Business Best Friend

Nissan Motor named Senior Vice President Makoto Uchida as chief executive officer . The automaker also appointed Mitsubishi Motors Chief Operating Officer Ashwani Gupta as its COO. "The board concluded that Uchida is the right leader to drive the business forward," Nissan chairman, and acting CEO, Yasushi Kimura said in a statement. "We expect Uchida to lead the company as one team, immediately focus on the recovery of the business and revitalize the company." Uchida, 53, will head the company beginning no later than Jan. 1, Nissan officials announced at a news conference at its headquarters in Yokohama. Mr. Uchida has worked at the company since 2003 and led its China operations since 2018. China is considered a key market for the struggling company . The appointments of Uchida and Gupta come after months of turmoil for the automaker in the wake of the arrest of former chief Carlos Ghosn on allegations of financial misconduct. Former C...

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and Ford Motor Co and on Wednesday reported higher pick-up truck sales for the third quarter in the United States. Lower interest rates helped boost demand in a market that has seen sales decline. Ford said sales of its pick-up trucks rose 5% to 240,387 vehicles, its best third-quarter performance in 14 years. Car sales fell 4.9% to 580,251 automobiles, hurt by lower demand for its passenger cars including the Taurus sedan,  but better than analysts' consensus estimate of a 6.1% decline. Fiat Chrysler’s sales of its Ram pick-up trucks surged 14% to 161,635, marginally lifting overall sales by 0.1% to 565,034 cars. The company's Jeep Wrangler brand reported third-quarter sales of 59,035, a record for a third quarter, while its Ram truck brand saw a 15% increase to a record third-quarter 179,200 vehicles sold. The Dodge Challenger reported its highest third-quarter sales with 18,031 vehicles sold. Automakers in the United States are foc...

Oil prices slipped on Tuesday as manufacturing data from Europe and Japan focused market attention on the gloomy outlook for demand. Meanwhile uncertainty around supply disruptions in Saudi Arabia remains. Brent crude futures LCOc1 fell 40 cents to $64.37 a barrel by 0624 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures CLc1 were at $58.31, down 33 cents. “The demand side of the equation is back in focus,” said Michael McCarthy, senior market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney, pointing to sluggish manufacturing numbers in leading economies in Europe as well as Japan. “That’s why we’re seeing a little bit more (downward) pressure on Brent than West Texas at the moment.” Still, oil prices remained at comparatively elevated levels for the year in the wake of the Sept. 14 attack on Saudi Arabia’s largest oil processing facility that halved output in the world’s top oil exporter. Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia has restored more than 75% of crude...

Li Ka-shing GBM KBE JP is a Hong Kong business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. As of June 2019, Li is the 30th richest person in the world , with an estimated net wealth of US$29.4 billion. He is the senior advisor for CK Hutchison Holdings, after he retired from the Chairman of the Board in May 2018; through it, he is the world’s leading port investor, developer, and operator of the largest health and beauty retailer in Asia and Europe. Li was one of the most influential entrepreneurs in Asia, presiding over a business empire with a diverse portfolio of businesses from a wide array of industries, including transportation, real estate, financial services, retail, and energy and utilities. His conglomerate company Cheung Kong Holdings was influential in many sectors of the Hong Kong economy and made up 4% of the aggregate market capitalisation of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Forbes Magazine and the Forbes family honoured Li Ka-shing with the first ever Malcolm S. Forbes L...

Americans love shrimp, but what about faux shrimp? Tyson Ventures, the venture capital fund owned by Tyson Foods, announced an investment in San Francisco-based  New Wave Foods , a female-founded startup that makes plant-based shrimp. Tyson Foods did not disclose the amount of this investment or any other details about the deal. “We’re excited about this investment in the fast-growing segment of the plant-based protein market,” said Amy Tu, president of Tyson Ventures . “This continues our focus of identifying and investing in companies with disruptive products and breakthrough technologies related to our core business so we can continue to serve a growing global population.” New Wave’s product is based on co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Michelle Wolf’s collaboration with a research and development team that included leading food scientists and academics. The company’s first offering, a plant-based shrimp, is made with sustainably sourced seaweed and plant protein a...

Nicole Junkermann is a business leader, entrepreneur and investor. She is focused primarily on the crossover between the media and technology sectors. German born and London-based, Junkermann is the founder of NJF Holdings , which includes NJF Capital, NJF Private Equity, NJF Real Estate and The JJ Collection. Nicole Junkermann is among a new group of well-connected, successful entrepreneurs. She believes that digital innovation and experimental technology will create breakthroughs in areas from medicine to education, and from retailing to premium content consumption. Nicole Junkermann career Nicole Junkermann began her business career as a co-founder of football gaming portal Winamax. Following its sale in 2001, she invested in newly-founded Infront Sports and Media, a sports media rights agency. Three of her early investments, Songza, Dollar Shave Club and RelatelQ, were acquired by Google, Unilever and Salesforce, respectively. Nicole Junkermann’s holdings and activities ha...