Walmart and Jet.com are due to announce a $3 billion deal

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Jet.com CEO Marc Lore.Quidsi

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Disclaimer

It looks as if Walmart will be the new owner of the e-commerce site Jet.com.

Walmart and Jet.com have agreed to a deal worth "around $3 billion" and will make it official Monday, Recode's Jason Del Rey reported Sunday afternoon, citing anonymous sources.

The deal, which was first reportedby The Wall Street Journal last week, would be the largest US e-commerce company acquisition in history. Recode points out Zulily's $2.4 billion sale to QVC was the previous record.

Jet.com cofounder and CEO Marc Lore is expected to lead Walmart's US online business and directly report to Walmart CEO Doug McMillon after the acquisition. Lore, who owns about a quarter of Jet.com, could make as much as $750 million from the deal, on top of "incentive bonuses," according to Recode.

The acquisition is expected to help boost Walmart's online business, which has struggled to gain much traction against Amazon, the market leader. Walmart has generated about $14 billion in annual e-commerce sales, a fraction of Amazon's $99 billion in annual revenue.

The acquisition by Walmart, the largest retailer in the US, also marks the final chapter for Jet.com, the two-year-old e-commerce site that raised over $500 million. Jet.com has often positioned itself as an Amazon competitor and is reported to have set a goal of becoming a company worth $40 billion within five years. The company was last valued at about $1 billion.

Jet.com competed against Amazon and other e-commerce sites by focusing on a low-price strategy. Products are typically priced 10% to 15% lower than those of Jet.com's competitors, though that costs tens of millions of dollars a month in marketing. The company recently pivoted away from a $50-a-year subscription model in hopes of reaching more customers, which put even more pressure on its cost structure.

It's unclear how exactly the deal will help grow Walmart's e-commerce business. But combining Walmart's massive customer base and distribution network with Jet.com's strong e-commerce logistics and delivery expertise will at least help reignite Walmart's online business and potentially put a dent on Amazon's unstoppable retail machine.

You can read the full Recode report here>>

SEE ALSO: Everyone is underestimating Walmart's ability to crush Amazon

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STOCKS HIT ALL-TIME HIGHS AFTER DYNAMITE JOBS REPORT: Here's what you need to know

• Bob Bryan
 

• Aug. 5, 2016, 4:00 PM
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A fan holding an American flag during the ticker tape parade for the US women's soccer team in 2015.Mike Segar/Reuters

Stocks rose across the board on Friday after the jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statisticsshowed continued strength in the labor market.

All three major averages opened higher and moved a bit higher over the course of the day. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both eclipsed their all-time highs, while the Dow fell short of that mark.

The increase, however, was stillnot enough to break the record streak of 17 straight days without a move in the S&P 500 of 1% in either direction.

There's a whole lot to unpack from the day in markets and business news, but first, the scoreboard:

• Dow: 18,535.38 (+183.33, +1.00%)
• S&P 500: 2,181.85 (+17.60, +0.81%)
• Nasdaq: 5,220.10 (+53.85, +1.04%)
• WTI Crude oil: $41.88 (-0.05, -0.12%)
• 10-year Treasury yield: 1.582 (+0.079, +5.26%)

1. The jobs report crushed expectations. The US economy added 255,000 jobs in July, well above the 180,000 projected by economists.
2. Wage growth hit a post-recession high. Average hourly earnings jumped 2.6% year-over-year in July, matching the post-Great Recession high set in June.
3. The labor force participation rate improved. The percentage of American adults in the labor force rose to 62.8%, a 0.1% increase from June.
4. The jobs report proves America is running out of people to hire. The unemployment rate for people without a high school degree dropped by 1.2 percentage points from June, to 6.3%. This shows that American businesses are trying to find workers anywhere, and that there is little slack left in the labor market.
5. Bristol-Myers Squibb stock got rocked after a failed drug trial. Opdivo, a drug designed to treat cancer, failed clinical trials, the British drugmaker announced. In reaction to the news, the stock fell by just over 16%.
6. The oil rig count rose for the sixth straight week. The Baker Hughes count jumped by seven, to 381. Combined oil and gas rigs increased by one, to 464.

ADDITIONALLY:

The debt market is going to get ugly

The jobs report leaves out a huge part of the economy

BLACK SWAN FUND: 'There's going to be chaos'

Here's what happens to the stock market during the Olympics

One analyst's epic Twitter rant reminds everyone what Wall Street research is really for

SEE ALSO: The number of people who are trying to buy guns keeps breaking records

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Shenzhen: The Silicon Valley of Hardware (Video)

Shenzhen: The Silicon Valley of Hardware

2016 

The center of the technology world may not lie in California's Silicon Valley, but in the bustling marketplace of Huaqiangbei, a subdistrict of Shenzhen in China. This is where curious consumers and industry insiders gather to feast their eyes and wallets on the latest software, hardware, gadgetry, and assorted electronic goods. It's also the setting for the new documentary from WIRED UK titled Shenzhen: The Silicon Valley of Hardware.

At the very start the film sets the scene to this fascinating technology mecca. A city populated by 20 million people, Shenzhen is the setting where advancement is most likely to originate at speeds that can't be replicated in the States. The city's vibrant and inventive tech work force takes over when the innovations of Silicon Valley become stagnant. The revolution may have started in the States, but its evolution is occurring in China. Working in collaboration, Shenzhen laborers craft unique upgrades and modifications to everything from laptops to cell phones. Their efforts then immigrate and influence the adoption of new products in other regions of the world.

The infrastructure by which this is made possible is known as the 'Maker movement'. In developer conferences and Maker exhibition fairs, tech geeks are encouraged to share their ideas freely with colleagues in the hopes that more open collaborations will form grander innovations. The film highlights how these attitudes stand in sharp contrast to the Western world where communications are secretive, monopolies are the norm and proprietorship is sacred.

However, there are challenges faced by Shenzhen in maintaining their edge in the industry. While widely acknowledged as pioneers, Shenzhen's prominence has faltered as the remainder of China has proven successful in their attempts to catch up. Adding to the frustrations, the government has interceded and moved manufacturing bases outside of the city. Meanwhile, figures from the world of investment financing have moved into the equation, and threatened to stifle creativity by imposing a more closed and impenetrable mode of operations.

Shenzhen: The Silicon Valley of Hardware gives us an insider's perspective on a system of creative collaboration that ultimately informs all of our lives.

Directed by: Jim Demuth

Support for Angela Merkel plunges after attacks

• Caroline Copley, Reuters

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the weekly cabinet meeting at the chancellery in Berlin on June 15. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke

BERLIN — Popular support for Chancellor Angela Merkel has plunged, according to a poll conducted after attacks in Germany, with almost two-thirds of Germans unhappy with her refugee policy.

The survey for the public broadcaster ARD showed support for Merkel down 12 points from her July rating to 47%. This marked her second-lowest score since she was reelected in 2013. She enjoyed backing of 75% in April last year, before the migrant crisis erupted.

Merkel's open-door refugee policy has come under attack from critics after five attacks in Germany since July 18 have left 15 people dead, including four assailants, and dozens injured.

Two of the attackers had links to Islamist militancy, officials say.

Support for one of Merkel's fiercest critics, Bavarian Premier Horst Seehofer, who has called for restrictions on immigration to increase security, jumped 11 points to 44%. Over a million migrants have entered Germany in the past year, many fleeing war in Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq.

Merkel repeated her claim that Germany could manage to successfully integrate the influx of refugees last week and vowed not to change her refugee policy.

In a poll of 1,003 people conducted Monday and Tuesday, just 34% of people said they were satisfied or very satisfied with Merkel's refugee policy. This was the lowest level since the question since October, when the question was first asked. Some 65% were dissatisfied with the policy.

The next test of support for Merkel will be state elections in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on September 4, where her Christian Democrats are expected to face a strong challenge from the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party.

A separate poll this week showed that most Germans do not blame the government's liberal refugee policy for the two Islamist attacks last month.

Read the original article on Reuters. Copyright 2016. Follow Reuters on Twitter.

MORE FROM REUTERS:

• Swiss right wing launches campaign against closer ties with European Union
• U.S. trade deficit rises to ten-month high in June
• ANC shaken to core as South African voters look beyond race
• Ivory Coast jails two soldiers for 10 years for al Qaeda ties
• Global climate deal likely to enter into force in 2016: study

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Goldman Sachs warned it may have to 'restructure' its post-Brexit business in the UK

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Demonstrators opposing Britain's exit from the European Union in Parliament Square. Tim Ireland / AP/Press Association Images

Goldman Sachs said that it may have to "restructure" parts of its UK business as a result of the country decision to leave the European Union in June.

In a regulatory filing released in Goldman's native USA on Thursday, the bank said that the Brexit decision could "adversely affect" certain aspects of its operations in the UK and the European Union, and as a result it may have to reconsider how some of these businesses are structured.

A Q-10 regulatory filing — a form of quarterly report mandated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission — from Goldman includes this extract about the referendum (emphasis ours):

"In June 2016, a referendum was passed for the United Kingdom to exit the European Union (Brexit). The exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union will likely change the arrangements by which U.K. firms are able to provide services in the European Union which may adversely affect the manner in which we operate certain of our businesses in the European Union and could require us to restructure certain of our operations. The timing and the outcome of the negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union in connection with Brexit are both highly uncertain. Such uncertainty has resulted in, and may continue to result in, market volatility and negatively impact the confidence of investors and clients."

Goldman's admission that it may have to think about changing the way it does business in Britain following the vote makes it the latest in a series of banks and major businesses to suggest they could do so.

Goldman has already admitted it could move staff away from the UK and into other EU countries in the coming months as a result of Brexit. "Every outcome is possible," Richard Gnodde, the co-head of the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs said at The Times' CEO Summit in July.

In July, Business Insider's Matt Turner published this handy chart to show just what banks may do in terms of UK staff. As well as this, M&G Investments, the fund arm of insurer Prudential, is looking at expanding its operations in Dublin, according to Reuters.

Vodafone has also said it could move thousands of jobs out of the UK. While it is a telecoms firm and not a bank, this threat is a clear indicator of the diminishing attractiveness of the UK as a place to do business.

Perhaps the most worrying sign for the UK's banking sector was a leaked Deutsche Bank document obtained by Business Insider's Ben Moshinsky, which argued that London is likely to lose its financial services passport, and that investment banks that shift operations abroad quickly will benefit from a "first-mover advantage."

Barclays and Bank of America Merrill Lynch could shift their markets businesses to Dublin, while Goldman Sachs has subsidiaries in Paris and Frankfurt, Germany, that it could use to keep its access to the 27-member single market once the UK officially leaves the European Union, according to the note. JPMorgan could shift resources to Luxembourg, where it has a subsidiary.

NOW WATCH: MALCOLM GLADWELL: ‘Anyone who gives a single dollar to Princeton has completely lost their mind'

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Apple has completely changed its plan to conquer TV

• Nathan McAlone
 

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Tim Cook. AP

Last year, Apple CEO Tim Cook declared that the "future of television is apps," a refrain that has been repeated by Apple execs over and over since then.

But navigating separate apps is a horrible way to watch TV, and it seems that Apple has finally seen the light.

Apple's big TV plan now revolves around building an advanced TV guide that will tie content services like Netflix, HBO, and ESPN together, industry sources tell Recode's Peter Kafka.

Last year, Apple was working on actually selling a TV package of its own, a take on the "skinny bundle" that everyone from Hulu to YouTube to AT&T is rumored to be launching.

But now it's just focused on building the interface.

Apple "is letting programmers, distributors and customers work out the money part among themselves," Kafka writes.

Good-bye Apple TV package, hello Apple TV guide.

The writing on the wall

While a universal guide interface presents a pretty stark departure from what Apple has been saying publicly, it's right in line with recent Apple TV updates, which emphasize things like Siri's ability to circumvent the app system.

And you can bet that Siri will be a big part of this new endeavor.

Beyond deeper Siri integration, in June Apple also unveiled an Apple TV feature called "single sign-on." While Apple didn't go into the details of exactly how it would work, the idea is that a content service like Netflix or HBO would connect to Apple's system in a way that lets you use a single log-in for all services on your Apple TV.

Recode points to this as the first part of Apple's plan.

The right choice

It's easy to see why Apple is going this way.

Most people don't want to navigate 100 different app menus and designs, each ostensibly tailored to the type of TV content that lives within them. It's annoying to deal with an ESPN app, and a Netflix app, and a Showtime app, and a Sling TV app.

So most people, in their hearts, don't really want an Apple TV as it was initially conceived.

But they also don't want the type of awkward channel guide that you get with most cable packages, according to Apple exec Eddy Cue.

Here's what Cue told The Hollywood Reporter last month: "The fact that I have to set things to record seems idiotic. And channel guides — I get home and I want to watch a Duke basketball game; why do I have to go hunting to find out what channel it's on? Why can't I just say, 'I want to watch Duke basketball.' Or, even better, why doesn't the system know that? 'Here's the Duke basketball game.' Those technical capabilities exist today. They just don't exist for television."

So navigating Apple TV and cable is a pain.

What's much better is a universal search and suggestion mechanism that fetches you the right content — as fast as possible. That is what Apple seems to be building, which is something that will put it in direct conflict with some cable companies like Comcast, which is trying to build its own version of this with X1. It could also face competition from the likes of Amazon's Alexa and Microsoft's Cortana.

And what's in it for Apple?

The company is likely hoping that it will get the same sort of leverage over TV programmers that it did over music labels with the iTunes store, before the rise of streaming, Kafka points out. If you own part of the distribution platform, then, hopefully, you can take a cut or at least extract some sort of favorable terms.

That could be Apple’s master plan.

Apple declined to comment.

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