By Peter Ward March 18, 2016
Tennis Match-Fixing is Big
Daniele Bracciali © Robbie Mendelson. – Own work; originally posted to Flickr as Horia Tecau., CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11438954
Professional sports are big business. But where there is money to be made, corruption can follow. The latest sport to come under investigation for possible match fixing is tennis, following recent scandals in soccer and cricket. An article published by Buzzfeed News this week, in collaboration with the BBC and an Italian newspaper, alleges huge sums of money were offered to some of the world’s top professional tennis players to fix matches for the benefit of gambling syndicates. The article further suggests tennis authorities failed to investigate despite receiving tipoffs.
The BBC/ Buzzfeed investigation is based on files obtained from the trial of two Italian players, Daniele Bracciali and Potito Starace, who were accused by Italian authorities in early 2015 of attempting to fix at least two matches for gamblers in ongoing criminal charges they both deny. The two players were banned from professional tennis for life by the Italian tennis federation in August 2015 as a result of the allegations, but the ban was lifted just months later.
The files obtained by BBC and Buzzfeed from the trial of the two Italians suggest that prosecutors on the case, in fact, handed tennis authorities evidence of “worldwide” fixing in 2015. The court documents suggest that at least 37 players were offered between €50,000 and €300,000 to throw matches. The prosecutors claim this evidence was ignored.
Relying on the court documents, as well as interviews with prosecutors in Italy and the U.K., Buzzfeed reporters Heidi Blake and John Templon describe in detail how tennis authorities allegedly repeatedly ignored evidence suggesting widespread corruption in the sport.
How to Market Pot
Marijuana © Wikimedia Commons, public domain
How do you market a product that was only legalized in 2012? That is the question asked in Vauhini Vara’s piece in The Atlantic this week, which examines the art of marketing marijuana.
Pot companies have a big problem, she writes – not only do they have to overcome anti-drug bias, their product is becoming increasingly commoditized due to rising supply and falling costs, and the difficulty distinguishing one product from another.
Businesses have responded by focusing branding efforts to avoid slang associated with old school pot culture-it’s cannabis, not pot, for example-and offering up professional and trustworthy images of farmers and scientists in their advertisements.
Pot businesses can draw guidance from the marketing histories of cigarettes and beer, Vara argues. Like tobacco and alcohol, cannabis businesses need to change mainstream opinions of the drug first. Once public opinion of drinking beer and smoking cigarettes softened, marketers were able to focus on building brand loyalty.
But successful marketing efforts will likely bring increased scrutiny from public health officials, as they did in the case of beers and cigarettes, she notes.
Valeant’s Spectacular Decline
Drugs ©Charles Kaiser
Shares in pharmaceutical company Valeant closed on Tuesday down more than 51%, the latest chapter in the firm’s dramatic decline.
The staggering drop in stock price to $34, an 87% decrease from its peak in August, followed the company’s announcement on Tuesday that sales will come in $1 billion lower than expected this year. Valeant’s quarterly earnings report forecast revenue for this year at $11-$11.2 billion, down from its previous estimate of $12.5-$12.7 billion.
Valeant also admitted that it will fail to file its annual report on time, which will trigger notices of default from bondholders. Michael Pearson, the Chief Executive of Valeant, lost $180 million on Tuesday. Prior to the stock slide, he was a billionaire. Now he’s worth $250 million, Forbes reports.
Valeant had grown rapidly in recent years due to a number of acquisitions, but will now look to sell off non-core assets, according to Pearson.
The company’s problems began late last year, when it was accused of using distributor Philidor RX Services to inflate revenue for its dermatology business. Valeant shares plunged 18% in February when news broke that the SEC was investigating the company over its relationship with Philidor. In September, U.S. lawmakers also called for an investigation into Valeant’s high drug prices.
High drug prices have been brought into the spotlight by Presidential hopefuls like Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders this year.
Economic Perceptions Changing Fast
It’s been three months since the Federal Reserve raised its interest rate targets, and the U.S. economy hasn’t changed much since. However, consumer perception of how the economy is doing has changed, according to a data-driven article in The Wall Street Journal this week. They’ve grown more pessimistic.
Every month, The Conference Board, an independent business research organization, asks consumers what they think of the economy, and releases in-depth analysis of the answers they collect. The Journal article takes a look at how the average American consumer’s views on the economy have changed since December.
For example, in February, 38% of consumers believed that stock prices would fall in the coming year, versus 30.5% in December. Other graphics show that more people believe income and jobs will decrease in the next year.
The Week’s Top Headlines
More cautious Fed now sees only two rate hikes this year – Howard Schneider, Lindsay Dunsmuir, Reuters
London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Boerse agree merger – BBC
Google wants the federal government to help get self-driving cars on the road – Andrew Meola, Business Insider
Peabody Energy, world’s largest private coalminer, may file for bankruptcy – Joanna Walters, The Guardian
Foreign Tech And Engineering Students Can Now Stay In The U.S. Longer – Molly Hensley-Clancy, Buzzfeed News
‘President Trump’ as big a threat as jihadi terror to global economy – EIU – Graeme Wearden, The Guardian
SeaWorld says current generation of killer whales at parks will be its last – Joshua Berlinger, CNN
BOE Says ‘Brexit’ May Hit Spending as Key Rate Kept at 0.5% – Jill Ward, Bloomberg
Sony Buys Michael Jackson Stake in Music Venture for $750 Million -Dave McNary, Variety
Eurowings, Lufthansa’s Budget Service, Is Off to a Rocky Start – Nicola Clark, The New York Times
