Here’s our look at the big stories this morning on the business beat.
Blazing new trails: Canada’s largest (authorized) producer of marijuana, Tweed Inc. of Smiths Falls, Ont., announced today its launching an “artist in residence” program, and the first resident artist is a Montrealer, documentary filmmaker and photographer Ezra Soiferman. Tweed said the point of the program is to “bring its voice and the dialogue about cannabis into Canada’s artistic communities.” Tweed’s chief creative officer, Martin Strazovec, said Soiferman “is a gifted storyteller who will help us expand our reach through his art,” and the company is hoping the collaboration will bring “art to cannabis and cannabis to art.” Some of the photography-based projects from the year-long residency will be based on cannabis related subjects and themes such as marijuana and hemp. The first project is The Walls of Montreal, a photo-based music video that will make its premiere at the N.D.G. Off The Wall Film Festival in Montreal on Aug. 26. Soiferman co-directed an award-winning 1993 medical marijuana film called Pressure Drop and created Hemp for the Homeless in 2006, a project that donated functional hemp food and clothing kits to Montreal homeless shelters. “I have always strived to produce work that educates, entertains and even enlightens. Doing so with a forward-thinking company like Tweed will be a highlight in my career and help to bring my stories and images to an increasingly diverse audience,” Soiferman said in a company release.
Gawker changes hands: Spanish-language broadcaster Univision has won the auction for Gawker Media, put on the block after a $140-million court judgment against it in the Hulk Hogan invasion-of-privacy case. Univision is paying $135 million (U.S.) for the online gossip and news publisher, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the deal had not been formally announced. Expanding from its Spanish-language base, Univision has been investing in media properties aimed at young people, including taking a stake in satirical website The Onion in January. In April, it said it was taking full control of Fusion, a TV channel and website aimed at English-speaking young people it had launched with ABC in 2013. Univision outbid Ziff Davis, the owner of tech and gaming sites, in the auction for Gawker Media. They were the only two bidders, according to a person familiar with the bankruptcy auction. A judge must still approve the sale at a hearing Thursday. Gawker Media properties include its namesake site, the women-focused Jezebel, tech-oriented Gizmodo and sports site Deadspin. It filed for bankruptcy in June, about three months after Hogan won his lawsuit against the 14-year-old company. Hogan, a former professional wrestler whose real name is Terry Bollea, sued over a tape posted by Gawker showing him having sex with a friend’s wife. The case gained additional notoriety when it was revealed Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel had secretly bankrolled Hogan’s lawsuit. Thiel was outed as gay by a Gawker-owned website in 2007.
Tough retail climate hampers U.S. giants: The day is starting badly on the retail front. American chain Target cut its profit and comparable-store sales outlook after second-quarter net income fell nearly 10 per cent, to $680 million (U.S.). Sales at stores open at least a year fell 1.1 per cent, reversing seven straight quarters of gains. Overall revenue dropped 7.2 per cent to $16.2 billion. The company now expects earnings this year in the range of $4.80 to $5.20, lower than the $5.20 to $5.40 it had projected earlier. Same-stores sales could fall as much as 2 per cent in the second half of the year, Target said. U.S.-based home improvement company Lowe’s, which owns the Rona chain in Canada, also disappointed with its profit of $1.17 billion (U.S.) for the three months ended July 29. Revenue of $18.26 billion was up from last year but also short of estimates. Sales at stores open at least a year, a key gauge of a retailer’s health, rose two per cent, less than half the 4.2 per cent industry analysts had projected, according to FactSet. Last week, Lowe’s reduced its full-year profit estimate to $4.06 per share from $4.11.
New home for video ads: Pinterest Inc. is starting to offer video advertising on its image-based social network, seeking to catch up in a fast-growing market. While Facebook and Twitter have honed their video-advertising offerings for years, Pinterest pursued other priorities, like building its business model, improving search and making it possible to buy some items directly from the site. Now the San Francisco-based startup realizes that it’s behind on video. “It’s something we’ve under-invested in in the past, and we’re changing that,” said Jon Kaplan, who was hired from Google earlier this year to be Pinterest’s head of sales. “This is all part of a broader push from the company to make video a bigger part of the consumer and advertiser experience.” Pinterest’s site and app let people browse and save inspirational images of things they want to buy, make or do in the future. The company tracks a person’s activity to create personalized feeds of photos they think will appeal to that user. Within those feeds, more video has started to pop up — with YouTube now the top source of pinned items and video use up 60 percent from a year ago, Pinterest said. The company is also working on a tool to let people post and view original video on Pinterest. The new video ads will be interspersed with those personalized feeds, catering to the interests of whoever is browsing.
Markets wavering: Global stocks weakened and the price of oil flattened today as investors awaited the release of the minutes to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s latest meeting for hints on when interest rates might be raised again. Crude oil, creeping higher after dipping below $40 (U.S.) a barrel two weeks ago, was trading for $46.41 (U.S.). The Canadian dollar is back to 77.6 cents (U.S.) after nudging 78 cents this week, its highest level in two months.
