xuxa Park, Xuxa hosted Xuxa Hits between 8 January and 16 April 1995 on Sunday afternoons on TV Globo. The program came as a picture of Xuxa Park, but became an independent program due to its great success. In attraction, Xuxa received several musical attractions like bands, DJs and singers. After its end, the program returned to be only a painting of the Xuxa Park. Inspired by Xuxa Hits, the Planeta Xuxa was created, and premiered on 5 April 1997. Initially, Planeta Xuxa was shown on TV Globo's Saturday afternoons, so Xuxa presented two shows simultaneously on the same day, as Xuxa Park occupied the broadcasters' mornings. From 19 April 1998, the program began to be presented on Sunday afternoons due to the 1998 World Cup, remaining on Sundays until its end in 2002. Planeta Xuxa was focused on the performances of musicians and bands. The program had the format of a discoteque, had the participation of the public and received famous guests. The attraction came to an end on 28 July 2002, due to Xuxa's desire to return to children's television and the end of the partnership with director Marlene Mattos. 2001–2014: Xuxa no Mundo da Imaginação and TV Xuxa As a mother, Xuxa noticed a shortage of videos for small children. In 2001, she designed the Só Para Baixinhos audiovisual and the CD and DVD set. The album Só Para Baixinhos 2 received worldwide recognition and won the 2002 Latin Grammy Award for Best Latin Children's Album category. With the success of the Xuxa project for Baixinhos, which was aimed at children 0–10 years old, the presenter had the desire to create a program in this educational mold, and on 28 October 2002 she debuted Xuxa no Mundo da Imaginação. The show was broadcast on Monday mornings of TV Globo, marking the return of the presenter the broad daily of the station after the end of Xou da Xuxa. The attraction, about 40 minutes long, was divided into four blocks and had 32 frames displayed alternately throughout the week. Through computer graphics capabilities, Xuxa appeared seated on a globe with a blue background filled with white clouds, and featured 14 pictures that blended entertainment and didactic elements. After many reformulations to reverse the low audience, the program came to an end on 31 December 2004. In 2003, Xuxa was nominated again to Grammy for Xuxa Só Para Baixinhos 3 and took the second trophy in the same category. On 30 June 2003, she inaugurated an amusement park with her name. Mundo de Xuxa, located in São Paulo, in an area of 12,000 square meters, was the largest indoor amusement park in Latin America and has more than 18 attractions. The Mundo do Xuxa is part of the group of 3 amusement parks that most invoice in Brazil, together the 3 parks made about R$220 million per year. In 2004, for the third consecutive time, she competed with the video Xuxa Só Para Baixinhos 4 in the same category. The 5th edition, Xuxa Circus, became a huge-selling success and was transformed into a show that dragged crowds into theaters. In 2005, the Xuxa Festa, promoted a remix of old hits. The project pleased both the children and the parents who grew up following her career. In 2012, Xuxa is again present in the Latin Grammy as the only Brazilian in the Best Children's Album category, with XSPB 11. This is already the fifth indication of the Xuxa Só Para Baixinhos series. After successive audience defeats with Xuxa no Mundo da Imaginação, TV Globo reformulated again the attraction commanded by Xuxa that changed its name and age group and on 4 April 2005, it premiered TV Xuxa. The program had two distinct phases and the first was broadcast on Monday morning to the children's audience in a mix of play, dramaturgy, competition, cartoons and musical numbers presentation. The name of the program was an allusion to the fictional TV Xuxa, a television station with several attractions. After many changes for not being able to keep the station in the isolated leadership, the program no longer aired on 31 December 2007. With the success of XSPB, Xuxa released in Argentina, in 2005, the Xuxa audiovisual Solamente para Bajitos. In parallel to TV Xuxa, the presenter commanded Conexão Xuxa between 2 December 2007 and 11 January 2008. The program had four teams formed by three people (one athlete, one personality and one teenager). Together, they faced various kinds of physical evidence and general knowledge in beautiful settings in the country. The program lasted three stages. The teams were divided by colors: yellow, green, blue and orange. The four teams disputed an X of gold, that was worth three points; an X of silver, worth two; or a bronze X, which was worth one point. In all, there were three stages, displayed in seven editions. The two winners of the first stage and the two winners of the second disputed the final of the program. Vencia the group that obtains more points throughout the competition. TV Xuxa returned to TV Globo grid on 10 May 2008, totally refurbished, aimed at the whole family. With new format and schedule, and different attractions, it became a weekly auditorium program, screened on Saturdays at 10 am. The show ceased to show cartoons, invested in jokes, and Xuxa went on to receive her guests on a stage designed for interviews and musical numbers. In 2009 Xuxa released the film Xuxa em O Mistério de Feiurinha, telling what happens to the princesses after the "Happily Ever After". The film starred Sasha Meneghel in theaters and featured the participation of Hebe Camargo, Luciano Szafir, Luciano Huck, Angelica and others. The film took more than 1,300,000 people to the movies and was released in Brazil, the United States and Angola. In the musical career, Xuxa left to Som Livre, signing with Sony Music. It is estimated that the contract value was R$10 million. Xuxa released the 9th title of the Xuxa Só Para Baixinhos series, titled Natal Mágico and in 2010 the tenth edition of XSPB, entitled Baixinhos, Bichinhos e Mais, the album sold, in one month, the amount necessary to become the best-selling DVD of 2010 in Brazil. In October 2010 Xuxa gave an interview explaining its break with "Free Sound" the presenter claimed that her then record company, was providing a tight budget for the size of its projects. Also in 2010, Xuxa was chosen as favourite Brazilian singer by the readers of the Argentine newspaper Clarín. In April 2011, she launched Mundo da Xuxa program on TV Globo Internacional. The attraction was shown to Brazilian subscribers on every continent from Monday to Friday and shows the best moments of her career on Globo, as well as clips from XSPB. With success in the mornings, the program TV Xuxa was transferred to the afternoons of Saturday in 2011, replacing the Session of Saturday, that suffered to leave the transmitter in the isolated leadership. TV Xuxa finally came to an end on 25 January 2014, due to the health problems of the presenter. In May 2014, after five years in Sony Music, Xuxa returned to Som Livre. In a press release, the label corrected one of the main mistakes in the company's history: "not to keep one of the country's greatest artists." 2015–present: TV Globo exit and new phase On 5 March 2015, after 29 years with TV Globo and off air for over a year with the end of TV Xuxa, Xuxa signed on with Rede Record. Xuxa and TV Globo had amicably broken their contract in December 2014. The arrival of Xuxa in the headquarters of the station was transmitted live by the Program of the Tarde, the station organized one of the biggest events of its history with several links with the fans in the door of its headquarters, in São Paulo, the movement of the employees and the signing of a contract with the presence of the high dome of the broadcaster and journalists of various media, at a press conference specially set up for the blonde at the Teatro Record. This was considered one of the biggest signings in the history of the transmitter, according to sites specialized in TV. The presenter premiered Xuxa Meneghel, a show of the same name, on 17 August 2015 on RecordTV's Monday night. The program, screened directly from RecNov, was inspired by The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and blended humor, music, interviews, games and special features. The attraction also opened space for the viewer to interact through social networks. Its last episode aired on 19 December 2016. After having its release postponed several times, Som Livre launched in December 2016, the thirteenth volume of Xuxa Só Para Baixinhos. Recorded in 2014, and expected to be released in September 2016, XPSB 13 earned Xuxa a Latin Grammy nomination, but because it was released after the deadline, it was disqualified by the Latin Recording Academy. On 3 April 2017, Xuxa debuted the program Dancing Brasil, a Brazilian version of the American program Dancing with the Stars, produced by Endemol Shine and shown by RecordTV. Recently, Xuxa announced the national launch of their new tour of shows, titled XuChá, and based on the traditional tea Chá da Alice. On 6 February 2019, Xuxa also debuted the program The Four Brasil, a Brazilian version of the American program The Four, also produced by the Endemol Shine Group and also shown by RecordTV. On 2023, Globoplay released a documentary about her called "Xuxa, o Documentário". Career in music In 1986, the album Xou da Xuxa sold over 2.6 million copies, breaking the South American record for sales, earning eight platinum awards (granted every 250,000 copies sold). In the following years, Xuxa launched seven discs, including Xegundo Xou da Xuxa and Xou da Xuxa 3, and recorded three LPs with the songs translated into Spanish, which sold 6.3 million copies. Xuxa even recorded songs in English, but was never officially released. From 1989 to 1996, Xuxa had sold 18 million albums, a record in Latin American music sales. Xuxa recorded about 915 songs, recorded 28 albums that together have sold over 55 million copies, and were awarded 400 gold records in Brazil. The album, Xou da Xuxa 3, had more than 5,000,000 copies sold, making it the best-selling children's album in the world, according to the Guinness Book. In 2002, Veja magazine named Xuxa the richest artist in Brazil, with an estimated net worth of $250 million. According to the same magazine, Xuxa's earnings were comparable to Hollywood stars like Julia Roberts and Keanu Reeves. She was first in the list of artists with highest sales over the past ten years (1998–2008). The music video, Xuxa só para Baixinhos sold over eight million copies, and won five nominations and two Latin Grammy awards for "Best Children's Album". In 2012, the Associação Brasileira dos Produtores de Discos (ABPF) released the list of the best-selling DVDs in the country. According to ABPD, Xuxa had two DVDs among the top ten in 2011, XSPB Volume 1–8 (sixth place) and XSPB 11 (ninth). Social activism In September 2011, Colombian singer, Shakira, and Xuxa joined forces through their respective charitable foundations to aid children younger than six years old who live in Brazil's poorest communities. The two artists, together with Brazilian government officials, signed an accord in Rio de Janeiro for a program of cooperation. In its first four years, it plans to provide better access to education to children from 100 schools in Brazil. Xuxa supports the campaign "Tri-national to Combat Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents" which aims to encourage people to report cases of exploitation and abuse of minors living on the border between Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. Since May 2013, the campaign has integrated the actions of several groups: the Itaipu Dam, the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Municipal Tourism Council, Childhood and Youth, Ministry of Labor and Employment, and entities of Paraguay and Argentina who work in the same area. In May 2014, then-President Dilma Rousseff signed a law that applied stronger penalties to the crime of sexual exploitation of children and adolescents. On 4 June 2014, Xuxa was present when the Senate of Brazil passed the (PLC 58/2014) that prohibits the use of violence in the education of children and adolescents, which had been adopted by the Commission on Human Rights of the Chamber of Deputies. When asked about criticism from some parents about how they will educate their children after the passage of this law, Xuxa said that they can educate, but without violence: "We have to show that people can and should educate without violence". Xuxa said that the project should be called "Lei Menino Bernardo" in honor of , an 11-year-old boy killed in April that year. Personal life Fortune and investments At the age of 16, Xuxa began to model professionally. Years later, an affair with soccer player Pelé boosted her profile and in 1982 Xuxa already was considered one of the most recognizable public figures in the country, endorsing everything from underwear to residential buildings. In the same year she landed a supporting role in the soap opera Elas por Elas at Globo TV and over time had more roles in telenovelas. Also in 1982 Xuxa founded her first company, Xuxa Produções, a legal entity that takes care of the Xuxa brand and holds, exclusively, the rights to commercialize the use of the brand and image of the artist, both nationally and internationally. The company also represents Xuxa in any and all contracts. Additionally, the company has represented other interests as well, and in 1993 Xuxa Produções was responsible for bringing Michael Jackson's Dangerous World Tour to Brazil. The company was also involved in the co-production of films by Renato Aragão, Angelica and Father Marcelo Rossi. Following her successful entry to Clube da Criança, the start of her modeling career on weekdays in New York City, and the release of her album Xuxa e Seus Amigos (which sold 500,000 copies in 1983), Xuxa was contracted by Globo TV and Som Livre. In the same year Xuxa founded the brand O Bicho Comeu, responsible for the commercialization of clothes and accessories for children. After an initial salary at Globo TV of US$40,000, Xuxa saw several salary increases, which in 1987 had already reached one million dollars. Also in 1987 she founded "Beijinho Beijinho Produções", responsible for the co-production of television programs and albums. Until 1988, the companies of Xuxa were run by her parents and brothers Cirano, Bladimir, and Solange. That year, the director of Xuxa's program, Marlene Mattos, and lawyer Luiz Cláudio Moreira took over her companies. The Xuxa film series premiered in theaters the same year with the film Super Xuxa contra Baixo Astral, which was seen by more than 2.8 million viewers. By this point, Xuxa's fortune was over R$50 million. In 1989 Xuxa already shared with Hebe Camargo the title of highest-paid host of Latin America, receiving US$1.5 million monthly from Globo TV alone. In 1989, she bought the three million square meter "MG Meneghel" farm in Rio Bonito, Rio de Janeiro; the farm also had 50 mango trees and 200 dairy cattle. The activities of the Xuxa Meneghel Foundation, which carries out four social development programs (Program for Networks and Political Incidence, Program for Socio-educational Actions, Integrated Assistance Program, and the Institutional Partnerships Program) also began during that time. In 1990 she founded the Xuxa International Corporation, based in the Cayman Islands, a well-known tax haven, which was responsible for collecting royalties from Xuxa's international enterprises. Her royalties varied between 5% and 20% of the final profit from the sale of products licensed under her brand. Xuxa made a total profit of $19 million in 1990, resulting in her 37th appearance on Forbes list of "Top 40 Most Enlightened Celebrities" in 1991, the first Latin American to appear on the list. The magazine reported that her fortune had already surpassed that of Madonna and was equated with that of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Also in 1990, Xuxa bought a site in Vargem Grande, Rio de Janeiro for US$2 million. The property underwent several renovations so that it could be Xuxa's official residence, with a mini zoo and nursery, heated pool with waterfall, main house (1050 m2, two floors and five suites with closet), guest house (280 m2), Japanese restaurant (195 m2 bar, industrial kitchen and laundry), fitness center (196 m2), party room (540 m2), recording studio (60 m2), sauna (com 62 m2), employees' quarters (283 m2), caretaker's quarters (63 m2), support cellar (67 m2), linen and storage (306 m2), garage for eight cars, and a helipad. With a total of 78,000 square meters, Xuxa traveled to the estate by golf cart. This home was a refuge for Xuxa, but that did not prevent fans sleeping in the entrance of the site waiting for her. The estate, called Casa Rosa, was a frequent sight in television programs and magazines, consequently becoming well known in Brazilian pop culture, and coming to be known as the Brazilian "Neverland". In 2007, with the concern of providing a more normal social life for her daughter Sasha, Xuxa put the site up for sale for $8 million. However, she has not yet been able to sell the property, which is still part of her equity. In 1990, Xuxa acquired an apartment of five million dollars in New York City, a property she still owns. She also took advantage of the opening of the Brazilian market to imported vehicles to found Shine Car, a concessionaire of imported luxury cars based in Rio de Janeiro. Through a partnership with Grendene, Xuxa sold 4 million sandals in Brazil, 1 million in the United States, 1 million in Mexico and 500,000 in the rest of Latin America in 1990 alone. Between 1991 and 1992 Xuxa received $1 million a month for work on the Telefe for El Show de Xuxa. She launched the Xuxa Meneghel Models Course in Rio de Janeiro, with a duration of seven months and a load of six hours a week, and a tuition starting at $60. Also in 1991 Xuxa ramped up the licensing of products featuring her brand name. She bought five luxury apartments in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, which earned her $200,000 in rent income. In 1992 Xuxa signed a contract with the Spanish television network Telecinco for 15 episodes of the Xuxa Park program, receiving $240,000 per episode. Only TV Globo, Telefe and Telecinco Xuxa received more than $3.4 million monthly. In May 1992, Xuxa's estate was estimated at US$100 million by People, making her the second-richest artist in Brazil until then, with the same patrimony of Roberto Carlos and behind Silvio Santos. In the same year she founded the Light Beam Corporation to license her brand exclusively in the United States, selling this year, among other products, 500,000 dolls of her own likeness. Xuxa made 12 advertising campaigns that year, earning $200,000 each. Xuxa made a final profit of $27 million in 1992, resulting in her return to the list of "40 celebrities who grew richer in the last year" by Forbes in 1993, this time in 28th place. Between 1986 and 1992 Xuxa had sold 18 million CDs, which had generated a revenue of over $175 million, of which 20% she kept. Xuxa's Xuxa program produced four tours, including Xuxa's Xuxa 89 tour, in which Xuxa's cache was over $300,000, with a production roster of ten trucks, 60 flights, two wagons, and two 25-ton stages with more than 150 people involved. In 1993 she premiered the Xuxa program in the United States, in English. The program was broadcast by more than 100 stations in the country, including CBS and Freeform, and was also sold to more than 120 countries. Through the program, Xuxa received $7 million and launched products in more than 100 countries. So that she could rest between the recordings of the show, Xuxa bought a mansion in Calabasas, Califórnia. In September 1999 the residence was bought by the singer and American actress Brandy Norwood, for $1.7 million. In the year of 1993 Xuxa handled $220 million only in licenses. At the end of this year, a problem in her spine caused her work to slow down. In 1994, the death of Ayrton Senna also contributed to Xuxa gradually diminishing her work rate. Later that year, she bought a mansion on Star Island in Miami for $15 million. The mansion had previously belonged to Madonna and is still owned by Xuxa today. A tourist boat ride titled The Rich and Famous Tour, includes the Xuxa mansion in the script. In present-day money, a mansion on the island has the minimum price of $65 million. On her 33rd birthday she received a Ferrari F355 from her manager Marlene Matos. In 1996 they realized the tour Tô de Bem com a Vida, with more than 45 concerts and a cache of $350,000. In that same year the international press announced that Xuxa was concerned about having no private life. In October, she announced that she would soon leave her career to try to be a mother through artificial insemination, but that did not happen because Xuxa had to keep working in order to meet contractual deadlines. In November her fortune was estimated at $300 million. In 1996 she founded Lar's Empreendimentos, an entity responsible for real estate investments and the creation of the O Mundo da Xuxa park in 2003. In 2000 she acquired a million-dollar home in Celebration, Florida, near Walt Disney World. In 2005, an 11-year-old girl, the daughter of a friend of Xuxa, died at Disneyland while she was lodging in Xuxa's house. In 2002 Xuxa acquired four suites for R$13 million in São Conrado, in Rio de Janeiro. In 2008 part of the property caught fire while Xuxa, Sasha and Luciano Szafir were inside. Luciano was hospitalized after inhaling smoke. According to the magazine Veja, also in 2002, Xuxa had $250 million in equity referring only to real estate. The year 2002 was also marked by the professional breakup of Xuxa and Marlene Mattos, who left the command of Xuxa's holding company by reducing her salary at Globo TV to $1 million a month, which lasted until her exit. Xuxa founded the company Espaço Laser, of which she holds a 51% share . The year ended with 200 licensed products and monthly sales of R$30 million. In 2003, she bought the Gugu Park at the SP Market mall in São Paulo and transformed it into the Xuxa Mundo O Mundo amusement park. She bought the park for $15 million. The park made about R$10 million a year. In 2007, when she left to live in Casa Rosa, Xuxa moved to a residence that had been built in the Malibu Condominium in Barra da Tijuca. The 1,700-square-meter, three-storey mansion is valued at R$10 million. In 2009, Lar's Empreendimentos was ordered to pay an indemnity of R$50,000 for moral and material damages in legal proceedings. In November 2010 Xuxa did not agree to an increase in rent of the building which the Shine Car company occupied and took the landlord to court, but lost the action, ultimately vacating the property. Shine Car became defunct in January 2011. Also in January 2011 Xuxa won a $150,000 lawsuit against Folha Universal, which had stated in 2008 that the artist "was Satanist and would have sold her soul to the devil for $100 million." In 2012 Xuxa received R$2 million to participate in an advertising campaign of beauty products by the brand Wella, changing the color of her hair, becoming a brunette for the first time in her career. The $2 million was donated to the Xuxa Meneghel Foundation. In 2013 TV Bandeirantes was ordered by the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) to pay an indemnity of 1.1 million reais to Xuxa. The STJ ruled that Xuxa appeared naked on the station's show in 2008. The images had been published by Playboy before Xuxa launched herself as a children's show host in the early 1980s. The STJ, therefore, rejected the request of the issuer to rediscuss the amount of compensation established by the Court of Justice of Rio de Janeiro (TJRJ) in 2011. Also in 2013 Xuxa bought an island in Angra dos Reis, for R$12.7 million. In 2014 RecordTV was ordered to pay R$100,000 to Xuxa. The broadcaster was sued for broadcasting photos of her from a photoessay that appeared in Playboy in the 1980s without authorization during the Gugu Liberato in 2012. In February 2015, Xuxa refused a proposed renewal with Globo, since without any new projects, her salary would be reduced to R$250,000 compared to the $1 million she used to get. In the same month, O Mundo da Xuxa came to an end, since the attraction would have to go through new expansions in order to fill the space it was in. This was not viable due to the Brazilian economic crisis; the park had a final profit of R$4 million in 2014, against R$10 million in 2008. It was sold to Parque da Mônica for R$40 million. In March Xuxa signed with RecordTV for R$1 million monthly. If her program leaves the network, Xuxa will still receive $250,000 monthly. In that same year the Laser Space earned R$50 million. Xuxa, as a businesswoman, had a final profit of $160 million from her companies. In 2016, Espaço Laser earned R$60 million, expanding its operations to 187 units in Brazil. Xuxa, as a businesswoman, made a final profit of R$200 million with her holding company in 2016. In the same year, she launched herself as a YouTuber. Xuxa's children's party company, Casa X, earned R$17 million in 2017, a 50% increase in one year. The equity of Xuxa and her companies is valued at US$1 billion, making her one of the richest women in Brazil. Xuxa is a vegan. Relationships and children Xuxa has one daughter with actor Luciano Szafir, Sasha, who was born in 1998. Xuxa dated Brazilian footballer Pelé in the 1980s, and Formula One driver Ayrton Senna in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 2012, Xuxa claimed that American singer Michael Jackson had once courted her, inviting her to dinner at Neverland Ranch. Additionally, Jackson's manager asked whether she would consider bearing his children. As of 2013, she is in a relationship with actor and singer Junno Andrade. In 2013, she acquired Italian citizenship. Xuxa e Seus Amigos (1985) Xou da Xuxa (1986) Xegundo Xou da Xuxa (1987) Xou da Xuxa 3 (1988) 4º Xou da Xuxa (1989) Xuxa (1989) Xuxa 5 (1990) Xou da Xuxa Seis (1991) Xuxa (1991) Xou da Xuxa Sete (1992) Xuxa (1992) Xuxa (1993) Sexto Sentido (1994) El Pequeño Mundo (1994) Luz no Meu Caminho (1995) Tô de Bem com a Vida (1996) Xuxa Dance (1996) Boas Notícias (1997) Só Faltava Você (1998) El Mundo Es de los Dos (1999) Xuxa 2000 (1999) Só Para Baixinhos (2000) Só Para Baixinhos 2 (2001) Só Para Baixinhos 3 (2002) Só Para Baixinhos 4 (2003) Circo (2004) Solamente para Bajitos (2005) Festa (2005) Só Para Baixinhos 7 (2007) Só Para Baixinhos 8 (2008) Natal Mágico (2009) Baixinhos, Bichinhos e + (2010) Sustentabilidade (2011) É Pra Dançar (2013) ABC do XSPB (2016) Raridades X (2024) Raridades de Natal (2024) Cores (2025) Awards and nominations See also List of best-selling Latin music artists
Emirates NBD	[ "Banks established in 1963", "Companies listed on the Dubai Financial Market", "Banks of the United Arab Emirates", "Emirati companies established in 1963", "Emirati companies established in 2007", "Banks established in 2007" ]	690	7,045	Emirates NBD Bank PJSC is Dubai's government-owned bank and is one of the largest banking groups in the Middle East in terms of assets. History and profile Emirates NBD was initially formed as the National Bank of Dubai (NBD) on 19 June 1963 by then Dubai's ruler Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, forming the first national bank established in Dubai. NBD merged with Emirates Bank International (EBI) on 6 March 2007 to form Emirates NBD. On 16 October 2007, the shares of Emirates NBD were officially listed on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM). On 1 December 2012 Dubai Bank was acquired by Emirates NBD. As of 31 December 2020, total assets were billion, deposits of AED 464 billion, a total income of AED 23.21 billion, and a net profit of AED 7 billion, making it one of the top financial institutions of the UAE, with a brand value of billion. The Group has operations in the UAE, Egypt, India, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and representative offices in China and Indonesia. On October 7, 2022, Emirates NBD Bank PJSC sold 86,316,964 ordinary shares of BankIslami Pakistan Limited to JS Bank Limited. Currently, more than 9,000 people, representing 70 nationalities, are employed by Emirates NBD, making it one of the largest employers in the UAE. Emirates NBD has announced its plans for further expansion in India, following approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to open two additional branches in Gurugram and Chennai to cater to the northern and southern markets of India. It has been widely reported that the bank is in the race with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation to acquire a majority stake in Yes Bank. See also Islamic banking Noor Bank List of banks in the United Arab Emirates Emirates Development Bank
Canada small business tax rate	[ "Corporate taxation", "Corporate taxation in Canada", "Taxation in Canada" ]	731	5,648	In Canada’s federal tax system, the small business tax rate is the tax rate paid by a small business. As of 2019, the small business tax rate is 9% The general corporate tax rate is 28%. Additionally, each province or territory operates its own corporate tax system, with varying treatment for small businesses. Provincial taxation Corporate taxes in Newfoundland and Labrador corporate tax rates span from 3 per cent at the lowest rate to 15 per cent at highest rate; in Nova Scotia from 3% to 16%, in New Brunswick from 2.5% to 14%, in Prince Edward Island from 3%to 16%, in Ontario from 3.2% to 11.5%, in Manitoba 12% in Saskatchewan, from 2% to 12%, in British Columbia from 2% to 12%, in Nunavut from 3% to 12%, in the Northwest Territories, from 4% to 11.5%, Alberta 8% and in Yukon from 2% to 12%. In most cases, the provinces and territories have two rates of income tax—the lower rate and the higher rate. Businesses that are eligible for the federal small business deduction (SBD) are also eligible for a lower corporate tax rate at the provincial and territorial levels. According to a June 1, 2020 report, there are two or occasionally three levels of corporate taxes in the provinces and territories—the first includes small businesses, with income generally up to $500,000, that are eligible for the "small-business deduction" (SBD); the second (where it exists) includes businesses engaged in manufacturing and processing (M&P) with income greater than $500,000 that are not eligible for federal SBD (%); and the third includes general income businesses, with non-M&P income, that are not eligible for SBD (%). Québec has three levels—the rate for the first level is c. 4% to 5%, for the second level it is 11.50%, and for the third level it is 11.50%. Definitions A small business in Canada is defined as a Canadian-based corporation (i.e. one incorporated under the federal Canada Business Corporations Act or similar provincial legislation) with fewer than 100 employees and under in annual income. Small businesses are allowed to claim a "small business deduction" under the Income Tax Act; the deduction enumerated in that Act is deducted from the 28% general tax rate, and means the net small business tax rate is as follows: Tax rate by year Year Tax Rate (%) 2006 12 2007 12 2008 11 2009 11 2010 11 2011 11 2012 11 2013 11 2014 11 2015 11 2016 10.5 2017 10.5 2018 10 2019 9 Passive income investment Passive income investment is income from "fixed income investments", "dividend-paying stocks", interest, capital gain, rent, royalties and other earnings that are not directly related to the corporation's active main business income. This passive income can be significant for large corporations. New rules introduced in 2018, are based on the CCPCs "Adjusted Aggregate Investment Income" (AAII)—passive investment income—and "tie SBD eligibility to investment income earned by associated corporations." Under these new rules, taxes cannot be "avoided by using a holding company."
Jörg Guido Hülsmann	[ "1966 births", "Living people", "21st-century German writers", "21st-century Roman Catholics", "Austrian School economists", "Christian libertarians", "German economists", "German libertarians", "German Roman Catholics", "Libertarian theorists", "Mises Institute people", "Academic staff of Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas University", "People from Oberbergischer Kreis", "Technische Universität Berlin alumni", "Toulouse Business School alumni", "University at Buffalo faculty", "Academic staff of the University of Angers" ]	2,177	24,898	Jörg Guido Hülsmann (; born 18 May 1966) is a German-born economist who studies issues related to money, banking, monetary policy, macroeconomics, and financial markets. Hülsmann is professor of economics at the University of Angers’ School of Law, Economics, and Management. He is a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, a corresponding member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, and a Senior Fellow at the Mises Institute. He is a vice-president of the international Property and Freedom Society, a board member of the Association des économistes catholiques in France, and a scientific board member of the Hayek-Gesellschaft in Germany, of the Austrian Institute of Economics and Social Philosophy, and of the International Academy for Philosophy in Liechtenstein. Hülsmann has been the inaugural laureate of the international Franz Čuhel Prize for Excellence in Economic Education and the 2023 laureate of the Hayek-Medaille. Economists such as Eugen-Maria Schulak and Herbert Unterköfler consider him to be one of the most important contemporary Austrian economists in Europe, next to Hans-Hermann Hoppe and Jesús Huerta de Soto. In the wider heterodox-economics community striving for pluralism in economics he is regarded as a leading expert and speaker. He has been interviewed in various media outlets all throughout Europe. Life Hülsmann went to high school in a town with "the highest communist voter percentage in all of Western Germany" and started public speaking at the age of 15. After mandatory military service, he went on to study industrial engineering (Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen) at Technische Universität Berlin, from 1986 to 1992. In the 1991–92 academic year, he participated in an exchange program with Toulouse Business School in France. There he wrote a thesis comparing the neo-marxist regulation school to the ordo-liberal Freiburg School. He also started studying the writings of the Austrian School. After the year in Toulouse, he returned to Berlin for doctoral studies under Hans-Hermann Lechner and obtained his PhD in economics in 1996. In January 1997, Lew Rockwell commissioned Hülsmann to write a Mises biography, a project that he would eventually complete in 2007. In 2004, he was appointed to a full professorship at the University of Angers. Academic authorship Hülsmann is the author of eight books, has edited or co-edited six other books, and published numerous journal articles and book chapters. His writings have been translated into twenty languages. His 2008 book The Ethics of Money Production has been translated into German, French, Italian, Romanian, Polish, Chinese, Persian, Spanish, and Turkish. His 2007 book Mises – The Last Knight of Liberalism has been translated into Russian, Chinese, and Polish. Both books received numerous reviews and made it into Barron's recommended reading lists. The Last Knight of Liberalism is the only full-blown biography of Ludwig von Mises and Hülsmann’s most-cited publication. It received a slating from Bruce Caldwell, while the other reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. Economic historian Robert Higgs praised it as "a magnificent scholarly achievement." In a lengthy review, the German national newspaper, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, called it "a literary event" and considered the work to "set standards" of biographical work. In September 2016, the Renmin University of China organized a full-day conference around the Chinese edition of the book. In his 2024 book Abundance, Generosity, and the State, he studies the different ways through which economic goods are gratuitously provided and received . Philosopher David Gordon praised the book with these words: "It is rare to encounter a book that has the potential to reshape the way we look at economics, but Guido Hülsmann has done exactly that in Abundance, Generosity, and the State. Hülsmann is one of the leading theorists of the Austrian School, but he has always looked at issues in an original way, and that quality is manifested 'abundantly' in this outstanding book." He has also become known as an economist who correctly anticipated the financial crisis of 2001; as a staunch critic of fractional-reserve banking; as a critic of the time-preference theory of interest; for his "reconsideration" of Austrian Capital Theory, opening new perspectives on the venerable Cambridge capital controversy; and as a proponent of the idea that economic laws are counterfactual a priori laws, rather than empirical regularities. Teaching Hülsmann directs an English-language master’s program in Law and Finance, and co-directs a double-major bachelor program in Law and Economics (in French) at the University of Angers. He has directed doctoral theses at the University of Angers and been involved in doctoral research at other universities. He is also a frequent guest professor at Grove City College, the college at which the great economics professor Jeffery Herbener oversees the economics department, where in 2025 Jorg Guido Hulsman gave talks about the economics of inheritance and intervention, and he has taught at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, (Romania), at Loyola University New Orleans, at CEVRO Institute in Prague (Czech Republic), at the King Juan Carlos University in Madrid (Spain), at ISM University of Management and Economics in Vilnius (Lithuania), and various other academic institutions. Journalism Hülsmann has written for various press outlets in Europe, for example, for national magazines such as Schweizer Monat, La Tribune, Die Zeit, and Der Standard, and for business magazines such as Wirtschaftswoche. For several years, he has authored a monthly column for the German libertarian magazine, eigentümlich frei. Translations Hülsmann has translated or co-translated Murray N. Rothbard’s books The Ethics of Liberty and What Has Government Done to Our Money?, Ralph Raico’s Die Partei der Freiheit and Ludwig von Mises’ Bureaucracy, as well as Gustave de Molinari's De la production de la sécurité into German. See also Austrian School of economics Hans-Hermann Hoppe Israel Kirzner Murray Rothbard
Joseph Yves Limantour	[ "1812 births", "1885 deaths", "People from Ploemeur", "French merchants", "French emigrants to Mexico", "19th-century French businesspeople", "People of Alta California", "Businesspeople from California", "19th-century American businesspeople" ]	1,520	11,538	Joseph Yves Limantour (1812 – 1885) was a French merchant who engaged in the California sea trade during the years preceding American occupation of that Mexican province in 1846. He was also known in California as José Limantour. Life Limantour was born in 1812, in Ploemeur, France. Limantour was a ship captain and Breton trader. He arrived in Veracruz in 1831, and was based after 1836 in Mexico City. He traded all along the Pacific coast from Valparaíso to California. Limantour Beach in Marin County, California bears his name because he wrecked his schooner, the Ayacucho, on Point Reyes in October 1841. Although much of the cargo was saved, Limantour was stranded in California with no means of transport. During his time in northern California, Limantour sold his cargo for cash and credit to the local elite, but the value of the Ayucucho’s cargo far exceeded the local capacity for purchase. General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, Commander General of California, was a major exception and he owned Rancho Suscol in Sonoma with plenty of cattle. Joseph Gale and his company from the Oregon Country wanted cattle to drive back up north, and Limantour wanted a schooner. In a three-way deal, Vallejo purchased the Gale's schooner Star of Oregon for 350 cows, and then transferred ownership to Limantour. Limantour land claims Limantour supplied the Mexican government of Governor Manuel Micheltorena with goods and loans, Limantour said often in exchange for land grants. Mexican government records were often incomplete and not well documented. Limantour offered as proof a grant signed by Micheltorena in Los Angeles on February 27, 1843. A clerk named Vicente P. Gomez said he went to the Recorder's office in the former state capital of Monterey at the request of José Castro to find papers relevant to a property owned by Castro. There he accidentally found the original Mexican espediente, or packet of documents with official seals and signatures, in the Recorder of Monterey's office in 1853. He said José Abrego advised him to take a copy, which he did. Vicente Gomez had previously claimed during 1853 four leagues of land in his name through his attorney, Pacificus Ord. When the board of land commissioners denied his claim, he appealed to the United States District Court in San Francisco. The US District Attorney, who happened to be Pacificus Ord, represented to the Appeals Court that Gomez claim was valid, and they sustained his appeal. The case made its way to the US Supreme Court in 1859, where evidence was introduced that Gomez had conveyed half of the land to Ord. The Supreme Court voided the claim. Claims approved In 1853, Limantour filed claims at the Public Land Commission for 47 square leagues (200,000 acres) of Mexican land grants. The claims included eighty square leagues of Cape Mendocino; Tiburon peninsula, the Farallones, Alcatraz; four square leagues of San Francisco (all the land south of California Street); Rancho Ojo de Agua; the eleven square league Rancho Laguna de Tache; the eleven square league Rancho Cienega del Gabilan; the eleven square league Rancho Lupyomi; and the six square leagues Rancho Cahuenga. A week later he added claims to additional lands in Northern and Southern California, totaling 924.34 square miles, or . In January, 1856, the three members of the United States Land Commission agreed with Limantour's claims to San Francisco, and the next week, granted him the claims north of San Francisco as well. Unsurprisingly, everyone who believed they owned land on which he now held legal title to were extremely upset. Limantour began accepting quitclaim payments from land-owners in San Francisco, collecting according to his detractors between $200,000 and $250,000, assessed at 10 per cent of property value. Documents proved fraudulent Suspicions were soon aroused about the truthfulness of the claims. Two studies completed soon after California became a state, the first by Captain Henry W. Halleck, and the second by William Carey Jones, a lawyer and linguist, had not found Limantour's grants. Limantour had never occupied the land, and never before presented a claim. A former business associate of Limantour's named Auguste Jouan publicly claimed Limantour was a fraud. Jouan wrote that François Jacomet told him Emile Letanneur had forged the papers. Jacomet corroborated the falsehood at first, but was later found to have gone into a court in Mexico where he swore he knew nothing about any fraud. Letanneur was summoned to appear, and initially confirmed the story of fraud, but then he too recanted. A grand jury indicted Limantour for criminal fraud and perjury. The U.S. government secured $70,000 (about $ today) in funding to secure Letanneur's conviction. Edwin M. Stanton was hired as special counsel for a $25,000 fee. The Recorder and Deputy Clerk in the Recorders Office in Monterey during the period Gomez said he found the espediente testified he had never seen any such document. He said that Gomez was the first person to tell him of Limantour's claims, and that Gomez told him Abrego was involved, but that Gomez thought the claim was fraudulent. A box of Mexican financial records were coincidentally located at the United States Armory in Benicia, California. Among the papers were Treasurer José Abrego's account books. Archivist R. C. Hopkins testified that all of the items and entries by Abrego in the records were witnessed with his signature, and sometimes the signature of the recipient. Monthly and yearly balance sheets were examined and audited by the Governor or another officer. He testified that all of the disbursements were numbered as were the accompanying receipts. There were no entries of credits and charges in opposite columns as Abrego had testified, no charge in the books against Micheltorena in the amount of $70,000 or $80,000, or of any other amount. Hopkins told the court that there was no charge to Limantour and credit to Micheltorena for a certificate for lands in Upper and Lower California for more than $6,000 nor any reference to any such item. He told the court that he found no transactions between Limantour and Micheltorena. Limantour arrested, flees to Mexico United States Attorney Delia Torre presented additional evidence that the Limantour documents were fraudulent. He introduced a series of photographic enlargements that compared the Limantour documents side-by-side with land-grant documents of known authenticity. It was obvious that the lettering and the official seals on the Limantour papers were significantly different from the others. On November 19, 1858, Limantour's claims were determined in Federal court to be fraudulent. Limantour was arrested in December 1857, but posted bail and fled to Mexico. Later life He was married to Adele Marquet, and their son, José Yves Limantour, was Secretary of Finance of Mexico from 1893-1911. Joseph Y. Limatour died in Mexico City in 1885.
Kshama Sawant	[ "1973 births", "21st-century American economists", "21st-century American women politicians", "Far-left politicians in the United States", "American people of Indian Tamil descent", "American politicians of Indian descent", "American socialist feminists", "American women economists", "Asian-American people in Washington (state) politics", "Candidates in the 2012 United States elections", "Economists from Washington (state)", "Indian emigrants to the United States", "International Socialist Alternative", "Living people", "Left-wing populists", "Members of the Democratic Socialists of America from Washington (state)", "North Carolina State University alumni", "Politicians from Pune", "Seattle City Council members", "Seattle University faculty", "Socialist economists", "University of Mumbai alumni", "Washington (state) socialists", "Women city councillors in Washington (state)" ]	8,641	92,714	Kshama Sawant ( ; born October 17, 1973) is an Indian-American politician and economist who served on the Seattle City Council from 2014 to 2024. She was a member of Socialist Alternative as the first and only member of the party to date to be elected to public office, until part of the party split to found Revolutionary Workers. A former software engineer, Sawant became an economics instructor in Seattle after immigrating to the United States from her native India. She ran unsuccessfully for the Washington House of Representatives in 2012 before winning her seat on the Seattle City Council in 2013. She was the first socialist to win a citywide election in Seattle since Anna Louise Strong was elected to the school board in 1916. Sawant narrowly survived a December 7, 2021 recall election for her position on the council by a margin of 310 votes, or 0.76%. It was the first held in Seattle since 1975. In January 2023, Sawant announced that she would not seek re-election, and would instead promote the Socialist Alternative campaign Workers Strike Back to unionize workers. In 2024, Sawant announced she had left Socialist Alternative and formed her own party Revolutionary Workers. She launched her candidacy for the 2026 United States House of Representatives election in Washington's 9th congressional district as an independent in June 2025. Early life and career Born to H. T. and Vasundhara Ramanujam into a middle-class Tamil family in the city of Pune, Maharashtra, India. Sawant was raised mostly in Bombay. Her mother is a retired principal and her father, a civil engineer, was killed by a drunk driver when she was 13 years old. She describes her family as "full of doctors and engineers and mathematicians" but says that "I wasn't exposed to any particular ideology growing up." Sawant graduated with a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Mumbai in 1994. After moving to the United States in 1996 with her husband Vivek Sawant, a Microsoft software engineer, she decided to turn her attention to economics following a year and a half stint as a programmer. She received her PhD in economics from North Carolina State University in 2009. Her dissertation was titled Elderly Labor Supply in a Rural, Less Developed Economy. After moving to Seattle, Sawant taught at Seattle University and University of Washington Tacoma and was an adjunct professor at Seattle Central College. She was also a visiting assistant professor at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. Early political career Sawant has indicated that the genesis of her becoming a socialist began in India and was reinforced upon her arrival in the United States, which she described as "the wealthiest country in the history of humanity", yet is subject to poverty and homelessness. In 2008, she attended a Socialist Alternative meeting after reading a pamphlet and became a member. In 2012, Sawant ran unsuccessfully for Position 1 in the 43rd district of the Washington House of Representatives, representing Seattle. Sawant also ran and advanced past the primaries as a write-in win for Position 2. Washington state law allowed her to choose the election in which she would run, but as a write-in candidate, she was not permitted to state her party preference. Sawant successfully sued the Washington secretary of state for the right to be listed as a Socialist Alternative member on the ballot. Sawant challenged incumbent Democratic House speaker Frank Chopp in the general election on November 6, 2012. She received 29% of the vote to Chopp's 70%. Seattle City Council 2013 election After her unsuccessful run for the House, Sawant entered the race for Seattle City Council with a campaign organized by the Socialist Alternative. She won 35% of the vote in the August primary election, and advanced into the general election for the at-large council position 2 against incumbent Richard Conlin, making her the first socialist to advance to a general election in Seattle since 1991. On November 15, 2013, Conlin conceded to Sawant when returns showed him down by 1,640 votes or approximately 1% of the vote. Sawant's victory made her the first socialist to win a citywide election in Seattle since Anna Louise Strong was elected to the School Board in 1916 and the first socialist on the City Council since A. W. Piper, elected in 1877. She was sworn into office on January 6, 2014. Sawant declared victory in May 2014 after Seattle Mayor Ed Murray announced an increase in the minimum wage to $15, which was the cornerstone of her campaign for City Council; she was not pleased that large corporations would be allowed a few years to phase in the wage hike. During a speech at the City Council on the day of the vote she said, "We did this. Workers did this. Today's first major victory for 15 will inspire people all over the nation." Several Democrats endorsed her candidacy. Celebrity endorsements included Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello and System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian. Sawant received no endorsements from sitting councilmembers, while Mike O'Brien expressed support of the idea of third-party candidates but explicitly declining to extend an endorsement of Sawant. The Stranger alt-weekly endorsed both her State House and her City Council candidacy. Councilman Nick Licata also declined to endorse her but spoke positively of her campaign saying, "she has been able to craft a message that is understandable, simple and eschews most of the rhetoric", and when her eventual election victory seemed unlikely, he expressed his hope that Sawant would not "disappear after the election if she loses. She represents the poor, the immigrants, the refugees—the folks who are not in our City Council offices lobbying us." Tenure During her campaign, Sawant said that, if elected, she would donate the portion of her salary as a City Council member that exceeded the average salary in Seattle. On January 27, 2014, she announced that she would live on $40,000 of her $117,000 salary. She placed the rest into a political fund that she used for social justice campaigns. As of September 19, 2021, she cited her current city-allotted salary as $140,000, while she continued to take home $40,000 of that amount. Per the Socialist Alternative website which tracks her donations, Sawant would fail to donate the $40,000 to $60,000 required to have a take home pay of $40,000 and has not released her donations for the year 2023. In March 2023, local news reported that Sawant failed to meet her donation promises for eight of her nine years in public office. Sawant called for the expansion of bus and light rail capacity with a millionaire's tax. She has also called for "transit justice", which would include free user fares; an increase in free transit services to the poor, especially communities in south Seattle; and restriction of transit options to communities that "can afford other options" until the foregoing measures were implemented. During the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, Sawant urged the Seattle City Council to condemn both Israel's attacks on Gaza and Hamas's attacks on Israel, and called on President Obama and Congress to denounce the Israeli blockade of Gaza and to cut off all military assistance to Israel. Sawant's call to condemn Israel's actions prompted a response from Israeli ambassador Ron Dermer, calling for Sawant to retract the statement. In 2020, Sawant advocated for defunding the Seattle Police Department (SPD) by 50%, aligning with the broader "defund the police" movement. The city council made only smaller cuts to the police budget. 2015 election The core issues of Sawant's campaign were a successful minimum wage increase to $15/hour, a successful "millionaire's tax" or income tax on wealthy Seattleites, and an unsuccessful rent control program. During the 2013 campaign, Sawant had said rent control is "something everyone supports, except real estate developers and people like Richard Conlin" and compared the legal fight for its implementation to same-sex marriage, and the legalization of marijuana in the United States, both of which she supports. Her campaign for a $15 an hour minimum wage has been credited for bringing the issue into the mainstream and attracting support for the policy from both Seattle former Mayors Michael McGinn and Ed Murray. In response to criticism that a $15 an hour minimum wage could hurt the economy, she said, "If making sure that workers get out of poverty would severely impact the economy, then maybe we don't need this economy." She is also a supporter of expanding public transit and bikeways, ending corporate welfare, ending racial profiling, reducing taxes on small businesses and homeowners, protecting public sector unions from layoffs, living wage union jobs, and social services. Sawant's platform of non-local Seattle issues, like rent control, income tax, corporate welfare, supporting the minimum wage outside Seattle, in SeaTac, and other cities, and participating in the Seattle Arctic drilling protests drew criticism from Sawant's opponents and favor with her leftist supporters. Her District 3 opponent Pamela Banks criticized Sawant's status as a national figure as a distraction from her primary duty to serve her constituents. The Seattle Times, in their endorsement of Banks, said the City Council "isn't a job for an ideologue" and that "the District 3 seat is more than a podium", that it "needs a collaborative leader to work with other districts and balance resources and investment." On April 7, 2015, journalist Chris Hedges endorsed Sawant. Sawant advanced through the primary election for City Council District 3 representative on August 4, 2015, with 52% of the vote, 18 percentage points ahead of her closest opponent, Pamela Banks at 34%. Voters returned Sawant to the City Council and made her the first District 3 representative in November 2015, with 17,170 votes counted for Sawant and 13,427 for Banks, or 56% to 44%. With incumbent O'Brien elected to District 6, and former Licata aide Lisa Herbold elected to District 1, they, along with Sawant, became the new progressive bloc of the council, which became majority female with the addition of two other women, Debora Juarez and Lorena González. Sawant, as one of the four people of color on the new Council, also became part of a younger and more diverse Council, the first to seat members by district in more than 100 years. 2019 election In 2019, Sawant ran against Egan Orion, the head of the United States Chamber of Commerce in Capitol Hill. Sawant was endorsed by the Democrats of Seattle's 43rd Legislative District. The 2019 Seattle City Council election gained national attention after Amazon spent an unprecedented $1.5 million on the campaign. The company, which is the largest private employer in the city, contributed the funds to a political action committee operated by the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce which backs candidates the chamber considers to be more "business-friendly". The PAC supported Sawant's opponent in the race. Amazon became increasingly involved in city council politics after the passage of the Seattle head tax in 2018, which would have cost the company $11 million annually in order to fund public housing and homeless services. Shortly after enacting the tax, the city council voted 7–2 to repeal it, with Sawant being one of the two dissenters. On November 5, 2019, Sawant was elected to a third term on the Seattle City Council with 51.8% of the vote. 2021 recall election In August 2020, petitioner Ernie Lou submitted a petition to the King County Elections Office to recall Sawant, charging that Sawant "used her position in violation of the law or has recklessly undermined the safety of others," including open city council to protests, the march on Mayor Durkan's home, and encouraging people to occupy the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest. The charges that was argued and approved by the court were: 1. Delegated city employment decisions to a political organization outside city government, 2. used city resources to support a ballot initiative and failed to comply with public disclosure requirements related such support, 3. disregarded state orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic and endangered the safety of city workers and other individuals by admitting hundreds of people into city hall on June 9, 2020, when it was closed to the public, and 4. led a protest march to Mayor Jenny Durkan's private residence, the location of which Sawant knows is protected under state confidentiality laws. Sawant responded by denying the charges in the petition and claiming that right-wing billionaires backed the recall effort. Sawant would appeal the district court's ruling allowing the recall effort to move forward, and in April 2021 the Washington Supreme Court ruled that the recall effort could move forward. Sawant's legal defense was funded by the city council using taxpayer funds. In September 2021, the King County Elections Office set the recall election date for December 7. Sawant's strategy for the recall election focused on driving up turnout among young voters, one of her core constituencies. It was the first recall election held in Seattle since the 1975 recall election against Mayor Wesley C. Uhlman. The results of the election were close, with Sawant overcoming the recall by 310 votes, which was 0.76% of the 41,033 votes cast. The turnout was 52.9%. On January 19, 2023, Sawant announced that she would retire from the city council at the end of the year, and that she would be launching Workers Strike Back, a national labor movement. 2026 congressional campaign On June 2, 2025, Sawant announced that she would run in 2026 as an independent for the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington's 9th congressional district, challenging Democratic incumbent Adam Smith. Defamation lawsuits Sawant referred to Seattle landlord Carl Haglund as a "notorious slumlord" and proposed a "Carl Haglund law" in 2015 which would ban landlords from raising rents on housing units that do not meet basic maintenance standards. In 2016, the Seattle City Council passed the bill into law. In 2017, Haglund filed a lawsuit against the City of Seattle for defamation, seeking $25 million in damages, a retraction of "derogatory comments," and a resolution apologizing to him. Haglund subsequently filed suit against Sawant personally saying that she slandered him. After a judge dismissed four of Haglund's nine claims, Haglund dropped the remaining ones. The City of Seattle spent about $250,000 defending against the lawsuits. In August 2017, two Seattle Police Department (SPD) officers sued Sawant, claiming she defamed them by calling them murderers after they shot and killed Che Taylor. At a February 2016 rally, she said that Taylor's death was a "blatant murder at the hands of the police" and an example of "racial profiling." Council President Bruce Harrell wrote in a Seattle Times article that the city would pay for legal representation in her defense stating, "Councilmember Sawant was engaged in communication that was a clear extension of her office." Over seven years, the case would bounce back and forth between the district and appeals court until 2024, when the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reaffirmed the dismissal. Ethics complaints In 2015 and 2018, multiple complaints were lodged against Sawant over potential misuse of city resources for a town hall (2015) and rally (2018) by anonymous reporters and council member Sally Bagshaw. In a May 2018 council briefing, Bagshaw stated, "I just don't think it is right for us to be using city resources or the copy machines to promote something that not all of us agree to." Sawant responded by saying, "I strongly believe that council resources should absolutely be used to build social movements and not for furthering the interests of the Chamber of Commerce." In both instances, Sawant was found to have not violated any ethics codes by the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission. In February 2020, an ethics complaint was lodged against Sawant for using public resources in support of the "Tax Amazon" ballot initiative that she started. In response to the complaint, Sawant wrote, "It's shameful that while big business has license to run amok trying to bully or buy politicians...working people have to follow the most onerous of restrictions." In 2021, Sawant would settle the ethics complaint by paying $3,516 to the city, twice the amount spent to promote the campaign. In a written statement, Sawant stated, "So I have signed the SEEC's settlement which acknowledges fault in this matter, and will apply this interpretation of the ethics code going forward." In a letter to the Council president on June 30, 2020, Durkan asked the City Council to investigate Sawant under its city charter authority to punish members for "disorderly or otherwise contemptuous behavior," writing that Sawant had participated in a march to her home, knowing that her address "was protected under the state confidentiality program because of threats against me due largely to my work as U.S. Attorney. The mayor accused Sawant and others of acting "with reckless disregard of the safety of my family and children." Additionally, Sawant led protesters into Seattle City Hall, which was closed to the public due to the coronavirus pandemic, on the evening of June 9, 2020. Durkan also alleged that Sawant had used her council office to promote the "Tax Amazon" ballot initiative, urged protesters to occupy the East Precinct police station, and involved Socialist Alternative in her council office staffing decisions. Durkan said that she respected policy disagreements with members but that these disagreements "do not justify a council member who potentially uses their position in violation of law or who recklessly undermines the safety of others, all for political theatre." In response, Sawant accused Durkan of being the leader of a "pro-corporate political establishment" and of carrying out "an attack on working people's movements." In July 2020, council president Lorena González declined to investigate Sawant, saying she wanted the council to focus on other work. Political positions Sawant has advocated the nationalization of large Washington State corporations such as Boeing, Microsoft, and Amazon and expressed a desire to see privately owned housing in "Millionaire's Row" in the Capitol Hill neighborhood turned into publicly owned shared housing complex saying, "When things are exquisitely beautiful and rare, they shouldn't be privately owned." During an election victory rally for her City Council campaign, Sawant criticized Boeing for saying it would move jobs out of state if it could not get wage concessions and tax breaks. She called this "economic terrorism" and said in several speeches that if the company moved jobs out of state, the workers should take over its facilities and bring them into public ownership. She has said they could be converted into multiple uses, such as production for buses. Sawant maintains that a socialist economy cannot exist in a single country and must be a global system just as capitalism today is a global system. Sawant opposed the construction of the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel calling it "environmentally destructive" and "something most people were against, most environmental groups were against". She opposed the Seattle Public Schools Measures of Academic Progress test in public schools, and supported the teachers' boycott of the standardized tests. Sawant has called for a revolt against student debt saying that "the laws of the rich are unenforceable if the working class refuses to obey those laws". She is an active member of the American Federation of Teachers union and has been critical of American labor union leadership, saying the leadership, "in the last 30 years has completely betrayed the working class. They are hand in glove with the Democratic Party, pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into their campaigns, and they tell rank and file workers that you have to be happy with these crumbs". Sawant believes the American Labor movement should break with the Democratic Party and run grassroots left-wing candidates. Sawant advocates for a moratorium on deportations of undocumented immigrants from Seattle and granting unconditional citizenship for all persons currently in the United States without citizenship. She opposes the E-Verify system. Political ideology Sawant is a member of Revolutionary Workers. Previously she was a member of Socialist Alternative, the United States section of the Trotskyist international organization the International Socialist Alternative, formerly the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI). Sawant said she rejects working with either the Democratic or the Republican party and advocates abandoning the two-party system. She has called for "a movement to break the undemocratic power of big business and build a society that works for working people, not corporate profits—a democratic socialist society." In 2013, Sawant urged other left-wing groups, including Greens and trade unions, "to use her campaign as a model to inspire a much broader movement". On February 20, 2019, she published an article in Socialist Alternative backing Bernie Sanders' run for the Democratic nomination. In 2020, she spoke at a campaign rally for him at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington. She joined the Democratic Socialists of America in February 2021. In 2024, Kshama Sawant's organization, Workers Strike Back, endorsed Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate for the United States presidential election. The announcement occurred during the inaugural Workers Strike Back conference, where Sawant emphasized the importance of building an independent, left-wing alternative to the two-party system in the U.S. Sawant praised Stein's campaign for its anti-war stance, focus on workers' rights, and opposition to corporate influence in politics. She has stated that it was her goal to deny Kamala Harris the state of Michigan in the 2024 US presidential election. Occupy movement Before running for office, Sawant received attention as an organizer in the local Occupy movement. She praised Occupy for putting "class," "capitalism," and "socialism" into the political debate. After Occupy Seattle protesters were removed from Westlake Park by order of Seattle Mayor Michael McGinn, Sawant helped bring them to the Capitol Hill campus of Seattle Central Community College, where they remained for two months. She joined with Occupy activists working with local organizations to resist home evictions and foreclosures, and was arrested with several Occupy activists including Dorli Rainey on July 31, 2012, for blocking King County Sheriff's deputies from evicting a man from his home. In 2012, the Sawant state campaign criticized the raiding of Occupy Wall Street activists' homes by the Seattle Police Department's SWAT team. She also advocated on LGBT, women's, and people of color issues, and opposed cuts to education and other social programs. She gave a teach-in course at an all-night course at Seattle Central Community College. Civil disobedience On November 19, 2014, Sawant was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct at a $15 minimum wage protest in SeaTac, Washington. She was released on $500 bail. On May 1, 2015, a SeaTac municipal court judge dismissed charges against her. The judge determined that testimony provided by police demonstrated that it was technically the police themselves, not protesters, who had blocked traffic. In a February 2017 article in the socialist magazine Jacobin, Sawant called for a "wave of protests and strikes" on May Day, including "workplace actions as well a mass peaceful civil disobedience that shuts down highways, airports, and other key infrastructure". Her statement was controversial: Seattle Mayor Ed Murray said that it was "unfortunate and perhaps even tragic for an elected official to encourage people to confront and engage in confrontations with the police department" and the Washington State Patrol called the writings "irresponsible" and "reckless". In June 2020, Sawant was criticized by the Trotskyist World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) for supposedly working "along politically harmless channels by promoting illusions in local police reform" and for promoting "the anarchistic commune" known as the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ). Following a June 20 shooting in the zone that left one man dead and another critically wounded, Sawant alleged that there were "indications that this may have been a right-wing attack," for which President Trump would bear "direct responsibility, since he has fomented reactionary hatred specifically against the peaceful Capitol Hill occupation" Two days later, The Seattle Times reported, Sawant "walked back her unfounded claim that the shooting 'may have been a right-wing attack.' She now says that appears to be incorrect". Personal life Sawant is often reticent about her personal life and background, preferring to stick to political issues. She has said that her entire family remains in India with her mother currently residing in Bangalore. In 2009, she thanked her husband Vivek Sawant for his support in her dissertation. Kshama became a United States citizen in 2010. During her 2013 campaign for the Seattle City Council, she indicated that she and her husband Vivek Sawant, had been separated for nearly six years. In 2014, Sawant and Calvin Priest, a Seattle Socialist Alternative organizer, purchased a home together in the Leschi neighborhood. In 2016, Sawant took time off to be out of the country for their wedding. In February 2025, Sawant's application for an entry visa to see her mother in India was denied for a third time. Sawant had become a US citizen in 2010, and since India does not permit dual citizenship, she was required to forfeit her Indian citizenship and apply for a visa to travel to India. Sawant protested the denial by staging a sit-in at the Indian Consulate in Seattle which led to a confrontation with staff. Electoral history
Constance Hunter	[ "21st-century American economists", "20th-century American economists", "American women economists", "Living people", "KPMG people", "American International Group", "Year of birth missing (living people)" ]	1,554	15,882	Constance Hunter is an American economist. She is a former principal and chief economist at KPMG, and has served as president of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE). A member of several think tanks, including the Council on Foreign Relations, she is among the first economists to forecast various historic economic events, including the 2001 dot-com bubble, the 2007–2008 mortgage and credit crisis, and the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Education She attended New York University, receiving a bachelor's degree in Economics and Sociology, then earned a master's degree from the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University (SIPA). She also holds a Certified Business Economist (CBE) designation. Career Since the 1990s, she has held various upper-level asset management positions, serving as chief investment officer (CIO) or chief economist for over a decade prior to joining KPMG. She began her career in 1994, as an economist on foreign exchange at Chase Manhattan Bank, was subsequently a portfolio manager for Firebird Management, which invested hedge funds in countries formerly of the Soviet Union. She was chief economist at Galtere Ltd.; then managing director and chief economist at Aladdin Capital Management. In 2011, she became deputy CIO at Axa Investment Managers, with over $500 billion in managed assets. That year, she was an early forecaster of the recovery of U.S. housing markets. Hunter became known for accurately forecasting major economic events. the dot-com bubble burst of 2001; the subprime mortgage crisis that contributed to the subsequent 2008 financial crisis; low bond yields concurrent with U.S. housing market recovery, from 2012; and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on U.S. and international economies. She often appears as an economic commentator for broadcast media. KPMG In 2013, she was appointed chief economist of KPMG, where she was responsible for macroeconomic analysis and economic forecasting. A former principal of the firm, she joined its strategy leadership team in 2020, and the advisory board of its pension committee. A year after the U.S. imposed new tariffs on its trading partners, in 2018, Hunter stated that the result was that the higher tariffs were disruptive to the business environment. The following year, The Wall Street Journal noted Hunter among the first economists to officially forecast Federal Reserve rate cuts and economic recession for 2019. She was also one of the first economists to begin forecasting the extensive economic impacts of COVID-19 on the U.S., noting a March 2020 start to economic recession, emerging obstacles, such as job loss and decreased consumer consumption; mask wearing resistance; virus variants; political uncertainty; and recovery, through such as federal rate changes and social shifts, as well as the pandemic's effect on Chinese economies in February 2020. In early 2021, she forecast economic changes subsequent to societal adaptations due to the pandemic, outlined in the report, "Covid's economic reset: making the quixotic quotidian". AIG In early 2022, Hunter joined AIG as executive vice president, global head of strategy and environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG). In the newly created role, her ESG responsibilities include supporting businesses as they navigate climate change, as well as meeting AIG's own net-zero by 2050 goal to match those of the Paris Agreement, and other commitments. EIU In September 2024, Hunter joined The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the business information arm of The Economist Group as chief economist. Boards and associations Hunter is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, She served as president of the National Association for Business Economics for 2019 to 2020, and is a NABE Fellow and board member, where her focus is diversity and inclusion. She serves on the board of NPO GallopNYC and is a member of various economic associations, including the New York Association of Business Economics, Money Marketeers and 100 Women in Finance. Hunter also serves on the advisory board of Social Impact Capital, and the board of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Sears Holdings	[ "Sears Holdings", "Companies based in Chicago", "Companies based in Cook County, Illinois", "Companies formerly traded over-the-counter in the United States", "Retail companies established in 2005", "Holding companies established in 2005", "Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq", "Hoffman Estates, Illinois", "Holding companies of the United States", "American companies established in 2005", "Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018" ]	5,408	47,883	Sears Holdings Corporation was an American holding company headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. It was the parent company of the chain stores Kmart and Sears and was founded after the former purchased the latter in 2005. It was the 20th-largest retailing company in the United States in 2015. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 15, 2018, and sold its assets to ESL Investments in 2019. The new owner moved Sears assets to its newly formed subsidiary Transformco. History 2004–2005: Formation On November 17, 2004, the management of Kmart Holding Corporation announced its intention to purchase Sears, Roebuck and Co. under a new corporation. Kmart previously emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on May 6, 2003. The new corporation became known as Sears Holdings Corporation, simply known as Sears Holdings. The new corporation announced that it would continue to operate stores under both the Sears and Kmart brands. The merger of Kmart and Sears closed on March 24, 2005, following affirmative shareholder votes of both companies. With the acquisition, the former HQ of Kmart in Detroit moved to the Sears Headquarters. The result of the merger was Kmart and parent Kmart Holding Corporation and Sears became subsidiaries of the new Sears Holdings Corporation. Sears Holdings now operated Sears and Kmart stores. The company continued to market products under brands held by both companies. The two companies cited several reasons for combining forces: Sears had begun investing in new, larger off-mall stores, called Sears Grand. Earlier in the year, Sears had purchased dozens of current Super Kmart locations; the merger permitted the combined company to accelerate that process. Proprietary brands held by both companies could be made more accessible to their target demographics by leveraging their combined real estate holdings. This was estimated to be an expected $200 million a year in revenue synergies. At least $300 million a year in cost savings was expected annually, particularly in the supply chain and in administrative overhead. The establishment of a shared customer-focused corporate culture between the two companies was estimated to yield improvements in revenue per unit area. Preservation of two brands after the merger was intended to allow Sears Holdings to continue focusing on different customer demographics, without alienating either group. The company is directed by a board of directors composed of members from the two companies: seven members from Kmart's board, and three from Sears. Shareholders in the Kmart Holding Corporation received one share in the new company. Shares of Sears, Roebuck, and Co. stock were converted into a combination of 55 percent stock and 45 percent cash (at $50 a share). Stockholders had a choice of receiving either stock or cash, subject to the predefined ratio. The merger was completed on March 24, 2005, after receiving regulatory approval from the government and approval by shareholders of both companies. Sears Holdings continued to operate stores under the Sears and Kmart mastheads. In 2005, Sears introduced a new store format called Sears Essentials. As part of this new store format, some Kmart stores were converted to Sears Essentials, as well as a few locations that were acquired from Walmart and several bankrupt discount retailers. The new store format combined the Sears store concept with the Kmart format, which was intended to help the company better compete with Walmart and Target. The project has since been resigned and merged with the Sears Grand concept. Sears Holdings began cross-selling merchandise between its two brands. For example, Craftsman tools were now available in Kmart stores; they were previously exclusive to the Sears brand. However, Martha Stewart brand paint colors were discontinued at Sears. Sears Holdings owned 51 percent of Sears Canada, a large department store chain in Canada similar to the U.S. stores. At one point it owned as much as 92% of the Canadian company, but it failed in 2006 to buy the remainder of Sears Canada that it did not own because Bill Ackman took a 17.3 percent stake in it and prevented any takeover. He accepted to sell his stake at $30 a share on April 23, 2010. . Sears Holdings also owns 20 percent of Sears Mexico; Carlos Slim owns the other 80 percent. Like Target stores, Kmart-branded stores in Australia belong to Wesfarmers (which acquired former owners Coles Group in 2007); Wesfarmers also holds the rights to the Kmart brand in New Zealand. In 2005, Sears Holdings sold a stake in hardware chain Orchard Supply Hardware to private equity firm Ares Management. On December 14, 2011, Sears Holdings announced that it would spin off its remaining holdings in Orchard Supply to shareholders effective December 30, 2011. In November 2006, speculation rolled around as The Chicago Sun Times reported that Sears may buy Safeway, Home Depot, Gap, BJ's Wholesale Club, Radio Shack, Pep Boys, and Anheuser-Busch. The Washington Post, in a March 11, 2007, article, described the current Sears as a hedge fund with money being diverted from the maintenance and improvement of stores to non-retail financial investments. A former executive was quoted as saying the company faced an "uncertain future". Surprisingly, a third of pre-tax income in the third quarter of 2006, according to The Washington Post, was due to financial trades and not the retail business. However, these investments performed poorly in the fourth quarter. In 2007, the company placed its three major brands in KCD IP, a "separate, wholly-owned, bankruptcy-remote subsidiary". KCD stands for the three brands: Kenmore, Craftsman, and DieHard. KCD IP then issued $1.8 billion in bonds that were sold to Sears' insurance subsidiary based in Bermuda. Sears would thus pay KCD for use of the three brands' trademarks. On December 14, 2007, the company submitted a draft merger agreement to buy Restoration Hardware for $6.75 a share. Sears already owned 13.7 percent of the company. That offer was withdrawn after Restoration's shares tumbled and a competing bid from private equity firm Catterton Partners was lowered to $4.50 per share. On February 28, Sears Holdings made an offer of $4.55 a share. In June 2008, Sears launched Servicelive.com, which was intended to connect Sears customers with local contractors for home improvement projects. The site charges 10 percent of the contract price for each completed service and offers more than 40,000 contractors. Servicelive.com was redesigned in March 2010. In 2010, Dennis Stemmle was appointed president of the division. 2010–2014 On February 22, 2010, the Sears Automotive business launched a new Independent Sears Auto Center franchise program that offers automobile dealers the opportunity to operate licensed Sears Auto Centers, with the first dealership in New Jersey. The company has faced consistent quarters of decline since the merger of Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Kmart Corp in 2005, the first year of results for the merged company. Income plunged 84 percent from $858 million, or $6.17 per diluted share from 2005 to 2011. Eddie Lampert has held the title of chairman of Sears Holdings over the period of decline. The first quarter of 2011 did not appear any better, with the company posting a net loss of $170 million, or $1.58 a share. Some industry analysts feel the heart of the problem is Eddie Lampert's "penny-pinching" cost-savings by stifling investment into stores. Instead, the company has been buying back stock and increasing its presence online. The company closed a number of stores between 2011 and 2013. On December 27, 2011, after poor holiday sales, the company announced 100 to 120 Sears and Kmart stores would close. On February 23, 2012, Sears Holdings Corp. announced it is closing all nine "The Great Indoors" stores. On December 6, 2013, Sears Holding Corp. announced that it will spin off Lands' End catalog business as a separate company by distributing stock to the retailer's stockholders. Lands' End stock began trading on the NASDAQ on April 7, 2014. 2015–2017 In 2015, Sears Holdings planned to spin off 235 of its properties into a new REIT to be called Seritage Growth Properties, with the package of properties backed by a $925 million loan from JP Morgan Chase Bank. The 235 properties, mainly Sears and Kmart locations, spread across the country and Puerto Rico, amounted to a total of 37.1 million square feet of space. The strategy of department stores converting their real estate holdings into REITs has been well-used in the current commercial real estate environment. Not everyone was happy with the Seritage move. Some people felt that the property sold were undervalued. The fact that Eddie Lampert was involved in both ends of the deal, made the move very suspect. Investors filed a lawsuit against the move. Lampert settled this deal agreeing to $40million. In May 2016, Sears Holdings announced that it was seeking strategic alternatives for its house brands to increase their revenue, including expanding their presence outside of Sears and Kmart. The filing stated that "by evaluating potential partnerships or other transactions that could expand distribution of our brands and service offerings, we can position both businesses to achieve greater success." Sears opened standalone appliance stores. In late 2016 and early 2017, some significant steps were taken by Edward Lampert, president, chief executive officer and top shareholder of Sears Holding Corp. Lampert, with personal assets estimated at $2 billion, is also the founder and manager of the hedge fund ESL Investments Inc. He provided an additional loan of $500 million to the company and said he would provide letters of credit to Sears for additional amounts, reportedly totaling $200 million and possibly increasing to a half-billion dollars in the future. During this period, the company announced that it would close 150 stores (109 Kmart and 41 Sears outlets), in an attempt to cut its losses after a decline in sales of 12 to 13 percent during the holiday shopping season and the largest quarterly loss since 2013. On January 9, 2017, Sears announced that it had reached an agreement to sell the Craftsman brand to Stanley Black & Decker for $900 million, plus royalties on new Craftsman sales for a 15-year period. During this period, Sears will continue selling Craftsman products royalty-free under a licensing agreement. As part of an effort to extend the brand, Sears launched a pilot location in San Antonio for a DieHard-branded auto service franchise, DieHard Auto Center driven by Sears Auto. The brand is intended to operate as a standalone version of the Sears Auto Center locations attached to Sears department stores; the location was chosen because it was in proximity to a Sears location that had closed. In December 2017, the Wall Street Journal reported that Sears Holdings Corp. had not paid for any national television commercials since late November 2017, for both Kmart and Sears, instead relying on online marketing. On January 4, 2018, Sears Holdings announced it would shutter 103 unprofitable Kmart and Sears stores, after 24 quarters of sales declines. These stores would be closing by April 2018, leaving Sears Holdings with 555 stores. According to an op-ed in MSN money, at this rate, Sears, along with sister company Kmart, has an extremely high chance of disappearing and going defunct in 2018, and that 2017 will have marked its final holiday season as an independent brand. On January 14, 2018, their Canadian unit, Sears Canada, ceased operations with all stores closed. On March 15, 2018, Sears Holdings announced a small profit was made in quarter 4 of 2017. However, investors are claiming that this is due to tax refunds and that sales are still falling for both Kmart and Sears. On September 11, 2018, the company stated it would announce its quarter 2 earnings when the market opened on September 13. After missing the deadline, the company announced at the end of the business day that it had lost $508 million, though same-store sales showed some improvements. The following day, Lampert blamed the losses on the company's difficulties in paying pensions and the resulting regulatory penalties. On September 28, 2018, Sears Holdings began selling at less than a dollar per share, risking delisting by NASDAQ. 2018 bankruptcy On October 10, 2018, it was reported that Sears Holdings had engaged advisors regarding an imminent bankruptcy filing. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on October 15, 2018, in New York; the same day that a $134 million debt payment was due, and will close 142 stores, including 63 Kmart stores and 79 Sears stores. All other Kmart and Sears stores are staying open to turn the company around. Their online stores sears.com, kmart.com, and shopyourway.com are also staying open to serve members affected by the store closures. On the same day, Lampert announced that he was stepping down as CEO, remaining chairman of the board. He also announced that CFO Robert A. Riecker, CDO Leena Munjal, and apparel and footwear segment president Greg Ladley would collectively share the responsibilities of CEO in his place. After hitting below $1 per share due to bankruptcy filing, Sears Holdings was delisted from NASDAQ on October 24, 2018 and became listed on OTC Pink. On November 8, 2018, Sears Holdings announced it would close an additional 40 Kmart and Sears stores. On November 23, 2018, Sears Holdings released a list of 505 stores, including 239 Kmart stores and 266 Sears stores, that are for sale in the bankruptcy process while all others are currently holding liquidation sales. On December 28, 2018, Sears Holdings announced that it would close an additional 80 Kmart and Sears stores, as it faces possible liquidation. Their deadline for a bid was December 28, 2018 at 4:00pm; if no offers are made for the company, it could face liquidation of the entire operation. During the last few minutes of the auction, Lampert sent a $4.6 billion bid to try to keep the dying company alive. He plans to keep 425 locations open, including 202 Kmart stores and 223 Sears stores, with 50,000 employees. Sears Holdings announced on January 16, 2019, that Lampert (through his hedge fund, ESL Investments) had won the bankruptcy auction, allowing the company to remain open. On January 24, 2019, a group of unsecured creditors, that included Simon Property Group, filed a motion with the bankruptcy court to overturn the deal Sears Holdings had just made with Lampert claiming that Lampert had been "engaged in serial asset stripping" of the company at the expense of suppliers and landlords. The creditors want the bankruptcy court to force the company to liquidate instead. On January 28, 2019, the federal government operated Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation announced that they were not in favor with the current Sears Holding agreement with Lampert since that agreement would create a $1.7 billion funding gap in the employee pension fund that would require the American taxpayers to cover the shortfall. The same federal agency also accused "Lampert of structuring the deal to inappropriately obtain ownership of the chain's Kenmore appliance brand and the Diehard tools brand." On February 7, 2019, a bankruptcy judge approved a $5.2 billion plan by Sears' chairman and biggest shareholder to keep the iconic business going. The approval means roughly 425 stores and 45,000 jobs will be preserved. As a result, the retail business has emerged into Transform Holdco LLC. On May 24, 2019, Sears announced it was opening small stores under the name Sears Home&Life. These stores would mainly sell appliances, mattresses, connected home products. This was done at three locations: Overland Park, Kansas, Anchorage, Alaska, and in Lafayette, Louisiana. On June 28, 2019, it was reported that Sears Holdings had plans to fully dissolve after selling its retail assets to ESL Investments a few months prior. In March 2019, Sears Holdings sued Transform Holdco LLC for $57.5 million it said it was owed from the sale. The company also said Transform owed it $41.3 million for credit card and cash transactions that occurred before the sale closed, as well as $16.2 million for a portion of February rent, according to the documents. Sears Holdings could not be reached for additional comment. The lawsuit was settled in January 2020. On October 29, 2022, Sears Holdings emerged from bankruptcy. Finances YearRevenuein mil. US$Net incomein mil. US$Total assetsin mil. US$EmployeesStores200649,45585730,467355,0003,843200753,0161,49229,906352,0003,791200849,86781227,497337,0003,791200946,00729525,444324,0003,862201043,36021824,901322,0003,862201142,66412224,360312,0003,949201241,567−3,11321,381293,0004,010201339,854−93019,340274,0002,548201436,188−1,36518,261249,0002,429201531,198−1,68213,209196,0001,725201625,146−1,12911,337178,0001,672201722,138−2,2219,362140,0001,430201816,702−3837,26289,0001,002 Former subsidiaries Kmart division Kmart – a chain of discount stores that are usually free-standing or located in strip malls. They carry most standard department store stock as well as a limited selection of grocery items. Big Kmart – a sub-chain of Kmart that uses a hypermarket model, carrying an expanded inventory. Big Kmart stores range from . Since the merger with Sears, many stores have been rebranded simply to Kmart. K-Fresh – a new format that was implemented in several Super Kmart locations, which extended the grocery section into a store-within-a-store model. mygofer – a hybrid-online retail concept launched in spring of 2009, where products are ordered ahead of time and then are either shipped to the customer or held at a local Kmart for the customer to pick up. Sears division Sears – a chain of department stores that are usually located in shopping malls. with a few freestanding locations. These stores carry traditional, middle-class priced department store items as well as an expanded appliance and tools section. Sears Grand – a sub-chain of hypermarkets typically located away from shopping malls. Many Sears Grand locations are retrofit remodels of existing Kmart or Sears stores with a few freestanding locations. They carry an expanded inventory, and can range from 165,000 to 210,000 square feet (15,300 to 19,500 m2). Sears Home Services – a division of Sears that specializes in appliance repair, lawn and garden services, HVAC service, as well as most in-home services. Sears Home Services can also do a repair on small appliances in-store. Sears PartsDirect – a chain of lawn-and-garden equipment and appliances parts stores. Some stores, branded as Sears Parts and Repair Centers, feature a carry-in point for customers to bring merchandise in that needs to be repaired either in- or out-of-warranty. Sears Vacations – online travel and booking agency owned in partnership with International Cruise & Excursions, Inc. Sears Canada – held 10% stake from 2014 to 2018. Other subsidiaries DieHard Auto Center – launched in 2017, these full-service auto care centers are similar to Sears Auto Centers although they are not attached to Sears stores. Specialize in DieHard-branded auto products. Shop Your Way – a customer loyalty program shared between all subsidiaries. A&E Factory Service – a joint venture held by Whirlpool and Sears Holdings that performs mobile appliance repairs. Wally Labs – a subsidiary created when Sears Holdings purchased the rights to WallyHome sensor technology from SNUPI Technologies in 2015. The company provides technology for home safety, security, and loss prevention. Monark Premium Appliances – Premium appliance showrooms for architects, builders, designers, developers, and homeowners to browse. Innovel Solutions – formerly known as Sears logistics, acts as the supply chain arm for Sears Holding Company and served clients like the Air Force Exchange, the Navy Exchange, and former Sears brand Lands' End. The company specializes in storing and moving items of all sizes, including furniture, large appliances, and even entire wine cellars. Providing final mile' delivery, complete installation and white glove capabilities for 'big and bulky' products across the United States and Puerto Rico. Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores – a subsidiary of Sears that operated a series of more specialized department stores. In 2012, these stores were spun off into an independent company. Sears Hometown (formerly Sears Dealer Store) – a chain of smaller, free-standing stores located in smaller markets that did not support full-sized Sears stores. These locations primarily concentrated on hardware, appliances, and lawn-and-garden supplies. Sears Outlet – an outlet version of Sears department stores located in various retail locations across the U.S. and Canada. These stores carried new, one-of-a-kind, out of a carton, discontinued, used, scratched, and dented merchandise at discount. Sears Appliance & Hardware/ Sears Appliance Outlet – a chain of free-standing hardware stores. Sears Home Appliance Showrooms – a subchain of sears that focused on home appliances and related services. Sears Fashion Outlet – a fashion-only version of Sears Outlet. Lands' End – a line of business-casual clothing, sold both at Sears in a store-within-a-store model as well as in standalone stores. Defunct Subsidiaries Kmart Super Center – the predecessor to Big Kmart, with a similar model. The last Super Kmart was located in Warren, Ohio, and closed on April 8, 2018. Sears Essentials – the predecessor to Sears Grand, with a similar model. The concept was discontinued in 2006 but stores retained the Sears Essentials name until 2012. Sears Optical – a chain of eyewear stores typically located in strip malls beginning in 1994. Sears Optical ceased operations in 2020. Orchard Supply Hardware – a chain of free-standing hardware stores, which averaged 28,000 square feet. Stores carried home repair, hardware products, and lawn and garden supplies, found primarily in California. It was owned by Sears from 1996 to 2012 and was later absorbed into Lowe's. Orchard Supply Hardware ceased operations in November 2018. The Great Indoors – a chain of free-standing home-décor stores that carry high-end appliances, bedding, and kitchen-and-bath fixtures. This chain was closed in 2012. See also Sears Kmart Kmart Australia – an independent Australian chain formerly affiliated with Kmart Sears Canada – defunct Canadian unit Sears "Design the 1988 Wish Book Cover" Contest Sears (Mexico) In the Matter of Sears Holdings Management Corporation Further reading Katz, Donald R. (1987) The Big Store – Inside the Crisis and Revolution at Sears Viking Press (New York City) Martinez, Arthur C. (2001) The Hard Road to the Softer Side: Lessons from the Transformation of Sears Crown Business (New York City) Stevenson, Katherin Cole, and Jandl, H. Ward, (1995) Houses By Mail: A Guide to Houses from Sears, Roebuck and Company John Wiley & Sons; Hoboken, New Jersey Turner, Marcia L. (2003) Kmart's Ten Deadly Sins – How Incompetence Tainted an American Icon John Wiley & Sons; Hoboken, New Jersey
Funding Societies	[ "Financial services companies established in 2015", "Companies of Singapore", "Peer-to-peer lending companies", "2015 establishments in Singapore" ]	1,478	13,508	Funding Societies is a Southeast Asian digital financing platform for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), headquartered in Singapore. It was the first such platform in Singapore to engage an escrow agency to independently and safely manage investors’ funds. In Indonesia it is known as Modalku (which means My Capital in the Indonesian language). Since its launch, it has disbursed more than US$2.6 billion in business financing to MSMEs through more than 5.1 million loan transactions. History Kelvin Teo and Reynold Wijaya founded Funding Societies in 2015 while studying for their Master of Business Administration (MBA) at Harvard Business School. Funding Societies operates an online platform that enables Small and Medium Business to seek funding for their growth from a pool of investors, through digital lending. The standard loan period ranges from 3 months to 1 year and borrowers can loan up to SGD$2,000,000. In the first month of launching, they received a total of SGD$3 million loan applications of which about SGD$250,000 was disbursed. In January 2016, Funding Societies launched Modalku, which means "My Capital" in Bahasa Indonesia to reach out to SMEs in the Indonesian Market. The company claims that SGD$7.8 million in loans had been originated through its Singapore platform up to 30 June 2016. In November 2016, Funding Societies won 3rd place in MAS’ Fintech Awards, under the subcategory Singapore SME. It was also awarded an in-principle licence. In November 2016, Funding Societies Malaysia became one of 6 licensed SME lending platforms in Malaysia recognised and regulated by the Securities Commission. In January 2017, Funding Societies was one of the first SME digital lending platforms in Singapore to be awarded Capital Markets Services Licence by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. In February, it revolutionised Business Loans by introducing FS Bolt, a mobile app for loan applications, which is now available on App Store & Google Store. In June, together with companies such as Stripe, Ant Financial Services, Funding Circle, and Dianrong, Funding Societies was recognised for its financial innovations by CB Insights in front of an audience of 1,000 senior executives from around the world and esteemed news outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, Reuters, and Bloomberg. It was listed on The FinTech 250, the only SME digital lending company from Southeast Asia. In September, Funding Societies introduced Miyubot, a chatbot driven by Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing. Miyubot works round the clock to answer queries that a business owner or an investor may ask about the products and services offered by Fintech but is no longer in use. In the same year, Modalku (Funding Societies) became the first Southeast Asian company to win the Global SME Excellence Award from United Nations' ITU Telecom. Frank Stevenaar joined as the FinTech’s first Chief Financial Officer, while Nihit Nirmal took on the role as Chief Product Officer, and Ishan Agrawal was promoted to Chief Technology Officer. This came at a juncture where the fast-growing start-up geared up for larger funding rounds and a sustained growth trajectory. Later that year, Funding Societies and Razer Fintech jointly announced their partnership to offer short-term business financing to merchants under Razer Merchant Services (RMS). More than 20,000 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Malaysia first and subsequently across the region will be connected to Funding Societies' financing solutions via Razer Merchant Services (RMS). Funding Societies also revealed that it can now extend its financing solutions to more SMEs in Singapore under Enterprise Singapore's (ESG) Enterprise Financing Scheme (EFS). The FinTech's direct lending entity, FS Capital Pte Ltd (part of Funding Societies), received the approval to become a Participating Financial Institution (PFI) in late October 2020 after years of laying the groundwork with ESG to onboard FinTechs into the Scheme. Funding Societies ended the year with Samsung Venture Investment Corporation’s investment towards its technological arm, FS Technologies. Funding Societies broke into its 4th market, Thailand, in February 2021. The platform will operate under the debt-crowdfunding license given by Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission. This expansion comes after more than one year of working with Thai regulators and planning for market entry. Thailand will be Funding Societies' fourth market in its six years of operations, making it the only SME digital financing platform in Southeast Asia to be licensed in four countries. In the same month, Funding Societies achieved $2 billion in disbursals of business financing to small and medium enterprises across the region. Then in March, Funding Societies won in two categories at the ASEAN Startup Awards 2020: Startup of the Year and Founder of the Year. The ASEAN Startup Awards is part of the Global Startup Awards, providing a spotlight to organisations and people around the region who dream big and shape our future. In October, Funding Societies raised US$18m in Debt from Japanese and Singaporean Impact Investors, putting it on track to raise US$120m. In the same month, it was recognised by the Global SME Finance Awards with an Honourable Mention as Responsible Digital Innovator of the Year. As of 2022, it has given out more than US$5.2 billion in financing through 5.1 billion loans across the region. Series A Funding Funding Societies raised S$10 million in series A funding in August 2016 led by Sequoia India and Alpha JWC Ventures. Series B funding In April 2018, just slightly over three years old, Funding Societies raised US$25 million in their Series B round of funding, led by Softbank Ventures Korea, an early-stage venture capital arm of Softbank Group famous for its US$100 billion Vision Fund. Their existing investors Sequoia India, Alpha JWC Ventures (Indonesia) and Golden Gate Ventures together with new Venture Capitalists Qualgro and LINE Ventures also participated in this round. Partnerships Funding Societies has secured the following partnerships: DBS Bank in April 2016. See also Comparison of crowdfunding services
Blinkit	[ "2022 mergers and acquisitions", "Companies based in Gurgaon", "Indian companies established in 2013", "Retail companies established in 2013", "Transport companies established in 2013", "Internet properties established in 2013", "Online grocers", "Online retailers of India", "Softbank portfolio companies", "Privately held companies of India" ]	1,431	16,793	Blink Commerce Private Limited, d/b/a Blinkit and formerly Grofers, is an Indian quick-commerce company owned by Eternal Limited. It was founded in December 2013 and is based in Gurgaon. Customers of the company use a mobile application to order groceries and essentials online. Blinkit's employees then secure the items from their warehouse and deliver the items to the consumer within 10 minutes. By November 2021, the company was delivering 125,000 orders every day. Blinkit currently operates in more than 30 cities in India. By the end of 2021, the company had raised about million from investors including SoftBank, Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital. In 2022, Zomato Limited (now Eternal) acquired Blinkit for US$568 million in an all-stock deal. History Blinkit was founded in December 2013 by Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar as Grofers. Having met each other while working for Cambridge Systematics during the late 2000s, they teamed up to enter the grocery delivery space. Their goal was to solve the problems (both on customer as well as merchant end) associated with the unorganized nature of the sector. The startup piloted in Delhi NCR before reaching other cities in India. After seven years of operations as an online grocery delivery service, Blinkit introduced express grocery delivery in India, by building dark stores across cities. In July 2021, the company reported delivering over 7000 groceries in 15 minutes in Gurgaon. A month later, in August 2021, it introduced 10-minute delivery in the top-12 cities, after completing over 20,000 under-15-minute deliveries per day across 10 cities. On 13 December 2021, Grofers changed its brand name to Blinkit in line with its vision to embrace quick-commerce. In March 2022, Blinkit fired 1,600 employees and ground staff, nearly 5% of its total workforce, in an effort to cut the burn rate. Following this, Zomato Limited (now Eternal) granted a US$150 million loan to Blinkit. Zomato had acquired a 10% stake in the company the year prior. Following numerous discussions, on 24 June 2022, Zomato announced that it would acquire Blinkit for US$568 million in an all-stock deal. The acquisition was completed on 10 August 2022. Services Blinkit primarily delivers groceries, fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, stationery, bakery items, personal care, baby care and pet care products, snacks, flowers, Ambulance etc. Criticism Blinkit is involved in a legal dispute for the name Blinkit. Grofers India had applied for the trademark on December 24, 2021. In August 2021, the company's 10-minute delivery service faced criticism with concerns raised over the safety of delivery partners. CEO Albinder Dhindsa, in a tweet, defended the mechanism behind express delivery and claimed that there had been zero accidents. In April 2023, hundreds of Blinkit delivery partners in Delhi NCR, where about half of the company's dark stores were located, went on strike after a revision in payout structure resulted in lower earnings for them. This led to a temporary closure of many dark stores. In June 2024, the FSSAI conducted a raid on a Blinkit warehouse in Telangana, uncovering multiple food safety violations, including unhygienic storage and handling, expired food products, and packets suspected of infestation. Funding rounds Source: Transaction Name Number of Investors Fund RaisedSeries A1KSeries B2MSeries C2MSeries D5MSeries E3MSeries F7MSale Zomato LimitedM See also Zepto Zomato
Stéphane Bancel	[ "French billionaires", "1972 births", "Living people", "École Centrale Paris alumni", "University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering alumni", "Harvard Business School alumni", "Paris-Saclay University alumni", "21st-century French businesspeople", "French chief executives", "Moderna people" ]	513	5,103	Stéphane Bancel (born 20 July 1972) is a French business executive. He is the chief executive officer (CEO) of the American pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Moderna, known for its COVID-19 vaccine. Before joining Moderna, Bancel was the CEO of French diagnostics company BioMérieux. Bancel is a partner at Flagship Pioneering, and has served on the boards of Indigo Agriculture, Boston's Museum of Science, and Qiagen. As of May 2023, his net worth was estimated at US$4.1 billion, owning about 8% of Moderna. Early life Bancel was born in Marseille, France. His father and mother were an engineer and doctor, respectively. He enjoyed computers, math, and science during his childhood. Bancel studied engineering at CentraleSupélec (former École Centrale Paris) and biological engineering at the University of Minnesota, earning master's degrees at both institutions. He went on to earn an MBA from Harvard Business School. Career Bancel was a sales director at Eli Lilly and Company, eventually becoming head of operations for Belgium. In 2007, he became CEO of French diagnostics company BioMérieux, and was credited with improving the company's margins. In 2011, Bancel joined Moderna as the CEO. Stat reported that Bancel led a highly secretive culture with little outside review of its science or research. Personal life Bancel has two children. In April 2020, with the Moderna share price rising on news of imminent phase 2 human trials for its potential COVID-19 vaccine, Bancel's stake of about 9% became worth over $1 billion. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
Company of Scotland	[ "Former Scottish colonies", "Defunct companies of Scotland", "Chartered companies", "1695 establishments in Scotland", "Political scandals in Scotland", "Companies established in 1695", "Trading companies of Scotland", "Trade in Scotland" ]	1,888	14,710	The Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies, also called the Scottish Darien Company, was an overseas trading company created by an act of the Parliament of Scotland in 1695. The act granted the company a monopoly of Scottish trade to India, Africa and the Americas, extraordinary sovereign rights and 21 years of exemptions from taxation. Financial and political troubles plagued its early years. The court of directors was divided between those residing and meeting in Edinburgh and those in London, amongst whom were both Scots and English. They were also divided by business intentions; some intended to trade in India and on the African coast, as an effective competitor to the English East India Company, while others were drawn to William Paterson's Darien scheme, which ultimately prevailed. In July 1698 the company launched its first expedition, led by Paterson, who hoped to establish a colony in Darien (on the Isthmus of Panama), which could then be used as a trading point between Europe and the Far East. Though five ships and 1,200 Scottish colonists landed successfully in Darien, the settlement was poorly provisioned and eventually abandoned. A second, larger expedition (launched before the fate of the first was known) took up the deserted settlement, but was quickly besieged by the Spanish. More than a thousand succumbed to hunger and disease, and in April 1700, two ships carried the few survivors home. In 1700–01 the Company sent further expeditions to Java and China, but suffered shipwrecks at Malacca and seizure of cargo by pirates at Madagascar. The company was involved in the Indian Ocean slave trade between 1698 and 1707. On 26 June 1695 the Parliament of Scotland passed the (c. 10), Act for a Company Tradeing to Affrica and the Indies, establishing the Company of Scotland trading to Africa and the Indies. The subscription book of the Company of Scotland was opened in Edinburgh on 26 February 1696, inviting investments from a minimum of £100 up to a maximum of £3,000. Such was the popularity of the scheme that on the first day alone 69 subscriptions were taken, worth £50,400. A second book was open in Glasgow between 5 March and 22 April. Although attempts to raise funds in London, Hamburg and Amsterdam had been blocked, by the beginning of August 1696 the full target of £400,000 sterling had been reached. When the Company of Scotland was first formed, it was managed by its promoters, whose key task was to encourage subscriptions to the company. Once the subscription target of £400,000 sterling had been reached, however, the company required a more formal management structure. On 3 April 1696 a general meeting of subscribers elected a committee of twenty from their number to work with the promoters to establish rules and a constitution. By the middle of the month they had agreed that the company would be managed by a court of directors and a council general. The court of directors was to be an elected body with a maximum of fifty members, with each £1,000 of stock entitling its holder to one vote in the election. Twenty-five members would be elected by the subscribers, with up to a further twenty-five being elected by the first twenty-five. Subscribers with a holding of £1,000 or more could stand for election. A different director was to act as president of the court at each meeting. The first court of twenty-five directors was elected by shareholders on 12 May 1696. Candidates for election had to own at least £1,000 of company stock and so a limited number of shareholders, 119 out of a total of 1,320 (1,267 individuals and 53 institutions), were eligible to become directors. The court's directors came from across Scotland's wealthy classes, comprising two nobles, eight merchants and 15 lairds. Shortly afterwards, the first twenty-five directors appointed William Paterson and three others as additional directors. From July 1696 the court of directors met in the company's offices in Mylne Square on Edinburgh's High Street. The council general was to be a larger body than the court of directors, comprising both the directors themselves and representatives of the remaining subscribers, with one representative for each £10,000 of stock. Whilst the court of directors was responsible for the day-to-day running of the company, the council general was convened to discuss major decisions, such as capital-raising, the election of future directors and the payment of dividends. The council general was only convened as and when there were matters to discuss, and therefore meetings were not held at regular intervals. Consequences of failure All told, the venture, dubbed the Darien Scheme, drained Scotland of an estimated quarter of its liquid assets and played a key role in leading the country to the Act of Union 1707 which united the kingdoms of Scotland and England. By 1707, the company's debt was over £14,000 (). The new joint government, in a political bargain, agreed to cover the costs of winding up the Company of Scotland, in addition to compensate for servicing the English national debt and higher taxes for Scotland. Ships Rising Sun Saint Andrew (1697) (a 56-gun, 350 ton East Indiaman built in Lübeck) Caledonia (1697) (a 56-gun, 350 ton East Indiaman built in Lübeck) Dolphin (originally a French snow, Royal Louis, bought by James Gibson in Amsterdam) Endeavour (a pink bought by Dr. John Munro in Newcastle upon Tyne) Unicorn (a 46-gun merchant vessel, originally named Saint Francis, bought by James Gibson in Amsterdam) Original signators and major shareholders, May 1695 Note: James Balfour of Edinburgh (later styled "of Pilrig") Robert Blackwood of Pitreavie Sir Robert Chiesley of Bonnington, Lord Provost of Edinburgh James Chiesley, brother of the above, Scottish merchant in London George Clerk, bailie of Edinburgh Adam Cockburn, Lord Ormiston John Corse, sugar merchant in Glasgow, brother of Robert Corse Thomas Coutts, Scottish merchant in London Joseph Cowan, Scottish merchant in London Thomas Deans James Foulis of Colinton Hugh Fraser, Scottish merchant in London John Hamilton, Lord Belhaven Sir John Maxwell of Nether Pollok Francis Montgomerie of Giffen David Nairn David Ovedo of London William Paterson, Scottish banker in London Walter Stewart, Scottish merchant in London John Swinton of Swinton All were Scots by birth except John Smith, who was Lord of the Treasury for the English parliament. Court of Directors, May 1696 William Arbuckle - Glasgow merchant George Baillie of Jerviswood - Commissioner for Berwickshire James Balfour - Edinburgh merchant John Hamilton, 2nd Lord Belhaven and Stenton Robert Blackwood - Edinburgh merchant James Campbell - London merchant George Clark - Edinburgh merchant Adam Cockburn, Lord Ormiston - Lord Justice Clerk John Corse - Glasgow merchant Hew Dalrymple - Commissioner for New Galloway James Drummond of Newton Lieutenant Colonel John Erskine John Haldane of Gleneagles William Hay of Drumelzier Sir John Home of Blackadder - Commissioner for Berwickshire Daniel Lodge - London merchant James McLurg of Vogrie - Edinburgh merchant Sir John Maxwell of Pollock, 1st Baronet - Commissioner for Renfrewshire Francis Montgomerie of Giffen - Commissioner for Ayrshire Hugh Montgomery - Glasgow merchant Sir Archibald Muir of Thornton - Commissioner for Cupar William Paterson - London banker James Pringle of Torwoodlee - Commissioner for Selkirkshire David Ruthven, 2nd Lord Ruthven of Freeland Sir Francis Scott of Thirlestane - Commissioner for Selkirkshire (father of William Scott of Thirlestane) Sir Patrick Scott of Ancrum Sir John Shaw, 2nd Baronet of Greenock James Smyth - London merchant Sir John Swinton of that Ilk - Commissioner for Berwickshire Robert Watson - Edinburgh merchant William Wooddrop - Glasgow merchant See also List of trading companies Notes and references Refer: Papers Relating to the Ships and Voyages of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies, 1696-1707 edited by George Pratt Insh, M.A., Scottish History Society, Edinburgh University Press, 1924. Further reading Watt, Douglas (2024), The Price of Scotland: Darien, Union and the Wealth of Nations, Luath Press, Edinburgh,
Tractor Supply Company	[ "Farm and ranch supply stores of the United States", "Retail companies established in 1938", "Companies based in Tennessee", "Williamson County, Tennessee", "Home improvement retailers of the United States", "Companies listed on the Nasdaq", "1938 establishments in North Dakota", "1994 initial public offerings", "Agriculture companies established in 1938", "American companies established in 1938", "Hardware stores of the United States", "Agricultural supply stores", "Pet stores" ]	3,273	35,241	Tractor Supply Company (also known as TSCO or TSC), founded in 1938, is an American chain store that sells home improvement, agriculture, lawn and garden maintenance, livestock, equine and pet care equipment and supplies. It caters to farmers, ranchers, pet owners, and landowners. As of 2024, the company had 2,250 stores. It is based in Brentwood, Tennessee. It is publicly traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol TSCO and is a Fortune 500 company. History In 1938, Charles Schmidt founded Tractor Supply Company in Chicago as a mail-order business that sold tractors. The first retail store was founded in 1939 in Minot, North Dakota. From 1941 to 1946, the company opened stores in Nebraska, Minnesota and Iowa. On January 14, 1959, Tractor Supply became publicly traded on the over-the-counter market and reached $10 million in sales. The company was later traded on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1967, TSC opened its first international stores in Canada. Two years later, Schmidt sold his controlling interest in the company to National Industries. This and other factors, such as changing executive leadership and adding inventory that strayed from its traditional categories, led to a few years of losses for the company. From that point onward, the Canadian stores were now completely separate from the US Tractor Supply Company and were 100% Canadian-owned. The licensing agreement allowed them to keep using TSC, but not "Tractor Supply Company." In 1979, the company moved to Nashville, Tennessee. In 1982, Tractor Supply put ownership of the company back in the hands of executives and returned to their farm-store niche, resulting in a break-even year. The company was re-incorporated in Delaware the same year. On February 17, 1994, the company's stock was listed on the Nasdaq under the symbol TSCO. Tractor Supply expanded to serve hobbyist farmers, such as families living in the suburbs with an interest in gardening and livestock. In 2002, the company earned $1.21 billion. Two years later in 2004, the company reported revenues of more than $1.7 billion and Fortune magazine named Tractor Supply to its list of the 100 fastest growing businesses. That year, Tractor Supply moved its headquarters to Brentwood, Tennessee. Jim Wright served as the CEO from 2004 to 2013. He was replaced by Gregory Sandfort. In 2014, Tractor Supply made it on the Fortune 500 list. On March 31, 2018, the company opened its 1700th store. On September 4, 2018, the company celebrated its 80th anniversary by ringing the closing bell at the NASDAQ Stock Exchange in New York. TSC's 1,900th store opened in September 2020. By December, the company had 1,923 stores in 49 states. By October 2021, there were 1,967 stores in 49 states. Hal Lawton became CEO in 2020. That year, the company received a Great Place to Work certification. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Tractor Supply was deemed an essential business and remained open. The company saw revenue grow 27 percent as more people turned to gardening and pet and livestock ownership. That year, it also established the Tractor Supply Company Foundation. In 2021, Tractor Supply reached #291 on the Fortune 500 list and had over 20 million members in its loyalty program, Neighbor's Club. TSC is the largest retail ranch and farm store operator in the U.S. On Oct 11, 2022, Tractor Supply received clearance from the FTC to close on its acquisition of Orscheln Farm & Home. In order to mitigate federal anti-trust concerns, Tractor Supply sold 73 Orscheln stores and the Orscheln distribution center in Moberly, Missouri, to Bomgaars; 12 stores were sold to Missouri-based farm store chain Buchheit. As of late 2024, Tractor Supply had 2,216 locations with a target of 3,000. The target number of locations increased by 200 from the previous year. Products Tractor Supply carries between 15,500 and 20,000 products in store, including work and recreational clothing, lawn and garden tools, home goods, fencing, truck beds, chicken coops, pet food, and feed for farm animals. Around 15 percent of in-store products are unique to each store's region. Online, the company offers thirteen product categories and sells between 125,000 and 150,000 products. In 2020, the livestock and pet products category accounted for 47 percent of the company's sales. Two categories tied for second-highest sales with 21 percent each: hardware, tools, truck and towing products; and seasonal products such as lawn and garden equipment, gifts, and toys. They were followed by clothing and footwear with 7 percent and agricultural products with 4 percent of sales. Tractor Supply's exclusive brands represented 29 percent of their total sales in 2021. Store brands Tractor Supply's store brands include: 4health Red Shed CountyLine Retriever Ridgecut Blue Mountain American Farm Works Barn Star Bit & Bridle C.E. Schmidt Workwear Red Stone Producer's Pride Job Smart Paws & Claws Traveller Treeline Pet Vet Clinic Tractor Supply Co Rx Operations and corporate affairs Management Hal Lawton As of 2024, Hal Lawton is president and chief executive officer of Tractor Supply Company. He is also a member of the firm's board. Lawton started his career in a paper mill in rural North Carolina. In 2000, he joined McKinsey & Co. and was an associate principal until 2005. From 2005 to 2015, Lawton held different positions at The Home Depot. From August 2015 to September 2017, Lawton was the SVP of eBay North America. From September 2017 to December 2019, he served as the president for Macy's. Marketing Tractor Supply's mission statement is: "To work hard, have fun and make money by providing legendary service and great products at everyday low prices." In the mid-2000s, Tractor Supply conducted advertising campaigns featuring the slogan "The Stuff You Need Out Here." The company's tagline later became “For Life Out Here.” From 1998 to 2002, George Strait was the spokesman for Tractor Supply. In 2020, Tractor Supply was a sponsor of the NBA. In 2021, the company became a corporate sponsor of PBR. In 2024, Tractor Supply extended its contract with Yellowstone star Lainey Wilson to serve as a brand ambassador for the company. In 2023, Wilson served as the curator for the firm's Emerging Artist Program that supports country music talent. Acquisitions and subsidiaries In 2002, Tractor Supply was part of a group (also including four liquidation firms) that purchased some of the leases of the bankrupt Quality Stores, a Michigan-based company. The company operated over 300 stores in 30 states under the names CT Farm & Country; Country General; Quality Farm & Fleet; County Post; Central Farm and Fleet, and FISCO. In September 2016, Tractor Supply acquired Petsense, a small-box specialty retailer of pet supplies primarily located in small and mid-size communities. In February 2021, the company announced that it would acquire Orscheln Farm & Home for $297 million. The acquisition was approved by the Federal Trade Commission in October of 2022 on the condition that 85 of the locations to be acquired would be divested. Tractor Supply sold 73 stores to Bomgaars Supply and 12 stores to Burcheit Enterprises. Tractor Supply received about $72 million in consideration for these locations. Tractor Supply also owns Del's Feed & Farm Supply, a former farm retail chain in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii, with all but two Del's stores having been converted into Tractor Supply stores. Philanthropy The company has been a sponsor for 4-H since 2010. In the fall of 2021, Tractor Supply raised $1.3 million for 4-H members through their Paper Clover campaign. In 2016, the company started its Grants for Growing program to raise money for FFA students. In 2021, the company raised $790,269. In 2019, Tractor Supply started working with the MuttNation Foundation, a nonprofit founded by Miranda Lambert that helps shelter pets. The foundation is supported by proceeds from MuttNation's line of pet products sold by Tractor Supply. In 2020, Tractor Supply joined Land O'Lakes, Microsoft and others in the American Connection Project to support rural broadband access. Tractor Supply has been a backer of Future Farmers of America (FFA) since 1985. As of 2024, the company has given $24 million to support the FFA. In 2022, Tractor Supply announced that it would spend $5 million over the next five years to support the FFA Future Leaders Scholarship. As of late 2024, about 300 students have received such scholarships for use at colleges and trade schools. As of late 2023, Tractor Supply had a partnership with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The company has collaborated with the foundation on at least 12 wishes within Tennessee. As of 2024, Tractor Supply supports service members, veterans, and first responders through its "Hometown Heroes" program. The program provides several perks to these groups. As a part of this program, the company donated $1 million split evenly among ten groups. The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and The Bob Woodruff Foundation both received such donations. Conservation initiatives In 2017, all TSC stores were outfitted with LED lighting. In 2021, the company was named to Investor Business Daily's 100 Best ESG Companies. In December 2021, the company joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership. Withdrawal of DEI, LGBTQ, and carbon emissions initiatives On June 27, 2024, TSC issued a statement that they were abandoning a range of LGBTQ, DEI, and environmental initiatives. TSC said it would stop submitting data to Human Rights Campaign and would no longer sponsor pride festivals. It eliminated internal DEI roles and abandoned its DEI goals. TSC also gave up its plan to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040. The company said that the changes were made to better represent the values of its customers who were upset by its practices. Awards and recognition In 2023, Tractor Supply was named a "Great Place to Work" by Fortune. Further reading
Juniper Advisory	[ "Companies based in Chicago", "Financial services companies established in 2006", "Banks established in 2006", "Investment banks in the United States", "Health care companies based in Illinois", "Banks based in Chicago" ]	613	7,538	Juniper Advisory is a consulting firm based in Chicago that focuses exclusively on non-profit hospital mergers and acquisitions. Founded by veteran investment bankers James Burgdorfer and David Gordon, the firm provides strategic financial advice relating to business combination transactions and other corporate finance matters. The firm specializes in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, partnerships, joint ventures, and lease arrangements in the industry. It is particularly active in advising government-owned, 501(c)(3), faith-based, and academic medical centers on structural ownership alternatives. Background Members of Juniper came from several larger Wall Street firms, includes: Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, Piper Jaffray, Morgan Stanley, A.G. Becker, Nuveen, Rothschild & Co, William Blair, and others. Several modeled their academic educations around healthcare finance and economics at the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, University of Michigan, University of Notre Dame, and Vanderbilt University. Transactions Recent advisory assignments include transactions with: The Cleveland Clinic, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, The University of Chicago Medical Center, Christus Health, Adventist Health, Jefferson Health, Hospital Corporation of America (during ownership under Bain Capital, KKR, and Merrill Lynch), Duke University Health System and LifePoint Health, UnityPoint Health, Spectrum Health, Sentara Healthcare, Dignity Health, McLaren Health Care Corporation, Ardent Health Services (a portfolio company of Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, Equity International, and Ventas, Inc., Vanguard Health Systems, a portfolio company of The Blackstone Group now part of Tenet Healthcare, Community Health Systems, RCCH Health (a portfolio company of Warburg Pincus, Apollo Global Management) and Temple University Hospital. Industry involvement The principals are active writers and speakers in the non-profit healthcare industry, and are frequently cited by The Wall Street Journal, The Bond Buyer, Modern Healthcare, Trustee, American Health Lawyers Association, Chicago Tribune, WGN-TV, and Healthcare Financial Management Association. Recent topics include fair market value considerations in consolidation (business) transactions, fiduciary governance responsibilities in change of control transactions. The team has authored a number of research articles, including stand-alone whitepapers for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Key team members James Burgdorfer: Principal David Gordan: Principal Rex Burgdorfer : Partner Jordan Shields: Partner
List of the largest trading partners of the Netherlands	[ "Foreign trade of the Netherlands", "Economy-related lists of superlatives", "Lists of trading partners", "Economy of the Netherlands-related lists" ]	519	4,302	This is a list of the largest trading partners of the Netherlands based on data from The Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC). + Export in Billion US-Dollar Rank Country Export(2016) 1. 80 2. 59 3. 44 4. 26 5. 22 6. 16 7. 13 8. 11 9. 10 10. 10 11. 712.713.714.515.416.4+ Import in Billion US-Dollar Rank Country Import(2016) 1. 72 2. 44 3. 39 4. 33 5. 23 6. 23 7. 178.109.8 10. 8 11. 812.813.7 14. 715.7 Countries and regions which the Netherlands is the largest trading partner of The Netherlands is a dominant trading partner of several countries. The following tables are based on 2015 data as shown on the CIA World Factbook unless otherwise indicated. Some countries are repeated from the previous table. +Exports Region Percentage29.2%26.1%11.9%+Imports Region Percentage16.9%16.7%13.7% See also Economy of the Netherlands List of the largest trading partners of the United States List of the largest trading partners of the ASEAN List of the largest trading partners of China List of the largest trading partners of Russia List of the largest trading partners of Germany List of the largest trading partners of the European Union Netherlands
John Hancock Financial	[ "Manulife Financial", "Financial services companies established in 1862", "Companies based in Boston", "Former mutual insurance companies", "American companies established in 1862", "Life insurance companies of the United States", "1862 establishments in Massachusetts", "2000 initial public offerings", "2004 mergers and acquisitions", "Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange", "American subsidiaries of foreign companies", "Mutual insurance companies of the United States" ]	1,041	9,459	John Hancock Life Insurance Company, U.S.A. is a Boston-based insurance company. Established April 21, 1862, it was named in honor of John Hancock, a prominent American Patriot. In 2004, Canadian multinational life insurance company Manulife Financial acquired John Hancock and operates it as an independent subsidiary. The company and the majority of Manulife's U.S. assets continue to operate under the John Hancock name. On April 21, 1862, the charter of the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company was approved by John A. Andrew, governor of Massachusetts. There was not always a standardization for how the company name has been referenced. For example, a John Hancock advertisement from 1912 refers to the company as "John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company," but some John Hancock advertisements and newspaper articles from the 1930s refer to it as the "John Hancock Life Insurance Company." However, 1940s sources again refer to the company as the "John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company." In 1964, the company financed the construction of the John Hancock Center (now known as 875 Michigan Avenue) in Chicago, which was the second tallest building in the world upon completion in 1969. The company sold the naming rights in 2018. In 1972, Dr. Mary Ella Robertson was named as the first black woman and first female to serve on the John Hancock Board. In 2000, led by David D'Alessandro, the company "demutualized," meaning that "John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company" formally ceased to exist, and a new company named "John Hancock Financial Services, Inc." came into existence. Policyholders received shares in the new company in exchange for giving up ownership in the old. Life insurance continued to be sold by an entity known as the "John Hancock Variable Life Insurance Company", a subsidiary of John Hancock Financial Services Inc. On January 27, 2000, shares of Hancock stock started to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol JHF. On September 29, 2003, Manulife Financial of Canada announced its intent to acquire John Hancock for $10.4 billion. The merged entity would be led by D'Alessandro, but he would step down in June 2004. The sale also included a Canadian subsidiary of John Hancock, Maritime Life; it was integrated into Manulife's Canadian operations. Headquarters The headquarters and its 1,100 employees are based in 200 Berkeley Street, sometimes known as the "Old John Hancock Building" and 197 Clarendon Street. John Hancock no longer has a presence in the Back Bay tower at 200 Clarendon Street, still known by many Bostonians as the Hancock Tower. The company was headquartered at 601 Congress Street in the Seaport District from 2005 to 2018, when it consolidated with offices it had retained in the Back Bay. Investor Sentiment Index John Hancock created an index called the "John Hancock Investor Sentiment Index" in 2011. The company describes the index as a "quarterly measure of investors' views on a range of investment choices, life goals and economic outlook." Leadership In October 2017, Marianne Harrison became the first female president and chief executive officer of John Hancock. She earned a reported $4.4 million in compensation in 2017. On March 3, 2023, Brooks Tingle was named the new President and CEO, effective April 1, 2023, with Marianne Harrison retiring after 20 years with the company. Mr. Tingle announced his leadership plans for the company to enhance human longevity and health in Boston as a longevity hub. See also John Hancock Bowl, a college football bowl game the company previously sponsored in El Paso, Texas USS Hancock (CV-19), a WW2 Aircraft carrier named after the company raised enough war bonds
Pilkington	[ "Glassmaking companies of the United Kingdom", "Companies based in St Helens", "Manufacturing companies established in 1826", "1826 establishments in England", "Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange", "Former defence companies of the United Kingdom", "Sumitomo Group", "British companies established in 1826", "British subsidiaries of foreign companies", "2006 mergers and acquisitions" ]	3,043	25,340	Pilkington is a glass-manufacturing company which is based in Lathom, Lancashire, England. It includes several legal entities in the UK, and is a subsidiary of Japanese company Nippon Sheet Glass (NSG). It was formerly an independent company listed on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Established in 1826 as the St Helens Crown Glass Company, the company gradually grew to become the largest employer in St Helens, where it was originally based. It was renamed Pilkington Brothers in 1845 following the ending of the partnership with the Greenall family. The business continued to expand, becoming Pilkington Brothers Limited after its incorporation in 1894. In 1903, it became the sole British manufacturer of plate glass as well as the dominant producer of sheet glass. After the First World War, Pilkington was one of only two large glass manufacturers remaining in Britain, the other being Chance Brothers; the firm gradually expanded its stake in Chance and fully acquired it in 1951. The company performed strongly during the Second World War, fulfilling all wartime demands and emerged in a relatively strong position in the conflict's aftermath. During the 1950s, Pilkington employees Alastair Pilkington (no family relation) and Kenneth Bickerstaff invented the float glass process; the firm leveraged licensing agreements for many other manufacturers to use this new process in exchange for royalty payments. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Pilkington invested heavily into its manufacturing sites and acquired numerous overseas competitors. It also became a major world supplier of toughened and laminated safety glass via its controlling interest in Triplex Safety Glass. During 1970, Pilkington was floated as a public company on the London Stock Exchange; prior to this, the firm had been owned by a combination of descendants of the Pilkington family and several employee trusts. In late 1985, Pilkington was the subject of a hostile takeover bid from BTR Industries which it successfully warded off. During the 1990s, amid allegations that Pilkington had organised a cartel due to its hold on the float glass market, the US government and Pilkington filed a proposed consent decree that released other businesses from several licensing terms. In late 2005, the company received an initial takeover bid from NSG; a second and more generous bid was accepted by Pilkington's key shareholders. The acquisition was completed during June 2006; the combined company has since competed for global leadership of the glass industry. The company was founded in 1826 as a partnership between members of the Pilkington and Greenall families, based in St Helens, Lancashire, England. The venture used the trading name of St Helens Crown Glass Company. The company grew to become the biggest employer in St Helens. The distinctive blue-glass head office tower block on Alexandra Business Park, off Prescot Road, originally used as the firm's world headquarters, and completed in 1964, still dominates the town's skyline. Following the departure from the partnership of the last Greenall in 1845, the firm was renamed as Pilkington Brothers. During 1894, the business was incorporated under the Companies Act 1862 as Pilkington Brothers Limited. In 1903, it became the sole British manufacturer of plate glass as well as the dominant producer of sheet glass. Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, the company struck a series of market agreements with various domestic and European glass manufacturers of varying effectiveness. European competitors, particularly those based in Belgium, had applied considerable competitive pressure to Britain's glass making industry; Pilkington was less susceptible due to a strong focus on exports and international developments throughout the British Empire and South America. The company also invested heavily into its manufacturing capabilities, such as a new plate glass works outside Doncaster in 1922, and introduced new production techniques. After the First World War, Pilkington was one of only two large glass manufacturers remaining in Britain, the other being Chance Brothers, which mostly produced cast glass. The two companies formed various agreements during the interwar period to share the domestic market and to not undercut each other; furthermore, Pilkington agreed to purchase any shares in the firm that Chance's owners wished to sell, thus it gradually built up a sizable stake in the firm. In 1951, Chance became wholly owned by Pilkington. Pilkington found itself in a relatively strong position in the aftermath of the Second World War, having exclusively fulfilled Britain's wartime requirements and even managing to expand its export activities. While there was no reintroduction of the pre-war quota arrangements and its historic undertakings with individual merchants were abandoned during 1950, the company still entered an export agreement with its competitors in the European mainland. Further reforms to its business practices were made in response to the enactment of the Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1956. Between 1953 and 1957, Pilkington employees Alastair Pilkington (no family relation) and Kenneth Bickerstaff invented the float glass process, a revolutionary method of high-quality flat glass production by floating molten glass over a bath of molten tin, avoiding the costly need to grind and polish plate glass to make it clear. Pilkington allowed the float process to be used under licence by numerous manufacturers around the world. Amongst other benefits, these licensing arrangements often helped the company to further its interests, including the expansion of its presence in the European market and even gaining stakes in other manufacturers. During the 1960s and 1970s, Pilkington used the flow of float royalty payments to finance its investments in float glass plants across several countries, including Argentina, Australia, Canada and Sweden, and also to acquire major existing flat and safety glass producers and plants in the United States (Libbey Owens Ford), Germany and France. Pilkington, with its subsidiary Triplex Safety Glass, in which it gradually acquired a controlling interest, also became a major world supplier of toughened and laminated safety glass to the automotive, aerospace and building industries. A Monopolies Commission report in 1967, concluded that Pilkington and Triplex operations were efficient and entrepreneurial and, despite their high share of the UK glass trade, operated in a manner suited to consumers' best interests. At the time, the majority of the company's shareholding was largely in the hands of various descendants of the original owners or employee trusts. During 1970, Pilkington was floated as a public company on the London Stock Exchange. A rank-and-file strike during 1970, sparked off by an error in wage packets, brought 8,000 workers out for nearly two months. The General and Municipal Workers Union and Trades Union Congress leadership failed to provide any support, as they were too closely bound to management and government circles, with the result that strike leaders were blacklisted. Anti-union legislation was introduced by central government. These events were recreated in Ken Loach's film The Rank and File, although the BBC insisted on a change in the name and location of the company, so that the film is set at a fictitious "Wilkinsons" factory in the Midlands. In late 1985, Pilkington was the subject of a hostile takeover bid from BTR Industries, a large British-based conglomerate group, which valued the company at $1.64 billion. Pilington's management rejected the offer and fought a successful defensive campaign in which various politicians took sides in the matter, thus BTR was compelled to withdraw its offer in February 1987. Litigation Pilkington aggressively protected its patents and trade secrets through a network of licensing agreements with glass manufacturers around the world. The modern "float" technique (pouring the molten glass on a layer of very pure molten tin) became commercially widespread when Alastair Pilkington developed a practical version, patented in the late 1950s and early 1960s. As Pilkington plc owned all but one of the manufacturing plants around the world employing the float process, Pilkington had a monopoly. Although the patents had expired by the early 1980s, Pilkington had licensed their use, and required the licensees to keep the details of the float glass process secret. Guardian Industries had tried to challenge Pilkington's dominance but had made a secret agreement to prevent new entrants into the market, with Guardian taking the lead to enable Pilkington, a British company, to reduce its exposure to United States antitrust law. In May 1994, the United States Department of Justice filed suit on the grounds that Pilkington had created a cartel by exercising control over the markets in which its licensees could sell float glass and construct float-glass manufacturing plants, and over the customers within each market to which each licensee could serve. It was claimed this was a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act, because Pilkington's patents had expired and any trade secrets which it might have had in the process used by the licensees had long since become publicly known. On the same day, the US government and Pilkington filed a proposed consent decree, which enjoined Pilkington from enforcing these restrictions against its US licensees, or against US non-licensees, or against non-US licensees wishing to export either technology or glass products to the United States. The agreement came into force on 22 December 1994, and expired ten years later. During 2008, the European Commission imposed a fine of €357 million on Pilkington, along with three other glass manufacturers, for its part in a five-year price-fixing scheme used in car windscreens. Pilkington Optronics In 1988, Pilkington plc formed a new subsidiary, Pilkington Optronics, in order to group together the company's optronics businesses: Pilkington PE located in North Wales (formed in 1966), and Barr and Stroud (acquired in 1977) which was based in Glasgow. Pilkington PE later became Thales Optics Ltd., which was divested from Thales in December 2005 as Qioptiq Ltd. Thomson-CSF acquired 50% of Pilkington Optronics in 1991. In 1995, Pilkington Optronics acquired Thorn EMI Electro Optics which was renamed Pilkington Thorn Optronics. Three years later, Thomson-CSF purchased another 40% of Pilkington Optronics from Pilkington and the remainder in 2000 to make it a wholly owned subsidiary. In 2000, Thomson-CSF was renamed Thales and Pilkington Optronics Ltd. became Thales Optronics Ltd. Soon afterward, Thomson-CSF acquired W Vinten Ltd, a British reconnaissance equipment manufacturer, including the Joint Reconnaissance Pod, who now operate as Thales Optronics (Bury St Edmunds) Ltd. In November 2006, Thales Optronics Limited announced the closure of its manufacturing facility in Taunton, Somerset, with the loss of 180 jobs. In June 2007, Thales sold the beryllium mirrors and structures business of Thales Optronics Limited to GSI Group Inc. for an undisclosed amount. Takeover by NSG In late 2005, the company received a takeover bid from a bigger Japanese company, NSG, which had previously built up a 20 percent stake in the business by 2002. The initial bid and the first revised bid were not accepted, however, on 16 February 2006, NSG increased its offer for the 80 percent it did not already own to 165 pence per share (£1.8 billion or $3.14 billion in total) and this was accepted by Pilkington's major institutional shareholders, enabling NSG to compulsorily acquire by scheme of arrangement the smaller holdings of other shareholders, many of them being existing and retired employees, who had not wished to support the takeover. The combined company would compete for global leadership in the glass industry with the leading Japanese glassmaker Asahi Glass, which had around a quarter of the global market at the time of the deal. Pilkington had 19% and NSG around half that. The acquisition was completed in June 2006, after the European Commission stated that it would not be opposed. At the time of the merger, Pilkington and NSG had been the second- and third-largest glass manufacturers in the world, respectively. Chairmen An incomplete list: 1914–1921: Arthur Richard Pilkington (1871–1921) 1921–1931: Richard Austin Pilkington (1871–1951) 1932–1949: Geoffrey Langton Pilkington (1885–1972) 1949–1973: Baron Pilkington (1905–1983) 1973–1980: Sir Alastair Pilkington (1920–1995) 1980–1995: Sir Antony Pilkington (1935–2000) 1995–2006: Sir Nigel Rudd (born 1946) Operations Pilkington has developed a self-cleaning coated float glass product, called Pilkington Activ. This self-cleaning glass has a coating which uses a method of photocatalysis to break down organic dirt with sunlight. The dirt is then washed away by the rain during a hydrophilic process. Australia and New Zealand Pilkington's started an Australian operation in Geelong in 1856, importing glass from the UK. They established a factory to make laminated glass at 265 Melbourne Road, North Geelong in 1936. In 1972, Pilkington's established Australia's first float glass production line at Dandenong in a joint venture with Australian Consolidated Industries. In 2006 CSR acquired the Australian and New Zealand Pilkington's operations from NSG, merged it with DMS Glass, and rebranded to Viridian Glass. In 2018, a private equity firm, Crescent, acquired Viridian from CSR. Viridian acquired SOLOS Glass in 2021. References Citation
Andrew Crockett (banker)	[ "1943 births", "2012 deaths", "British bankers", "British economists", "British expatriates in the United States", "Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge", "Yale University alumni", "Knights Bachelor", "People associated with the Bank of England", "Deaths from pancreatic cancer in California", "20th-century English businesspeople", "Bank for International Settlements", "JPMorgan Chase people" ]	324	3,227	Sir Andrew Duncan Crockett (23 March 1943 – 3 September 2012) was a British banker, economist and public servant. He was the general manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Early life and education Born in Glasgow, Crockett was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge and Yale University. Career Crockett joined the Bank of England in 1966, and the International Monetary Fund in 1972. He was an executive director of the Bank of England from 1989 to 1993, before becoming General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in 1994. After retiring from the BIS in 2003, he joined JPMorgan Chase, the U.S. banking firm, where he was Special Advisor to the chairman and a member of the executive committee until shortly before his death. Crockett was also a member of the Group of Thirty. He authored several books on economic and financial subjects, as well as numerous articles in scholarly publications. Honours He was knighted in 2003 and named European Banker of the Year in 2000 Personal life He died in San Francisco, California, aged 69, following a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Crockett was survived by his wife of 46 years, Marjorie (née Hlavacek), and their three children. He was also survived by his mother and two brothers.
Societe Generale bank Montenegro	[ "Banks of Montenegro", "Banks established in 1906", "Société Générale", "1906 establishments in Montenegro", "Croatia–France relations", "Foreign relations of Croatia", "Foreign relations of France" ]	345	3,674	Societe Generale bank Montenegro (full name: Societe Generale Montenegro AD, MNSE: ) was a bank operating in Montenegro. Founded in 1906 as Podgorička banka (Bank of Podgorica), it offered services in corporate and retail banking. The bank provides a range of depository and lending services, which include checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, commercial loans, consumer loans and construction, mortgage loans, safety deposit boxes, VISA credit cards, Western Union services and an ATM network. The bank conducted its services through a network of 20 branches - seven in and around Podgorica, as well as one in each of the following towns: Danilovgrad, Cetinje, Ulcinj, Bar, Budva, Kotor, Tivat, Igalo, Nikšić, Kolašin, Bijelo Polje, Berane and Rožaje. In December 2005, French banking group Société Générale acquired a majority stake in Podgorička banka for €14 million. The bank has changed its name to Societe Generale Bank Montenegro on May 25, 2012. In February 2019, Societe Generale Montenegro was sold to OTP Bank (Hungary) and became Podgorička banka. On December 11, 2020, the final absorption of Podgorička banka by Crnogorska komercijalna banka is effective, thus combining the two Montenegrin subsidiaries of the OTP group into a single entity. See also Bank of Montenegro
Antam	[ "MIND ID", "Companies based in Jakarta", "Indonesian companies established in 1968", "Non-renewable resource companies established in 1968", "Companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange", "Companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange", "1997 initial public offerings", "Companies in the IDX 30", "Companies in the LQ45" ]	711	7,080	PT Aneka Tambang Tbk, colloquially known as Antam, is an Indonesian mining company. The company primarily produces gold and nickel, and is the largest producer of nickel in Indonesia. Until 2017, Antam was a directly state-owned company, before its ownership was transferred to PT Mineral Industri Indonesia (Persero) or MIND ID, a government-owned holding company. History Antam was established in 1968 by the Indonesian government under Suharto by merging multiple state-owned mining companies. It became a limited company in 1974, and began listing in the Jakarta Stock Exchange in 1997. In 2017, its ownership was transferred from the Indonesian government (which controlled 65 percent of the company's shares) to Inalum in a move intended to create a national holding company. Due to a government ban on the export of unprocessed ores, Antam began construction of smelter facilities for ferronickel and alumina. In 2020, it was announced that Antam would form a joint venture with Pertamina and PLN to form an electric vehicle battery company, to be dubbed Indonesia Baterai. Antam's position in the venture is as a provider of upstream raw materials and metals. There are plans for the company to partner with Contemporary Amperex Technology and LG Energy Solution in two projects worth US$ 12 billion. In January 2025, six former Antam executives were charged with corruption for alleged mismanagement and fraudulent activities involving 109 tons of gold between 2010 and 2022, causing losses of Rp3.31 trillion ($203.19 million). The London Bullion Market Association is also reviewing the allegations against Antam. Antam denies producing counterfeit gold. Operations As of 2015, Antam was a producer of bauxite, ferronickel, gold, nickel and silver. It is Indonesia's largest producer of nickel, and it lost considerable amounts of revenue and profits following a nickel ore ban. Antam's gold operations was the primary contributor of the company's revenue, making up 71 percent of its Q1 2018 revenue. Antam is the only Indonesian gold refiner to be accredited by the London Bullion Market Association.
John Stumpf	[ "1953 births", "American bank presidents", "Businesspeople from Minnesota", "Living people", "People from Pierz, Minnesota", "St. Cloud State University alumni", "Carlson School of Management alumni", "American people of German descent", "American people of Polish descent", "American white-collar criminals", "Directors of Chevron Corporation", "20th-century American businesspeople", "21st-century American businesspeople", "Catholics from Minnesota" ]	1,478	15,187	John Gerard Stumpf (born September 15, 1953) is an American business executive and retail banker. He was the chairman and chief executive officer of Wells Fargo, one of the Big Four banks of the United States. He was named CEO in June 2007, elected to the board of directors in June 2006, and named president in August 2005. He became chairman in January 2010. Stumpf resigned as chairman and CEO of Wells Fargo on October 12, 2016, after a scandal involving customer accounts and subsequent pressure from the public and lawmakers. He was succeeded by Timothy J. Sloan. Early life A native of Pierz, Minnesota, Stumpf grew up as one of 11 children on a dairy and poultry farm. His father was a dairy farmer. His father is of German descent and his mother of Polish descent. He was raised Catholic. Stumpf shared a bedroom with his brothers until he was married. He graduated in the bottom half of his high school class. His first job was as a breadmaker in a Pierz bakery. After a year, Stumpf enrolled at St. Cloud State University on a provisional basis. He eventually obtained a job as a repossession agent at First Bank in St. Paul, Minnesota. Stumpf earned his bachelor's degree in finance from St. Cloud State University and an MBA with an emphasis in finance from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management. Career In 1982, Stumpf joined Northwestern National Bank, the flagship bank of Norwest Corporation. He worked in the loan administration department and then became senior vice president and chief credit officer for Norwest Bank, N.A., Minneapolis. He held a number of management positions at Norwest Bank Minneapolis and Norwest Bank Minnesota before assuming responsibility for Norwest Bank Arizona in 1989. He was named regional president for Norwest Banks in Colorado/Arizona in 1991. From 1994 to 1998 he was regional president for Norwest Bank Texas. During his four years in that position, he led Norwest's acquisition of 30 Texas banks with total assets of more than $13 billion. Norwest merged with Wells Fargo in 1998. Norwest was the nominal survivor, but the merged bank retained the Wells Fargo name. Stumpf became head of Wells Fargo's Southwestern Banking Group (Arizona, New Mexico and Texas). Two years later he became head of the new Western Banking Group (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming). In 2000, he led the integration of Wells Fargo's acquisition of the $23 billion First Security Corporation, based in Salt Lake City. In May 2002, he was named Group EVP of Community Banking. In December 2008, he led one of the largest mergers in history with the purchase of Wachovia. Stumpf became CEO of Wells Fargo in June 2007 and chairman in January 2010. In 2012, Stumpf's total compensation was $22.87 million with a base salary of $2.8 million, $3,300,000 in cash bonuses, $12.5 million in stock granted, and $15,000 in other compensation. Stumpf served as director of National Association since June 27, 2006, and a Member of Litigation Committee at Visa Inc. After he retired, he and his wife bought a home near Mummy Mountain in Paradise Valley, Arizona. Role in fake accounts scandal In September 2016, Wells Fargo was fined $100 million by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, $50 million by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and $35 million by the city and county of Los Angeles, for opening two million checking and credit-card bank accounts without its customers' consent. Stumpf was grilled by angry lawmakers on Capitol Hill in hearings before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee. He was accused of selling customers multiple accounts fraudulently when they did not need them, and using those results on quarterly reports for larger returns on Wells Fargo stock holdings. On September 27, The Wall Street Journal reported that the board was considering cutting back on compensation for Stumpf and former retail banking head Carrie Tolstedt. Two days later, Stumpf again appeared before Congress, declaring his intent to forfeit at least $41 million in pay. He also testified that Wells Fargo would quickly drop its sales incentive program. On January 23, 2020, Stumpf agreed to a lifetime ban from the banking industry and a $17.5 million fine for his role in the fake account scandal. In November 2020, he settled further investigations by the SEC and agreed to pay an additional civil penalty of $2.5 million. Upon leaving Wells Fargo, Stumpf's total compensation was more than $130 million. High-profile critics, including Elizabeth Warren, have called for criminal charges to be filed against him. As of June 2021, none have been filed. Criticism from the Federal Reserve In February 2018, Janet Yellen, on her last day as Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, approved a strongly worded critical letter to Stumpf to emphasize his failures as co-chair of Wells Fargo's board of directors. The letter, signed by Michael Gibson, Director of the Division of Supervision and Regulation, cited Stumpf's complicity in ignoring the bank's poor risk management programs, and failure to initiate any serious investigation into its sales practices.
PBCom Tower	[ "Skyscrapers in Makati", "Skyscraper office buildings in Metro Manila", "Bank headquarters in the Philippines", "Makati Central Business District", "Office buildings completed in 2000", "PEZA special economic zones", "Skidmore, Owings & Merrill buildings" ]	1,174	10,969	The Philippine Bank of Communications Tower, more commonly known as PBCom Tower, is an office skyscraper ranked officially as the second tallest building in the Philippines. It was previously the tallest building in the Philippines, a title it held starting year 2000 until the completion of Metrobank Center in early 2017. It has a total ground to architectural top height of , with 52 storeys including an 8-level radio tower. It is a joint development of Filinvest Asia Corporation (FAC) and the Philippine Bank of Communications (PBCom). The building is the home of PBCom, one of the oldest Philippine banks. The bank occupies the building's first ten floors, with a food court on the seventh floor. Location The building is located at Ayala Avenue corner V.A. Rufino Street in Makati, right inside the Makati Central Business District. The stretch of Ayala Avenue where PBCom Tower is located also has the main branches of Bank of the Philippine Islands, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation, and Security Bank. The building houses international call centers such as Convergys, HSBC HDPP, and ICT. Design and construction PBCom Tower was designed by local architectural firm GF & Partners Architects, in cooperation with international architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, LLP; and structural design was provided by local engineering company Aromin & Sy + Associates. Project and construction management services was provided by I.A. Campbell & Associates, a Philippine-based project management company, while construction works was done by Samsung Engineering & Construction's local branch Samsung Construction Company Philippines, Inc. Samsung is known as the builder of the world's tallest buildings, including the Petronas Twin Towers, Taipei 101, and the Burj Khalifa. Besides these companies, other members of the design team include Edgett Williams Consulting Group (Elevator Design), Golder Associates, Inc. (Seismic Study); Fisher, Marantz, Rentro, Stone (Lighting consultant); Shel Milson & Wilke (Acoustic Analysis); CDC Limited (Curtain Wall design); Control Risks, Inc. (Security System design); N.B.F. Water & Wastewater Services (Sanitary System design); DCCD Engineering Corp. (Electrical Systems design); R.J. Calpo & Partners (Mechanical Systems design); and Radian Technology, Inc. (Fire Protection System design). Its exterior double-glazed, unitized curtain walls in aluminum frames, together with a monumental lighting effect, create a facade that reflects a fusion of art and function. Its interiors are an elegant interplay of glass, natural stone and metal. A landscaped garden in stepped podium also adds to the natural effect of the building's design. The building also utilizes tinted insulated vision glass at full height for the curtain walls to seal off heat and noise. The offices spaces feature high ceiling headroom to enhance cosy working atmosphere; perimeter columns to provide flexibility in interior space planning; provision for raised access floor or underslab ducts; and having continuous wide panels in full height glazing allow magnificent views while providing ample natural light into the offices. Amenities The building also has banking facilities for efficient business transactions; food court with outdoor garden cafe; a business centre to complement corporate operations; and a roofdeck helipad for alternate transport access and emergency evacuation. Other amenities include a 100% standby generators, lightning protection and grounding systems, structured cabling system for high-speed transmission of data, video and voice communications, provision for fibre optic telecommunications system, advanced building management system, CCTV monitoring at strategic locations controlled at the central command station on a 24-hour basis, fire alarm and automatic fire sprinkler systems, dual water supply with water treatment facility, underground and overhead water reservoir, 2 individually controlled Air Handling Units per floor with allotted air condition load for after-office use, a communications tower, voice and smoke evacuation systems and a gondola system for building exterior maintenance. The building is equipped with 17 high-speed tower lifts in 3 zones lift-group to ensure minimum waiting time, 4 shuttle lifts for parking and amenity floors and 1 service elevator for all floors. The building's parking facilities have a secure and integrated multi-level design with paging system and a drivers’ lounge. The PBCom Tower has been designated by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) as one of only two certified Information Technology (IT) buildings in the country. IT companies occupying the PBCom Tower will enjoy special tax incentives and other privileges from the government. See also List of tallest buildings in the Philippines
ESSEC Business School	[ "ESSEC Business School", "Universities and colleges established in 1907", "Business schools in Singapore", "Education in Paris", "1907 establishments in France", "Business schools in France", "Business schools in Europe" ]	7,474	69,955	ESSEC Business School (École Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales) is a French business school and grande école. Its main campus is located in Cergy. ESSEC also operates campuses in La Défense (Paris), Rabat (Morocco), and Singapore. Originally established by Jesuits in 1907, ESSEC was created as a response to the founding of HEC Paris. It operated independently from any chamber of commerce and industry until 1981, when it came under the governance of the Versailles Chamber of Commerce, which later became part of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Paris Île-de-France in 2013. ESSEC is now a member of the CY Alliance (formerly Université Paris-Seine), a network of academic institutions in the Paris region. Foundation (1907–1913) ESSEC was founded in 1907 under the Economic Institute by Ferdinand Le Pelletier in Paris. Its creation followed the movement of other private business schools created under Catholic guardianship in the early twentieth century such as HEC Nord (which later became EDHEC) by the Catholic Institute of Lille and ESSCA by the Catholic Institute of Anger. The establishment of Falloux Laws in 1854 allowed the development of religious secondary education. Following the Dreyfus affair (1895) and the law of separation of Church and State (1905), the Church sought to regain influence, in particular by disseminating its moral values in the economic world and by training a new generation of business leaders. ESSEC became the Catholic Church's response to the creation of HEC in the context of the struggle of religious congregations, especially between Jesuits against the secular and republican ideology for the state. The goal of the new institution was to "train leaders for a commercial and economic career, which requires competent men, imbued with Christian and human values". The school was located at the École Sainte Geneviève (created by Jesuits in 1854) in the Latin Quarter. The first class had seven students and studies lasted two years. In 1909, an optional third year was introduced. The original course was structured around general subjects including law, accounting, languages and techniques. With the introduction of Christian moral values, students began to attend the apologetics conference every week in the chapel of the École Sainte Geneviève. Scientific education (physics, chemistry, factory visits) complemented technical education (calligraphy, shorthand, drafting of commercial documents). 1913–1940 With the application of the law of separation of State and Church of 1905, the school premises were confiscated in 1913, obliging ESSEC to be absorbed into the Catholic Institute of Paris (ICP). As a consequence, the school resources were significantly reduced. For instance, it only had one amphitheatre borrowed from ICP and the elementary section was removed. During this time, the disciplines taught included languages, history of trade, commercial geography, political economy, law and accounting. A strong emphasis was put on languages, with a total of ten hours per week. The school experienced difficulty surviving during the First World War. In 1914, it had only four students in the first year and two in the second year and was temporarily closed before reopening in 1915. The third optional year was dropped, and the school did not regain financial stability until 1920 when it welcomed more than 50 students in the first year of the curriculum. In 1923, the Students' Association was created with a solidarity fund for war widows and orphans. 1926 saw the publication of the first directory of graduates, and three years later, the first courses in business ethics were given. By 1930, the number of students had increased to 150. Due to the Great Depression in the 1930s, ESSEC had to reduce its tuition fees to attract students who preferred public service or regular law studies. With the finances of the school worsening, it was forced to accept high school graduates, uncertified examiners, and even freelance auditors who took uncertified courses. In 1932, the Student Office was created and in 1937, the first scholarships were distributed, marking the start of a social assistance policy. 1940–1960 In 1939, the dean Camille Donjon reformed the curriculum, introducing entry exams. A preparatory class for the exam was set up in 1941. During this time, ESSEC refused to join the unified system of écoles de commerce established by the decree of 3 December 1947, formalizing state support for the implementation of preparatory classes on the territory. While HEC and ESCP joined the unified system, ESSEC positioned itself as a challenger and kept its own preparatory classes. To keep pace with its competition, ESSEC increased its school tenure from two to three years in 1947. This lasted until 1951 when ESSEC stopped offering its own preparatory classes and opened its exams to candidates from public preparatory classes. In 1950, a three-month-long compulsory end-of-study internship was added. In 1960, Gilbert Olivier replaced Camille Donjon as the dean of ESSEC. His arrival, coupled with developments linked to competition, swayed the Christian identity of the school. He began the transformation by surveying the students on the content of courses and the pedagogy. The result showed that only a minority of students were satisfied with the teaching. Teaching was judged as "scholarly, serious and lacking in openness". Given the results of this survey, a gradual reform was put in place. Technical subjects such as chemistry and physics were abandoned, teaching content was adapted to the demands of private companies, and courses in sociology and human resources were introduced first, followed by marketing classes in 1965. Diverse teaching methods such as conferences were set up, similar to what HEC Paris and Sciences Po offered. During this time, ESSEC introduced teaching methods commonly used in U.S. business schools. The recruitment was diversified, with the introduction of the "Admission sur titre" in 1966, which also marked the opening of the school to women. Preparatory classes, however, remained closed to female students. The associative life also began in the early 1960s with the creation of the ESSEC Tuesdays in 1961 and the Junior Entreprise in 1967. ESSEC Tuesdays is a student forum that occasionally invites speakers from art, sports, politics and economic spaces every year. It also hosted debates led by two students from the association. The entrance exam was reformatted in 1969, with the elimination of the chemistry and physics tests alongside the remodeling of the oral exam, which now aimed to test the logical reasoning of the candidates rather than just general knowledge. Psychometric tests and personality interviews were also introduced. Gilbert Olivier also tried to reform the preparatory program to more closely model commercial education but gave up due to opposition from HEC and other business schools. With these reforms in place, the number of students grew, constraining the school's facilities. The school occupied three amphitheatres at the ICP. In 1965, a commission was set up to consider moving the school to a new location. Projects were planned in Bagneux or Gentilly, which were ultimately abandoned. On 5 July 1967, a decision was taken by ESSEC to move to a new site in the town of Cergy-Pontoise where the current campus is located. In 1971, administrative services were moved to Raspail Boulevard. During this time, ESSEC separated from the ICP. In 1968, the latter recognised the financial and administrative independence of the school. In 1969, the ESSEC group was founded, consisting of the school, CERESSEC, a Research Center and ISSEC, an institute for executives. ICP retained one-third of the seats on the Board of Directors, and the appointment of the school director still had to be approved by the ICP rector. The move to Cergy-Pontoise polarised the community. It was less well-received by students due to the lack of public transportation to the area. Some teachers opposed the move, fearing a potential replacement of faculty members. The new school extended and included a large amphitheatre with 300 seats, eight small 80-seat amphitheatres equipped with closed circuit television, a computer centre, a large language laboratory, a library, a sports hall, a restaurant and 48 classrooms. Its reception areas (foyers, cafeterias, and a chapel) were to be available to the public in Cergy. Student housing was made available nearby. Before 1971, ESSEC relied mainly on executives working in companies as its teaching staff. However, the school started to set up its permanent faculty. Grants awarded by FNEGE to finance studies of young professors or executives in the United States who wished to return to teaching to fill the French "management gap" allowed ESSEC to build a pool of qualified teachers. In 1972, nine out of twenty professors were former ESSECs who had completed their training in the United States. The arrival of FNEGE Fellows, who had returned from the United States, stimulated a curriculum reform. A core curriculum was set up in the first year based on fundamentals while an à la carte curriculum was introduced from the second year and is still in effect today. The minimum internship length was raised to 12 months. Application numbers grew from 700 candidates in 1960 to 2,800 in 1973. The decision to move to Cergy without the support of public funds resulted in heavy debt to the Caisse d'Epargne, ANFESP (the National Association for the Financing of Private School Equipment), and the Council General of Val d'Oise. This resulted in an obligation to repay up to 4-5 million francs yearly. This payment represented 11.7% of the ESSEC budget in 1975 (compared to 5% for INSEAD). The operating budget expanded from six million francs in 1972 to tweny-eight million in 1979. At one point, tuition fees increased until it doubled that of HEC. In 1979, the financial crisis erupted, exacerbated by an environment of high interest rates and an economic slowdown related to the oil shock, and the school hit a deficit of 10.4 million francs that year. Funding was provided through the apprenticeship tax, the introduction of continuing education, and parent contributions. Other solutions considered included ESSEC's nationalization or joining a larger university. Dean Gilbert Olivier strongly opposed these options, seeing them as a failure of the initial project of the school to emancipate itself from the higher education system. Financial conditions ultimately improved, permitting the school to operate without taking such actions. The rescue was made possible by the Versailles Chamber of Commerce, which injected 10 million francs to cover the deficit of ESSEC, bought 51% of ESSEC's ownership for 12 million francs and committed to pay an annual subsidy of 6 million francs from 1982 to 1989. In exchange, ESSEC retained its legal autonomy (and did not become a part of the Paris Chamber of Commerce like HEC Paris and ESCP), but had a governance system with a management board and supervisory board. This intrusion of supervision and the absence of representation of the students and professors in the general assembly triggered strikes and the launching of petitions against the plan. The agreement was finally signed on 6 April 1981. The fear of control of the school and its pedagogy ultimately proved unfounded. 2000–present In 1999, the school decided to rename the Grande Ecole program as an MBA (Master of Business Administration), an Anglo-Saxon standard reserved for executives with many years of experience. ESSEC intended to highlight its accreditation from the AACSB (American Accreditation Body) and the mandatory 18 months of internships for its students. The move was followed by other business schools, such as ICN Nancy and ESC Grenoble. ESSEC then reviewed its international agreements to bring the program to the MBA or Master's level. The repositioning of the program was heavily criticised by HEC Paris, EM Lyon and Université Paris-Dauphine, so much so that Ali Laïdi in his book” Secrets of the Economic War” (2004) said that HEC Paris would have mounted a destabilization operation toward ESSEC by attacking its MBA position. The case led to the opening of an investigation and resolution by the Paris Chamber of Commerce. In 2005, ESSEC expanded its campus with the inauguration of the Nautile building and further, in 2007, with the multipurpose room, the Dome, which has a capacity of 2,700 people, and the Galion. The buildings were designed by Marc Seifert, son of Ivan Seifert who designed the original campus in 1973. In 2008, the library was expanded. Renovation of the restaurant area followed the following year. In March 2006, ESSEC Business School inaugurated its new campus in Singapore within the National Library, the ESSEC Asian Center. In 2010, ESSEC presented its strategic plan for 2010–2015. The program portfolio was repositioned: the EPSCI (post-baccalaureate program) became the bachelor of ESSEC, and the name of MBA was abandoned and replaced with MSc in Management. The group's communication was unified under the name ESSEC Business School. A fundraising strategy of 150 million euros was announced. The school also aimed to be one of the 20 best Business Schools in the world, to join the 10 best schools in Asia and to make it into the top 5 in Europe. The decision to exclude the MBA name from its Grand Ecole program was a strategy pushback for the school. As a result, this program disappeared from the Financial Times's rankings of both Masters in Management and MBA because of its hybrid nature. The dean of the time, Pierre Tapie, however, did not regret this decision, because he believed that the school had gained a reputation. In fact, in 2007, the Wall Street Journal ranked ESSEC Grande École program 7th in the world, ahead of HEC and INSEAD. During this time, the school expanded its double-degree agreements with the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad in 2006, Centrale Paris, University of Keio in 2009, École du Louvre, ENSAE and Saint-Cyr in 2010, ENS in 2011, University of Queensland, three South Korean institutions in 2014 and Bocconi University in 2015. In 2014, Jean-Michel Blanquer, the new dean of the school, announced the strategic plan "ESSEC 3I 2020" (Internationalisation, Innovation and Involvement). The internationalisation went through, a new ESSEC Asia-Pacific campus was established, which opened in 2015, an ESSEC Africa campus was opened in 2017, collaboration through a strategic alliance with CentraleSupélec and involvement of students to create their own courses and mentorship program, among other things. The school also launched its first MOOCs, inaugurated its startup incubator, ESSEC Ventures and established an experimental research laboratory, K-Lab. ESSEC Business School is a grande école, a French institution of higher education that operates independently from, but often in parallel with, the main framework of the French public university system. Grandes écoles are selective academic institutions that admit students through a highly competitive process, and a significant proportion of their graduates occupy prominent positions in French society. Similar to the Ivy League in the United States, Oxbridge in the United Kingdom, and C9 League in China, graduation from a grande école is often considered a key credential for securing top positions in government, administration and the corporate sector in France. The degrees offered are accredited by the Conférence des Grandes Écoles and awarded by the French Ministry of National Education. Higher education business degrees in France are organised into three levels to facilitate international mobility: Licence / Bachelor's degrees, Master's degrees and Doctorate degrees. The Bachelor's and Master's programs are organized into semesters: 6 for the Bachelor's and 4 for the Master's. These programs include various "parcours" or paths, based on Unités d'enseignement (UE) or modules, each carrying a defined number of European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) credits. Students accumulate these credits, which are generally transferable between programs. A Bachelor's degree is awarded upon completion of 180 ECTS credits (bac + 3), and a Master's degree upon completion of an additional 120 ECTS credits (bac +5). The Programme Grande École (PGE) concludes with the awarding of a Master's in Management (MiM) degree. ESSEC is often mentioned alongside HEC Paris and ESCP Business School, forming a trio commonly referred to as the "three Parisians"— indicating their longstanding presence in French and European business education. These institutions are among the most well-known business schools in France, with various national and international rankings highlighting their programs. Research Departments The school has eight research departments in different fields of human sciences: Accounting and Management Control; Business Law and Environment; Economy; Finance; Management; Operations Management; Marketing; Information Systems, Decision Sciences and Statistics. CERESSEC The ESSEC research centre, or Centre de recherche ESSEC business school (CERESSEC), created in 1969. Supervised by AERES since 2013, the research focuses on scientific area in partnership with the Ministry of Higher Education and Research.[32] According to the HCERES report on 13 May 2019, CERESSEC is "a leading research laboratory at the national and international level, it is a leading French centre in the field of management and related disciplines." It supports the school's influence in national and international rankings. The research centre brings together 165 professors, on two sites in Cergy and Singapore. The professors work on nine research themes: Accounting and management control; Economy; Finance; Information System; Law, Negotiation and Consultation; Management; Marketing; Management of Operations; and Statistics. ESSEC Iréné ESSEC Iréné is the Institute for Research and Education on Negotiation in Europe created in 1996. The research focuses on several topics related to negotiation, mediation, stakeholder dialogue, and conflict resolution. The stakeholders involved include academics, senior civil servants, elected representatives, managers and employees of businesses, trade unionists, and social mediators. ESSEC Behavioural Research Lab This institute is an interdisciplinary research platform which focusses on the study of human behaviour in a controlled environment. The study is mainly conducted in the fields such as behavioral marketing, behavioural management, behavioural and experimental economics. Organisation and governance ESSEC is a non-profit organisation. Its management consists of a Director General (School Dean), assisted by its executive committee, made up in particular of the deans of programs, professors and research body. They report to the board, which administers the association, and is made up of two representatives of the Paris Ile-de-France CCI, a representative of the alumni association, and two qualified professionals. The supervisory board is made up of twenty-eight members, six representatives of the Paris Ile-de-France CCI, two members of the Institute Catholique de Paris, five former students, one member of the Confederation of SMEs, four students, five professors including the dean of the professors, two members of the administrative staff of the school, and three qualified professionals. The general assembly is the guarantor of the stability of the statutes of the association, and it is composed of the president of the CCI of Paris Île-de-France, a representative of the association of graduates, a representative of the Confederation of SMEs, the dean of professors, and the rector of the Catholic Institute of Paris (ICP). Deans of ESSEC Business School FromToName19391960Camille Donjon19601980Gilbert Olivier19801987Julien Coudy19871988Jean-Claude Tournand19881989Jean Castarède19901997Jean-Pierre Boisivon19982000Gérard Valin20012013Pierre Tapie20132017Jean-Michel Blanquer2017presentVincenzo Esposito Vinzi Rankings 2016201720182019202020212022FT - European Business School18th23rd8th7th6th8th 9thUndergraduate - FranceLe Point - Classement des Bachelors (France)1st1st1st1st1st1st1st - Classement des Bachelors (France)1st1st1st1st1st -Graduate - WorldwideFT - Master in Management (Worldwide)3rd5th4th3rd3rd6th6thFT - Master in Finance (Worldwide)7th3rd5th -4th4th -QS - Master in Strategy & Management of International Business (Worldwide) -4th4th3rd3rd3rd3rdQS - Master in Finance (Worldwide) -10th9th9th7th7th7thQS - Master in Data Sciences & Business Analytics (Worldwide) - -4th3rd3rd3rd4thQS - Master in Marketing Management and Digital - - - - - -4thQS - Global MBA (Worldwide) -27th26th30th27th27th27thExecutive - WorldwideFT - Executive Education Open (Worldwide)18th24th23rd21st16th13th12thFT - Executive Education Customised (Worldwide)15th17th12th5th3rd -5thFT - Executive MBA (Worldwide)45th47th47th45th32ndThe Economist - Executive MBA (Worldwide) --17thQS - Executive MBA (Worldwide) -7th10th10th8th Campuses ESSEC Business School, Cergy-PontoiseESSEC Executive Education at la Defense, ParisESSEC Asia-Pacific in Singapore ESSEC has 4 campuses: Cergy, Singapore, La Défense and Rabat. An Africa-Indian Ocean campus project in Mauritius was announced in 2016 but was cancelled in 2017. Cergy campus The main ESSEC campus is located in Cergy. Inaugurated in 1973, the site is located in the city and open to the public, mixing students and inhabitants in the area. In 2007, two new buildings were constructed: the Dome and the Galion, both significantly increased Cergy campus grounds. The Dome, which acts as a multipurpose room, can accommodate up to 2,700 people. It is used for business forums (Career Fairs), conferences, exam site, and cultural and social activities. The Galion is an administrative and educational building. It houses 54 offices and meeting rooms, 8 amphitheatres, and 12 classrooms as well as open work spaces. At the end of 2018, the Campus 2020 project was announced, which intends to modernise the Cergy campus by 2023, for a total cost of 35 million euros (private and public funding). Among the main lines of this project are the construction of a sports centre of nearly 2,000m2, the redevelopment of the old gymnasium and the existing administration building into spaces intended for research activities. La Défense campus ESSEC has had premises in the CNIT in La Défense since 1989, mainly used for continuing education and the MBA program. Singapore campus The ESSEC Asia-Pacific campus in Singapore was announced in October 2012, by Pierre Tapie shortly before his departure. The new campus was inaugurated in May 2015, by Jean-Michel Blanquer. ESSEC has been present in Asia since 1980 with a permanent office in Japan and Singapore since 2005 through the ESSEC Asian Centre located in the National Library Building. After considering Tokyo, Shanghai and Singapore, among others, the school finally chose Singapore latter in 2005, in particular for its position as a gateway to Asia. Located in Nepal Hill, the campus spans five levels, 6,500m2, can accommodate 1,500 students per year and cost 24 million euros, fully funded by ESSEC. It was designed by Singaporean architect, Dr. Liu Thai Ker (former architect planning Singapore). Rabat campus The creation of this campus was announced in November 2015, by Jean-Michel Blanquer and was inaugurated in April 2017. Morocco was chosen for the already effective presence of ESSEC's partner CentraleSupélec, its proximity to France and the large number of Moroccan alumni. Located 15 km from Rabat, the campus covers 6,000 m2 and has a capacity of 480 students. The campus is located right in the Casablanca - Rabat - Kenitra axis. The campus was built specifically for ESSEC by the Addoha real estate group to which the school pays rent (proportional to the number of students hosted during the first three years, then €360,000 / year beyond), with the possibility of purchasing the premises after nine years. At its first school year, the campus had seventy students, including eighteen Moroccans. ESSEC Global BBA The undergraduate program was initially created in 1975 by ESSEC Group to prepare students to meet the needs of French firms launching operations on the international market. It was formerly known as EPSCI, "École des Practiciens du Commerce International", and is now referred to as "ESSEC Global BBA". The Global BBA lasts for four years and is designed for candidates graduated from high school (in France "Baccalauréat"). At the end of the program, each student will have completed a minimum of 12 months of coursework abroad (each student will do two exchange programs abroad), a one-month humanitarian project and between 11 and 18 months of professional experience, which may also take place abroad. Master in Management - Grande École program ESSEC's postgraduate programme is its Master in Management (also called "Grande École program"), designed for students with no professional experience (instead of managers with 3–5 years of experience like US MBA programs). It is the flagship program of the school. The ESSEC MSc in management has been historically designed for candidates who have completed French preparatory classes after getting a high school diploma and passing a competitive entrance examination known as the concours, or have a university degree (Bachelor or Master). Applications are now open to non-French students: students with a university degree of three years or more received outside of France can also apply. Students from classe préparatoire will spend two to three years after Baccalauréat only to prepare for the national entrance examination of Grandes Ecoles which includes a written part (lasting three weeks) as well as an oral part (one to four days for each grande école). It is one of the traditional pathways pursued by students in France (only 5% of a generation will be admitted to a prépa) aiming for advanced studies in Law, Medicine. It also provides intensive courses in Mathematics, History and Geography, Economy, Literature, Philosophy, and two foreign languages. In 2015, among more than 20,000 students enrolled in classe préparatoire (business section), 5,614 applied to ESSEC concours (considered one of the most difficult), only 890 were invited to oral examination and 380 were eventually admitted. This means an acceptance rate of 6.77%. Going outside during lesson time is also forbidden on school grounds. ESSEC offer an à la carte program – whether following courses at ESSEC or at a partner institution, going abroad or focusing on an associative project etc. Master in Finance The Master in Finance replaced the old Master Techniques Financières since 2016. The Master in Finance is recognized by the French Higher Education and Research Ministry as master's degree. There are three specialised tracks: Corporate Finance: M&A, Private Equity, ECM, DCM, Equity Research, Leveraged and Project Finance; Financial Markets: Sales, Trading, Risk Management and Portfolio Management; FinTech & Analytics: Quantitative Asset and Risk Management, Data-based Market Making and Trading and Quant Hedge Funds (with a solid Math/Physics degree). The Master in Finance has a partnership with the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). ESSEC M.S. Advanced Masters The Advanced master's degrees are accredited by the "Conférence des Grandes Ecoles" in France. These programs are specialised to allow students finishing their studies or young professionals to complete their initial training (usually science or engineering) by acquiring complementary knowledge. ESSEC Global MBA The Global MBA at ESSEC Business School is a 12-month, full-time MBA program with an emphasis on emerging markets and experiential learning. It offers two Majors allowing students to specialise in the following areas: Luxury Brand Management, Strategy and Digital Leadership. PhD in Business Administration The PhD trains future professors, researchers and consultants. Before starting their dissertation work, students must follow a two-year program of courses and seminars that ends with preliminary examinations and a dissertation proposal. The curriculum starts with an intensive period of interdisciplinary training common to all students. This is followed by research training for the chosen field of specialisation. ESSEC Executive Education More than 5,000 managers participate in ESSEC Exec Ed programs every year, primarily at La Défense campus, located in the heart of Paris' financial district and ESSEC's Singapore campus. ESSEC & Mannheim Executive MBA ESSEC and Mannheim Business School launched their joint Executive MBA Program in 2004. Building on the first established Executive MBAs in Europe by ESSEC since 1994, several modules are proposed in Mannheim, Paris, Singapore and various other locations worldwide in partner business schools. International partnerships ESSEC has developed exchange and double degree programs with numerous universities around the globe including: UC Berkeley, University of Chicago, Dartmouth College, Brandeis University, Cornell University, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Seoul National University, Keio University, National University of Singapore, IIM Ahmedabad, IE Business School, University of Mannheim, King's College London, Esic Business & Marketing School; and Fundação Getúlio Vargas' EAESP. Notable people and alumni The association of graduates of the ESSEC or ESSEC Alumni group was founded in 1923, representing more than 60,000 graduates of ESSEC. It spans 75 countries and five continents and organizes more than a thousand events per year through its two hundred volunteers and employees. The network partners with 60 corporations, consists of 17 regional clubs and 73 chapters around the world. The association publishes the alumni magazine, Reflets, five times a year. Since 2017, the association has maintained a physical office on the Cergy campus. The same year lifelong ESSEC Alumni membership became included in tuition fees. Notable alumni Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO of L'Oréal Group Sue Nabi, CEO of Coty Inc. Marc Lelandais, Chairman of S. T. Dupont Benoît Coquart, CEO of Legrand Olivier Sichel, Deputy CEO of Caisse des dépôts et consignations, former CEO of Wanadoo Véronique Bédague, CEO of Nexity Antoine Bernard de Saint-Affrique, CEO of Danone Michel Bon, CEO of Carrefour (1985–1992), CEO of France Telecom (1995–2002) Patrick Cescau, CEO of Unilever Pierre-André de Chalendar, CEO of Saint-Gobain Corinne Vigreux, Co-founder of TomTom N.V. Nicolas Namias, CEO of Group BPCE Pierre Nanterme, CEO of Accenture Yves Perrier, CEO of Amundi, former CFO of Société Générale Pierre Denis, CEO of Jimmy Choo (fashion house) Marie-Christine Lombard, CEO of TNT Express Dominique Reiniche, CEO of Coca-Cola Europe Gilles Pélisson, CEO of TF1, former CEO of Bouygues Telecom (2004–2006) and of Accor Group (2006–2011) Charles Bouaziz, CEO of Monoprix S.A., Former CEO of PepsiCo (Europe) Élisabeth Moreno, President of Hewlett-Packard Africa, Former President of Lenovo France Thierry Peugeot, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Peugeot-Citroën Jérôme Tafani, CEO of Burger King France Charles Konan Banny, former Prime Minister of Ivory Coast Oumar Tatam Ly, former Prime Minister of Mali Cécile Duflot, ex-French Minister of Housing in the Ayrault Cabinet, formerly head of the French Green Party and now head of Oxfam France Fleur Pellerin, ex-French Minister of Culture in the First Valls government. Emmanuelle Mignon, ex-Cabinet secretary of French President Nicolas Sarkozy from 2008 to 2012 Alexis Kohler, Chief of Staff of President of France Emmanuel Macron D. K. Bandyopadhyay, Indian scientific management researcher Other well-known alumni Gérald Caussé, Presiding Bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Marie-José Pérec, former sprinter, three times Olympic champion Philippe Sollers, French writer Controversies In 2020, its campus in Singapore came under intense controversy when one of its students, Louise Pizon-Hébert, made multiple posts on Instagram during Chinese New Year by making slit-eyed gestures and using the pejorative term "ching chong" as a caption while wearing the cheongsam. The school has claimed that its disciplinary committee was currently "looking into the situation". As of 2024, no results from the committee have been made public. See also Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Paris HEC Paris ESCP Business School Triple accreditation
Joanne Wilson	[ "1961 births", "Living people", "American venture capitalists", "American women philanthropists", "American women writers", "Simmons University alumni", "American women investors", "21st-century American businesswomen", "21st-century American businesspeople", "Angel investors", "Women venture capitalists" ]	1,202	19,837	Joanne Wilson (born 1961) is an American businesswoman and angel investor. She is known for backing female-founded companies. Biography Early life and education Joanne Wilson was born in 1961. Wilson studied at Simmons College in Boston, where she graduated in 1983. She met her future husband Fred Wilson while in college and they moved to New York City. Career Wilson began her career at Macy's, working in the retail apparel department for 4 years. After Macy's she oversaw a company in the garment industry, then worked in sales for the startup magazine and events company called Silicon Alley Reporter. She also chaired the nonprofit MOUSE (Making Opportunities in Upgrading Schools in Education), which focused on technology in inner-city schools. Wilson began investing in 2007. She also runs the entrepreneurship blog Gotham Gal. Through her investment fund, Gotham Gal Ventures, Wilson and her husband fund startups. In 2010, together with Nancy Hechinger from New York University she co-founded and co-chaired an annual Women Entrepreneurs Festival. From 2010 to 2015, she chaired the board of Hot Bread Kitchen, a nonprofit that promotes and trains female and minority bakers. She also was the first co-Chair of Path Forward, a non-profit, established in 2018 with a mission to get people back to work after they’ve taken time off for caregiving. Since 2009, Wilson has been involved in real estate development in New York City. Investments Wilson made her first investment into Lockhart Steele's startup Curbed. Some of her early investments included Food52, Rick's Picks, DailyWorth, Hot Bread Kitchen and Scoot. In 2014, she invested in Blue Bottle Coffee, a coffee roaster and retailer, and in Spoon University, a food media company, in 2015. Later in 2015, she invested in Nestio, the NY-based leasing and marketing platform for residential landlords. Wilson became known for investing in women-led startups. In 2012, 13 of her 17 investments were in tech and out of those 13, 10 were women-founded companies. As of 2016, around 70 percent of her investments were in companies led by women. By 2017, she has backed more than 90 female-founded companies, including 3 of the 11 black women-led startups to have raised over $1 million. In 2017, Wilson made two angel investments in the cannabis industry: Octavia Wellness and Beboe. Personal life Wilson is married to venture capitalist Fred Wilson, a cofounder of Union Square Ventures. The couple live in New York City. They have three children, two daughters and a son. In 2016, Crain's New York Business included Fred and Joanne Wilson into its "Power Couples" list.
Ada Osakwe	[ "1981 births", "Living people", "Nigerian economists", "Alumni of the University of Hull", "Alumni of the University of Warwick", "Northwestern University alumni", "Kellogg School of Management alumni", "Businesspeople from Lagos", "Nigerian women in business", "Nigerian women business executives", "Nigerian chief executives", "Nigerian food company founders", "Nigerian expatriates in the United Kingdom", "Nigerian expatriates in the United States" ]	704	6,420	Ada Osakwe is a Nigerian economist, an entrepreneur and corporate executive, who is the founder and chief executive officer of Agrolay Ventures, an agribusiness investment company based in Nigeria, which invests in African agricultural food-related companies. She is also the founder of Nuli Foods and Nuli Juice company. From November 2012 until May 2015, Ada Osakwe was the Senior Investment Adviser to Nigeria's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Akinwumi Adesina. Background and education Ada Osakwe was born in Nigeria on 2 September 1981. She attended secondary school in Lagos for her A-Level education, and graduated from the University of Hull, in the United Kingdom, with a Bachelor of Science in Economics. Her Master of Science in Economics and Finance was obtained from the University of Warwick, also in the UK. She also holds a Master of Business Administration, obtained from the Kellogg School of Management, at Northwestern University, in Evanston, Illinois in the United States. Career Ada Osakwe first worked as an investment banker with BNP Paribas at their London office. She then worked as a Senior Investment Officer at the African Development Bank (AfDB), mainly in the area of infrastructure finance, serving in that capacity for four years. Ada Osakwe was based in Tunis. Later, she served as vice-president at Kuramo Capital Management, a private equity company based in New York City. After her work with the Nigerian Ministry of Agriculture, Ada Osakwe founded Agrolay Ventures. She also founded Nuli Juice, a restaurant chain in Nigeria. In 2017, she was appointed to the board of One Acre Fund, a Kenya-based financial and educational non-government organisation that serves small-scale farmers in Burundi, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Awards and recognition In December 2014, Ada Osakwe was named among the "Twenty Youngest Power Women in Africa 2014" by Forbes Magazine. In March 2021, Osakwe was awarded Business Woman Award by Forbes Magazine. Osakwe was named one of the "15 African Female Founders You Should Know in 2023" by in March 2023.
Russian-American Company	[ "Russian-American Company", "Companies established in 1799", "Companies disestablished in 1881", "Defunct companies of Russia", "Fur trade", "Chartered companies", "Russian colonization of North America", "Companies based in Saint Petersburg", "Trading companies established in the 18th century", "Military history of the Pacific Ocean" ]	5,973	45,097	The Russian-American Company Under the High Patronage of His Imperial Majesty was a state-sponsored chartered company formed largely on the basis of the United American Company. Emperor Paul I of Russia chartered the company in the Ukase of 1799. It had the mission of establishing new settlements in Russian America, conducting trade with natives, and carrying out an expanded colonization program. Russia's first joint-stock company, it came under the direct authority of the Ministry of Commerce of Imperial Russia. Count Nikolai Petrovich Rumyantsev (Minister of Commerce from 1802 to 1811; Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1808 to 1814) exercised a pivotal influence upon the early activities of the company. In 1801 the company's headquarters moved from Irkutsk to Saint Petersburg, and the merchants who were initially the major stockholders were soon replaced with Russia's nobility and aristocracy. Count Rumyantsev funded Russia's first naval circumnavigation of the globe under the joint command of Adam Johann von Krusenstern and Nikolai Rezanov in 1803–1806. Later he funded and directed the Ryuriks circumnavigation of 1814–1816, which provided substantial scientific information on Alaska's and California's flora and fauna, and important ethnographic information on Alaskan and Californian (among others) natives. During the Russian-California period (1812–1842) when they operated Fort Ross, the Russians named present-day Bodega Bay, California as "Rumyantsev Bay" () in his honor. Early history In 1799 the Russian government appointed an official, with the title 'Correspondent', to maintain oversight of company affairs, the first being Nikolai Rezanov. This role was soon expanded to a three-seat board of directors, with two elected by the stockholders and one appointed by the government. Additionally the directors had to send reports of the company's activities directly to the tsar. They also appointed a Chief Manager of the company, who was stationed in North America to directly administer the forts, trade stations and outposts. Alexander Andreyevich Baranov was appointed as the first Chief Manager. During his tenure, he founded both Pavlovskaya and later New Archangel, settlements that became operating bases for the company. He was replaced in 1818 by an officer appointed from the Imperial Russian Navy. The position of Chief Manager was thereafter reserved for Imperial Naval officers. The Ukase of 1799 (decree by the Tsar) granted the company a monopoly over trade in Russian America, defined with a southern border of 55° N latitude. Tsar Alexander I in the Ukase of 1821 asserted its domain to 45°50′ N latitude, revised by 1822 to 51° N latitude. This border was challenged by both Great Britain and the United States, which ultimately resulted in the Russo-American Treaty of 1824 and the Russo-British Treaty of 1825. These established 54°40′ as the ostensible southward limit of Russian interests. The only attempt by the Russians to enforce the ukase of 1821 was the seizure of the U.S. brig Pearl in 1822, by the Russian sloop Apollon. The Pearl, a vessel of the maritime fur trade, was sailing from Boston, Massachusetts to New Archangel/Sitka. When the U.S. government protested, the Russians released the vessel and paid compensation. Due to treaty violations in 1833 with the British by the company's governor, Baron Ferdinand von Wrangel, the Russians later leased the southeastern sector of what is now the Alaska Panhandle, to the Hudson's Bay Company in 1838 as part of a damages settlement. The lease gave the HBC authority as far north as 56° 30' N. Under Baranov, who governed the region between 1790 and 1818, a permanent settlement was established in 1804 at "Novo-Arkhangelsk" (New Archangel, today's Sitka, Alaska), and a thriving maritime trade was organized. Alutiiq and Aleut men from the Kodiak and the Aleutian Islands were forcibly conscripted to work for the company for three-year periods because they were "among the most sophisticated and effective sea otter hunters in the world." During its initial years, the company had problems in maintaining a pool of skilled crewmen for its ships. The limited number of Russian men proficient in naval craft in the Empire usually sought employment in the Imperial Russian Navy. The RAC (Russian-American Company) had difficulty recruiting men for naval training, in part due to the continued practice of serfdom in the Empire, which kept most peasants tied to the land. In 1802 the Imperial government directed the Imperial Navy to send officers for employment in the RAC, with half of their pay to come from the company. Russian merchants were excluded from the port of Guangzhou and its valuable markets, something the RAC endeavored to change. The company funded a circumnavigation that lasted from 1803 to 1806, with the goals of expanding Russian navigational knowledge, supplying the RAC stations, and opening commercial relations with the Qing Empire. While the expedition did sell its wares at the Chinese port, "no noticeable progress" towards securing Russian trading rights was made during the next half century. Due to the closed Chinese ports, the RAC had to ship its furs to the Russian port of Okhotsk. From there caravans typically took more than a year to reach Ayan, Irkutsk, and the Siberian Route. The majority of the pelts were traded in Kyakhta, where Chinese trade goods, principally cotton, porcelain and tea, were traded. In 1817, Fort Elizabeth was built in Hawaii by Georg Anton Schäffer, an agent of the RAC. His actions to attempt to overthrow the Kingdom of Hawaii is known as the Schäffer affair. American merchants Over the course of the RAC's first decade of enterprise, its officials became increasingly concerned about American ships trading in adjacent coastal regions, especially their sale of firearms to natives. Throughout 1808 to 1810, Imperial officials appealed to the United States government to ban this trade. The American government took no action to satisfy Russian concerns. Discussions were held with American ambassador John Quincy Adams in 1810 to determine the southern limits of the Russian's claimed land. Government agents of the Russian Empire "claimed the whole coast of America on the Pacific, and the adjacent islands, from Bering's Strait southward toward and beyond the mouth of the Columbia River". The pronouncement stalled attempts at settling a southern border of Russian America for over a decade. American fur trader John Jacob Astor sent a ship in 1810 to present-day Alaska with the intention of supplying New Archangel. The supplies were welcomed by Baranov, and he hired the ship to transport furs to Guangzhou. Upon learning of the pressing issue of American sales of firearms, Astor conceived of plan beneficial to both his American Fur Company and the RAC. In return for a monopoly to supply Russian stations through his subsidiary Pacific Fur Company and the right to transport RAC furs to the Qing Empire, Astor promised to refrain from selling firearms to Alaskan natives. The Russian Minister to the United States, Count Fyodor Palen, was informed of the proposal. He contacted the Imperial government, noting that the deal would likely be more effective at ending the firearm sales than through diplomatic channels with the United States. Astor's son-in-law, Adrian B. Benton, traveled to Saint Petersburg in 1811 to negotiate with company and government officials. The proposed agreement was favorably received by the board of directors, outside one contentious clause. Astor requested to be allowed to transport a minor amount of furs into Russia import free, a benefit which only the RAC had enjoyed. Shareholders of the company, such as the minister of both the Foreign and Commercial offices, Count Nikolay Rumyantsev, expressed opposition to this provision. He believed that Astor had arranged all the negotiations to secure this trading right. Eventually the Americans dropped the provision and on 2 May 1812, the parties signed a four-year agreement. The two companies agreed to cease trading with other merchants and prevent the trading operations on the coast by their competitors. But the onset of the War of 1812 between Great Britain and the United States, and the capture of Astoria by the North West Company of Canada, ended Astor's operations on the Pacific coast. Outside Russian America The Russian-American Company grew interested in other parts of North America, principally Alta California, with smaller focus on Baja California and the Oregon Country. Additionally, some efforts were spent on increasing relations with the Kingdom of Hawaii, with the Schäffer affair being an attempt at colonizing the islands by a company agent acting alone. Lower Pacific Northwest Juno In October 1805 the RAC purchased the ship Juno from New England captain John DeWolf. Sitka was in need of provisions. Over the winter Russians died, and others became sick with scurvy. Juno sailed to obtain supplies, hopefully from San Francisco. Both Nicolai Rezanov and Grigory Langsdorff were aboard. Langsdorff wrote: "Count Rezanov had already formed his plans for the removal of the Russian settlement to the river Columbia, and was now planning to build a shipyard there." Previously, Rezanov had advised company directors to establish a settlement on the river, gradually expanding south "to include the coast of California in the Russian possession." Juno intended to enter the Columbia, but a wind shift, squalls and rain clouds brought a change of plan. Saint Nikolai expedition A company vessel, the Nikolai, was dispatched to the Oregon Country by Chief Manager Baranov in November 1808 with instructions to "if possible discover a site for a permanent Russian post in the Oregon Country." On 1 November, a weather system of strong gales and large waves stranded the ship on a beach north of the Quillayute River and James Island. Conflict arose with the neighboring Hoh nation and the crew had to flee into the interior of the Olympic Peninsula. Clashes with the indigenous population continued over the next year, the Russians having to resort to raiding villages for food. Eventually most of the crew became willing slaves to the Makah on the understanding they would be released when the next European vessel would arrive. American Captain Brown of the Lydia purchased the Nikolai crew and they sailed for New Archangel, arriving there on 9 June. During their time marooned on the Olympic Peninsula, seven of the crew died, including expedition commander Nikolai Bulygin and his 18-year-old wife, Anna Bulyagina. Californias The first ship to trap furs in either Alta or Baja California for the RAC was in 1803. An American vessel captained by Joseph O'Cain, the O'Cain, was contracted to trap sea otters on the Baja California peninsula, with half of the furs caught property of the RAC. On board the ship besides its American crew were 2 RAC staff and 40 natives, principally Aleuts, along with some Alutiiq of Kodiak Island. The hunting equipment used in the expedition was of indigenous origin, including the notable iqyax boats. Based in San Quintín, Alaskan natives caught sea otters from Misión de El Rosario de Abajo to Santo Domingo (located in the modern Comondú Municipality). Returning to Kodiak Island in June 1804, the O'Cain contained a total of 1,800 sea otter skins caught by the natives or purchased from the Spanish. Under similar terms other American captains were employed over the years, with Aleuts continually used to trap California sea otters, specific operations employing upwards of 300. During the period between 1805 and 1812 Baranov supplied Aleut laborers to 10 American ships sent to California, with over 22,000 pelts gathered. In August 1805, Nikolai Rezanov, then visiting the scattered RAC possessions, arrived at New Archangel. Provisions were sorely needed by the RAC posts to feed its workforce, an issue that would plague the company for decades. After Rezanov purchased the Juno, an American ship, he and its crew sailed south from New Archangel in February 1806 to attempt purchasing supplies in Alta California. Upon entering the Californias, Rezanov negotiated with Spanish authorities in the name of the Tsar, presenting himself as a minister plenipotentiary. Despite his claims, he was never given such a commission by the Imperial Government. Efforts were made at cultivating relations with prominent official José Darío Argüello in order to secure a contract for provisions, Rezanov even having a romance with his daughter, Concepción Argüello. However, the officials were only willing to forward the request of the Russians to Mexico City, none wanting to disobey a decree by the Spanish Empire that outlawed trade with foreigners. After several months the Russians departed for New Archangel without an agreement for provisions. Valuable reconnaissance however was gained, with Rezanov seeing firsthand the lack of Spanish presidios or settlements north of San Francisco Bay. Several ships owned by Americans were contracted to begin operations in Alta California almost immediately after the Juno's return to New Archangel. One ship was based in Bodega Bay, with its indigenous Alaskan workforce operating from the coast of modern Mendocino County to the Farallon Islands. While the Alaskans were catching otters on the north shore of San Francisco Bay, Luis Antonio Argüello, the acting commandant, ordered a cannon be shot at the trappers' baidarkas. That frightened the trappers, but their ship remained another two months. Reports from the American captains and Rezanov on the conditions in California encouraged Chief Manager Baranov to plan a coastal settlement in the territory. There were numerous sea otter populations to hunt, a lack of Spanish military posts north of San Francisco Bay, and the possibility to trade with the Spanish Missions. Fort Ross Built in 1812 and located on the coast of California in modern-day Sonoma County, Fort Ross was the southernmost outpost of the company. Several additional posts were operated by the company, including Port Rumyantsev on Bodega Bay, and several ranches south of the Russian River valley. Though on disputed Spanish and then subsequently Mexican territory, the legitimacy of these claims was contested by both the Company and the Russian Government until the sale of the settlement in 1841, basing the legitimacy of their claims on prior English (New Albion) claims of territorial discovery. It is now partially reconstructed and an open-air museum, with the Rotchev House being the only remaining original building. Proposed colonization An expansive colonization program of California was presented to the Imperial Court by the "garrulous and unreliable" 20-year-old junior officer and former Decembrist Dmitry I. Zavalishin in late 1824. He had been a crew member of an expedition that during 1823 and 1824 to examine the Russian possessions in North America. His memorandum proposed that the Californios be encouraged to secede from Mexico in order to create a political alliance. Zavalishin wanted the Russian-American Company to receive a grant of land extending north to the border of the Oregon Country, south to the San Francisco Bay and east to either the Sierra Nevada mountains or the Sacramento River. In return the Russians were to maintain a naval presence in San Francisco Bay, protect the California Mission's right to maintain neophyte labor, allow Californios to settle within the grant and establish Spanish language schools throughout California. A council of the inner Russian government debated the merits of Zavalishin's plan. Foreign Minister Count Karl Nesselrode feared the scheme would anger the United States and the United Kingdom, and consequently was against it. The court representative of the RAC, Count Nikolay Mordvinov, defended the memorandum and voiced Zavalishin's stance that "too much leniency and effort to avoid conflict sometimes only precipitate a conflict." Building on Zavalishin's proposal, Mordvinov planned on buying serfs from Russian landlords and sending them to California. The freed serfs were to be supported by the company and had to remain as settlers for seven years in its service. After the expiration of their contracts, all farming implements provided and land farmed upon would become the property of the freemen. A banquet was held for Zavalishin to draw support for his plan, with many prominent officials of the Empire attending. Mikhail Speransky, a former Governor-General of Siberia, saw California as a future grain supplier to Russian Pacific possessions in Alaska, Sakhalin and the Siberian coast. The Assistant Foreign Minister, Poletica, while at first against Zavalishin's program of Californian expansionism, by the end of the reception became fully supportive of it. Additionally the Minister of Education, Shishkov, while not present at the banquet warmly received the memorandum. Zavalishin became fearful the treaties made in 1824 and 1825 that delineated Russian America's borders would restrict the Empire from a proactive policy in North America. He beseeched Tsar Alexander I for an audience to defend his memorandum, but a meeting was never arranged. Eventually Tsar Alexander echoed Nesselrode's position and refused to send Zavalishin back to California. The political upheaval of Alexander I's death and the subsequent Decembrist Uprising halted the considerations for an extensive commercial colonisation of California by the RAC. In 1853 Governor General N. N. Muravyov recounted to Tsar Alexander II that: California during the 1820s "was unoccupied and virtually unprocessed by anybody", though he found that a "foothold in California" would "sooner or later" have to be turned over to the advancing Americans. Later period In 1818 the Russian government had taken control of the Russian-American Company from the merchants who held the charter. Starting in the 1820s the company's profitability slumped due to declining populations of fur-bearing animals. It had already had bad annual returns, in 1808 slightly less than half of the 2,300,000 rubles of expense were covered. Between 1797 and 1821 the RAC or its forerunner the United American Company collected the following inventory of furs, worth in total 16 million rubles: 1.3 million foxes of several species, 72,894 sea otters, 59,530 river otters, 34,546 beavers, 30,950 sables, 17,298 wolverines, 14,969 fur seals along with smaller numbers of lynx, wolf, sea lion, walrus and bears. In 1828, Emperor Nicholas I of Russia ordered the RAC to begin to supply the Russian settlements on the Kamchatka Peninsula, such as Petropavlovsk, with salt. The company was expected to ship between 3,000 and 5,000 poods of salt annually. Continual difficulties in securing large amounts of cheap salt in the Kingdom of Hawaii and Alta California led officials to consider Baja California instead. Arvid Etholén was dispatched in the winter of 1827, and soon secured permission from Mexican authorities to gather salt around San Quintín. Transportation was arranged with the Misión Santo Tomás. The explorer and naval officer, Baron Ferdinand Petrovich von Wrangel, who had been administrator of imperial government interests in Russian America a decade before, was the fifth governor (in office: 1830 to 1835) during the government period. Eventually during the 1840s the governing board of the company was replaced with a five-member administration of imperial naval officers. During the Crimean War of 1853 to 1856, when the United Kingdom fought against the Russian Empire from 1854 to 1856, officials of the RAC began to fear an invasion of their Alaskan settlements by British forces. The RAC began discussions with the Hudson's Bay Company in the spring of 1854, with each company pledging to continue peaceable relations and to press their respective governments to do the same. The United Kingdom and the Russian Empire accepted the deal by the companies, but both governments specified that naval blockades and seizure of vessels were acceptable actions. The British HMS Pique and the French Sibylle attacked an RAC outpost on Urup Island in the Kuriles in 1855, in the belief that the agreement did not cover the Kuriles. The company built a whaling station at Mamga in Tugur Bay in the Sea of Okhotsk in 1862. It operated from 1863 to 1865 before being sold to Otto Wilhelm Lindholm. Two schooners used the station as a base, sending out whaleboats to catch bowhead whales, which were towed ashore and processed at a nearby tryworks. The Russian-American Company has been appraised as being run with "poorly chosen and inadequately skilled staff", floundering in part from "the lack of experience of the executives handling an organization which overreached itself through its expansion across the Pacific and along the American coast into California..." The company ceased its commercial activities in 1881. In 1867, the Alaska Purchase had transferred control of Alaska to the United States and the commercial interests of the Russian-American Company were sold to Hutchinson, Kohl & Company of San Francisco, California, who then renamed their company to the Alaska Commercial Company. From 1816 to 1867 the Company circulated ruble or assignat () equivalents - marki () - printed on tanned skins. Russian-American Company flag The Russian commercial flag (civil ensign) was used between 1799 and 1806 by the company on its ships and establishments. Tsar Alexander I approved a design for a separate flag for the RAC on 10 October 1806 O.S., writing "So be it" upon the report. After being sent to the State Council, it was forwarded to the Finance and Naval ministries, along with the Saint Petersburg office of the RAC on 19 October 1806 O.S. The memorandum described the flag as having "three stripes, the lower red, the middle blue, and the upper and wider stripe white, with the facsimile on it of the All-Russia state coat-of-arms below which is a ribbon hanging from the talons of the eagle with the inscription thereon 'Russo-American Company'". The company flag eventually had several variations, in part from the nature of individual production and the changing designs of the Imperial flag. As researcher John Middleton noted, "There continues to be much discussion concerning the design of the company flag, mostly centered around the design and placement of the eagle." The various flags flew over the company's holdings in California until 1 January 1842, and over Alaska until 18 October 1867, when all Russian-American Company holdings in Alaska were sold to the United States. The flag continued to represent the company until its Russian holdings were liquidated in 1881. Chief managers Below is a list of the general managers (or chief managers, usually known in English as governors) of the Russian-American Company. Many of their names occur as place names in Southeast Alaska. Note that the English spelling of the names varies between sources. The position administered the commercial operations of the company, centered on Russian America. Alexander Andreyevich Baranov was the first and longest serving chief manager, previously managing the United American Company. After Baranov's tenure, appointees were chosen from the Imperial Russian Navy and generally served terms of five years. Thirteen naval officers acted as chief managers over the course of the company. No. PortraitName Term of Office 1 Alexander Andreyevich Baranov July 9, 1799 – January 11, 1818 2 Captain Ludwig von Hagemeister January 11, 1818 – October 24, 1818 3 Lieutenant Semyon Ivanovich Yanovsky October 24, 1818 – September 15, 1820 4 Lieutenant Matvey Ivanovich Muravyev September 15, 1820 – October 14, 1825 5 Pyotr Yegorovich Chistyakov October 14, 1825 – June 1, 1830 6 Baron Ferdinand Petrovich von Wrangel June 1, 1830 – October 29, 1835 7 Ivan Antonovich Kupreyanov October 29, 1835 – May 25, 1840 8 Arvid Adolf Etholén May 25, 1840 – July 9, 1845 9 Vice admiral Mikhail Dmitrievich Tebenkov July 9, 1845 – October 14, 1850 10 Captain Nikolay Yakovlevich Rosenberg October 14, 1850 – March 31, 1853 11 Aleksandr Ilich Rudakov March 31, 1853 – April 22, 1854 12 Captain Stepan Vasiliyevich Voyevodsky April 22, 1854 – June 22, 1859 13 Captain Johan Hampus Furuhjelm June 22, 1859 – December 2, 1863 14 Prince Dmitri Petrovich Maksutov December 2, 1863 – October 18, 1867 In Alaska Unalaska – 1774 Three Saints Bay – 1784 Fort St. George in Kasilof – 1786 Fort Nikolaevskaia in Kenai – 1787 St. Paul – 1788 Pavlovskaya – 1791 Fort Saints Constantine and Helen on Nuchek Island – 1793 Fort on Hinchinbrook Island – 1793 New Russia near present-day Yakutat – 1795 Redoubt St. Archangel Michael near Sitka – 1799 New Archangel – 1804 Fort (New) Alexandrovsk at Bristol Bay – 1819 Redoubt St. Michael – 1833 Nulato – 1834 Redoubt St. Dionysius in present-day Wrangell – 1834 Pokrovskaya Mission – 1837 Kolmakov Redoubt – 1844 Outside Alaska Fort Ross near Healdsburg, California – 1812 Fort Elizabeth near Waimea, Hawaii – 1817 Fort Alexander near Hanalei, Hawaii – 1817 Fort Barclay-de-Tolly near Hanalei, Hawaii – 1817 Ships At the beginning of its existence the company vessels were all Russian-built. As time went on foreign-built vessels began to be acquired. More than 30 vessels were bought that had been built in England, the United States, Germany and Finland. When Alaska was sold to the United States in 1867, foreign-built ships made up 97% of the total tonnage of the company fleet. References: Pierce, Richard, ed. Documents on the history of the Russian-American Company. Kingston, Ont. : Limestone Press, c1976. pp. 23–26. OCLC: 2945773. Tikhmenev, P. A. A history of the Russian-American Company. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1978. pp. 146–151. OCLC: 3089256. See also Awa'uq Massacre Alaska Purchase Further reading Grinyov, Andrei V., “A Failed Monopoly: Management of the Russian-American Company, 1799–1867,” Alaska History, 27 (Spring–Fall 2012), 19–47. A. I. Istomin, J. Gibson, V. A. Tishkov. Russia in California. Nauk, Moscow 2005 Middleton, John. Бытъ По Сему- So be it: 200 years of the history and interpretation of "The flag granted by his Imperial Highness" The flag of the Russian-American Company. September, 2006. Fort Ross Conservancy web site Primary sources Pierce, Richard A.:The Russian-American Company: Correspondence of the Governors; Communications Sent: 1818 The Limestone Press Kingston, Ontario, Canada 1984. I.F. Kruzenstern: Notes on ports and Ross and Franchesko, 4 October 1825. Vorobyoff, Igor V., trans. (1973) "Adventures of Doctor Schäffer in Hawaii, 1815–1819," Hawaiian Journal of History 7:55–78 (translation of Bolkhovitinov, N. N., "Avantyura Doktora Sheffera na Gavayyakh v 1815–1819 Godakh," Novaya i Noveyshaya Istoriya 1[1972]:121–137)
William Clay Ford Jr.	[ "1957 births", "Living people", "American chairpersons of corporations", "American chief executives in the automobile industry", "American chief executives of manufacturing companies", "American chief operating officers", "American male taekwondo practitioners", "American philanthropists", "Arena Football League executives", "Businesspeople from Detroit", "Firestone family", "Ford executives", "Family of Henry Ford", "Hotchkiss School alumni", "MIT Sloan Fellows", "MIT Sloan School of Management alumni", "Princeton University alumni", "Detroit Lions executives", "Detroit Lions owners" ]	1,703	16,189	William Clay Ford Jr. (born May 3, 1957) is an American businessman, serving as executive chair of Ford Motor Company. The great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford, Ford joined the board in 1988 and has served as chair since January 1999. Ford also served as the president, CEO, and COO until turning over those roles to former Boeing executive Alan Mulally in September 2006. Ford is also the vice chairman of the Detroit Lions NFL franchise. Ford serves as a chairman of the United States-Mexico Chamber of Commerce. Early life and education Ford was born in Detroit, Michigan, the great-grandson of Henry Ford I and great-grandson of Harvey S. Firestone. His father was William Clay Ford Sr. and his mother was Martha Firestone. On his mother's side, his grandparents were Harvey S. Firestone Jr. and Elizabeth Parke. On his father's side, his grandparents were Edsel Ford I and Eleanor Lowthian Clay. Edsel Ford II, son of Henry Ford II and also a board member, is his first cousin. Ford has three sisters: Martha Morse (who has 3 children), Sheila Ford Hamp (who has 3 children), and Elizabeth Kontulis. He, like his great-grandfather Henry Ford, is of mainly Irish, English, and Belgian descent. Ford graduated from the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut in 1975. He then attended Princeton University and graduated with an A.B. in history in 1979 after completing a 105-page long senior thesis titled "Henry Ford and Labor: A Reappraisal." While a student at Princeton, Ford was president of the Ivy Club and played on the Princeton rugby team. In 1984 he received an M.S. in management as a Sloan Fellow from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Career He joined Ford in 1979 and held a variety of positions, beginning in product development and on the financial staff, a grooming ground for future executives. He served several years as a mid-ranking executive in product development. He also briefly headed the Climate Control Division (since divested from the company as part of the Visteon spinoff). At the time of the Ford 2000 reorganization, he was in charge of heavy truck operations. Corporate governance Ford gave up an executive position in heavy truck program management to become chairman of the finance committee on the board of directors, a non-executive corporate governance position. He was elected chairman of the board in September 1998 and took office on January 1, 1999. Ford added the title of chief executive officer on October 30, 2001, following the ouster of then-CEO Jacques Nasser. With the retirement of Ford president and chief operating officer Jim Padilla in April 2006, Bill Ford assumed those roles as well. On September 5, 2006, Ford announced that he was stepping down as president and CEO, naming former Boeing senior executive Alan Mulally as his replacement. Ford continues as the company's executive chairman. At the time of his stepping down, Ford was ranked 264th on Forbes''' list of top-earning CEOs, at $10 million per year. Business developments In 2000, he announced that the company would achieve a 25% improvement in fuel efficiency in the company's light truck fleet, including SUVs, by mid-decade. Under his direction, Ford Motor Company made technological progress toward improving fuel efficiency, with the introduction of the Hybrid Electric Escape, the most fuel-efficient SUV on the market, achieving 36 mpg (EPA) in city driving. The Escape's platform mates Mercury Mariner and Mazda Tribute were also scheduled to receive hybrid-electric powertrain options, along with other upcoming vehicles in the Ford product line including the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan. Ford announced that half of the vehicle lineup would be available with advanced hybrid-electric powerplant options by 2010, although the company's earlier pledge to build 250,000 hybrid vehicles a year by 2010 proved to be overly optimistic and had to be abandoned. Ford also continued to study Fuel Cell-powered electric powertrains and demonstrated hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine technologies, as well as developing the next-generation hybrid-electric systems. In addition to the Ford Escape, Hybrid Escape, Mercury Mariner, and Mazda Tribute, Ford marketed high efficiency crossover SUVs such as the Ford Freestyle, the Volvo XC70 and the Volvo XC90. Ford also developed new crossover SUVs, such as the Ford Edge, Lincoln MKX, and Mazda CX-7. Ford expanded its lineup of flexible-fuel vehicles, alternative fuel vehicles, and dual-fuel vehicles. Flexible fuel vehicles can operate on a range of fuel mixtures – such as ethanol-gasoline blends ranging from pure gasoline to E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline). Alternative fuel vehicles operate on non-petroleum fuels, such as methanol, compressed natural gas (CNG), propane, and hydrogen. Dual fuel vehicles generally have two fuel tanks – one for compressed natural gas or propane, and another for regular gasoline – with a selector switch to choose between them. Vehicles using those fueling alternatives were in test fleets, for example as taxis and shuttle buses, and some were available for sale to the public. Ford was committed to sell 250,000 alternative and flexible fuel vehicles – the majority of which would be designed to operate on ethanol-gasoline blends such as E85 – in 2006. Speaking at conference in November 2000 in London, Ford suggested that the company might one day offer a service where it owns vehicles and makes them available to people when they need access to them. Market competition, health care, and raw material costs led Ford to announce a second restructuring for its North American operations in four years. Ford's restructuring plan, dubbed "The Way Forward", reversed a $1.6 billion loss during 2009 in its North American operations. The company returned to profitability in 2010. Fontinalis Partners Ford has been a vocal advocate for improvements to be made in all modes of global transportation, having stated that governments and private industry would need to rethink transportation infrastructure and technology as the global population expands and the existing infrastructure is unable to keep pace. In January 2010, he announced the launch of a strategic investment firm, Fontinalis Partners, with the purpose of investing in innovative companies developing next-generation mobility solutions. Ford co-founded the firm with Ralph Booth (chairman and CEO of Booth American Company and a media and telecom investor), Mark Schulz (former head of Ford Motor Company's international operations), Chris Cheever, and Chris Thomas. Personal life Ford is married to Lisa Vanderzee Ford, and they have four children. He is first cousin to Alfred Ford. Ford has been a vegetarian since 1990, and adopted a vegan diet in 2010. See also Ford family tree
Bob le flambeur	[ "1956 films", "1956 crime films", "Film noir", "Films about organized crime in France", "Films directed by Jean-Pierre Melville", "French black-and-white films", "French films about gambling", "French gangster films", "French heist films", "Films set in Paris", "Films produced by Serge Silberman", "Films based on French novels", "1950s heist films", "1950s French-language films", "1950s French films" ]	2,530	22,799	Bob le flambeur (English translation": "Bob the Gambler" or "Bob the High Roller") is a 1956 French heist gangster film directed by Jean-Pierre Melville and starring Roger Duchesne as Bob. It is often considered both a film noir and a precursor to the French New Wave, the latter because of its use of handheld camera and a single jump cut. Plot The film opens with a tracking shot around the Montmartre quarter where the film is set, and the director, Jean-Pierre Melville, as narrator, then says " [bird's eye view of the Montmartre Funicular descending, with music ] [Shot of the Place Pigalle]" ("It is at one and the same time heaven ... and ... hell"). Bob is a gambler who lives on his own in the Montmartre district of Paris, where he is well-liked by the demi-monde community. A former bank robber and convict, he has mostly kept out of trouble for the past 20 years, and is even friends with a Commissaire de police in the Prefecture of Police in Paris, Ledru, whose life he once saved. Ever the gentleman, Bob lets Anne, an attractive young woman who has just lost her job, stay in his apartment in order to keep her from the attentions of Marc, a pimp he hates. Bob declines Anne's advances, instead steering her to his young protégé Paolo, who soon sleeps with her. Through Jean, an ex-con who is now a croupier at the casino in Deauville, Bob's friend Roger, a safecracker, learns that, by 5:00 in the morning on the day of a big horse race at the nearby track, the casino safe is expected to contain around 800 million French francs in cash, equivalent to a little more than $24,000,000 in 2025. As Bob has had a run of bad luck, he plans to rob the safe, convincing a man named McKimmie to finance the preparations and recruiting a team to carry out the heist. Jean gets detailed floor plans of the casino and the specifications of the safe, and buys a bracelet for his wife, Suzanne, with some of the money he is paid for his services. The smitten Paolo brags to Anne about the upcoming raid to try to impress her. Not taking him seriously, she lets this information slip to Marc just before the two have sex. Earlier, Marc had been arrested by Ledru for beating up one of his prostitutes, but Ledru had released him on the condition that he provide some information on a bigger crime; Marc's reaction makes Anne realize she may have made a mistake. The next morning, Anne tells Bob what she did, and he and Roger search for Marc, but cannot find him. Marc tells Ledru that he has heard about a caper involving Bob, but needs a few more hours to obtain confirmation, so Ledru lets him go. When Bob tells Paolo about Marc and Anne, the young man finds Marc and shoots the man dead just as he is about to tell Ledru what he was able to find out. Meanwhile, Suzanne discovers where her husband got the money to buy the bracelet and decides to ask Bob for a larger share of the take. They drive to Paris, but are unable to find him or Roger. She then persuades Jean to back out of it and anonymously tips off Ledru. Thinking that, with Marc dead, their plan is still a secret, Bob and his team head to Deauville. Ledru searches fruitlessly for Bob to convince him to abandon his plan. He reluctantly leads a convoy of armed police to the casino. Bob enters the casino to check on things. The plan is that, unless he signals them otherwise, his team will burst in at 5:00 a.m. and rob the safe at gunpoint. He had promised Roger that he would not gamble until after the heist was over, but, after wandering around for a while, he cannot resist placing a bet. He has an incredible run of good luck, first at roulette, then at chemin de fer, and loses track of the time. Just before 5:00, he finally looks at his watch. He orders the staff to cash his huge pile of chips and hurries out the door. The police arrive as Bob's team are walking toward the casino, and a shootout ensues; Paolo is shot. Bob comes upon the aftermath and holds Paolo as he dies. He and Roger are handcuffed and put into Ledru's car, and Bob's winnings are put in the trunk. Ledru says Bob will probably only spend three years in prison, but Roger says that, with a good lawyer, he will get acquitted. Bob quips that he may even sue for damages. Principal cast Roger Duchesne as Bob Montagné Isabelle Corey as Anne Daniel Cauchy as Paolo Guy Decomble as Police Commissaire Ledru André Garet as Roger Gérard Buhr as Marc Claude Cerval as Jean Colette Fleury as Suzanne René Havard as Police Inspector Morin Simone Paris as Yvonne Howard Vernon as McKimmie The director, Jean-Pierre Melville, narrates the film. Production The film was shot on location in Place Pigalle, Pigalle, Montmartre, Paris, and Deauville, with two interiors filmed at Melville's own . According to an interview, the film cost 17.5 million French francs to produce, though a CNC (Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée) censorship file includes an estimate of 32 million French francs. Cinematography This film was shot by a frequent collaborator of Jean-Pierre Melville, Henri Decaë who was the cinematographer on films such as, Elevator to the Gallows (1958), The Boys from Brazil (1978) and The Red Circle (1970). He previously shot Le silence de la mer (1949) with Melville and later was cinematographer on Melville's Le Samouraï (1967). They eventually split ways due to creative differences but Melville once said of Decaë "exactly shar[ed] my tastes for all things cinema." With his films such as Elevator to the Gallows (1958) Henri Decaë first established his trademark that follows him through his career which is the use of natural lighting. Much like how he lit Jeanne Moreau in Elevator to the Gallows "with only the available light from shop windows and neon signs." Due to this use of heavily stylized light many critics have traced a connection to the American film noir movement. This film was influential on the French New Wave Movement for many reasons, including visual style. This can be attributed to the fact that Henri Decaë's cinematography caught the attention of Cahiers Du Cinema editors. This secured him a job as cinematographer for influential New Wave films like François Truffaut's The 400 Blows. Release Released in Paris on 24 April 1956, Bob le flambeur took in 221,659 admissions in Paris and 716,920 admissions in France as a whole, and was Melville's lowest-grossing film at that point in his career. It was shown as part of the 1981 New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall. Bob le Flambeur was not released to theaters in the U.S. until 23 June 1982, at the Cinema Studio 2, in New York. Critical reception Vincent Canby, writing for The New York Times in 1981, noted that "Melville's affection for American gangster movies may have never been as engagingly and wittily demonstrated as in Bob le Flambeur, which was only the director's fourth film, made before he had access to the bigger budgets and the bigger stars (Jean-Paul Belmondo, Alain Delon) of his later pictures." The film received positive reviews when it was re-released by Rialto Pictures in U.S. cinemas in 2001. Roger Ebert added it to his Great Movies list in 2003. Jean-Pierre Melville is often considered a significant figure in the New Wave film movement, credited with inspiring key elements in the movement through his film Bob le Flambeur (1956). His work notably influenced Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless. The New Wave was a product of the French reimagining of American cinema, and Melville's contributions provided significant inspiration for this innovative and revolutionary approach to filmmaking, which included the use of location shooting, the handheld camera, and the jump cut. Godard, influenced by Melville's avant-garde style, fully embraced these trends in his filmmaking. Breathless was shot entirely on location, featuring dynamic jump cut editing and utilizing a handheld camera. This is a testament to the lasting influence of Melville's pioneering contributions on the evolving landscape of cinema during the New Wave era. Melville understands that in a gangster film, the criminal will ultimately be caught. Bob is less interested in stealing the money itself than in everyone knowing who's robbing the bank. He explains the trope that not all gamblers are lucky, yet the idea of losing a gamble is all to be expected. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 97%, based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10; the website's critical consensus reads: "Majorly stylish, Bob le Flambeur is a cool homage to American gangster films and the presage to French New Wave mode of seeing." Remake and influence The Good Thief, an English-language remake of the film written and directed by Neil Jordan, was released in 2002. Bob le flambeur also has influenced such films as the two versions of the American film Ocean's Eleven (1960 and 2001) and Paul Thomas Anderson's Hard Eight (1996).
Helios and Matheson Analytics	[ "American companies established in 1983", "American companies disestablished in 2020", "1997 initial public offerings", "Companies that filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2020", "Companies that have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy", "Companies traded over-the-counter in the United States", "Publicly traded companies based in New York City", "Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq" ]	1,384	13,712	Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc. was a publicly traded data analytics company based in New York City, New York. The company became widely known during its final years for acquiring and subsequently operating MoviePass, which ultimately led to the company's bankruptcy. History The company was founded in 1983 by Shmuel BenTov as Software Ben-Tov. It changed its name later that year to The A Consulting Team. The company made its initial public offering in 1997. In 2006, Helios & Matheson Information Technology Ltd., an IT consulting firm based in Chennai, India, purchased a majority stake in the company. The A Consulting Team changed its name in 2007 to Helios & Matheson North America, to highlight its association with the parent company. The company again changed its name in 2011 to Helios & Matheson Information Technology Inc., to reflect that it was seeking business opportunities worldwide, and then in 2013 to Helios and Matheson Analytics, to reflect that the business had "moved beyond IT". The company acquired Zone Technologies, maker of the RedZone Map app, in November 2016. Zone founder Ted Farnsworth was appointed chairman of Helios, and then, in January 2017, became Helios's CEO. In August 2017, Helios purchased a majority stake in MoviePass. Helios advanced MoviePass $55 million from December to February 20, 2018. MoviePass then converted the advances from debt to equity. This increased Helios' ownership stake from 62.4 percent to 81.2 percent. Another $35 million in advances converted to capital put Helios at 91.8 percent, allowing for a merger unilaterally initiated by the Helios board. In January 2018, co-founder Stacy Spikes was fired from the company. In April 2018, Helios acquired the movie listings website Moviefone from Verizon's digital media subsidiary, Oath Inc. As part of the transaction, Verizon took an equity stake in MoviePass. In March 2018, the board of directors began the process to spin off Zone Technologies to shareholders as a separate, publicly traded company, with the hope that it would allow Helios to focus on its strengths. In April 2018, Helios sold $150 million in stock with $30 million of the shares at $2.75, a discount from the closing market price of $3.83. Most of the proceeds were used to fund MoviePass. With the diluting and discount on the shares, prior investors indicated their unhappiness with the company on Twitter. In May 2018, the company acquired the assets of Emmett Furla Oasis Films, gaining its executives' expertise in making films for a new subsidiary, MoviePass Films, with an option to purchase the library. The new company would be 51% owned by Helios and the remainder by EFO. By early August 2018, Helios and Matheson completed the acquisition of Emmett Furla Oasis Films assets for the MoviePass subsidiary, MoviePass Films. In August 2018, the company reported a loss of $100 million in the second quarter of 2018 with the company trading at an implied value of $30 million. In October 2018, the Attorney General of New York opened an investigation into Helios and Matheson Analytics, looking into whether it misled investors about the company's financial situation. With market perception of MoviePass affecting Helios & Matheson's stock value, in October 2018 the company revealed a preliminary plan to spin off its film industry units as MoviePass Entertainment Holdings. The plan calls for a stock dividend of a minority of the holding company's stock allowing Helios to retain a controlling interest and for listing the new company on the NASDAQ or alternative market. The company's stock was delisted from the Nasdaq on February 12, 2019, and moved to over-the-counter markets. On January 28, 2020, the company filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy and announced plans to close the company.
Vista Group	[ "Business software companies", "Companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange", "Companies listed on the New Zealand Exchange", "Companies in the S&P/NZX 50 Index", "Dual-listed companies", "Software companies of New Zealand", "2014 establishments in New Zealand" ]	1,935	18,842	Vista Group International Limited (Vista Group) is a multinational tech conglomerate that provides technology for film distribution, exhibition and analytics globally. They are made up of eight businesses with more than 630 staff across offices in Auckland, Sydney, Los Angeles, London, Shanghai, Beijing, Mexico City, South Africa, the Netherlands and Romania. Its software is installed in cinemas in 116 countries. Vista Group is listed on both the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX) and Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). Corporate History Vista Entertainment Solutions (Vista Cinema), the original and cornerstone company of Vista Group, was formed in New Zealand in 1996. In 1997, Vista Cinema made its first overseas sales in Argentina and Fiji, at which point its software was adapted to handle multiple languages and accommodate the complex tax laws and film regulations of other countries. This flexibility allowed Vista Cinema to expand rapidly into the diverse cinema markets of Central and North America, Europe, and Asia. Vista Cinema was initially formed via a joint venture development agreement between Village Force Cinemas Ltd (now Event Cinemas) and Madison Systems Ltd (now Fujitsu Ltd). Madison Systems was part owned and staffed by people who are still staff and now shareholders in Vista Group today. Vista Cinema management took a direct 50% ownership in 2003 and total control of the company in March 2010 - four years prior to the listing of Vista Group in August 2014. Between 2009 and 2014, Vista acquired total or partial control of a number of companies specializing in technology solutions for the wider film industry. This aligned with the diversification of the company to vertically integrate additional sector requirements such as film distribution management and marketing data analysis. The 2014 public listing of Vista Group International by the management company that owned Vista Cinema and its acquired companies, saw a listing on the NZX and ASX via an initial public offering of $92.6m, of which $40.0m was new capital. Vista Group (VGL) commenced trading on the NZX Main Board on the 11th of August 2014, with a market capitalization of $191.6m NZD. Since listing, Vista Group has continued to acquire stakes in a number of technology companies that provide business solutions to the film industry. In August 2016, Vista Group completed a transaction with movie ticket booking platform Beijing Weiying Technology (WePiao), establishing Vista China (previously a 100%-owned subsidiary of Vista Group), as a joint venture company. This investment from WePiao, and the extended rights from Vista Group to enable the sale of existing software solutions (Vista Cinema, Veezi, Movio, Maccs and Numero), positions Vista China to increase its footprint in the rapidly-expanding China film market. In August 2017, Vista Group acquired a 60 per cent controlling stake in its long-term Latin American business partner, Senda Dirección Tecnológica, SA de CV, which has been renamed Vista Latin America. In April 2020, Vista Group partnered with ScreenPlus to launch Screenplus' VOD platform offering available to exhibitors in all major territories, including the US, Canada and UK. Businesses Vista Entertainment Solutions (Vista Cinema) Vista Cinema designs and develops cinema management software for the Large Circuit Market (cinema exhibitors operating more than 20 screens). Vista Cinema, the company's core product, supports Box Office and Concession sales Point of Sale (POS), and back of house operations. Other Vista Cinema products meet the requirements of wider cinema management including mobile applications, head office administration and analysis and moviegoer services such as online ticketing and loyalty programs. Vista Cinema provides software to over 5500 cinemas in more than 80 countries and their global market share in the large cinema market is calculated at 38%. Leveraging the IP of Vista Cinema, Veezi launched in March 2012 as a cloud-based cinema management solution for smaller, independent cinemas (cinema exhibitors operating less than 20 screens). Veezi utilizes the Software as a Service (SaaS) model in which users pay a subscription fee to access the product. Used worldwide by a diverse range of small cinema operators, Veezi also supports integration with a number of internet ticket aggregators. Movio, also a SaaS offer, provides marketing data analytics and campaign management software for the film industry. Movio maintains real-time data on the demographic profiles and cinema transactions of identifiable moviegoers. Which is consolidated and processed to design audience segments, create targeted marketing campaigns and measure their effectiveness. Movio holds comprehensive marketing data covering from 39+ million active moviegoers, covering 29% of cinema screens worldwide. Maccs International Maccs International provides software for film distributors and exhibitors. Maccs software facilitates film rights and royalties management, as well as advertisement and distribution via theatrical and non-theatrical sales channels (home entertainment etc.). Maccs software operates in over 45 countries and manages theatrical distribution for over 100 film distributors. The company is the largest provider of this type of software outside of the US. In July 2015, Maccs secured its first customer in the US, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. A SaaS solution, Numero provides up to the minute box office reporting software for film studios, independent film distributors and cinemas. Numero is used to extract data from cinema point of sale software, which can then be accessed by distributors for insight into box office revenue and admissions trends. Powster provides film marketing products, music videos, and creative content globally. Their platform is a global solution for movie distributors to direct audiences to purchase tickets at cinemas. The company creates more than 100 online destinations a month for 70+ movie distributors in more than 40 countries. The Powster movie platform enables an estimated five million consumers a week to discover cinema show times on official movie websites. Flicks Limited (Flicks) is a premium online platform used by moviegoers to find movie, cinema and session information. Flicks lists every movie, cinema and session nationwide in its markets, along with reviews, trailers, local release guides, festival profiles and editorial pieces from credited movie-writing talent. A comprehensive cinema registry and booking links is also included in Flicks’ service. Awards and recognition Winner: 'Exporter of the Year to the USA $500,001 - $5m' - AmCham-DHL Express Success & Innovation Awards 2012 Winner: 'Supreme Award - AmCham-DHL Express Success & Innovation Awards 2012 Winner: 'International Business Award for companies between $10-$50 million in turnover' - New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Business Awards 2012 Winner: 'Equity Issue of the Year' - INFINZ Awards 2015 Winner: 'PWC Hi-Tech Company of the Year' - New Zealand Hi-Tech Awards 2016 In February 2015, Vista Group International launched the Vista Foundation, to support the continued success and growth of the New Zealand film industry and increase the accessibility of New Zealand film to wider audiences. Film producer and director Roger Donaldson is the Patron of the Vista Foundation. The foundation's first initiative was the Vista Film Marketing Programme, launched in partnership with the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC), which aims to help creative film-makers learn the business side of film marketing. The first films to benefit from the Vista Film Marketing Programme were the 2016 documentary Chasing Great about the former All Black captain Richie McCaw, and in 2017 Pecking Order, a documentary following members of the Christchurch Poultry Club in the lead up to the National Competition, which was directed by Slavko Martinov and released in April 2017. The Vista Foundation has also supported, in partnership with the Directors and Editors Guild of New Zealand (DEGNZ), an educative programme Women Filmmakers Incubator designed to accelerate the number of women filmmakers and accelerate their professional development.
Cynthia Cooper (accountant)	[ "American accountants", "American women accountants", "Living people", "Mississippi State University alumni", "University of Alabama alumni", "American whistleblowers", "People from Clinton, Mississippi", "Women in finance", "Accounting scandals", "Year of birth missing (living people)" ]	568	6,037	Cynthia Cooper is an American accountant who formerly served as the Vice President of Internal Audit at WorldCom. In 2002, Cooper and her team of auditors worked together in secret and often at night to investigate and unearth $3.8 billion in fraud at WorldCom which, at that time, was the largest corporate fraud in U.S. history. Cooper was named one of three "People of the Year" by Time magazine in 2002. Education Cooper earned her Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Mississippi State University and a Master of Science in Accountancy from the University of Alabama. She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Information System Auditor (CISA), Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE). Career Cooper worked for the Atlanta offices of public accounting firms PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte & Touche, and later became Vice President of Internal Audit at Worldcom. Cooper stayed with MCI (previously Worldcom) for two years following the fraud. She and her team helped the company successfully emerge from bankruptcy. Later career Since leaving what became MCI, Cooper started her own consulting firm to speak with both professionals and students sharing her experiences and lessons learned. Writing Cooper's book about her life and the WorldCom fraud, Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower, was published in 2008. She has donated profits from her book to high schools and universities for ethics education. Personal life Cooper maintains an office in Brandon, Mississippi. She married Lance Cooper in 1993; they have two children. Honors Cooper was named one of three "People of the Year" by Time magazine in 2002, along with fellow whistleblowers Sherron Watkins and Coleen Rowley. Further reading
Medal of the Royal Numismatic Society	[ "Lists of award winners", "Medals", "Numismatic associations", "Awards established in 1883", "Awards for numismatics", "Royal Numismatic Society", "British awards" ]	1,231	10,826	The Medal of the Royal Numismatic Society was first awarded in 1883. It is awarded by the Royal Numismatic Society and is one of the highest markers of recognition given to numismatists. The president and Council award the medal annually to an "individual highly distinguished for services to Numismatic Science". In recent years the medallist has been invited to receive the medal in person and to give a lecture, usually at the society's December Meeting. Sir John Evans gave the dies for the original silver medal to the society in 1883. The current medal was commissioned from Ian Rank-Broadley in 1993 and is a cast silver medal with the classical theme of Heracles and the Nemean lion. The society commissioned Robert Elderton to create a new medal in 2020–21 List of medallists Recipients of the Medal of the Royal Numismatic Society and their lecture titles (where available) are given below.Further details about the individual medallists and their contributions to the field of numismatics can be found in the Numismatic Chronicle. 1883 Charles Roach Smith (1807–1890) 1884 Aquilla Smith (1806–1890) 1885 Edward Thomas (1813–1886) 1886 Alexander Cunningham (1814–1893) 1887 John Evans (1823–1908) 1888 Friedrich Imhoof-Blumer (1838–1920) 1889 Percy Gardner (1846–1937) 1890 Jan Pieter Six (1824–1899) 1891 C. Ludwig Müller (1809–1891) 1892 R. Stuart Poole (1832–1895) 1893 W.H. Waddington (1826–1894) 1894 Charles Francis Keary (1848–1917) 1895 Theodor Mommsen (1817–1903) 1896 Frederic W. Madden (1839–1904) 1897 Alfred von Sallet (1842–1897) 1898 William Greenwell (1820–1918) 1899 Ernest Babelon (1854–1924) 1900 Stanley Lane-Poole (1854–1931) 1901 S.E. Baron Wladimir von Tiesenhausen (1825–1902) 1902 Arthur J. Evans (1851–1941) 1903 Gustave Schlumberger (1844–1929) 1904 His Majesty Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy (1869–1947) 1905 Sir Hermann Weber (1823–1918) 1906 Francesco Gnecchi (1847–1919) 1907 Barclay V. Head (1844–1914) 1908 Heinrich Dressel (1845–1920) 1909 Herbert A. Grueber (1846–1927) 1910 Friedrich Edler von Kenner (1834–1922) 1911 Oliver Codrington (1837–1921) 1912 Max von Bahrfeldt (1856–1936) 1913 George Macdonald (1862–1940) 1914 Jean N. Svoronos (1863–1922) 1915 George Francis Hill (1867–1948) 1916 Théodore Reinach (1860–1928) 1917 L.A. Lawrence (1857–1949) 1918 Not awarded 1919 Adrien Blanchet (1866–1957) 1920 H.B. Earle-Fox and J.S. Shirley-Fox 1921 Percy H. Webb 1922 Frederick A. Walters 1923 J.W. Kubitschek (1858–1936) 1924 Henry Symonds 1925 Edward T. Newell (1886–1941) 1926 R.W. Maclachlan 1927 Adolphe Dieudonné 1928 Sir Charles Oman (1860–1946) 1929 Jules Maurice 1930 Edward A. Sydenham 1931 Helen Farquhar (1859–1953) 1932 H. Nelson Wright (1870–1941) 1933 Kurt Regling 1934 George C. Brooke (posthumously) 1935 Behrendt Pick (1861–1940) 1936 John Allan (1884–1955) 1937 Victor Tourneur 1938 J. Grafton Milne 1939 J.W.E. Pearce 1940 R. B. Whitehead (1879–1967) 1941 Harold Mattingly (1884–1964) 1942 E.S.G. Robinson (1887–1976) 1943 Agnes Baldwin Brett (1876–1955) 1944 Leonard Forrer (1869–1953) 1945 Charles Seltman (1886–1957) 1946 Georg Galster 1947 Eduard von Zambaur 1948 Jocelyn M.C. Toynbee (1897–1985) 1949 Sydney P. Noe (1885–1969) 1950 Karl Pink 1951 H.L. Rabino (posthumously) 1952 Lodovico Laffranchi 1953 Andreas Alföldi (1895–1981) 1954 C. Humphrey V. Sutherland (1908–1986) 1955 A.R. Bellinger (1893–1978) 1956 John Walker (1900–1964) 1957 George C. Miles 1958 Philip Grierson (1910–2006) 1959 Oscar Ulrich-Bansa (1895–1973) 1960 C. Wilson Peck (1914–2004) 1961 Henri Seyrig (1895–1973) 1962 Michael Grant (1914–2004) 1963 Willy Schwabacher 1964 Anne S. Robertson (1910–1997) 1965 Jean Lafaurie 1966 Derek F. Allen (1910–1975) 1967 Margaret Thompson (1911–1992) 1968 Paul Balog 1900–1982) 1969 Christopher Evelyn Blunt (1904–1987) 1970 Pierre Bastien 1971 Herbert A. Cahn (1915–2002) 1972 Robert A.G. Carson (1918–2006) 1973 H. Enno van Gelder 1974 George Le Rider 1975 G. Kenneth Jenkins (1918–2005) 1976 J.-B. Colbert de Beaulieu 1977 P. Lal Gupta (1914–2001) 1978 Colin M. Kraay (1918–1982) 1979 Peter Berghaus 1980 Patrick Bruun 1981 Michael Dolley 1982 Otto Mørkholm 1983 Theodore V. Buttrey (1929–2018) 1984 Michael H. Crawford 1985 Paul Naster 1986 Brita Malmer (1925–2013) 1987 D. Michael Metcalf (1933–2018) 1988 Peter R. Franke 1989 Leandre Villaronga 1990 John P.C. Kent (1928–2000) 1991 Eric P. Newman (1911–2017) 1992 Martin J. Price (1939–1995) 1993 Andrew Burnett 1994 Cécile Morrisson 1995 Maria Alföldi 1996 Lord Stewartby (1935–2018) 1997 Jørgen Steen Jensen 1998 (1932–2018) 1999 Joseph E. Cribb 2000 Richard Doty (1942–2013) 2001 Ulla Westermark (1927–2020) 2002 Nicholas Mayhew 2003 Gert Hatz and Vera Hatz 2004 Michel Amandry 2005 Peter Spufford – The Mints of Medieval Europe 2006 François Thierry – The Identification of the Nguyen Thong coins in the monetary law of the sixth year of Canh Hung (Vietnam 1745) 2007 Wolfgang Hahn – Christian symbolism on Aksumite coins – the typological concept and composition 2008 Mark Blackburn (1953–2011) – Interpreting single-finds in a bullion economy: the case of dirhams in Viking-Age Scandinavia 2009 Richard Reece – What are Coin Finds? 2010 Alan Stahl – Learning from the Zecca: the Medieval Mint of Venice as a Model for Pre-modern Minting 2011 Marion Archibald (1935–2016) – Leaden Pennies 2012 Lucia Travaini – Coins as Bread. Bread as Coins 2013 Michael Alram – From Bactria to Gandhara: Coins and Peoples across the Hindu Kush 2014 Roger Bland – What Happened to Gold Coinage in the 3rd Century AD? 2015 Bernd Kluge – Pound Sterling, English Coins and English Numismatics from a Continental Perspective 2016 Pere Pau Ripollès Alegre – The Iberian Coinages, 6th- 1st century BC 2017 Lutz Ilisch – European silver exports to Syria and a Crusader-Ayyubid condominial mint 2018 Johan van Heesch – A new representation of the Antwerp mint (AD 1625) 2019 Sam Moorhead 2020 Keith Rutter 2021 François de Callataÿ 2022 Carmen Arnold-Biucchi - "Per the Fayum hoard 1933-34: Egyptian Imitations or Athenian Owls?" 2023 Shin'ichi Sakuraki - "Numismatic archaeology in Japan: a personal retrospective" 2024 Helen Wang
Austrian schilling	[ "1924 establishments in Austria", "2001 disestablishments in Austria", "Currencies of Austria", "Currencies replaced by the euro", "Economic history of Austria", "Shillings" ]	2,961	22,456	The schilling (German: Schilling; ) is a former currency of Austria from 1925 to 1938 and from 1945 to 1999, and the circulating currency until 2002. The euro was introduced at a fixed parity of €1 = 13.7603 schilling to replace it. The schilling was divided into 100 groschen. History Following the Carolingian coin reform in 794 AD, new units of account were introduced, including the schilling, which consisted of 12 silver pfennigs. It was initially only a coin of account but later became an actual coin produced in many European countries. Before the modern Austrian schilling The currencies preceding the schilling include: The florin, in existence as a currency of the Holy Roman Empire since the 16th century, divided into 8 Schillings = 60 Kreuzer = 240 Pfennigs The Austro-Hungarian gulden after 1857, divided into 100 Neukreuzer The Austro-Hungarian krone, introduced in 1892 upon adoption of the gold standard; and The Austrian crown, introduced for Austria in 1919 upon the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In mediaeval Austria, there were short and long schilling coins, valued at 12 and 30 pfennigs respectively. Until 1857, the schilling was a currency unit for 30 pfennigs or kreuzers. The Austrian groschen (also known as the Kaisergroschen, lit. “emperor's groschen/groat”) was a silver coin worth 12 pfennigs = 3 kreuzers = schillings. First Austrian schilling The schilling was established by the Schilling Act (Schillingrechnungsgesetz) of 20 December 1924, at a rate of one schilling to 10,000 kronen and issued on 1 March 1925. The schilling was abolished in the wake of Germany's annexation of Austria in 1938, when it was exchanged at a rate of 1.50 schilling for one Reichsmark. Second Austrian schilling The schilling was reintroduced after World War II on 30 November 1945 by the Allied Military, who issued paper money (dated 1944) in denominations of 50 groschen, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50, 100, and 1000 schilling. The exchange rate to the reichsmark was 1:1, limited to 150 schilling per person. The Nationalbank also began issuing schilling notes in 1945 and the first coins were issued in 1946. With a second "schilling" law on 21 November 1947, new banknotes were introduced. The earlier notes could be exchanged for new notes at par for the first 150 schilling and at a rate of 1 new schilling for 3 old schillings thereafter. This reform did not affect coins. The currency stabilised in the 1950s, with the schilling being tied to the U.S. dollar at a rate of $1 = 26 schilling. Following the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system in 1971, the schilling was initially tied to a basket of currencies until July 1976, when it was coupled to the German mark. Although the euro became the official currency of Austria in 1999, euro coins and notes were not introduced until 2002. Old schilling denominated coins and notes were phased out from circulation because of the introduction of the euro by 28 February of that year. Schilling banknotes and coins which were valid at the time of the introduction of the euro will indefinitely remain exchangeable for euros at any branch of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank. First schilling In 1925, bronze 1 and 2 groschen, cupro-nickel 10 groschen, and silver and 1 schilling coins were introduced, followed by cupro-nickel 5 groschen issues in 1931. In 1934, cupro-nickel 50 groschen and 1 schilling were introduced, together with silver 5 schilling. Coins were issued until 1938. Also issued gold and silver coins: 2 schillings (1937) – 64% silver, 5 schillings (1934) – 83% silver, 25 schillings (1926) – 90% gold, 100 schillings (1924) – 90% gold. Second schilling Between 1947 and 1952, coins in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 groschen; and 1, 2, and 5 schilling were introduced. The 1, 5, 10, and 50 groschen were initially made from leftover blanks from the wartime pfennig issues. The 2 and 50 groschen; 1, 2, and 5 schilling were struck in aluminium, as was the second type of 10 groschen coin. The 1 and 5 groschen and the first type of 10 groschen were in zinc, with the 20 groschen struck in aluminium-bronze. The 1 groschen was only struck in 1947, while the 20 groschen and 2 schilling coins were suspended from production in 1954 and 1952, respectively. In 1957, silver 10 schilling coins were introduced, followed in 1959 by aluminium-bronze 50 groschen and 1 schilling, and in 1960 by silver 5 schilling coins. As a result, the composition of the 5 Schilling coins changed from aluminum to silver in the 1950s, which was a highly unusual event. Cupro-nickel replaced silver in the 5 and 10 schilling coins in 1969 and 1974, respectively. An aluminium-bronze 20 schilling coin was introduced in 1980. Silver coins were in the value of 25, 50, 100, 200 and 500 schilling, but gold coins also existed for 500 and 1,000 schilling. They were considered legal currency, but were rarely found in actual transactions. Coins under 10 groschen were rarely seen in circulation during their final years. At the time of the changeover to the euro, the coins in circulation were the following: Coins of the Second Schilling Image Value Technical parameters Description Issuedfrom Firstissued Withdrawn Diameter(mm) Mass(g) Composition Edge Obverse Reverse 1 gr. 17.00 1.80 Zinc Smooth Value; year of issue Coat of arms; lettering:Republik Österreich 1947–1950 5 Apr 1948 31 Dec 2001 2 gr. 18.00 0.90 Aluminium: 98.5%Magnesium: 1.5% Value; year of issue;lettering:Republik Österreich Coat of arms 1950–1991 15 Jul 1950 5 gr. 19.00 2.50 Zinc Reeded Value; year of issue Coat of arms; lettering:Republik Österreich 1948–1992 17 Jun 1948 10 gr. 21.00 3.50 Smooth 1947–1949 1 May 1947 31 Oct 1959 20.00 1.10 Aluminium: 98.5%Magnesium: 1.5% Coat of arms;value; lettering:Republik Österreich 1951–1998 27 Nov 1951 31 Dec 2001 20 gr. 22.00 4.50 Copper: 91.5%Aluminium: 8.5% Value; year of issue;lettering:Republik Österreich Coat of arms 1950–1954 23 Dec 1950 31 Jul 1959 50 gr. 22.00 1.40 Aluminium: 98.5%Magnesium: 1.5% Smooth Value; year of issue Coat of arms; lettering:Republik Österreich 1946–1955 11 Dec 1947 31 Dec 1961 19.50 3.00 Copper: 91.5%Aluminium: 8.5% Reeded Gentian;value; year of issue 1959–1997 1 Oct 1959 31 Dec 2001 S 1 25.00 2.00 Aluminium: 98.5%Magnesium: 1.5% Smooth Sower; value;year of issue;lettering:Republik Österreich Coat of arms 1946–1957 11 Dec 1947 31 Dec 1961 22.50 4.20 Copper: 91.5%Aluminium: 8.5% Value; year of issue;lettering:Republik Österreich Edelweiss; value 1959–1998 1 Sep 1959 31 Dec 2001 S 2 28.00 2.80 Aluminium: 98.5%Magnesium: 1.5% Coat of arms Value, year of minting 1946–1952 11 Dec 1947 30 Jun 1958 S 5 31.00 4.00 Aluminium: 98.5%Magnesium: 1.5% Reeded Value; year of issue;lettering:Republik Österreich Coat of arms 1952–1957 25 Oct 1952 31 Dec 1961 23.50 5.20 Silver: 64%Copper: 36% Coat of arms; value Horse rider; lettering:Republik Österreich 1960–1968 2 Jan 1961 30 Dec 1970 4.80 Cupronickel: Smooth 1968–1998 15 Jan 1969 31 Dec 2001 S 10 26.00 7.50 Silver: 64%Copper: 36% Reeded Woman;value; year of issue Coat of arms; lettering:Republik Österreich 1957–1973 1 Jul 1957 31 Mar 1977 6.20 Cupronickel: 1968–1998 15 Jan 1969 31 Dec 2001 S 20 27.70 8.00 Aluminium bronze: 19 dots Value; year of issue Allegory of states;lettering:Republik Österreich 1980–1992 10 Dec 1980 Smooth 1993 19 dots Coat of arms; value;year of issue;lettering:Republik Österreich Variouscommemorativesubjects 1982–1993 27 Mar 1982 Smooth 1994–2001 S 50 26.50 8.15 Outer:Aluminium bronze Smooth States' coats of arms;value; lettering:Republik Österreich Variouscommemorativesubjects 1996–2001 23 Oct 1996 18.50 Inner: Magnimat First schilling In 1925, the Oesterreichische Nationalbank issued notes in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20, 100 and 1,000 Schillinge (note the different spelling of the plural on this first 1925-series of notes). In 1927–1929 a second series was added with 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 schilling notes. The one schilling was substituted by a coin. Second schilling In 1945, the Allies introduced notes (dated 1944) in denominations of 50 groschen, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50, 100 and 1,000 schilling. The Oesterreichische Nationalbank also introduced notes in 1945, in denominations of 10, 20, 100 and 1,000 schilling and the allied currency with small values up to 5 schilling remained valid until 1947. With the banknote reform of 1947, new notes were issued in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 1,000 schilling. Until 1957, the first 500 schilling banknote was issued and the 5 and 10 schilling notes were replaced by coins. However, although 20 schilling coins were issued from 1980, the 20 schilling note continued to be produced, with 5,000 schilling notes added in 1988. Penultimate series (1983–1989) Image Value Euroequivalent Dimensions(mm) Maincolour Description Firstprinted Firstissued Withdrawn Lapse Obverse Reverse S 20 €1.45 123 × 62 Olive Moritz Daffinger Albertina 1 Oct 1986 19 Oct 1988 28 Feb 2002 Unlimited S 50 €3.63 130 × 65 Purple Sigmund Freud Josephinum 2 Jan 1986 19 Oct 1987 S 100 €7.27 137 × 68 Green Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk Academy of Sciences 2 Jan 1984 14 Oct 1985 S 500 €36.34 144 × 72 Red Otto Wagner Postal Savings Bank 1 Jul 1985 20 Jun 1986 20 Apr 1998 20 Apr 2018 S 1000 €72.67 152 × 76 Blue Erwin Schrödinger University of Vienna 3 Jan 1983 14 Nov 1983 S 5000 €363.36 160 × 80 Brown Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Vienna State Opera 4 Jan 1988 17 Oct 1989 28 Feb 2002 Unlimited Last series (1997) S 500 €36.34 149 × 72 Orange Rosa Mayreder Women's Associationsmeeting, Vienna 1 Jan 1997 20 Oct 1997 28 Feb 2002 Unlimited S 1000 €72.67 154 × 72 Blue Karl Landsteiner Landsteinerin a laboratory See also Austrian euro coins Economy of Austria Edwin Grienauer Shilling Schilling (unit) - unit of coinage that preceded the Austrian schilling
Odisha Gramin Bank	[ "Banks established in 2025", "Regional rural banks of India", "Companies based in Odisha", "Indian companies established in 2025" ]	870	6,542	The Odisha Grameen Bank (OGB) () is an Indian Regional Rural Bank (RRB) operating in Odisha state established on 1 May 2025. The bank was formed by the amalgamation of Odisha Gramya Bank and Utkal Grameen Bank under The "One State, One RRB" policy of government. It currently has 979 branches in rural areas of Odisha. It functions under Regional Rural Banks' Act 1976 and is sponsored by IOB. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. The Bank is headquartered at Bhubaneswar and currently it operates in all 30 Districts of Odisha having 979 branches. Odisha Grameen Bank is a scheduled Bank and included in the Second Schedule to the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 as per RBI circular No. Government of India, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Notification No. CG-DL-E-07042025-262329 published in the extra-ordinary Gazette of India (Part III-Section 4) on 05/04/2025. Etymology Earlier names of Regional Rural Banks were based on rivers, mountains or historical names. However, under One State One RRBs policy in order to consolidate RRBs, amalgamation of different RRBs under one state was carried out. The name Odisha Grameen Bank was chosen because Odisha is the modern name of Odisha State and also to avoid confusion with different names such as Utkal. Odisha Gramya Bank Odisha Gramya Bank (OGB) () was a Regional Rural Bank established on 7 January 2013 with the amalgamation of Neelachala Gramya Bank (Odia: ନୀଳାଚଳ ଗ୍ରାମ୍ୟ ବ୍ଯାଙ୍କ), Kalinga Gramya Bank (Odia: କଳିଙ୍ଗ ଗ୍ରାମ୍ୟ ବ୍ଯାଙ୍କ) and Baitarani Gramya Bank (Odia: ବୈତରଣୀ ଗ୍ରାମ୍ୟ ବ୍ଯାଙ୍କ) in terms of provisions of Regional Rural Banks Act 1976. The bank was sponsored by Indian Overseas Bank & was jointly owned by the Government of India, Government of Odisha and IOB. It was under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. The Bank was operating in 13 districts of Odisha State with its Head Office at Bhubaneswar. The bank had 549 branches and 9 regional offices at the time of amalgamation Utkal Grameen Bank Utkal Grameen Bank (UGB) () was a Regional Rural Bank established on 1 November 2012 with the merger of Rushikulya Gramya Bank and Utkal Gramya Bank in terms of provisions of Regional Rural Banks Act 1976. The bank was sponsored by State Bank of India & is jointly Owned by the Government of India, Government of Odisha.It was under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. The Bank is operating in 17 districts of Odisha State with its Head Office at Bolangir. Besides, the bank has seven Regional Offices in western and southern Odisha. It subsequently grew to a network of 442 branches, of which 360 are in remote rural areas. See also List of banks in India Regional rural bank Banking in India Reserve Bank of India Indian Financial System Code List of largest banks Make in India Utkal Grameen Bank
Gracenote	[ "Online music and lyrics databases", "Acoustic fingerprinting", "2008 mergers and acquisitions", "2014 mergers and acquisitions", "2017 mergers and acquisitions", "Former Sony subsidiaries" ]	2,299	21,947	Gracenote, Inc. is a company and service that provides music, video, and sports metadata and automatic content recognition (ACR) technologies to entertainment services and companies worldwide. Formerly CDDB ("Compact Disc Data Base"), Gracenote maintains and licenses an Internet-accessible database containing information about the contents of audio compact discs and vinyl records. From 2008 to 2014, it was owned by Sony, later sold to Tribune Media, and has been owned since 2017 by Nielsen Holdings. In 2019, Nielsen Holdings announced plans to split into two separate publicly traded companies, Nielsen Global Connect (later known as NielsenIQ and sold) and Nielsen Global Media. In October 2022, Nielsen Holdings (by then consisting of the Global Media business), including the Gracenote subsidiary was acquired by a private equity consortium. History Gracenote began in 1993 as an open-source project involving a CD player program named xmcd and an associated database named CDDB. xmcd and CDDB were created by Ti Kan and Steve Scherf. Because CDs do not contain any digitally-encoded information about their contents, Kan and Scherf devised a technology that identifies and looks up CDs based on TOC information stored at the beginning of each disc. A TOC, or Table of Contents, is a list of offsets corresponding to the start of each track on a CD. Its original database was created from and continues to receive voluntary contributions from users. This led to a licensing controversy when Gracenote became commercialized. On April 22, 2008, Sony announced that it would acquire Gracenote for $260 million. The acquisition was completed on June 2, 2008. On September 9, 2010, Gracenote received its one-billionth piece of data, with a submission about the Compact Disc release of Swans' My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky. On December 23, 2013, Sony announced it would sell Gracenote to Tribune Media for $170 million. The acquisition closed in February 2014: Gracenote was aligned with the Tribune Media Services division which focused on TV and Movie metadata and IDs. On June 12, 2014, Tribune Media Services merged with Gracenote to form one company under the Gracenote name. On July 9, 2014, Tribune Media Company purchased What's-ON, a provider of TV data and advanced search offerings covering India and the Middle East for $27 million. On September 3, 2014, Gracenote acquired Baseline, a Los Angelesbased provider of film and TV data and information. Baseline had previously been owned by the NY Times from 20062011 after which it was sold back to its original owners. This $50 million purchase deepened Gracenote's existing video datasets and added the Studio System database, a subscription-based resource for the Hollywood content creation and distribution communities, to its line-up of offerings. On October 2, 2014, Gracenote purchased Australia-based TV and movie data company HWW for $19 million US to expand its Asia Pacific presence and international offerings. On May 28, 2015, Gracenote acquired Amsterdam-based Infostrada Sports and Halifax-based SportsDirect, providers of music, video and sports data. On December 20, 2016, Tribune Media announced that it was selling Gracenote to Nielsen Holdings for $540 million in cash. The deal officially closed on February 1, 2017. In September 2017, Gracenote partnered with Connekt and Ensequence to deliver real-time offers on smart TVs. On November 7, 2019, Nielsen announced that it was splitting into two separate publicly traded companies. Gracenote fell under the company's Global Media business. After divestiture of NielsenIQ (the former ACNielsen consumer research business) in 2021, Nielsen became solely a media audience measurement and analytics firm including Gracenote. In October 2022, Nielsen and its subsidiaries (including Gracenote) were purchased by a private equity consortium led by affiliates of Elliott Investment Management and Brookfield Business Partners in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $16 billion, including the assumption of debt. Gracenote is known for MusicID, a music recognition software which identifies compact discs and delivers artist metadata and cover art to the desktop. The Gracenote database includes music genre and mood information, TV show descriptions, episode information, and channel line-ups, movie cast and crew information, and sports statistics and results. Companies including music services, TV providers, consumer electronics manufacturers and automakers use Gracenote data to power their content, universal search, navigation, linking, discovery and personalized recommendations abilities. Gracenote's music recognition technologies compare digital music files to a worldwide database of music information, enabling digital audio devices to identify songs. The company licenses its technologies to developers of consumer electronics devices and online media players, who integrate the technologies into media players, home and car stereos, and digital music devices. It provides software and metadata to businesses which enables their customers to manage and search digital media. Gracenote provides its media management technology and global media database of digital entertainment information to the mobile, automobile, portable, home, and PC markets. Several software applications which were capable of playing CDs (e.g. Media Go and iTunes,) used Gracenote's CDDB technology. Winamp, once a major licensee, no longer has access to Gracenote; the legacy media player program lost access to Gracenote when SHOUTcast and Winamp were sold by AOL in 2014. Redevelopment of Winamp continues by its new owner Radionomy who have said future Winamp versions will have access to an online music database. In 2014 Tribune Media Company bought Gracenote from Sony Corporation of America. In December 2016, Tribune announced that it had reached an agreement to sell Gracenote to Nielsen Holdings for $560 million. The purchase was completed on February 1, 2017. With the acquisition by Tribune Media in 2014 and subsequent acquisitions of What's-ON, HWW, Baseline, SportsDirect, and Infostrada Sports, Gracenote has expanded its core data product beyond music into video and sports. Gracenote's early product line-up consisted of MusicID, Mobile MusicID, Music Enrichment, Discover, Playlist, Playlist Plus, Media VOCS, Classical Music Initiative, and Link. In April 2007, Gracenote launched the first legal lyrics offering in the U.S. that was sold to LyricFind in 2013. Gracenote's music offerings fall into three major categories: Music Recognition, Music Data, and Music Discovery. Its music recognition product called MusicID was originally developed as a CD track-identification system. Gracenote also operates a digital file identification service that uses audio fingerprinting technology to identify digital music files such as MP3s and deliver track-level metadata, album art, and links to complementary content and services. Its music data offering provides information describing Genre, Mood, Era, Origin and Tempo for tens of millions of songs. Gracenote Auto puts Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) technology into the car's audio system to identify music playing from various sources including AM/FM and satellite radio, CDs or streaming services and deliver relevant metadata and cover art. In December 2015, Gracenote launched its first audio technology, Gracenote Dynamic EQ, designed to help automakers and OEMs automatically tune connected car audio systems to the optimal equalizer settings for individual songs based on genre, mood and release date. Gracenote's video platform called On Entertainment consists of TV listings and schedules for approximately 85 countries and 35 languages as well as TV and Movie data and related-imagery information for six million TV shows and movies. On Entertainment is supported by standardized TMS IDs for TV shows, movies, and celebrities. These IDs enable universal search across linear TV, OTT and VOD libraries and make possible "season pass" DVR recordings. Gracenote Sports provides live scores, play-by-play data, historical results and records, schedules, player profiles, and athlete biographies for 4,500 leagues and competitions such as the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, Premier League, F1, Bundesliga, Tour de France, Wimbledon, and the Olympics. Gracenote's Podium product tracks all Olympic competition results and rankings at elite and junior levels as well as historical Olympic data going back to the very first modern games in 1896. In September 2015, the company announced DVR Extend which enables TV providers to dynamically adjust DVR settings to ensure live sports game recordings do not get cut off in the event they go past scheduled broadcast times. Customers iTunes, Media Go, Sonicstage, Groove Music and Windows Media Player all use or have used Gracenote's CD track identification services. In addition, Gracenote provides or provided its products to a number of other services including online services like Yahoo! Music Jukebox, AOL, AmazonMP3, Spotify, Winamp, MetroLyrics, Pandora, Google Music; home and automotive products such as those from Alpine, Bose, or Panasonic; mobile music applications from Samsung and others, Sony Mobile Communication (TrackID, Sony Movies/Video & TV SideView App for Xperia Through Gracenote Video Explore and Sony Music Walkman App for Xperia), and the ACR technology into the car audio systems for Tesla, BMW, Nissan and several other car makers. In 1998, CDDB was purchased by Escient, a consumer electronics manufacturer, and operated as a business unit within the American company. CDDB was then spun out of Escient and in July 2000 was renamed Gracenote. The CDDB database license was later changed to include new terms. For instance, any programs using a CDDB lookup had to display a CDDB logo while performing the lookup. Then, in March 2001, only licensed applications were provided access to the Gracenote database. New licenses for CDDB1 (the original version of CDDB) were no longer available, so programmers using Gracenote services were required to switch to CDDB2 (a new version incompatible with CDDB1). This has been controversial, as the original CDDB database was created out of anonymous contributions, initially via the open source xmcd CD player program. Many listing contributors believed that the database was open-source as well because, in 1997, cddb.com's download and support pages had said it was released under the GPL. CDDB claims that the license grant was an error. See also List of online music databases Notes and references
Zubair Hasan	[ "1932 births", "Living people", "Indian economists", "Malaysian economists", "Islamic economic jurisprudence" ]	1,227	11,808	Zubair Hasan is an Indian economist specialising in Islamic Economics. Hasan did his undergraduate and PhD at Meerut College in Uttar Pradesh in (1973). He started his teaching career at Meerut College (1957) and retired as Professor Emeritus from INCEIF, The Global University of Islamic Finance Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2015). Hasan was recipient of the IsDB Prize (Islamic Economics) 2009 the OIC COMCEC AWARD 2014 for contribution to Islamic economics and Finance. In addition he has been associated with the Maulana Abul Kalam Urdu University, Hyderabad, India, a central government institution of the country as a visiting Professor of Islamic Finance. He has served as Head of Department at Post-graduate Vardhaman College Bijnor (Agra University), Reader-Head at Zakir Hussain Delhi College. He also served as chairman of the Economics Department at the IIUM, Malaysia. Zubair was sent in 1981 on deputation by Government of India to BasraUniversity/Technical Institute, Amarah, Iraq. On retirement, He donated his collection of materials to the INCEIF Library as a distinct collection, the Zubair Hasan Library. He continues his association as Professor Emeritus of Economics and Finance with INCEIF. Hasan is the son of the Maulvi Mohammad Majeed Hasan, who established the Madina newspaper (1912-1975). Selected works Articles Hasan Zubair (2022): "Population growth dynamics: On fallacious comparisons", International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Research Volume 8, Issue 4, p. 129-130 Hasan, Zubair (2021): Islamic Economics: Morality, Rationality, and Research, JKAU: Islamic Economics, Vol. 34, No. 2 (1 July): pp. 3–13. Jeddah Hasan, Zubair (2018): Academic sociology: Alarming rise in predatory publishing and its consequences for Islamic economics and finance, ISRA: International Journal of Islamic Finance Volume 10, Issue, 1, June pp. 8–21. Hasan, Zubair (2016) Risk-sharing: the sole basis of Islamic finance? Time for a serious rethink, JKAU Islamic Economics, Jeddah Hasan, Zubair (2008): ‘Ensuring Exchange Rate Stability: Is Return to Gold (Dinar) Possible? JKAU: Islamic Economics’ Vol. 21, No. 1 pp3–22 Book chapters Hasan, Zubair. "Sustainable development from an Islamic perspective: Meaning, implications, and policy concerns." Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Islamic Economics 19, no. 1 (2006). Hasan, Zubair. "Islamic banking at the crossroads: theory versus practice." (2005): 11-25. Hasan, Zubair. "Measuring efficiency of Islamic banks: criteria, methods, and social priorities." (2004): 1-30. Hasan, Zubair. "Islamization of knowledge in economics: Issues and agenda." (1998): 1-40. Hasan, Z. (2020): ‘Methodology of Islamic Economics – Is the subject worth discussing; in Methodology of Islamic Economics:Problems and solutions, edited by NecmettinKizlkaya: Rutledge UK Hasan, Z. (2020): Sustainable growth and finance from Islamic perspective in Islamic perspective for sustainable financial system, Mehmet SARAÇ (editor), Istanbul University Press, Turkey· Hasan, Z ..(2004): Determinants of FDI Flows to Developing Countries: Case of Malaysia” in‘ Foreign Direct Investment in Developing Countries’ edited by H.S. Kehal, Palgrave-Macmillan, UK. Hasan, Z. (1992): ‘Profit Maximization: Secular Versus Islamic’ in SayyidTahir et al (Ed) ‘Readings in Microeconomics: An Islamic Perspective’ Longman, Malaysia 1992 (Chapter 20, PP.239–255). Theory of profit(1975) Vikas, New Delhi (PhD Thesis). Foreign Direct Investment flows to Developing countries: Evidence from Malaysia, IIUM, Press 2003, KL Microeconomics from Islamic perspective (2006) Pearson, Kuala Lumpur Macroeconomics (2009) Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur Fundamentals of Microeconomics (2011), Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur Islamic Banking and Finance: An integrative approach (2014) Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur ECONOMICS with Islamic orientation (2016) Oxford University Press, KualaLumpur Theory of profit with Islamic directions (2018) Paragon, USA Economic Development from Islamic perspective (2019) LAP, Germany Leading issues in Islamic economics & finance: critical evaluations (2020) Palgrave-Macmillan UK. Controversial topics in Islamic economics and finance – A reconciliatory approach: Institute of Islamic Economics, 2021, KAU, Sau Essays in Islamic Economics and Finance, 2022 AniNik Books, New Delhi Islamic Banking and Finance (Second Edition), 2023 Rutledge, UK Edited the Urdu Bi-weekly Medina, Bijnor, UP under a pen name ز- ح for two years 1966-1968 when the editor went on leave. Translated into Urdu Gottfried von Haberler: Theory of International Trade (1939) under assignment from the Ministry of Education, Govt. of India IIUM (International Islamic University Of Malaysia) AWARD - 2003 for excellent researcher in economics. IsDB(Islamic Development Bank) PRIZE - 2009 for great contribution to Islamic economics and research. OIC Comcec AWARD – 2014 for outstanding contribution to Islamic economics and Finance INCEIF( International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance) Professor Emeritus AWARD – 2015 for contribution to Islamic Economics & Finance at the University and worldwide. Asian Scientist 100, Asian Scientist - 2022
Palestine pound	[ "Currencies of the British Empire", "Currencies of Israel", "Currencies of Jordan", "Modern obsolete currencies", "Mandatory Palestine", "1927 establishments in Mandatory Palestine", "Pound (currency)" ]	3,122	25,680	The Palestine pound or Palestine lira ( []; or לירה פלשתינאית ; symbol: £P), was the currency of the British Mandate of Palestine from 1 November 1927 to 14 May 1948, and of the State of Israel between 15 May 1948 and 23 June 1952, until it was replaced with the Israeli pound. The Palestine pound was also the currency of Transjordan until 1949 when it was replaced by the Jordanian dinar, and remained in usage in the West Bank of Jordan until 1950. In the Gaza Strip, the Palestine pound continued to circulate until April 1951, when it was replaced back with the Egyptian pound. History Until 1918, Palestine was an integral part of the Ottoman Empire and therefore used its currency, the Ottoman lira. During 1917 and 1918, Palestine was occupied by the British army, who set up a military administration. The official currency was the Egyptian pound, which had been first introduced into Egypt in 1834, but several other currencies were legal tender at fixed exchange rates that were vigorously enforced. After the establishment of a civil administration in 1921, the High Commissioner Herbert Samuel ordered that from 22 January 1921 only Egyptian currency and the British gold sovereign would be legal tender. In 1926, the British Secretary of State for the Colonies appointed a Palestine Currency Board to introduce a local currency. It was based in London and chaired by Percy G. Ezechiel, with a Currency Officer resident in Palestine. The board decided that the new currency would be called the Palestine pound, 1:1 with sterling and divided into 1,000 mils. The £P1 gold coin would contain 123.27447 grains of standard gold. The enabling legislation was the Palestine Currency Order, 1927, signed by the King in February 1927. The Palestine pound became legal tender on 1 November 1927. The Egyptian pound (at the fixed rate of £P1 = £E0.975) and the British gold sovereign remained legal tender until 1 March 1928. The Palestine Currency Order explicitly excluded Transjordan from its application, but the Government of Transjordan decided to adopt the Palestine pound at the same time as Palestine did. The Egyptian pound remained legal tender in Transjordan until 1930. All the denominations were trilingual in Arabic, English and Hebrew. The Currency Board was dissolved in May 1948, with the end of the British Mandate, but the Palestinian pound continued in circulation for transitional periods: Israel adopted the Israeli lira in 1952. In August 1948, new banknotes were issued by the Anglo-Palestine Bank, owned by the Jewish Agency and based in London. Jordan adopted the Jordanian dinar in 1949. In the West Bank, the Palestine pound continued to circulate until 1950, when the West Bank was annexed by Jordan, and the Jordanian dinar became legal tender there. The Jordanian dinar is still legal tender in the West Bank along with the Israeli shekel. In the Gaza Strip, the Palestine pound continued to circulate until April 1951, when it was replaced by the Egyptian pound, three years after the Egyptian army took control of the territory. Since the mid-1980s, the primary currencies used in the West Bank have been the shekel and the Jordanian dinar. The shekel is used for most transactions, especially retail, while the dinar is used more for savings and durable goods transactions. The US dollar is also sometimes used for savings and for purchasing foreign goods. The dollar is used by the overwhelming majority of transactions overseen by the Palestinian Monetary Authority (Palestine's nascent central bank), which only represent a fraction of all transactions conducted in Palestine or by Palestinians. The shekel is the main currency in Gaza. Under Egyptian rule (1948–1956), Gaza mainly used the Egyptian pound. When Israel occupied the Gaza Strip during the 1956 Suez Crisis, the military administration made the Israeli lira (the predecessor to the shekel) the only legal currency in Gaza in a 3 December decree, and implemented a favorable exchange rate to remove all Egyptian pounds from circulation. As a result, the lira and then the shekel became the dominant currency in Gaza, a situation that was reinforced in 1967 by the Israeli occupation of Gaza following the Six-Day War. Under Article IV of the Protocol on Economic Relations, the Palestinians are not allowed to independently introduce a separate Palestinian currency. At the same time, the use of two currencies has the potential to increase the costs and inconvenience arising from fluctuating exchange rates. Coins In 1927, coins were introduced in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 mils. The 1 and 2 mil were struck in bronze, whilst the 5, 10 and 20 mil were holed, cupro-nickel coins, except for during World War II, when they were also minted in bronze. The coin of 10 mils was also called a grush. The 50 and 100 mil coins were struck in .720 silver. The last coins were issued for circulation in 1946, with all 1947 dated coins being melted down. Palestine pound CoinageIssued by the Palestine currency Board Image Value Technical parameters Description Date of first issueDated years of issue Diameter Mass Composition Edge Obverse Reverse 1 mil 21 mm 3.23 g Bronze Plain "Palestine" in Arabic, English, and Hebrew,year of minting. Value in Arabic, English, and Hebrew,olive sprig 19271927, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1946 2 mils 28 mm 7.77 g1927, 1941, 1942, 1945, 1946 5 mils 20 mm 2.91 g Cupro-nickel Value in Arabic, English, and Hebrew1927, 1934, 1935, 1939, 1941, 19465 mils20 mm2.9Bronze19421942, 1944 10 mils 27 mm 6.47 gCupro-nickel19271927, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 194610 mils27 mm6.47Bronze19421942, 1943 20 mils 30.5 mm 11.33 gCupro-nickel19271927, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1940, 194120 mils30.5 mm11.3Bronze19421942, 1944 50 mils 23.6 mm 5.83 g 720‰ Silver Reeded "Palestine" in Arabic, English, and Hebrew,year of minting, olive sprig.19271927, 1931, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1939, 1940, 1942, 1943 100 mils 29 mm 11.66 gIssued by the State of IsraelImageValueTechnical parametersDescriptionDate of first issueDated years of issueDiameterMassCompositionEdgeObverseReverse1 pruta21 mm1.3 gAluminumPlainAnchor; "Israel" in Hebrew and Arabic. The design is based on a coin of Alexander Jannaeus (76-103 BCE).The denomination "1 Pruta" and the date in Hebrew; two stylized olive branches around the rim.25 October 19505709 (1949)5 pruta20 mm3.2 gBronzeFour-stringed lyre; "Israel" in Hebrew and Arabic. The design is based on a coin from the Bar-Kochba Revolt (132-135CE).The denomination "5 Pruta" and the date in Hebrew; two stylized olive branches around the rim.28 December 195010 pruta27 mm6.1gTwo-handled amphora; "Israel" in Hebrew and Arabic. The design is based on a coin from the Bar-Kochba Revolt (132-135CE).The denomination "10 Pruta" and the date in Hebrew; two stylized olive branches around the rim.4 January 195025 mil30 mm3.8 gAluminumCluster of grapes, based on coins struck during the Bar-Kochba Revolt (132-135 CE); "Israel" in Hebrew above and in Arabic below.The denomination "25 Mil" in Hebrew and Arabic; date in Hebrew below; two stylized olive branches around, based on coins struck during the Bar-Kochba Revolt (132-135 CE).6 April 19495708 (1948), 5709 (1949)25 pruta19.5 mm2.8 gCupro-nickelReededValue and date in Hebrew within wreath.4 January 19505709 (1949)50 pruta23.5 mm5.69 gA Branch of Grape Leaves.Value and date within wreath made up of two stylized olive branches that for a circle around perimeter.11 May 1949100 pruta28.5 mm11.3 gDate palm tree with seven branches and two bunches of dates. Country name is listed in Hebrew and Arabic.Value and date in Hebrew within wreath of stylized olive branches.25 May 1949250 pruta32.2 mm14.1 gThree palm branches; "Israel" in Hebrew and Arabic. The design is based on a coin minted during the Great Revolt (66 - 70 CE).The denomination "250 Pruta" and the date in Hebrew; two stylized olive branches around the rim.11 October 1950 Banknotes On 1 November 1927, banknotes were introduced by the Palestine Currency Board in denominations of 500 mils, £P1, £P5, £P10, £P50 and £P100. Notes were issued with dates as late as 15 August 1945. Palestine pound BanknotesIssued by the Palestine currency Board Image Value Dimensions Main Colour Description Date of first issue Quantity circulated at the end of the Mandate Obverse Reverse Obverse Reverse Watermark 500 mils 127 × 76 mm Purple Rachel's Tomb Citadel and Tower of David Olive sprig 1 September 19271,872,811 £P1 166 × 89 mm Yellowish green Dome of the Rock 9,413,578 £P5 191 × 102 mm Red Tower of Ramla 3,909,230 £P10 Blue 2,004,128 £P50 Purple 20,577 £P100 Green 1,587 "Palestine" in Arabic, English.Issued by the Anglo-Palestine Bank (State of Israel)ImageValueDimensionsMain ColourDescriptionDate of ObverseReverseObverseReverseIssueCeased to be legal tender500 mils148 x 72 mmGrey-pinkGuilloches; the denomination and "The Anglo-Palestine Bank Limited" in Hebrew and English.Guilloches; the denomination and "The Anglo-Palestine Bank Limited" in Arabic and English.18 August 194823 June 1952£P1100 x 75 mmBlue-green£P5105 x 68 mmBrown£P10150 x 80 mmRed£P50159 x 84 mmViolet The £P100 note was equivalent to 40 months’ wages of a skilled worker in Palestine. At the end of 1947, five months before the end of the British Mandate, there were 1,590 £P100 notes in circulation, out of a total circulation of £P40.6 million in notes and £P1.5 million in coins. See also British currency in the Middle East Economy of Israel Economy of the Palestinian territories Economy of Jordan Memorandum relating to currency arrangements. In: Official Gazette of the Government of Palestine, 9. 1927, no. 182 (1.03.1927), pp. 131–134. Currency Notes Ordinance 1927. In: Official Gazette of the Government of Palestine, 9. 1927, no. 184 (1.04.1927), pp. 249–252. Palestine Currency Order 1927. In: Official Gazette of the Government of Palestine, 9. 1927, no. 193 (16.08.1927), pp. 590–592. Notice: Palestine Currency. In: Official Gazette of the Government of Palestine, 9. 1927, no. 197 (16.10.1927), pp. 726–727.
HomeTrust Bancshares	[ "Banks based in North Carolina", "Holding companies established in 1926", "Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq", "Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange", "Banks established in 1926", "Companies based in Asheville, North Carolina", "1926 establishments in North Carolina", "American companies established in 1926" ]	1,154	10,294	HomeTrust Bancshares Inc. is an Asheville, North Carolina–based bank holding company with $4.3 billion in assets and 33 branches in North and South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee. It is the parent of seven community banks—HomeTrust Bank, Tryon Federal Bank, Shelby Savings Bank, Home Savings Bank, Industrial Federal Bank, Cherryville Federal Bank and Rutherford County Bank. History HomeTrust Bank was founded in 1926 as Clyde Building and Loan, in Clyde, North Carolina. Later, the name changed to Clyde Savings and Loan Association, and then Clyde Savings Bank. Ed Broadwell joined the bank in 1965 at age 27, the youngest bank president in the state. The bank had $10 million in assets, and five people worked there. In 1973, the bank bought a block in Asheville and built a new three-story headquarters. Dana Stonestreet, who took over after Broadwell's retirement, said, "They hired more people to open that office than they had in the whole history of the bank." Clyde Savings Bank expanded into Buncombe County and Henderson County. In 2003, the name changed to HomeTrust Bank. By 2010 HomeTrust had two locations in Haywood County, five in Buncombe County and one in Henderson County in North Carolina. In 2013, Broadwell retired after 48 years. Tryon Federal Bank, started in 1935, had two offices in Polk County, and Shelby Savings Bank, started in 1905, had two offices in Cleveland County. Rutherford County Bank opened its first office in Forest City in May 2007, at which time it also became part of HomeTrust Banking Partnership. Home Savings Bank of Rockingham County began June 9, 1909. As of its 100th anniversary in 2009, it had two offices in Eden and one in Reidsville. Industrial Federal Bank started in 1929. On January 31, 2010, Industrial Federal Bank, with three locations in Davidson County, became part of the HomeTrust Banking Partnership. This gave the partnership 19 offices, and with $1.6 billion in assets, the partnership was the largest mutual bank in the state and the second-largest in the southeastern United States. Cherryville Federal Savings and Loan in Cherryville joined the partnership later in 2010, adding one location. As of January 2012, when HomeTrust Bank and its partners announced conversion from mutual to stock. HomeTrust Banking Partnership, if considered one bank, would have been the 11th largest in North Carolina. The formation of HomeTrust Bancshares was also announced at the time. In July 2012 HomeTrust had 20 branches and $1.6 billion in assets. In 2013, HomeTrust made its first acquisition outside North Carolina, BankGreenville Financial Corp. of Greenville, South Carolina, in a $7.8 million deal. On January 23, 2014, HomeTrust announced the acquisition of Jefferson Bancshares Inc. of eastern Tennessee, started in 1963, with over $498 million in assets and 12 offices, in a deal worth $51.2 million. On June 10, 2014, HomeTrust announced it would buy ten Bank of America branches in southwestern Virginia with $504 million in deposits. In 2016, HomeTrust announced a $31.8 million deal to buy Kingsport, Tennessee–based TriSummit Bank. On July 26, 2022, HomeTrust said it was buying Quantum Capital Corp., with three branches of Quantum National bank in the Atlanta area and $600 million in assets, in a deal worth $67.6 million. The deal was completed in February 2023.
Postal order	[ "Numismatics", "Payment systems", "Postal orders" ]	1,171	8,567	A postal order or postal note is a type of money order usually intended for sending money through the mail. It is purchased at a post office and is payable to the named recipient at another post office. A fee for the service, known as poundage, is paid by the purchaser. In the United States, this is known as a postal money order. Postal orders are not legal tender, but a type of promissory note, similar to a cheque. History thumb\|Irish 9 shilling postal order uprated with additional stamp used in 1969. Used postal orders are seldom seen because most were destroyed when they were redeemed or cashed at the post office or bank In the United Kingdom, the first postal orders went on sale on 1 January 1881. It is a direct descendant of the money order, which had been established by a private company in 1792. During World War I and World War II, British postal orders were temporarily declared legal tender to save paper and labour Postal orders can be bought and redeemed at post offices in the UK, although a crossed postal order must be paid into a bank account. Until April 2006 they came in fixed denominations though an amount of any value less than the next higher fixed denomination could be produced by adding one or more postage stamps in the space on the postal order that was designated for that purpose, but due to increased popularity they were redesigned to make them more flexible and secure. They now have the payee and value added at the time of purchase, making them more like a cheque. There is a fee for using this form of payment. The maximum value of postal order available is £250.00 for a fee of £12.50. Use in other countries thumb\|A New Zealand 20 shillings postal note of 1952 The use of postal orders (or postal notes in some countries) was extended to most countries that are now part of the British Commonwealth of Nations, plus to a few foreign countries such as Jordan, Egypt and Thailand. United States United States Postal Money Service was introduced in 1864 by an act on Congress as a way of sending small amounts of money through the mail. By 1865 there were 416 post offices designated as money order offices that had issued money orders to the value of over $1.3 million and by 1882 they had issued orders valued at $113.4 million from 5,491 money order offices. Currently they facially appear as a draft against an account held by the United States Postal Service, and the United States Postal Service requires a purchaser to know, in advance, where presentment of the instrument will occur. Only special, more expensive United States International Postal Money Orders may be presented abroad. In the United States, international money orders are pink and domestic money orders are green. Canada had its own postal orders (called postal notes) from 1898 until 1 April 1949, when these were discontinued and withdrawn. A British Forces Post Office in Suffield, Alberta was issuing British postal orders as late as July 2006. Chinese Imperial Post began issuing postal orders in 1897, the so-called "remittance certificate". After purchase, these certificates are payable at main post offices in China and usually bear franked postage stamps represented as fee. Since 1925, a set of special stamps were used by post offices to issue secured postal orders. Since 1929, Chinese Post have been able to sell international postal orders cashable under UPU protocol in a few other countries including Japan, Britain, France, and the US. Australia thumb\|Not used as the recipient was at an RAF base in England and presumably had no ready access to an Australian canteen. A Defence canteen order was a variant of a postal order used in Australia during World War II. Purchased at a post office, it was payable to an enlisted person in goods from a canteen rather than being a cash instrument. Postal orders are gaining in popularity as collectibles, especially among numismatists who collect banknotes. There is an active numismatic organisation in the UK called the Postal Order Society that was established in 1985 with members both domestically and overseas. They hold twice-yearly postal auctions of postal orders and related material from across the British Commonwealth. Despite competition from cheques and electronic funds transfer, postal orders continue to appeal to customers, especially as a form of payment for shopping on the Internet, as they are drawn on the Post Office's accounts so a vendor can be certain that they will not bounce. They also enable those without a bank account, including minors, to make small financial transactions without the need for cash. Postal workers in the United Kingdom use voided or cancelled orders in their training. See also George Archer-Shee, whose court case inspired Terence Rattigan's play The Winslow Boy. List of countries that have used postal orders Promotional postal order Further reading Lunn, Howard. (1984) A Guide to the History and Values of British Postal Orders 1881-1984. Howard Lunn. Lunn, Howard. (1997) Promotional Postal Orders. East Stour, Gillingham: Howard Lunn.
Caleb Whitefoord	[ "1734 births", "1810 deaths", "People educated at James Mundell's School", "Alumni of the University of Edinburgh", "Businesspeople from Edinburgh", "Diplomats from Edinburgh", "Writers from Edinburgh", "18th-century Scottish merchants", "19th-century Scottish merchants", "Scottish political writers", "Scottish satirists", "British political satire", "British diplomats", "International members of the American Philosophical Society", "Fellows of the Royal Society", "Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh", "Fellows of the Royal Society of Arts" ]	874	7,139	Caleb Whitefoord (1734 – 25 January 1810) was a Scottish merchant, diplomat, and political satirist. He was born in Edinburgh in 1734, probably in the family home of Whitefoord House on the Canongate, the illegitimate son of Colonel Charles (James) Whitefoord of the Royal Marines (son of Sir Adam Whitefoord, 1st Baronet), he was educated at James Mundell's School and Edinburgh University. He moved to London, and in 1756 became a wine merchant. In 1782, he served as Lord Shelburne's envoy to Benjamin Franklin on the Peace Commission at Paris. On 30 November 1782, during a meeting with Franklin and a French delegate, Whitefoord recorded that the Frenchman "talked of the growing greatness of America; & that the thirteen United States would form the greatest Empire in the World. — Yes sir, I replied & they will all speak English, every one of 'em. His Triumph was check'd, he understood what was intended to be convey'd, viz. that from a similarity of Language Manners and Religion that great Empire would be English not French". In 1784, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, and in 1788, upon the proposal of Robert Arbuthnot, Sir William Forbes and Alexander Fraser Tytler he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 1790, Whitefoord was elected to the American Philosophical Society. In 1800, he married a Miss Craven, and had issue, amongst whom an eldest son, Rev. Caleb Whitefoord, M.A. (Oxon.), rector of Burford with Whitton, Herefordshire, had five sons. He died at 28 Argyll Street, London, on 25 January 1810, and was interred at St Mary on Paddington Green Churchyard. In 1766, Whitefoord published whimsical misreadings of newspaper texts, using the pseudonym Papyrius Cursor (a play on the name of Lucius Papirius Cursor). Co-authored – Charles Whitefoord served in Wynyard's (4th Marines), Gooch's, and the 5th Marines in the 1740s.
Wanadoo	[ "Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange", "Companies formerly listed on Euronext Paris", "Internet service providers of France", "Orange S.A." ]	469	3,646	Wanadoo was the Internet service provider division of Orange S.A. It operated in France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Senegal, Mauritius, Madagascar, Lebanon and Jordan. It ceased to operate as a worldwide brand on 1 June 2006, when it was rebranded as Orange. The origin of the name Wanadoo is subject to some controversy, as some maintain it came about in the late 1990s when many internet companies chose to compete by creating "Yahoo!"-sounding names. However, it might be that the name Wanadoo first appeared in an internal project at France Télécom, much in line with a number of other such projects such as France Animation until 2003, Intranoo, Tatoo, Netatoo and @noo. Wanadoo was floated on the stock market on 18 July 2000. In 2000, Wanadoo also took over the major British ISP Freeserve, which had previously been part of the Dixons Group. Following the buy-out, Freeserve maintained its own branding for a while before finally changing to the Wanadoo name on 28 April 2004. In the early 2000 Wanadoo expanded into the games industry by purchasing Index+. Wanadoo integrated Index+ into its new games division, Wanadoo Edition. On 30 September 2003, Wanadoo Edition was integrated into MC2 France and from this deal Wanadoo also became a 12% shareholder of Microïds. Orange rebranding Wanadoo changed to Orange on 1 June 2006 to simplify branding by France Télécom: this merging of companies has created a single brand offering mobile telecommunications and internet services.
Cengiz Holding	[ "Conglomerate companies of Turkey", "Companies based in Istanbul", "Holding companies established in 1980", "Turkish companies established in 1980", "Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1980", "Construction and civil engineering companies of Turkey", "Holding companies of Turkey", "Coal companies of Turkey" ]	398	4,067	Cengiz Holding A.S. is a Turkish conglomerate, with major interests in construction, energy, mining, and tourism. Its assets include the Eti Copper and Eti Aluminium mining companies. It is owned by Mehmet Cengiz. In 2012 it had around $470m revenue from construction. In May 2013, it was part of a joint venture which won the EUR22bn contract to construct a third international airport in Istanbul. In July 2013 it was part of a joint venture which acquired the daily newspaper Akşam, together with TV channel Sky Turk 360 and radio station Alem FM, for TL60m. Greenhouse gas emissions Climate Trace estimates half-owned Cenal coal-fired power plant emitted over 7 million tons of the country’s total 730 million tons of greenhouse gas in 2022. So it is on the Urgewald Global Coal Exit List. The company says that "Emissions at the [aluminium] production units in Seydişehir are already 50% lower than European Union standards", however it still runs a small coal-fired power station at that factory.
Pirojsha Adi Godrej	[ "20th-century Indian businesspeople", "21st-century Indian businesspeople", "Businesspeople from Mumbai", "Godrej family", "Indian business executives", "Indian chief executives", "Living people", "School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University alumni", "Wharton School alumni", "Year of birth missing (living people)" ]	963	9,403	Pirojsha Adi Godrej is an Indian industrialist and businessman. He is the executive chairman of Godrej Properties, the real estate development arm of the Godrej Group, of which his father, Adi Godrej, is the chairman. Early life and education Pirojsha Godrej graduated from the Wharton School of Business in 2002, and completed his master's in International Affairs from Columbia University in 2004. He completed his schooling from The Cathedral & John Connon School. Career Pirojsha Godrej worked with Godrej Properties Limited from 2004 to 2006 during which time he was responsible for directing the company's expansion strategy, which saw the company increase its operations from 2 cities to 10 cities between 2004 and 2008. He went on to complete an MBA from Columbia Business School in 2008 before rejoining GPL as executive director. In 2010, Pirojsha led the initial public offering (IPO) of the company through which Godrej Properties raised US$100 million. In 2012, Pirojsha was appointed CEO of Godrej Properties. He has led the company through a phase of rapid growth through which the company has established itself as one of India's fastest growing real estate developers. Under Pirojsha's leadership, Godrej Properties has been focusing on sustainable development movement; in 2013, GPL received an award from former President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam for being one of the companies in India from across sectors to have driven the green building movement. The Clinton Foundation has partnered with Godrej Properties for its large township project, Godrej Garden City, which was selected as one of two projects in India and seventeen from around the world to work with the Clinton Climate Initiative towards the goal of creating a Climate Positive Development. In 2013, Pirojsha was selected as the 'Real Estate Person of the Year' at the Construction Week India Awards and the ‘Person of the Year' at the GIREM (Global Initiative for Restructuring Environment and Management) Awards. In 2014, he received the Best People CEO Award from the National Human Resource Development Network. In 2015, The Economic Times selected him in their 40 under 40 list, a list of the most impactful business leaders under 40 years of age. He was also listed by GQ magazine as one of the 50 most influential young Indians. Prior to joining Godrej Properties, Pirojsha was the additional private secretary to the Minister of State for External Affairs in New Delhi and worked as an intern in the New York Senate Office of Hillary Clinton. Family and personal life Pirojsha's interests include cricket, food, politics, chess and rare-book collecting. He is married and has a daughter.
Curtis Mathes Corporation	[ "1919 establishments in Texas", "1988 mergers and acquisitions", "Companies based in Frisco, Texas", "Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1992", "Consumer electronics brands", "Consumer electronics retailers of the United States", "Electronics companies established in 1919", "Defunct manufacturing companies based in Texas", "Radio manufacturers" ]	944	6,864	Curtis Mathes, Inc., is a North American electronics retailer initially based in Garland, Texas, and specializing in the sale of private label brand electronics and repair services. It manufactured its own brand of televisions in Athens, Texas, until July 31, 1982; ten years later, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and reorganization which allowed it to stay in business and use future earnings to pay off creditors. The company is now based in Frisco, Texas. Known for its commercials touting its televisions as the "most expensive television set in America, and darn well worth it", the company was credited with introducing longer warranties to electronics retailing. History Early products The Curtis Mathes Corporation started in 1919 as Connor and Mathes, a manufacturer and retailer of automobile and tractor parts. By the late 1920s, the company moved into the air conditioning industry. It also manufactured wooden cabinets and eventually furniture, acquiring Hub Furniture in 1942. The leading product through the 1930s and '40s was electrical fans, many styles built into custom cabinets and permanent-type window fans. In the early '50s the company added a "central" or "attic fan" to its inventory. It pulled air from all open windows into the attic where it also ventilated the attic, making the house much cooler. As compressors were commercially introduced in the late '40s, Curtis Mathes' Fort Worth factory began making a wide variety of compressors that could be used in cars or buildings. Leonard L. Northrup, Jr., became one of the leading distributors of Curtis Mathes Products including developing and selling an add-on air conditioning unit first used in Cadillacs. By the late 1940s, the Curtis Mathes Company had diversified into radios. Televisions The Curtis Mathes Corporation was founded in 1957 and shortly thereafter entered the television industry, founding plants in Tarrant and Dallas Counties and in Athens, Texas, eventually moving most of its manufacturing to a huge Athens facility. From 1968 to 1988 it was one of three fully American-owned electronics firms and manufacturers (along with RCA and GE). In the late 1960s, Leonard L. Northrup, Jr., bought a controlling interest in Donmark Corporation, a manufacturer of residential air conditioning and heating equipment from his lifelong friend Curtis Mathes, Sr., as Curtis Mathes moved toward electronics. During the next few years Curtis Mathes worked to design a modular TV and modular TV parts and chassis, so that warranty service would involve quickly switching a part, tube, tuner or picture tube. These all had snap-in connectors and were held in place by brackets instead of solder or screws. He envisioned a TV that would never require costly repairs, and early on started offering a 4-year warranty on picture tube, parts and labor. By the mid-1970s and the advent of solid-state electronics, Mathes had achieved results. The TV consisted of 11 parts: 7 circuit boards, a tuner, a picture tube, a transformer, and the cabinet. A repair person carried all ten electronic parts in their truck and a repair call seldom lasted more than 20 minutes. In home the fee was $20, and free in the shop. Curtis Mathes TVs that were used for rentals (such as ColorTyme) were sometimes rebranded "Rutherford". Curtis Mathes, Sr., died in 1977. Curtis Mathes, Jr., became the chairman of the board and the company's public face, appearing in its television commercials until his 1983 death in the Air Canada Flight 797 fire at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. The company began to decline, going from a peak of 5,000 employees and seven manufacturing facilities to about 50 employees in 1988 when it was sold to Enhanced Electronics. At the time of this sale, the GE/RCA television division was also sold to French firm Thomson SA. For a time, the company sold equipment sourced from Matsushita, Pioneer, Thomson, Samsung, Daewoo, Toshiba, and other manufacturers. 2000s In the late 1990s to early 2000s, the Curtis Mathes brand became an in-house brand for the Kmart discount chain. As of late 2007, Curtis Mathes had re-emerged with products marketed at several discount retailers such as Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Meijer and Target. Beginning in 2013, Curtis Mathes expanded its portfolio into LED lighting.
Robert Shewan	[ "1859 births", "1934 deaths", "British expatriates in British Hong Kong", "Scottish expatriates in Hong Kong", "Scottish bankers", "Scottish chairpersons of corporations", "Chairmen of HSBC", "Businesspeople from London", "Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong", "People from British Hong Kong", "19th-century Scottish businesspeople", "20th-century Scottish businesspeople", "Hong Kong businesspeople" ]	765	6,268	Robert Gordon Shewan (13 November 1859 – 14 February 1934) was a Scottish businessman in Hong Kong. Early life Robert and his twin brother William were born in London on 13 November 1859. They were sons of Andrew Shewan (1820–1873), a master mariner, and Jane (née Thomson) Shewan (1822–1886). Career Shewan arrived in Hong Kong in 1881, in the employ of Russell & Company, which was then one of the largest mercantile companies in the Far East. He and Charles Alexander Tomes, who was a grandson of merchant David Hadden, acquired the infrastructure of that firm subsequent to its dissolution in 1891, and consequently created Shewan, Tomes & Co. in 1895. The new company formed the Green Island Cement Company and the China Light and Power Company, which generated electricity for Kowloon. He was subsequently dismissed from the latter by its principal shareholder, the Kadoorie family. Shewan was also the director of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and of many other local companies. In 1902, Shewan was elected as the representative of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce in the Legislative Council. He also served as Consul for Chile at Hong Kong. Shewan was unsympathetic to the Canton-Hong Kong strike in 1925: he told the Daily Press that employers should punish those of their Chinese labourers who went on strike. He also posted a notice to his office clerks that stated that those who left and did not return by the next morning would be permanently dismissed. Personal life Shewan was married to Dorothy "Dolly" Kate Lucas (d. 1961), who was a daughter of William Lucas and former wife of James Marke Wood. Shewan died on 14 February 1934. He was buried at the Hong Kong Cemetery in Happy Valley, Hong Kong.
Charles J. Gradante	[ "LIU Post alumni", "1945 births", "American investors", "American financiers", "American financial analysts", "American finance and investment writers", "American hedge fund managers", "American money managers", "Living people", "Businesspeople from New York City" ]	2,260	26,288	Charles J. Gradante (born July 30, 1945) is an Italian-American businessman in the hedge fund industry, appearing on television and before the United States Congress in that role. Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute's PensionDaily.com called Gradante "one of Wall Street's most sought after opinion leaders" for financial and economic areas. Gradante is known as one of the first hedge fund industry executives to spark a legendary debate about the risk of hedge funds growing too large rather than focusing on finding investments where they have a competitive edge; he most recently discussed the issue at a conference hosted by that was covered by Yahoo Finance and CorpGov. Early life and education Gradante was born on July 30, 1945, to Sebastian "Buster" Gradante and Emmauela "Mildred" née Prestigiacomo in the Greenwich Village section of New York City. His father was the founder and CEO of the RCB Transportation Company in New York. Charles graduated from Lindenhurst Senior High School in 1963 with All County and All League honors in football. Gradante received an athletic scholarship for football and baseball at LIU-C.W. Post and played 4 years of varsity baseball. Afterwards, Gradante graduated from LIU C.W. Post where he earned a B.S. in engineering sciences in 1967 and a M.S. in management engineering in 1970. Gradante first became employed by Grumman Aeronautical Engineering Corp. in Bethpage, New York, where he joined a group of engineers building the first lunar landing module. He would then join Pan American World Airways Space Shuttle Design Team. Business career In 1971, Gradante pivoted away from engineering and into the financial services industry by joining John Diebold Venture Capital Corporation to advise IBM Corporation on acquisitions in the computer industry. Gradante moved on to Citibank from 1976 to 1986, where he rose to the rank of vice president. In 1986, Gradante left Citibank and became the assistant to the chairman of Drexel Burnham Lambert Ltd. in London, responsible for trading and sales. On October 10, 1990, Gradante became president and CEO of failing Union Chelsea National Bank where he engineered a turnaround and remained until 1995. Hennessee Group LLC In 1995, Gradante became the co-director at the Hennessee Hedge Fund Advisory Group which was formed by Elizabeth "Lee" Hennessee-Gradante as a division of E. F. Hutton in 1987. In 1995, with a team of four people and $200 million in assets under advisory, Gradante negotiated the acquisition of Hennessee Hedge Fund Advisory Group by Weiss, Peck & Greer. Since its start in 1987, the Hennessee Hedge Fund Advisory Group provided hedge fund investment research as well as hedge fund performance indexes that have been cited by institutions, hedge fund managers and investors. Additionally, the group published the Hennessee Hedge Fund Review since 1993, which provided monthly outlooks into hedge fund performance and the markets. In 1997, Gradante and his wife, Elizabeth "Lee" Hennessee-Gradante, took the firm private and co-founded the Hennessee Group LLC. At its peak, this long-short equity hedge fund managed more than $1.6 billion of assets. In December 2012, Hennessee Group LLC sold its hedge fund division to Terrapin Asset Management. However, the group maintained ownership of the Hennessee Hedge Fund Indexes as well as other research services. In 2007, Gradante predicted the looming CDS-CDO home mortgage crisis. The group's research has been frequently quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, The New York Times, Forbes, and The Financial Times. Bayou Hedge Fund Fraud In July 2005, the Bayou hedge fund fraud unraveled and was reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission. One such client, South Cherry LLC, sued the Hennessee Group alleging that the Bayou fraud could have been and should have been discovered by Hennessee's due diligence process. The lawsuit against Hennessee Group and Gradante was subsequently dismissed in July 2007 by U.S. District Court Judge Colleen McMahon who wrote: "that since Bayou's principals had deceived the entire investment community for over nine years, it was doubtful that Hennessee's due diligence would have uncovered the fraud". The dismissal was upheld on appeal in July 2009. In the aftermath of the Bernard Madoff hedge fund fraud in December 2008, the Bayou fraud was revisited by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Hennessee Group LLC and Charles Gradante settled similar charges of alleged due diligence failures. Neither Hennessee group LLC nor Gradante admitted any wrongdoing in April 2009. SandDollar Capital In 2007, Gradante and his wife co-founded SandDollar Capital LLC, a private equity firm. On July 31, 2007, SandDollar Capital LLC formed an alliance with Barbarian Films LLC. Some of the films created through this alliance include 13, Spread, The Greatest, and Powder Blue. 1998 Long-Term Capital Management Downturn In 1998, Charles Gradante was invited by the House of Representatives to explain the collapse of the Long-Term Capital Management hedge fund. In his . Gradante received notoriety in pointing out that "hedging is not inherently bad for markets; the farmer was the first hedger and as such hedge funds use similar strategies". He further pointed out that after the Russian economic crisis of 1998, LTCM developed a flawed, fat-tail risk strategy. Secondly, banks and brokers lent too much capital to LTCM without properly conducting due diligence. Gradante believes that the New York Federal Reserve Bank acted swiftly and brilliantly in avoiding potential systemic risks. He points out that merger arbitrage was negatively affected by LTCM as spreads narrowed and then widened. After the LTCM downturn, Gradante lobbied for increased transparency in the hedge fund industry on national television and in front of Congress. Gradante also advocated for a shorter settlement period, which ultimately came into effect with the adoption of "T+1" settlement in 2024. GameStop Debacle In the wake of the GameStop short squeeze of 2021, Gradante spoke at a CorpGov event in Palm Beach where and the resulting strain put on Robinhood, other large broker dealers and market makers. He appeared at subsequent events with The Palm Beach Hedge Fund Association to discuss inappropriate hedge fund risk management, excessive use of naked shorts and synthetic shorts, the need for regulatory changes with respect to borrowing costs and margin requirements on heavily-shorted stocks. Gradante's videos on the GameStop debacle, where he sided with retail investors, were viewed globally hundreds of thousands of times across various platforms. Advisory role Gradante is one of Wall Street's most sought-after experts on matters of the stock market, the global economy, hedge fund strategy, and asset allocation. He has testified before the United States House of Representatives as a hedge fund industry expert discussing the systemic risk in the wake of long-term capital management. He also participated in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Roundtable on hedge funds and a CFTC Roundtable on CPO and Commodity Pool Industry Issues. Furthermore, the Senate Banking Committee also sought Gradante's opinion on the issue of hedge fund regulations, the role of hedge funds in providing liquidity to markets, and potential systemic risks associated with hedge funds. Gradante was one of the few investment advisors to predict the stock market crash of 2008–2009. Gradante has co-hosted and made guest appearances on Bloomberg Television, Fox News, CNN Financial News and CNBC's Squawk Box and Street Signs. Gradante contributed to the book, Expert Financial Planning: Investment Strategies from Industry Leaders and Investors Guide to Hedge Funds. From 2002 to 2005, Gradante was a member of the board of trustees of Regent University. In 2009, Gradante pioneered new ways to monitor the hedge fund systematic risk to the capital markets and hedge fund fraud surveillance, especially the "Gradante Gatekeeper Control Concept". Awards and honors On May 8, 2005, Gradante was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award from the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University. On May 26, 2015, Gradante was inducted into the Lindenhurst Senior High School Hall of Fame. Personal life Gradante met Elizabeth Lee Hennessee in December 1991, and they married on October 31, 1992, at the St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in New York. Gradante has three children and two grandchildren. He currently resides in Florida and New York. His wife passed away on October 29, 2016. Since 1992, Gradante has acted as trustee to the DP Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, while also serving on the boards of the Palm Beach Hedge Fund Association and CorpGov. Gradante is a published poet and amateur abstract artist. He is a patron of The Palm Beach Opera, The Palm Beach Symphony, The Norton Museum, Palm Beach Jazz, and Arts Garage.
Jil Sander	[ "1943 births", "20th-century German businesswomen", "20th-century German businesspeople", "21st-century German businesswomen", "21st-century German businesspeople", "German LGBTQ businesspeople", "Businesspeople from Hamburg", "German businesspeople in fashion", "German women fashion designers", "Living people", "People from Wesselburen", "Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany", "University of California, Los Angeles alumni", "German fashion designers" ]	1,439	13,262	Heidemarie Jiline "Jil" Sander (; born 27 November 1943) is a German minimalist fashion designer and the founder of the Jil Sander fashion house. Early life and education Heidemarie Jiline Sander was born in Wesselburen on 27 November 1943. Sander studied at Krefeld School of Textiles (class of 1963) and was a foreign exchange student at the University of California, Los Angeles from 1963 to 1964. After her stint in UCLA, she moved on to New York as a magazine fashion writer. At age 21, she came back to Hamburg, Germany to join her younger and older siblings after their father died unexpectedly at the age of 52. Career Jil Sander fashion house Sander founded her own fashion house Jil Sander in Rotherbaum, Hamburg, Germany in 1968 with her mother's sewing machine. Her first collection was for Hoechst, a chemical company, using their trevira fabric. In 1973, she launched a collection under her own brand name. Her debut at Paris Fashion Week in 1975 was unsuccessful: the public, accustomed to bright and shocking images, coldly greeted her restrained minimalism. However, Jil did not retreat, continuing to develop her style, inspired by modernist architecture and the ideas of the Bauhaus. She overcame a poorly received first Jil Sander Paris collection shown at the Plaza Athénée in 1975 and listed her company on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange at the end of the 1980s. She subsequently flourished through the 1980s and 1990s, and soon achieved an international following, thanks to retailers like Linda Dresner, who for a time had a Sander boutique on New York's Park Avenue, and Joan Burstein of Browns in London. In 1995, the Jil Sander group reported $114 million in sales. Prada In 1999, Prada Group bought a 75% share in her company. Sander remained creative designer and became chairwoman in the new joint venture. Six months later, in January 2000, Sander unexpectedly resigned abruptly as chairwoman and shortly thereafter as chief designer after confrontations with Prada's CEO, Patrizio Bertelli. Nearly all the design and production staff left after her departure. For 2001, the Jil Sander Group reported a net loss of $9.4 million, its first ever. The brand lost 26 million euros (about $30.4 million) in 2002 on flat sales, in part because of the costs of adding retail stores in London and in New York. Sander returned to the company as head designer and partner in a surprise decision in May 2003, after her noncompete clause had expired. Officially, Bertelli "approached Ms. Sander and began negotiating a truce". Bertelli had, with regard to Sander's departure in 2000, boldly stated before: "A brand as strong as Jil Sander doesn't need to rely on the name of a designer". She was rehired under a six-year consulting contract and also received an undisclosed stake in the company and a seat on Prada's strategic committee. In November 2004, Sander terminated cooperation with Prada for good and resigned from her post again after insurmountable differences with Mr. Bertelli. Prada announced in an official statement that "the decision by Patrizio Bertelli [...] and Ms. Sander to end her involvement in the company was amicable." She withdrew from her involvement in her namesake brand. She continued her contributions and work at Uniqlo. The white stucco building in Hamburg that was once the Jil Sander showroom was re-proportioned by the New York architect Michael Gabellini. She returned to her brand in February 2012, only days after the then creative director, Raf Simons, was released from his position. Sander left the brand again in October 2013. On 17 March 2009, Sander announced the creation of her own fashion consultancy. The new company's first client was Fast Retailing of Japan with its Uniqlo label for whom Sander oversaw the design of womenswear and menswear collections called +J. The first collection for the 200910 autumnwinter season was launched worldwide on 1 October 2009 consisting of "about 40 pieces for men and 100 for women, including coats, jackets, knitwear, T-shirts and accessories" featuring the Minimalist aesthetic and demure colors typical of Jil Sander. The second line of +J designed for spring and summer wear, was launched on 23 December 2009 throughout Asia including Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and China, and on 7 January 2010 in the London stores. It was to be launched in Uniqlo's sole US store in New York City on 14 January 2010. This collection will see more retail drops during the Spring and Summer seasons. Following a successful run of three years, Sander and Uniqlo's parent company, Fast Retailing, announced that the partnership agreement would not be renewed at the end of 2011, marking the end of +J. The last collection from the collaborative label was for the Fall/Winter 2011 season. The split between the parties is said to have been mutual. +J returned to Uniqlo's store shelves and online shop for a Fall/Winter 2014 and Spring/Summer 2015 "best of" collection, featuring selected previously designed pieces by the partnership. Jil Sander worked with Uniqlo again in the 2020 autumnwinter season with collections for men and women. In 2021 the control of the Jil Sander brand passed to the Italian fashion holding OTB Group. Recognition Sander was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz by the Federal Republic of Germany for her achievements in the fashion industry. She was listed as one of the fifty best-dressed over 50s by The Guardian in March 2013. Sander has been described as the "Queen of Less".
Debenhams Group	[ "Retail companies established in 2006", "Internet properties established in 2006", "Online retailers of the United Kingdom", "Companies listed on the Alternative Investment Market", "Companies based in Burnley", "Companies based in Manchester", "Kamani family", "British companies established in 2006", "2020s fashion", "Publicly traded companies" ]	2,986	26,413	Debenhams Group plc, trading as Debenhams Group (also known as Debenhams, formerly known as Boohoo Group plc) is a British online fast-fashion retailer group, aimed at 16- to 30-year-olds. The business was founded in 2006 and had sales of £856.9 million in 2019. It is named after the historic department store chain of the same name, which the then-named Boohoo acquired some of its assets back in 2021. It specialises in own brand fashion clothing, with over 36,000 products. The company has acquired the brands and online presence of several defunct high street retailers, and also seen controversy over working conditions at some of its third party owned suppliers. Boohoo has since terminated the contracts with multiple suppliers because of this. History Boohoo was founded in 2006 by Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane, who are respectively group executive chairman and executive director, and who previously supplied high street chains such as Primark and New Look. The company completed its initial public offering (IPO) in March 2014, with its shares trading considerably above the 50p float price on the company's debut in the AIM sub-market of the London Stock Exchange. Valuing Boohoo at almost £600 million, the floatation saw Kamani net £135 million and Kane £25 million. Boohoo has been criticised for promoting fast-fashion which critics claim comes at a cost to those making the clothes and the environment. More than half of Boohoo's garments are produced in the UK, especially Leicester, London, and Manchester. As of 2020, Boohoo bought an estimated 75%–80% of the clothing produced in Leicester. This was made possible when other retailers such as ASOS reduced the amount they sourced from Leicester over concerns about working conditions. In 2017, the Channel 4 television documentary series Dispatches found that factories in Leicester supplying Boohoo (along with New Look, River Island and Missguided) were paying workers less than the national minimum wage. Boohoo stated that the work had been subcontracted without their knowledge. In August 2019, the online businesses of Karen Millen and Coast were bought out of administration by Boohoo for £18 million. Only the online employees were taken on by Boohoo and the standalone retail stores eventually closed. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Boohoo reported an increase in sales. In June 2020, Boohoo announced that it was to acquire the brands and websites of high street chains Oasis Stores and Warehouse for £5.25 million. In late June 2020, workers' rights group Labour Behind the Label produced a report that stated factories supplying Boohoo were not following to social distancing and forcing employees to work even if sick, claims that Boohoo denied. This was followed by an investigative report by The Sunday Times which claimed to have found that workers producing clothes for Boohoo at a Leicester-based company were paid £3.50 an hour, less than half the UK minimum wage for over 25s. Boohoo again distanced themselves from the company, a representative stating "We are taking immediate action to thoroughly investigate how our garments were in their hands, will ensure that our suppliers immediately cease working with this company, and we will urgently review our relationship with any suppliers who have sub-contracted work to the manufacturer in question." Standard Life Aberdeen, an asset manager and a top 10 shareholder in the group, announced that it had sold most of its stake in the company a few days after the Sunday Times revelations. SLA said that after engaging with Boohoo's management team a number of times during the week, it found the online retailer's response to the allegations was "inadequate in scope, timeliness and gravity". On 15 July 2020 a Conservative Party MP said that it was 'shameful' that it took a pandemic for Boohoo to finally be taken to task for its workplace practices. Philip Dunne, chairman of the Environmental Audit committee, also said that the company had not met a pledge to join the Ethical Trading Initiative organisation which brings together retailers, unions and campaign groups to improve practice in supply chains. In September the company accepted the findings of a report by Allison Levitt QC, which found that the allegations of poor working practices in the company's supply chain were "substantially true", that its monitoring of the factories was "inadequate" due to “weak corporate governance”, and that its failure to assess the risk to workers during the coronavirus pandemic were "inexcusable". In November 2020 it appointed former judge Sir Brian Leveson to provide independent ethical oversight. An investigation by The Guardian newspaper in December 2020 traced Boohoo's supply chain to factories in Pakistan where workers claimed to be paid as low as £47 a month, less than the legal minimum wage, and ordered to work to shifts as long as 24 hours without receiving full overtime pay. In January 2021, following the collapse of the UK department store chain Debenhams, Boohoo bought the brand and online business for £55 million. The deal did not include the firm's stores or workforce, leading to a predicted loss of 12,000 jobs. In February, Boohoo announced it was buying the former Arcadia Group brands: Burton, Wallis and Dorothy Perkins for £25.2 million, confirming the loss of around 2,450 jobs. In December 2021, Boohoo has announced the expansion of operations into five new markets within the Asian region including Japan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan. In August 2022, Boohoo implemented a £1.99 charge for returning products. An investigation by BBC Panorama in 2023 found that Boohoo pressured its suppliers into providing discounts after agreements had already been made and orders meant to be fulfilled by Boohoo's Thurmaston Lane factory were subcontracted out to Morocco. In December 2024, Boohoo shareholders blocked Mike Ashley and an associate from joining its board in a blow to his attempt to control the business. In March 2025, Boohoo Group rebranded to Debenhams Group, the Boohoo brand remains unchanged by this rebranding. Brands that were not significant to the newly-named company were placed under the Debenhams subsidiary. Business operations According to Chief executive Carol Kane, Boohoo can differentiate itself from its closest rivals, as all their clothing ranges are own-branded with average prices of £17 comprising 9,000 clothing lines. With a primary focus on the 16 to 24 year old age group, it sells clothing to over 100 countries and had seven major markets, including the UK, the US, and France. Stock is purchased in small quantities of between 300 and 500 items at a time, with repeat orders typically of 25% on those that sell well. Customers can order items up to midnight for next-day delivery, including on Sunday. Customer numbers increased by 29% throughout 2016–17, up to 5.8 million. As an online retailer, Boohoo utilise social media as an integral part of their marketing strategy. A social media manager was appointed in 2012, with all employees encouraged to assist the social media team by contributing messages and imagery. boohoo had 6m Instagram followers, 1.1m Twitter followers and 2.9m likes on Facebook. Distribution centre Since 2010 the company's main distribution centre has been located on the Heasandford Industrial Estate in Burnley, Lancashire. From an initial 40 employees, the site has rapidly expanded into Burnley's largest employer, with workforce exceeding 3,500 in 2021. The company has acquired more buildings on the estate, formerly occupied by manufacturers such as TRW Automotive, and plans to continue to grow in the town. Boohoo's head of logistics said in 2021, "Ease of distribution is key and the borough sits in the heart of the UK, whilst it also provides a skilled and varied workforce." Head office In December 2024, Boohoo Group announced that it had sold its London head office to private real estate firm Global Holdings Group for £49.5 million. The sale is part of the company's broader efforts to "strengthen" its balance sheet, with part of the proceeds used to pay down a £47 million loan due for repayment in August 2025. Corporate affairs Boohoo also owns boohooMAN, PrettyLittleThing, Nasty Gal and MissPap, all targeted at 16 to 35 year olds. PrettyLittleThing was acquired in December 2016, with the retailer purchasing a 66% stake in the business at a cost of £3.3m, with the existing management team retaining the remaining shares. During the year up to April 2017, customer browsing from mobile devices accounted for 70% of total sessions, an increase of 4% from the previous year, with downloads of its mobile app across the United Kingdom, United States and Australia totalling around 2.2 million. Financial performance In the 10 months to December 2013, Boohoo had sales totalling £92m, with a profit before charges of £10m. By February 2014, total sales had reached £110m, with profits of £11m. Turnover in the year to February 2015 was £139.9m, an increase of 27% from the previous year, with an increase of gross profit by 31% to £85m. In April 2017, Boohoo announced that its profits had almost doubled to £31 million on sales up 51% to almost £300 million. When the company was floated on the stock market in 2014, it was valued at £560m, and is worth about £2 billion Internationally, the retailer suggests its 140% growth to revenue of almost £40m has exceeded expectation, whilst growth in Europe was 44% and 42% for the rest of their international operations. Strong performance was reported in April 2018, when Boohoo announced almost double revenue from the previous year, up to £580 million, a pre-tax profit of £43.3 million and a 22 percent increase in customers. Boohoo has continued to experience strong performance with the last four-month period for 2019 experiencing a 44% jump in revenue to £328.2m. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Boohoo was reported to have turned a greater profit than in the previous fiscal year. Euronews Living reported at the time that "Boohoo has managed to capitalise on cosy clothing when its customers need comfort above all else." The company revealed a 45% increase in first quarter revenue. In July 2020, the firm's share price fell 46% following allegations of malpractice at Leicester factories. In 2024, years after the BBC News investigation, the company was accused of only making surface level changes regarding worker conditions in its factories. In the year ended 29 February 2024, Debenhams Group reported a revenue decline of 17% to £1.46 billion (2023: £1.77 billion), reflecting weak consumer demand, increased discounting, and a greater mix of commission-only marketplace sales. Statutory loss before tax widened to £159.9 million (2023: £90.7 million), while the reported net loss after tax was £137.8 million (2023: £75.6 million) . Despite this, the group’s gross margin improved by 120 basis points to 51.8%, supported by lower freight and sourcing costs and the growing contribution of the capital-light Debenhams marketplace.
SF Express	[ "SF Express", "Companies based in Shenzhen", "Express mail", "Companies listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange", "Companies in the FTSE China A50 Index", "Companies established in 1993", "2017 initial public offerings", "1993 in Shenzhen" ]	796	8,105	SF Express (Group) Co., Ltd. is a Chinese multinational delivery services and logistics company based in Shenzhen, Guangdong. It is the largest courier in China, and provides domestic and international express delivery. SF Express operates a fleet of cargo aircraft, which are owned by its subsidiary SF Airlines. The parent company of SF Express, SF Holding trades on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It is a constituent of SZSE 100 Index. In the early 1990s, factories in Shunde needed to get samples to Hong Kong–based buyers, but frequently had issues with long shipping delays. To speed up this process, founder Wang Wei established ShunFeng Express as a small courier service with six employees, launching in 1993 providing service between Hong Kong and Guangdong Province. In January 2010, SF Airlines started scheduled cargo services, with 41 aircraft, to provide services such as one-day and next-morning deliveries. In July 2017, SF Express used backdoor listing to begin trading on the Shenzhen Stock exchange, involving an asset swap with listed company Maanshan Dintai Rare Earth & New Materials Co. SF Express was added as a constituent of SZSE 100 Index on 12 June 2017, effective on its first trading day. SF Express has opened at least 500 Heike ()—an online shopping service community store—across all Chinese provinces, except for in Tibet and Qinghai. The company had plans to open 4,000 Heike stores nationwide in 2014. Since 2016, SF Express has signed military-civil fusion agreements with the Logistic Support Department of the Central Military Commission and People's Liberation Army. In February 2019, SF Express acquired the supply chain operations in China, Hong Kong and Macau from Deutsche Post DHL. Formed a new subsidiary as SF DHL Supply Chain China. SF Express operates one of the largest networks of self-service locker kiosks in Hong Kong with 939 kiosks as of October 2020. In November 2024, SF Express parent company SF Holding held a secondary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. See also SF Airlines
JPMorgan Global Growth & Income	[ "Investment trusts of the United Kingdom", "JPMorgan Chase", "Companies in the FTSE 250 Index" ]	533	5,819	JPMorgan Global Growth & Income is a large British investment trust. Established in 1887, it is dedicated to investing in companies worldwide. The Chairman is Tristan Hillgarth. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and FTSE Russell announced on August 1, 2022, that it would become a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index on 4 August 2022. History The company was established as the United British Securities Trust in 1887, became the Fleming Overseas Investment Trust in 1982, went on to be the JPMorgan Fleming Overseas Investment Trust in 2002, and then, following JPMorgan's decision to drop the Fleming brand, became the JP Morgan Overseas Investment Trust in 2006 before adopting its current name in 2016. In October 2021, Scottish Investment Trust completed a strategic review and proposed a combination of assets with JPMorgan Global Growth & Income. Although the merger was supported by the board of JPMorgan Global Growth & Income, shareholders were warned that it may take many months for the merger to be completed. In May 2025, the company entered into a business combination with Henderson International Income Trust (a process under which the latter's shares were cancelled).
Gander Mountain	[ "Companies based in Saint Paul, Minnesota", "Sporting goods retailers of the United States", "American companies disestablished in 2022", "Retail companies established in 1960", "Retail companies disestablished in 2022", "1960 establishments in Wisconsin", "2022 disestablishments in Wisconsin", "Defunct companies based in Minnesota", "Defunct retail companies of the United States", "Privately held companies based in Minnesota", "Firearm commerce", "Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1996", "Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2017" ]	1,287	12,441	Gander Mountain, later known as Gander Outdoors and Gander RV, headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, was a retail network of stores for hunting, fishing, camping, and other outdoor recreation products and services. History Gander Mountain Incorporated began as a catalog-based in Wilmot, Wisconsin. Wilmot is located near Gander Mountain, the highest point in Lake County, Illinois, a short distance across the state line. the chain had 162 stores in 27 states, making it the largest chain of outdoors specialty stores in the United States. In the 1990s the company sought bankruptcy protection and began to rebuild its business once it emerged. In 1996 it sold its mail order division and then later acquired the watersports company Overton's in order to relaunch its mail order business. The company filed for bankruptcy in March 2017 with plans to close 32 stores. On April 28, 2017, Camping World Holdings was announced as the winner of the bankruptcy auction of Gander Mountain. On May 5, 2017, Gander Mountain announced via its website the upcoming closure of all of its locations. The new owner, Marcus Lemonis, has clarified through his account on Twitter that the bankruptcy court has sold the inventory and is liquidating it. Not all stores will remain closed if a new lease can be worked out with each landlord. On January 4, 2018, Camping World announced an official list of stores that will reopen under the new Gander Outdoors branding, where 69 stores will open. On May 1, 2017, Camping World Holdings, Inc., acquired Gander Mountain at auction for an estimated $35.4 million. As part of the deal, Camping World was obligated to operate a minimum of 17 Gander Mountain stores. As of 2018, Gander Outdoors had 59 open locations. The revamp included incorporating Camping World merchandise at select Gander Mountain locations. From 2019 to 2020, Gander Outdoors replaced its parent company Camping World as the title sponsor of NASCAR's Truck Series. Gander Mountain offered sportswear, hunting, fishing, camping, and other related outdoor recreation equipment. Gander Mountain was formerly traded on NASDAQ but was turned into a private company under the majority ownership of David Pratt and the Erickson family, which own Holiday gas stations. David C. Pratt was elected chairman of the board in December 2006. Pratt was elected as a director of Gander Mountain in August 2005 and named vice chairman of the board in December 2005. Jay Tibbets served as chief executive officer. Gander Mountain's stores ranged in size from 50,000 to 120,000 square feet and offered an outdoor esthetic. Physically, and visually, the stores had wider shopping aisles, high-joist ceilings, brick and stone accents, log-wrapped columns, and other wilderness related decorations. Gander Mountain online store officially opened in August 2008. Following the closure of all Gander Mountain stores, 69 stores in 22 states reopened under the Gander Outdoors name. Gun sales Gander Mountain called itself the top seller of new and used firearms in the United States. Starting in 2010, it had opened six Gander Mountain Academy and Firearms Supercenters, originally called “gun world”, where it estimated that over 250,000 people had received training. Gander Mountain sold its mail order business to Cabela's in 1996 with a no-compete clause. In 2007 it won a lawsuit brought by Cabela's to resume online sales. On December 6, 2007, the company announced it purchased boating and watersports catalog company Overton's for $70 million (~$ in ) from a private-equity firm. The purchase of Overton's, based in Greenville, North Carolina, helped Gander Mountain's transition back into direct marketing. In December 2013, Gander Mountain brought suit against Cabela's claiming that the competitor was illegally using domain names related to its business. The lawsuit accused Cabela's of "violating federal and state statutes as well as common law." Additionally Gander Mountain claimed that Cabela's was in violation of the federal Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, trademark infringement and trademark dilution. Bankruptcy In March 2017, Gander Mountain voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The retail chain decided to close 32 stores in 11 states. The company then began to seek a buyer; however, there was initially limited interest from potential buyers. Store closures began in April; the affected stores held inventory liquidation sales.
State Capital Investment Corporation	[ "Finance in Vietnam", "Government-owned companies of Vietnam", "Sovereign wealth funds", "Investment promotion agencies" ]	347	2,610	The State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC, ) is a state-owned holding company considered a National Wealth Fund of Vietnam. It was established on 20 June 2005 under the mandate of Prime Minister Phan Văn Khải as part of a range of reforms aimed at enhancing the efficiency of state capital utilisation. SCIC was created to reduce investment in domestic companies and government divisions in the Vietnamese government, and to diversify their holdings. The SCIC commenced operation in August 2006, and as of 30 May 2012 has around 416 linked firms in their portfolio. Board Members SCIC board members include: Trần Văn Hiếu – Chairman and vice minister of finance Lại Văn Đạo – Chief Executive Officer Đỗ Hữu Hào – Board member and vice minister of industry and trade Cao Viết Sinh – Board member and vice minister of investment and planning Hoàng Nguyên Học – Board member and deputy general director Nguyễn Quốc Huy – Board member and deputy general director Lê Song Lai – Board member and deputy general director Nhữ Thị Hồng Liên– Board member and deputy general director
Sandra L. Pack	[ "Year of birth missing (living people)", "Living people", "United States Army women civilians", "American accountants", "American women accountants", "Notre Dame of Maryland University alumni", "George W. Bush administration personnel", "Women chief financial officers", "American chief financial officers", "21st-century American women" ]	385	3,156	Sandra Lee "Sandy" Pack was United States Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management and Comptroller) from 2001 to 2003 and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Management & Chief Financial Officer from 2005 to 2006. Sandy Pack was educated at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. After college, she worked at the accounting firm of Ernst & Young. In February 1999, Pack became director of treasury / chief financial officer for George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign, reporting to campaign manager Joe Allbaugh. Following George W. Bush's victory in the 2000 U.S. presidential campaign, President Bush nominated Pack to be Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management and Comptroller) and, after Senate confirmation, Pack held this office from November 2001 to December 2003. In December 2003, Pack resigned from her office in the United States Department of the Army to become CFO of George W. Bush's 2004 presidential campaign, reporting to campaign manager Ken Mehlman. After Bush's victory in the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Bush nominated Pack to be Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Management & Chief Financial Officer. Pack subsequently held this office from August 2005 to December 2006. From December 2006 to December 2008, Pack was the CFO of the Rudy Giuliani U.S. presidential campaign. From April 2008 to September 2009, she was the John McCain presidential campaign's senior advisor to treasury and accounting. Since September 2009, Pack has been the chief audit executive of the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
Elder-Beerman	[ "Companies based in Dayton, Ohio", "Economy of the Midwestern United States", "Defunct department stores based in Dayton, Ohio", "Clothing retailers of the United States", "Retail companies established in 1883", "Retail companies disestablished in 2018", "1883 establishments in Ohio", "2018 disestablishments in Ohio", "Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1995", "Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018", "Companies that filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2018" ]	3,552	32,439	The Elder-Beerman Stores Corp., commonly known as Elder-Beerman, was an American chain of department stores founded in 1883 and whose last stores closed in 2018. The chain, based primarily in the Midwestern United States, was composed of 31 stores in eight states at the time of its liquidation in 2018, and peaked around 2003 with 68 stores and $670 million in annual sales. In 1883, Elder-Beerman history began when the Boston Dry Goods Store was opened on East Third Street in downtown Dayton, Ohio by Thomas Elder, William Hunter, Jr. and Russell Johnston, selling textiles, clothing and groceries. In 1896, the store moved to a new 11-story skyscraper, the Reibold Building, at the corner of Fourth and Main streets; it operated there as the Elder & Johnston Company department store for over 60 years. For most of its later history, its headquarters was located at 3155 El-Bee Road, Moraine, Ohio and from 1976 to 2015 it operated a flagship 6-floor location in Downtown Dayton, located at Courthouse Plaza, 40 N. Ludlow St., Dayton. Beerman and Gutmann In 1930, after a short career with Elder & Johnston, Arthur Beerman, founder of the Elder-Beerman Stores Corp., branched out on his own and by 1945, Beerman Stores was incorporated. In 1950, he opened "Beermans for Bargains" junior department stores in the McCook Shopping Center in north Dayton and in the Northtown Shopping Center just north of Dayton in Harrison Township, Montgomery County. In 1953, Beerman formed a partnership with Max Gutmann and together they established the Bee Gee Shoe Corporation, which later operated stores branded as El-Bee Shoe Outlets and Shoebilee! for many years. They also operated Margo's specialty clothing stores. In 1956, Beerman purchased the Home Store, a department store in downtown Dayton. Throughout the 1950s, Beerman and Gutmann expanded Beerman Stores throughout Dayton's suburbs; in 1961, Gutmann became executive vice president and general manager of the chain. In 1962, Beerman Stores merged with the Elder & Johnston Company to form Elder-Beerman; at this time, the Elder & Johnston Company's Reibold Building location was closed in favor of the Home Store location. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Elder-Beerman Stores Corp. expanded throughout western Ohio and surrounding states, including standalone furniture stores, competing with its Dayton-based rival, Rike's (now Macy's). After Beerman After Beerman's death in 1970, Gutmann was promoted to chairman and chief executive officer. In 1976, the downtown Dayton store was relocated to a new building on Courthouse Square, which had five stories, including the basement. In 1978, Elder-Beerman expanded into the Cincinnati area, purchasing Mabley & Carew's four stores, one in downtown Cincinnati and three in its suburbs. In 1985, Herb Glaser was named president and CEO of the department store division. With Herb Glaser as president, Gutmann and Glaser developed the Elder-Beerman franchise through the 1980s and early 1990s. When the company was forced to file for Chapter 11 reorganization in 1995, Max Gutmann and Herb Glaser returned from retirement to turn the company around. During the bankruptcy, Frederick J. Mershad asked to replace Gutmann as chairman and chief executive officer. As a result of the bankruptcy, Elder-Beerman closed all of their Margo's LaMode stores in early 1996. Elder-Beerman acquired three chains throughout its history: Cincinnati-based Mabley & Carew in 1978; Terre Haute, Indiana-based Meis in 1989; and Wheeling, West Virginia-based Stone & Thomas in 1998. 1999 and 2003 prototypes In late 1999, Elder-Beerman opened prototype stores in Jasper, Indiana; Warsaw, Indiana; and Frankfort, Kentucky. These stores included service centers, open-stock cosmetic and shoe departments, and courtesy telephones. Four years later, the chain opened smaller-scale prototypes in DeKalb, Illinois and Muscatine, Iowa, the latter being their first Iowa location. These stores represented a new marketing strategy of operating smaller-format stores in mid-sized markets. The Bon-Ton and liquidation Elder-Beerman was acquired by The Bon-Ton in 2003. At that point, Elder-Beerman was the ninth largest independent department store chain, and had exited bankruptcy and was in discussions to go private when Bon-Ton stepped in, offering more cash for outstanding stock. Elder-Beerman's brand was kept active on its 68 stores in eight states after the merger, and Elder-Beerman CEO Bud Bergren would become CEO of Bon-Ton in 2004. In 2012, The Bon-Ton began re-branding several Elder-Beerman stores to some of its other nameplates. Several in Michigan and Indiana were converted to Carson's or Younkers. This re-branding reduced the number of Elder-Beerman stores to 37, primarily in Ohio. In March 2017, Elder-Beerman opened in-store "Close to Home" shops selling locally-made and themed products, an initiative being rolled out throughout Bon-Ton's nameplates, in its Dayton Mall, The Mall at Fairfield Commons, Huber Heights and Kettering stores in the Dayton area. In April 2017, a "Close to Home" shop was opened at the Eclipse Center store in Beloit, Wisconsin. On April 17, 2018, The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc., as a part of its own Chapter 11 bankruptcy, was purchased by a joint venture composed of the holders of the company's 8.0% Second Lien Secured Notes due 2021 and Great American Group, LLC and Tiger Capital Group, LLC., with the intention of liquidating The Bon-Ton and its subsidiaries, including Elder-Beerman, which had operated for 135 years. In the Dayton area, the Elder-Beerman stores in Kettering and in the Miami Valley Centre Mall in Piqua closed on August 26, 2018. All remaining Elder-Beerman stores in the chain, as well as all other Bon-Ton-owned department stores, closed on August 29, 2018. CSC Generation On August 31, 2018, Elder-Beerman's website, along with all other Bon-Ton-owned retail websites, were updated with "stay tuned" messages, indicating that the company's respective brands would come back in some form; the liquidator stated that the company's intellectual property was being sold. In the following week, it was reported on September 6 that CSC Generation agreed to purchase Bon-Ton's customer database as well as its trademarks and websites. While the retailer would become a smaller, more agile e-commerce business that focused on its website, there were plans to reopen some physical stores in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. CSC Generation relaunched websites for all of its newly purchased department store brands on September 14. In addition to apparel and home goods, the websites also sold televisions and major kitchen appliances. The websites also offered a lease-to-own program where consumers would pay a portion of the merchandise cost monthly rather than paying the entire price upfront. There were no indications at that time that any former Elder-Beerman locations would be reopened. Attempts to relaunch physical stores for any of the former Bon Ton's brands proved to be unsuccessful. In November 2018, CSC Generation opened a Carson's store in Evergreen Park, Illinois, along with unrealized plans to open additional locations. The lone store closed two years later in October 2020. CSC Generation was unable to open a single Elder-Beerman branded store during their short period of ownership. BrandX BrandX quietly acquired the Elder-Beerman name and the other Bon Ton intellectual property from CSC Generation for an undisclosed price in early 2021. In May 2022, BrandX announced plans to reopen the various websites and possibly open physical stores at a later date. , the Elder-Beerman website remains inactive with few changes since January 2022.
2010 World Series of Poker Europe	[ "World Series of Poker Europe", "2010 in poker", "Gambling in the United Kingdom" ]	769	6,796	The fourth World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) took place from 14 September 2010 to 28 September 2010. There were five bracelet events, culminating in the £10,350 WSOPE Championship No-Limit Hold'em event. Events were held at the Empire Casino in Leicester Square. Key *Elected to the Poker Hall of Fame (#/#)This denotes a bracelet winner. The first number is the number of bracelets won in 2010. The second number is the total number of bracelets won. Both numbers represent totals as of that point during the tournament. Place What place each player finished Name The player who made it to the final table Prize (£) The amount of money, in British Pounds (£), awarded for each finish at the event's final table Results Event 1: £2,650 Six Handed No Limit Hold'em 3-Day Event: 14 September 2010 to 16 September 2010 Number of buy-ins: 244 Total Prize Pool: £610,000 Number of Payouts: 24 Winning Hand: + Final Table Place Name Prize 1st Phil Laak (1/1) £170,802 2nd Andrew Pantling £105,506 3rd Chris Bjorin (0/2) £70,473 4th David Peters £48,202 5th Ilan Rouah £33,617 6th Willie Tann (0/1) £23,900 Event 2: £5,250 Pot Limit Omaha 3-Day Event: 16 September 2010 to 18 September 2010 Number of buy-ins: 120 Total Prize Pool: £600,000 Number of Payouts: 18 Winning Hand: + Final Table Place Name Prize 1st Jeff Lisandro (1/5) £159,514 2nd Joe Serock £98,262 3rd Willie Tann (0/1) £71,184 4th Jeff Madsen (0/2) £52,542 5th John Racener £39,486 6th Karl Mahrenholz £30,192 7th Felipe Ramos £23,478 8th Jeff Kimber £18,564 9th Chris Bjorin (0/2) £14,916 Event 3: £1,075 No Limit Hold'em 5-Day Event: 17 September 2010 to 21 September 2010 Number of buy-ins: 582 Total Prize Pool: £582,000 Number of Payouts: 54 Winning Hand: + Final Table Place Name Prize 1st Scott Shelley (1/1) £133,857 2nd J.P. Kelly (0/2) £82,854 3rd Jeppe Bisgaard £55,063 4th Paul Pitchford £40,862 5th Kaveh Payman £30,666 6th Mehdi Senhaji £23,239 7th Jack Lyman £17,768 8th Karim Jomeen £13,694 9th Nicky Katz £10,633 Event 4: £10,350 No Limit Hold'em High Roller Heads-Up 3-Day Event: 21 September 2010 to 23 September 2010 Number of buy-ins: 103 Total Prize Pool: £1,030,000 Number of Payouts: 16 Winning Hand: + Final Table Place Name Prize 1st Gus Hansen (1/1) £288,409 2nd Jim Collopy £178,211 SF Ram Vaswani (0/1) £96,212 SF Andrew Feldman £96,212 QF Daniel Negreanu (0/4) £47,045 QF Kevin Eyster £47,045 QF Huck Seed (0/4) £47,045 QF Neil Channing £47,045 Event 5: £10,350 WSOPE Championship No Limit Hold'em 6-Day Event: 23 September 2010 to 28 September 2010 Number of buy-ins: 346 Total Prize Pool: £3,460,000 Number of Payouts: 36 Winning Hand: + Final Table Place Name Prize 1st James Bord (1/1) £830,401 2nd Fabrizio Baldassari £513,049 3rd Ronald Lee £376,829 4th Roland De Wolfe (0/1) £278,945 5th Nicolas Levi £208,119 6th Daniel Steinberg £156,530 7th Dan Fleyshman £118,643 8th Brian Powell £90,617 9th Marc Inizan £69,754
1907 New York City rent strike	[ "Housing in New York City", "1900s strikes in the United States", "Tenants unions in the United States", "Lower East Side", "Protests in New York (state)", "Rent strikes", "1907 labor disputes and strikes", "1907 in New York City", "Labor disputes in New York City", "December 1907 in the United States", "January 1908 in the United States" ]	1,588	12,744	The 1907 New York City rent strike or the East Side rent strike lasted from December 26, 1907, to January 9, 1908. The rent strike began in response to a proposed rent increase in the wake of the Panic of 1907 which saw tens of thousands unemployed. It began on the Lower East Side and the predominant organizers were Jewish immigrant women in the neighborhood such as Pauline Newman, who played a major role in organizing the strike. It eventually spread to other areas of Manhattan and Brooklyn, comprising approximately 10,000 tenants. The strike was taken over by the Eight Assembly District of the Socialist Party of America in early 1908. Due to mass evictions and police brutality, the strike was broken, though approximately 2,000 successfully halted rent increases. In the early 1900s, rent in the area had increased due to an influx of immigrants, the demolition of existing tenements, and slower rate of new buildings due to the Tenement House Act of 1901. This all led to a speculative housing market. In 1904, landlords called for a general rent increase of 20-30% starting May 1. In response, tenants organized into tenants unions and started a mass rent strike on the Lower East Side, the first rent strike in New York City. The strike comprised 800 tenement houses wherein 2,000 tenants faced eviction. Organizing was initially informal, relying on networking among the Jewish community, and primarily relying on women. The first neighborhood organization, the New York Protective Rent Association, was formed by socialist leaders as an umbrella organization. It provided striking tenants with a lawyer to assist them by contesting cases on technical grounds to gain adjournments. Between 1902 and 1908, rents in the tenements increased by approximately 25%. The Depression of 1907 led to 75-100 thousand men on the Lower East Side being unemployed. In December 1907, landlords announced rent would be increased by 1-2 dollars, the latest in a series of rent hikes over the past several years. 1907 rent strike The rent strike began December 26, 1907, and lasted until January 9, 1908, primarily led by local housewives who canvassed the neighborhood tenements for support. Pauline Newman, then 16 years old and working in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, helped organize the strike and was labelled in city newspapers as "The New Joan of Arc. By December 26th she had organized about 400 working girls to canvass the neighborhood during the evenings. By December 28th, tenants made lists of the buildings code violations in the neighborhood and presented them to city officials, prompting attention from inspectors in the Tenement House Department and Health Department. Papers such as The Daily Forward urged rent strikes. In 1908, the rent strike was brought under the Socialist Party of America's Eight Assembly District. While initial organizing had been done by women, the party was composed primarily of men. The Socialist Labor Party, the rival social democratic organization, was critical of the strike, taking issue with organizing workers as consumers. Under the party, the rent strike spread to Brooklyn and Harlem; tenants of Newark, New Jersey, also sent a delegation to discuss organizing their own strike. Sympathy strikes were organized in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and Manhattans Upper East Side and Upper West Side. Tenants were organized in Italian as well as Jewish neighborhoods. Organized by the party, the tenants hung effigies of their landlords and hung red flags, often dyed petticoats, from their windows. Due to the strike's association with the Socialist Party, it was considered a leftist activity by much of the New York City public. As a result, it became susceptible to waves of anti-communist sentiment. The media was less supportive of the strike than the one in 1904, calling it a "tenant uprising", "rent war", and "tenant rebellion". On January 5, 1908, under the direction of the landlords, police brutalized strikers after they had refused to disperse meetings and take down the red flags and protest signs hung up. Aftermath and legacy Magistrates issued thousands of eviction notices, effectively breaking the strike. Of the 10,000 participants, only about 2,000 received rent reductions. The demand to cap the rent at 30% of wages was unmet. The strike did not result in long-lasting organizations or changes to the Lower East Side. On January 12, 1908, Yiddish poet Morris Rosenfeld published a one-act play titled Rent Strike in The Daily Forward. Nothing comparable took place until after World War I. The strike drew the attention of women leaders in the settlement house movement, who would then introduce the concept of rent control into NYC politics. In 1917, a wave of rent strikes began which led to the institution of rent controls in 1920. See also Anti-Rent War Tenants' strike of 1907 Old Law Tenement New Law Tenement New York shirtwaist strike of 1909 Further reading
Red chip	[ "Stock market terminology", "Finance in Hong Kong", "Finance in China", "Companies in the Hang Seng China-Affiliated Corporations Index", "Red chip companies" ]	393	3,213	Red chip stocks () are the stocks of mainland China companies incorporated outside mainland China (often Hong Kong or a British Overseas Territory) and listed in the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. It refers to businesses based in mainland China and with (majority) shares controlled either directly or indirectly by a government body. This controlling entity could be one or more combinations of the central, provincial or municipal mainland government, with the company listed in Hong Kong to allow private and overseas investment. The term was coined by Hong Kong economist Alex Tang in 1992 and combines blue chip stocks with "red" representing the socialist economic philosophy of the People's Republic of China. Stock index of red chips The Hang Seng China-Affiliated Corporations Index (HSCCI) is a stock market index of 25 red chip companies. List of red chip companies , there were 267 red chip companies, including: APT Satellite Holdings China Aerospace International Holdings China Development Bank International Investment China Energine China Mobile Ltd China Overseas Land and Investment China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation China Resources Enterprise China Telecom Corp., Ltd. China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited China Zheshang Bank Chongqing Iron and Steel Company Cosco Shipping Goldwind Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd Lenovo Peking University Resources (Holdings) PetroChina SMIC Tong Ren Tang Tsingtao Brewery Zijin Mining Group ZTE Corporation See also Chip A share B share H share Green Chip P chip S chip N share L share G share China Concepts Stock *
Stiftung	[ "Corporate taxation", "Types of business entity", "Legal entities", "Ownership", "Holding companies", "Foundations" ]	1,074	8,304	A Stiftung () (properly Stiftung, pl. Stiftungen) is an institution or foundation that, with the aid of a property, pursues a purpose determined by the founder. A Stiftung foundation exists to give effect to the stated, non-commercial wishes of its founder, as set out in a foundation deed and the articles of association (statutes). In effect, the assets with which the foundation is endowed become a separate legal entity. A Stiftung foundation has no shares or members and is set up by a founder(s) in most cases to ensure the continuation of family assets. A Stiftung foundation can have beneficiaries, and in that way they are in some way similar to the common law notion of trusts. The founders also have the right to transfer and terminate the foundation. Stiftungen are purely non-profit enterprises and commercial activities are generally not permitted to be conducted by them. This is the primary difference between an Anstalt and a Stiftung. Stiftungen are usually administered by a board of trustees, and there is no registration required to establish them. Theory thumb\|right\|The Hrag course of the sum of the income from a foundation (or a single endowment) for various effective annual (inflation-adjusted) yield n from the donated capital without taking into account future donationsThe idea of a foundation is that in spite of the continuous use of the income for the purpose of the foundation (i.e., not for compound interest), the total amount after a certain time exceeds the funded foundation stock. With a yield of, for example, four percent (lilac line), the sum of the income earned the founding capital after 25 years, after which the sum of the income is greater than the basic stock capital (green area in the upper right corner). History Stiftungen have a long tradition. Plato established his academy as a foundation, and it lasted from 347 BCE to 529 CE. In the early Middle Ages, many nobles founded towns as Stiftung-like legal entities, a technique which was soon used to establish hospitals, orphanages and other non-profit organizations. It was the establishment of monastic communities, however, mostly in the southern and eastern border regions of the Holy Roman Empire, where the theory of Stiftung developed most. Many famous church buildings and monasteries were early foundations of Stiftung activity. Many of the 9th century foundations survive today notably in Wemding, Bavaria which dates back to the 10th century. Otto I donated the lady's donation at Quedlinburg Abbey which lasted from 936 to 1802. When Roman law began to take root in Germany during the 13th century, many social structures changed including considerable urbanization. Numerous Stiftung foundations were created at this time and many have survived the vicissitudes of history. Stiftung foundations took on a distinctly non-profit nature in response to the invention of corporations under the legal scholar and Pope Innocent IV. The Stiftung foundation of Bürgerspital zum Heiligen Geist in Würzburg is a good example of how they function. Founded in 1316, it is only one of about 250 examples of foundations that are older than 500 years which still exist today. The foundation provides geriatric services for the citizens of the burger, and is funded by the vineyard on the foundations estates. The well-known social housing Stiftung, Fuggerei in Augsburg, which is regarded as the oldest still existing social housing settlement, was founded in 1519, by the leading inhabitants of the town (foundation letter of 1521) and is therefore a few years younger than the social housing foundation of Valentin Ostertag. The Städelsche Kunstinstitut and Städtische Galerie (museum and art gallery) in Frankfurt am Main is one of the most important German art museums with a collection of more than 4000 paintings from the Middle Ages to Modern and Contemporary Art. During the early modern era, the Francke Foundation in Halle was founded in 1698, the Foundation Städelsches Kunstinstitut in 1815, and the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung in 1889. The 20th century was a low point for Stiftungen. The hyperinflation of the 1920-1930s, the rise of the third Reich, and the division of Germany, especially communist control of East Germany, resulted in the decline in the formation of new Stiftungen, and many older foundations dissolved. During National Socialist rule, foundations that did not exclusively benefit the German (Aryan) people were officially classified as "non-charitable". Since this directly affected their taxation status, it allowed the government to deduct assets. Furthermore, Jewish-ran foundations were simply seized outright during National Socialist rule, and the revenue went directly to the German government. Many Jewish foundations were liquidated and looted. Those foundations that did continue to exist were Aryanised and given Nazi-friendly leadership. As of 2000, changes in the charitable law and the foundation civil law and the associated broader public debate on the meaning and value of foundations, together with the strong growth of private assets and the re-emergence of the concept of citizenship, have ensured that as many foundations are formed in a year today as were in a decade at the end of the 20th century. In addition to private donors, companies, associations, and local authorities are also increasingly active as founders. Geographic distribution Stiftungen are a civil law construct, found mostly in German-speaking areas. Civil law Stiftung foundations have developed in Austria, Cyprus, Denmark (erhvervsdrivende fond), Italy, Finland, Germany, Liechtenstein (Unternehmenstiftung), the Netherlands (stichting, Netherlands Antilles, Norway (Bokmål stiftelse; Nynorsk stifting), Spain, Sweden (stiftelse), Switzerland, Panama (1975), and more recently in St Kitts (2003), Nevis (2004), Bahamas (2005), Anguilla (2006), Antigua and Barbuda (2006), Malta (2006), Jersey(2009), and Labuan, Malaysia (2010). See also Non-profit foundation
Venture capital in Israel	[ "Finance in Israel", "Science and technology in Israel", "Venture capital", "Venture capital firms of Israel" ]	1,412	13,584	Venture capital in Israel refers to the financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies based in Israel. The country's venture capital industry was born in the mid-1980s and has rapidly developed. Israel currently has more than 276 active venture capital funds, of which 71 are international VCs with Israeli offices. Israel's venture capital and incubator industry plays an important role in the booming high-tech sector that has been given the nickname "Silicon Wadi", considered second in importance only to its Californian counterpart, the Silicon Valley. According to the Israeli Research Center, IVC, Israeli tech exits in 2021 (M&As, buyouts, IPOs) totaled $22.2 billion from 238 deals. Excluding deals over $5 billion, 2021 capital saw almost 50% from IPOs, while the number of M&As did not fall short compared to previous years. According to a report from Start-Up Nation Central (SNC), the three largest earning sectors in Israel were Enterprise IT & Data Infrastructure (which raised just under $6b), Cybersecurity-dominated Security Technologies ($5.9b), and Fintech ($4.2b). According to IVC, In 2021, venture capital investment in Israel stood at $25.6 billion – a leap of almost 150% from 2020. History Israel's venture capital industry was born in 1985, when the first Israeli venture capital fund, Athena Venture Partners, was founded by Major-General Dan Tolkowsky, the past Chief of Staff of the Israel Air Force; Dr. Gideon Tolkowsky; and Frederick R. Adler, a pillar of the US venture capital industry who had conceived the notion of taking Israeli High-tech companies public on NASDAQ. Subsequently, in 1990, Gideon Tolkowsky and Yadin Kaufmann founded Israel's second VC firm, "Veritas Venture Capital Management", whose main investors were Anglo American Corporation of South Africa and De Beers. The success of the venture capital industry in Israel continued with Yozma (Hebrew for "initiative"), a government initiative in 1993 offering attractive tax incentives to foreign venture capital investments in Israel and promising to double any investment with funds from the government. As a result of their efforts, Israel's annual venture capital outlays rose nearly 60-fold, from $58 million to $3.3 billion, between 1991 and 2000. The number of companies launched using Israeli venture funds rose from 100 to 800. Israel's information technology revenues rose from $1.6 billion to $12.5 billion. By 1999, Israel ranked second only to the United States in invested private equity capital as a share of GDP. It also led the world in the share of its growth attributable to high-tech ventures: 70 percent. According to the OECD, Israel is also ranked first in the world in expenditure on Research and Development (R&D) as a percentage of GDP. Though Israel's venture capital industry played an important role in the high-tech sector, the 2008 financial crisis also affected the availability of venture capital locally. In 2009, there were 63 mergers and acquisitions in the Israeli market worth a total of $2.54 billion; 7% below 2008 levels ($2.74 billion), when 82 Israeli companies were merged or acquired, and 33% lower than 2007 proceeds ($3.79 billion) when 87 Israeli companies were merged or acquired. In 2019, Israeli companies were considered more popular than their American peers. For comparison, investment volume in Israeli startups grew by 140% from 2014 to 2018. Investments in technological startups from the U.S. grew by 64%. Moreover, Israeli startups are becoming so attractive that US companies tend to acquire them more than anyone else: they account for half of all transactions in 2018. Thus, Israel eventually became a "net seller". In particular, artificial intelligence (AI) raises the most investments (17%) among all high technologies in Israel. The recent acquisition of Israeli company Mellanox for $6.9 billion by Nvidia Corporation is indicative. It was a definite contender for the largest M&A deal in 2019. Characterization Israel's venture capital industry has about 276 active venture capital funds, of which 71 are international VCs with Israeli offices. Additionally, there are some 220 international funds, including Polaris Venture Partners, Accel Partners, and Greylock Partners, that do not have branches in Israel but actively invest in Israel through an in-house specialist. In 2009, the Life Sciences Sector led the market with $272 million or 24% of total capital raised, followed by the Software Sector with $258 million or 23%, the Communications sector with $219 million or 20%, and the Internet sector with 13% of capital raised in 2009. The unicorns era Venture capitalist Aileen Lee coined the term "unicorn" in 2013 to define a privately held startup valued at $1 billion or more. It was initially used to portray the rarity of such companies. As of 2021, over 70 unicorns exist in Israel or were founded by Israelis – making Israel the number one country in the world in its number of unicorns per capita. The first Israeli company to be named a unicorn was ironSource, reaching a value of $1.5 billion in 2014. Since then the rate of new Israeli unicorns has risen exponentially. From 2014 to 2018, the total number of new unicorns was 19 combined; 2019 had 12 new unicorns, and in 2020 a total of 14, whereas in 2021, there were an astonishing number of 28 companies, including Wiz, K-health, Verbit, Deel and Honey Book, a 200% increase compared to the previous year. As a result, more foreign venture capital funds are currently invested in Israeli or Israeli-led unicorns, including Andreessen Horowitz, Spark Capital, Vertex Ventures, Insight Partners and corporate venture capital funds including Intel Capital, Microsoft Ventures (M12) and others. Technological business incubators In the early 1990s, the Israeli government created a technological business incubator program (Hebrew: חממה טכנולוגית) to leverage the strengths of approximately 750,000 scientists, engineers, and physicians who had just arrived from the former USSR. Israel's Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS), a division of the Ministry of Economy, started six incubators designed to foster seed and early-stage technology development through entrepreneurship. Today, there are 24 such incubators located throughout Israel, and 65 percent of the projects are science-related research and development. In 2007, incubator companies raised $435 million in private funds, up 74 percent from 2006. Currently, the OCS allocates approximately $1 billion per year to incubators and other programs that encourage technology development List of VC companies in Israel Pitango Venture Capital Genesis Partners OurCrowd Vertex Holdings Hanaco Ventures See also Economy of Israel Science and technology in Israel List of Israeli companies listed on the Nasdaq List of Israeli inventions and discoveries Start-up Nation
Marketization	[ "Decentralization", "Economic liberalization", "Market (economics)", "Economic globalization" ]	2,315	20,837	Marketisation or marketization is a restructuring process that enables state enterprises to operate as market-oriented firms by changing the legal environment in which they operate. This is achieved through reduction of state subsidies, organizational restructuring of management (corporatization), decentralization and in some cases partial privatization. These steps, it is argued, will lead to the creation of a functioning market system by converting the previous state enterprises to operate under market pressures as state-owned commercial enterprises. Marketized solutions of government and market externalities Here the government seeks to solve market and government externalities with market-based solutions rather than through direct administrative means. Supporters argue that the market externality of pollution can be addressed through the sale of pollution permits to companies and corporations, thus allowing the market to "see" the information and "realize" the harm done by allowing the market to transmit pollution costs to society. This is presented as an alternative to direct administrative means, whereby the government would use command and control means to direct state enterprises and private firms to comply with the guidelines. Marketization of government branches This is often described as "competitive federalism" or "limited government". Proponents argue that markets perform better than government administration. Therefore, marketisation seeks to make government agencies and branches compete with each other when government branches and agencies are absolutely necessary (i.e. remaining agencies and branches not privatized or liberalized away). For example, supporters argue that a voucher system for public education would make public schools compete with one another thus making them more accountable and efficient. Theory Critics of globalization, privatization, and liberalization have deemed that it is unworkable without major government regulations to balance the forces involved. They argue that marketization can result in market failure. Free Market thinkers like Hayek, Friedman and von Mises believe markets can work with far less government regulation. As they see it, the combination of liberalization, privatization, and marketization ensure that globalization fulfills the promises of peace, prosperity, and cooperation that its liberal scholars and philosophers have promised. Without marketization, supporters argue that government created externalities can distort the information available to the market which in turn makes the market not work as well as it could. Examples Milton Friedman offers examples of what marketized government solutions can look like. Friedman's proposed education voucher system promotes competition between public schools (and private) thus creating a market-based solution to educational issues. See Private prison. This phenomenon is now permeating into Higher Education in general, with research suggesting that students rather than being perceived as learners are now viewed as customers and therefore a critical component in the business model of many universities Nonprofit and voluntary sector Overview of nonprofit organizations Nonprofit organizations came to fruition when people began to recognize that society had needs for services rendered by neither the government nor the private sector. These organizations were created to address these needs. However, due to their overall missions, it is frowned upon for these organizations to make a profit. Therefore, by their very nature, their funding sources remain ambiguous. This results in nonprofits becoming resource dependent and continuing to struggle to find and maintain funding. This struggle has resulted in marketization of NPOs. Rationale Commercialization or marketization (the terms are often used interchangeably in the marketization debate among scholars) occurs when an NPO decides to provide goods or services with the intent of turning a profit. Nonprofits' resource dependency often lead them to constantly look for additional, nonconventional for nonprofit, funding. Factors behind a nonprofits decision to marketize are usually compounded by issues such as increased demand for services, inability to tax, and other funding sources' inability to cover operational and service costs for the NPO. In return, the NPO enters into a mixed marketplace and thus begins to compete either with other NPOs or for-profit entities. Funding sources Nonprofit organizations have been notoriously plagued with funding issues since their inception. This is due largely in part to the basic concept of nonprofits: to provide a service that neither the government nor the private sector provides a population. Nonprofit organizations receive funding in three ways: 1. Public sources and subsidies; 2. Charitable giving, endowments, major donors; 3. Fee-based services and venture enterprises. Public sources and subsidies A public source refers to government assistance either through awarded grants or appropriated funding. Prior to the 1960s, nonprofit organizations relied mostly on fee-for-services and charitable giving. However, with the political climate changing significantly, it became apparent that society was using nonprofit organizations more than before. Additionally, governmental entities realized that by entering into a public-private partnership, they could fund nonprofit organizations and essentially hire then to provide services that governments did not want to provide. Nonprofit organizations began to apply and receive grant awards and appropriations for services. This trend in funding began to decline in the 1980s under the Reagan administration. With the reduction in funding available from the federal government, nonprofits have become increasingly competitive amongst each other. Additionally, grant money often comes with performance measures or quotas that are required to meet in order to maintain funding. Many nonprofits do not have either the administrative capacity to track this data or the ability to physically meet the performance measures. Charitable giving, endowments, and major donors Charitable giving, endowments and donations do play a significant role in funding for NPOs. However, this still does not provide enough funding for NPOs to maintain sustainability and provide adequate services. Fee-for-services A fee-based service is not a new concept for nonprofit organizations. Prior to the 1960s, nonprofits quite often utilized a fee-for-service model. This most commonly is seen in nonprofit hospitals. Additionally, gift shops at museums are another form of revenue often associated with fee-for-service models. Current literature Literature related to the marketization of the nonprofit and voluntary sector is broad in scope and enhanced marketization of the sector is the subject of "considerable debate among both scholars and practitioners." One side of the debate asserts potential positive effects from increased marketization and one side engages the idea that primarily negative effects are associated with the integration of commercial ideology within nonprofit organizations. Pros Marketization is seen by some to hold the ability to provide positive outcomes for nonprofit organizations. One such potential benefit is the diversification of revenue streams and enhanced financial stability. With commercial and market approaches gaining popularity as alternative or supplementary funding sources, their flexibility and less-restrictive nature as revenue sources are noted. Portions of the literature surrounding nonprofit marketization also consider the positive effects that result from the aforementioned diversified and more sustainable collection of revenue streams. The ability of market-associated activities to "contribute to an organization's self sufficiency and ability to attract and retain staff" is discussed. The efficiency and effectiveness of organizations utilizing market-based revenue strategies are said to see potential enhancement "by reducing the need for donated funds, by providing a more reliable, diversified funding base", or by enhancing the overall quality of programs "by instilling market discipline". Studies conducted of commercial activity in national nonprofit services associations and voluntary social agencies "discovered that such initiatives were generally related to and contributed substantively to mission accomplishment". In the same vein, it has been said that leaders within the nonprofit sector can see benefit from understanding and finding ways to employ commercial forces for social good. Con Negative associations between marketization and the nonprofit sector are also present within the literature. One of the main criticisms brought forth against the integration of commercial principles and activities within voluntary organizations is the potential for diversion from the original organization mission. According to Tuckman, a "strong likelihood exists that the missions of nonprofits engaged in commercial activities will grow more ambiguous over time." The potential tendency of leadership to increasingly look at activities in terms of revenue is also as a result of increased commercial activity is discussed. Structural organizational changes are also mentioned as a potential negative impact of enhanced commercial activity among nonprofits. From organizational changes necessary to accommodate market-based endeavors, such as growth in "number and scope" of administrative offices that manage profit-seeking efforts, to the "tendency to replace traditional, social problem-focused board members with entrepreneurial, business-oriented individuals," changes take effort from work directly related to mission accomplishment. Aside from diversion from mission and structural/staffing changes, the literature notes the potential for lost sector legitimacy as the "distinctions between the business, government, and nonprofit sectors continue to blur and their efforts overlap." Related to this blurring effect, is the theory that civil society is at risk as a result of enhanced marketization within the voluntary organizations. Eikenberry and Kluver, in their article entitled, "The Marketization of the Nonprofit Sector: Civil Society at Risk," describes the idea that marketization trends negatively impact the unique roles nonprofit organizations play within society. Overall, this theory stands on the thesis that marketization "may harm democracy and citizenship because of its impact on nonprofit organizations' ability to create and maintain a strong civil society." The responsibility of nonprofits to those in need is said to become potentially overshadowed by economic and competition-centered values that result from enhanced market-based and commercial activities. Increased desire of voluntary organizations to "secure competitive advantage in the pursuit of producing individual-level goods and services for those who can afford them," rather than those defined in the original organizational mission. Marketisation and existing market theory In considering the applicability of the existing literature on contingency theory and perspectives on competitive advantage to the marketised social care sector in the UK, Dearnaley identified a number of areas in each that restrict its value in analysing and responding to the new market environment: the retrospective nature of theories of competitive advantage and foci on differentiation and cost leadership make these inappropriate for this new marketplace; the intangibility of competitive advantage, and particularly sustainable competitive advantage; the relative inflexibility of classical contingency theory. See also Capitalism Classic liberalism Corporatization Deregulation Free market Market socialism State capitalism Further reading Academic Entrepreneurialism and Its Related Concepts: A Review of the Literature by Hei-hang Hayes Tang; Published 2009, Research Studies in Education 7: 42–49;. Democracy, the Economy and the Marketisation of Education by Hugh Lauder; Published 1992, Victoria University Press; . Globalization and Marketization in Education: A Comparative Study of Hong Kong and Singapore by Ka-Ho Mok, Jason Tan; Published 2004, Edward Elgar Publishing; . Governance And Marketisation In Vocational And Continuing Education by Rudolf Husemann, Anja Heikkinen; Published 2004, Peter Lang Publishing, Incorporated; . Marketisation of Governance: Critical Feminist Perspectives from the South by Viviene Taylor; Published 2000, SADEP, University of Cape Town; . Marketization and Democracy: East Asian Experiences by Samantha Fay Ravich; Published 2000, Cambridge University Press; . Marketisation of the Careers Service by Jane V.Helmsley Brown, Nicholas Foskett; Published 1998, University of Southampton, Centre for Research in Education Marketing; . Marketization, Restructuring and Competition in Transition Industries of Central and Eastern Europe by Marvin R. Jackson, Wouter Biesbrouck; Published 1995, Avebury; . Pluralism and Marketisation in the Health Sector: Meeting Health Needs in Contexts of Social Change in Low and Middle Income Countries by Gerald Bloom, Hilary Standing; Published 2001, Institute of Development Studies; . Politics of Marketization in Rural China by Wei Pan; Published 2001, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Incorporated; . Social Welfare and the Market: Papers from a Conference on Marketisation by Frances Millard; Published 1988, Suntory-Toyota International Centre for Economics and Related Disciplines; . The Marketization of Social Security by John E. Dixon, Mark Hyde; Published 2001, Quorum/Greenwood; . Understanding Marketisation Within the Chinese Information Sector by Doris Fischer; Published 2003, Institut für Rundfunkökonomie (Institute for Broadcasting Economics, Cologne University); . by Uwe Schimank and Ute Volkmann; Published 2012; Bremen: Research Cluster “Welfare Societies”.
Abengoa	[ "Abengoa", "Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq", "Multinational companies headquartered in Spain", "Companies of Andalusia", "History of Seville", "Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2016", "Conglomerate companies established in 1941", "Companies listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange", "Conglomerate companies of Spain", "Spanish brands", "Biotechnology companies established in 1941", "Spanish companies established in 1941" ]	3,338	31,335	Abengoa, S.A. was a Spanish multinational company in the green infrastructure, energy and water sectors. The company was founded in 1941 by Javier Benjumea Puigcerver and José Manuel Abaurre Fernández-Pasalagua, and was based in Seville, Spain. Its current chairman is Gonzalo Urquijo Fernández de Araoz. After repeated bankruptcies and rescues, it declared insolvency in February 2021 amid various regulatory and financial charges against the board and management, the second-largest corporate collapse in Spanish history. Abengoa invests in research in sustainable technology, and implements these technologies in Spain as well as exporting them globally. These technologies include concentrated solar power and desalination. In 2014, Abengoa and subsidiaries employed approximately 20,250 people, operating in more than 80 countries. Origin On 4 January 1941, Javier Benjumea Puigcerver and José Manuel Abaurre Fernández-Pasalagua, both engineers from the Instituto Católico de Artes e Industrias (ICAI), founded Sociedad Abengoa S.L. in Seville (Spain) with three friends and other family members, with an initial share capital of 180,000 pesetas. Their initial plan was to manufacture a five-ampere mono-phase meter, although the supply problems in Spain at that time meant that the project never got off the ground. But this fact, combined with significant opportunities that began to arise during this era, meant that from 1943 Abengoa began drafting projects and carrying out technical studies, as well as undertaking electrical assembly projects. 2000 Bolivian Water Privatization, Rate Hike, and Violence Bechtel and Abengoa formed a consortium named "Aguas del Tunari" (Water of Tunari - a local regional term) to file an unsolicited bid to the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia in 2000. Bechtel was a 27% partner and Abengoa S.A. was a 25% partner. This bid was in response to the increasing pressure from the World Bank, which had funded and extended water supply projects for the country of Bolivia, to privatize the water utility of Cochabamba. With the strings attached in 1995, and the World Bank participating in draft bids in 1997, Bechtel and the consortium introduced an unsolicited and unique bid. The bid was accepted, under pressure of the World Bank and the conditions of their loans to Bolivia. The terms were ratified in the often-cited Law 2029 by the legislative body of Bolivia, however largely it had previously been accepted and influenced by local governments. Under the terms, Bechtel and the consortium immediately raised water pricing 35% and then 20% after the first month. Water became one fifth of the average person's expenses and protests erupted. Protests were met with cold shoulder response by Bechtel expressing they would simply cut-off water to those who did not pay. Further protests were enhanced when agricultural sectors realized the bylaws allowed Bechtel and the consortium rights to rain water as well, which was assumed to mean they could no longer collect rain water. Violence between protesters and police resulted in burning of city governments and hundreds of injured within the first days of the conflict. The local governments of Manfred Reyes Villa (mayor) and Jose Pepe Orias (prefect or governor) quickly fled the arguments and disappeared and resigned (respectively), leaving the executive government of General Hugo Banzer Suarez to clean-up the mess. The contract was ultimately abandoned, for which Bechtel in February 2021 demanded settlement. The aftermath of the violence was destruction of public property in downtown Cochabamba paid for by taxpayers, death of (1) civilian restitution by the government, and hundreds of injured police, military, and protestors. A movie titled "Even the Rain" with acclaimed actor Diego Luna depicts a historical fiction story set in this time. For all the same references and further information, see the article Cochabamba Water War. Befesa Befesa has been until 2013 an Abengoa subsidiary specializing in the integral management of industrial wastes and the generation and management of water. Abengoa Solar Abengoa began its involvement in the development of solar technologies in 1984 with the construction of the Solar Almería Platform in Spain. In 2008, the US Department of Energy awarded Abengoa Solar two research and development projects in the field of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) that total over $14 million. The goal of the R&D program is to develop CSP technologies that are competitive with conventional energy sources (grid parity) by 2015. On July 3, 2010, US President Barack Obama announced that the US Department of Energy conditionally committed to offering a $1.45 billion loan guarantee to support construction by Abengoa Solar of the Solana Generating Station, in Maricopa County, Arizona. It is set to begin operation in 2013. (Operational Oct 2013) The Mojave Solar Project in the Mojave desert in California entered commercial operation in 2014. Abengoa are constructing three CSP plants in South Africa for Eskom, Khai (50 MW), Xina (100MW) and Kaxu (100 MW) Abengoa are also constructing a 400kV Transmission line for Eskom . Telvent was an Abengoa subsidiary focused on information technology consulting and industrial automation. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of other subsidiaries of Telvent related to IT and industrial control, the oldest one being Sainco founded in 1963. It was listed on NASDAQ until its sale in 2011 to Schneider Electric. In 2014 was bought and integrated into Getronics. Abengoa Bioenergy Abengoa Bioenergy is a global biotechnology company specializing in the development of new technologies in producing biofuels and biochemicals and promoting sustainability of raw materials. AB constructed a biomass-to-ethanol facility in Hugoton, Kansas that produced second generation biofuels. The refinery went online and it was full production by 2014. It was operated by Abengoa Bioenergy Biomass of Kansas, a company of Abengoa Bioenergy. The Hugoton plant never did reach production level and was shuttered as a failure in 2015. The project was heavily criticized as yet another fleecing of the American taxpayer. Abengoa Bioenergy also has a joint venture biofuel plant with Ebro Puleva. Feedstocks The feedstock comprises woody and non-woody cellulosic biomass provided by plant biomass, agricultural wastes, forestry residues, and sugar processing residues. Currently the most important grain cereal for production of bioethanol in Abengoa Bioenergy's plants are wheat, barley, corn and sorghum. In Abengoa Bioenergy Brazil, the company grows sugarcane while maintaining sustainable rural development methods, biodiversity, and regional economic growth. Other plants produce second-generation bioethanol from a combination of corn stover, wheat straw, oat straw, barley straw, hardwood, switchgrass. Converting starch from cereals through fermentation creates a high protein co-product that is a source of vegetable protein, energy, fiber and vitamins, and is used to produce cattle feed. Pre-treatment Lignocellulosic raw material is first milled and cleaned before pre-treatment. Pre-treatment consists of contacting the cellulosic biomass feedstock with an acidic liquid medium to form an acid-impregnated biomass feedstock, then contacting the feedstock with H2O at elevated temperature and pressure to solubilize hemicellulose resulting in a steam treated feedstock. The biomass is then subjected to a depressurization zone to further solubilize hemicellulose and producing a volatilized fraction. Temperature and pressure within the depressurization zone is controlled by releasing a portion of the volatilized fraction. Acid Impregnation Acid impregnation prepares the feedstock for enzymatic hydrolysis to produce fermentable sugars by increasing bioavailability of feedstock. Feedstock is introduced to an acid impregnation vessel consisting of hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, sulfurous acid, sulfur dioxide, nitric acid, and combinations thereof. The acidic liquid medium contains an acid concentration of less than 5 wt %. Acid impregnation involves soaking or spraying the liquid medium to the feedstock. Either method involves agitation or mixing for 1–13 minutes to promote dispersion of the acid throughout the feedstock. Impregnation of feedstock results in degradation of fibers as the hold time and temperature reach certain limits. Soaking When soaking, the entire mass of feedstock is submerged in acidic liquid medium to promote bulk movement of the feedstock to provide dynamic and continuous contact of the feedstock and acidic liquid medium. To promote dynamic physical contact and dispersion of the acidic liquid medium to feedstock, the feedstock/acidic liquid medium slurry is agitated. Soaked biomass feedstock is dewatered to reduce its moisture content. Spraying Less acidic liquid medium is used so material costs are reduced, and avoids the need for dewatering. The feedstock is agitated to disperse the acid throughout the feedstock. Wetting agent Acidic liquid medium may include a surfactant to promote dispersion of acid throughout the resulting acid-impregnated biomass slurry by reducing surface tension of the liquid medium. Suitable surfactants are bio-degradable, non-toxic, and are commercially available. Nonionic surfactants are preferred as their performance is unaffected by the presence of an acidic liquid medium, such as alcohols. Heating during acid impregnation is also employed to promote dispersion of acid throughout the resulting acid impregnated biomass slurry. The biomass feedstock/dilute acid mixture is heated to temperatures of at least 10-40C. However, heating at this stage does not significantly solubilize hemicellulose component. Instead it is used to minimize and avoid solubilization of hemicellulose. The feedstock is heated in a low moisture environment of a relative humidity of less than 80-100% (specifically, less than 50-70 wt %). Moisture inhibits the dispersion of acid throughout the feedstock, or results in an uneven acid dispersion. Low moisture content of acid-impregnated feedstock reduces the energy required during subsequent heating. Acid impregnated feedstock results in a slurry with biomass solids dispersed throughout the acidic liquid medium with total solids of at least 25 wt% (0.35 - 0.65 g solids per g wet mixture). Temperature of the acid-impregnated biomass becomes the same as the acidic liquid medium (20-95C). Additionally the pH of the acid-impregnated biomass becomes less than 4. Total glucan content of acid-impregnated feedstock is about 25-50%. Steam Treatment (Steam Explosion) After acid-impregnation, the feedstock is subjected to elevated temperature and pressure in the presence of H2O, then discharged to an environment of reduced pressure to break down the cellulose-hemicellulose-lignin complex. Steam treatment dissociates cellulose from hemicellulose and lignin for enzymatic hydrolysis to produce fermentable sugars. Steam is introduced at a pressure of at least 75-150 psig. The acid-impregnated feedstock and H2O are introduced into the same vessel under a pressure of about 75-250 psig. Temperature of steam is about 160-220C. Uniform moisture from the water vapor of steam treatment, promotes uniform temperature of the feedstock. To promote even temperature distribution throughout the vessel, the total solids content of the feedstock is maintained from about 30-70 wt % by direct steam injection as higher moisture feedstocks hinders steam penetration and heat transfer throughout the feedstock. If necessary, feedstock may be dewatered by removing excess acidic liquid medium using a mechanical solid/liquid separation device such as a dewatering screw press. The abrupt change in pressure by withdrawing or removing the pretreated feedstock to a vessel of reduced pressure (above atmospheric pressure) degrades the lignin-hemicellulose-cellulose complex. To maintain adequate and rapid depressurization for effective degradation of fiber structures, the pressure at the outlet differs by less than 50-100 psig. Steam treatment reduces the size of particulate solids of the acid-impregnated feedstock to provide an increase in exposed surface area of cellulose and/or hemicellulose for enzymatic hydrolysis. Enzyme Supplier Dyadic International is a global biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development, manufacturing, and sale of enzyme and protein products for bioenergy, biochemical, biopharmaceutical and industrial enzyme industries. Dyadic utilizes its patented C1 fungus to develop and manufacture low cost proteins and enzymes for diverse market opportunities. Dyadic actively pursues licensing arrangements and other commercial opportunities to leverage the value of their technologies by providing its partners with the benefits of manufacturing and/or utilizing the enzymes which these technologies help produce. Dyadic's license agreement with Abengoa Bioenergy gives them the right to use Dyadic's C1 platform technology to develop, manufacture and sell enzymes for use in second generation biorefining processes to convert biomass into sugars for the production of fuels. C1 is based on the Myceliopthora thermophila fungal expression system for gene discovery, expression, and production of enzymes and other proteins. Dyadic scientists have developed strains of this fungal microorganism to go from gene discovery to commercial manufacturing using the same host organism. It's integrated and patented C1 platform eliminates many of the bottlenecks of protein discovery, development, scale-up and commercialization. Thus, enabling new product introduction with less time, cost and risk. DNA from various sources including individual organisms, environmental samples, or collections of genes can be fragmented and cloned into Dyadic's specialized C1 expression vectors. The resulting cultures are distributed into cultures and are allowed to grow to create a gene expression library. The collection can be further used to create replicates, or stored away for later use. The target protein are screened against the gene library. To make a commercially viable product, Dyadic researchers use the "C1 Express" Hyperproducing Protein Expression System to increase the expression level of the gene of interest. Because the same C1 organism is used for gene discovery and expression, the probability of successfully increasing the level of protein expression is very high. Dyadic currently sells more than 55 enzyme products to more than 150 industrial customers in approximately 50 countries for a broad range of industries including biofuels, bio-based chemicals, biopharmaceuticals, animal health and nutrition, pulp and paper, textiles, food and beverage, and nutraceuticals. Pilot Plants and Commercialization York Pilot Plant (Nebraska, US) Abengoa's biomass pilot plant opened in 2008 in York, Nebraska. This $35 million biomass facility will exclusively research and develop ethanol production processes using enzymatic hydrolysis and lignocellulosic biomass as a feedstock. The York facility will research and test proprietary technology for its commercial-scale facilities. The plant currently operates at 100% of its capacity and continues to demonstrate excellent efficiency and consistent operation. The York pilot plant uses an annual consumption of 520,000 tons of corn stover to produce 56 Mgal(210 ML) of bioethanol per year, through continuous batch cooking and fermenting process. BCyL Demonstration Plant (Salamanca, Spain) In 2009, the biomass plant Biocarburantes Castilla y León (BCyL) started operation as the first demonstration plant to process biomass-to-ethanol on a commercial scale. The plant produces 1.3 Mgal/year using wheat and barley straw biomass. Hugoton Commercial Hybrid Biomass Plant (Kansas, US) The construction of this commercial scale biorefinery facility by Abengoa Bioenergy Biomass of Kansas (ABBK) allowed them to use their proprietary technology that they developed over the last decade to produce cost-effective and renewable liquid fuel from plantfiber or cellulosic biomass. The plant produced 25 Mgal/year from 350, 000 tons of biomass/year. The residues of the biorefinery process were combusted with 300 tons/day of fry, raw biomass material to produce 18 megawatts of electricity to power the entire facility to make it energy efficient and environmentally friendly. The plant was in full production by 2014. The plant officially opened on October 17, 2014. The plant shut down its operation on December 10, 2015. Abeinsa (Engineering and Construction) Abeinsa is the branch of Abengoa responsible for engineering and construction. This company is consolidated Abener Engineering and Construction Services, Teyma, and Abacus Project Management. Financial difficulties In January 2015, Abengoa announced it had raised $328 million from selling shares at its US division following further purchases of their stock from banks underwriting the offer. In November 25, 2015 Abengoa started insolvency proceedings which could lead to Spain's largest bankruptcy on record, after a Gonvarri said it would not inject 350 million euros into the engineering and renewables company. In a 2016 effort to avoid bankruptcy, Abengoa is seeking to reduce its size by 30 percent by selling subsidiaries. On February 15, 2016, a Nebraska grain dealer filed a petition to force Abengoa Bioenergy into bankruptcy so as to recover moneys owed to them for past corn deliveries. On March 29, 2016, Abengoa filed for bankruptcy in the United States. Competitors CIE Automotive´s subsidiary Bionor (biodiesel) Ence Ferrostaal See also Concentrating solar power PS10 solar power tower PS20 solar power tower Solana solar power plant Telvent
Ricardian contract	[ "Financial cryptography", "Cryptocurrencies", "Financial technology", "Decentralization" ]	946	8,175	The Ricardian contract (or Riccy), as invented by Ian Grigg in 1996, is a method of recording a document as a contract at law, and linking it securely to other systems, such as accounting, for the contract as an issuance of value. It is robust through use of identification by cryptographic hash function, transparent through use of readable text for legal prose and efficient through markup language to extract essential information. A Ricardian contract places the defining elements of a legal agreement in a format that can be expressed and executed in software. The method arises out of the work of Ian Grigg completed in the mid-1990s in contributions to Ricardo, a system of assets transfers that was built in 1995-1996 by Systemics and included the pattern. Diagram The Ricardian contract separates the agreement of parties across time and domain. On the left of the "Bowtie" representation, the negotiation and formation of a legally binding contract leads to a single parent document that defines all of the intent of that agreement. On the right, the performance of that agreement might involve many transactions to be accounted for, logically separated from the meaning of the issue. The join between the legal world and the accounting world is formed by the hash — each transaction locks in the terms and conditions of the precise deal of the parties by including the hash of the contract in every relevant transaction record, yet the operation of the transactions and the issuance of the contract are cleanly separated and thus perverse incentives are eliminated. Legal relationship The role of the Ricardian contract is to capture the contractual relationship between contracting parties to assist later performance of that contract by programs. In its contractual form, it is the recording of an offer from an issuer to a holder. The offer is signed digitally within the format by the offerer, typically using a plaintext digital signature such as provided by OpenPGP. The acceptance of the contract is typically formed by signing/agreeing to a transaction that refers to the hash of that contract. Within the context of a high-performance payment system, a secure payment will cite the hash of the contract of the instrument being paid, as well as paying and payee parties and a quantity of units. In a smart contracts system, the acceptance would be performed by operating the contract's code to move the state of the agreement forward. Relationship to smart contracts Smart contracts, as defined in the work of Nick Szabo are an abstract concept relating to the automated performance of an already agreed contract, whereas the Ricardian contract is a design pattern to capture the intent of the agreement of the parties, before its performance. By means of hashes within as references or links to external documents, above, the Ricardian contract form easily extends to refer to code. The explicit referral to the code can pass legitimacy from overarching legal prose to the code, thus implementing the concept of the smart contract. Refactoring to describe blockchains and to integrate references to smart contract logic created a hybrid version of the Ricardian contract. This form proposes a tuple of {prose, parameters, code} where the parameters can particularise or specialise the legal prose and the computer code in order to create a single deal out of a template or library of components. Also known as a Ricardian triple, it can describe blockchains, smart contracts, IoT devices and persons. See Also Digital Signature Electronic Signature DocuSign References
Internal Revenue Code section 212	[ "Internal Revenue Code", "Taxation in the United States", "Investment in the United States" ]	329	2,315	Internal Revenue Code § 212 () provides a deduction, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, for expenses incurred in investment activities. Taxpayers are allowed to deduct all the ordinary and necessary expenses paid or incurred during the taxable year-- (1) for the production or collection of income; (2) for the management, conservation, or maintenance of property held for the production of income; or (3) in connection with the determination, collection, or refund of any tax. Section 23(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939, the predecessor to section 212 of the current Internal Revenue Code of 1986, was enacted as part of the Revenue Act of 1942, effective retroactively for tax years that began after December 31, 1938, in the wake of the United States Supreme Court decision in the case of Higgins v. Commissioner. In Higgins, the taxpayer attempted to deduct expenses for the years 1932 and 1933 related to his investment efforts, which the U.S. Supreme Court held were rightly disallowed, under the tax statute as applicable to those years, by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (now known as the Internal Revenue Service). The Bureau contended, and the Court ruled, that investment efforts were not deductible as part of a "trade or business." The United States Congress responded by enacting section 23(a)(2) of the 1939 Code. Congress did not grant investment activities the status of "trade or business" expenses, but instead acknowledged that since investment expenses were costs of producing income, they should be deductible. Section 212(3) may allow for the deduction of accountant's fees associated with preparation of a federal income tax return. 0212
Taylor Swift	[ "Taylor Swift", "1989 births", "Living people", "21st-century American actresses", "21st-century American philanthropists", "21st-century American songwriters", "21st-century American women guitarists", "21st-century American women pianists", "21st-century American women singers", "21st-century American women philanthropists", "Actresses from Nashville, Tennessee", "Actresses from Pennsylvania", "American acoustic guitarists", "American billionaires", "American country banjoists", "American country guitarists", "American country pianists", "American country record producers", "American country singer-songwriters", "American film actresses", "American folk guitarists", "American folk musicians", "American folk singers", "American mezzo-sopranos", "21st-century American multi-instrumentalists", "American music video directors", "American people of English descent", "American people of German descent", "American people of Italian descent", "American people of Scottish descent", "American pop guitarists", "American pop pianists", "American synth-pop singers", "American television actresses", "American voice actresses", "American women company founders", "American women country singers", "American women pop singers", "American women record producers", "American women rock singers", "American women singer-songwriters", "American women songwriters", "Baldi family", "Big Machine Records artists", "Brit Award winners", "Christians from Tennessee", "Country musicians from Pennsylvania", "Country musicians from Tennessee", "Country pop musicians", "Featured articles", "Female billionaires", "Female music video directors", "American feminist musicians", "Film directors from Pennsylvania", "Film directors from Tennessee", "Grammy Award winners", "Guitarists from Pennsylvania", "Guitarists from Tennessee", "MTV Europe Music Award winners", "MTV Video Music Award winners", "NME Awards winners", "Musicians from Bucks County, Pennsylvania", "Philanthropists from Pennsylvania", "Philanthropists from Tennessee", "Primetime Emmy Award winners", "RCA Records artists", "Record producers from Pennsylvania", "Record producers from Tennessee", "Republic Records artists", "Singer-songwriters from Pennsylvania", "Singer-songwriters from Tennessee", "Singers from Nashville, Tennessee", "Sony Music Publishing artists", "American Music Awards winners", "Time Person of the Year" ]	24,892	317,050	Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and cultural impact, Swift is one of the best-selling music artists, the highest-grossing touring musician, and the wealthiest female musician—the first billionaire with music as the main income. Swift signed to Big Machine Records in 2005, debuting as a country singer with the albums Taylor Swift (2006) and Fearless (2008). The singles "Teardrops on My Guitar", "Love Story", and "You Belong with Me" found crossover success on country and pop radio formats. She incorporated rock on Speak Now (2010) and electronic on Red (2012), later re-calibrating her image from country to pop with the synth-pop set 1989 (2014); the ensuing media scrutiny inspired the hip-hop-imbued Reputation (2017). The albums contained the Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", "Bad Blood", and "Look What You Made Me Do". Shifting to Republic Records in 2018, Swift released the electropop album Lover (2019) and contested with Big Machine for masters, re-recording four albums as Taylor's Version. She explored indie folk styles in the 2020 surprise albums Folklore and Evermore, and experimented with pop subgenres on Midnights (2022) and the double album The Tortured Poets Department (2024). Throughout the 2020s, Swift garnered the number-one songs "Cardigan", "Willow", "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)", "Anti-Hero", "Cruel Summer", "Is It Over Now?", and "Fortnight". In the US, a record seven Swift albums have sold one million copies first-week each. She has undertaken six concert tours, including the Eras Tour (2023–2024), the highest-grossing tour of all time. Her films include Miss Americana (2020), All Too Well: The Short Film (2021), and The Eras Tour (2023)—the highest-grossing concert film. Swift is a subject of extensive media coverage and has a global fanbase called Swifties. Publications such as Rolling Stone and Billboard have listed her amongst history's greatest artists; she is the only individual from the arts to have been named the Time Person of the Year (2023). Among other accolades, Swift has received 14 Grammy Awards (including a record four Album of the Year wins), a record five IFPI Global Recording Artist of the Year awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a string of Guinness World Records. She is the most-awarded artist of the American Music Awards (40), the Billboard Music Awards (49), and the MTV Video Music Awards (30). Life and career Early life Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in West Reading, Pennsylvania. She is named after the singer-songwriter James Taylor; her parents chose a unisex name with hopes of her becoming successful in business. Her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, was a stockbroker for Merrill Lynch, and her mother, Andrea Gardner Swift (), worked as a mutual fund marketing executive. Swift's younger brother, Austin, is an actor. The siblings are of Scottish, English, and German descent, with distant Italian and Irish ancestry. Their maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay (), was an opera singer, whose singing in church became one of Swift's earliest memories of music. During childhood, Swift spent her holiday seasons on a Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania, and summers at her family's vacation home in Stone Harbor, New Jersey, where she occasionally performed acoustic songs at a local coffee shop. Raised Christian, she attended preschool and kindergarten at a Montessori school run by the Bernardine Sisters of St. Francis before transferring to the Wyndcroft School in Pottstown. When her family moved to Wyomissing, she attended Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School. At age nine, she aspired to a career in musical theater, performing at local festivals and in Berks Youth Theatre Academy productions, and traveling regularly to New York City for vocal and acting lessons. After watching a documentary about Faith Hill, she changed her goal and became determined to pursue a country music career in Nashville, Tennessee. At 11, Swift traveled to Nashville with her mother to visit record labels and submit demo tapes of Dolly Parton and Dixie Chicks karaoke covers. She was rejected by all the labels, which led her to focus on songwriting. She started learning the guitar at 12 with the help of a computer repairman and local musician who assisted Swift with writing an original song. In 2003, she and her parents started working with the talent manager Dan Dymtrow. With his help, Swift modeled for Abercrombie & Fitch, had an original song included on a Maybelline compilation CD, and was given an artist development deal from RCA Records at 13. To help Swift break into the country music scene, her father transferred to Merrill Lynch's Nashville office when she was 14 years old, and the family relocated to Hendersonville, Tennessee. Swift attended Hendersonville High School for two years before transferring to Aaron Academy, which offered homeschooling. 2004–2008: Career beginnings and first album Swift signed to Sony/ATV Tree Music Publishing in 2004; at 14, she became the youngest signee in the publishing company's history. In Nashville, she worked with experienced Music Row songwriters, including Liz Rose. Rose and Swift would write songs every Tuesday afternoon after school. After one year on the development deal, she left RCA Records, who decided to keep her in development until she turned 18. Swift decided so because she wanted to release the songs immediately, to make sure that they still resonated with her teenage experiences. Swift organized a showcase concert at Bluebird Cafe on November 3, 2004; among the attendees were Scott Borchetta, a music executive who was planning to establish an independent record label, Big Machine Records. She signed a recording contract with Big Machine two weeks after the concert, on the condition that her albums would be written by herself; her father purchased a three-percent stake in the company. The contract finalized by July 2005, when Swift ended the working relationship with Dymtrow. She spent four months near the end of 2005 to record her debut album, Taylor Swift, with the producer Nathan Chapman. Swift's debut single, "Tim McGraw", was released in June 2006. She and her mother spent mid-2006 sending promotional copies of the song to country radio stations across the US. Taylor Swift was released on October 24, 2006. On the US Billboard 200 chart, the album peaked at number five and spent 157 weeks—the longest chart run by album in the 2000s decade. With Taylor Swift, she became the first female country music artist to write or co-write every track on a platinum-certified debut album. The album was promoted by a six-month radio tour and Swift's opening for other country artists including Rascal Flatts in 2006, and George Strait, Brad Paisley, and Tim McGraw and Faith Hill in 2007. She opened for Rascal Flatts again in 2008, when she dated the singer Joe Jonas. Taylor Swift was supported by four more singles in 2007 and 2008: "Teardrops on My Guitar", "Our Song", "Picture to Burn", and "Should've Said No". "Our Song" and "Should've Said No" reached number one on the Hot Country Songs chart; with the former single, Swift became the youngest person to single-handedly write and sing a number-one country single. "Teardrops on My Guitar" was Swift's breakthrough single on mainstream radio and charts, reaching the top 10 of the Pop Songs, Adult Pop Songs, and Adult Contemporary charts. Her next releases were the Christmas extended play (EP) The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection in October 2007, and the Walmart-exclusive EP Beautiful Eyes in July 2008. Swift became the youngest person to be awarded with Nashville Songwriters Association's Songwriter/Artist of the Year, in 2007. At the 50th Annual Grammy Awards in 2008, she was nominated for Best New Artist. 2008–2010: Fearless Swift's second studio album, Fearless, was released on November 11, 2008, in North America, and in March 2009 in other markets. Fearless spent 11 weeks atop the Billboard 200, becoming her first chart topper and the longest-running number-one female country album; it was the best-selling album of 2009 in the US. The album's lead single, "Love Story", became the first country song to top the Pop Songs chart, and its third single, "You Belong with Me", was the first country song to top Billboard all-genre Radio Songs chart; both reached the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 chart and peaked atop the Hot Country Songs chart. Three other singles—"White Horse", "Fifteen", "Fearless"—all reached the top 10 of Hot Country Songs. In 2009, Swift opened for Keith Urban's tour and embarked on her first headlining tour, the Fearless Tour. Fearless became the most-awarded country album of all time. It won the three highest awards for a country album: Album of the Year by both the Country Music Association Awards and Academy of Country Music Awards in 2009, and Best Country Album by the Grammy Awards in 2010. At the Grammys, it also won Album of the Year, and "White Horse" won Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance. Also in 2009, Swift was named Artist of the Year by both the American Music Awards and Billboard, and Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association Awards, becoming the youngest person to win the honor. "You Belong with Me" won Best Female Video at the MTV Video Music Awards. Her acceptance speech was interrupted by the rapper Kanye West, an incident that became known as "Kanyegate" and turned into the subject of controversy and widespread media coverage. Swift collaborated with other musicians in 2009. She featured on "Half of My Heart" by John Mayer, with whom she was romantically linked later that year. She wrote "Best Days of Your Life" for Kellie Pickler, co-wrote and featured on Boys Like Girls' "Two Is Better Than One, and wrote and recorded "You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home" and "Crazier" for the soundtrack of Hannah Montana: The Movie, in which she had a cameo appearance. She had her acting debut in the 2010 rom-com Valentine's Day and wrote "Today Was a Fairytale" for its soundtrack. "Today Was a Fairytale" reached number one on the Canadian Hot 100. While shooting Valentine's Day in October 2009, Swift dated co-star Taylor Lautner. On television, she made her debut as a rebellious teenager in an CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode and hosted and performed as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live; she was the first host to write their own opening monologue. 2010–2014: Speak Now and Red Swift wrote her third studio album, Speak Now, entirely herself. Released on October 25, 2010, Speak Now expands on the country pop sound of Fearless and incorporates strong rock music influences. Speak Now debuted the US Billboard 200 with over one million first-week copies sold, registering the highest single-week tally for a female country artist. Five of its singles—"Mine", "Back to December", "Mean", "Sparks Fly", and "Ours"—charted in the top three of Hot Country Songs; "Sparks Fly" and "Ours" reached number one. "Mine" peaked at number three and was the highest-charting single on the Billboard Hot 100. Swift embarked on the Speak Now World Tour from February 2011 to March 2012. In 2011, Swift was honored as Woman of the Year by Billboard, Entertainer of the Year by both the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Country Music Association Awards, and Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards. She again won Entertainment of the Year by the Academy of Country Music Awards in 2012. At the 54th Annual Grammy Awards in 2012, "Mean" won Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance. After Speak Now release, Swift dated the actor Jake Gyllenhaal. On October 22, 2012, Swift released her fourth studio album, Red, which featured collaborations with Chapman and new producers including Max Martin, Shellback, Dan Wilson, Jeff Bhasker, Dann Huff, and Butch Walker. Conceived as a record that expanded beyond Swift's country pop releases, Red incorporates eclectic styles of pop and rock such as Britrock, dubstep, and dance-pop, leading to a critical debate over Swift's status as a country musician. The album opened at number one on the Billboard 200 with 1.21 million sales, becoming the fastest-selling country album in US history. It was Swift's first number-one album in the UK. During promotion of Red, Swift was romantically involved with the political heir Conor Kennedy, and subsequently the singer Harry Styles. Two most successful singles from Red, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "I Knew You Were Trouble", peaked at numbers one and two on the Billboard Hot 100; both of them also reached the top five on the UK singles chart, and the former was Swift's first chart topper in the US. Two other singles, "Begin Again" and "Red", peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100; while two others, "Everything Has Changed" and "22", reached the top 10 on the UK singles chart. The Red Tour ran from March 2013 to June 2014 and became the highest-grossing country tour with revenue of $150.2 million upon completion. Swift was named Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards in 2013. In 2014, Swift was honored with the Pinnacle Award at the Country Music Association Awards, becoming the second recipient in history after Garth Brooks. Swift wrote and recorded two songs for the soundtrack album to the 2012 dystopian film The Hunger Games: "Eyes Open" and "Safe & Sound". The latter, which was co-written with the Civil Wars and T-Bone Burnett, won the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media in 2013. She wrote and recorded "Sweeter than Fiction" for the soundtrack to the 2013 biographical film One Chance, and featured as a guest vocalist on B.o.B's 2012 single "Both of Us" and Tim McGraw's 2013 single "Highway Don't Care". Her acting roles included a voice acting role in the 2012 animated film The Lorax, a cameo in a 2013 episode of the sitcom New Girl, and a supporting role in the 2014 dystopian film The Giver. 2014–2018: 1989 and Reputation Swift relocated from Nashville to New York City in March 2014 and transformed her image from country to pop with her fifth studio album, 1989. She produced 1989 with Martin, Shellback, Chapman, and new collaborators Jack Antonoff, Imogen Heap, Ryan Tedder, and Ali Payami. Rooted in 1980s synth-pop, 1989 incorporates upbeat dance and electronic arrangements of synthesizers, drum machines, and processed vocals. Released on October 27, 2014, the album spent 11 weeks at number one and one year in the top 10 of the Billboard 200. It has sold 14 million copies worldwide, becoming Swift's best-selling album. Three of 1989 singles—"Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood"—reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100; the first two made Swift the first woman to replace herself at the top spot. Two other singles—"Style" and "Wildest Dreams"—peaked at numbers six and five, making 1989 the first album by Swift to have five consecutive top-10 singles on the Hot 100. The 1989 World Tour was the highest-grossing tour of 2015 with $250 million in revenue. She was named Billboards Woman of the Year and received the inaugural Dick Clark Award for Excellence at the American Music Awards in 2014, and "Bad Blood" won Video of the Year and Best Collaboration at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards. At the 58th Annual Grammy Awards in 2016, 1989 made Swift the first woman to win Album of the Year twice; it also won Best Pop Vocal Album, and "Bad Blood" won Best Music Video. During promotion of 1989, Swift publicly opposed to free music streaming services. She published an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal in July 2014 to stress the importance of albums as a creative medium for artists, and, in November, removed her discography from ad-supported, free streaming platforms such as Spotify. Big Machine kept her music only on paid, subscription-required platforms. In a June 2015 open letter, Swift criticized Apple Music for not offering royalties to artists during its free three-month trial period and threatened to withdraw her music from the platform, which prompted Apple Inc. to announce that it would pay artists during the free trial period. Big Machine returned Swift's catalog to Spotify and other free streaming platforms in June 2017. Swift dated the DJ Calvin Harris from March 2015 to June 2016. They co-wrote the EMD single "This Is What You Came For", which featured vocals from Rihanna; Swift was initially credited under the pseudonym Nils Sjöberg. "Better Man", the 2016 single which Swift wrote for the country vocal group Little Big Town, won the Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year. She recorded "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" with Zayn Malik for the soundtrack to the 2017 film Fifty Shades Darker; the song became the highest-charting single from the Fifty Shades franchise on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number two. In April 2016, Kanye West released the single "Famous", in which he references Swift in the line, "I made that bitch famous." Swift criticized West and said she never consented to the lyric, but West claimed that he had received her approval, and his then-wife Kim Kardashian released video clips of Swift and West discussing the song amicably over the phone. Although the clips were proved to be purposefully edited, the controversy made Swift a subject of an online "cancel" movement, where her critics denounced her as a fake and calculating "snake". In late 2016, after briefly dating the actor Tom Hiddleston, Swift began a six-year relationship with the actor Joe Alwyn and underwent a hiatus. In August 2017, Swift countersued and won a case against David Mueller, a former radio jockey for KYGO-FM, who sued her for damages from loss of employment. Four years earlier, she informed Mueller's seniors that he had sexually assaulted her by groping her at an event. The public controversies influenced Swift's sixth studio album, Reputation, which explores themes of fame, drama, and finding love amidst the tumultuous affairs. A primarily electropop album, its maximalist production experiments with urban styles of hip-hop and R&B. Released on November 10, 2017, Reputation opened atop the Billboard 200 with 1.21 million US sales and also reached number one in Australia, Canada, and the UK. Reputation lead single, "Look What You Made Me Do", topped the Billboard Hot 100 with the highest sales and streaming week of 2017, and was Swift's first UK number-one single. The singles "...Ready for It?", "End Game", and "Delicate" were released to pop radio; all of which reached the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2018, Swift featured on Sugarland's "Babe", surpassed Whitney Houston as the most-awarded female musician at the American Music Awards, and embarked on the Reputation Stadium Tour, which grossed $345.7 million worldwide. 2018–2021: Lover, Folklore, and Evermore In November 2018, Swift signed a record deal with Universal Music Group, which promoted her albums under Republic Records' imprint. The contract included a provision for Swift to maintain ownership of her masters. In addition, in the event that Universal sold any part of its stake in Spotify, it agreed to distribute a non-recoupable portion of the proceeds among its artists. Swift's first album with Republic Records and seventh overall, Lover, was released on August 23, 2019. She produced the album with Antonoff, Louis Bell, Frank Dukes, and Joel Little. Lover peaked atop the charts of such countries as Australia, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, the UK, and the US, and was the global best-selling album by a solo artist of 2019. Three of its singles—"Me!", "You Need to Calm Down", and "Lover"—were released in 2019 and peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. "The Man" was released in 2020 and reached the top 30, and "Cruel Summer" became a resurgent success in 2023, reaching number one. In 2019, Swift was honored as Artist of the Decade by the American Music Awards and Woman of the Decade by Billboard, and became the first female artist to win Video of the Year for a self-directed video with "You Need to Calm Down" at the MTV Video Music Awards. During promotion of Lover, Swift became embroiled in a public dispute with the talent manager Scooter Braun after he purchased Big Machine Records, including the masters of her albums under the label. Swift said that Big Machine would allow her to acquire the masters only if she exchanged one new album for each older one under a new contract, which she refused to sign. In November 2020, Swift began re-recording her back catalog, which would enable her to control the licensing of her songs for commercial use. In February 2020, Swift signed a global publishing deal with Universal Music Publishing Group after her 16-year contract with Sony/ATV expired. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Swift surprise-released two "sister albums" that she recorded and produced with Antonoff and Aaron Dessner: Folklore on July 24, and Evermore on December 11. Joe Alwyn co-wrote and co-produced several songs under the pseudonym William Bowery. Both albums incorporate muted, atmospheric indie folk and indie rock sounds with orchestrations; each was supported by three singles catering to US pop, country, and triple A radio formats. The singles were "Cardigan", "Betty", and "Exile" from Folklore, and "Willow", "No Body, No Crime", and "Coney Island" from Evermore. Folklore and "Cardigan" made Swift the first artist to debut a number-one album and a number-one song in the same week in the US; she achieved the feat again with Evermore and "Willow". Swift won Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards in 2020 and Album of the Year for Folklore at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2021, becoming the first woman to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year three times. She played Bombalurina in the film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats (2019), for which she co-wrote and recorded the original song "Beautiful Ghosts". The documentary Miss Americana, which chronicled parts of Swift's life and career, premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and received positive reviews. 2021–2023: Re-recordings and Midnights Swift released two re-recorded albums in 2021: Fearless (Taylor's Version) in April and Red (Taylor's Version) in November. Both peaked atop the Billboard 200, and the former was the first re-recorded album to do so. The latter helped Swift surpass Shania Twain as the female musician with the most weeks at number one on the Top Country Albums chart. The song "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" from Red (Taylor's Version) became the longest song in history to top the Billboard Hot 100. Swift's tenth studio album, Midnights, was released on October 21, 2022. The album features a minimalist electropop and synth-pop sound, with elements of hip-hop, R&B, and electronica. Midnights was Swift's fifth album to open atop the Billboard 200 chart with US first-week sales of one million. Its tracks, led by the single "Anti-Hero", made her the first artist to occupy the entire top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 the same week. The album peaked atop the charts of at least 14 other countries including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, and Sweden. Two other singles, "Lavender Haze" and "Karma", both peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2023, Swift released two re-recorded albums: Speak Now (Taylor's Version) in July and 1989 (Taylor's Version) in October. The former made Swift the woman with the most number-one albums (12) in Billboard 200 history, surpassing Barbra Streisand, and the latter was her sixth album to sell one million US first-week copies. The single "Is It Over Now?" from 1989 (Taylor's Version) peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Swift featured on Big Red Machine's "Renegade" and "Birch" (2021), Haim's "Gasoline" (2021), Ed Sheeran's "The Joker and the Queen" (2022), and the National's "The Alcott" (2023). She wrote and recorded "Carolina" for the soundtrack of the 2022 mystery film Where the Crawdads Sing, and had a supporting role in the 2022 period comedy film Amsterdam. In 2022, Swift won Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards and Video of the Year for All Too Well: The Short Film, her self-directed short film that accompanies "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" at the MTV Video Music Awards; All Too Well also won the Grammy Award for Best Music Video. The following year, she again won the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year with "Anti-Hero", became the first musician to rank at number one on Billboard year-end top artists list in three different decades (2009, 2015 and 2023), and had five out of the 10 best-selling albums of the year in the US, a record since Luminate began tracking US music sales in 1991. At the 67th Annual Grammy Awards in 2025, Midnights made Swift the first artist to win Album of the Year four times; it also won Best Pop Vocal Album. 2023–present: The Eras Tour and The Tortured Poets Department In March 2023, Swift embarked on the Eras Tour, which she conceived as a tribute to her entire discography. The tour spanned five continents through December 2024. It exerted a global cultural, economic, and political impact and culminated in an unprecedented height of popularity for Swift, resulting in a phenomenon that the media dubbed "Swiftmania". The Eras Tour became the highest-grossing tour in history, with $2 billion in revenue. Its concert film grossed $250 million to become the highest-grossing of its kind, and its photobook sold nearly a million copies in its first week in the US. During the run of the Eras Tour, there were controversies surrounding Ticketmaster's monopoly that led to political scrutiny in the US, venue mismanagement that lead to a death in Brazil, and Singapore's exclusivity deal that led to political tension in Southeast Asia. In July 2024, three children were killed in a stabbing attack at a Swift-themed workshop in Southport, England, leading to civil unrest in the UK. The following month, the Vienna concerts were canceled following the arrest of suspects who planned a terrorist attack. Swift's eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, was released on April 19, 2024. It became the first album to accumulate one billion streams on Spotify within one week and topped charts of various countries including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK. In the US, The Tortured Poets Department debuted atop the Billboard 200 with 2.6 million first-week units and stayed at number one for 17 weeks, becoming Swift's longest-running number-one album. The album was the global best-seller of 2024, with 5.6 million copies sold. Its songs, led by the single "Fortnight", made her the first artist to monopolize the top 14 of the Billboard Hot 100 the same week; the second single, "I Can Do It with a Broken Heart", peaked at number three. Swift began dating the football player Travis Kelce in 2023; their high-profile relationship resulted in their status as a supercouple. In January 2024, AI-generated pornographic images portraying Swift in a football context were posted to Twitter and spread to other social media platforms, spurring criticism and demands for legal reform. On May 30, 2025, Swift finalized the purchase of the masters to her first six original studio albums from Shamrock Holdings, who had acquired them from Scooter Braun in 2020. Artistry Musical styles With continuous musical reinventions, Swift was described as a musical "chameleon" by publications such as Time and the BBC. Her discography spans styles of pop, country, folk, and rock, with elements of R&B, hip-hop, and indie pop. She self-identified as a country musician with her first four studio albums, from Taylor Swift to Red. Her influences were female country artists of the 1990s such as Shania Twain, Faith Hill, LeAnn Rimes, the Dixie Chicks, and Keith Urban's country crossover sound with elements rock, pop, and blues. The albums feature a country pop sound defined by instruments such as six-string banjo, mandolin, fiddle, a slight twang in Swift's vocals, and pop-rock melodies; Speak Now draws on rock styles of the 1970s and 1980s such as pop rock, pop-punk, and arena rock. Some critics argued that country was an indicator of Swift's songwriting rather than musical style and accused her of causing mainstream country to stray away from its roots. After the critical debate around Red eclectic pop, rock, and electronic styles, Swift chose 1980s synth-pop as a defining sound of her recalibrated pop artistry and image, inspired by the music of Phil Collins, Annie Lennox, Peter Gabriel, and Madonna. 1989, the first album in this direction, incorporates electronic arrangements consisting of dense synthesizers and drum machines. Swift expanded on the electronic production on her next albums. Reputation consists of hip-hop, R&B, and EDM influences; maximalist arrangements of heavy bass and manipulated vocals; and an emphasis on rhythm. Lover incorporates eclectic sounds from country, pop-punk, and folk rock. Midnights and The Tortured Poets Department both have a minimalist synth-pop sound characterized by analog synthesizers, sustained bass notes, and simple drum machine patterns. When Swift embraced a pop identity, rockist critics regarded it as an erosion of her country songwriting authenticity, but others considered it necessary for her artistic evolution and defended her as a pioneer of poptimism. Her 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore, described by some critics as "alternative", explore indie folk and rock styles. They incorporate a subtle, stripped-back soundscape with orchestrations, muted synthesizers, and drum pads. Evermore experiments with varied song structures, asymmetric time signatures, and diverse instruments. Critics deemed the indie styles a mature representation of Swift's singer-songwriter status and credited her with popularizing "alternative" music, although there were disagreements on this description. Swift possesses a mezzo-soprano vocal range, but she mostly sings in her alto range. Reviews of her early country albums criticized her vocals as weak and strained compared to those of other female country singers. Defenders of Swift appreciated that she refrained from correcting her pitch with Auto-Tune and how she prioritized intimacy and emotionality to communicate the messages of her songs with her audience—a style that critics have described as conversational. According to the critic Ann Powers, this singing style is demonstrated through Swift's attention to detail to convey an exact feeling—"the subtle adjustment of words and phrases to suggest moods like doubt, hope, and intimacy". On Red and 1989, Swift's vocals are processed with electronic effects such as synthesizer tweaking, looping, and multitracking, to accompany the pop production. Her voice on Reputation and Midnights incorporates hip-hop and R&B influences that result in a near-rap delivery which emphasizes rhythm and cadence over melody. She uses her lower register vocals extensively in Folklore and both her lower and upper registers in Evermore; the musicologist Alyssa Barca described her timbre in the upper register as "breathy and bright" and the lower register as "full and dark". Reception of Swift's vocals has been more positive since the release of Folklore. The critic Amanda Petrusich commented in 2023 that her singing became richer with stronger clarity and tone, even in live performances. Rolling Stone ranked her 102nd on their 2023 list "200 Greatest Singers of All Time"; the magazine argued that her breathy timbre allows for a broad range of delivery and commented: "A decade ago, including her on this list would have been a controversial move, but recent releases like Folklore, Evermore, and Midnights officially settled the argument." For Powers, Swift's versatile vocals are a result of her evolving artistry, combining "subtle interpolations of hip-hop's cadences and country crooners' relaxed timbre". Songwriting Swift's fascination with songwriting began in her childhood; she credited her mother with igniting early interests by helping her prepare for class presentations, and would make up lyrics to Disney soundtrack songs once she had run out of words singing them. In her early career, her influences were the country musicians Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, and Dolly Parton; and the 1990s female singer-songwriters Melissa Etheridge, Sarah McLachlan, and Alanis Morissette. In later interviews, she listed Joni Mitchell and Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy as additional influences; and Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Emmylou Harris, and Kris Kristofferson as career role models for their evolving and consistent songwriting outputs. Swift considers herself a songwriter first and foremost. She divides her lyrics into three types: "quill lyrics", songs rooted in antiquated poeticism; "fountain pen lyrics", based on modern and vivid storylines; and "glitter gel pen lyrics", which are lively and frivolous. Using songwriting to cope with personal experiences, her songs are largely autobiographical and feature narratives that mostly revolve around love and romantic relationships. She would start writing by identifying an emotion she wanted to convey, and the story and melody would follow. Where Taylor Swift and Fearless are rooted in adolescent feelings and detail optimistic romance inspired by fairy tales, Speak Now reflects her young adulthood with newfound wisdom on real-life heartbreak. Red explores the tumult of an intense breakup, and 1989 reflects on failed relationships with a wistful perspective; both albums incorporate lyrics that hint at sex, reflecting her personal growth. Swift described Lover as a "love letter to love", inspired by her realization of "love that was very real". As her career progressed, Swift wrote about self-perception and confrontation against her critics, influenced by fame, sexism, and scrutiny on her personal life by the press. This was first exhibited in Speak Now, which set the precedent to the frantic media speculations on the subjects of Swift's songs, specifically concerning her dating history; Swift considers this practice sexist. Reputation both tackles the public controversies that tarnished her wholesome image and addresses a blossoming romance with intimacy and vulnerability; its extensive references to sex and alcohol set it apart from the youthful innocence that had informed Swift's past albums. The nocturnal ruminations addressed in Midnights encompass regrets and fantasies, informed by Swift's self-awareness of her fame. The Tortured Poets Department was conceived amidst her heightened fame brought by the Eras Tour and intensely publicized love life during 2023. It explores heartbreak and other themes to the extremes: erotic desires, forbidden love, and escaping from the public spotlight. On Folklore and Evermore, Swift was inspired by escapism and romanticism to explore fictional narratives, deviating from the autobiographical songwriting that had characterized her artistry. She imposed her emotions onto imagined characters and story arcs, inspired by authors and poets of romantic and modernist literature like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Robert Frost, William Wordsworth, and Emily Dickinson; the last of whom was a distant cousin of Swift. The characters of Folklore and Evermore construct their narratives based on fragments of memory, symbolizing the nature of folktales and oral traditions that pass through time. Swift considers her songwriting "confessional", and academics have connected her style to that of confessional poetry, in that her songs reference personal events and publicize internal feelings to her audience. Critical reception of her songwriting has been largely positive, and her melodic compositions have been highlighted for optimizing the verse-chorus form with memorable bridges. Several scholars have credited her with taking the confessional singer-songwriter tradition to new heights, and she has been variedly described by journalists as a "poet laureate"—of puberty, of romance, and of her generation. Some critics have dismissed her "confessional" style as material for tabloid gossip. Objection to the perceived poetic value of her songs, mostly from rockist critics, views her as a pop star using literary subtexts as a commercial ploy, with metaphors that are at times imprecise or self-indulgent. Scholars have attributed criticisms of Swift's songwriting to sexism. The musicologist Travis Stimeling argued that whereas Swift's autobiographical authenticity conforms to country and rock standards, her detractors, mostly male, consider her lyrical depictions of a young woman's experiences as trivial and unworthy of serious merit. According to the English-language academic Ryan Hibbett, this gendered criticism bars Swift from receiving full artistic credentials as does Bob Dylan, whose reliance on romantic themes and occasional literary imprecisions are not as harshly criticized. In the views of the literary critic Stephanie Burt, although Swift's writing is not poetry in its traditional sense, it is proficient at "placing inventive, evocative language into pop melodies designed to be sung". Performances and stage Swift's concerts are equipped with elaborate settings, incorporating elements from Broadway theatre and high tech. She does not rely on elaborate choreography and instead emphasizes on connecting emotionally with her audience through storytelling and vocal delivery. Since 2007, she has toured with the same live band. She plays four instruments live: guitar (including electric, acoustic six-string, and twelve-string), six-string banjo, piano, and ukulele. Critics have praised her stage presence, stamina, and ability to bring forth an intimate atmosphere for her audience even in stadium settings. Sasha Frere-Jones, in a 2008 article for The New Yorker, hailed her as a "preternaturally skilled" entertainer who exerted professionalism with a vibrant energy. In Time 2023 Person of the Year piece, Sam Lansky wrote: "Swift is many things onstage—vulnerable and triumphant, playful and sad—but the intimacy of her songcraft is front and center." Videos and filmmaking Swift emphasizes visuals as a key creative component of her music. She established her production company, Taylor Swift Productions, in 2008. Her directorial debut was the music video for "Mine", co-directed with Roman White, in 2010; and she developed the concept and treatment for "Mean" in 2011. For the music videos of the 1989 and Reputation singles, she had an extensive collaboration with the director Joseph Kahn on eight videos; among them, she produced "Bad Blood", which won Best Music Video at the Grammy Awards in 2016. She worked with American Express for the "Blank Space" music video (which Kahn directed) and served as executive producer for the interactive app AMEX Unstaged: Taylor Swift Experience, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Interactive Program in 2015. As of May 2025, Swift has directed 13 of her music videos. Her first solo directorial role was for "The Man", which made her the first female artist to win the MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction. All Too Well: The Short Film marked her filmmaking debut, and it made her the first artist to win the Grammy Award for Best Music Video as a solo director. In June 2023, Swift was invited to the Academy of Motion Pictures. She has cited Joseph Kahn, Chloé Zhao, Greta Gerwig, Nora Ephron, Guillermo del Toro, John Cassavetes, and Noah Baumbach as filmmaking influences. Swift has won 14 Grammy Awards (including four Album of the Year wins—the most by an artist), 12 Country Music Association Awards, 8 Academy of Country Music Awards, 2 Brit Awards, and an Emmy Award. She is the most-awarded artist of the American Music Awards (40 wins), Billboard Music Awards (49), and MTV Video Music Awards (30, tied with Beyoncé). She is the first woman honored with the Global Icon Award by the Brit Awards, in 2021. At the 64th BMI Pop Awards in 2016, Swift became the first female songwriter to be honored with an award named after its recipient, the Taylor Swift Award. She is the youngest person to be featured on Rolling Stone 2015 list "The 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time", received the Songwriter Icon Award from the National Music Publishers' Association in 2021, and was named the Songwriter-Artist of the Decade by the Nashville Songwriters Association International in 2022. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry honored her as the Global Recording Artist of the Year five times (2014, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024), more than any other artist. She is the most-streamed artist on Spotify as of February 2024, and the highest-grossing touring act of all time, with cumulative revenue at $3.12 billion as of December 2024. Her chart records include the most number-one albums in the UK and Ireland for a female artist in the 21st century; the first artist to occupy the top five of the Australian albums chart, doing so twice, and the top 10 of the Australian singles chart; the most entries, most simultaneous entries, and most number-one entries for a soloist on the Billboard Global 200; and the first artist to spend 100 weeks atop the Billboard Artist 100. In the US, Swift has sold 116.7 million album units, including 54 million pure sales, as of May 2025. She is the solo artist with the most weeks at number one on the Billboard 200; the female artist with the most number-one albums on the Billboard 200 (14) and most number-one debuts on the Billboard Hot 100 (7, tied with Ariana Grande); the artist with the most number-one songs on Pop Airplay; the first artist to chart five albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200; and the first woman to have both an album (Fearless) and a song ("Shake It Off") receive Diamond certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Billboard ranked her at number eight on its list "Greatest of All Time Artists" (2019), number two on "Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century" (2024), and number one on "Top 100 Women Artists of the 21st Century" and "Top Artists of the 21st Century" (both 2025). Swift has appeared in power listings. She topped Forbes list of the world's highest-paid musicians in 2016 and 2019. In 2024, she became the first solo artist, and second overall (after Beyoncé and Jay-Z), to top Billboard annual Power 100 ranking of the top music industry executives. Time included her on its annual list of the 100 most influential people in 2010, 2015, and 2019. She was one of the "Silence Breakers" that the magazine spotlighted as Person of the Year in 2017 for speaking up about sexual assault. In 2023, she became the first person to be recognized as Time Person of the Year for "achievement in the arts" and the first woman to appear on a Person of the Year cover more than once. She received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from New York University and served as its commencement speaker on May 18, 2022. Public image Swift is an enduring figure of 21st-century popular culture. Her career trajectory from a country singer-songwriter to a pop star in the 2000s and 2010s decades was the subject of extensive commentary. Deemed "America's Sweetheart" in her early career, she was described in the press as a "media darling" with a girl next door's polite demeanor and open-hearted conversations. Swift displayed a feminine image but refrained from the "aggressively sexualized feminist pop" of her contemporaries, leading publications to comment that her sex appeal was modest, subtle, and sophisticated. The adolescent themes of Swift's music contributed to her status as a teen idol, although several feminist authors took issue with her songs about romantic relationships as narrow-minded and detrimental to girls and women, who made up the majority of her fanbase known as Swifties. Upon recalibrating her artistry to pop music, Swift has identified as a feminist and achieved a pop icon status. The author Jody Rosen in 2013 labelled Swift the "Queen of Pop", citing her popularity that defied traditional boundaries between "genres, eras, demographics, paradigms, trends". Her feminist identity received contrarian views: there were praises that regarded her success in a male-dominated music industry as an inspiration for girls and women, and criticisms that dismissed her feminist adoption as superficial and self-interested. The 2016 dispute with Kanye West bolstered the narrative by her detractors that she was a calculating and manipulative woman despite her sweetheart image, and deepened their feud that has resonated in their respective careers. Since 2018, Swift has been vocal about her political views in support of gender equality and LGBTQ rights, abandoning her once apolitical stance. She attributed her previous reluctance to the Dixie Chicks controversy in 2003, which left a lasting impact on country musicians at large and female country musicians in particular. Her political engagements have been met with mixed reception: they have provoked further public discussions on political issues and empowered Swifties, but critics have questioned whether Swift's political alignments were strategic in her career. Her artistic reinventions in the 2020s decade turned her into an acclaimed singer-songwriter. Buoyed by her enduring pop stardom, she has been recognized as a rare phenomenon that combines the pop star and singer-songwriter archetypes with unprecedented success. Swift is one of the few artists who consistently sells millions of albums throughout two decades of artistic reinventions despite the industry decline of record sales after the album era had ended. In this regard, academics and journalists have described her as "the last pop superstar" and "the last true rock star" of the 21st century. Her commercial strategies to bolster sales of albums and concert tickets have earned her a reputation as a savvy businesswoman. The economist Alan Krueger described Swift as an "economic genius". Strategies such as enhanced material for physical album variants and Easter eggs usage in her works became indicative of music marketing trends. Swift's success in country music has been credited with popularizing country beyond the US and introducing the genre to adolescent women, a previously ignored demographic. The critic Kelefa Sanneh dubbed Swift the biggest country star since Garth Brooks "and maybe since before him, too". Her guitar performances resulted in increasing sales of guitar to women, which the media dubbed the "Taylor Swift factor", her transition from country to pop has been credited as the catalyst for poptimism, and her songwriting and musical transitions have been credited with influencing a new generation of artists. According to Billboard, Swift is one of the few artists who could achieve chart success, critical acclaim, and fan support all the same, and she has the ability to popularize any sound in mainstream music. Swift's enduring popularity, particularly to female audiences, contributed to her status as a representation of millennials, or more broadly, her generation's zeitgeist. Her fandom Swifties has been described by journalists and academics as one of the most loyal and dedicated. In the views of Time's Cady Lang, Swift maintained her superstardom by her "savvy manipulation of both the industry and [her] personal brand". According to the popular-culture scholars Mary Fogarty and Gina Arnold, Swift is arguably the singular artist "whose story encapsulates many of the urgent conflicts in early twenty-first-century American culture". In a 2024 article for The New York Times, Joe Coscarelli wrote that Swift's lasting popularity provoked debates that compared her not only to contemporaries like Drake or Beyoncé, but also to veteran artists like the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Elton John, or Madonna. Swift's advocacy for artists' rights and re-recording projects have contributed to industry-wide discourses and reforms. Her artistry and career maneuvers have been the subject of various university courses in literary, cultural, and sociopolitical contexts. According to the popular culture scholars Sarai Brinker, Kate Galloway, and Elizabeth Scala, Swift's legacy has been both embraced and critiqued by different affiliations—feminist and queer communities, far-right groups, and religious organizations, and studied by experts in various fields—musicology, literature, sociology, media theory, linguistics, and culture studies. Wealth and other activities Swift became a billionaire in October 2023, becoming the world's first musician to achieve the status "solely based on her songs and performances". As of June 2025, Forbes estimates her net worth at $1.6 billion, making her the richest female musician in the world, and one of the wealthiest celebrities. Forbes had previously named her the annual top-earning female musician in 2016, 2019, 2021, and 2022. She was the highest-paid celebrity of 2016 with $170 million—a feat recognized by Guinness World Records as the highest annual earnings ever for a female musician, which she herself surpassed with $185 million in 2019. Overall, Swift was listed as the Forbes highest-paid female artist of the 2010s, earning $825 million. She has also developed a real estate portfolio worth $150 million as of 2023, with residential properties in Nashville, New York City, Los Angeles (Samuel Goldwyn Estate), and Rhode Island (High Watch). Swift's album rollouts normally consist of a variety of promotional activities that Rolling Stone termed as an inescapable "multimedia bonanza". Publications describe her discography as a music "universe" subject to analysis by fans, critics, and journalists. Her in-house management team is called 13 Management. Swift has endorsed many brands and businesses, having launched clothing lines with L.E.I. and Stella McCartney, designed American Greetings cards and Jakks Pacific dolls, released a number of fragrances with Elizabeth Arden, and signed multi-year deals with AT&T and Capital One. She was a spokesperson for the National Hockey League's Nashville Predators and Sony Cyber-shot digital cameras, and became the global ambassador for New York City in 2014 and Record Store Day in 2022. Social activism Swift identifies as a pro-choice feminist, and is a founding signatory of the Time's Up movement against sexual harassment. Specifically, she criticized the US Supreme Court's decision to end federal abortion rights in 2022. Swift also advocates for LGBT rights, and has called for the passing of the Equality Act, which prohibits discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity. She performed during WorldPride NYC 2019 at the Stonewall Inn, a gay rights monument, and has donated to the LGBT organizations Tennessee Equality Project and GLAAD. A supporter of the March for Our Lives movement and gun control reform in the US, Swift is a vocal critic of white supremacy, racism, and police brutality. Following the George Floyd protests, she donated to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Black Lives Matter movement, called for the removal of Confederate monuments in Tennessee, and advocated for Juneteenth to become a national holiday. She has openly criticized president Donald Trump. In 2020, Swift urged her fans to check their voter registration ahead of elections, which resulted in 65,000 people registering to vote within one day of her post, and endorsed Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the 2020 US presidential election. For the 2024 election, she endorsed Harris and Tim Walz. Swift's private jet use has drawn scrutiny for its carbon emissions. In 2023, a spokesperson for Swift stated that she had purchased more than double the required carbon credits to offset all tour travel and personal flights. In December 2023, Swift's lawyers sent a cease and desist letter to American programmer Jack Sweeney over tracking her private jet, alleging stalking and safety risks. Media outlets have reported that the information posted by Sweeney is a synthesis of publicly available data. In February 2024, it was reported that Swift had sold one of her two private jets. Philanthropy Swift ranked first on DoSomething's 2015 "Gone Good" list, having received the Star of Compassion from the Tennessee Disaster Services and the Big Help Award from the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards for her "dedication to helping others" and "inspiring others through action". Especially early in her career, Swift donated to various relief funds following natural disasters. In 2009, she donated $100,000 to the Red Cross to help the victims of the Iowa flood of 2008. The same year, she performed at Sydney's Sound Relief concert, which raised money for those impacted by bushfires and flooding. In 2011, Swift used a dress rehearsal of her Speak Now tour as a benefit concert for victims of recent tornadoes in the US, raising more than $750,000. In response to the May 2010 Tennessee floods, she donated $500,000. In 2009, Swift sang at BBC's Children in Need concert and raised £13,000 for the cause. In 2016, she donated $1 million to Louisiana flood relief efforts and $100,000 to the Dolly Parton Fire Fund. Swift donated to food banks after Hurricane Harvey struck Houston in 2017. Swift donated $1 million for Tennessee tornado relief in 2020 and again in 2023, as well as $5 million toward the reliefs efforts after Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton in 2024. Swift has also donated to cancer research. As recipient of the Academy of Country Music's Entertainer of the Year in 2011, Swift donated $25,000 to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Tennessee. In 2012, she participated in the Stand Up to Cancer telethon, performing the charity single "Ronan", which she wrote in memory of a four-year-old boy who died of neuroblastoma. She has also donated $100,000 to the V Foundation for Cancer Research and $50,000 to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She has made donations to her fans several times for their medical or academic expenses. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Swift donated to the World Health Organization and Feeding America and supported independent record stores. Swift performed "Soon You'll Get Better" on the One World: Together At Home television special, a benefit concert curated by Lady Gaga for Global Citizen to raise funds for the World Health Organization's COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. She is a supporter of the arts. A benefactor of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Swift has donated $75,000 to Nashville's Hendersonville High School to help refurbish the school auditorium, $4 million to build a new education center at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, and $100,000 to the Nashville Symphony. In 2012, Swift partnered with Chegg for Good to donate $10,000 to the music departments of six US colleges. She has also provided one-off donations. In 2007, she partnered with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police to launch a campaign to protect children from online predators. She has donated items to several charities for auction, including the UNICEF Tap Project and MusiCares. Swift has also encouraged young people to volunteer in their local communities as part of Global Youth Service Day. Also a promoter of children's literacy, she has donated money and books to schools around the country. In 2018 and 2021, Swift donated to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. Swift donated to fellow singer-songwriter Kesha to help with her legal battles against Dr. Luke and to actress Mariska Hargitay's Joyful Heart Foundation. During the Eras Tour, Swift donated to food banks in Florida, Arizona, and Las Vegas; she also employed local businesses throughout the tour and gave $197 million in bonus payments to her entire crew. In February 2024, she donated $100,000 to the family of a woman who died in a shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl parade. In December 2024, a week before Christmas, Swift donated $250,000 to Operation Breakthrough. The funds were directed to workforce development, childcare, and early learning programs. Studio albums Taylor Swift (2006) Fearless (2008) Speak Now (2010) Red (2012) 1989 (2014) Reputation (2017) Lover (2019) Folklore (2020) Evermore (2020) Midnights (2022) The Tortured Poets Department (2024) Re-recorded albums Fearless (Taylor's Version) (2021) Red (Taylor's Version) (2021) Speak Now (Taylor's Version) (2023) 1989 (Taylor's Version) (2023) Films Valentine's Day (2010) The Lorax (2012) The Giver (2014) Cats (2019) All Too Well: The Short Film (2021) Amsterdam (2022) Documentaries Miss Americana (2020) Taylor Swift: City of Lover (2020) Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions (2020) Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (2023) Fearless Tour (2009–2010) Speak Now World Tour (2011–2012) The Red Tour (2013–2014) The 1989 World Tour (2015) Reputation Stadium Tour (2018) The Eras Tour (2023–2024) See also List of American Grammy Award winners and nominees List of highest-certified music artists in the United States Cited literature
Adekunle Ojora	[ "20th-century Nigerian businesspeople", "1932 births", "Alumni of the Regent Street Polytechnic", "BBC people", "Businesspeople from Lagos", "Living people", "Nigerian journalists", "Ojora family", "Yoruba businesspeople", "Yoruba journalists", "Nigerian chairpersons of corporations" ]	483	3,870	Chief Adekunle Ojora (born 1932) is a Nigerian business executive who was chairman of the board of AGIP Nigeria Limited from 1971 until it was acquired by Unipetrol in 2002. He began a career as a journalist with BBC in the early 1950s, in 1962 he became an executive of UAC and in the 1970s, he began to invest in a number of foreign firms in Nigeria. Life Ojora is a member of the Ojora and Adele royal families of Lagos and is himself the holder of the chieftaincy of the Otunba of Lagos. He studied journalism at Regent Street Polytechnic, with the intention of developing a career in journalism. He started work as a staff of BBC where he rose to become an assistant editor. In 1955, he switched his services to the Nigerian government as a reporter with the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation. He was soon transferred to Ibadan as an information officer in the office of the regional premier. Ojora's stint with NBC lasted until 1961 when he took up appointment as the public relations manager at United African Company. Ojora soon developed interest in the commercial units of enterprises, he became an executive director of UAC in 1962. After a military coup truncated the first republic, Ojora was nominated as a member of Lagos City Council in 1966. A year later, he was given political appointments in two government agencies, in 1967, he was managing director of WEMABOD, a regional property and investment company and also in 1967, he succeeded Kola Balogun as chairman of Nigerian National Shipping Line. After leaving WEMABOD, he became an investor in various firms including AGIP petroleum marketing and NCR Nigeria. He also founded the private firms Nigerlink Industries, Unital Builders and a holding company Lagos Investments. After the Nigerian Enterprise Promotion Act, he took equity interest in some foreign companies operating in Nigeria such as investments in the Nigerian operations of Bowring Group, Inchape, Schlumberger, Phoenix Assurance, UTC Nigeria, Evans Brothers and Seven-Up. He is married to Erelu Ojuolape and their daughter is Toyin Saraki.
Tajikistani somoni	[ "Currencies introduced in 2000", "Economy of Tajikistan", "2000 establishments in Tajikistan", "Currencies of Asia", "Circulating currencies" ]	1,745	16,024	The somoni (ISO 4217 code: TJS, SM) is the currency of Tajikistan. It is subdivided into 100 dirams. History The somoni was introduced on 30 October 2000, replacing the rouble, at the rate of SM 1 = 1,000 Rbls. One somoni is divided into 100 dirams. Diram banknotes were first introduced on 30 October 2000, and coins were later introduced in 2001 with the intention of creating a more efficient monetary system and gradually replacing the diram notes. This was also the first time circulating coins were used in Tajikistan since independence in 1991. Coins Circulation coins, first issued in 2001, were struck in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 25, and 50 dirams composed of brass-clad steel and SM 1, SM 3, and SM 5 struck in nickel-clad steel. Bimetallic SM 3 and SM 5 coins were first released in 2003. The reverses of all somoni coins are changed annually and commemorate various events. A second issue dated 2011 was issued in June 2012, and included 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 dirams and SM 1. A third series of somoni coins was issued in 2018 in denominations of SM 1, SM 3 and SM 5. Tajikistan coins are struck by Goznak at the Saint Petersburg Mint in Russia. The First Series Image Value Technical parameters Description Date of minting Reverse Obverse Diameter Thickness Mass Composition Edge Obverse Reverse 5 dirams 16.5 mm 1.35 mm 2 g brass-clad steelPlain Tajik 7-star crown, "ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон", year of minting Value 2001 10 dirams 17.5 mm 1.4 mm 2.4 g 20 dirams 18.5 mm 1.4 mm 2.7 g 25 diram 19 mm 1.4 mm 2.76 g Brass 50 diram 21 mm 1.45 mm 3.6 g SM 1 24 mm 1.6 mm 5.2 g Reeded and plain sections Ismail Samani, "ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон", value,Value and the Tajik 7-star crown, year of minting 2001 SM 3 25.5 mm 1.8 mm 6.3 g Lettered Coat of arms, "ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон", value SM 5 26.5 mm 1.85 mm 7 g Reeded and plain sections with a star Abuabdullo Rudaki, "ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон", value, "Рӯдакӣ" Second series (2011) The Second Series Image Value Technical parameters Description Date of minting Reverse Obverse Diameter Thickness Mass Composition Edge Obverse Reverse 1 diram 14.5 mm 1.3 mm 1.3 g Brass-clad steel Plain Coat of arms, "ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон", year of minting Value 2011 2 diram 16 mm 1.4 mm 1.6 g 5 diram 18 mm 1.5 mm 2 g Copper-clad brass 10 diram 20.5 mm 1.7 mm 3 g 20 diram 23.5 mm 1.8 mm 4.5 g Corrugated 50 diram 26 mm 2 mm 5.5 g reeded SM 1 27 mm 1.6 mm 5.2 g Cupronickel-clad steel Third series (2018) A third series of somoni coins was issued in 2018 in denominations of SM 1, SM 3 and SM 5. The Third Series Image Value Technical parameters Description Date of minting Reverse Obverse Diameter Thickness Mass Composition Edge Obverse Reverse SM 1 24.5 mm 1.8 mm 5.8 g Nickel-brass Reeded Country name, Mirzo Tursunzoda Value and the year of minting 2018 SM 3 25.5 mm 6.3 g Plain with lettered inscription "СЕ СОМОНӢ" Country name, Shirinsho Shotemur SM 5 26.5 mm 1.85 mm 7.0 g Reeded Country name, Sadriddin Aynii Value and the Tajik 7-star crown, year of minting Banknotes Banknotes of 1, 5, 20, and 50 dirams, SM 1, SM 5, SM 10, SM 20, SM 50, and SM 100 were printed in 1999 and issued in 2000. Along with a SM 3 note in 2010, inflationary pressure since the introduction of the somoni resulted in the issuing of SM 200 and SM 500 somoni notes that year. The SM 5, SM 10, SM 20, SM 50, and SM 100 somoni notes were reissued in 2013, bearing the year 1999. In 2021, the National Bank of Tajikistan issued a SM 100 banknote, similar to the original issue, but now featuring an image of the Navruz Palace on the back side of the note, replacing the image of the Presidential Palace on the previous issues of the denomination. The Current Series Image Value Dimensions Main Colour Description Date of Obverse Reverse Obverse Reverse Watermark printing issue 1 diram 100 × 60 mm Brown Sadriddin Ayni Theatre and Opera House Pamir MountainsTwo mountains over rectangle 1999 2000 5 dirams Blue Arbob Cultural Palace Shrine of Mirzo Tursunzoda 20 dirams Green Meetings Hall of the National Bank of Tajikistan Mountain road 50 dirams Purple Ismoili Somoni Mountain valley SM 1 141 × 65 mm Green Mirzo Tursunzoda National Bank of TajikistanPortrait SM 3 Violet Shirinsho Shotemur Majlisi Oli 2010 2010 SM 5 144 × 65 mm Blue Sadriddin Ayni Shrine of Abuabdullo Rudaki 1999 20002010201320172018 SM 10 147 × 65 mm Red Mir Said Alii Hamadoni Tomb of Mir Said Alii Hamadoni SM 20 150 × 65 mm Yellow-brown Abuali ibn Sino Hissar Castle SM 50 153 × 65 mm Blue Bobojon Gafurov Chaikhana (teahouse) Sino SM 100 156 × 65 mm Brown Ismoili Somoni Presidential Palace SM 200 159 x 68 mm Brown and Yellow Nusratullo Maksum National Library building in Dushanbe 2010 20102018 SM 500 162 x 71 mm Purple and Gray Abuabdullo Rudaki Palace of Nations in Dushanbe See also Economy of Tajikistan References Notes
Louis DeNaples	[ "American bankers", "American businesspeople convicted of crimes", "American white-collar criminals", "Businesspeople from Pennsylvania", "Living people", "Bufalino crime family", "Year of birth missing (living people)" ]	620	5,346	Louis DeNaples is an American businessman, banker, and casino owner from Dunmore, Pennsylvania. He was the owner of Keystone Landfill Inc., DeNaples Auto Parts Inc. and chairman of the board of the First National Community Bancorp. In January 2008, DeNaples was charged with four counts of perjury related to his ties with the Bufalino crime family in his application for a Pennsylvania state gambling license. The charges were dropped in April 2009 after DeNaples agreed to turn over legal control of Mount Airy Casino resort to his family. Biography In 1978, DeNaples pleaded no contest to a conspiracy charge of defrauding the U.S. government of $525,000 in contracts related to the cleanup and recovery of the City of Scranton in the aftermath of Hurricane Agnes. Prosecutors claimed DeNaples plotted with three county employees to falsify records to obtain $525,000 in federal reimbursements. His trial ended in a hung jury with one holdout forcing an acquittal. He was fined $10,000 and was placed on probation for three years. In 1983, four people, including James Osticco, a Bufalino crime family underboss, were convicted in 1982 of jury tampering for bribing the holdout juror and her husband in DeNaples's trial. In 2001, as part of a federal gambling investigation, four informants made mention of a relationship between DeNaples and current leader of the Bufalino crime family William D'Elia. The informants alleged DeNaples made payments to D'Elia for undisclosed work and paid the crime boss protection money. In April 2012, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ordered DeNaples to resign as chairman of First National Community Bancorp and begin divesting himself of his controlling interest in the bank owing to his 2009 perjury charges, which were later dropped. On May 10, 2012, a three-judge panel denied his appeal and ordered his immediate resignation. In 2013, a federal appeals court unanimously reversed the ban, allowing DeNaples back on the board of First National Community Bank, and blasted regulators for abusing the law. From the Allentown Morning Call: "The 22-page decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia lambasted the federal regulators for 'bizarre,' 'untenable' and 'scatter-shot' enforcement of the law and faulted regulators for inconsistently applying the unclear and not properly framed or communicated rules." In 2015, DeNaples petitioned the Pennsylvania Gaming Board to allow his business to conduct business such as garbage collection and snow removal at the Mount Airy Casino, however the board voted against the proposal.
Khadija bint Khuwaylid	[ "Khadija bint Khuwaylid", "555 births", "619 deaths", "Wives of Muhammad", "6th-century women", "7th-century merchants", "Banu Asad (Quraysh)", "Medieval businesswomen", "Asian businesspeople", "People from Mecca", "Converts to Islam", "7th-century Arab people", "6th-century Arab people", "Muslim female saints", "Burials at Jannat al-Mu'alla", "7th-century women" ]	3,555	32,384	Khadija bint Khuwaylid (November 619) was the first wife of Muhammad. Born into an aristocratic clan of the Quraysh, she was an affluent merchant in her own right and was known to have a noble personality within her tribe. In his early 20s, she employed Muhammad to manage a trade caravan to Syria and, impressed by his skills, subsequently offered him marriage, which he accepted. The couple had two sons, Qasim and Abd Allah, and four daughters, Zaynab, Ruqayya, Umm Kulthum and Fatima. In the aftermath of Muhammad's first revelation, Khadija is credited to have been the first convert to Islam. She continued to support her husband throughout her life and died in November 619 (Ramadan BH 3); the year was reportedly termed the "Year of Sorrow" by Muhammad. Her remains are located at the al-Mu'alla in Mecca and attract many Muslims for . Honored by Muslims as one of the "Mother of the Believers", Khadija is considered as one of the four "ladies of heaven" alongside Fatima, Asiya, the wife of the Pharaoh, and Mary, mother of Jesus. According to Sunni Muslim tradition, Khadija had married thrice before Muhammad. Profession Khadija's mother, Fatima bint Za'idah, who died in 575, was a member of the Amir ibn Luayy clan of the Quraysh and a third cousin of Muhammad's mother, Amina. Khadija's father, Khuwaylid ibn Asad, was a merchant and leader. According to some accounts, he died in the Sacrilegious War, but according to others, he was still alive when Khadija married Muhammad in 595. Khuwaylid also had a sister named Ume Habib binte Asad. Khadija was a very successful merchant. It is said that when the Quraysh's trade caravan travellers gathered to embark upon their summer journey to Syria or winter journey to Yemen, Khadija's caravan equaled the caravans of all other traders of the Quraysh put together. Khadija was given many honorifics, including 'The Pious One', 'Princess of Quraysh' (Ameerat-Quraysh), and 'Khadija the Great' (Khadija al-Kubra). It is said that she fed and clothed the poor, assisted her relatives financially, and provided marriage portions for poor relations. Khadija was said to have neither believed in nor worshipped idols, which was atypical for pre-Islamic Arabian culture. Khadija did not travel with her trade caravans; instead, she employed others to trade on her behalf for a commission. Khadija needed a co-worker for a transaction in Syria. She hired young Muhammad, who was in his early twenties at that time, for the trade in Syria, sending word that she would pay to double her usual commission. With the permission of Abu Talib ibn Muttalib, his uncle, Muhammad was sent to Syria with one of Khadija's servants. This caravan experience earned Muhammad the honorifics of al-Sadiq ('the Truthful') and al-Amin ('the Trustworthy'). She sent one of her servants, Maysarah, to assist him. Upon returning, Maysarah gave accounts of the honourable way in which Muhammad had conducted his business, bringing back twice as much profit as Khadija had expected. Differing views on previous marriages Sunni version Most Sunnis accept that Khadija married three times and had children from all her marriages. While the order of her marriages is debated, it is generally believed that she first married Atiq ibn 'A'idh ibn' Abdullah Al-Makhzumi, followed by Malik ibn Nabash ibn Zargari ibn at-Tamimi. To Atiq, Khadija bore a daughter named Hindah. This marriage left Khadija a widow. With Malik, she had two sons, who were named Hala and Hind. Malik also left Khadija a widow, dying before his business became a success. Khadija subsequently proposed to Muhammad. Her respect for him had taken a place in her heart. Shia version Ibn Shahrashub quoted from al-Sayyid al-Murtada in al-Shafi and al-Shaykh al-Tusi in al-Talkhis, that Khadija was a virgin when she married Muhammad. Considering the cultural and intellectual situation in Hijaz, and the high position and status Khadija al-Kubra enjoyed, among other people, it is improbable that she would have married men from Banu Tamim or Banu Makhzum tribes (the two 'low'; see the Sunni version above). Some believe the two children attributed to Khadija were the children of Hala, Khadija's sister. After the death of Hala's husband, Khadija took care of Hala and (after Hala's own death) Hala's children. Marriage to Muhammad Khadija entrusted a friend named Nafisa to approach Muhammad and ask if he would consider marriage. When Muhammad hesitated because he had no money to support a wife, Nafisa asked if he would consider marriage to a woman who had the means to provide for herself. Muhammad agreed to meet with Khadija, and after this meeting they consulted their respective uncles. The uncles agreed to the marriage, and Muhammad's uncles accompanied him to make a formal proposal to Khadija. It is disputed whether it was Hamza ibn Abdul-Muttalib, Abu Talib, or both who accompanied Muhammad on this errand. Khadija's uncle accepted the proposal, and the marriage took place. At the time of the marriage Muhammad was around 22 to 25 years old. Khadija was 40 years old at that time according to some sources. However, other sources claim that she was aged approximately 28 during the marriage. Muhammad's father and grandfather had died before Muhammad reached the age of maturity, leaving him without financial resources. With this proposal, Muhammad moved into Khadija's house. Children Muhammad and Khadija may have had six or eight children. Sources disagree about number of children: Al-Tabari names eight; the earliest biography of Muhammad by Ibn Ishaq, names seven children; most sources only identify six. Their first son was Qasim, who died after his third birthday (hence Muhammad's kunya Abu Qasim). Khadija then gave birth to their daughters Zaynab, Ruqayyah, Kulthum and Fatima; and lastly to their son Abd Allah. Abd Allah was known as at-Tayyib ('the Good') and at-Tahir ('the Pure'). Abd-Allah also died in childhood. Two other children also lived in Khadija's household: Ali ibn Abi Talib, the son of Muhammad's uncle; and Zayd ibn Harithah, a boy from the Kalb tribe who had been kidnapped and sold into slavery. Zayd was a slave in Khadija's household for several years, until his father came to Mecca to take him home. Muhammad insisted that Zayd be given a choice about where he lived, and Zayd decided to remain. Becoming the first follower of Muhammad According to the traditional Sunni narrative, when Muhammad reported his first revelation from the Angel Gabriel (Jibril), Khadija was the first person to accept Al-Haqq (The Truth), i.e. she accepted Islam. After his experience in the cave of Hira, Muhammad returned home to Khadija in a state of terror, pleading for her to cover him with a blanket. After calming down, he described the encounter to Khadija, who comforted him with the words that Allah would surely protect him from any danger, and would never allow anyone to revile him as he was a man of peace and reconciliation and always extended the hand of friendship to all. According to some sources, it was Khadija's Christian cousin, Waraqah ibn Nawfal, who confirmed Muhammad's prophethood soon afterwards. Yahya ibn 'Afeef is quoted saying that he once came, during the period of Jahiliyyah'' (before the advent of Islam), to Makkah to be hosted by 'Abbas ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib, one of Muhammad's uncles mentioned above. "'When the sun started rising', he said, 'I saw a man who came out of a place not far from us, faced the Kaaba and started performing his prayers. He hardly started before being joined by a young boy who stood on his right side, then by a woman who stood behind them. When he bowed down, the young boy and the woman bowed, and when he stood up straight, they, too, did likewise. When he prostrated, they, too, prostrated.' He expressed his amazement at that, saying to Abbas: 'This is quite strange, O Abbas!' 'Is it, really?' responded al-Abbas. 'Do you know who he is?' Abbas asked his guest, who answered in the negative. 'He is Muhammad ibn Abdullah, my nephew. Do you know who the young boy is?' he asked again. 'No, indeed', answered the guest. 'He is Ali son of Abu Talib. Do you know who the woman is?' The answer came again in the negative, to which Abbas said, 'She is Khadija bint Khuwaylid, my nephew's wife.'" This incident is included in the books of both Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Al-Tirmidhi, each detailing it in his own Ṣaḥīḥ. Khadija was supportive of Muhammad's prophetic mission, always helping in his work, proclaiming his message and belittling any opposition to his prophecies. It was her encouragement that helped Muhammad believe in his mission and spread Islam. Khadija also invested her wealth in the mission. When the polytheists and aristocrats of the Quraysh harassed the Muslims, she used her money to ransom Muslim slaves and feed the Muslim community. In 616, the Quraysh declared a trade boycott against the Hashim Clan. They attacked, imprisoned and beat the Muslims, who sometimes went for days without food or drink. Khadija continued to maintain the community until the boycott was lifted in late 619 or early 620. Khadija died in Ramadan 10 years after Prophethood was revealed, i.e., November 619 A.D. Muhammad later called this tenth year the "Year of Sorrow", as his favorite uncle and protector, Abu Talib, also died at this time. Khadija is said to have been about 65 years old at the time of her death. She was buried in Jannat al-Mu'alla cemetery, in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Another report from Muhammad bin Ishaq says that "Abu Talib and Khadija bint Khuwaylid died in the same year. This was three years before the emigration of the Messenger of Allah (Muhammad) to Medina. Khadija was buried in al-Hajun. The Messenger of Allah buried her in her grave. She was 40 years old when the Messenger of Allah married her." In the years immediately following Khadija's death, Muhammad faced persecution from opponents of his message and also from some who originally followed him but had now turned back. Hostile tribes ridiculed and stoned him. Muhammad migrated to Yathrib, later named Medina, after Khadija's death. Khadija is praised as being one of the four best women of the world, alongside her daughter Fatima, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Asiya the wife of the Fir'aun (Pharaoh). Children and relatives Sons Qasim ibn Muhammad, died in 601, after his third birthday. Abd Allah ibn Muhammad, died in childhood in 615 Daughters Fatima (605–632), although it is sometimes asserted that she was born during the first year of Muhammad's mission (610–611). She had the by-name 'The mother of her father', as she took over, caring for her father and being a support to her father once her mother died. She married Ali, who became the fourth caliph in 656. (According to early debate after the death of Muhammad, some would argue that Ali would be the proper succession to Muhammad). Ali and Fatima moved to a small village in Ghoba after the marriage, but later moved back to Medina to live next door to Muhammad. Muhammad gently advised Ali not to take additional wives, because 'What caused pain to his daughter grieved him as well.' Fatima died six months after her father died. All of Muhammad's surviving descendants are by Fatima's children, Hasan and Husayn. Zainab (599–629). She married her maternal cousin Abu al-As before al-Hijra. Later lived with Muhammad. Her husband accepted Islam before her death in 629. Ruqayyah (601–624). She then married the future third caliph, Uthman. Umm Kulthum (603–630). She was first engaged to Utaybah bin Abi Lahab but it was broken off after Muhammad revealed his prophethood. After the death of her sister Ruqayyah, she married Uthman. She was childless. Sunni view The Sunni scholar Yusuf ibn abd al-Barr says: "His children born of Khadīja are four daughters; there is no difference of opinion about that." The Quran (33:59) says: Shia view According to some Shi'ite sources, Khadija and Muhammad adopted two daughters of Halah, a sister of Khadija. The Shi'i scholar Abu'l-Qasim al-Kufi writes: Hind bint Atiq. She married her paternal cousin, Sayfi ibn Umayya, and they had one son, Muhammad ibn Sayfi. Zaynab bint Abi Hala, who probably died in infancy. The adopted daughters attributed to Muhammad, by Shia sources, are: Zaynab (599–629). She married her maternal cousin Abu al-Aas ibn al-Rabee before al-Hijra. Later lived with Muhammad. Her husband accepted Islam before her death in 629 Ruqayyah (601–624). She married the future third caliph Uthman ibn Affan. Umm Kulthum (603–630). She was first engaged to Utaybah bin Abu Lahab and then, after the death of her sister Ruqayyah, to Uthman ibn Affan. She was childless. Cousins Ibn Umm Maktum Waraqah ibn Nawfal was the son of Nawfal b. Asad b. ʿAbd al-ʿUzzā b. Ḳuṣayy and Hind bt. Abī Kat̲h̲īr. Waraqah had been proposed to marry Khadija bint Khuwaylid, but the marriage never took place. Waraqah is noteworthy because he converted from polytheism to Christianity before Muhammad's revelation. Ibn Ishaq claims that Waraqah is also important because he plays a role in legitimizing Muhammad's revelation. It is stated that Waraqah said, "There has come to him the greatest law that came to Moses; surely he is the prophet of this people." See also Asiya Muhammad's wives Sumayyah bint Khayyat Her important descendants
James Lumsden (Lord Provost, died 1856)	[ "1778 births", "1856 deaths", "Businesspeople from Glasgow", "People educated at the High School of Glasgow", "19th-century Scottish merchants", "19th-century Scottish politicians", "Scottish bankers", "Scottish company founders", "Lord provosts of Glasgow", "Liberal Party (UK) politicians", "Councillors in Glasgow", "Philanthropists from Glasgow", "18th-century Scottish merchants" ]	528	4,264	James Lumsden (1778–1856) was a Scottish stationer and merchant who served as Lord Provost of Glasgow from 1843 to 1846. He was born on 13 November 1778 in Glasgow, the son of James Lumsden, an engraver and publisher, and his wife, Jean Adamson. The family lived in a second floor flat in Craigs Land at the head of the Old Wynd in central Glasgow. He was educated at Glasgow Grammar School. Their family publishing firm J. Lumsden and Son was founded in 1783 and specialised in children's books. In 1797 he was "elected" knight companion of the Coul Club under the pseudonym of Christopher Copperplate. When his father retired in 1810, he then took over the publishing firm. In 1812 he was one of the several people including Henry Bell and Sir Walter Scott on the maiden voyage of the Comet. He developed the business James Lumsden & Son based at 20 Queen Street in Glasgow. In 1840 he was living at 208 St Vincent Street. In 1838 he was one of the founders of the Clydesdale Bank. He served on Glasgow Town Council from 1833 and was elected Lord Provost of Glasgow from 1843 to 1846, having previously been a Town councillor and baillie, and a commissioner of the City of Glasgow Police. His most important achievement as Lord Provost was the crearion of the Glasgow School of Design. He retired in 1852 and died on 16 May 1856. He was buried in the churchyard of Glasgow Cathedral. Artistic Recognition A statue to his memory, designed by John Mossman, stands near the cathedral in front of Glasgow Royal Infirmary, of which both he and his brother Lachlan were major benefactors. He was also portrayed by Sir Daniel Macnee. Family He married Margaret Gourlay. They had two sons, James and George, who both initially joined the family firm. James Jr was head of the Clydesdale Bank from 1851 until his death, and was also Lord Provost of Glasgow from 1866 to 1869. He was knighted in 1868 as Sir James Lumsden of Arden.
Marin Software	[ "Companies listed on the Nasdaq", "Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area", "Companies based in San Francisco", "Marketing companies established in 2006", "Software companies established in 2006", "2013 initial public offerings", "Online advertising", "Digital marketing companies of the United States", "Software companies of the United States", "Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2025" ]	1,320	12,614	Marin Software Incorporated is an online advertising company based in San Francisco. It was founded in 2006, had an IPO in 2013, and was dissolved in 2025 upon declaring bankruptcy. History Christopher Lien, Wister Walcott, and Joseph Chang founded Marin Software in April 2006. In April 2007, Marin Search Marketer (since renamed MarinOne) debuted and became commercially available in North America. Marin opened a UK office in early 2009. The company shared plans to expand into Asia-Pacific with offices in Singapore, Shanghai, and Sydney in 2011, and Tokyo in 2012. Initial public offering Between 2006 and 2012, Marin raised more than US$100 million in funding. The company reported a revenue of $36M in 2011 and $50M in 2012. In February 2013, Marin filed with the SEC for a $75M initial public offering. The company went public in March, selling 7.5M shares at a price of $14 per share, raising $105M at a valuation of $425M. In 2014, Marin acquired Perfect Audience, and in 2015, they acquired Social Moov. Leadership changes and financial difficulties (2016–2024) Between 2016 and 2024, Marin Software experienced significant changes in its leadership, product offerings, and market position, while facing ongoing financial challenges. In September 2016, co-founder Wister Walcott rejoined Marin Software as Executive Vice President of Product and Technology, overseeing product development, technical operations, and engineering. That same year, Marin was elevated to Elite Status in the Bing Partner Program, reflecting its strong partnership with Microsoft and its role as a trusted advisor for Bing Ads clients. Product innovation remained a focus. In 2024, Marin launched several AI-powered tools, including the Anomaly Detector, which uses OpenAI technology to automatically identify and summarize unexpected results in performance marketing campaigns. The company also introduced Advisor, an OpenAI-powered virtual assistant designed to streamline marketers’ workflows and provide actionable insights. Additional product enhancements included expanded integrations with Reddit and X (formerly Twitter), support for Amazon TV and Spotlight Ads, and advanced campaign management APIs. Despite these innovations, Marin Software faced persistent financial difficulties. From 2016 onward, the company posted consistent annual losses and declining revenues. By late 2024, its market capitalization had fallen below $10 million, and shares were trading under $1, putting the company at risk of Nasdaq delisting. In October 2024, Marin implemented a restructuring plan that reduced its global workforce by approximately 26% to cut operating costs. The company also renewed its strategic partnership with Google for another three years in July 2024, aiming to strengthen its position in the competitive digital advertising landscape. Bankruptcy and dissolution (2025) On July 1, 2025, Marin Software filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, marking the end of a nearly two-decade run as a pioneer in digital advertising technology. The bankruptcy filing followed years of declining revenues, mounting losses, and intensifying competition from industry giants such as Google and Meta Platforms, whose free and low-cost advertising tools eroded Marin's market share. In April 2025, Marin Software had announced plans to dissolve the company, subject to shareholder approval, after laying off approximately 30% of its staff. The company’s board approved a formal plan of dissolution and liquidation, which included winding down operations, delisting from Nasdaq, resolving debts, and attempting to sell remaining assets. Marin Software received a delisting notice from Nasdaq on June 17, 2025, prior to the bankruptcy filing. According to CEO and co-founder Chris Lien, the bankruptcy process was intended to facilitate the sale of Marin Software’s assets to an affiliate of ESW Capital, an investment firm led by Joseph Liemandt. Lien stated that all creditors would be paid and that the buyer planned to continue operating Marin Software’s platform, with remaining employees staying on at least until the transaction closed. At the time of its bankruptcy, Marin Software reported approximately $5.7 million in assets and $2.8 million in debt. Over its lifetime, the company had never posted an annual profit, with cumulative losses exceeding $350 million. Marin’s decline was attributed to the increasing dominance of Google and Meta in the digital advertising market, as well as the commoditization of ad management tools. The bankruptcy and dissolution marked the conclusion of Marin Software’s public company journey, which began with a 2013 IPO that valued the company at over $425 million.
Cane Ashby	[ "Adoptee characters in soap operas", "Fictional bartenders in soap operas", "Fictional business executives", "Television characters introduced in 2007", "Fictional con artists", "Australian male characters in soap operas", "The Young and the Restless characters", "Fictional businesspeople in soap operas", "Twin characters in soap operas", "Fictional identical twins", "Fictional characters incorrectly presumed dead" ]	7,664	64,126	Cane Ashby is a fictional character from The Young and the Restless, an American soap opera on the CBS network, portrayed by Billy Flynn. Created by head writers Lynn Marie Latham and Scott Hamner, Cane was introduced in January 2007, portrayed by Daniel Goddard. Latham created Cane as the son of Phillip Chancellor II (Donnelly Rhodes) and Jill Abbott (Jess Walton); the character's background was rewritten by Latham's successor Maria Arena Bell in 2009, re-establishing him as the son of Colin and Genevieve Atkinson (Tristan Rogers and Genie Francis). Though characterized as "mysterious", Cane is "loyal and dedicated", while Goddard described the character as a "typical Australian, working-class kind of guy". He was the first member of the Atkinson family to appear on the series, followed by his parents and identical twin brother. Soon after his debut, he became a leading character, a decision praised by viewers and critics. The character has been involved with Amber Moore (Adrienne Frantz), Chloe Mitchell (Elizabeth Hendrickson), and most notably Lily Winters (Christel Khalil), a romance that garnered significant fan attention. In 2009, Cane and Lily were married; Global BC would later call Lily the love of Cane's life. The pair had two children, Charlie and Mattie Ashby. Goddard was fired in 2011; following a viewer campaign for his rehiring, Goddard returned to the role that same year. In 2019, he exited the role. In 2025, the character was reintroduced by Josh Griffith under the pseudonym of Aristotle Dumas, with Flynn assuming the role. Casting and creation Goddard auditioned for Brad Snyder on As the World Turns and, though he was not cast in the part, Barbara Bloom, the senior vice-president of CBS Daytime, recommended Goddard to The Young and the Restless head writer and executive producer, Lynn Marie Latham. After testing for the character of Cane for Latham and casting director Karen Rea, Goddard received the role. The Australian actor auditioned with an American accent, but when the writers found out about his Australian background, that influenced Cane's backstory. The actor stated that, "The concept of Cane was that he was given away at birth. So he could have been from Mongolia. It just worked out luckily for me that I was the right person for the job." Since the producers could not understand the actor's real Australian accent, Goddard "Americanized" it while portraying the character. In October 2019, Goddard announced his exit from the role. In a post on social media, he cited his disappointment over the exit, and noted he was "shocked and gutted" by the decision; Cane exited on November 26 of the same year. In March 2025, Billy Flynn's casting was announced; he made his first appearance on June 19. Development Characterization The writers first detailed Cane as "a smart, loyal, and moral survivalist with an edge". Goddard describes Cane as a "typical Australian, working-class kind of guy who mined opals, raised goats, then went off for travel and adventure to sort of find himself". Global BC penned Cane as "mysterious". SoapNet described Cane as a "pretty stand-up guy", as well as "loyal and dedicated to the people he cares about". The network said his time in Genoa City has "made him a good man". In an interview with On-Air On-Soaps, Goddard said that Cane working at Jabot Cosmetics is "very enthusiastic and cautious about falling into a family business which is an Abbott company", and that he is "very sensitive about that". He also stated that Cane "has no fears in doing business with anybody" because if you can come from a "family of gangsters then business people don't really measure up". Looking back on Cane's "power jobs", Goddard stated: "I don’t think Cane has the book learning skills side of it, but I think he has the life lessons side of it, based on who he is and where he has come from. The way he does business with people, he kind of understands who they are as people." Backstory and maternity William J. Bell had created the character of Phillip Chancellor III in 1976, and he remained a vital part of the soap opera's storylines until his death onscreen in 1989. In 2007, Latham rewrote Chancellor's birth by establishing that Katherine Chancellor (Jeanne Cooper), Jill's enemy and Phillip Chancellor II's wife, switched their child with another hours after his birth; the character was brought back to the series as an adult named Cane Ashby, an Australian looking for his birth mother. During that time, Goddard did not want to know the real motives of his character because he did not want that to influence his performance. After the revelation that Jill was Cane's mother, his views changed, saying he "now welcomed the information as it added more color to his portrayal". The initial lack of information made portraying Cane difficult since there was an amount of ambiguity over whether he was a good, bad, or mediocre character. The ambiguity deepened when Goddard read the script revealing that a DNA test performed for Jill and Cane came back negative. He stated that he had never asked Latham "what was going on" with the storyline, but told her that he could "play anything he needed to". A second DNA test later confirmed Cane as Jill's son. Goddard also said it was "too good to be true" for Cane to be Jill's son, adding that, "But, down the road you realize these people actually do care about you, that you can reciprocate that care. For Cane, he's had so much time without them it's pointless to have the time with them and not enjoying it." Though the maternity question was answered, more ambiguity about Cane's intentions appeared as the character received a phone call from his uncle Langley that hinted about Cane scheming against Jill and Katherine. The original intent of the call was to show that Cane wanted what was owed to him after being given away as an infant. The writers changed directions after the popularity of the character grew. Goddard said he felt the phone call was resolved within the story when Cane sent money to his uncle as part of taking care of him. In 2008, the storyline about the call Cane received from Langley was readdressed, as re-written by Maria Arena Bell. In her revised version of the storyline, Langley is really Phillip Chancellor III, portrayed by Thom Bierdz. The series kept secrecy around the plot twist by sneaking Bierdz in to tape scenes and asked that he not tell anyone of his return. Goddard liked the plot twist because it added another dimension to Cane, saying that the change would "allow another metamorphosis to begin" and additional "development and evolution of Cane". He also said that Cane had always been a "three-dimensional character" and "a fourth dimension" would soon be seen because the viewers would finally find out where he came from and who he is. Bell later introduced Tristan Rogers as Colin Atkinson and Genie Francis as Genevieve Atkinson, who would portray Cane's biological parents. Goddard stated that Rogers being on the soap opera "created a father/son rapport" for the character, which he thought had "a lot of promise" and was a "wonderful dynamic". Relationships The character's first romance on the soap opera was with Amber Moore (Adrienne Frantz). She later tricked him into believing they were married, and they separated after the truth surfaced. After the relationship ended, the writers planned on pairing Cane with Phyllis Summers (Michelle Stafford), but the popularity of Phyllis' romance with Nicholas Newman (Joshua Morrow) halted the plans for the pairing. Cane was instead written into a romance with Lily Winters (Christel Khalil); Goddard described Lily as becoming Cane's "anti-Amber". He felt the character lost a "certain amount of edge" and a "certain amount of his dynamic" after being paired with Lily but said it was replaced with "a level of compassion, understanding, tolerance, romance and love", since that those characteristics were "all the things that daytime is really about at its core". Goddard compared the romance between Lily and Cane to Lady Chatterley's Lover since both characters grew and learned from the relationship. Cane developed an attraction to Heather Stevens (portrayed by Vail Bloom) while with Lily; Goddard noted it would "come down to what Cane needs" when choosing between the two women. The storylines written for the lovers included a controversy with the characters' age gap, a miscarriage, and a love rectangle with Chloe Mitchell (Elizabeth Hendrickson) and Billy Abbott (Billy Miller). Within the love rectangle story, Chloe tricks Cane into thinking they conceived a child together. To make the storyline work, the writers scripted Cane as less intelligent, a strategy they used previously during his storyline with Amber. To keep the character from looking bad, Goddard said he made acting choices to justify Cane's actions. Despite the lessening of the character's intelligence, Goddard said he liked the story because of the originality of the plot. Love triangles and questioned paternity happen regularly in soap operas, but he felt that former head writer Maria Arena Bell managed to make those conventions fresh and new. Khalil stated that she "loved" the storyline, also saying she loved the actors involved in it. Khalil said she thought it "was a possibility" for Lily and Cane to have a happy ending, and that Lily "can see the hope, and they can adapt and love each other in a more mature and honest way". Cane married Lily in 2009, and the following year, Global BC called Lily the love of Cane's life. In 2011, Lily divorced Cane after he continued to lie to her about his faked death. However, she eventually discovered Cane was trying to protect her, and they were remarried. Goddard commented that their relationship "had come full circle" and "was being done well". Of Cane and Lily's second wedding, Goddard stated that Cane and Lily have "certainly had a lot of ups and downs", but he thought through all of that their fans "stayed true and they have expressed their desire for what they want to see". Goddard also thought their wedding of "this caliber" would make their fans "very, very happy and that is what this is about". 2011 departure Goddard was fired from the soap opera in 2011, and Cane was shot to death onscreen on the episode dated February 2. There were rumors that Maria Arena Bell, Latham's successor, killed the character because he was created by Latham, but this was denied. Soap Opera Weekly reported another rumor regarding the firing, saying tension between the actor and his co-stars resulted in Goddard's exit. Cane's onscreen death caused a "massive outcry" from viewers, and fans campaigned for the actor's return by sending emails and making phone calls to CBS and Sony Pictures Television. As part of the campaign, a group of viewers paid for an airplane to fly over CBS Studios with the message: "Y&R Fans Want Daniel Goddard As Cane Ashby". The plane flew over the building for about an hour. Regarding the campaign, Goddard stated: "When they started their campaign to bring Cane back, I wrote on my Facebook page that I never expected this. I have the greatest fans. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it. One of my fans coined Goddard's Family of Fans and that's what it is, GFF." In another interview, he stated he was "humbled" by viewer efforts to have him remain as the character. The actor was then rehired, revealing within the storyline that Cane's death had been faked and his twin brother, Caleb, was the one who died. Goddard had stated that he was very impressed with the soap opera's ability to keep Cane's faked death a secret. For his death scene, Goddard said he did research on how the human body reacts muscularly, how much control the person has, and what their breathing is like. Goddard stated that he did not know which character he was portraying until a certain point through the storyline, and that he "had to play it ambiguously". He also commented that it was difficult as an actor as he did not want it to look like Cane was ever manipulating Lily, however, he said it thought it was a "great storyline the fans could get behind". Aristotle Dumas (2025) In early 2025, Josh Griffith began to introduce the mysterious storyline of Aristotle Dumas''', who is first mentioned when Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) investigates Damian Kane's (Jermaine Rivers) newfound fortune and discovers it was acquired from Aristotle; with this information, Victor tells Lily it is Aristotle who is interested in the Hamilton Winters Group. Confronted, Damian revealed he claimed to be the owner of the companies per the request of Aristotle, whom he only communicated with via email or text. Billy (Jason Thompson) begins interacting with Aristotle, who expresses his interest in Abbott Communications. That May, Amanda Sinclair (Mishael Morgan) returned to Genoa City, revealing she works for the mysterious Aristotle. In June, Griffith previewed to Soaps.com that he had found "exactly the right person" to portray Aristotle, with the website noting it was "hard to imagine it being a coincidence that the character and Billy Flynn begin airing the same week". When Flynn's casting was announced as Aristotle, he compared himself in the role to that of "the person behind the Great Gatsby", recalling the character of Jay Gatsby from F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby. This led soap media and fans to further suspect Aristotle Dumas as a pseudonym for Cane; Screen Rant cited the fan theory of Flynn's casting as changing "everything", while also stating his casting "only adds more speculation to who Aristotle really is". Following the June 20 reveal that Cane was Aristotle Dumas, Flynn spoke to TV Insider regarding his casting. He revealed the hardest part was "the idea that I'm playing Aristotle Dumas, this refined businessman who Cane created". He further explained his previous comparison to The Great Gatsby, stating: "Cane created Aristotle Dumas the way that James Gatz created Gatsby. Lily is Daisy. He created this world to prove to her that he’s good enough for her, and that is a beautiful story to me." Flynn also revealed plans to rebrand the role, stating, "Cane is a fascinating character. Essentially, we're going to rebrand it a bit, so they [Cane and Lily] have a closer age range, and I don't have a sexy accent. I can't replicate it, so I'm going to do my thing. When people see this Cane and the relationship that I have as Cane with Lily, I think they'll be happy." Khalil echoed Flynn's statement, stating she believed Griffith had done a "good thing" in changing the character with Flynn's casting. She further explained it was "not going to be the same Cane. It's a completely different person, and I really hope that everybody gives Billy a chance and tries to look at the character through new eyes, because it is a new person, and honestly, it's a new character. He's nothing like Daniel Goddard, and that's kind of the point. The point was to make this character something completely different. And so hopefully people give it a chance and look at it like a new relationship rather than like an old one coming back." Of his casting, Flynn referred to it as a "dream come true" and recalled, "I know all these actors, watching them and admiring them for years". Michael Fairman suggested the potential foreshadowed death of Rivers' Damian, predicting, "Is Y&R going White Lotus on us? Stay tuned." Khalil complimented Flynn's casting, stating, "I heard great things from some of the other cast members who had either worked with him or knew people that worked with him. He's such a great guy and great to work with." Storylines In January 2007, Cane debuted as a bartender at "Indigo", Neil Winters' (Kristoff St. John) nightclub, remaining in the United States beyond the expiration of his visa, leaving him fearful of being deported. Thereafter, he became involved with Amber Moore (Adrienne Frantz), who first used him to make Adrian Korbel (Eyal Podell) jealous and later found out Cane was looking for his birth mother. He had been adopted by a woman named Violet Montgomery and raised by her brother, Langley Ashby, after her death in Canberra, Australia. Amber was trying to find Phillip Chancellor III, Jill Abbott's (Jess Walton) lost son, who was really switched at birth with another child by Katherine Chancellor (Jeanne Cooper). Amber realized that Cane might be Jill's son and decided to marry him; they went to Las Vegas, became intoxicated and Amber tricked Cane into thinking they were married. Amber's suspicions of Cane being Jill's son were proven true, and Cane shared a reunion with Jill, as well as prevented his deportation. Cane and Amber then moved into the Chancellor Estate and he began working for Katherine's company. Cane then found their marriage certificate and noticed that his signature was unrecognizable, leading to his discovery that the marriage was invalid. Cane then rejected a devastated Amber. Cane shared a kiss with Lily Winters (Christel Khalil) in September 2007, sparking an attraction to Heather Stevens (Vail Bloom). Cane and Heather decided to be friends and Cane pursued Lily romantically, despite initial hesitations due to their age difference. Lily then became pregnant with Cane's child but soon miscarries. They later move into a house together, and Cane proposes in August 2008; she accepts. Cane then passed out intoxicated in Chloe Mitchell's (Elizabeth Hendrickson) car, Chloe takes advantage of Cane and tricks him into believing they slept together. Chloe was pregnant prior to her scheme but Cane was not excluded as a possible father. Lily moved out of their house upon this discovery and convinced Cane to marry Chloe for the sake of the child, however, Chloe's real identity was Kate Valentine, daughter of Esther Valentine (Kate Linder). Cane had the marriage annulled but still decided to stay with Chloe. Billy Abbott (Billy Miller) then discovered he was the father of Chloe's child, but decided to let Cane raise it. Billy and Lily then began an affair despite Cane still being in love with Lily and Chloe with Billy. Cane later discovers that the child, Delia, was not his and was convinced by Lily not to fight for custody but instead resume their relationship; they were later married. After the wedding, Cane recalled a phone call he had with his "Uncle Langley" regarding their con with Jill and Katherine. Afterward, Langley was revealed to be the long deceased Phillip Chancellor III in June 2009; Cane was in fact not Jill's son but someone hired by Phillip. Lily and Cane separated upon this revelation, but soon reunited upon her diagnosis with ovarian cancer. Her uterus was taken out during surgery, but the doctors were able to harvest two of her eggs; they decided to start a family with Mackenzie Browning (Clementine Ford) acting as their surrogate mother. Browning became pregnant with twins. Afterward, an immigration officer arrested Cane and planned to deport him, as he was not truly Phillip. Since he was present for the birth of his children, Charlie and Mattie in June 2010 and helped Lily overcome cancer he was not deported. Cane was then blackmailed by the crime family he turned to in Australia, and embezzled money from Tucker McCall's (Stephen Nichols) company with the help of Sofia Dupre (Julia Pace Mitchell). Cane's biological father, Colin Atkinson (Tristan Rogers), then came to Genoa City in December 2010 to help Blake Joseph blackmail Cane. Colin then became engaged to Jill much to Cane's dismay. Cane then tried to stop their wedding but was shot in the chest by Blake on the church steps; he died afterward, leaving Lily devastated. Lily then began believing she was receiving afterlife messages from Cane and sought professional help. After seeing Cane several times, Lily realized he wasn't a figment of her imagination; it was then revealed in May 2011 that the man shot at the church wasn't Cane, but his identical twin brother, Caleb, who was scheming with Colin to kidnap Charlie and Mattie. However, Cane continued to act as Caleb to stop the plot with Colin and later his mother, Genevieve (Genie Francis). When Lily found out about the entire conspiracy, she refused to forgive Cane and divorced him. After Colin tried to kidnap her children, Lily began to forgive Cane and let him protect her. When Cane threatened to return to Australia, Lily let him back into her life. Later, they reunited when she realized the cause of all the secrets: to take down Colin. Cane proposed to her again and they married in Provence, France in February 2012. Genevieve stays in town, and Cane constantly rejects her for everything she has done. Cane and Lily then go to work at Jabot Cosmetics, where Cane is interim CEO. Tyler Michaelson (Redaric Williams) becomes smitten with Lily and the two develop an attraction, making Cane jealous. Lily and Tyler share a kiss, but she turns him down and returns to Cane. Cane then helps Katherine discover she has a brain tumor that needs to be removed. While she is on sick leave, she names Cane interim CEO of her company, Chancellor Industries. He later hires an assistant, Hilary Curtis (Mishael Morgan), whom Jill and then Lily become suspicious of. Meanwhile, an unknown blogger is targeting the Winters family online, with photos of Hilary kissing Cane as well as the two of them in a hotel room. After a private investigation, the Winters figure out Hilary is the blogger (as she blames Neil for her mother's death years prior) just as Hilary attempts to drug Cane. She is fired from Chancellor Industries and shunned by the family. Soon after, everyone gets word that Katherine has died from terminal cancer while on trip around the world. She leaves Cane as CEO, but leaves her percentage to Victor (Braeden). After recovering their marriage, Cane and Lily agree to become the new managers of the Genoa City Athletic Club after her brother Devon Hamilton (James) buys it. In 2015, Cane and Lily experience marital problems after Lily learns Cane knew about Devon and Hilary's affair. Cane takes a job at Fenmore's and begins to grow close to his step-aunt, Lauren Fenmore (Tracey Bregman). The two eventually share a kiss which causes further problems within his marriage. Incorrectly thinking he and Lauren are having an affair, Lily lashes out by sleeping with Cane's friend and one-time business associate, Joe Clark (Scott Elrod). Cane dumps Lily after she confesses to the tryst. The two reconcile a few months later with Joe having become obsessed with Lily. He is subsequently framed by Joe as having involvement in Hilary's disappearance. Lily is unsure of what to believe causing Cane to be upset that she would question his innocence and the two separate, with Cane moving out of their home. Lily sleeps with Joe again before finding out the truth. Lily agrees to help Cane clear his name but he rejects her attempts to reconcile. The two eventually reconcile in early 2016. Jill purchases Brash & Sassy and appoints Cane co-CEO alongside Billy (Thompson) and Victoria Newman (Amelia Heinle). In 2017, Jill sells Brash & Sassy to Victoria and Lily becomes their brand ambassador. Cane believes Victoria's romantic feelings for Billy make her bias, so Cane plots to have Billy fired. After Billy secures a lucrative deal for Brash &Sassy everyone travels to Los Angeles to film a national commercial. Cane pays a videographer to alter footage involving Billy. The footage airs during a live broadcast causing a PR nightmare. As a result, Lily's commercial is pulled and Brash & Sassy loses a substantial amount of money. Prior to this, while on a business trip to Tokyo, Cane gets drunk and has sex with a colleague, Juliet Helton (Laur Allen). Cane tries to keep the one-night-stand a secret but when Victoria fires Juliet for approving the footage, she files a sexual harassment lawsuit against the company naming Cane as her harasser. Cane at first denies anything sexual happened but when Juliet announces her pregnancy he finally admits to a tearful Lily that he had sex with Juliet. Victoria feels forced to settle the suit and fires Cane for costing her company a substantial amount of money. After a DNA test proves Cane is the father, he is thankful that Lily decides to stay in their marriage but the videographer comes back asking for more money. Cane, afraid of Lily learning he is responsible for her national commercial being pulled, uses the twin's private high school tuition money to pay him off. When Lily learns of this from Billy and Victoria, she kicks him out and he moves into the Chancellor Mansion. After months of unemployment Jill agrees to appoint him interim CEO of Chancellor Industries. He is devastated when Lily files for divorce but when Juliet dies during childbirth the divorce is postponed. Upon Lily's suggestion, Cane names his newborn son Sam, after his deceased younger sister Samantha. In 2018, Cane pursues Lily to Paris, the two have a romantic reunion and they renew their vows on Valentine's Day. Lily is later sentenced to a year in prison for vehicular homicide and is sent to prison. Cane struggles with loneliness in her absence and kisses Victoria Newman twice. The second of which Billy Abbott interrupts and relays to Lily that Cane is cheating on her while she's in prison. She is upset but vows to "survive this by any means necessary." Lily subsequently cuts off communication with Cane and removes him from her visitors list. When Cane later receives divorce paper in the mail, he rips them up and vows to fight for his marriage. Cane pleads with Lily to work on their marriage but Lily sticks to her decision. Neil unexpectedly passes away on the day of Lily's release in April 2019 and Lily leaves Genoa City after her father's funeral. Cane is devastated at the loss of his marriage and after weeks of hoping Lily will return to him, he finally signs the divorce papers. During this time Cane develops a friendship with Traci Abbott (Beth Maitland) who supports him as tries to figure out his future without Lily. Traci develops a crush on Cane, which Cane is initially unaware of but later reciprocates which leads to him kissing her but the two decide to remain good friends instead of exploring a romantic relationship. In the fall of 2019, will pages are discovered that names Cane as the heir to the bulk of Katherine Chancellor's fortune, as opposed to his former brother-in-law Devon. Wanting to honor his late grandmother's wishes, Devon signs over the 2.4 billion dollars he inherited to Cane. Afterward, it is discovered that the new will pages were a forgery by Colin and Colin implicates Cane as a co-conspirator in the scam. Colin confesses to taking the money out of Cane's account and escapes from police custody. Cane vows to track down Colin, clear his name and return the money to the rightful heir. In 2025, a mysterious billionaire Aristotle Dumas begins to seek interest in several companies based on Genoa City—namely Hamilton Winters Group and Abbott Communications. His name strikes interest in several residents, including Victor (Braeden) and Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman). With the assistance of Amanda Sinclair (Morgan) and his assistant Carter (Vincent Stalba), Aristotle invites select guests to Nice, France, where he intends to lift his mysterious identity. With Amanda's assistance, Aristotle reveals himself as Cane to Lily, telling her things would be explained after he greets his other guests. Cane's debut in 2007 received a mixed response. Soap Opera Digest praised the storyline as "a riveting tale". Nelson Branco of TV Guide Canada found the story unrealistic, but praised the addition of Goddard and Cane to the series, saying: "A few eyebrows were raised when The Young and the Restless decided to rewrite history by bringing in Daniel Goddard to play Jill's 'real' son, Phillip Chancellor. But as romantic rogue Cane Ashby, the talented newcomer seduced us into suspending our disbelief — for now!" Soon after the character's introduction, Cane and Goddard became popular among viewers and gained praise from critics. BuddyTV described Goddard as "spicing up The Young and the Restless" as Cane with "his character's storylines surrounding his true identity and his whirlwind relationship with Amber". Cane's romance with Lily later gained "a very vocal, and loyal fan base". Janet Di Lauro of Soap Opera Weekly commended Maria Arena Bell's change to Cane's backstory, saying: "This story also breathes new life into Cane, who was becoming increasingly dull as a whitewashed, pompous do-gooder. Suddenly, he has his edge back." Soap Opera Digest gave the storyline a thumbs up and a thumbs down because, though it was an exciting twist, it happened too closely to the other Chancellor family rewrite undoing the mother and daughter relationship between Jill and Katherine. The magazine later named the storyline the "Most Preposterous Plot Twist" of 2009 because the rewrite "was way out of sync with Y&R's usual authentic approach to storytelling". In 2011, Tommy Garrett of Canyon News said that Goddard is "forever second guessing his character when asked about Cane by the media", also stating that, "To keep an edgy Cane, never to make him boring and lifeless. That's why Cane is forever keeping secrets from his wife Lily and step mom Jill." Garrett added that he was "interested to see what Maria Bell's plan is" to keep the character edgy, and that Goddard's performance is "always dependable, on fire and exciting". In 2013, another writer from Canyon News, LaDale Anderson, commented that it was difficult for Lily to resist attraction to Tyler Michaelson (Redaric Williams), saying that "trouble in paradise is brewing".What's on TV Terrell Smith compared the Flynn's potential casting as Cane to that of Rory Gibson assuming the role of Michael Corinthos on General Hospital'', suggesting he wouldn't "rule out the possibility that a new actor can add some excitement to a veteran character."
Internap	[ "Internet technology companies of the United States", "Companies based in Atlanta", "American companies established in 1996", "Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq", "Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020", "Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2023" ]	1,088	11,460	Internap Holding LLC, formerly Internap Corporation and operating as INAP, is a company that sells data center and cloud computing services. The company is headquartered in Norcross, Georgia, United States, and has data centers located in North America, EMEA and the Asia-Pacific region. INAP sells its Performance IP, hosting, cloud, colocation and hybrid infrastructure services through Private Network Access Points (P-NAP) in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Australia. History Founded in Seattle, Washington in 1996, the company's initial public offering (IPO) took place in 1999. In 2000, INAP's patented Managed Internet Route Optimizer (MIRO) technology was added to the Smithsonian's permanent technology exhibit. Peter Aquino was named president and CEO of INAP in September 2016. Previously, he was chairman and CEO, and later executive chairman, of Primus Telecommunications Group, Inc. In 2011, INAP launched the world's first commercially available OpenStack Cloud Compute service. In June 2011, the INAP Santa Clara data center became the first commercial data center in the U.S. to achieve the Green Building Initiative's Green Globe certification. Mike Ruffolo was president and CEO from May 2015 until September 2016. He was a member of the company's board of directors. Previously, he was president and CEO of Crossbeam Systems, Inc. The company named Daniel C. Stanzione, non-executive chairman of the board in June 2009; he has been a director since 2004. On February 28, 2018, Internap acquired SingleHop for $132 million in cash. On March 16, 2020, Internap Technology Solutions, Inc. and six affiliated companies filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The company emerged from bankruptcy on May 11, 2020. Less than a month after emerging from bankruptcy, on June 2, INAP announced that it sold its colocation business located at 1301 Fannin St, Houston TX, to Netrality. On July 1, 2021, INAP sold Ubersmith to Lumine Group for an undisclosed amount. The following month, on August 2, Leaseweb acquired INAP's Canadian data centres, then operating under the iWeb name. In 2022, INAP continued to sell its assets. On May 9, INAP announced that it sold the assets associated with its network business, including INAP Japan, to Unitas Global. And on September 14, it announced the sale of the majority of the assets associated with the colocation business, consisting of nine sites, to Evocative. On September 28, 2022, INAPs product "ServerIntellect" was the target of a ransomware attack that affected their multitenant website, database, and email hosting services causing data loss for those services. As a result, INAP discontinued multitenant hosting services. INAP removed the original ransomware incident report from their "Operational Transparency" page on October 5, 2022. Techradar published an article speculating that INAP's removal of the original incident report was an attempt to conceal the full effects of the ransomware attack. On April 27, 2023, it was announced that INAP would be preparing another Chapter 11 filing and give lenders control of the company. On April 28, 2023, INAP filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy again. A process they completed on August 1, 2023. On January 24, 2024, INAP rebranded to HorizonIQ. Acquisitions and growth In 2000, INAP acquired CO Space, giving the company its first entry into the datacenter services business, which represents the majority of the company's current revenues. In the same year, INAP also acquired VPNX.com, a managed VPN provider. INAP acquired VitalStream Holdings, a content delivery service provider, in February 2007. In early 2012, INAP announced that it had acquired Voxel Holdings, Inc., a provider of scalable hosting and cloud services for enterprise users. In November 2013, INAP announced the acquisition of iWeb, a hosting and cloud provider based in Montreal, Canada.
Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Development Company	[ "Real estate companies established in 1994", "Companies listed on Tadawul", "Real estate companies of Saudi Arabia", "Companies based in Riyadh", "Saudi Arabian companies established in 1994" ]	1,215	12,742	Dar Al Arkan Real Estate (DAAR) () is a Saudi Arabian property development company. It is the largest developer by market value in Saudi Arabia. Based in Riyadh, it was established in 1994. The company has close ties to the Saudi government. Dar Al Arkan converted to a joint-stock company in 2005. In December 2007, the company listed its shares on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul All Share Index/ Real estate sector) under the symbol 4300. Dar Global, the company's subsidiary, which was established to develop the company's international assets, is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Projects Al Munisiya The project is located on the north east of Riyadh, near Dammam highway. It occupies an area of approximately 285,822 square meters. Its residential section comprises 259 housing units. Al Abrar Towers The project is located in Makkah Al-Mukarama, near the Holy Haram, and the stoning area, 3 kilometers from the Haram. It consists of 400 residential units, comprising eight towers. The total area of the project is 58.213 sq meters. The project's construction was started in 2003 and completed in 2006. The total value of the project is SAR 97,890,000. Al Qasr Mall It is located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on an area of 250,000 square meters. Inaugurated in 2013, Al Qasr shopping mall consists of 4 floors and 350 stores. It also includes a food court, a fun zone and large open areas. The mall also contains 4 panoramic elevators, 28 escalators, 8 electric paths and 14 elevators connecting all levels and sections of the mall. Urban Oasis, Interiors by Missoni Urban Oasis by Missoni is Dar Al Arkan's first project outside of Saudi Arabia. The building is located in Dubai near the Dubai Water Canal. Once completed, it will offer residential apartments with interiors designed by Missoni. It features one to four bedroom apartments and 38 floors. In addition to the apartments, the tower will offer exclusive common area fully decorated by Missoni. The total value of the project is US$2.18 million. Shams Ar Riyadh The project is located north-west of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on an area of 5 million square meters, of which 1.2 million square meters are built-up. The project is still under construction. The community contains common areas including restaurants, mosques, commercial retails, schools, malls and health care. It is designed to be a “city within a city”. Dar Al Arkan has already started selling project units. Mirabilia The project is located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in Dar Al Arkan's 5 million square meter project, Shams Ar Riyadh. It is composed of upscale villas of 3 to 7 bedrooms designed by Roberto Cavalli. Villas are built on areas ranging from 300 to 1,600 square meters. The total value of the project was SAR 600 million. Les Vagues residences by Elie Saab Dar Al Arkan have launched the QR1bn seafront residential project in State of Qatar ‘Les Vagues residences by Elie Saab’ located at the Qetaifan Island North. W Residences Dubai-Downtown In February 2022, Dar Al Arkan announced the W Residences Dubai-Downtown, managed by Marriott International. The property is anticipated to be completed in 2025. It will consist of a tower with 384 exclusive residences and access to an infinity outdoor pool with views of Burj Khalifa, a terrace featuring outdoor dining and a lounge, and all of the W lifestyle amenities. The Residences are within close proximity to the Dubai International Airport, the Dubai International Financial Centre, and The Dubai Mall. In June 2022, Dar Al Arkan began construction for the $272.25 million W Residences Dubai-Downtown property. The already sold-out $1 billion AED development is expected to mark the first standalone residences under the W Hotels brand. Trump Organization projects In November 2022, Dar Al Arkan signed an agreement with The Trump Organization for its $4 billion project in Oman. Known as AIDA, the project is a joint venture with the Oman Tourism Development Company and will include Trump residential villas, a hotel, and a golf course built near Muscat. In 2025, Dar Al Arkan's subsidiary Dar Global entered into an agreement with the Trump Organization to build a golf course in Qatar, and a hotel and golf course project in Oman.
Lev Gatovsky	[ "1903 births", "1997 deaths", "Soviet economists", "Marxian economists", "Writers from Minsk", "Soviet politicians", "Russian economists", "USSR Academy of Sciences", "Russian social scientists", "Soviet scientists", "Marxist historians", "Soviet colonels", "Stalinism-era scholars and writers", "Soviet reformers", "Soviet philosophers" ]	7,673	61,757	Lev Markovich Gatovsky (Russian: Лев Маркович Гатовский; 26 July 1903 – 18 April 1997) was a Soviet economist, being one of the first who tried to create a theoretical framework in which to understand the nature of the socialist project taking place in the Soviet Union from a political economy perspective. He became director of the Institute of Economics of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, later renamed Russian Academy of Sciencies, from 1965 to 1971. Apart from his general academic work, he contributed to several major economic developments such as the first two five-year economic plans and the 1965 Soviet Economic Reform, as well as editing the first Political Economy textbook of the USSR. Biography Lev Gatovsky was born into a Jewish family on 26 July 1903 in the city of Minsk, in the Russian Empire, later Soviet Union, and current Belarus. He died on 18 April 1997, in Moskow, current Russia. His father, Mordukh Girshevich Gatovsky (1871—?), worked as a doctor, becoming the head of a regional outpatient clinic after the 1917 revolution. When Gatovsky was seventeen, he joined the Komsomol and became one of the secretaries of the Minsk district and city Komsomol committee (1920–1921). During the decade of the 1920s he also conducted propagandistic lecture work. In 1921, Gatovsky became one of the first students of the Belarusian State University in Minsk. During this time, he also lectured on political economy at the Central Party School of the Communist Party of Belarus. In September 1922 he moved to Moscow, where he entered the second year of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, graduating in 1925 with a degree in trade economics. In 1927 he joined the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). Already while studying at the Institute of National Economy, he joined the Trade Inspectorate of the People's Commissariat of the Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate of the USSR (NK RKI USSR), first as an inspector, then as a senior inspector. In 1928, after graduating from graduate school at the Russian Association of Scientific Institutes of Social Sciences (RANION), Gatovsky went to work at the USSR State Planning Committee as head of the price sector. He became also a member of the Central Planning Bureau and the Presidium of the Research Institute of the USSR State Planning Committee. He directly participated in the preparation of the first and second five-year plans, the first national economic annual plans, and participated in the preparation of all subsequent five-year plans. From 1931 to 1936, Gatovsky worked at the Institute of Economics of the Communist Academy, where he headed the section of Soviet trade (until 1933). From 1933 to 1937, Gatovsky was primarily active in the Central Directorate of National Economic Accounting (TSUNKHU) of the USSR State Planning Committee. During this period, he served as the head of the trade turnover department, led the national economic balance department, and was a member of the TSUNKHU board. In 1934, he defended his doctoral dissertation, and in 1935 he was awarded the academic title of professor. In 1936, after the liquidation of the Communist Academy he started working at the Institute of Economics of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, where he became head of the section, senior researcher as well as deputy director, until 1941. During World War II, him and other 26 members of the Institute of Economics of the Soviet Academy of Sciences volunteered in the 21st Infantry Division. At this time, he was a member of the editorial board, head of the department and special war correspondent for the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper. At the end of the war he was demobilized with the rank of colonel. In 1960, Gatovsky was elected corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences in the Department of Economic, Philosophical and Legal Sciences, specializing in the political economy of socialism. In 1965, he became director of the Institute of Economics of the USSR Academy of Sciences and held this post until 1971, after which he continued to work at the institute as chief researcher. He died in Moscow on 18 April 1997, and was buried at the Vagankovo Cemetery. Lectures Apart from the academic positions he occupied, since 1924, he also gave lectures relating to political economy in several universities and institutions. The list include: the Workers' Faculty of the Institute of National Economy "G.V. Plekhanov"; the Moscow Planning Institute; the Moscow Planning Academy; Moscow State University; Moscow Communist University "Ya.M. Sverdlov"; the Economic Institute of the Red Professorship; and the Academy of Social Sciences under the CPSU Central Committee (1946–1956). International lectures In late October 1957, Gatovsky represented the Soviet Union at the "Week of Study of Soviet Economics" in Brussels, Belgium. The event, funded by the University of Brussels' Institute of Sociology and organized by A. Waters, brought together economists from both capitalist and Soviet countries. Gatovsky presented "Development of Soviet Economics and its Motive Forces," addressing the mechanisms guiding the Soviet economy, material incentives, democratic centralism, planning innovations, wage policies, and economic accounting. His report highlighted the theoretical aspects of Soviet economic growth and management. Upon returning, Gatovsky reported to the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, which acknowledged the value of Soviet participation in the seminar. They recommended increasing the study and critique of foreign literature on Soviet economics, publishing Soviet works in foreign languages, and enhancing international scientific contacts. In October 1958, Gatovsky continued to disseminate Soviet economic theories by delivering two lectures in Paris, France. The first, "The Up-to-date Development of Planning in the USSR," was presented at the Paris Center for the Study of Foreign Policy. The second, "Methods of Management of the Economy of the USSR," was given at the Institute of Applied Economy of Paris. These lectures further reinforced Soviet economic principles and practices on an international platform. Publications Gatovsky actively participated in several publications. He became a member of the editorial board of the magazine "Planned Economy" (1929–1930), executive editor of the magazine "Issues of Soviet Trade" (1937–1939), and the newspaper "Soviet Trade" (1937–1939). In 1939 he also became a member of the editorial office of the Bolshevik magazine until his removal in 1949. Finally, he became editor-in-chief of the journal Problems of Economics from 1957 to 1965 and member of the editorial board of the publication "Socialism and Communism". Removal from "Bolshevik" magazine In the summer of 1949, L.M. Gatovsky was criticized for his overly favorable review of N.A. Voznesensky’s book "The Military Economy of the USSR during the Patriotic War." As a result, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks decreed his removal from his roles in the "Bolshevik" magazine and the Higher Party School: 26 May 1949; communication to the Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks): P. Fedoseev, Editor-in-Chief of the "Bolshevik" magazine, reported to the Secretary Malenkov about the excessive praise for Voznesensky's book among economists at the magazine, particularly by Gatovsky. Despite editorial objections, Gatovsky's review was published with some modifications. According to him, Gatovsky had continued promoting the book as a significant Marxist-Leninist work, influencing other staff members like Koshelev and Kuzminov to include more quotes from the book in their articles. Fedoseev admitted his responsibility for allowing the proliferation of these quotes and suggested that the editorial board needed new, more qualified members to improve the magazine’s quality. Communication from M.A. Suslov to J.V. Stalin about the mistakes of the editors of the Bolshevik magazine: M.A. Suslov, member of the Committee, also reported to Stalin that the "Bolshevik" magazine made a serious mistake by excessively praising Voznesensky’s book, treating it as a significant scientific work without proper justification. Suslov also recommended restructuring the editorial board to transform the magazine into a robust theoretical organ for the party. He proposed removing Editor-in-Chief Fedoseev, along with editorial board members Alexandrov, Iovchuk, Gatovsky, and Koshelev. 13 July 1949: Politburo Resolution for the "Bolshevik" magazine: "The Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) decides: For failure to provide proper management of the Bolshevik magazine and incorrect methods in work, remove Comrade P.N. Fedoseev. from his post as editor-in-chief of the Bolshevik magazine and reprimand him. Remove t.t. from the membership of the editorial board of the magazine "Bolshevik". Alexandrova G.F. and Iovchuk M.T. Release from work in the magazine "Bolshevik" t.t. Gatovsky and Koshelev... " Academic work Gatovsky was a prolific economist, publishing over 300 scientific works covering a broad range of topics, including the political economy of socialism, planning theory and methodology, economic mechanisms, economic statistics, trade economics, pricing, economic accounting, economic incentives, and the economics of scientific and technological progress, particularly the economics of science. He also delved into the efficiency theory of social production and military economics. Additionally, Gatovsky served as the editor for numerous significant economic and statistical works, including several major monographs and various methodological guides. In 1929, Gatovsky published an in-depth analysis of the grain market, revealing significant supply imbalances of agricultural products caused by the "grain strike" that followed the war alarm of 1927. During the 1940s and 1950s, he produced several works on the theory of the Soviet economy, offering a political and economic examination to the challenges faced during the transition period and the construction of socialism. His research focused on establishing and refining the planned economic mechanism, emphasizing the practical application of commodity-money relations and prices within the framework of planned economic development. In the late 1950s, Gatovsky shifted his focus to a burgeoning area of economics: the economics of scientific and technological progress. He developed theoretical frameworks for this field, analyzing the laws governing economic and technical progress and proposing the creation of a new discipline, the economics of science. Gatovsky examined the role of science as a management object and its functions, formulating theories on the integration of science and production and the dynamics of scientific and production cycles. His suggestions and recommendations for managing scientific and technological progress were implemented in practical economic management, notably in the electrical industry's shift to end-to-end planning, which linked scientific research, technical development, production, and new technology application. He also advocated for the introduction of stepped pricing systems (a system of premiums and discounts), combining scientific and technological planning with broader economic planning, developing scientific and technical programs, and promoting scientific and technical associations. In 1963, Gatovsky presented a report to the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the USSR State Planning Committee, and the USSR State Labor Committee, proposing improvements to the economic mechanism of self-financing. This report, based on research by the Scientific Council of the USSR Academy of Sciences, which Gatovsky chaired, was approved and adopted as a draft, influencing subsequent policy decisions and practices. In 1964–1965, Gatovsky played a direct role in preparing the 1965 economic reform, which aimed to overhaul the planning and management of the Soviet Union's national economy. Government intervention and the grain market In 1929, Gatovsky published a comprehensive study of the grain market, highlighting significant imbalances in the supply of agricultural products following the crisis of agricultural distribution (mainly in grain deliveries) that had developed from 1927. Despite the low marketability of grain farming during this period, pricing was predominantly influenced by the kulaks (wealthy peasants), who, although representing only 5% of the rural population, controlled a substantial portion of the grain market and production means, including agricultural machinery. Socialist enterprises, such as collective and state farms, demonstrated the highest marketability, yet their overall contribution to gross grain production remained minimal. Gatovsky's study revealed that market prices for bread doubled from December 1927 to December 1928, while fodder prices increased significantly. Although the state procured grain and sold baked bread at fixed prices, flour on the open market was often more expensive, leading peasants to retain raw grain and purchase baked bread to feed livestock. This discrepancy contributed to a decline in livestock numbers, as high fodder prices discouraged animal husbandry. Consequently, the price of cows and horses fell, and the price index ratio for milk to forage decreased significantly in various regions. The study also indicated that the rising free market prices for grain feed had also affected the equivalents of other livestock products in grain terms. For instance, the amount of grain that could be purchased with a set amount of butter or eggs decreased significantly over the studied period, reflecting the broader market pressures on agricultural exchange values. In response, the state significantly increased procurement prices in 1928, particularly for feed crops, to mitigate these market imbalances. In some regions, procurement prices for meat even surpassed market prices, reflecting the urgent need to stabilize agricultural production and prices. This increase in private agricultural prices led to a general rise in national prices, despite state efforts to reduce prices for industrial goods to address the "scissors crisis" (the disparity between agricultural and industrial prices). The rural sector absorbed the benefits intended for the broader population, causing an increase in living costs within the agricultural goods sector. Trade margins also surged, significantly impacting urban real incomes. Consequently, the real incomes of the urban population decreased, while the gains for rural areas, particularly the kulaks, from state price regulation grew substantially. Gatovsky concluded that the high pressure of free market prices could have adverse consequences for the national economic system. These included impacts on real wages and costs, reduced profitability of intensive agricultural sectors, exacerbated rural demand for manufactured goods, and a weakened monetary system. His analysis underscored the complex interplay between state-controlled pricing policies and market dynamics, emphasizing the need for careful regulation to maintain economic stability and equitable growth. Definition of the Soviet economy The first known attempt by an economist to define and create a framework for the Soviet economy is credited to Eugene Preobrazhensky, who published New Economics in 1925. In 1931, Gatovsky expanded this analysis from a Political Economy perspective when he tackled the issue of whether the Soviet economy could be defined as "socialist". He presented this analysis in the "Draft programme on the theory of the Soviet economy", published in the Planovoye Khozyaistvo journal. In this draft, Gatovsky has a distinct shift in tone and tools of analysis between different sections. For the pre-1929 period, he draws heavily on general Marxist theory and Lenin's specific contributions. The discussions of political, economic, and intellectual struggles during this time reflect the intense political conflicts and hardships of the era. Consequently, these analyses often seem more descriptive than analytical, with a logic that is ideological rather than philosophical. The analysis that Gatovsky makes later on in the draft about his own period includes more perspectives. He includes economic generalizations in Marxist terms, such as "a new relation of class forces," indicating shifts in class dynamics under socialism, and "the predominance of the socialist sector in the entire economy," highlighting the dominant role of state-owned enterprises. Additionally, Gatovsky employs formal dialectical logic, portraying the last stage of the New Economic Policy (NEP) as the negative phase, characterized by limited capitalist elements, and the entry into socialism as the positive phase, marked by the consolidation of socialist principles. He emphasizes the "basic moments" and "special study" of this transitional period. He calls for a detailed examination of the distinction between the "foundation of socialist economy," referring to the initial establishment of socialist economic structures, and the "completion of socialist economy," denoting the full realization of a socialist economy. This is linked to the "basic features of the national economic plan for 1931," aimed at finalizing the construction of socialist economic foundations. These elements culminate in the heading "resolution of the problem of who's to be master in the national economy as a whole," addressing the central question of control and authority within the national economy. Gatovsky proceeds by outlining the "regularities" of the economy, referring to the consistent patterns and principles observed in socialist economic development, and the methodological principles for their study, indicating the systematic approaches used to analyze these economic phenomena. Considered a formal study in dialectical logic, it examines "the proletariat as the chief productive force and exerciser of class hegemony." Meaning, that he views the working class (proletariat) as the primary driving force behind production and as the dominant class exerting control and leadership within the socialist society. Achieving communism Finally in his draft, he proposes what he defines as the basic law of the movement to communism:"Socialist nationalization of production on the basis of industrialization and the restriction, expulsion, and final dissolution of capitalist elements" Then, he provides his definition of "political economy in the wide sense":"The relation of economics and politics, economics and technology, social way of life and consciousness, in conditions of planned economy. Essence and Appearance in planned economy and the process of Defetishization" Appearance, would represent in the analysis what is normally considered "the phenomena", and the Essence would be the laws of structure and process to which the phenomena obeys. Finally, Defetishization would be the process in which public opinion comes to see the economy for what it really is and represents. This would play in opposition to "the blind forces of the market" in capitalism. Or what Hegel would call the "customary tenderness to things". Logical confusion In the criticism that J. Miller does in his article "A Political Economy of Socialism in the Making" he states that Gatovsky encounters "logical confusion" when he tries to define abstract concepts within Soviet political economy. In his draft, Gatovsky engages in complex exercises in dialectical logic, focusing on planning and economic regularities, or "zakonomernosti". He discusses methodological principles for studying these regularities, particularly under the dual development characteristic of the Soviet system, which includes both socialist and transitional elements. Moreover, Gatovsky introduces the concept of the "degree of concretization" of these regularities, which refers to how abstract principles can be applied to the concrete conditions of the Soviet economy. This involves examining how far one can abstract economic principles from political realities and the specific conditions of the USSR. He posits that Lenin's theory of socialism is crucial for understanding these economic regularities. However, Miller criticizes Gatovsky for the speculative nature of his analysis, arguing that he assumes these regularities exist without clearly defining what they are. Terms like "degree of concretization" illustrate the abstract and theoretical nature of his discussion, which lacks concrete definitions or examples. Miller points out logical confusions in Gatovsky's work, such as conflating the "special active role of productive relations" with the superstructure, which indicates a misunderstanding of Marxist theory where the superstructure typically refers to cultural, political, and ideological systems rather than economic relations. Miller concludes that Soviet economists in the early 1930s struggled to create a unified framework that integrated Soviet political economy theory with practical economic policy, which was becoming increasingly complex. The need for a Soviet party In 1957, for the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution, the Institute of Economics of the USSR Academy of Sciences published the collective work "Soviet Socialist Economics, 1917–1957". This book, that later that year received the USSR Academy of Sciences prize, featured an article by Lev Gatovsky titled "The Foundations for Constructing a Socialist Economy in the USSR". In this article he examined the transformative impact of the Revolution on social and economic relations, and highlighted the role of the revolution in debunking the myths of the time regarding the permanence and stability of private property, as well as the working class's capability to manage state affairs and the economy. For the analysis, he divided the 40 years since the October Revolution into two historical periods: the first 20 years marked by the transformation from capitalism to socialism and the establishment of a socialist order, and the subsequent 20 years characterized by the further development of socialism and gradual progress towards communism. For him, the revolution not only facilitated the unrestricted development of productive forces but also demonstrated the advantages of socialism. Using the theoretical foundations of Marxism-Leninism and Lenin's blueprint for building socialism, he illustrated how, under the leadership of the Communist Party, the Soviets achieved remarkable milestones in a historically short period. This includes the industrialization of the country, the challenging collectivization of agriculture, and a significant cultural revolution. That is why he criticises reformist and revisionist assertions about the possibility of a peaceful and spontaneous transition from capitalism to socialism. By addressing the relationship between the economic base and the superstructure, and the productive relations and productive forces during this transition, he remarks the essential role that the Communist Party and the Soviet state had in advancing towards communist economic construction. Moreover, he emphasized the global historical significance of the Soviet Union's experience and its crucial role for solving contemporary problems. In particular, for the development of socialist economies in the people's democracies of Europe and Asia. While remarking that still, each nation should account for its own historical and national peculiarities. However, Gatovsky's ideas have faced theoretical criticism from various scholars, even though they did not directly address his work. E. H. Carr and Eric Hobsbawm argued that this deterministic view of history can oversimplify complex developments. On this line, Robert Michels' "Iron Law of Oligarchy" warns of the risks of power concentration within parties, potentially leading to inefficiency and suppression of dissent. From a more economic point of view, Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises were critical with centralized planning for its lack of market signals and innovation. Regarding the cultural aspect, Antonio Gramsci emphasized the importance of cultural and ideological work alongside economic changes. And finally, Eduard Bernstein and Jürgen Habermas advocated for a more flexible, reformist approach, highlighting the need for adaptability in the socialist practice. The Institute of Economics of the USSR Academy of Science In 1965, Gatovsky became director of the Institute of Economics of the USSR Academy of Science, until his departure in 1971. The main focus on the institute under his direction was on the theoretical study of the socialist reconstruction of the USSR's national economy. It aimed to further develop Marxist-Leninist political economy, combat bourgeois ideology, and denounce the concepts of Right and "Left" deviations. The institute delved into the fundamental questions of Marxist political economy and the Leninist stage of its development, exploring the content and methodology of what was then called the "theory of the Soviet economy." Key areas of study included the theoretical foundations of planning and managing the Soviet economy, socialist industrialization, the technical reconstruction of industry, and the socialist restructuring of agriculture. Additionally, the institute addressed issues related to the relationship between urban and rural areas. The Institute's textbooks Among its significant contributions, the institute prepared and published the first Marxist-Leninist textbooks for higher education institutions, incorporating the practical experiences of socialist construction. These textbooks became essential resources for educating future economists and policymakers in the principles and practices of Soviet economic management. The Institute developed the "Standard Methodology for Determining the Economic Efficiency of Capital Investments", which was used in the practice of capital investment planning and enterprise design. One of the major results of the work on the economics of industry and commerce was the book "Political Economy" published in 1954 under the editorship of L. M. Gatovsky, K.V. Ostrovityanova, and others. Although originally designed for students, it had a notorious impact on economic circles. Gatovsky's role in the 1965 Economic Reform Under the planned economy system, directives from the central state apparatus regulated enterprises in accordance with the economic plan (known as five-year plans). This approach, rooted in socialist ideology, aimed to distribute labor power and means of production across various sectors of the economy, as articulated by Karl Marx. Centralized economic planning was considered paramount, as highlighted by Joseph Stalin's assertion that plans were binding and shaped the country's economic trajectory. The transition process But State planning had a significant shift with the introduction of the "economic reform" starting in 1965, known as the Soviet Economic Reform of 1965, or the "Liberman reform". Despite official rhetoric proclaiming the improvement and consolidation of centralized planning, the reform ultimately dismantled it. An extensive propaganda campaign vilified centralized planning as obsolete, bureaucratic, and restrictive, attributing its flaws to Stalin's interpretation of socialism. It receives its name for E.G. Liberman, who criticized the bureaucratic nature of centralized planning. Him and other authors argued that it stifled innovation and hindered the efficient allocation of resources. Liberman advocated for giving enterprises more autonomy and reducing central directives to key indices, thus allowing them to make decisions based on market demand. Similarly, V.S. Nemchinov and V. Trapeznikov, highlighted the need to eliminate bureaucratic tutelage and grant enterprises greater independence. They emphasized the importance of economic initiative and the limitations of purely administrative methods in guiding economic activity. A.M. Rumyantsev, echoed these sentiments by emphasizing the necessity of extending the economic independence and initiative of enterprises. He argued that central planning should focus on formulating general indicators of economic development while allowing enterprises to plan their activities independently. In this context, Gatovsky also took a critical stance against centralized planning believing that excessive bureaucratic control stifled innovation and economic progress. Ultimately he also called for reforms that would empower enterprises to make decisions autonomously:"Stalin... substituted naked administration by fiat for economic instruments of directing the economy. Regulation of the use of financial resources by enterprises, where it is excessive and too detailed, should be eliminated, and enterprises should be given greater opportunity to manoeuvre with these resources" "Planning from below" Under this "improved" system, enterprises were given key indices from above, with Prime Minister Aleksei Kosygin outlining the limited set of parameters dictated centrally. However, what was not explicitly stated was the transformation of these indices from binding directives to mere guidelines. This shift empowered enterprises to plan their production autonomously, a system termed "planning from below" by Soviet economists. Consequently, the detailed central economic plan became a summation of individual enterprise plans. But this system introduced an element of indeterminacy, characterized by fluctuating plans and prices. While the Soviet state continued to draft overarching economic plans, they were no longer imposed through directives but influenced through economic incentives, mirroring practices in orthodox capitalist countries. Contemporary Soviet economists acknowledged this uncertainty, characterised by its "indeterminacy". The role of profit as production regulator The planned economy system, deeply rooted in Marxist and Stalinist principles, emphasized central directives and the allocation of resources to various sectors of production based on a detailed economic plan. Karl Marx advocated for the distribution of labor and production means through central planning, while Stalin reinforced this with his assertion that plans were binding and crucial for the country's economic development. However, General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev and Kosygin's 1965 reforms fundamentally altered this approach, introducing cost accounting (khozraschot) and emphasizing profitability at the enterprise level. Liberman and Gatovsky, played pivotal roles in shaping this new economic framework. Liberman pointed out that to assess an enterprise's overall profitability, profit should be related to the value of the social productive assets provided by the state, as this reflects the relative productivity of labor and the total resources used in production, a concept paralleling the capitalist rate of profit. Gatovsky defined profit in a socialist economy as the residual surplus of revenue over costs, serving as an incentive mechanism to enhance enterprise performance. This perspective marked a clear departure from Stalin's approach, who favored in favor long-term, nationwide economic goals, and for Gatovsky the reason profit had not been given importance:“An obvious belittling and, at times, outright ignoring of the importance of profit... were characteristic of the period of the cult of Stalin’s personality... Profit... was regarded as a purely formal category”.Nevertheless, the opposition claimed that even Lenin's endorsement of state enterprise profitability under the New Economic Policy (NEP) was intended as a temporary retreat to capitalist principles, not a permanent foundation for socialist development, and thus it was the duty of trade unions to protect worker's interest. The new profit-centric approach sparked debates on the role of profit in a socialist economy, highlighting the tension between maintaining socialist ideals and adopting pragmatic economic reforms to drive efficiency and growth. A "socialist market" The new "socialist market" in the Soviet Union involved a significant emphasis on sale of commodities for profit realization, meaning that enterprises had now to align their production with market demands. Gatovsky, defined the market under socialism as a sphere where state and cooperative enterprises market their products, both means of production and consumer goods. Gatovsky argued that the regulation of social production by the profit motive essentially equates to regulation by market forces, such as supply and demand, similar to those in capitalist economies, and that they should not be disregarded. Liberman, in turn, highlighted competition (or "emulation") among enterprises based on quality, delivery, and price guarantees. Gatovsky believed that these market forces, through the profit motive, would ensure the efficient allocation of resources and satisfy the people's needs given the existing productive capacities. But in turn, enterprises now would also had to engage in traditional capitalistic elements such as market research, advertising, and direct selling to effectively respond to market dynamics. Nevertheless, Gatovsky emphasized that what is economically profitable for enterprises should align with societal benefits, suggesting that material incentives for enterprise workers are integral to the economic mechanism of the socialist system. However, the adoption of market mechanisms under socialism drew criticism from Marxist-Leninist principles, which argue that capitalist markets inherently lead to unequal income distribution and misalignment between effective demand and real social demand. This can result in societal issues such as housing shortages despite an apparent surplus of office spaces driven by market profitability. The Soviet economic reform encouraged enterprises to mitigate market risks by forming direct contracts, and thus Soviet law began to mirror capitalist practices in terms of enforcing economic sanctions for contractual breaches. Despite these market-oriented changes, state participation in the market remained significant but limited, particularly in sectors like armaments and public infrastructure. The value of production assets Under the system of cost accountability, the rate of profit serves as the primary measure of an enterprise's efficiency, functioning as a regulator of social production. This rate is calculated as the profit made by an enterprise relative to the total cost of its production assets, which include both fixed assets (land, buildings, machinery) and circulating assets (materials, labor power, and depreciation). While in capitalist societies these assets are referred to as capital, the terminology in the Soviet context avoids this due to the Marxist-Leninist distinction, which only considers assets as capital when associated with the exploitation of the working class. Consequently, contemporary (to Gatovsky) Soviet economists, especially in specialized journals, often referred to these assets as capital too, emphasizing their role in profitability and the necessity of payments for their use. The introduction of these payments for production assets was a significant change from when these assets were allocated freely. This change aimed to ensure that the rate of profit was grounded in reality and to stimulate better utilization of resources. Differentiated payments based on factors such as quality, location, and size were introduced for natural assets like land, water, and minerals to reflect their varying contributions to profitability. Initially, enterprises made annual payments to the state for these assets, averaging 15% of their value, with new plants receiving a grace period. Later, a lump-sum payment option was introduced, allowing enterprises to finance these payments through bank credits repayable over the depreciation period of the assets. This system incentivized enterprises to extend the operational life of their equipment to maximize profitability. By 1971, these payments constituted a significant portion of state revenue, raising questions about the ownership of production assets, particularly whether they remained state-owned or became the property of the enterprises utilizing them. Credit and interest rates By 1965, 40% of enterprises' circulating assets were funded by bank credits, a figure that rose to 50% by 1976. This change was intended to make enterprises more accountable and economically driven. It is important to note that under the Soviet system, all banks were state institutions. In particular, the USSR State Bank (Gosbank SSSR), which specialized on short-term loans, and the Construction Bank (Stroibank), which specialized in long-term loans for construction. Gatovsky and other Soviet economists, such as V. Garbuzov and V. Batyrev, supported this shift, arguing that credit would drive better use of capital and enhance productivity. The reforms included extending long-term credits for capital investments, thus reducing reliance on non-repayable state funds. Interest rates were also adjusted to make loans more economically significant, with the standard rate raised to 4–4.25% for short-term and 4.5–6% for long-term loans by 1967.“Gratuitous financing – a form of financing that is scarcely connected with cost accounting – will be increasingly replaced by credit, i.e., by a form of loan to the enterprise that must be returned”.The new credit system aimed to differentiate interest rates based on the financial health and efficiency of enterprises. Well-managed enterprises received more favorable terms, while poorly run ones faced stricter conditions and punitive rates for late repayments. This approach mirrored practices in capitalist economies, where credit is used as a tool to influence economic behavior and performance, although Soviet economist claimed to be "qualitatively different". However, the practices and principles adopted during the reforms showed significant parallels, emphasizing efficiency, profitability, and the strategic use of credit as an economic lever. List of works “On price relationships in 1927/28 and early 1928/29” (1929) "Economic victory of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War" (1946) "Economic problems of scientific and technological progress" (1971) "Issues of the development of the political economy of socialism" (1979) "On the nature of Soviet trade at the present stage" (1931) "The transition period from capitalism to socialism" (1946) "Political Economy" (1954, with K.V. Ostrovityanova, and others.) "The Foundations for Constructing a Socialist Economy in the USSR" (1957, co-author and co-editor) "Standard Methodology for Determining the Economic Efficiency of Capital Investments" (1960, co-author and editor) "The Role of Profit in the Socialist Economy" (1962) "Unity of Plan and Cost Accounting" (1965) "Problems of economic stimulation and scientific and technological progress" (1967, co-author and editor) "The economic mechanism of connection between science and production" (1968) "Economic Development For Eastern Europe" (1968, collaborated with an article) "Economic Laws and the Construction of Communism: Essays in Political Economy" (1970) “Methodology for forecasting economic development of the USSR” (1971, jointly with N. P. Fedorenko and S. A. Heinman) "Economic problems of the scientific and technological revolution under socialism" (1975, editor) “The material and technical basis of communism” (vols. 1–2, 1977, jointly with E. I. Kapustin and S. A. Heinman) "The Efficiency of Scientific and Technological Progress: Management Issues" (1978, editor) “Issues of the development of the political economy of socialism” (1979) "Scientific and technological progress and the economics of socialism" (1979, editor) “Construction of the material and technical base of communism” (vols. 1–2, 1982, jointly with E. I. Kapustin and S. A. Heinman) Recognitions Gatovsky's contributions were recognized with several awards, including the Order of the Badge of Honor in 1962 and the Red Banner of Labor in both 1963 and 1973. He received the Order of the October Revolution in 1975 and the Order of Friendship of Peoples in 1983. His military service earned him the Order of the Red Star and medals for the defense of Moscow, victory over Germany, and victory over Japan. His scientific accomplishments were honored with the gold medal from the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy and the Sorbonne medal, both awarded in 1971.

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