Shop Talk
Retailers, consumers and prices
Check Out Line: The latest bookseller boss shakeup
Check out the new guy in charge at Barnes & Noble.
On Thursday, Barnes & Noble named William Lynch, the (young) father of its Nook e-reader, as its new chief executive. Outgoing CEO Stephen Riggio — the chairman and founder’s brother — is sticking around as a vice chairman.
Barnes & Noble appears to be betting that the Nook will be a prime source of future growth. Lynch, 39, called e-books “key to our future” during a morning conference call.
Lynch’s appointment comes less than two months after smaller rival Borders saw its CEO leave after a year.
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Check Out Line: Summit highlights
Check out some of the latest news from the 2010 Reuters Food and Agriculture Summit.
Forrest Roberts, CEO of the largest U.S. cattle group, said China represents a potential $100 billion market for beef. Meanwhile, agricultural analysts expect to see increased wheat competition from the Black Sea region.
Health trends were also a hot topic. Like many of us, there are certain not-so-good for you foods that even the most athletic CEOs won’t stop eating. Hmm, maybe so many of them are runners so that they can eat these treats without feeling guilty?
Hungry more from this year’s summit? Follow us on Twitter for more of the latest news.
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Food shortage + financial crisis = bleak outlook
The global economic meltdown has the World Bank on high alert. As the financial crisis deepens, the World Bank is issuing even bleaker warnings about rising poverty and hunger in the developing world. Initially, it estimated that 46 million people in developing countries could be pushed into poverty. Now, that level is up another 7 million.
“We estimate that about 130 million people were pushed into poverty from the food crisis and if you add the financial crisis on top of that we are estimating that about 53 million more people could be pushed into poverty as a result of the financial crisis,” World Bank Managing Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told the Reuters Food and Agriculture Summit. Children and women are being hardest hit, she said. The World Bank estimated that the current financial downturn may add between 200,000 and 400,000 additional infant deaths per year on average in the 2009 to 2015 period. That means a total of 1.4 million to 2.8 million more infant deaths, if the financial strain continues. “The one big piece we need to look at in this financial crisis and its translation into the food crisis is that we’re talking about human beings,” said Okonjo-Iweala. “Remember that 923 million people are malnourished the world over. When you talk about the financial crisis becoming an unemployment crisis in the developed world, in the developing world for many poor people it’s not an issue of unemployment, it’s an issue of life and death.” (Reuters photos of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Jan. 2009/Girls waiting for drinking water in Kathmandu, March 2009)
from Summit Notebook:
Feeding America’s six degrees of separation
While the six degrees game is tied to Kevin Bacon, connections to other celebrities are helping a major charity.
Feeding America, formerly known as America's Second Harvest, has several celebrities on its entertainment council, including chairman David Arquette.
The actor, who volunteers at a Venice, California, food pantry twice a week, and wife Courteney Cox Arquette introduced Feeding America to Ben Silverman, the co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and NBC Universal Television Studio, President and CEO Vicki Escarra said at the Reuters Food and Agriculture Summit. One large way Feeding America has gotten its name out over the past few months is through its mentions on NBC's "The Biggest Loser" weight loss television show. Escarra said Feeding America met last week with Silverman "to see if there's a way that Feeding America can really be more involved in the properties of NBC." She said Silverman is now considering the idea.
Among many campaigns from corporations that highlight Feeding America is one that caught even Escarra by surprise. "We now have a really nice piece that I didn't even know we had. I was watching TV Sunday night and I saw this really beautiful Visa commercial," she said. Escarra also spoke about some upcoming campaigns. The Arquettes will appear in 40 magazines and on signs in U.S. post offices in April and May promoting the Letter Carriers' food drive. Last year, the drive collected 73 million pounds of food, according to Feeding America. And for Easter, along with the egg producers, Feeding America is doing an event in Hollywood. For every egg decorated by celebrities and their children, a tractor trailer full of eggs will go to a food bank.
(Reuters photo)
from Summit Notebook:
How much for the bag of magic (soy)beans?
The weakening of the U.S. dollar and other currencies has led farmers around the world to value their crops more highly than they do money, said Dan Basse, president of agricultural research firm AgResource Co.
"In Argentina, for example, farmers down there are more anxious to hold onto soybeans than pesos. When they need currency they're willing to take a bag of beans and trade it for whatever they need during that particular day or week.
"I can even say the same in places of the world like eastern Europe and Russia, where the rouble has lost a tremendous amount of value and farmers there feel more comfortable storing some of their grain."
Basse, speaking at the Reuters Food and Agriculture Summit, also said he is watching governments in countries like China, Russia and even Saudi Arabia forming crop reserves.
(Reuters photo)
from Summit Notebook:
Not for all the tea in China
Sara Lee Chief Executive Brenda Barnes is looking to expand the reach of the food maker. But one thing she isn't looking to do is sell tea in China.
Geographic expansion is a key strategy for the company through its coffee, tea and household products brands, she said at the Reuters Food and Agriculture Summit. However, business in Western Europe has suffered over the past eight months from recession.
Sara Lee has a good household and body care business in the few hundred overseas markets in which it competes, but not in the world's largest market.
"We don't have any plans to go into China. It's such a huge, enormous market that requires an enormous amount of investment and in the near term we believe that our investment is better applied to markets where we have a footprint."
"Unless you acquired your way in, and if you look at the acquisitions in China they're all quite pricey and it would be difficult to have them pay off in any near term."
Barnes has nothing against that market, however. After all, when asked later to identify her favorite food, she replied, "I'm a big fan of Asian food."
(Reuters photo)
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