<ul>
<li>Possibility of reaching projcted price breakout targets</li>
<li>Pattern is a long-term look</li>
</ul>
By Daryl Guppy
We know the weekly NYMEX Oil chart shows a long-term inverted <a class="inline_asset" href="http://www.guppytraders.com/gup344.shtml" target="_self">head and shoulder reversal</a> pattern. This trend reversal pattern is reliable and has a high probability of reaching the projected price breakout targets. It is a powerful trend reversal pattern, but it&#8217;s a long term pattern and a lot of things can happen between now and the achievement of the pattern targets.
During this period other chart patterns develop and they help to confirm the longer term pattern. For the past year oil has been trading in an upsloping <a class="inline_asset" href="http://www.guppytraders.com/gup348.shtml" target="_self">trading channel</a>. It is not a perfect fit, but the channel captures most of the price behavior.
The upper trend line starts in June 2016 and captures the highs in October 2016 and January 2017. The lower trend line is parallel to the upper trend line. It is not an exact fit, but is starts near the lows of August 2016 and then uses the low of November 2016.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-120559" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/cr.jpg" alt="" width="678" height="426" />
We would not recommend using this trading channel as a basis for entry and exits points. However it is a useful guide to the behavior of price and helps to put the price pullbacks into to context.
We also apply the <a class="inline_asset" href="http://www.guppytraders.com/gup329.shtml" target="_self">Guppy Multiple Moving Averages</a> (GMMA) indicator. This confirms a steady uptrend but it also shows that the uptrend is no well supported by investors. The long term GMMA has compressed and turned upwards. This is the characteristic of the beginning of a new uptrend.
However, the long term GMMA has no shown good expansion. It has remained compressed for eight months. In a string uptrend the long term GMMA usually develops good separation. The wide separation acts as a shock absorber for any price retreats as it shows investors will enter the market as buyers.
The compressed long term GMMA has narrow separation and this shows investors are still cautious about future prospects for oil. This is a vulnerable market. It can move easily upwards, and just as easily downwards.
On the balance of analysis this is a bullish chart. The current chart patterns confirm the long term inverted head and shoulder pattern. However the combinations of patterns suggest investors will need patience and will need to wait for some time before the first price target of $58 is achieved.
The historical pattern of support and resistance levels help define the upside targets. The rebound from support near $48 is part of this pattern behavior. Resistance is near $58. A breakout above this level gives a medium term target near $68.
Temporary resistance has developed recently near $54. A breakout above $54 can move quickly to long term resistance near $58.
This chart offers short term trading opportunities which can be exploited using the <a class="inline_asset" href="http://www.antssys.com/" target="_self">ANTSSYS</a> method to trade the consolidation behavior. Any breakout above $58 has a resistance target near $68 and this helps validate the head and shoulder price projection target.

Op-Ed: Is there a price breakout ahead for crude oil?

By Chantel McGee
Add to the list of problems at Uber: Driver retention. Only 4 percent of people who sign up to drive for the ride-hailing service are still driving a year later, according to a report in <a class="inline_asset" title="https://www.theinformation.com/how-uber-will-combat-rising-driver-churn" href="https://www.theinformation.com/how-uber-will-combat-rising-driver-churn" target="_self">The Information.</a>
The company&#8217;s accelerating driver drop off rate is partially due to increased competition from companies like Lyft. But the number one complaint among Uber drivers is the pay, according to undisclosed data seen by The Information. Many Uber drivers have complained about unfair compensation for long trips, and not being able to accept tips.
An Uber spokesman told The Information: &#8220;We recognize we need to improve our relationship with drivers and their experience using Uber. We&#8217;re working on a range of improvements across our products, our policies, our customer support and how we communicate.&#8221;
The company is considering things like better targeting financial bonuses to certain drivers and allowing tipping, which could allow drivers to earn more, according to <a class="inline_asset" title="https://www.theinformation.com/how-uber-will-combat-rising-driver-churn" href="https://www.theinformation.com/how-uber-will-combat-rising-driver-churn" target="_self">The Information.</a> Lyft, its main competitor, already gives riders the option to leave a tip.
Read the entire <a class="inline_asset" title="https://www.theinformation.com/how-uber-will-combat-rising-driver-churn" href="https://www.theinformation.com/how-uber-will-combat-rising-driver-churn" target="_self">The Information</a> report.
&nbsp;

Only 4% of Uber drivers remain on the platform a year later, says report

<div class="inline-player dyother dyMonitor" data-adid="1009204||522|||"></div>
<div class="group">
By Vaibhavee Sinha
<a class="inline_quotes" href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/593%27A-KR" target="_self" data-gdsid="12103572" data-inline-quote-symbol="593'A-KR">Samsung&#8217;s</a> newest smartphone, the Galaxy S8, hit shelves Friday, and analysts told CNBC they&#8217;re impressed by the tech, which initial market reaction appeared to confirm.
The S8&#8217;s edge-to-edge OLED &#8220;infinity&#8221; screen has piqued the interest of many, and that includes Bob O&#8217;Donnell, founder and chief analyst at Technalysis research.
<blockquote>&#8220;What&#8217;s great about it is, it&#8217;s got a great hand feel … it really does make a difference,&#8221; O&#8217;Donnell told CNBC&#8217;s &#8220;Rundown&#8221; on Friday.</blockquote>
Samsung Electronics jumped by 2.38 percent on Friday as the Galaxy S8 smartphone was unveiled in Seoul and ahead of its slated debut in the U.S. The company said last week that pre-orders for the Galaxy S8 had surpassed those for the S7.
In addition to the tactile element noted by O&#8217;Donnell, other key features include a new Bixby voice assistant, an iris scanner and facial recognition.
<blockquote>&#8220;I think that the phone is perceived as the next generation phone, the quality seems to be excellent &#8230; a lot of things have been resolved,&#8221; said Daniel Yoo, head of global strategy at Kiwoom Securities, echoing O&#8217;Donnell&#8217;s sentiment.</blockquote>
The only prominent complaint so far about the phones has centered on its screen, which some have deemed pinkish — or the <a class="inline_asset" title="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/samsungs-galaxy-s8-draws-criticism-in-first-launch-since-note-recall-2017-04-20" href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/samsungs-galaxy-s8-draws-criticism-in-first-launch-since-note-recall-2017-04-20" target="_self">&#8220;cherry blossom edition.&#8221;</a> Samsung reportedly addressed the issue, saying it could be fixed by adjusting the display options.
Addressing that, O&#8217;Donnell said, &#8220;They&#8217;ve had a few glitches on the software early on, but it&#8217;s early days and I think we will see some improvements … coming as well.&#8221;
However, acknowledging the distrust that may have been engendered by the Note 7 problems, O&#8217;Donnell added, &#8220;We&#8217;re not going to really know for a couple of months, to be honest with you, how safe and how reliable it is.&#8221;
Pre-orders reportedly exceeded 1 million units in <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/south-korea/" target="_self">South Korea</a>, Samsung&#8217;s domestic market, surpassing the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7&#8217;s comparatively meager 400,000. Reportedly, the phone pre-sold 550,000 units in the first two days it was available.
Samsung hopes sales of the phone will make up for the company&#8217;s disastrous recall Note 7 last year. The company has said it is targeting 60 million unit shipments this year, compared to about 48 million S7 units sold in 2016, according to multiple reports.
</div>

Samsung’s Galaxy S8 rolls out, and analysts are positive

Chijioke Ohuocha | ABUJA
Nigeria plans to get out of recession by boosting government revenues and cracking down on corruption, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun said on Thursday, and will also issue more international debt to pay for infrasturcture projects.
The country is in its second year of recession, brought on by lower oil prices, which have slashed government revenues, weakened the currency and caused dollar shortages frustrating business and households.
World Bank chief economist for Africa, Albert Zeufack, on Wednesday said fiscal adjustments in Nigeria would be &#8220;extremely challenging&#8221; and that the country needs to reform its finances to ensure it can hedge against any future currency crisis.
Nigeria also ranks well into the bottom third of Transparency International&#8217;s global corruption index. On Wednesday, for example, more than $43 million found in an apartment complex in Lagos was said to be related to an investigation into the handling of humanitarian aid.
Adeosun said her aim was to get the non-oil sector of Nigeria&#8217;s economy which accounts for around 90 percent of GDP to contribute to government revenues.
&#8220;Improving non-oil revenues is something we are working hard on. We are rolling out measures to get more people into the tax net,&#8221; Adeosun told CNBC Television.
&#8220;We are get out of recession because we are following the right type of policies. We are improving our revenues, we are improving our efficiencies in how we spend money.
http://cnbc.africa/news/western-africa/2016/11/21/nigerias-recession-deepens/
&#8220;We are investing in the infrastructure that is needed, power, rail, road, the big enablers of growing sustainable economies.&#8221;
Adeosun said liquidity on currency markets has been improving as the central bank has boosted dollar supply, thanks to recently rising oil prices. She added that government was harmonising fiscal, monetary and trade policies to get the economy growing again.
However, the central bank, worried about the currency effects on inflation, has so far resisted calls to lower interest rates for 14 percent to enable the government borrow cheaply to spend its way out of recession.
Adeosun said Nigeria plans to issue long-term debt on the international markets more regularly for infrastructure projects, taking advantage of the country&#8217;s debt to GDP ratio of 13 percent. But the interest burden is rising due to low revenues.

Nigerian finance minister says country needs to tap its non-oil revenues

It’s official: Britain is done with Europe.
Prime Minister Theresa May has <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-brexit-divorce-bill-explained-74466">formally triggered</a> the process for withdrawing from the European Union, ensuring that the United Kingdom, one of the largest and most prosperous countries in the EU, will soon leave the 28-member bloc.
While the process could drag on for two years or more, the Brexit decision serves as a historic and stinging rebuke to proponents of a unified Europe. Perhaps more importantly, it calls into question the very future of the EU.
Pro-Europe commentators, on both sides of the Atlantic, have argued that Brexit is a historical blip, a rash decision made by an uninformed electorate after a vicious and one-sided campaign. But to dismiss Britain’s decision as an anomaly is to ignore the facts. We may be witnessing the twilight of the multilateral era.
<h2>A not-so-perpetual peace</h2>
The history of civilization has been one of peoples coming together in larger and larger collectives – from villages to city-states, from city-states to nations and from nations to international organizations. Today, we live in an era typified by the proliferation of global bodies like the United Nations, the World Trade Organization and the European Union.
People have created these greater communities for a number of reasons, but the overriding one has always been the most basic: security. As German philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote in 1795 <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=AFRgKZySxi8C&amp;pg=PA530&amp;lpg=PA530&amp;dq=%22establish+a+nation+of+peoples%22&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=3ASHMzwJsG&amp;sig=4eUvcjDneWbsxWCY36EvUxuziVY&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwidt8q-kvzSAhUPHGMKHeRXCMEQ6AEIHzAB#v=onepage&amp;q=%22establish%20a%20nation%20of%20peoples%22&amp;f=false">in his essay “Perpetual Peace,”</a> the only means for nations to emerge from a state of constant war was to “give up their savage, lawless freedom… and, by accommodating themselves to the constraints of common law, establish a nation of peoples that (continually growing) will finally include all the people of the earth.”
The European Union is arguably the greatest example of this ideal. An organization <a href="https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/history_en">forged</a> from the desolation of two world wars, the EU brought the states of Europe together in a continent-wide commitment to cooperation and integration. Its ultimate aim was to draw nations together so closely that war would become unimaginable.
An impeccable aspiration, to be sure. But Britain’s vote last year to leave the EU illustrates the costs associated with that aspiration, and with multilateralism more generally. Governments have become increasingly <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/754118/MEP-European-Parliament-lazy-detached-Martin-Schulz?video=">detached</a> from the people they govern. Local communities have <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/05/AR2005060501026.html">surrendered</a> control over an ever-growing array of matters to distant bureaucrats. And people increasingly perceive that their own groups and beliefs are under siege by outsiders.
This sentiment is not isolated to the United Kingdom. Disillusionment with multilateral agreements is widespread today. Just look at President Donald Trump.
During and after the presidential campaign, Trump has repeatedly denounced America’s international agreements. The targets of his ire have ranged from free trade deals (think <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/28/nafta-and-trump-president-plans-two-new-executive-orders.html">NAFTA</a> and the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/23/us/politics/tpp-trump-trade-nafta.html">Trans-Pacific Partnership</a>) to defense pacts (e.g., <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/03/27/trump-handed-merkel-374b-nato-bill-during-talks.html">NATO</a>) to environmental accords (see the <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-36401174">Paris climate deal</a>). In January, The New York Times even <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/25/us/politics/united-nations-trump-administration.html">reported</a> that the Trump administration was preparing an executive order entitled “Auditing and Reducing U.S. Funding of International Organizations.” This rhetoric has struck a chord with many Americans who fear that international agreements have destroyed American industry and cost Americans jobs.
But to say that we are disillusioned with multilateralism does not provide an answer to the more difficult question: If not multilateralism, then what?
<h2>Going it alone</h2>
The answer, it appears, is aggressive unilateralism. Instead of working through multilateral institutions to solve their problems, countries are increasingly <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2826708">going it alone</a>.
The United States, for example, has responded to the failure of international negotiations on a range of topics by imposing its domestic laws abroad. The U.S. forces foreign banks to abide by its <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-law-that-makes-u-s-expats-toxic-1444330827">financial regulations</a>, foreign businesses to comply with its <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2636921">corruption laws</a> and foreign producers to adopt its climate change-related emissions <a href="https://www.epa.gov/importing-vehicles-and-engines">standards</a>. All of these laws were made and enforced without international agreement.
In many ways, the rise of unilateralism may be a great boon for societies. The outpouring of activism and political engagement in the U.K. both before and after the Brexit vote signals a certain optimism about the ability of Britons to govern themselves. With any luck, this optimism will lead to a rejuvenation of democracy in the country, a welcome contrast to the deep cynicism more typical of politics today. Similarly, U.S. action to regulate foreign companies may help provide solutions to problems that have been stubbornly resistant to global agreement and treaty-making.
But the disillusionment with multilateralism also comes with a dark side. It is one thing when countries like the U.S. and Britain decide to start taking action in the face of stalled negotiations over climate change and corruption. It is another when countries with very different concepts of the rule of law and democratic processes start imposing their own rules, unilaterally, on American companies.
Just look at Russia’s recent prosecution of Google for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/12/business/international/google-fine-russia-antitrust-android.html">anti-trust violations</a> or China’s <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/beijing-regulator-orders-apple-to-stop-sales-of-two-iphone-models-1466166711">injunction against the sale of iPhones</a> as examples.
Multilateralism has been a great engine of peace over the course of human civilization, and we should tread carefully in rejecting it. As Kant warned, the alternative is for us to “find perpetual peace in the vast grave that swallows both atrocities and their perpetrators.”

Is Brexit the beginning of the end for international cooperation?

<div id="article-byline">By <a href="http://www.reuters.com/journalists/david-lawder">David Lawder</a> | WASHINGTON</div>
The International Monetary Fund raised its 2017 global growth forecast on Tuesday due to manufacturing and trade gains in Europe, Japan and China, but warned that protectionist policies threaten to choke a broad-based recovery.
The IMF, whose spring meetings with the World Bank get underway in Washington this week, forecast that the global economy would grow 3.5 percent in 2017, up from its previous forecast of 3.4 percent in January.
In its latest World Economic Outlook, the Fund said that chronically weak advanced economies are expected to benefit from a cyclical recovery in global manufacturing and trade that started to gain momentum last summer.
&#8220;The economic upswing that we have expected for some time seems to be materializing,&#8221; IMF chief economist Maurice Obstfeld wrote in the report.
The IMF lifted Japan&#8217;s 2017 growth projection by 0.4 percentage point from January, to 1.2 percent, while the eurozone and China both saw a 0.1 percentage point growth forecast increase to 1.7 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, the IMF held its 2017 U.S. growth forecast steady at 2.3 percent, which still represents a substantial jump from 1.6 percent growth in 2016, partly due to expectations that President Donald Trump will cut taxes and increase government spending.
The IMF also revised Britain&#8217;s growth forecast to 2.0 percent for 2017, up a half percentage point from January.
Obstfeld said an anticipated pullback in consumer spending after last year&#8217;s UK vote to leave the European Union had so far failed to materialize. He added that uncertainty over Britain&#8217;s snap elections announced on Tuesday would not necessarily change the outlook, but a clear mandate from the British people could help Brexit negotiations.
&#8220;There was already uncertainty on how the negotiation would go and what it&#8217;s final outlines would be. So, it may be that this is a tradeoff of a little more uncertainty before June 8 for less uncertainty later,&#8221; Obstfeld told a news conference.
Although growth looks to be strengthening broadly among advanced and emerging market economies as well oil and commodity exporters that are starting to benefit from a commodity price recovery, including Russia and Brazil, the IMF said the recovery remains fragile.
The outlook faces headwinds from chronically weak productivity growth and policies that could constrict trade, the IMF said. It did not specifically mention the Trump administration&#8217;s &#8220;America First&#8221; trade agenda aimed at reducing U.S. trade deficits and turning away more imports.
&#8220;One salient threat is a turn toward protectionism, leading to trade warfare,&#8221; Obstfeld said, adding this &#8220;would result in a self-inflicted wound that would lead to higher prices for consumers, lower productivity and therefore, lower overall real income for households.&#8221;
The case against trade protectionism is expected to be a major theme of the semi-annual gathering of finance officials from the IMF, the World Bank and the Group of 20 major economies later this week. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde warned last week that a &#8220;sword of protectionism&#8221; hung over a brightening global outlook.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross pushed back in a Financial Times interview, saying such warnings were aimed at the Trump administration and were &#8220;rubbish,&#8221; because the United States was less protectionist than its trading partners.
The IMF also said that risks to the global outlook also could come from a faster-than-expected pace of interest rate hikes in the United States, which could trigger a sharp rise in the dollar and disruptive capital outflows from emerging markets.
The Fund also said China&#8217;s strong growth was clouded in the medium term by &#8220;growing vulnerabilities&#8221; associated with its reliance credit-fueled growth.
(Reporting by David Lawder; editing by Diane Craft)

IMF raises global growth forecast, warns against protectionism

George Obulutsa | NAIROBI
Economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa is seen rising between this year and 2019, helped by better commodity prices and improved global conditions, the World Bank said in a report on Wednesday.
The bank said in its latest &#8220;Africa&#8217;s Pulse&#8221; report economic growth was seen expanding to 2.6 percent this year and further to 3.2 percent in 2018 and 3.5 percent a year later.
Sub-Saharan African growth was an estimated 1.3 percent in 2016, the World Bank said.
&#8220;The upturn in economic activity is expected to continue in 2018-19, reflecting improvements in commodity prices, a pickup in global growth, and more supportive domestic conditions,&#8221; the bank said in its report.
The bank said the 2016 growth was the worst for the region in more than two decades, hurt by poor performance in Nigeria, South Africa and Angola.
&#8220;This low growth rate was driven mainly by unfavourable
external developments, with commodity prices remaining low, and difficult domestic conditions,&#8221; the report said.
It said growth in Nigeria contracted by 1.5 percent, due to tight liquidity, delays in implementing its budget, and militant attacks on oil pipelines.
The bank said Angola&#8217;s growth slowed due to a fall in oil production while South Africa&#8217;s economic expansion slowed to 0.3 percent due to contractions in the mining and manufacturing industries and the effects of drought on agriculture.
&#8220;Excluding these three countries, growth in the region was estimated to be 4.1 percent in 2016,&#8221; the report said.
(Reporting by George Obulutsa; editing by John Stonestreet and Pritha Sarkar)

World Bank sees sub-Saharan Africa GDP growth up in 2017 after poor 2016 performance

By Sethuraman N R
Gold slipped on Wednesday as the dollar recovered a bit from a three-week low hit in the previous session, but geopolitical concerns about North Korea and nervousness ahead of the French presidential election lent support to the safe-haven asset.
Spot gold was down 0.2 percent to $1,286.40 per ounce as of 0314 GMT. The metal hit its highest since early November at $1,295.42 on Monday before closing lower, and rose 0.4 percent on Tuesday.
U.S. gold futures were down 0.4 percent at $1,288.80.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday reassured Japan of American commitment to reining in North Korea&#8217;s nuclear and missile ambitions, after warning that U.S. strikes in Syria and Afghanistan showed the strength of its resolve.
&#8220;The whole situation for gold is more than optimistic because of the geopolitical tensions aroused by North Korea and with the interest rate hike expectations coming down,&#8221; said Mark To, head of research at Hong Kong&#8217;s Wing Fung Financial Group.
&#8220;The trading range from $1,200-$1,250 over the past few weeks has been broken convincingly&#8230; We see $1,280 as the gravity around which the trading range will be built and prices will move between $1,270-$1,310.&#8221;
The dollar index edged up, but was hovering near a three-week low on disappointing U.S. housing starts data and nervousness over trade talks between the United States and Japan. [USD/]
In France, investors remained nervous ahead of the first round of the country&#8217;s presidential election this Sunday, even though an opinion poll put centrist Emmanuel Macron first, just ahead of far-right, anti-euro candidate Marine Le Pen.
&#8220;Nervousness heading into the French election should theoretically provide some support to gold, but at some point, we think the markets will start to discount a poor showing for Le Pen and perhaps siphon off some of the risk premium already baked into prices,&#8221; said INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir.
&#8220;However, offsetting this somewhat, is the possibility that the dollar will continue to recede on a Le Pen defeat, coupled with the fact that U.S. tax reform and infrastructure spending both seem to be increasingly far removed, painting a rather bullish backdrop for gold.&#8221;
British Prime Minister Theresa May&#8217;s call for a snap general election added to a lengthening list of uncertainties for investors already on edge over geopolitical tensions that also include Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey and U.S. relations with Russia and China.
Spot silver dropped 0.2 percent to $18.21 per ounce.
Platinum fell 0.1 percent to $972.45, while palladium was down 0.3 percent at $772. Palladium on Tuesday fell nearly 2 percent to a more than four-week low of $769.80.
(Reporting By Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

Gold edges lower, but geopolitical worries support

Shares in Aspen Pharmacare fell 2.5 percent on Tuesday following a British newspaper report accusing the African company of withholding drugs to try to drive up prices in European markets.
Citing leaked internal emails, The Times newspaper reported staff at Aspen discussed destroying supplies of life-saving cancer medicines during a price dispute with the Spanish health service in 2014.
Aspen, Africa&#8217;s largest generic drugmaker, declined to comment on specific allegations because it could be in breach of sub-judice laws that apply to matters that are the subject of legal processes.
&#8220;Aspen has clearly demonstrated its commitment to providing quality medicines affordably over many years. The supply of the oncology products in question is no exception,&#8221; Aspen said in a statement to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
&#8220;Aspen looks forward to the opportunity to demonstrate the integrity and legality of its practices in the context of these legal processes.&#8221;
Shares in the company fell 2.5 percent to 273.17 rand by 0805 GMT, lagging behind a 0.7 percent decline in the Johannesburg&#8217;s Top-40 index. Tuesday was the first day of trading after the long Easter weekend.
Aspen, based in the South African city of Durban, has expanded overseas to benefit from the expiry of patents on best-selling drugs. That has helped to fuel a more than nine-fold increase in its share price since early 2008.
The company said the oncology drugs in question generated sales in the European Union of 60 million euros ($64 million) in the year to the end of June 2016, much of which was achieved on an average price of approximately 2 euros per tablet. ($1 = 0.9391 euros)
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by Keith Weir)

Aspen shares drop after accusations of forced price hikes in Europe

While the world goes digital, some brands are staying in an analogue world. Businesses are expected to spend nearly $300 billion, or half their marketing budgets, on digital advertising by 2021, <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/05/global-ad-spend-to-slow-in-2017-while-2016-sales-were-nearly-500bn.html" target="_self">according to figures from MAGNA</a>, but some companies are sticking with traditional print ads.
Those companies are the makers of high-end luxury goods, such as watches, jewelry and couture fashion, whose adverts sometimes seem to make up the bulk of glossy magazines, with many pages of ads before the actual editorial content.
Figures out today show that these &#8220;high luxury&#8221; companies around the world still spent nearly three-quarters of their budgets (73 percent) on print advertising in newspapers and magazines in 2016, with this figure set to stay high in 2017, at 72 percent.
High-end luxury goods companies spent only 16 percent of their budgets on digital advertising in 2016, followed by outdoor billboards with 8 percent and TV at 3 percent, according to the report by media agency Zenith.
Meanwhile, companies that make more accessible, &#8220;broad luxury&#8221; products, including cars, cosmetics and perfumes, are spending increasing amounts on digital advertising, with 30 percent of their budgets going online in 2016.
TV advertising made up the bulk of broad luxury ad spend in 2016, at 41 percent, but the gap between TV and digital advertising will gradually reduce, the report states. By 2018, TV ad spend will go down to 39 percent, while digital will increase to 34 percent, up four percentage points on 2016.
Luxury brands (both high-end and broad) are forecast to spend $11.8 billion globally on advertising this year, with the fastest-growing region being Eastern Europe, with 10 percent annual average growth. The Middle East and North Africa will see ad spend shrink by around 6 percent a year, due to political instability and lower oil prices, Zenith forecasts.
&#8220;Luxury advertisers are having to respond to consumers&#8217; changing expectations,&#8221; said Vittorio Bonori, Zenith&#8217;s global brand president. &#8220;Consumers are now looking for luxury experiences that are personal and relevant to them, and targeted brand communication is central to creating this extra brand value.&#8221;
But it seems that spending on print advertising could be working. LVMH, the world&#8217;s largest luxury goods group, including the Louis Vuitton, Fendi and Celine labels, <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/11/lvmh-shares-hit-record-high-after-q1-sales-beat-other-luxury-stocks-rise.html" target="_self">saw its shares reach a record high last week</a>, after reporting a 15 percent year-on-year increase in first quarter sales.

The advertising world goes digital but luxury brands spend on print

<a href="http://www.cnbc.com/arjun-kharpal/" rel="author">Arjun Kharpal</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/ArjunKharpal">@ArjunKharpal</a>
<a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/27/inside-adyen-the-2-billion-start-up-backed-by-mark-zuckerberg-silicon-valley-elite.html" target="_self">Adyen, the start-up that processes payments</a> for the likes of <a class="inline_quotes" href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/NFLX" target="_self" data-gdsid="26444" data-inline-quote-symbol="NFLX">Netflix</a>, Uber and <a class="inline_quotes" href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/FB" target="_self" data-gdsid="139619" data-inline-quote-symbol="FB">Facebook</a>, saw a 99 percent surge in revenues in 2016, the company announced on Wednesday.
The Dutch firm, which is valued at $2.3 billion, posted revenues of $727 million last year, up from $365 million in 2015. Adyen also recently announced that it <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/08/adyen-company-behind-facebook-and-uber-payments-reveals-huge-transaction-growth.html" target="_self">processed $90 billion worth</a> of transactions in 2016, an 80 percent year-on-year rise.
Pieter van der Does, chief executive of Adyen, said the growth has been driven by higher volumes in the U.S., a territory it has not typically had a big footprint in.
<blockquote>&#8220;Historically we were stronger in Europe now the U.S. is very strong in terms of growth. We have been expanding our footprint in Asia and Latin America. Part of the growth is down to more volume, part of it is the increase of geographical footprint,&#8221; van der Does told CNBC in an interview on Wednesday.</blockquote>
A lot of American clients who had been trusting Adyen to process their international payments gave their domestic volume to the company, the CEO added.
Selling point of sale (POS) systems – hardware such as card readers – has also boosted the company&#8217;s top line but still only accounts for &#8220;single-digit revenue&#8221; percentage, van der Does said.
Adyen is going to focus on investing in Asia and so-called &#8220;omnichannel&#8221; – serving customers both online and in-store.
The Dutch start-up has been profitable since 2011 but said that it&#8217;s not the focus this year. Van der Does also said that an initial public offering is not on the cards.
<blockquote>&#8220;Currently I think it would be extremely bad timing because we are investing so much and focusing so much on the business,&#8221; the CEO told CNBC.</blockquote>
Van der Does admitted that due to the rapid pace of growth the company has seen in past years, revenues rises in percentage times will slow down, but &#8220;absolute growth&#8221; will remain strong.

The $2.3 bn firm that processes payments for Uber and Netflix, saw 2016 revenues surge 99%

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For the fourth year in a row, Singapore is the most expensive city in the world.
That&#8217;s according to the Economist Intelligence Unit&#8217;s annual <a class="inline_asset" title="http://www.eiu.com/public/topical_report.aspx?campaignid=WCOL2017" href="http://www.eiu.com/public/topical_report.aspx?campaignid=WCOL2017" target="_self">Worldwide Cost of Living survey</a>, newly released for 2017.
To determine the rankings, the EIU compares the prices of more than 400 products and services worldwide, including food, drink, clothing, household supplies, and transportation. Each city is then ranked in comparison to New York on the World Cost of Living (WCOL) Index, with New York assigned a score of 100. Other cities earn a relative score, where a one-point increase or decrease equates to a 1% change in the cost of living.
<div id="inline_movable_ad"> Asian cities dominate the list, with Singapore and Hong Kong earning the top two spots. At No. 9, New York was the only place in the United States to crack the top 10.</div>
Below, check out the 10 most expensive cities in the world. The average price of a loaf of bread, bottle of table wine and liter of gas is included for context, and all prices are listed in USD.
<div id="dart_wrapper_responsiverectangle" class="dart_wrapper dart_ads_noniframe_responsiverectangle badge-ad"> 10. Copenhagen, Denmark</div>
Average price of a loaf of bread: $3.55
Average price of a bottle of wine: $12.87
Average price of a liter of gas: $1.63
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9. New York, United States
Average price of a loaf of bread: $7.95
Average price of a bottle of wine: $14.74
Average price of a liter of gas: $0.61
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8. Paris, France
Average price of a loaf of bread: $6.81
Average price of a bottle of wine: $10.35
Average price of a liter of gas: $1.45
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7. Geneva, Switzerland
Average price of a loaf of bread: $6.62
Average price of a bottle of wine: $8.20
Average price of a liter of gas: $1.52
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6. Seoul, South Korea
Average price of a loaf of bread: $14.82
Average price of a bottle of wine: $26.54
Average price of a liter of gas: $1.28
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5. Osaka, Japan
Average price of a loaf of bread: $5.91
Average price of a bottle of wine: $13.33
Average price of a liter of gas: $1.18
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4. Tokyo, Japan
Average price of a loaf of bread: $7.41
Average price of a bottle of wine: $11.89
Average price of a liter of gas: $1.24
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3. Zurich, Switzerland
Average price of a loaf of bread: $5.66
Average price of a bottle of wine: $14.17
Average price of a liter of gas: $1.49
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2. Hong Kong
Average price of a loaf of bread: $4.61
Average price of a bottle of wine: $15.72
Average price of a liter of gas: $1.73
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1. Singapore
Average price of a loaf of bread: $3.55
Average price of a bottle of wine: $23.68
Average price of a liter of gas: $1.44
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These are the 10 most expensive cities in the world

<a href="http://www.cnbc.com/gemma-acton/" rel="author">Gemma Acton</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/GemmaActon">@GemmaActon</a>
Oil prices traded lower in the early European session following the longest positive streak of the year for the commodity as analysts remained divided on where the price will head from here.
<a class="inline_asset" href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/lcocv1" target="_self" data-nodeid="100583837">Brent</a> had slipped back to trade at $55.87 at 10am London time after Monday&#8217;s close cemented a six-day streak which saw prices up a cumulative 6 percent. Meanwhile, <a class="inline_asset" href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/@CL.1" target="_self" data-nodeid="100279044">WTI</a> was hovering a quarter of a percent lower for the session at $52.93, after notching up a fifth positive close for cumulative gains of 5.7 percent. So far in 2017, Brent is trading around 1.5 percent lower to Monday&#8217;s close while WTI has lost 1.3 percent this year over the same period.
Among the bears, Stephen Jones, chief investment officer (CIO) at Kames Capital says that oil prices are unlikely to rebound significantly from here given a supply glut and increasingly sophisticated oil extraction methods.
Noting that spiking inventories and a big pullback in hedge funds&#8217; bullish bets are seen by many as short-term factors set to unwind, Jones says instead that the drastic reshaping of both supply and dynamics that has taken place will limit potential oil price rises.
<blockquote>&#8220;Having been through their own recession, U.S. exploration and production companies – and those focused on shale – are now able to operate in a lower oil price environment,&#8221; said Jones, in a note to clients on Monday.
&#8220;That means the structural price of being able to get new oil supplies out of the ground has fallen, mainly thanks to significant improvements in the technical ability to produce oil, and therefore the price will remain lower than most people think,&#8221; added the CIO of the British investment management business.</blockquote>
Turning to demand, currently registering 97.89 million barrels a day, Jones notes that it is failing to keep up with supply levels of 98.29 million barrels a day.
Taking a different view, Martin King, commodity analyst at GMP First Energy says his team has become notably more bullish in recent weeks on oil&#8217;s path ahead, driven primarily by OPEC compliance results and its expectations for material growth coming through refinery runs.
Talking specifics, King highlighted in a client note on Monday that OPEC compliance has reduced daily production by around 1 million barrels a day since December while he sees refinery runs heading higher by around 2 million barrels a day over the next couple of months.
Furthermore, global oil inventories are also falling and U.S. inventories are not far behind, claim the GMP First Energy team, pointing to the example of Iran where the country&#8217;s floating storage built during the years of embargo has been entirely drained in 6 to 9 months.
Yet, a rebound in prices may not be imminent, the team admits.
<blockquote>&#8220;It could still take a few more weekly reports of convincing inventory draws before prices work their way back to the recent highs seen in early March. Breaking out above those highs will require clear indications of significant rapid drawdowns in U.S. crude oil inventories. Still waiting for that,&#8221; concludes the research.</blockquote>
Market participants are now focused on whether OPEC and its non-OPEC partners sign on to renew their agreement capping production in late May, a deal which has registered compliance figures north of 90 percent in recent months.
Yet despite the concerted efforts by certain key signatories, such as Saudi Arabia, to adhere to the production limits, the rate of U.S. shale production has offset the supportive effect on prices, said Michelle McGrade, CIO at TD Direct Investing on CNBC&#8217;s Squawk Box on Tuesday.
<blockquote>&#8220;There are some conflicting forces out there. There&#8217;s OPEC and there&#8217;s U.S. shale gas and oil. U.S. is making shale oil like crazy and therefore the supply is greater than demand,&#8221; McGrade opined.</blockquote>
Furthermore, beyond looking at supply and demand fundamentals, the ability for producing countries and large oil companies to balance their books is a critical factor to consider.
<blockquote>&#8220;This is the worrying thing…Not only these countries but also our oil majors as well. They need oil around…somewhere between $65 and $75 a barrel and once they get there that whole industry will relax &#8211; but it&#8217;s just not getting there,&#8221; McGrade noted.</blockquote>
http://cnbc.africa/news/international/2017/03/09/50-oil-price/

As winning streak falters analysts debate where next for oil

Jessica Wa&#8217;u | CNBC
A new report from UBS estimates that artificial intelligence (AI) technologies could create an economic value of about $1.8 trillion to $3 trillion in Asia by 2030. But that value comes at a cost, with an estimated 30 million to 50 million jobs in Asia at risk of displacement in the medium to long term.
Financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, retail and transportation, are the sectors likely to bear the brunt of job losses, according to UBS Global IT Analyst Sundeep Gantori. Speaking with CNBC&#8217;s &#8220;Street Signs,&#8221; he said jobs in traditional sectors that are predictive and routine in nature will be affected.
So in preparation for the future, he advised that job seekers target roles requiring personalization or creativity.
<blockquote>&#8220;Focus on creativity jobs&#8230; entrepreneurship jobs, arts&#8230; and maybe sports,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We have to go back to those old days where arts are valued. So maybe that&#8217;s the future.&#8221;</blockquote>
While some jobs may become irrelevant, AI will also create new categories of jobs elsewhere, Gantori said. Data scientists are expected to get a leg up in the future, with UBS describing data as the &#8220;fuel&#8221; that powers the AI engine.
The firm also recommended investing in research and development-intensive companies related to AI, such as healthcare and advanced engineering.
The report pointed to Asia being a late entrant in the AI world, lagging behind a solid ecosystem in the U.S. But expect that gap to narrow as governments put more money into data sciences and machine learning, he said. Capital flows into AI-based start-ups are also expected to increase as the relevant talent pool in Asia grows.
Gantori said, &#8220;By 2025, we think that the talent in India and China together will exceed what we&#8217;ll have in the U.S. At the same time, the region generates a lot of data, which is very handy in AI.&#8221;

How to keep a job in a world of AI? Get creative

<a href="http://www.cnbc.com/silvia-amaro/" rel="author">Silvia Amaro</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/@Silvia_Amaro">@Silvia_Amaro</a>
Global growth is expected to slow down significantly in the coming months as borrowing levels dominate in both China and Europe and &#8220;Trump-mania&#8221; is set to fade, a chief economist at Danish investment firm Saxo Bank told CNBC on Monday.
&#8220;Our main global macro outlook still maintains that recession is more likely than not in the near future (12 to 18 months) based on the global credit impulse having peaked simultaneously with global inflation,&#8221; Steen Jakobsen, chief economist at Saxo Bank, said.
In a recent note, Jakobsen explained that the biggest &#8220;perception-versus-reality gap&#8221; in the market currently remains this risk of recession. He added that his company is not predicting a recession, but that its economic model does indicate a significant slowdown as &#8220;the large credit impulse from China and Europe in the early part of 2016 has not reversed to negative&#8221;, which it says should make the market conservative, risk averse push investors into U.S. fixed income.
&#8220;While the market at large sees less than a 10 percent chance of recession, we at Saxo – together with our friends at South Africa&#8217;s Nedbank – see more than a 60 percent chance,&#8221; he added in the note.
<a class="inline_asset" title="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/09/these-stocks-havent-been-this-cheap-in-40-years.html" href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/09/these-stocks-havent-been-this-cheap-in-40-years.html" target="_self">Europe is seen as the main region</a> driving global growth, according to Jakobsen, beating the U.S. in the second and third quarters of this year. Jakobsen is not alone in this thesis, with a number of investment houses recently upgrading their outlooks on European stocks as fears recede on the rise of populism and polls indicate that centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron is likely to do well at the upcoming French elections.
Mike Bell, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, told CNBC Monday that European stocks &#8220;look pretty cheap&#8221; compared to U.S. stocks. &#8220;What you&#8217;re starting to see now is that underperformance of earnings that you&#8217;ve seen since the financial crisis is disappearing,&#8221; he said. There&#8217;s been a fundamental acceleration in the euro zone economy, he also noted.
But, according to Jakobsen, Europe&#8217;s momentum is not followed in other parts of the globe.
&#8220;One thing is absolutely clear: Asia is not going to contribute anything in 2017 to growth. China is on total standstill,&#8221; Jakobsen said Monday.
&#8220;They don&#8217;t know what to do with (<a class="inline_asset" title="www.cnbc.com/donald-trump" href="http://www.cnbc.com/donald-trump" target="_self">President Donald) Trump</a> and I think Trump again showed his hand over the weekend that he is not to be relied on in terms of a set-out path for how they conducted themselves,&#8221; he added.
<a class="inline_asset" title="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/09/at-us-china-summit-trump-presses-xi-on-trade-n-korea-progress-cited.html" href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/09/at-us-china-summit-trump-presses-xi-on-trade-n-korea-progress-cited.html" target="_self">Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed</a> during a summit last week to develop trade talks during the next 100 days to reduce the Chinese trade surplus with the U.S. They also agreed to increase cooperation to curb North Korea&#8217;s nuclear program.
Shortly after the meeting, Trump sent 100,000-ton USS Carl Vinson and U.S. Navy support ships to the Pacific as a show of force <a class="inline_asset" title="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/09/trump-team-isnt-afraid-to-use-force-on-syria-north-korea.html" href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/09/trump-team-isnt-afraid-to-use-force-on-syria-north-korea.html" target="_self">amid rising fears that North Korea will launch an intercontinental ballistic missile test in the coming days</a>. Last week, Trump approved a missile strike on Syria, after an alleged chemical attack. Such a decision overshadowed the summit with his Chinese counterpart.
Furthermore, the main driver of U.S. equities seems to be hope, Jacobson added. <a class="inline_quotes" href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/.SPX" target="_self" data-gdsid="593933" data-inline-quote-symbol=".SPX">The S&amp;P 500</a> has reached historic highs since the new president took office on expectations that he will deliver massive tax cuts and infrastructure investments.
&#8220;A dominant part of the equity analysts sees a significantly higher S&amp;P but it&#8217;s based on hope. Hope to me belongs in church on a Sunday,&#8221; Jakobsen said.

More than 60% chance of a global recession in the next 18 mnths – economist

<a href="http://www.cnbc.com/anita-balakrishnan/" rel="author">Anita Balakrishnan</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/@MsABalakrishnan">@MsABalakrishnan</a>
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Bill Gurley&#8217;s investment firm, Benchmark, has made some big bets that paid off. The firm was an early investor in Instagram, Quora, Snap, Uber, Grubhub and Glassdoor, just <a class="inline_asset" title="https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/benchmark/investments" href="https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/benchmark/investments" target="_self">to name a few</a>.
He also reads two books a month and writes prolifically, and might someday even pen a book of his own. The key to success is often information gathering, Gurley said on Thursday from the LAUNCH Festival in San Francisco.
Gurley&#8217;s not alone: Another successful investor, Warren Buffett, has said he spends <a class="inline_asset" title="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/16/warren-buffetts-reading-routine-could-make-you-smarter-suggests-science.html" href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/16/warren-buffetts-reading-routine-could-make-you-smarter-suggests-science.html" target="_self">as much as 80 percent of his day reading.</a> Gurley said that for any entrepreneur, storytelling is a big component of their job — so he has a set of books he recommended:
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<h4 class="subtitle">1. &#8220;Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors,&#8221;  by</h4>
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<a class="inline_asset" title="https://www.amazon.com/Competitive-Strategy-Techniques-Industries-Competitors/dp/0684841487" href="https://www.amazon.com/Competitive-Strategy-Techniques-Industries-Competitors/dp/0684841487" target="_self">Michael Porter</a>
&#8220;All entrepreneurs have been taught to vilify the MBA,&#8221; Gurley said, speaking of the graduate business degree. &#8220;This is a strategic error — to think that understanding business is a bad idea. And so &#8216;Competitive Strategy&#8217; is the most efficient short-form MBA that you can get.&#8221;
2. &#8220;Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers,&#8221; by <a class="inline_asset" title="https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Chasm-Marketing-High-Tech-Mainstream/dp/0060517123" href="https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Chasm-Marketing-High-Tech-Mainstream/dp/0060517123" target="_self">Geoffrey Moore</a>
It&#8217;s especially good for enterprise companies, Gurley said.
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<h4 class="subtitle">3. &#8220;The Innovator&#8217;s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail,&#8221; by</h4>
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<a class="inline_asset" title="https://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Dilemma-Technologies-Management-Innovation/dp/1633691780/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=7CQKB4J55NDBP216PF6H" href="https://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Dilemma-Technologies-Management-Innovation/dp/1633691780/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=7CQKB4J55NDBP216PF6H" target="_self">Clay Christensen</a>
&#8220;It&#8217;s fantastic,&#8221; Gurley said. &#8220;It&#8217;s really the core essence of why start-ups have an advantage. Products that are able to be disruptive get over-designed. They get feature-rich, they get complex, they get heavy.
He added that &#8220;if you can design a product that exploits a desire of a subset of the customer base that doesn&#8217;t want that complexity, but wants this feature, you can bust in. I&#8217;ve seen that over, and over, and over.&#8221;
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<h4 class="subtitle">4. &#8220;Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure,&#8221; by</h4>
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<a class="inline_asset" title="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L0M749M/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&amp;btkr=1" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L0M749M/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&amp;btkr=1" target="_self">Jerry Kaplan</a>
The book is about &#8220;a massive failure in Silicon Valley,&#8221; that had &#8220;all the best investors&#8221; and &#8220;all the best executives,&#8221; Gurley said.
&#8220;And it&#8217;s just spectacular, because on the way home from work every day he had a tape recorder and he left himself notes, so it&#8217;s remarkably detailed,&#8221; Gurley said. &#8220;We spend so much time analyzing success, and sometimes it&#8217;s just good to read how hard it can be. And why it can be so hard. So that one&#8217;s a real world account that I love.&#8221;
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<h4 class="subtitle">5. &#8220;Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike,&#8221;  by</h4>
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<a class="inline_asset" title="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0176M1A44/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&amp;btkr=1" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0176M1A44/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&amp;btkr=1" target="_self">Phil Knight</a>
&#8220;[The book] is just fantastic,&#8221; Gurley said. &#8220;It just shows how much grit matters, how much you just got to leave it out there on the field. How tough it is, even for the successful companies. You shouldn&#8217;t head out into entrepreneurialism thinking it is a hay ride. It&#8217;s hard.&#8221;
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Want to found a start-up? These are the books you should read first, a top VC says

<a href="http://www.cnbc.com/jon-fortt/" rel="author">Jon Fortt</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/@jonfortt">@jonfortt</a>
Among the many business lessons Jeff Lawson has learned, there&#8217;s this: Don&#8217;t expect to get things done if you wait until you&#8217;re perfectly prepared.
Lawson is co-founder and CEO of <a class="inline_quotes" href="http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/TWLO" target="_self" data-gdsid="160228" data-inline-quote-symbol="TWLO">Twilio</a>, a company that makes it easy for apps to contact you. (Ever wonder how you can send a text to your Uber driver in the app, or get one in OpenTable when your seat is ready? Twilio does that.)
Twilio went public last summer at the New York Stock Exchange, and is now worth about $2.5 billion. As it pushes to make apps communicate better, the scrappy San Francisco company has developed a culture that favors boldness and taking initiative, and frowns on perfectionism.
Fortt Knox caught up with Twilio&#8217;s CEO at a tech conference in Barcelona, Spain to talk about his journey from curious kid in the Detroit suburbs to CEO of a public tech company. Among the things our podcast loves about Lawson&#8217;s story?
It&#8217;s about the setbacks as much as the successes, and learning along the way.
Here&#8217;s some of what he shared on the latest episode:
https://soundcloud.com/forttknox/lawson
Ask for the Keys
Lawson likes to tell a story about his grandfather, who worked in a factory and needed to earn more money.
&#8220;He went to the owner and he said, &#8216;I need to make more money, how do I do that,'&#8221; Lawson said. &#8220;The guy said &#8216;I don&#8217;t have any other jobs. The only job I have is driving the truck. Do you know how to drive the truck?&#8217; My grandfather&#8217;s answer was, &#8216;Give me the keys.'&#8221;
What his grandfather didn&#8217;t mention was that he&#8217;d never driven a truck before in his life. But he got the job, figured it out, made more money.
Chalk it up to genetics or coincidence, but in middle school Lawson started a company shooting video footage of weddings. Then, he used the proceeds to buy more sophisticated equipment.
&#8220;The best way to learn something new,&#8221; he said, &#8220;is to commit yourself to doing it.&#8221;
You&#8217;ve Got to Love It
There were some false starts. In college during the dotcom boom, Lawson learned software development and started a company that sold for millions of dollars … in stock. He thought he&#8217;d made it big, but when the bubble popped, his windfall vanished.
Later, he got the opportunity to be founding chief technology officer of StubHub, a ticket sales company that would later sell to eBay for $310 million. But Lawson didn&#8217;t stick around for the payoff.
&#8220;It was a fine business, but I wasn&#8217;t the customer and I didn&#8217;t feel passionately that the world needed the product we were building.&#8221; He wasn&#8217;t a concert goer, so he didn&#8217;t feel inspired to keep working on it. &#8220;As an entrepreneur, I think you need that.&#8221;
Hindsight being what it is, it&#8217;s easy to fault Lawson for missing his share of a nine-figure payday. But remember, he&#8217;s got a share of a 10-figure payday in Twilio.
Knowledge and Reputation
So how did Lawson do it? How did he rebound from a missed nine-figure payday cleanly enough to do himself one better? First he made another valuable mistake or two, which you&#8217;ll learn about listening to this Fortt Knox episode.
More important though, he was able to focus on the two most important assets he was building in each of these experiences.
&#8220;The best thing that we have as we go through our careers is our knowledge and our word – our reputation,&#8221; Lawson says. &#8220;If you&#8217;re constantly building those two things, I think generally speaking, good things end up happening to people.&#8221;
http://cnbc.africa/news/international/2017/03/17/warren-buffetts-20-slot-rule-will-make-insanely-successful-wealthy/

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The $2.3 bn firm that processes payments for Uber and Netflix, saw 2016 revenues surge 99%

These are the 10 most expensive cities in the world

As winning streak falters analysts debate where next for oil

How to keep a job in a world of AI? Get creative

More than 60% chance of a global recession in the next 18 mnths – economist

Want to found a start-up? These are the books you should read first, a top VC says

First get started, then get smarter – Founder-CEO’s secret to success

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Op-Ed: Is there a price breakout ahead for crude oil?

Only 4% of Uber drivers remain on the platform a year later, says report

Samsung’s Galaxy S8 rolls out, and analysts are positive

Nigerian finance minister says country needs to tap its non-oil revenues

Is Brexit the beginning of the end for international cooperation?

IMF raises global growth forecast, warns against protectionism

World Bank sees sub-Saharan Africa GDP growth up in 2017 after poor 2016 performance

Gold edges lower, but geopolitical worries support

Aspen shares drop after accusations of forced price hikes in Europe

The advertising world goes digital but luxury brands spend on print

The $2.3 bn firm that processes payments for Uber and Netflix, saw 2016 revenues surge 99%

These are the 10 most expensive cities in the world

As winning streak falters analysts debate where next for oil

How to keep a job in a world of AI? Get creative

More than 60% chance of a global recession in the next 18 mnths – economist

Want to found a start-up? These are the books you should read first, a top VC says

First get started, then get smarter – Founder-CEO’s secret to success

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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