The Year of the Lego

November 11, 2013

The Year of the Lego

Posted by Ted Trautman

Earlier this year, Lego overtook Hasbro to become the world’s second-largest toymaker, after Mattel. It was more than just one company outperforming another—it was Lego’s one brand generating more revenue than Hasbro’s sixty-eight brands, which include G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Mr. Potato Head. While Hasbro and Mattel have grown by creating and acquiring a diverse array of toys, Lego has adopted the opposite strategy: focus on the one, iconic product, but get more kids to play with it. There is little room left for Lego to grow in the United States, where it already controls eighty-five per cent of the construction-toy sector, besting imitators like Mattel’s Mega Bloks and has-beens such as Lincoln Logs and Erector sets. Lego’s revenue of nearly two billion dollars in the first half of 2013—compared with $1.43 billion for Hasbro—was boosted in large part by its growth of seventy per cent in China. That country, where parents are increasingly seeking out educational toys, has become the world’s second-largest toy market. The Asia-Pacific region will likely overtake North America as the largest regional toy market sometime next year. Read more of this post

Bitcoins being used in the Shanghai property market

Bitcoins being used in the Shanghai property market

Staff Reporter

2013-11-14

Three buildings on a 700,000 square-meter plot of land in the Pudong district of Shanghai, China look just like any of the other buildings in the city. What makes them different, however, is that space in these buildings can be purchased using bitcoins, a digital currency that is circulated on the internet and functions without the intermediation of a central authority. Read more of this post

China owns 7% of the arable land in the world, but it uses 35% of the total amount of chemical fertilizer and pesticide used in the world

China using 35% of the world’s chemical fertilizer

Staff Reporter

2013-11-14

The excessive use of chemical fertilizer needs to be curtailed to improve China’s soil quality, said Mao Yushi, a Chinese economist, at a conference on ecology and agriculture held in Beijing on Nov. 9. “Our country has the highest concentration of chemical fertilizer use, which has a seriously damaging effect on the soil,” said Mao in a Beijing Times report. Statistics presented during the conference show that the number of patients with chronic diseases in China has been growing annually by 3 million. Some experts regard food safety problem to be the main cause. Read more of this post

China’s logistics companies leaking customer data; One express sheet could be sold for 0.3 to 0.5 yuan (US$0.06-$0.16). A box containing 1,000 sheets could get 300 to 500 yuan (US$50-$80)

China’s logistics companies leaking customer data

Staff Reporter

2013-11-14

Single’s Day, which fell on Nov. 11, was a major shopping holiday for China’s e-commerce marketplaces and consumers, marking a peak season for express deliveries. Before the day arrived, Shanghai-based YTO Express, a major logistics company, had to apologize to its clients for privacy breaches leading to leaked personal data general chaos, according to the Guangzhou-based 21st Century Business Herald. Read more of this post

Swatch leaves luxury watchmakers in a quandary

Swatch leaves luxury watchmakers in a quandary

November 13, 2013: 8:18 AM ET

A court ruling in Switzerland is shaking up the centuries-old, multi-billion dollar watch industry.

By Lynnley Browning

FORTUNE — Inside a white chalet in the tiny village of Magglingen, tucked into the Jura mountains in the northwest corner of Switzerland, skilled artisans create luxury watches like the Dentelle et Diamants et Roses, an 18-carat gold confection with 101 pink and white diamonds that fetches up to $89,100. But the establisseurs, or assemblers, at Delance SA, one of dozens of tiny firms in this cradle of Swiss mechanical watchmaking, are not feeling Delance’s motto of “audacious, erotic, feminine, and powerful” these days. Read more of this post

Korea FSS reports financial CEOs’ pay; Average compensation for top 28 executives a cool $1.9 million a year

FSS reports financial CEOs’ pay

Average compensation for top 28 executives a cool $1.9 million a year

LEE EUN-JOO [angie@joongang.co.kr]

Nov 14,2013

While much attention has been given to exactly how much the heads of financial institutions are paid, a study by the country’s financial regulator shows that average annual compensation for the highest-paid 28 executives is 2.1 billion won ($1.96 million). According to the Financial Supervisory Service yesterday, chief executives at 65 financial institutions – financial holding companies, banks, investment companies and insurance companies – received an average of 850 million won in compensation last year, including regular bonuses, while financial group chiefs earned the most. Bank presidents received 1.8 billion won in compensation annually, while the heads of investment firms got 1.6 billion won and chiefs of insurance companies received 2 billion won. Read more of this post

Not so happy birthday: Abenomics ages, challenges remain

Not so happy birthday: Abenomics ages, challenges remain

9:15pm EST

By Stanley White and Tetsushi Kajimoto

TOKYO (Reuters) – A year after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took financial markets by storm with promises to revive the moribund Japanese economy, data showed growth slowed sharply and that his “Abenomics” policy mix is yet to secure a durable recovery. Growth in the world’s third-biggest economy decelerated in the third quarter after leading the Group of Seven industrial powers in the first half of the year, as capital spending, personal consumption and exports moderated. Read more of this post

To farmers, WCB dairy deal is not just about the money

To farmers, WCB dairy deal is not just about the money

PUBLISHED: 12 HOURS 38 MINUTES AGO | UPDATE: 5 HOURS 13 MINUTES AGO

Murray Goulburn’s sweetened $9-a-share bid for Warrnambool Cheese & Butter may be far higher than any other offer in the three-way fight for the Victorian dairy company. But in this remarkable $505 million takeover ­battle it is not just about the money. Many farmers who spoke to The Australian Financial Reviewsaid they would consider a lower bid – even from a foreign predator – if they believed it would better serve the state’s dairy industry. Read more of this post

Mahathir: Malaysia has potential in aircraft manufacturing

Updated: Thursday November 14, 2013 MYT 7:33:06 AM

Mahathir: Malaysia has potential in aircraft manufacturing

By LOSHANA K SHAGAR

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has the potential to expand into the aircraft manufacturing industry by producing the parts and components at a low cost, said former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. “Now that we have a national automotive industry, we can expand into aircraft; not by making our own but by producing parts, which we can do at a cheaper rate than Europe,” he said at the 4th Kuala Lumpur International Automotive Conference here yesterday. Read more of this post

Malaysia has highest level of English proficiency in Asia, overtaking Singapore who fell behind to 12th position

06 November 2013| last updated at 05:00PM

Malaysia has highest level of English proficiency in Asia

By A. Azim Idris

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia has the highest English language proficiency level in the entire Asian region, according to a latest research by Swiss-based international education company EF Education First (EF).

The nation also climbed two notches higher to 11^th place from 13th position last year in the EF English Proficiency Index which saw over 60 countries being surveyed. The results revealed that Malaysia, which was placed in the ‘High Proficiency’ category, had overtaken Singapore who fell behind to 12^th position in the world ranking. Malaysia scored 58.99 points in the survey while neighbouring Singapore received a 58.92 score. Read more of this post

How to copy a hedge fund billionaire’s investment plan

How to copy a hedge fund billionaire’s investment plan

By Tim Fernholz @timfernholz 7 hours ago

I realized the pop culture phenomenon that is the activist investor had taken a new turn when a friend showed me an iPhone app at a party. iBillionaire lets you track the investments of “billionaire investors” whose names you know (Carl Icahn, David Loeb, David Tepper and David Einhorn among them) and compare them to your own feeble portfolio. Read more of this post