Business News

The Aggregate: the B&F edit of the top stories from around the web 20.07.17

By Business & Finance

20 July 2017

Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever

America’s swathes of unused retail space, a cautionary tale of personal spending (on a large scale) and Unilever boss’s appeal for slower Brexit transition.

RETAIL: SHUTTING UP SHOPS

The US is over-subscribed with vast swathes of unused retail property as commerce moves online.

“A slimming down is already underway. Earlier this year, analysts at Credit Suisse estimated that more stores could shutter this year than during the Great Recession in 2008. Hedge funds, as noted by the Financial Times and others, think the next big short opportunity is likely to come from retail.”

Read the full story on Quartz

PERSONAL FINANCE: HOW (NOT) TO SPEND IT

A cautionary tale of personal finances – when even great wealth can’t keep up with profligate spending. Actor Johnny Depp is suing his former business managers Joel and Robert Mandel for fraud, but their counterclaim points to his French chateau, private Bahamian islands, 156-foot yacht and more.

“Mandel is said to have advised him on what he had to do work-wise to meet the huge expense of owning the yacht along with his other financial obligations: two studio pictures a year—or $40 million in guaranteed compensation… The yacht would have a multi-national crew of eight and operating and maintenance costs between $300,000 and $400,000 a month.”

Read the full story on Vanity Fair

BREXIT: DO NO MORE DAMAGE

Unilever boss Paul Polman called for a slower, and smooter Brexit transition, ahead of talks with British Prime Minister Theresa May.

“Polman, a Dutch national, said talks will also cover how the private sector can influence the process so that complex issues – such as border taxes, intellectual property, regulations or data protection – ‘can proceed as smoothly as possible without doing further damage than what we have to deal with already.’

‘You can imagine from where I’m sitting, as a European but having my heart in the U.K. as well, that I have some concrete suggestions of what can be done there,’ Polman said.”