McDonald’s Channel comes to California restaurants
McDonald’s Corp will roll out a high-definition
television channel to nearly 800 restaurants in southern and
central California by March. The world’s biggest hamburger
chain is doing this as part of a test, and one day hopes to
take it across the United States.Businesses from gas stations and grocery stores to coffee
maker Starbucks Corp are beaming more entertainment
directly to customers, trying to address a captive audience in
a world crawling with entertainment options.McDonald’s Channel content partners include Walt Disney
Co’s ABC, BBC America and reality television producer
Mark Burnett, who is known for such hits as “Survivor” and “The
Apprentice.”Test markets have include Los Angeles, San Diego, Las
Vegas, Manhattan, Seattle and some communities in Oklahoma.As it evolves, the McDonald’s Channel will add more local
programming such as high school sports news.”We think that’s a major part of the community that the
channel can really bring to life,” said Leland Edmondson,
founder of ChannelPort Communications, which is overseeing the
project. “We’re talking to a number of sports properties.”The programming will include exclusive content and be made
up of short spots ranging in length from 90 seconds to 20
minutes. Diners who want to see longer versions of some spots
will have the option access them via mobile devices or home
computers.”There’s no remote on the table, but there is Wi-Fi in the
restaurant,” Edmondson said.Programs include “The McDonald’s Achievers,” profiles of
local high school and college athletes; “Mighty Moms,” about
local mothers balancing families and careers in sports; and
“Vimby” (Video In My Backyard), which has partnered with
Burnett to cover local lifestyle news including fashion, art,
music, action sports and nightlife.The channel will show less than eight minutes of
advertising per hour. McDonald’s will take a fraction of that
time, which will be shared with other brands, he said.Eventually, every McDonald’s in southern California will
carry the channel, which will be seen by about 18 million
McDonald’s customers in the area each month, Edmondson said.
UPDATE 1-KMG Chemicals Q4 profit falls
Oct 13 (Reuters) - Speciality chemicals maker KMG Chemicals
quarterly profit fell, hurt partly by a rapid increase
in raw material costs in its electronic chemical segment.For the fourth quarter, the company posted a net income of
$1.2 million, or 10 cents per share, compared with $3.4 million,
or 30 cents per share, a year ago.Net sales for the fourth quarter rose 19 percent to $74.2
million.Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of 11 cents a
share on revenue of $73.5 million, according to Thomson Reuters
I/B/E/S.”Absent a global recession, we believe we will see organic
growth in our Electronic Chemicals business in 2012 and beyond,”
chief executive Neal Butler said in a statement.Shares of the Houston, Texas-based company, valued at about
$160.3 million, closed at $14.81 on Nasdaq on Wednesday.
Paulson braces investors for the worst
* Paulson not expected to take in new moneyBy Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Katya WachtelBOSTON/NEW YORK, Oct 11 (Reuters) - John Paulson could face
a two-pronged problem in the coming weeks as outside investors
and possibly even some of his own employees walk in the wake of
the hedge fund firm’s worst-ever returns.The firm told investors on Tuesday that as much as a
quarter of its assets could depart in a “worst-case” scenario
if all people who are eligible cash out by the end of the
year.Paulson’s team hosted a call to go over last month’s
results only a few days after he notified investors that one of
Paulson & Co’s biggest funds is down 47 percent for the year.Many of Paulson’s funds have lost big this year, as the
well-known money manager bet wrong that the U.S. economy would
revive sooner rather than later.However, in the days leading up to the investor call, some
on Paulson’s team had been telling brokers and others on Wall
Street that at least 20 percent of the $30 billion in assets
the fund manages could be redeemed. The deadline to get out of
the biggest funds — the Advantage funds — is coming up on
Oct. 31.Outsiders have long said Paulson is in no danger of
collapsing because about 40 percent of the assets are owned by
the billionaire stock picker and his dozen or so most trusted
lieutenants.But some analysts working in the $2 trillion hedge fund
industry say with Paulson’s funds slumping so badly, some of
his top employees could look to leave at year’s end and cash-in
their chips.Some of Paulson’s employees — whose money has been locked
up for years — will receive the final installment of their
bonus for 2008 this year, say people familiar with the hedge
fund.For some time Paulson had structured bonuses to vest over a
four-year period. That practice has been scrapped this year so
that bonuses for 2011 — a year where Paulson’s flagship
Advantage Fund is off 32 percent and its Advantage Plus cousin
is down 47 percent — would be paid immediately.Consultants who track personnel movements in the hedge fund
industry believe that there will not be a mass exodus from
Paulson. The man who earned $5 billion personally last year
will still be able to pay his roughly 120 employees very well
considering the management fees he will earn on $30 billion in
assets.One recruiter in the industry said he has not yet received
any resumes from Paulson employees.”He has huge management fees and his team will likely still
be compensated very well so I think they will stick it out —
everyone can have a bad year,” said the person who asked not to
be named because he is fielding calls from many hedge fund firm
employees.One critical point is that industry consultants and bankers
on Wall Street are fairly sure Paulson will not be able to
attract new money now even though he promised not to charge
performance fees on new money.
