Bob McDonald, who’s led P&G since July 2009, serves on the board of 21 different organizations, and Bill Ackman thinks that may be more than a few too many.
Excerpt from: Ackman: P&G CEO may need to go
Category : World News
Ex-Barclays boss Bob Diamond was “reluctant” to agree that pay at the bank was too high, a former employee tells a Parliamentary commission.
Excerpt from: Barclays ‘ignored pay warnings’
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Mark Williamson
Imperial Tobacco Group PLC announces the appointment of Mark Williamson as Deputy Chairman of the Board, effective immediately. Mark joined the Board in July 2007 and was appointed Senior Independent Non-Executive Director in 2012, a role which he will continue to perform. He was formerly Chief Financial Officer of International Power PLC and is a Non-Executive Director of National Grid PLC and Alent PLC.
 Politico |
No debate: Bob Schieffer got it just right
Politico Finally, the moderator isn't the story. The cardinal rule of debate moderation is this: it isn't about the moderator. But in the first three debates of the 2012 presidential campaign, the moderator invariably became part of the story: Jim Lehrer lost control; Martha … Schieffer ends final debate with advice: go vote Bob Schieffer stays cool amid debate's heat Bob Schieffer's muted moderator role in final US presidential debate Category : Stocks PITTSBURGH, PA–(Marketwire – Sep 30, 2012) – Unique Pizza and Subs Corporation ( PINKSHEETS : UPZS ) today announced Pizza Fusion’s domestic expansion strategy, beginning with a new Pizza Fusion franchise in Charlotte, NC to be opened this fall. The Company announced on August 29 it had signed a Definitive Agreement to acquire privately held Pizza Fusion Holdings, with closing expected in the fourth quarter. With its proven success throughout its initial phase of development, Pizza Fusion’s very Unique natural, organic and eco-friendly restaurants lead the industry in this powerful and inevitable trend towards a healthier lifestyle and planet. Pizza Fusion’s next phase of development calls for accelerating U.S. expansion to capitalize on its hugely popular and highly acclaimed offering. This strategy utilizes sophisticated analysis of prospective new markets and thorough qualification of potential franchisees — to capitalize on rapidly growing consumer demand and increasing levels of interest from potential franchisees. Accordingly, UPZS is announcing it will open its 14th U.S. Pizza Fusion franchise in Charlotte, North Carolina this fall, a city widely considered a model mid American city that hosted the recent Democratic National Convention. UPZS plans to announce several more new Pizza Fusion franchise agreements throughout the U.S. in the weeks and months ahead. Under the Pizza Fusion standard franchise agreement, it receives a $30,000 franchise fee upon opening, with recurring cash flows from royalty fees of six percent and marketing fees of three percent of revenue. “Our domestic expansion strategy has now been proven and perfected over the past two years,” said Vaughan Lazar, CEO and co-founder of Pizza Fusion. “Through extensive research and demographic analysis, similar to that of a Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s, we have determined the optimal locations for further expansion of our franchise. Riding the crest of surging consumer demand for fresh, natural organic food, we are excited to be growing organically in an otherwise difficult economy that is seeing many of the 20th century concept restaurant chains stagnating or closing outlets. “With the high level of prominence Pizza Fusion has gained, we are also seeing a surge in interest from well qualified franchisees. We enthusiastically seek to partner with entrepreneurs that share our passion for providing fresh, organic healthy food through an eco-friendly franchise model.” “Consumer demand for fresh, organic food is a macro trend with unlimited potential as exemplified by the popularity of specialty grocer Whole Foods and Annie Food’s Homegrown prepared meals to name just a couple,” continued Mr. Lazar. “Seventy-five percent of U.S. families buy organic products at least occasionally and sales in organic categories increased 9.5 percent year-over-year between 2009 and 2011. With pizza store sales of $36 billion annually, the Pizza Fusion franchise model has enormous potential.” James Vowler, Unique Pizza and Subs President & CEO, stated, “Vaughan, Randy Romano (President of Pizza Fusion), the Fusion employees and all of the Fusion franchisees have done all the hard work: developing their award winning, organic and all natural recipes; proving and perfecting food costs and profit margins; designing and building eco-friendly store locations; setting up and implementing a national vendors distribution network that carries all of their high end proprietary organic items necessary for the franchisees’ success; developed and proven successful marketing strategies; built a network of loyal customers and industry correspondents nationwide; and most of all they have proven they are an industry leader through their customer popularity, economic success and numerous awards. Now the real fun begins! The opening of the Charlotte store is the beginning of a new phase for Pizza Fusion as it rolls out its aggressive domestic expansion strategy.” New Charlotte NC Franchise The new 1,700 square-foot Pizza Fusion Charlotte will be located around the corner from Trader Joe’s in the Metropolitan shopping plaza, at 1055 Metropolitan Avenue. “I’m looking forward to introducing Pizza Fusion to Charlotte residents. Its unmatched approach to homemade cooking — using superior quality ingredients — creates unmatched freshness and flavor in every bite,” Bob Leigh, co-owner of Pizza Fusion Charlotte, states. “I find great satisfaction in running a restaurant that makes food the way I do in the comfort of my home. There’s something to be said for using your hands to make fresh, delicious food from high quality ingredients; not cheap ingredients that arrive pre-made or frozen.” About Pizza Fusion The restaurant maintains high standards for eco-friendly operations and procedures, building its locations according to LEED certification standards. The restaurant serves up a three-course menu for lunch and dinner, featuring a delicious assortment of fresh salads, appetizers, artisan pizzas, sandwiches, and desserts. For more information on Pizza Fusion or to view its menu, visit http://www.pizzafusion.com. Follow Pizza Fusion on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pizzafusion and Twitter: @PizzaFusion. About Unique Pizza and Subs Safe Harbor Statement Continue reading here: Unique Pizza & Subs Corp. (UPZS: OTC Link) | UPZS Announces Pizza Fusion Domestic Expansion Strategy; Will Open Next Pizza Fusion Franchise in Charlotte, NC Category : Stocks, World News A new White House report warns that massive across-the-board spending cuts at the start of the new year would be “deeply destructive” to core government responsibilities and especially the military. But Pres. Obama’s own defense budget calls for big cuts, and Bob Woodward’s new book suggests the Administration instigated the idea of sequestration to gain political ground. Read more from the original source: A new White House report warns that massive across-the-board spending cuts at the start of the new year would be "deeply destructive" to core government responsibilities and especially the military. But Pres. Obama’s own defense budget… Category : Business Barclays appoints Antony Jenkins as its new chief executive following the resignation of Bob Diamond over the Libor interest rate fixing scandal. See more here: New chief executive at Barclays Category : Business, World News Former Barclays chief Bob Diamond hits back at claims he was “highly selective” in his evidence to MPs during the Libor rate-fixing scandal. The rest is here: Diamond hits back at MPs’ claims Category : Business
John Jeremiah Sullivan’s essays on US culture have amazing scope and substance I began this book reluctantly – I was deep into Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up the Bodies, which is pretty much the exact opposite – but by the end I wanted to hand out copies to all those poor folks I see squirming their way through the squalid prose-dungeons of Fifty Shades. I wanted to launch a new British magazine especially for long-form journalism. I wanted to go out and round up a good few of the nation’s so-called columnists and shame them into admitting that the weekly crap-farragoes that they are pretending to call careers will no longer do. I wanted to say “that’s what I’m talking about”. What am I talking about? Pulphead is a collection of essays that appeared in various American magazines written by a journalist in his late 30s, whom almost nobody in Britain will know. But my guess is that those of you who like real writing (I know you’re out there) will soon come to love John Jeremiah Sullivan – especially if he turns his talent to writing fiction, which, on the evidence of this collection, would not be too great a stretch. My stateside siblings tell me that he’s already got a foot on the same escalator that took Foster Wallace, Franzen and the gang per aspera ad astra. Meanwhile, various people are calling him the next Tom Wolfe this and the new Hunter S Thompson that. Who knows? I’d say hold off a spell – he’s simply not produced enough assessable work. But I certainly found this collection wonderfully engaging, lucid, intelligent, entertaining, interesting and amusing. The first pleasure of Pulphead is the subject matter. There is the best essay you will ever read on Michael Jackson and the only essay you’ll ever read on Axl Rose. There’s the oddly emotional and disconcerting account of attending a Christian rock music festival entitled Upon This Rock. There’s the story of Sullivan’s time living with the mad old American writer Andrew Nelson Lytle, who late one night finally got around to touching the young John Jeremiah’s genitals. There’s a supreme piece of writing – part analysis, part paean – about reality television. There’s an account of going to meet Bunny Wailer, the only surviving member of Bob Marley’s original band, in Jamaica. There’s a disarmingly convivial trip to Disney World. There’s a wonderfully illuminating investigation into the lyrics of a pre-second world war blues song – and in particular what the word “kind” once meant – in the sense of “a little more than kin and less than kind”. There’s a moving and hyper-real account of Sullivan’s brother’s near death by accidental electrocution, a post-Katrina excursion to the Gulf Coast, some piquant pages on the Tea Party and a piece about the coming war between homo sapiens and the rest of the animal kingdom. The second pleasure is the sophistication. So often the clarity of a writer’s voice comes at the expense of a subtlety in tone. Not here. The two best pieces of the ensemble – Getting Down to What is Really Real and Upon This Rock – are written with such a well-judged balance of close-up love and objective report that they subverted my prejudices entirely and left me admiring Sullivan’s way of admiring. I went into these chapters belligerently not giving a toss about reality TV and believing the Christian rock music scene to be the single most colossally redundant human phenomenon to date; I came out a changed reader. Sullivan had guided me through these alien worlds in a way that revealed to Bob Miller’s seventh novel, Abyss of Consequences, will be released July 25. Read more: Bob Miller Launches Latest Book, Abyss of Consequences |
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