Abbott Labs is buying St. Jude Medical for $25 billion

• Akin Oyedele
 
•  

• 3h
• 5,377

Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters

Abbott Laboratories has agreed to buy St. Jude Medical for $25 billion, which will create a juggernaut in the market for heart devices.

St. Jude Medical shareholders will receive $46.75 in cash and 0.8708 shares of Abbott common stock, representing about $85 a share.

The companies already had a partnership selling cardiovascular products to hospitals. According to Bloomberg, makers of medical devices are merging to get better technologies and have stronger bargaining power with hospitals pushing for lower prices.

"St. Jude Medical's strong positions in heart failure devices, atrial fibrillation, and cardiac rhythm management complement Abbott's leading positions in coronary intervention and transcatheter mitral repair," the statement said.

"Together, the company will compete in nearly every area of the cardiovascular market and hold the No. 1 or 2 positions across large and high-growth cardiovascular device markets."

The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year if St. Jude Medical shareholders approve and certain regulatory hurdles are cleared.

Abbott will own or refinance the nearly $5.7 billion in debt that St. Jude has, and it plans to fund the cash portion of the deal with medium- and long-term debt.

There will be annual pretax synergies of $500 million by 2020, the companies said.

St. Jude shares jumped 28% in premarket trading, while Abbott shares fell nearly 4%.

Evercore is Abbott's lead financial adviser with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, who will also provide financing. Guggenheim Securities is advising St. Jude Medical.

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The head of TED says this is the first thing you should do when public speaking

• Chris Weller, Tech Insider

• 15h
• 13,828

YouTube/TED

See Also

A former Google exec who now runs her own company reveals the question she asks almost every job candidate

Wharton and Harvard psychologists share the public speaking trick that helped them give successful TED Talks

7 bad speaking habits that turn people off immediately

As a the head curator for TED, the global nonprofit famous for its insightful talks, Chris Anderson knows a thing or two about what a successful TED talk looks like.

And all the best ones, he says, begin with eye contact.

"At TED, our number-one advice to speakers on the day of their talk is to make regular eye contact with members of the audience," Anderson writes in his new book. "Be warm. Be real. Be you."

Anderson is the author of the upcoming book "TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking," a step-by-step instruction manual for putting on a great talk. His first piece of wisdom, aside from telling you why TED talks are so great and warning which kinds you should avoid giving, is to connect.

"Great speakers find a way of making an early connection with their audience," he writes. "It can be as simple as walking confidently on stage, looking around, making eye contact with two or three people, and smiling."

Anderson points to Kelly McGonigal's talk about stress,Raghava KK's talk about life as an artist, and Pia Mancini's talk about democracy as examples of successful TED talks that reinforce the importance of eye contact. Whether it's a warm, open form of eye contact or a hard, lingering gaze, Anderson believes the connections we make begin with our eyes.

"There's a reason for this," he says. "Humans have evolved a sophisticated ability to read other people by looking at their eyes."

It's true, we have.

One experiment involving Rhesus macaques led to the discovery of new so-called "eye cells," or neurons, in the monkeys' amygdalae. Out of 151 neurons being tested, 23 of those neurons only fired when the monkeys made eye contact with a monkey in a test video. 

"These are cells that have been tuned by evolution to look at the eye, and they extract information about who you are, and most importantly, are you making eye contact with me," Katalin Gothard, the lead researcher and University of Arizona neurophysiologist, told New Scientist.

If someone gets on stage and stares at the floor the whole time, the audience has no choice but to remain distant — even imperceptibly. Only the speakers that engage the audience themselves are able to create that crucial connection.

"When you walk onto the stage, you should be thinking about one thing: your true excitement at the chance to share your passion with the people sitting right there a few feet from you," Anderson writes. 

There's no need to rush into the speech you've prepared for hours on end. Soak up the moment. But look at who you're speaking to first.

Read the original article on Tech Insider. Follow Tech Insider on Facebook and Twitter. Copyright 2016.

Chipotle just said it will break one of its cardinal rules to win back customers

• Hayley Peterson
 

• 16h
• 90,776
 
• 33

Facebook/Chipotle

Chipotle is considering adding new menu items to win back customers as sales plunge in the wake of E. coli outbreaks that affected restaurants across the country.

One of the first items that Chipotle could add is chorizo, a spicy pork and chicken blend, Chipotle executives said on a call with analysts on Tuesday.

The company is hoping that chorizo and other new menu additions will draw back its most loyal customers.

A test of chorizo in Kansas City last year was "very, very popular with our loyal customers," Chipotle co-CEO Monty Moran said. The company is hoping that the addition of chorizo will "make our loyal customers come more often," he said.

Chipotle's revenue dropped 23.4% to $834.5 million in the first quarter, the company reported on Tuesday. Same-store sales dropped nearly 30%.

The decision to add menu items goes against one of Chipotle's core business strategies.

The company has deliberately left its menu virtually unchanged since it was founded more than two decades ago. The only major change in the past 23 years has been the addition of tofu sofritas in 2014.

The chain prides itself on the simplicity of its menu and boasts that customers can create thousands of combinations from the ingredients offered.

"Chipotle restaurants serve only a few things: burritos, burrito bowls, tacos and salads," the company wrote in its 2014 annual report. "But because customers can choose from four different meats or tofu, two types of beans and a variety of extras such as salsas, guacamole, cheese and lettuce, there's enough variety to extend our menu to provide countless choices."

Chipotle co-CEO Steve Ells said that the company is being mindful of keeping things simple with the addition of new menu items.

"When we think about adding something to Chipotle, we are very, very mindful of our overall efficiencies in the kitchen, in cooking, in throughout and in ease of ordering for the customer," Ells said.

SEE ALSO: Former NBA star Ray Allen is opening a fast-food restaurant that's unlike anything on the East Coast

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Twitter's stock plunges on revenue miss

• Alexei Oreskovic
 
•  

• 18h
• 12,730
 
• 20

REUTERS/Lucas JacksonTwitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

Twitter  $15.00

TWTR

+/--0.55

%-3.50

Disclaimer

Twitter's stock is tanking after the internet company reported Q1 revenue that missed Wall Street targets and offered a forecast for the current quarter that was far below expectations.

Here are the key numbers:

• Q1 revenue: $595 million, up 36% year-on-year, but below the average analyst expectation of $607.8 million.
• Earnings per share (adjusted): $0.15 vs. the average analyst expectation of $0.10.
• Monthly users: 310 million, up from 305 million at the end of 2015.
• Q2 revenue guidance: $590 million to $610 million, compared to the average analyst expectation of $677.6 million.

Twitter's stock is down roughly 14% at $15.33 in after-hours trading.

The company's weak quarterly results highlight the struggles facing the money-losing company, which is trying to revive its fortunes under the stewardship of cofounder Jack Dorsey. He retook the CEO reins last year, but investors have continue to punish the stock, which has crumbled from its 52-week high of $52.22.

Twitter said that Q1 revenue came in at the low end of its forecast because brand marketers who advertise on its social network "did not increase spend as quickly as expected."

While revenue from video ads on Twitter nearly tripled year-on-year, the company noted that spending on video cannibalized some of the spending that marketers previously spent on other types of ads on its service. In other words, Twitter is not attracting new advertising money, but simply shifting where the money is spent.

Twitter's number of total monthly users returned to growth, after shrinking in Q4, although the growth was anemic — all the growth was international, while user growth in the US remained stalled. Here's a chart that Twitter provided showing its user growth:

Twitter

As the chart shows, Twitter's audience of monthly users has basically stagnated for the past year, even as rivals such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat are growing fast.

Twitter said that changes to its timeline helped boost in user engagement during the quarter, with retweets, replies, and likes increasing. Direct messages were up 50% year-on-year, Twitter said.

The company continued to lose money in the first quarter, posting a net loss of $80 million. That's less than the $162.4 million that it lost in the year-ago period.

SEE ALSO: The trouble with Twitter in one chart

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Comcast is reportedly in talks to acquire DreamWorks Animation in a multibillion deal

• Bryan Logan
 
•    

• 11h
• 3,871
 
• 3

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty ImagesActress Lucy Liu and Dreamworks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg attend the premiere of DreamWorks Animation and Twentieth Century Fox's 'Kung Fu Panda 3' at TCL Chinese Theatre on January 16, 2016 in Hollywood, California.

Comcast is reportedly in talks to acquire DreamWorks Animation for $3 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

DreamWorks is the animated film house behind blockbuster movies like "Kung-Fu Panda" and "Shrek," and headed by CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg.

The Journal notes that DreamWorks Animation's market value currently sits at $2.3 billion, making the projected $3 billion deal a potential boon for DreamWorks.

The film studio, Universal Pictures, also sits under Comcast's umbrella. Universal has its own animated film branch in Illumination Entertainment.

It's not clear whether Katzenberg will stay with the company should the deal go through.

Katzenberg's compensation more than doubled last year to about $13.5 million, The Hollywood Reporter's Paul Bond said last week. $2.5 million of that was salary, the rest was a mix of DreamWorks stock awards and money earned through a nonequity incentive plan.

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Apple blows earnings, stock drops 8%

• Kif Leswing
 
•  

• 16h
• 33,951
 
• 32

APCEO Tim Cook.

Apple  $96.10

AAPL

+/--0.50

%-0.50

Disclaimer

Apple delivered its March-period earnings report on Tuesday afternoon.

It missed estimates for earnings per share by $0.09, and the stock is down 8% in after-hours trading.

As expected, the company posted its first year-over-year decline in quarterly revenue since 2003.

Apple's guidance for the third quarter was also significantly lower than Wall Street expectations, indicating that the iPhone business might have one more rough quarter before it picks up again.

The company also said that 67% of its sales were international in the past quarter, which means that the strong dollar contributed of the "macroeconomic environment" conditions CEO Tim Cookcited as part of the reason for the company's disappointing earnings.

"The smartphone market, as you know, is currently not growing. However, my view of that is it's an overhang of the macroeconomic environment in many places in the world, and we're very optimistic that this too shall pass," Cook said.

But one bright spot for Apple is that while iPhone sales fell for the first time in the history of the device, they beat Wall Street expectations and landed squarely in Apple's own guidance. iPad sales also beat Wall Street expectations, but they fell year-over-year as well.

During a question-and-answer session, Cook once again emphasized the company's online-services business, which was one of the few parts of the business that grew last quarter. Services revenue was up 20% year-over-year, thanks to strong sales in the App Store.

"We are very happy with the continued strong growth in revenue from Services, thanks to the incredible strength of the Apple ecosystem and our growing base of over one billion active devices," Cook said in a statement.

Apple also announced that it would increase its share buybacks from $140 billion to $175 billion, and increased its dividend by 10 percent. Overall, the company now says it will spend $250 billion on buybacks and dividends by 2018. That $250 billion is approximately the amount the company has on hand in cash and marketable securities.

Detailed numbers and charts

Here are Apple's numbers vs. analyst expectations, based on data complied by Bloomberg:

• Q2 EPS: $1.90, down 22% YoY, vs. expectations of $1.99
• Q2 revenue: $50.6 billion, down 13% YoY, vs. expectations of $52 billion
• Gross margin: 39.4% vs. 40.8% last year and expectations of 39.47%
• iPhone unit sales: 51.2 million, down 16% YoY, vs. expectations of 50.7 million
• iPhone ASP: $642 vs. $651 expected
• iPad unit sales: 10.2 million, down 19% YoY, vs. expectations of 9.4 million
• Mac unit sales: 4.03 million, down 11% YoY, vs. expectations of 4.6 million
• Q3 revenue guidance: $41 billion and $43 billion vs. expectations of $47.35 billion

Here are tables Apple provided breaking down how many iPhones, iPads, and Macs it sold:

Apple

Apple

BI Intelligence

BI Intelligence

BI Intelligence

BI Intelligence

Live blog of the earnings call

5:01: Things are getting started. First up is CEO Tim Cook. Next is CFO Luca Maestri.

5:03: Cook just called it a "busy and challenging quarter" and a "pause in our growth."

5:04: Cook talking growth in online services, which is a big emphasis for the company this year.

5:05: iPhone sales come from three places: upgraders, switchers from Android, and first-time smartphone users, according to Apple. For the first half of this year the upgrade rate is higher than the 5S cycle, but lower than the iPhone 6, Cook says.

5:06: Cook citing survey that says iPhone has 95% loyalty rate. "We added more switchers from Android in the first half of this year than in any other 6-month period ever."

5:07: "March quarter services revenue was our highest ever," says Tim Cook. Services revenue jumped 20% to $6 billion.

5:07: Apple Music has 13 million paying subscribers.

5:08: Apple Pay has 1 million new users per week, says Cook. Teases that "more expansion of Apple Pay is coming soon."

5:09: Apple Watch sales "met our expectations" this quarter, Cook says. Expects it to be seasonal like the iPod, with 40% of sales coming during holiday quarter.

5:10: Tim Cook says Apple Watch has helped "even saved lives" with its heart rate sensor, Cook says.

5:12: "The future of Apple is very bright," Cook says. Says Apple has bought 15 companies in the past four quarters.

5:14: Now CFO Luca Maestri is speaking.

5:16: iPhone momentum in business market continues to be impressive, Maestri says. Cites study that 78% of corporate buyers want iPhones.

5:17: Maestri talks services: Thanks to App Store revenue, services revenue was up 20% year over year.

5:17: Maestri says the average amount spent per person on the App Store hit a record number last quarter.

5:19: For Mac, it was a challenging quarter for personal computers across industry, though Apple thinks it gained market share.

5:19: Maestri cites IDC study says iPad accounts for 70% of professional market.

5:20: Revenue for other products rose 30% year over year, thanks to Apple Watch.

5:21: Let's talk about cash! Maestri mentions the $50 billion in bonds Apple issued earlier this year.

5:22: Maestri confirms that it will increase share repurchase authorization to $175 billion from the $140 billion level announced last year. Dividend will increase to 57 cents per share from 52 cents per share.

5:23: Apple's dividend will increase annually going forward, Maestri says.

5:26: Maestri expects average selling price for the iPhone to continue to fall, especially because Apple added the $400 iPhone SE to the mix.

Question time

5:27: Is Apple a growth company or a mature tech company?

5:28: Cook: "The smartphone market as you know is currently not growing, however my view of that is it's an overhang of macroeconomic environment in many places in the world and we're very optimistic that this too shall pass."

5:29: "All of us know that the iPhone 6 cycle was an extraordinary cycle that accelerated upgrade," says Cook.

5:30: Cook signals that Apple will target India as a growth market.

5:31: Cook on purchasing companies: "we would buy something larger than we have thus far."

5:32: The SE is attracting two customers, according to Cook. 1: Those who want latest tech but in a compact package. 2: People who want to own an iPhone but couldn't afford one before.

5:34: Now that we have both a download model and a streaming model, we've hit an inflection point, and we can start growing our music business over time, says Maestri.

5:35: Maestri says iCloud is growing faster than App Store.

5:36: Maestri says the iPhone SE will affect margins.

5:38: Cook on India: "the infrastructure is one key, and the other key is building the channel out." Apple doesn't have stores in the country yet.

5:40: "We've been working with great energy over the last 18 months, and I'm encouraged by the results we're beginning to see." Cook says India is where China was 7 to 10 years ago.

5:44: A challenge in the tablet market in general is that the replacement cycle is materially different than in the smartphone market, Cook says. The iPhone SE isn't going to be like the iPad Mini.

5:45: We're going to have the best "compare" for iPad this upcoming quarter than we've had for a long time, Cook said.

5:46: iPhone 6S upgrade cycle is slightly better than what Apple saw with the iPhone 5S. But it's lower than the iPhone 6 — "not just a hair, but a lot lower."

5:47: If Apple saw the same upgrade rate for 6S that it saw for 6, "we would have a huge party," Cook said.

5:49: "China's not as weak as been talked about, it's a lot more stable than the common view of it," Cook said. LTE adoption continues to rise. Asks investors to look "underneath" the numbers.

5:53: Cook: "The most important thing is Apple wants to have a great customer experience, overwhelmingly Apple embarks on services that helps that and adds value to the ecosystem. In doing that, Apple developed large and profitable business in online services." Wants investors to see the services businesses in both scale and growth.

5:55: Services are "huge," Cook says.

6:01: And we're done here. Thanks for tuning in!

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