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WE LOVE CALIFORNIA!
FACEBOOK TOLD TO GET MORE WOMEN,
MOTHERCARE LACKS MATERNAL INSTINCTS
AND SWATCH SHOWS THEM HOW IT’S DONE
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As if we needed a new reason to love California… the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) has asked Facebook to add women to its all-male board of directors. Yeah! “There is clear evidence that companies with diverse boards perform far better than companies with more homogenous boards,” CalSTRS said. Perhaps they’ve been reading our Golden Girl Finance columns!
This sends a message to public boards everywhere… CalSTRS manages $145 billion and is one of the largest public pension funds in the US. It already has a stake in Facebook through a private equity investment and will likely buy up a whole lot of shares in the new IPO. Rumour has it COO Sheryl Sandberg is a candidate for Facebook’s board. We love Sheryl, but surely she’s not the only qualified female! We’ll send them a list…
You know it's an issue when even Mothercare lacks mamisma… Mothercare (LSE:MTC) is a major international retailer of baby, mother and toddler goods (80% of pregnant women in the UK shop there!) yet its highly masculine board has an average age of 58 and consequently, a rather glaring lack of maternal instincts. Quelle surprise, the 50-year old formerly super-profitable company is losing money in its home market. Enter new CEO Simon Calver, who comes from LOVEFiLM… Sounds risqué but really it's the UK’s #1 dvd rental and video streaming business, which Mr. Calver sold to Amazon (NSQ:AMZN) last year. The 47-year old recently became a first-time dad, so at least he and his wife will be sharing the joys and pains of his clients.
Just watch what a woman on a board can do… Swatch Group (UHR:SIX) is a case in point of a company with a healthy mix of women and men on its board. Headed by Nayla Hayek as Chair, the Swiss watchmaker reported record annual sales this week. The results are especially impressive considering that the Swiss franc is one of the costliest currencies around these days and prices of raw material such as metals and diamonds are also higher than ever. Swatch shared the love and rewarded investors with a 15% dividend. Yay Nayla! Warm fuzzies all around.
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Dinner Party Nibbles
Greek struggles continue
Greece finally agreed to a new round of austerity measures to qualify for a second infusion of $170 billion in bailout funds from the EU and the IMF. Yet there’s still no deal with creditors and their next debt payment of $18 billion is due on March 14th. Maybe Apple could buy Greece…they have the cash! Read more
Crisis averting in Italy
World leaders and analysts are praising the efforts of Prime Minister Mario Monti (born near Milan) and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi (born in Rome) as the economic crisis in Italy appears to be abating. A new high score for the Mario Brothers? Read more
Groupon surprise
Groupon released its first financial results since becoming a public company and to the surprise of some investors and analysts, the company posted a loss instead of a profit, despite having higher than expected revenues. The share price dropped by 15%. Note to Groupon: spend less than you earn? We told you so… Read more
More changes at Yahoo!
With a new CEO and the recent departure of its co-founder, Yahoo (NSQ:YHOO) now says goodbye to the chair of its board plus three other members in a move to “accelerate the company’s transformation.” If they are smart, they will appoint women! Read more
Read on to discover a trader’s take
on the market & the big stories this week
CLICK HERE
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