#expensive these days with ''just move to less expensive cities like amsterdam or london and get a full time job'' and it PISSED ME OFF | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

soyouthinkucanwrite · 3 years

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The money thing (part 1/2) - Daniel Ricciardo

It's always the little things, isn't it? The smallest stupidest things make almost no difference and then make all the difference in the world. They make everything special, but they also have the power to tear everything appart.

You and Daniel fight about money for the thousand time and he's had enough of it.

Warnings: super angst, but with a happy ending :)

Guys, this turned out WAY BIGGER than I expected, so I'm just gonna do a part 2, okay? Okay, thanks for understanding!

Song that inspired me: A list by HVOB

You and Daniel had been dating for a couple months now, having met through a common friend and hitting off almost instantly. You lived in Amsterdam and he, well he lived all over the world really, but his "time off" (meaning not racing) was spent between Monaco and London (for work), and Amsterdam now too, of course.

The changes were small and subtle at the beginning, like your weekends being spent traveling to meet him wherever in the world he was and consequently spending almost all your savings on plane tickets. You never complained to him (you planned on spending the money traveling anyway, so you didn't see the point), but didn't accept when he offered to buy your tickets, either. There's been some awkwardness around the subject but it usually died on its own.

*beginning of flashback*

"You’d have gotten here in time if you'd gotten the early flight like I told you" you remembered him saying that time you got in the paddock after the qualifying session had begun and couldn’t kiss him good luck.

"Baby, I told you. It was crazy expensive! Absurd even!"

"(y/n) for god's sake! What are we saving money for? I told you, you have my credit card number, I've offered to get you one, this is ridiculous, I can't believe I literally earn millions and my girlfriend wasn't there with me because the ticket was too expensive! I'll fucking fly you private if I have to!" he was almost yelling in his driver's room. You could only stare from the corner.

He took a deep breath running his hands through his hair. "Sorry. It's just... it was crap out there. I needed you" you grimaced at his words.

"Sorry. I really am..." you tried to approach him. "I'm here now?" you touched his arm. "It can't have been that bad, you're still on the top 10 and we both know what you can do from the 8th car..." you smiled at him.

*end of flashback*

He started to spend much more of his time off with you at your place, so you decided to get a place by yourself (having a roommate was great for company and splitting the rent, but having a roommate there while you guys just wanted some much-needed privacy was not working). Then there were more traveling to meet him, furniture for the new place, clothing for all the events (GPs or not), uber rides here and there... all of that without mentioning that you weren't being able to get the freelance jobs you used to get to make some extra money, so yeah, to say things were tight was an understatement. You tried to do all your shopping alone, so he wouldn't offer and you wouldn't refuse or be awkward about it, but Daniel seem to be glued to you whenever you were in the same city (not that you’re complaining).

The thing is, you always had trouble dealing with money. Sure, you liked to pay for your own stuff so as to not owe anything to anyone (especially boys), but it was so much deeper than that. Ever since a kid, you hated asking for money from your parents, and sometimes even the thought of buying stuff that was a bit more expensive made you sick. You couldn't explain why, you just felt guilty having so much and knowing that most people have never even seen that amount. It's not that you didn't want to spend it and save for the sake of it, you just didn't handle the idea of money very well. Needless to say, dating a millionnaire was bound to cause trouble in the relationship for you.

You were currently at his place in Monaco. It was the summer break and you had decided to spend some days just chilling at home, just the two of you - which you were glad since going out means hair, makeup, clothes, accessories, shoes... and, let's be honest, the kind of places he usually took you is not the kind of places you just throw something together last minute (the Instagram models and other driver's girlfriends looking you up and down were enough to make you think about spending money you did not have to hire a stylist or something like that). The whole situation was really stressing you out and you knew you would have to be honest with him eventually, instead of only dodging the subject and refusing most of his offers to pay. You tried to. You kind of tried. You suggested staying at home, in bed, most of the time, and he gladly agreed, but that strategy wasn't gonna work forever. You had to be honest with him. But at the same time, you knew what he was going to say and do, and the thought of him spending money on you, even if just by handling the restaurant bill, wasn't something you were much more comfortable with. Besides, it was only a matter of time before the "gold-digger" term starts to fly around in the small world that was the F1's.

You were laying on his couch, the Olympics playing on the TV but you were too busy overthinking the money thing to pay attention. Daniel was laying with his head on your lap, absently caressing your thigh and watching the TV. His phone went off and he moved to pick it up.

"Hello?" you watched as he answered the phone. "Hey mate, how's it going? Uh nothing, we're just chilling at home. Getting some rest... Yeah, I'm getting rested, you dirty-minded son of a bitch" you rolled your eyes while he laughed out loud on the line with someone. "Yeah, I know... the 19th is it? No, it's fine. Yeah, yeah. I'll be there. Alright, mate. Thanks for calling. Have a good one! Bye!" he hanged up and leaned in to peck you on the lips.

"Good news?" you asked him.

"Not really. Just wanted to kiss you" he shrugged, smiling. You smiled back and hugged him, pulling him in for another kiss. He was always so caring with you, always finding an excuse to kiss or touch you. You knew some people didn't like it, but you loved it. Physical touch was definitely one of your love languages.

"What's happening on the 19th then?" you asked him once you guys set apart from the kiss.

"Gotta be in London. Gonna run some testings and other boring race stuff..."

"Hum..." you hummed in understanding.

"You know what would make it less boring though?" he asked and you just looked at him, you already knew what he was going to ask you and it wasn't that you didn't want to spend every minute of the day with him, but you simply couldn't afford any more traveling, especially not in such short notice. "If you came with me. Huh? What do you say? A week in the Queen's land? Then we can fly together to Spa and after the race, I can go with you to Amsterdam. The next one it's the Dutch GP anyway, I'll just get there sooner" he laughed. It was crushing you, the man of your dreams was literally beaming at making plans with you, talking about spending the next few weeks glued together and you couldn't say yes.

"Dan, I have to work" you smiled sadly.

"Can't you work from distance? Or, I don't know, I mean... I know it's tiring, but you could come to London and fly home a bit early, then just meet me in Belgium?" great, his solution includes even more flying. And the thing is, you really didn't mind the flying. You always slept during the whole thing anyway, so you never got tired and the jetlag was minimal. You could work from distance, sure. Your boss wouldn't mind, as long as you got there eventually to check in on everything. But the whole logistics were just too expensive. There was no way you could afford it.

"I... sorry, I don't think I can" you said sadly and watched as his face dropped.

"That's fine, baby. I get it. I'm asking too much, all this traveling... don't worry about it" he tried to mask his emotions but you knew better. He knew you could in fact work from distance, so he was probably thinking the reason you couldn't do it was because you didn't want to.

He got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen. Meanwhile, you couldn't help but bury your face in your palms. This was so frustrating!

"You wanna go for a run or something? Maybe get something to eat?" he called from the kitchen, already moving on from the subject. You knew this whole thing was only gonna keep build up till he got tired of your excuses or you blowing up, probably the former, but you just keep going.

"Yeah, sure" you answered, getting up from the couch.

You and Daniel were both very active so going for a run, hiking, riding bikes, or whatever in the middle of the day was really routine for you. The Monaco summer weather was as beautiful as always and the sun was shining bright. You enjoyed the rest of your afternoon racing each other, kissing in the harbor, and just taking in the views, spending quality time together. Money wasn't even a thing in your bubble for a while.

"I'm getting hungry" he said on the way back home.

"Me too, and I'm super hot. I could go for a juice or something right now" you were all sweaty from the running, but you didn't care, he was too.

"You're always hot baby, I don't think juice gonna help with that" he grinned at you and you just rolled your eyes at him.

You passed by one of his favorite spots for food, nearby his place and he suggested getting some take-out, to which you agreed.

"Green juice, and a chicken wrap?" you tried to decide while the both of you waited in line.

"I'll never understand how you drink that"

"I've seen you drink that too, it's actually very refreshing"

"Because I'm forced to, I'm a high-performance athlete baby. But I'm on a break, so I'll have a coke, thank you very much" you laughed at him. He was holding your hand and tried to kiss you, wrapping his arm around you, you didn't dodge his kiss, you would never, but still laughed at the fact he wanted to kiss the sweaty mess you were right now.

"I'm gross, only you" you laughed.

"That's my baby, with no makeup she a ten" he rapped shrugging and grinning.

"Alright Lil Wayne, I know that one, don't even finish the verse" you laughed at him, making him laugh out loud, getting everyone's in the restaurant's attention.

"It's true, though"

"Sure..." You just shook your head smiling. Then you heard someone call his name.

"Hey! Daniel!" you both turned around to see Charles and Charlotte sitting in a corner, him waving at you two. You had met Charles a couple of times before but never spoke too much to him. They seemed to be leaving anyway, so they walked towards you guys, instead of towards the door.

"Hey mate, how's it going?" Daniel greeted him with a handshake. "Hey, Charlotte! You know (y/n) yet?"

"Hi! I don't think so, hi! How are you?" she greeted you smiling.

"Hi! Nice to meet you. Hi, Charles!" you said.

"Hey, (y/n). You're keeping him in line during the break? Char won't let me cheat my diet either" he laughed.

"Oh, that ship has sailed long ago! Daniel will just roll into the paddock if it's up to him" you laughed back.

"Hey! I think I've earned the right to some extra calories, we've been working out extra hard lately" Daniel said waving his eyebrows suggestively, making Charlotte giggle, Charles rolls his eyes and you go even redder than you were from the actual workout, while he just laughed out loud.

"I don't even want to know" Charles said. "Always great running into you mate" he was getting ready to say goodbye.

"Are we seeing you guys tomorrow?" Charlotte asked you.

"Tomorrow?" you asked her.

"Stefano's birthday" she said like it was obvious. Stefano Domenicali was the President and CEO of Formula 1, but you didn't know that yet - still, her tone made it seems like it was someone Daniel knew, so you just looked at him. He just rubbed his neck, looking a little embarrassed. "Oh, wait. Please tell me I didn't just said something I shouldn't" she looked at Charles.

"No, no. He invited me. Us, actually" Daniel reassured her. "I don't think we're going though, forgot to mention to you" he said looking at you.

"Uh mate, I wouldn't skip that if I were you. He didn't even invite all the drivers I heard" Charles said. "Maybe just stop by to say hello?"

"Stop by... a yacht... at the sea?" Charlotte said grinning at him. Daniel looked at you.

"You feel like going? It should be fun" he asked you.

"Sounds fancy... I mean, I don't mind if you go" you said.

"Common... I’m not going alone" he nudged you.

"I don't even have anything to wear, Dan" you told him.

"Oh! We can go shopping together!" Charlotte said and you had almost forgotten they were still there.

"Perfect!" Daniel answered for you. You could only imagine the types of stores she shopped.

"Tomorrow morning, then? Daniel can text your address to Charles for me? I'll pick you up!" she was being really nice about it.

"I thought you wanted to go today?" Charles said.

"That's when I thought I would have to go shopping with you, so I could use the extra time since you're the worst shopping partner ever!" she laughed at him.

"Burn!" Daniel laughed.

"His fashion taste is not the most reliable, let's face it" she laughed and kissed his cheek. "It's a date then (y/n)?" she looked expectantly at you. You didn't want to let her down, it was so hard to make friends with the girlfriends of other drivers, they were usually so... not nice. You could always just help her and find something to wear in your own stuff later.

"Yeah, sure! See you tomorrow, at 10?" you said simply.

"Perfect!" she beamed.

>>> end of part 1 <<<

#daniel ricciardo #daniel ricciardo fanfic #Daniel ricciardo fluff #daniel ricciardo x reader #daniel ricciardo imagine #daniel ricciardo fic #f1 fic #f1 fanfic

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arnaldologgia · 4 years

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Live Industry Updates: LinkedIn To Lay off Roughly 960

This article charts the coronavirus pandemic’s ongoing effect on the digital ad industry – from publishers to vendors, marketers and agencies.

We will continuously update this story as more developments become public.

July 21

Even LinkedIn isn’t immune to coronavirus-related layoffs.

The company said on Tuesday that it’s cutting around 960 jobs, or 6% of its total global workforce, as COVID-19 buffets the job market, CNN reports. The layoffs will impact LinkedIn’s global sales and talent acquisition divisions.

“Fewer companies, including ours, need to hire at the same volume as they did previously,” newly appointed CEO Ryan Roslansky wrote in a note to staff. Roslansky, a longtime LinkedIn executive who took on the CEO role in June, stressed that these are the only layoffs LinkedIn is planning to make.

At least 3.7 million jobs formerly held by now unemployed Americans are likely gone for good as a result of the pandemic.

Although most of the large Silicon Valley technology companies have largely been able to avoid the economic fallout of the ongoing crisis, LinkedIn’s business model is predicated on job searches and building professional connections in a health economy. With tens of millions unemployed in the United States and widespread hiring freezes, there’s less demand for these services.

Affected LinkedIn employees will receive a minimum 10 weeks of severance pay and career transition assistance. US employees will get 12 months of continuing health insurance. Roslansky noted hat LinkedIn might be hiring for newly created roles across the company “as we invest in our most strategic areas for growth” and that LinkedIn could potentially rehire some of the people hit by Tuesday’s announcement.

July 16

WPP said Thursday it will end the voluntary salary reductions it put in place for its executives back in April, Campaign reported.

Roughly 3,000 senior agency employees volunteered for pay cuts between 10% and 20% when COVID-19 hit the United States. WPP agencies will phase out the salary reductions over July, depending on when they started.

The decision to end salary cuts for board members, including CEO Mark Read, is still under review.

July 15

BBC Cuts 520 Jobs

The BBC is cutting 520 jobs from its 6000-person workforce. The broadcaster initially said it would cut 450 jobs in January, but postponed doing so in March to “ensure COVID-19 coverage.” Unfortunately, those 450 job losses, plus 70 more, were enacted on Wednesday. These cuts will substantially impact the BBC’s programming. It will lose “The Andrew Neil Show,” its Radio 4 show “In Business” and the Business Live page on the BBC News site, among others.

The BBC has been in a budget crunch since at least 2016, when it said it needed to save 800 million pounds, with 80 million pounds coming from news. But during that time, the news division only managed to save 40 million pounds.

Separately, the BBC also said on July 2 that it would cut 450 jobs from its regional news outlets, local radio and online news.

Guardian To Cut 180 Jobs, Revenue Likely Down By More Than $31 Million This Year

It’s not a good day for the media.

One day after Vox announced revenue declines and layoff plans, and on the same day that the BBC said it will trim 520 positions, The Guardian revealed planned cuts across both editorial and commercial roles. The move is directly tied to the negative economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic that continues to roil the media industry.

The Guardian will eliminate 180 jobs in total: 70 from editorial and the remainder from its advertising, marketing, live events and, ironically, Guardian jobs search divisions. Revenue at The Guardian is expected to decline by more than 25 million pounds (slightly more than $31.5 million) on the 2020 budget.

The pandemic created an “unsustainable financial outlook” for the publisher, according to a joint statement from The Guardian’s editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner, and Annette Thomas, CEO of the paper’s parent company, Guardian Media Group.

Despite the bloodletting, Viner and Thomas said they don’t plan to adopt a paywall for The Guardian. The focus going forward will be on digital growth and its reader revenue model, by which The Guardian encourages people to sign up for memberships and make one-off contributions while keeping the content free to read.

Vox Media Preps For Layoffs

Vox Media informed its union leaders that the company will need to make layoffs in the face of falling revenue, CNBC reported on Tuesday. The publisher expects revenue to drop by 25% this year.

Although Vox, which publishes New York Magazine, SBNation and The Verge among other titles, was on target to reach its revenue goals for the first two months of 2020, its Q2 revenue dipped by 40%.

In April, Vox Media furloughed 100 employees, or 9% of its total staff. Those employees, who were focused on Vox’s business side, sports and live events, will now likely be laid off. Job cuts could go on to exceed that original figure.

Because 350 Vox Media employees and an additional number of former New York Media employees are represented by unions, their respective leadership teams are holding meetings this week about how to proceed.

July 13

VICE Media Donates Free Ad Inventory To SMBs

VICE Media Group is doling out free advertising space for local small businesses affected by the ongoing pandemic.

The purpose of VICE’s “Locals Only” initiative is to spread the word among local audiences about how they can help support struggling SMBs. For example, businesses can promote their delivery services, curbside pickup, gift cards and ecommerce options.

The pro bono ad space will be available across all of VICE’s owned-and-operated sites in communities where it has a strong presence, including New York City, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Toronto, Singapore, London, Amsterdam, Melbourne, Berlin, Milan and Paris.

To take advantage, businesses need to visit VICE’s “Locals Only” website and share information about how they’ve been affected by COVID-19 and the location they want to target. From there, they can build and submit their ad, which will be then be geotargeted and served on a relevant VICE site.

The ad-building interface was created from scratch specifically for the initiative and designed to be as easy to use as possible. “This makes the tool accessible for all small businesses, not just the digital savvy ones,” stated Paul Opgenhaffen, VICE Media Group’s media director for EMEA.

July 9

Havas Cuts Up To 200 Jobs

Havas Group laid off between 150 and 200 US employees across offices in Boston, Chicago and New York, as well as various staff in the UK, due to client spending cuts during the pandemic.

Agencies were impacted based on their client portfolio and geography, a Havas spokesperson told AdAge. Employees working on whose businesses were shut down were hit the hardest by the cuts.

June 24

The New York Times Lays Off Part Of Its Advertising Team

The New York Times laid off 68 people this week, largely from its ad sales team and Fake Love, the experiential marketing agency it acquired in 2016, Axios reported.

Departing workers will receive at least 16 weeks of severance and medical benefits, $6,000 to offset job transition costs and six months of outplacement services, according to an internal memo obtained by Axios.

The moves reflect the tough environment facing media companies, which are balancing a surge in user engagement against declining ad and events revenue caused by the pandemic.

There were no layoffs in The New York Times’ newsroom or opinion sections. Read more.

June 17

Google Adds Another $200M To Ad Grants Program For Nonprofits

Google committed an additional $200 million in ad grants to support nonprofits, bringing the program’s total investment to $1 billion, the company announced Wednesday.

The program, launched in 2003, provides nonprofits with up to $10,000 in complimentary Search ads per month. The additional funds will be directed toward organizations that address COVID-19 response and recovery, racial injustice and other pressing issues around the world.

Also, Google announced several initiatives aimed at racial equity, including increasing Black representation in its hiring and senior ranks and funding to support Black business owners, entrepreneurs and developers.

May 29

Skift To Shift To 100% Remove Work In August

B2B media company Skift will let its Manhattan office lease expire July 31 and go fully remote, Folio reported. The move will save the company $600,000 in expenses.

The company, which covers the travel industry, will rent meeting space as needed every week to accomodate its New York-based employees but expects some to relocate.

“Business operators are realizing this is a once in a lifetime chance of resetting your cost base,” CEO Rafat Ali told AdExchanger last month. “This is true across all industries, not just in travel, not just in media.”

Roughly 40% of its revenue was derived from events; When the pandemic struck, the company furloughed 20 workers who have since been laid off. Skift has also introduced a hiring freeze, solicited donations from readers and shifted to virtual events. Read more.

May 28

Pandemic And Merger Lead To More Layoffs At ViacomCBS

CBS will cut between 300 and 400 jobs due to the pandemic-related economic downturn and its continuing merger with Viacom.

The layoffs will happen across all divisions and be effective immediately, The Los Angeles Times reported. But the cuts will be concentrated in CBS divisions such as entertainment, news, sports, its production studio and TV stations. CBS News is expected to lay off 5% of its 1,400 full-time employees. Most affected employees are based in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

It is the combined company’s second round of job cuts following the December merger. About 100 employees were laid off largely from its cable operations.

“We are restructuring various operations at CBS as part our ongoing integration with Viacom, and to adapt to changes in our business, including those related to COVID-19,” a CBS representative told The Los Angeles Times in a statement. “Our thoughts today are with our departing colleagues for their friendship, service and many important contributions to CBS.”

May 21

The Atlantic Lays Off 17% Of Staff, Accelerates Subscription Strategy

The Atlantic laid off 68 people, or 17% of its staff, as part of a “reset of its business strategy” due to the coronavirus pandemic, Atlantic Media Chairman and owner David Bradley said in a message to staffers Thursday morning.

Though The Atlantic added 90,000 subscribers since March, that increase in consumer revenue wasn’t enough to offset declines in advertising and cancellation of live events. With the pandemic clearly demonstrating the importance of consumer revenue, The Atlantic is hoping to reach its goal of 1 million subscribers by December 2022, up from its current 450,000-subscriber total.

“Like The New York Times and The Washington Post, The Atlantic’s long-term intention is that a majority of revenues comes from its readership,” Bradley said. “In the absence of a pandemic and global crisis, we would have found some kind of kinder contraction.”

As part of the layoffs, Atlantic Media will shut down its video department and make deep cuts to its live events division. Sales and marketing are also affected. Remaining executives will take pay cuts and the company will institute salary freezes.

Despite the cuts, there are a few bright spots for The Atlantic, Bradley said. In addition to subscriber growth, The Atlantic is seeing upticks across premium advertising its branded content (Re:think) and consulting (Atlantic 57) divisions and – perhaps unsurprisingly – in programmatic advertising.

May 15

Vice Media Group To Lay Off 5% Of Staff

Vice Media Group will lay off more than 5% of its global workforce, or 155 employees, including about 100 internationally and the remainder in the United States. Vice Digital’s teams will be hardest hit.

The US layoffs will take place Friday, while the layoffs of international staff will happen in the next few weeks, according to an internal memo obtained by Variety.

The digital teams account for half of headcount costs but only bring in 21% of revenue, Vice Media Group CEO Nancy Dubuc wrote in the memo. “Looking at our business holistically, this imbalance needed to be addressed for the long-term health of our company.”

Dubuc said that eliminating open roles would help Vice Media retain 90% of jobs in the digital organization. She said the pandemic exacerbated long-running challenges in digital advertising.

“[T]he squeeze is becoming a choke hold,” she wrote. “Platforms are not just taking a larger slice of the pie, but almost the whole pie.”

Vice Media, which includes Refinery29, had reportedly already been laying off workers in recent weeks. In late March, Vice Media also implemented pay cuts, suspended promotions and paused 401(k) contributions. Read more.

FT Avoids Layoffs With Pay And Spending Cuts

Despite an increase in paid subscriptions, The Financial Times will have to reduce staff salaries and hours to avoid layoffs.

From July until the end of the year, the publisher will reduce by 10% the salaries of non-editorial staff making more than 50,000 pounds.

The company will avoid editorial team cuts by reducing spending on outside contributors and moving some staff to part-time.

The reductions will not apply to those who were affected in the publisher’s first round of pay cuts.

In the last two months of the pandemic, FT has signed up 50,000 new digital subscribers. Read more.

May 14

Quartz Lays Off 80

Business news site Quartz will lay off 80 workers, or about 40% of its staff, in response to declining advertising revenue during the coronavirus pandemic. That includes about half of the publisher’s 43 journalists.

The layoffs were announced in a public filing Thursday from parent company Uzabase, a Japanese financial intelligence firm, The New York Times reported.

Executive salaries will also be reduced by 25-50%, and the company is closing physical offices in San Francisco, Washington, London and Hong Kong.

In a note to staff, CEO Zach Seward said the cuts were part of a plan to emphasize subscriptions over advertising. It had 17,680 paid subscribers at the end of April.

“Our strategy is to focus on what Quartz does best, which is analysis of global business and economics for our audience of young, ambitious professionals,” Seward said in the note. “The business model will still be a mix of subscription and advertising revenue, but as a smaller and more focused company, we’ll only do those things that serve Quartz’s core.” Read more.

IAS Cuts 10% Of Staff

Integral Ad Science (IAS) will lay off nearly 10% of it workforce in response to the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

IAS, which was acquired by Vista Equity Partners in 2018, employed more than 700 people before the layoffs. Read more.

May 13

Condé Nast Institutes Layoffs, Furloughs And Reduced Schedules For Some US Employees

Condé Nast will lay off less than 100 advertising, editorial and corporate employees in the United States in response to the coronavirus pandemic, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The publisher will also furlough a similar number of staffers, and a small number of employees will see their hours reduced.

Condé Nast, which publishes The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Wired, has been hit particularly hard during the pandemic, in line with the sinking fortunes of the fashion, luxury and travel categories, which are sold across many of its titles.

After reevaluating each title’s costs against revenue, the company told executives they would have to reduce personnel if they couldn’t reach savings targets via cost cuts. The events team has been furloughed.

“These decisions are never easy, and not something I ever take lightly,” CEO Roger Lynch said in a memo sent to employees. “I want to be transparent about the principles and approach we used.”

The company, owned by Advance Publications, employs about 2,700 people in the United States and an estimated 6,000 globally. Read more.

May 11

GroupM Lays Off Staff

GroupM will lay off an undisclosed number of staffers across its agencies in several markets, Adweek reported. It’s not clear exactly how many employees are impacted.

The cuts come despite voluntary senior salary reductions and other cost-cutting measures put in place by parent company WPP in late March.

“Unfortunately, despite these efforts, in some markets we will have to make staff reductions and part ways with talented employees,” a GroupM spokesperson said. “We are doing everything we can to support those colleagues who are affected during this very challenging time.”

Xaxis was hit with layoffs in the low single digits, CEO Nicholas Bidon confirmed. The group is approaching cuts in areas that are the hardest hit, such as event marketing, while trying to retain programmatic traders and data scientists.

May 8

Facebook Grants $16M To Local US News Pubs

The Facebook Journalism Project has doled out nearly $16 million in COVID-19 relief fund grants to more than 200 US publishers to support their newsrooms during the crisis.

Local news outlets will use the cash to support immediate community needs and offset revenue shortfalls.

The money comes from a pool of $25 million earmarked by Facebook for local news relief funding that is itself part of a larger $100 million global investment in news. The remaining funds will be distributed throughout the year to support projects focused on long-term stability in local journalism.

Facebook also announced a series of grants to pubs in Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa. Read the blog post.

May 7

BuzzFeed Furloughs Workers

In a bid to keep its coronavirus-related revenue losses under $20 million, BuzzFeed will furlough 68 employees and extend employee salary cuts. The media company is also considering suspending employee 401(k) matching through the end of 2020, Bloomberg reported.

The furloughs will begin May 16 and last three months for affected employees in the United States. BuzzFeed will not fill 50 open content and technology jobs. It may also sublease offices in Minneapolis and Washington.

“The global economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic has inflicted increasing negative impact on our business,” CEO Jonah Peretti wrote in a company memo. “In recent weeks, we have been confronted with even greater revenue declines than expected.”

May 6

NBCUniversal Becomes Latest Media Company To Cut Senior Management Pay

NBCUniversal will reduce senior management compensation by 20%, its CEO told staff Tuesday.

Pay raises for those making more than $100,000 would be rolled back 3%, and on-air talent at NBC News would also see their pay decline by 3% as the company weathers the economic recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The company would also cut its travel and entertainment budgets and use of outside consultants, The Wall Street Journal reported.

“Advertising revenue is starting to fall,” Chief Executive Jeff Shell wrote in a staff memo explaining the changes.

On Monday, Shell announced that NBCUniversal’s operations would be restructured. NBC News Chairman Andy Lack will depart, replaced by Cesar Conde, who currently runs Telemundo. Its broadcast, cable and streaming operations were streamlined under Mark Lazarus, who oversees sports and NBC’s local TV stations.

May 1

WPP Receives $747 Million Loan From UK Government

WPP has received a 600 million pounds ($747 million) credit from the UK government’s COVID Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF). AdAge reported the news Friday.

In its Q1 earnings this week, WPP said it had 4.4 billion pounds ($5.5 billion) of liquidity, thanks in part to the disposal of its majority stake in Kantar last year, and 2.8 billion pounds ($3.5 billion) in “other facilities,” including government funding. WPP has not accessed the government funds yet, according to AdAge sources.

The United Kingdom’s CCFF program lends money to businesses making a material contribution to the economy for up to a year on comparable terms to the pre-COVID-19 crisis. Recipients must be incorporated and have a headquarters or significant employment in the country. WPP has its headquarters in London but conducts most of its business outside of the country.

As in the United States, there has been pushback about whether large companies with significant cash reserves such as WPP should be eligible to receive government aid.

Bloomberg Speeds Up Vendor Payments During Pandemic

Bloomberg LP will pay all vendor invoices within three days of receipt and approval during the pandemic, up from current payment terms of 30-45 days.

The company said Friday that it would also pay vendors for hourly workers assigned to Bloomberg, regardless of whether they’re still working or not. That’s similar to the company’s policy for its own workers.

“In the current environment, small businesses need cash on hand to survive,” Founder Michael Bloomberg said in a statement. “We greatly value all our vendors and the services of their workers who support our company. We will do our part to ensure they can continue to operate. In return, we expect our vendors to accelerate payment to their subcontractors, and to continue paying their hourly wage workers who are assigned to Bloomberg and not currently working due to the pandemic.”

April 29

Axios To Return PPP Loan

A week after disclosing that it had avoided layoffs and pay cuts by securing a $4.8 million Paycheck Protection Program loan, Axios said Tuesday that it would return the funds.

In a blog post, co-founder and CEO Jim VandeHei said the media company could confidently give the money back after nearing a deal for an alternative source of capital. At the same time, the program has inspired a backlash against many companies for taking PPP funds, including Axios.

“Some critics say media companies like ours should not qualify, period,” VandeHei wrote. “Others argue that venture-backed startups should seek capital elsewhere, even if it hurts the business.”

He said the decision to apply for the loan four weeks ago had seemed prudent, since Axios’ physical events business was shut down, ad revenue declined and it wanted to protect its 190 employees from layoffs.

The PPP program is aimed at businesses with less than 500 workers that cannot access capital at a reasonable cost and would eliminate jobs without the funding. Read more.

April 28

OpenX Cuts Staff, Hours And Executive Pay In Response To Reduced Marketer Spend

OpenX said Tuesday it has laid off, furloughed or cut hours for 15% of its employees. Most of that percentage were layoffs and furloughs, and the number of people whose hours were cut was small, the company said.

OpenX reduced the salaries of its leadership team by 15% to 20%. Read AdExchanger’s coverage.

April 27

GumGum Cuts Staff By 25%

GumGum laid off 25% of its staff last week due to declining revenues caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Business Insider reported.

GumGum raised $22 million in Series D funding in February, bringing its total funding to $58.8 million.

In a blog post last week, CEO Phil Schraeder said the company had been poised to surpass its growth goals as it headed into the end of Q1, but that changed drastically when the pandemic hit the United States.

He said he made the decision to reduce headcount when it became clear that the cuts already implemented – Schraeder began forgoing his salary, senior leadership received salary cuts and the company instituted a hiring freeze and reduced nonessential costs – wouldn’t be enough. Temporary actions, such as furloughs or more salary cuts, didn’t make sense in the long term, he said.

“As painful as it is, I am certain that our team was just too large for the revenue we will generate this year,” he wrote. “It would be irresponsible of me to take a short-term solution for what I know is a permanent revenue impact.”

April 23

Fox Cuts Salaries For Leadership Team

Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch, Chief Executive Lachlan Murdoch and other senior executives will forego their salaries through September in response to the pandemic’s effects on its businesses, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Fox will halve the salaries of division heads, including Fox News Chief Executive Suzanne Scott, Fox Entertainment Chief Executive Charlie Collier and Fox Sports Chief Executive Eric Shanks.

Vice presidents and above would receive a 15% pay cut from May 1 through July 31.

The reductions are necessary so that “to the greatest extent possible, we are able to protect our full-time colleagues with salary and benefit continuation during the period we are most affected by the crisis,” Lachlan Murdoch said in the memo.

About 700 Fox Corp. employees will receive the pay cuts; on-air talent are not included, according to the Journal. Read more.

April 22

Axios Qualifies For A PPP Loan Worth Nearly $5 Million

Axios said Wednesday that it had qualified for a Paycheck Protection Program loan worth nearly $5 million, which will help the media company avoid the layoffs and pay cuts that have plagued the industry.

The company’s revenue has declined as its physical events business disappeared and advertisers paused spend. Axios had already moved quickly to cut non-personnel expenses, and it said the loan will ensure jobs and salaries for its staff of nearly 200 through the rest of the year. It will note its receipt of the PPP loan when writing about the program.

“Many organizations have had to lay off talented journalists and teams, or even shut down,” Axios said. “Our commitment is to not only protect existing jobs but, with time, grow new ones.” Read more.

April 21

Vice Prepares For Hundreds Of Potential Layoffs

Vice could potentially lay off more than 300 employees in its digital operations, including Vice News and Refinery29, according to an internal planning document obtained by The Wall Street Journal.

The move, if enacted, could save the company roughly $40 million, but digital traffic could decline by as much as 30% because less content would be published. Vice expects online ad spend to decline 33% at Refinery29 and 39% at Vice websites.

Vice said the document is one of several scenarios being discussed internally but no decisions have been made.

Top executives took a 25% voluntary pay cut last month, and CEO Nancy Dubuc took a 50% reduction. Read more.

Tribune Publishing Institutes 3-Week Furloughs

Two weeks after Tribune Publishing announced permanent 2-10% pay cuts for high salaried employees, CEO Terry Jimenez sent out another note requiring non-union employees whose salaries are between $40,000 and $67,000 to take three-week furloughs within the next three months.

“We may also implement additional furloughs or extend the length of time for positions that have been disproportionately impacted by the slowdown of work activity brought about by the pandemic,” Jimenez wrote. Read more from Poynter.

IPG Mediabrands Enacts Cost-Cutting Measures

IPG Mediabrands agencies enacted cost-cutting measures including furloughs and lay offs of 5% of its workforce, Adweek reported Tuesday.

An agency spokesperson said: “In alignment with IPG, we are instituting a range of actions to reduce expenses, including deferring all increases, taking salary cuts, furloughs and, as a last resort and only if unavoidable, making some reductions in staff.” More.

NPR Avoids Layoffs By Cutting Executive Pay

With a potential budget deficit of $30 million to $45 million, National Public Radio will slash executive salaries by between 10% and 25% to avoid employee layoffs, The New York Times reported.

The cuts, along with tighter discretionary spending, will save the radio and podcast nonprofit as much as $25 million. About a third of NPR’s revenue comes from corporate sponsors such as Trader Joe’s and State Farm, but that stream will be $12 million to $15 million smaller this year.

“We do not have any position eliminations on the table now, and it is our goal to avoid them as much as is reasonably possible,” NPR CEO John Lansing wrote in a company email obtained by the Times.

Like many news organizations, NPR is balancing increased reader and listener engagement during the coronavirus pandemic with declining revenue. Monthly traffic to its website has more than doubled, while radio show streaming has increased 31%. Read more.

April 20

WarnerMedia Gives Purpose-Driven Advertising A Boost

WarnerMedia Ad Sales launched a program Monday aimed at CNN Digital advertisers sharing “messages of social good and purpose” during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the end of April, CNN Digital will match any new investment with inventory for the same dollar amount.

Participating marketers will get the ad inventory they initially paid for, as well as an equal amount of inventory that can be used to run purpose-driven messaging for their own brand or a charity. Those messages can run across CNN.com, GreatBigStory.com, CNNgo, CNN Audio and CNN’s digital newsletters.

The matched media may also be donated to the Ad Council for PSAs.

Launch partners include MassMutual, AARP and John Hancock. Matched media will be delivered through the end of September. Read more.

Meredith Implements Pay Cuts Until September

Meredith implemented pay cuts for 60% of its 5,000 employees due to the coronavirus’s effect on advertising. With “significant declines” in Meredith’s fourth fiscal quarter, which ended in March, Meredith cut salaries to strengthen liquidity and financial flexibility, the company said in a release.

Although Meredith’s revenue has increasingly diversified, advertising still accounts for half of its revenue. While 40% of employees’ salaries will remain unchanged, 45% of its employees will receive a 15% pay cut from May 2 to Sept. 2. The 15% highest-paid employees will receive at least 20% pay cuts, while Meredith CEO and President Tom Harty and the company’s board of directors will take 40% pay cuts. Employees who receive pay cuts will receive one day of unpaid leave per week.

The company also withdrew its fiscal 2020 guidance and suspended its investor dividend. Read more.

April 19

Charter Announces 60-Day Moratorium On Layoffs and Furloughs

Charter said Sunday that it would not lay off or furlough any workers during the next 60 days.

The cable company also said that it has created more than 700 new jobs, including an expansion of its Spectrum call center operations and hires in El Paso, Texas, Rotterdam, NY, and Kansas City, Mo.

Charter recently announced it would permanently increase its minimum wage to $20 per hour. Read more.

April 17

Vox Media Furloughs 9% Of Employees

Vox Media, which publishes Recode, The Verge, New York Magazine and Eater among others, has furloughed 9% of employees from May 1 to July 31. The cuts, according to TechCrunch, are “across sales, sales support, production, events, IT and office operations, along with editorial staff at SB Nation and Curbed.”

In a memo to employees, CEO Jim Bankoff also announced reduced hours for 1% of employees, salary cuts for those making over $130,000, with reductions beginning at 15% and going up to 50% for Bankoff and Vox Media President Pam Wasserstein. Vox also halted raises as well as its 401k matching program through the end of 2020.

Wrote Bankoff: “Weakness in March, driven by the cancellations of SXSW and March Madness, the collapse of travel, sports and fashion-related advertising, and other factors led us to miss our revenue goals by several million dollars in the first quarter; the impact will be significantly greater in the second quarter.”

He expressed confidence that the company will rebound, though could not say when or by how much.

The Vox Media Union said it had a guarantee there would be “no layoffs, no additional furloughs, and no additional pay cuts through July 31, along with enhanced severance for any layoffs that occur in August-December.”

Google Ad Manager Will Waive Ad Serving Fees For News Publishers

For the next five months, Google is waiving its Ad Manager ad serving fees for news publishers around the globe, which have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Read the blog post.

Many have seen ad revenue fall as national and local advertisers pull back, and as coronavirus-related keyword blocking makes it difficult to monetize related content, compared to soft news or counterprogramming. Read AdExchanger’s coverage.

April 16

LA Times Furloughs Non-Editorial Employees

The LA Times is furloughing business-side employees for 16 weeks and implementing 5% to 15% pay cuts for senior executives due to the coronavirus.

“Due to the unexpected effects of COVID-19, our advertising revenue has nearly been eliminated,” said President Chris Argentieri in a memo. Billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong bought the paper in June 2018 for $500 million. Read more at the New York Post.

April 15

Fortune Lays Off 10% Of Staff

Fortune cut 10% of its payroll, or 35 employees, to reduce costs during the coronavirus pandemic. Fortune CEO Alan Murray took a 50% pay cut, and the rest of the executive team cut their salaries by 30%. The Wrap has more.

NextRoll Lays Off 30%, Institutes 20% Paycuts

The retargeting company NextRoll, which recently rebranded from AdRoll, laid off 30% of its 700 global staff at the beginning of April due to the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

The remaining employees are taking 20% pay cuts, AdExchanger confirmed. The executive team are cutting their salaries by a greater, but unspecified, percentage.

“We are in the midst of the most challenging period the world has experienced in our lifetime,” said NextRoll Inc. CEO, Toby Gabriner. “It’s impossible to know how long this global pandemic will last, but it’s clear that NextRoll has entered uncharted territory.” More.

April 14

Verizon Media Donates $10M In Ad Credits For COVID-19 Mental Health Awareness

Verizon Media is earmarking $10 million worth of ad inventory to support mental and public health response efforts related to the coronavirus pandemic. The inventory is reserved for national and internal mental health organizations, which have seen a rise in demand for their services.

Some of the entities involved include Child Mind Institute, which provides telemedicine and remote health evaluations, and Crisis Text Line, which provides 24/7 free text support for those in crisis in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland. The donation will also aid response efforts by the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. Adweek has more.

Omnicom To Begin Furloughs And Layoffs

Omnicom confirmed Tuesday it will lay off and furlough staff across its 70,000-employee network due to the economic impact of the coronavirus.

Business Insider first reported the news.

Layoffs and furloughs will begin this week and will affect “many of our agencies,” Omnicom CEO John Wren wrote in a memo to employees. The company will try to furlough employees rather than lay them off and participate in government subsidy programs where it’s eligible “so we can bring people back if, and when, conditions improve and client demand recovers,” he wrote.

Omnicom did not break out which agencies will be affected, but a spokesperson confirmed that those with clients in nonessential industries such as retail, oil and gas and automotive, as well as those that focus on events, have been hit the hardest.

Wren will also forgo his entire salary and senior management will reduce their salaries by a third through September 2020. Omnicom will stop hiring new employees, freeze all salaries and reduce its reliance on freelancers. And it will cease discretionary spending on award shows and events, as well as suspend its share repurchasing program.

“Unfortunately, COVID-19 has had a profound impact on the economy, on our clients’ businesses, and in turn, on ours,” Wren said in a memo to employees. “While we hope for a swift recovery, we have to respond quickly to the reality of the moment, to ensure the sustainability of our business and our ability to continue to provide our clients with outstanding service.”

In addition to cost cutting measures, Omnicom has expanded its coverage plans for health benefits in the United States and is moving talent to areas of the business that are growing, such as Omnicom Health Group.

April 13

E.W. Scripps Directs Savings From Voluntary Executive Pay Cuts To Employee Fund

Executives and the CEO of the local TV, digital and podcasting media company E.W. Scripps are voluntarily reducing their salaries, with the savings directed to The Scripps Howard Foundation’s COVID-19 Employee Relief Fund, according to Broadcaster + Cable. E.W. Scripps operates 60 local TV stations, Court TV, Newsy and podcast company Stitcher.

CEO and president Adam Symson will take a 15% pay cut, and the rest of the executive team will forgo 2020 raises and cut their 2019 salaries by 10%. The 11 board members will also take a 15% cut in their cash compensation, with the chairman Rich Boehne waiving the remainder of the year’s fees.

Condé Nast Cuts Salaries, Reduces Hours

Condé Nast, in response to the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic, has instituted an austerity plan in which employees making at least $100,000 annually will have their salaries reduced by 10% to 20% for five months beginning in May, according to Variety.

“The ELT [Executive Leadership Team] and I recognize it’s very likely our advertising clients, consumers, and therefore our company, will be operating under significant financial pressure for some time,” wrote Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch in a memo sent to employees Monday.

Senior executives including Vogue’s Anna Wintour will see a 20% salary reduction, and Lynch will take a 50% reduction.

Lynch also noted that Condé Nast will reduce working hours for some employees and that he expects layoffs will eventually happen.

“We’ve already closed several hundred open positions and limited hiring only to the most critical roles,” Lynch wrote. “Role eliminations are never something we take lightly, and we’ll continue to work to limit this as much as possible.”

Publicis Groupe Cuts CEO And Board Salaries, Slashes Dividends By 50%

Publicis Groupe said Monday it will cut the salaries of chairman and CEO Arthur Sadoun and executive chairman of the supervisory board Maurice Lévy by 30% in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The company will also reduce compensation by 20% for management board members. For stakeholders, Publicis will slash dividends by 50% and delay payments until the end of September. Read more.

Dentsu Aegis Network Cuts Employee Salaries By 10%

Dentsu Aegis Network, the international arm of Japanese agency conglomerate Dentsu, will cut all employee salaries by 10% in response to the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

A Dentsu Aegis spokesperson declined to specify whether management or executive pay saw deeper salary reductions. Read more.

April 11

InMobi Avoids Coronavirus Layoffs With Stock Compensation Plan

Mobile advertising platform InMobi is revising its compensation structure for employees in an effort to avoid layoffs due to economic strife related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Effective April 2020, employees will receive a portion of their salary in the form of stock rather than cash. The stock component begins at 10% of an employee’s salary. The percentage will be higher at the company’s leadership levels. Read more.

April 10

IPG CEO Michael Roth Outlines Cost-Cutting Measures, But Is Vague On Specifics

IPG CEO Michael Roth said in an internal memo Friday that some agencies would need to trim staff as a cost-cutting measure, due to coronavirus-related economic effects.

According to AdWeek, Roth didn’t say which agencies will be hit with layoffs and furloughs, though the agency MullenLowe had already gone through a round when Roth circulated his memo.

Other cost-cutting measures include postponing raises, hiring freezes, salary cuts and cuts in non-essential spending.

April 9

Hearst Promises No Layoffs Or Pay Cuts

Hearst Corp. informed its newsrooms that there would be no layoffs, furloughs or pay cuts as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Poynter.

Instead, the privately held company will give a 1% bonus to all workers, create a bonus merit pool and waive budgeting targets that influence executive bonuses. Hearst will also promote its newspapers and their pandemic coverage in TV ads in some markets.

Hearst has 24 daily newspapers, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News and the Times Union of Albany, New York.

Yelp Lays Off 1,000, Furloughs 1,100

Yelp has laid off 1,000 employees and furloughed 1,100, according to The Wall Street Journal.

It’s also reducing salaries and work week hours and deferring stock repurchasing. CEO Jeremy Stoppelman has relinquished his salary this year.

Yelp told the Journal that clients’ ad budgets plummeted in the second half of March. In response it waived ad fees and offered free services – another hit on its revenues. Yelp also said that page views and restaurant searches dipped 60% from the beginning of March to the end. Page views and searches in Yelp’s services category also dropped 40% during that time.

VideoAmp Reduces Headcount, Lowers 2020 Forecast

VideoAmp laid off 10% of its roughly 210 employees on Thursday, Business Insider reported.

VideoAmp is allowing employees to transfer less than 10% of their compensation from cash to equity, and CEO Ross McCray will forgo his salary for an indefinite period of time. The company cut its growth estimate for the year to between 30% and 50%, down from the 150% growth the platform has experienced for the past three years.

The 6-year-old startup, which sells cross-channel TV measurement software, has raised $106 million from investors including The Raine Group, Ancora Capital Partners, Mediaocean and RTL Group. VideoAmp acquired attribution company Conversion Logic in March for an undisclosed amount.

April 8

Group Nine Media Cuts Staff By 7%

Two weeks after implementing cost cuts, including reducing executive pay, Group Nine Media laid off 7% of its 700-person staff, Adweek reported.

That’s quite a reversal of the previously rosy executive forecasts that the publisher would be profitable this year, following the 2019 acquisition of PopSugar. But as the coronavirus pandemic causes marketers to freeze budgets or abandon campaigns already in the pipeline, media companies across the spectrum are left trying to balance the advertising declines with growing reader engagement as Americans shelter in place. Read more.

Quantcast Lays Off 5% And Cuts Salaries Due To Economic Impact Of The Coronavirus

Quantcast laid off just under 5% of its staff and implemented tiered pay cuts due to the economic impact of coronavirus.

The salary cuts are tiered according to compensation level, with some employees taking 5% cuts and the highest-paid employees taking 30% cuts. Its global staff numbers more than 600 employees, according to Quantcast.

CEO Konrad Feldman, who co-founded the company 14 years ago, took a 100% pay cut. Read more.

Adform Avoids Layoffs By Reducing Salaries

Adform’s senior leadership took a 20% pay cut for April, May and June to reduce costs during the coronavirus pandemic. The company also asked employees who were financially able to withstand a 20% pay cut to voluntarily reduce their wages. Those employees would move to a 4-day work week during the time period.

The company said it made those moves to avoid making layoffs to its 650-person workforce. Read more.

April 7

MediaMath Cuts 8% Of Its Staff, Citing Coronavirus

MediaMath reduced its workforce by 8% through a combination of layoffs and furloughs. Remaining employees will take a 10% pay cut and the company paused 401(k) matching.

“We are preparing our businesses to weather these uncertain times and taking actions that will strengthen our position for the long term, including focusing our hiring efforts on critical positions only, reducing expenses and compensation, and reducing roles as necessary,” MediaMath President Konrad Gerszke said in a statement. Read more.

April 3

Bustle And G/O Media Each Lay Off 5% Of Staffers

Bustle Digital Group, owner of Elite Daily, Nylon and Mic, and G/O Media, owner of The Onion and a bunch of former Gawker Media brands, each laid off about 5% of their respective staffers. As per Digiday, Bustle laid off 24 of its 300 employees and G/O Media laid off 14 of its 275 staffers.

Bustle is also instituting pay cuts, where employees making more than $70,000 will see an 18% salary decrease. Executives will take a 30% cut and CEO Bryan Goldberg’s salary will go down by 85%.

In both cases, the layoffs are due to declines in ad revenue stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.

Sojern Halves Its Staff, TripleLift Trims By 7%

The travel industry has been impacted especially hard by the coronavirus pandemic, leading ad tech firm Sojern to cut 50% of its staff.

“We’ve had to make the unfortunate decision to lay off several wonderful employees,” a Sojern spokesperson told Adweek. “COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the travel industry that is both unexpected and unprecedented. Like many other travel companies, Sojern has been hit hard and, in order to weather this global storm, we have had to make some very difficult business decisions.”

Meanwhile, ad tech firm TripleLift also had to reduce global headcount by 7% and trim salaries as marketers pause advertising campaigns. The company also furloughed an unspecified number of employees. Read more.

March 31

WPP Cuts Executive Committee Salaries By 20%

WPP said Tuesday that its executive leadership team will take a 20% pay cut for at least the next three months as a result of the coronavirus pandemic’s economic fallout.

The company has also withdrawn its 2020 guidance, suspended its $1.1 billion share buyback from its sale of Kantar to Bain Capital, suspended its 2019 dividend and put its final dividend under review. WPP expects the measures to result in roughly $870 million to $990 million in cost savings.

The economic uncertainty caused WPP’s like-for-like revenues to fall 16.1% in China in the first two months of 2020. In the United States, like-for-like revenues fell 0.9%, and the company expects that number to fall 4.4% in H2. Luckily, the holding company has cash on hand, raising almost $4 billion from the disposal of 50 non-core assets.

“As we enter the second quarter, it is clear that the impact of COVID-19 on the business will increase but it is not possible at this stage to quantify the depth or duration of the impact,” the company said in a release.

Maven Media Lays Off 9% Of Staff, Cuts Senior Management Salaries By 30%

The publisher, with 300 properties such as Sports Illustrated, TheStreet, History and Maxim, said Tuesday it has laid off 9% of its staff – or 31 of its 332 employees. Read more.

Maven also cut senior management salaries by 30%, which allowed Maven to avoid laying off an additional 20% of staff, said Maven CEO James Heckman in a letter to employees.

Despite strong audience engagement with Maven’s brands, Heckman noted “dramatic pullback” of sponsorships and a 40% decline in programmatic CPMs.

“We’re anticipating a $30 million reduction in revenue for 2020, comprised of a $17 million reduction in sponsorship sales, $10 million reduction in programmatic CPM-driven sales, and $3 million in other revenue initiatives, such as events,” Heckman wrote.

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Travel Experts Reveal 10 Ways To Save On Travel

We’re not mathematicians, but we’re pretty sure the following theorem holds true: There is an inverse relationship between how badly you need a vacation and how comfortably you can afford one. That is, the more you need a vacation, the less likely you are to be in the financial position to pull one together. That’s what it feels like in our experience, anyway. Call it the algebra of exhaustion.

iStock But what if there’s a tricky workaround? What if you could take that sorely needed week away and come home to a livable bank account? We reached out to a handful of travel agents and vacation writers to see if the dream is achievable—and it turns out, it just may be. If I had had to pay for hotels, vacation rentals or even hostels in each of these expensive cities, I would never have been able to afford the trips. Here’s what we learned, all boiled down into 10 thrifty tips that’ll save you hard-earned cash on your next getaway:

1. Remember the Rule of Tuesdays.

Tuesday is an important day of the week in the world of air travel. If you can travel on a Tuesday or even Wednesday, you’ll probably get the cheapest flight of the week. Generally, people do their traveling on Thursday, Friday, or over the weekend. Demand drives prices up, so you’re more likely to find a cheap flight during off-peak times—usually a Tuesday or Wednesday.

iStock At least, that’s what we’ve always heard. But is it really true? Yes, according to news outlet CNBC. While there’s no magic day to purchase the best deals, the cheapest days to travel are Tuesday, followed by Wednesday, and then Saturday. Airlines use algorithms to determine prices, and these are constantly being updated based off of sales and availability, says travel writer and vice president of travel company Pruvo, Doron Nadivi.

iStock.com/scyther5 “There is also an old myth about ordering 57 days prior to travel. Both of these suggestions are not true,” Nadivi tells us. “Last year I booked a flight from Costa Rica to New Zealand…, returning from Bangkok to Costa Rica months prior to travel. I put an alarm to check 57 days before departure and the exact same flight number, same route, same website cost four times more.” Of course, there are always the many price tracking sites out there. Some sites even show long-term price estimates for flights, so you can plan your vacation around your budget.

iStock Still, the real trick when purchasing a flight is to follow through when the price is good. If you see a great deal, get it, now. Chances are it’ll be gone in a few hours. The “book on Tuesday six weeks out” rule may be inaccurate, but there’s plenty of technology available to get you where you want to be for the best possible price. Use it.

2. Hit the shoulder season.

What’s the shoulder season, you ask? We explain—plus give you a few quick tips on how to avoid the tourists and get affordable flights—in the video below:

3. Be a little impulsive.

There are pros and cons to this tried-and-true technique for a quick escape from the day-to-day grind. But asking for a “cheap ticket to anywhere” doesn’t work like it used to.

iStock Once upon a time, you could walk up to a ticket counter and get a cheap, last-second deal for an undersold flight. It was great if you didn’t much care where you were going. But those days are over. Today, most flights are overbooked, and last-minute flying can actually be more expensive, not less. Still, the days of the 11th-hour deal aren’t over entirely. It’s just that you have to use technology to take advantage now. Try signing up for your favorite airline’s email list. That way you’ll see any last-minute specials, and you can easily build a trip around what’s cheap. You can also check out coupon sites like Groupon, or LivingSocial for luxurious, planned getaways for a fraction of the normal price.

iStock To improve your odds of scoring a deal, try to visit less popular cities. For instance, Aspen, Colorado is a beautiful ski town, but it’s also busy and expensive. Why not hit the slopes in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, or Brian Head, Utah, instead? You can beat the crowds, save some cash, and discover new places with this tactic.

4. Ditch the hotel.

Hotels are great, but with a new generation of travelers hotels have taken a hit. Just like Uber and Lyft are changing the world of ground transportation, Airbnb and VRBO are laying siege on the hotel industry.

iStock Through these and similar services, you can find great deals on short-term house rentals instead of booking a bunch of hotel rooms for larger travel parties. There are also smaller sites in most every major city that will have a listing of units that are available for travelers to rent. Do your research and you’ll find the options are practically endless—and very affordable. You can also use home-sharing apps and basically stay in a new city for free “in exchange for caring for someone else’s home and pets,” says author and world-traveler Kelly Hayes-Raitt, who traveled the world for four years straight while reporting her book, Living Large in Limbo, and racked up quite a few tricks during the process. “I get unpaid accommodations, a kitchen to make my own meals and other homey perks like free cable and DVDs, use of a car, and no nickel-and-dime fees hotels tack on.”

Nishant Choksi for The New Yorker There are sites to set up accommodations for travelers to house-sit, or to actually swap homes for a period of time. This is a great way to get to know a new city without spending a ton of money. “During the past eight years, I’ve house-sat in London for two months during the Olympics, Berlin, Amsterdam, Hanoi, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Osaka,” Hayes-Raitt tells us. “If I had had to pay for hotels, vacation rentals or even hostels in each of these expensive cities, I would never have been able to afford the trips.”

5. Get off the plane.

If you have some wiggle room for your travel plans, let the gate attendant know. That way you can be put on the short list if they need volunteers. If you’re flying on United or Delta, you can bid on how much money it’d take for you to give up your seat. After the David Dao debacle of 2017, United Airlines has raised the cap on how much they’re willing to pay for passenger seats on overbooked flights to $10,000. That would make for some vacation.

iStock In the moment, there’s often the panic-induced sense that all you want to do is reach your destination, but if you psych yourself up to sit around the airport for a couple of hours to make some serious miles or money, then you’ll be good to go. With everything going on after the United incident, you should know that airlines do have the right to remove any passenger (except for people with disabilities and unaccompanied minors).

6. Brown bag it.

We know a granola bar isn’t the same as that breakfast burrito you could buy at the airport, but it could save you a good chunk of change. Airport food tends to be more expensive than the already-pricey food at professional sporting events and theme parks, so if you have some time to spare, make yourself a meal and bring it. Some food is okay to pass through security, and if you have kids, you can always bring powdered milk and make them a drink in the airport instead of hitting up the terminal’s Starbucks. If you don’t have time to make something yourself, you can still pass over the expensive airport-specific restaurants.

iStock One of our favorite options is going to Subway and getting a footlong sandwich, then eating half at the airport and half on the flight. You can save yourself some good money this way. (Just don’t get the tuna; your fellow passengers won’t thank you for that.)

http://istock.com/amriphoto After you arrive at your vacation spot, take advantage of any local grocery stores and cook for yourself. Purchasing food, even pre-made meals, at a grocery store instead of eating out all the time will save you a fortune while you’re traveling.

7. Hydrate on the cheap.

Everyone knows you can’t bring liquids through security, including water. But you can bring an empty water bottle and fill it at a water fountain or fill station.

iStock It’s crucial to drink up on the plane; people tend to get really dehydrated when they travel because of the recycled air, the altitude, and the fact you don’t really drink a lot of liquids while you’re in flight (no one likes asking people to get up so they can use the restroom). This will keep you hydrated and save you from buying a $4 bottle of water.

8. Find new ways to get around.

Asking a friend to pick you up from the airport is almost as bad as asking them to help you move. Nobody wants to do it, but most people don’t feel like they can say no. However, in most major cities, there is public transportation that can take you to and from the airport.

iStock If you don’t have easy access to public transportation, you can try to take an Uber or Lyft, which will often save you some money compared with a taxi, which may overcharge via a large airport tax. Be aware, though, that in some cities, Uber and Lyft cannot pick up passengers from the airport.

iStock Do some research on your destination’s transportation before you go. Both the Google Maps app and the Citymapper app can provide you with information and schedules for trains, busses, and more. Where possible, take the monorail, subway, or bus instead of a taxi. Alternatively, you can always take the opportunity to explore the city on foot and walk to your final destination.

9. Take a cue from extreme couponers.

There are coupons for literally everything. If you know you’re going to be in a new city, take advantage of the ones that are for first-time customers only. Apps like Groupon and LivingSocial have deals for activities and food that could cut your costs in half.

iStock Another way to go about saving money on food is searching hashtags on Instagram for specific locations. If you find food pics that look appetizing, get in touch with the restaurant and see if they have any special deals or happy hours.

10. Book directly.

Airlines often offer more flexibility and cheaper fees than third-party sellers. A lot of websites will scour the internet for the best deals—which is great if you’re short on time or organizational skills—but then you usually get stuck with few options and little flexibility, since you’re booking through a third party.

iStock The best thing to do is use a search site like Skyscanner or Google Flights to find the cheapest flight, then head over to that airline’s website and book directly through them. When you book direct, you’ll get cheaper flights, and usually more flexibility and options for your trip.

iStock.com/YakobchukOlena These tips won’t just save you money on vacation. They might bring down the cost of a trip just enough that you can safely afford it in the first place. Follow our experts’ advice, and you could balance the equation that allows for a truly restorative—and much-deserved—adventure. Read the full article

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kayleygoestolondon · 6 years

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The Great European Adventure

Warning: buckle up and hold onto your butts because this is going to be a long one, folks. I haven’t done an update since mid-February, so I need to write about a few of my London adventures before I dive into my Easter vacation.

February/March:

I participated in the March 4 Women, which is a celebration tied to International Women’s Day. There were thousands of women there and the rally included some famous women who came to speak about gender equality. It was an awesome experience, despite the typical London rain, and I even made it into a Buzzfeed article about the event. I’m proper famous now. Have a game of “Where’s Kayley” if you wanna waste a few minutes and see all the hilarious signs from the march.

I attended two live tapings of QI, which is a British quiz show that I became obsessed with after moving here. It used to be hosted by Stephen Fry, but he was replaced a couple years ago by Sandi Toksvig, who I’m also obsessed with. The show is hysterically funny and has lots of great celebrity guests. A friend and I got free tickets to be part of the studio audience so we went to two different episode tapings. It was a really cool way to spend an evening and something I never would have been able to do if I didn’t live in London. I’m now impatiently waiting for the episodes to be released next season so I can see if my cackle-laugh is distinguishable in the audience.

England is entirely incapable of handling any snow at all, so when the “Beast from the East” (lol), also known as “Snowmaggedon” (even bigger lol) happened in February, my school was closed for TWO DAYS. I was housebound for four days as the country had a collective nervous breakdown over what was basically three snowflakes and some chilly wind.

I went to see School of Rock on the West End, which was a great show. I love the film, and even without Jack Black the theatrical version was pretty awesome. Still waiting to see Matilda and Aladdin!

Still surviving the mad preparation for SATs at school. I go back to work tomorrow, and we’ll officially only have four more weeks until the exams. At this point, I can’t wait to get them over with because I’m so sick of administering and marking practice tests. I’m optimistic that my students will do well, but there is a massive amount of pressure on them to succeed, so I’ve got my fingers crossed.

Now, onto my great European vacation. I went to 5 different countries in less than two weeks, which was overly ambitious, but I made it back in one piece (albeit significantly poorer).

SWEDEN:

I flew into Copenhagen and took the train into Lund, Sweden, where Carina and her family picked me up. Back in 1990, my grandparents hosted an exchange student from Sweden who lived with them for a year. That was Carina. Ever since then, they’ve kept in touch. Last summer, Carina, her husband, and her two daughters came out to Canada to stay with my grandparents for a few weeks and tour the country. I got to meet them all for the first time, and since then I have been hoping to go and visit them in Sweden. I was with them for Easter weekend and they were the most amazing hosts. I was definitely spoiled - the Easter bunny even found me while I was there :) We went into Malmo, which is one of the bigger cities in Sweden, and also went to the seaside. The weather was horrifically cold while I was there... obviously not compared to Canada, but compared to what I’ve been used to, I nearly froze to death. It was a lovely weekend and it was really nice to spend a holiday with family. I tried some traditional Swedish things, like herring (which I enjoyed) and schnapps (which I did not). Linn and Klara attempted to teach me some Swedish, of which I can only remember the words for “dog” and “puppy”... so I’m basically a linguistic prodigy.

DENMARK:

I took the train back into Copenhagen on Monday the 2nd. It was cold, but thankfully the sun was shining. I did a walking tour around the city and learned a lot about Danish history. The harbour there was especially beautiful. After the tour, I went on my own and found the famous “Little Mermaid” statue. I knew in advance it was going to be a massive letdown... which it was. It’s tiny and covered in graffiti. Great job on your major tourist attractions, Copenhagen. I also had a famous Danish hotdog and obviously for me that was a key moment of the day. The next morning, I went and checked out their National Museum before catching my flight to Amsterdam. Overall, I loved Denmark and Sweden. The Scandinavian countries are incredibly expensive, but really beautiful and welcoming. I was so enamoured with all of their colourful buildings.

NETHERLANDS:

When I landed in Amsterdam, I met up with my friend Robyn at our AirBnB. She’s a Canadian teacher working in London too, and we did the rest of the trip together. Our first night in the city, we went for dinner at a fondue restaurant next to the place we were staying in, and I ate way too much bread and truffle cheese. Just kidding... there’s no such thing as too much bread or cheese. The following day, we went on a walking tour, went to the Anne Frank House, and then ended the day with a tour of the Heineken Brewery and dinner. It was an amazing day. The Anne Frank House was a pretty powerful and moving experience.

The second day, we did a trip out to the Keukenhof Flower Gardens. I have never taken so many photos of tulips in my life. We finished the day with a canal cruise around the city. Our last day, we visited the Van Gogh Museum before getting on the train to Bruges. Van Gogh is one of my favourite artists of all time... the only thing that was missing was Starry Night :(

BRUGES:

Out of all the cities I’ve visited in Europe, Bruges is among the top 5. I found it very similar to Prague in terms of medieval charm. Bruges was never bombed or destroyed during the World Wars, so most of its buildings are original. We also finally had some nice weather, so that helped. We did another walking tour (our standard first activity in any city), checked out some markets and shops, and went to the Chocolate Museum. Yes, there is an actual Chocolate Museum in Bruges, and yes, it is as delicious as it sounds. It’s almost possible that I ate too much chocolate that day... almost. Our second day, we climbed up to the top of the Belfry (366 steps!) and got an amazing view of the city. It was cool to see how the bells worked, even though being right beside them when they ring is enough to blow out your eardrums. Then we rented bikes and did the Windmill Path around the outside of the city. We biked out of Bruges and into a nearby village called Damme. It was gorgeous, and I didn’t fall off my bike, so that was a solid day.

VIMY (FRANCE):

That evening, after our biking, we hopped on a train to make our way to Arras, France. The idea was to get to Arras so that we could go to the Vimy Memorial the next morning. We made it as far as Lille, where we were supposed to catch a connecting train, before we ran into our first obstacle. There was a train strike going on in France, which meant our train to Arras was cancelled. As were all other trains. So at 8 PM on a Sunday night, we found ourselves stranded in the Lille train station. We tried to rent a car, but all they had was a manual, which neither Robyn nor I could drive, so we were forced to find a crappy hotel room in Lille. On the walk there, a group of street children tried to pickpocket us. Not a great first impression of France. In the end, I guess the important thing is that we were safe and we didn’t lose anything important. We had to spend a bunch of extra money on renting a car the next morning to get us to Vimy, but it was more than worth it. The day we were at the memorial was actually Vimy Day, so there was a special ceremony. It rained (of course), but we still went and explored the Canadian cemeteries and the reconstructed trenches and tunnels. I have never been more proud of being Canadian, and it was so humbling to see the way our military contributions are still honoured in France.

BRUSSELS:

The last stop in our trip. Brussels was interesting, but not nearly as beautiful or charming as Bruges. We did a walking tour, got rained on (classic), and had an awesome dinner before trying out some Belgian beers. Belgium is very proud of their beers - almost as much as their chocolate - so it seemed only appropriate that I have a few on my last night there. I also had a waffle or two :)

ONWARD:

Tomorrow is my first day back at work in more than two weeks. I’m mostly ready to get back into a routine, but more importantly, ready to earn a paycheque again. I loved my trip, but I’m also happy to be home. It’s weird how much London feels like “home” now. At the moment, I don’t have any upcoming trips planned besides going back to Canada in August. I can’t wait!! The countdown is on.

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ramialkarmi · 6 years

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Another cheap new Uber rival called ViaVan just launched in London

ViaVan is a cheap new rival to Uber in London.

It lets passengers summon a shared ride through an app, but unlike Uber it doesn't offer individual rides.

The idea is to reduce congestion and give people an alternative to public transport and Uber.

ViaVan launches around six months after its two rivals, Taxify and Uber, lost their licences to operate in London.

There's another Uber rival in London.

ViaVan, a joint venture between Mercedes-Benz and US ride-sharing startup Via, has launched in the capital to offer Londoners shared journeys on demand. Think of it as being a mix between UberPOOL (Uber's carpooling service) and a bus.

The idea is that you open an app and summon a ride, just as you would for Uber. ViaVan calculates the demand for your route, matches you up with passengers travelling at a similar time, and directs you somewhere to wait for your ride. You're then dropped off somewhere near your destination without, ViaVan promises, a lengthy detour.

ViaVan doesn't offer individual rides, so you will always be sharing with others.

The service is only available in central London Zones 1 and 2 for now, with all rides in or out of Zone 1 costing £3. The company hasn't said how much it will start charging once the discount period is over.

It's a brave move given intense ridesharing competition in London — and the fact that two services, Uber and Taxify, have now lost their licences to operate in the city.

Chris Snyder, chief executive of ViaVan, told Business Insider that the service was properly licensed. He also said the service gave a higher commission to drivers and took their safety and wellbeing seriously.

"If you could look into the textbook on exactly how you should be licenced, that is how we are licensed," he told Business Insider. "It's just like Uber, Addison Lee, or any other private hire companies. We have been through a thorough process with [regulator] Transport for London. We are confident we will launch [on Wednesday], with the full blessing from the regulators."

London is ViaVan's first UK city, but it also operates in Amsterdam.

ViaVan wants to offer a sustainable alternative to Uber — and says it cares about drivers

Snyder believes that shared rides are more sustainable than the individual cab rides offered by the likes of Uber. The idea is to reduce congestion and offer an alternative to public transport, particularly in the suburbs where buses and trains are more sporadic.

Business Insider asks whether the Mercedes-Benz Vans partnership means all drivers who want to drive for the service need to go out and finance an extremely expensive new car. The answer, for now, is no.

Instead, ViaVan will make use of the thousands of Uber drivers who already cruise around London's streets looking for passengers. Snyder said thousands have signed up for the service's launch, and that ViaVan staff have met every driver personally. He wouldn't specific an exact number, but said ViaVan would probably need a waiting list soon.

Snyder also said drivers and riders were offered 24/7 phone support, and that drivers were not allowed to spend more than 10 hours driving for ViaVan, in order to prevent driver fatigue. It isn't clear whether ViaVan will offer further benefits to drivers.

The service will also pay drivers a higher percentage of the fare, taking a 15% cut. Uber takes around 20 - 25% commission from drivers for each ride, something that has prompted complaints.

The sell is that drivers should earn more with ViaVan — at least when it expands and puts fares up. It isn't in ViaVan's interest to flood the roads with lots of drivers, Snyder said, because its technology is about getting people from A to B more efficiently and in fewer vehicles. The combination of a limited number of drivers, and more passengers per ride, should mean bigger fares, said Snyder.

"Frankly the business model is different," he said. "You are optimising for very different things. The value for the driver can be high in this case."

This sounds an awful lot like reinventing the bus

A common complaint with UberPOOL and other carpooling innovations is that public buses work just as well. In London, there's the added benefit of dedicated bus lanes, meaning it can be faster to get across the city in a bus than in a car.

Snyder said: "The public transport system, depending on where you are, can work really well but it doesn't work well for everyone everywhere all the time. We see ourselves as providing a service when it makes sense. A savvy consumer knows when it is faster to take the Tube or bus, and knows when it doesn't make sense because of transfers. We want an option that is efficient, and shared."

Still, he said Via did originally start in the US to "reinvent the bus" — but outside of city centres. "Where they don't work is less dense areas, where it doesn't make sense to run a bus every five minutes. We have shown ViaVan is powerful in suburbs."

To that end, Via is currently powering a pilot with the bus firm Arriva in Kent, called ArrivaClick. This operates on a similar principle to ViaVan, with passengers able to ride together in a minibus which they summon from an app.

This differentiates Via from Uber somewhat. Uber has made a similar pitch in the UK, but Via has actually made it happen.

UK transport startup CityMapper is similarly trialling a kind of smart bus. According to Snyder, that's much closer to trying to reinvent the bus because it operates on a fixed route and fixed timetable, and you can't summon the bus through the app.

ViaVan has a licence but London's regulator is tough on innovative cab services

Business Insider understands that ViaVan submitted its application for licence in April 2017, meaning it took about a year to be approved.

A source told us that issues with Uber and Taxify, which both lost their licences in September last year, likely slowed the approval process down.

Transport for London has become a lot stricter over the last few months about safety checks, and new ridesharing entrants are under additional scrutiny, the person said.

That comes after Taxify had to can its operations in September just three days after launching, after Business Insider reported that the company had bought a separate minicab firm to "shortcut" its way to an operator's licence. TfL said Taxify wasn't a licensed operator and that it had to stop taking bookings.

A fortnight later, Uber lost its licence after TfL criticised the firm's approach to safety and regulation. Both Taxify and Uber are trying to regain their licences.

SEE ALSO: Uber has appealed the loss of its London licence

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Facebook can still track you even if you delete your account — here's how to stop it

#Tech Insider #Arab #Entrepreneurship #sillicon alley insider

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tipstosellhomefast · 6 years

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New Post has been published on Homes Below Market | Homes For Sale Dallas TX Area

New Post has been published on http://foreclosures-dallas-texas.com/worldwide-real-estate-prices-compared-to-panama-2007/

Worldwide Real Estate Prices Compared to Panama: 2007

Introduction – We are a Panama Law Firm not a real estate business. Our clients are frequently relocating to Panama and we assist in the real estate acquisition for them. We are often asked if the real estate bubble is going to bust in Panama or if the boom has just begun. Well we are not sure. We have done a few articles on the Panama real estate bubble breaking but now we are going to present objective data in support of the Panama real estate boom just starting. It could be true and prices may continue to escalate.

Worldwide Residential Real Estate Prices by the Square Meter – These are current prices for some major cities in Europe. This will give you a perspective as to how the Panama market fits into the greater scheme of things. These prices are for serious executive homes in prime locations. A discussion will follow after the prices:

* London ? $10,000 Sq. Meter to $20,000 Sq. Meter * Paris – $9,000 Sq. Meter * Amsterdam – $9,000 Sq. Meter * Lichtenstein – $8,000 Sq. Meter * Moscow – $7,500 Sq. Meter * Rome – $7,200 Sq. Meter * Zurich – $7,000 Sq. Meter * Oslo – $6,900 Sq. Meter * Dublin – $6,800 Sq. Meter * Lithuania – $5,150 Sq. Meter * Latvia (Riga) – $4,100 Sq. Meter * Berlin – $4,300 Sq. Meter * Warsaw – $1,600 Sq. Meter * Slovakia – $1,750 Sq. Meter * Seoul – $11,825 Sq. Meter * Sydney – $7750 Sq. meter * San Diego – $2650 Sq. Meter to $15,000 Sq. Meter * San Francisco – $5,000 Sq. Meter to $20,000 Sq. Meter * New York – $15,000 to $43,000 Sq. Meter * Miami Beach – $9500 Sq. Meter to $32,000 Sq. Meter * Toronto – $3,000 Sq. Meter * Montreal – $3,200 Sq. Meter * Vancouver – $3,700 Sq. Meter

Panama Real Estate Comparison – In Panama City one can get an executive condo in a new high rise building for $1,800 to $3,500 per Sq. Meter and pay less in an older building. We are talking about Condos with a swimming pool and recreation area, balcony, enclosed parking, round the clock security guards, multiple elevators, modern kitchens, city and or water views, beautiful lobbies with marble floors, walls and furniture, and so forth. In the outlaying areas single family homes and town homes can be bought for a bit less with $2,000 to $3000 a Sq. Meter generally bringing in a home in a gated community with all the features of an executive home.

Discussion of Panama Relative Housing Prices – Panama is priced very low compared to the other markets around the world. The question is can Panama rate with the major cities like Paris, New York, San Francisco, Miami Beach, and London etc. This would be an indicator of the attractiveness of Panama relative to the real estate market prices. Below are some categories where we unilaterally decided to indicate how Panama stands, so this is just our opinion, nothing more.

* Entertainment – DEFICIENT. Panama lacks any serious theatre, opera, orchestra, ballet, museums, foreign film houses, major league baseball, football, basketball, and hockey. There is some soccer and boxing. Panama does have gambling and horse racing. The outlaying areas have no entertainment to speak of. * Crime – EXCELLENT. Most of these major cities have more violent crime in one day than Panama has in one year. Panama has crime but is very safe compared to these cities. * Traffic – DEFICIENT. Lots of congestion. Wild drivers who disobey traffic laws, stop signs and even red lights. No vehicle safety inspections. Taxi and bus drivers have decided they are the only ones on the road who matter. Outlaying areas have far less problems with the traffic than Panama City. As the new housing projects complete and the Canal expansion begins the traffic is expected to get worse. On Fridays closet to pay day the traffic barely moves from about 3PM until 8 PM. Most of the stores and restaurants have parking. Lately it is almost impossible to get parking at the Allbrook Mall on weekends. * Restaurants – SUPERIOR. Panama is loaded with excellent restaurants at very low prices. Steak dinners for $10.00 or less are abundant. Food is great. * Shopping – VERY GOOD. You can get whatever you want in Panama City if you know where to find it. Lots of high-end stores are opening up in the malls. Lots of discounters popping up. * Cost of Living – EXCELLENT. Your biggest expense will be real estate. * Domestic Help – EXCELLENT. A live in Maid in Panama City is about $275 a month with benefits, plus room and board. Most of the condos and houses are built with a maid?s room and full bath. A driver runs about $325 a month. * Airport – GOOD. Lots of airlines going to many cities in Central America, South America and USA. For Europe, India or Asia not so convenient. * Medical – VERY GOOD. There are major hospitals including a full John Hopkins Hospital. Most prescriptions can be obtained in the drug stores. There is an abundance of competent doctors in all specialties. You can even have a doctor make a house call. Health care costs about 40% of what it does in USA. * Weather – VERY GOOD. Panama is a tropical climate. No shoveling snow. It does get hot and humid. Some locations have more moderate weather but they usually have high humidity. No hurricanes, not tornadoes, no earthquakes in Panama City, no volcanoes, no tsunamis. * Boating and Fishing – EXCELLENT. World-class sport fishing with 1200-pound Marlin and 400-pound Grouper. Abundant marinas. * Stable Government – VERY GOOD. Things are most stable. * Banking, Stock Market – EXCELLENT. Great banks and stockbrokers.

Conclusion – It appears likely that Panama could escalate in real estate prices to the $5,000 a Sq. Meter market price. They are going to have to work on the culture and entertainment to draw in people accustomed to that housing price market. The traffic will need to be addressed and projects to improve congestion are already in the works. The downside of this theory is that there is not enough to draw people to Panama. Culture and entertainment is lacking and it may take many years for this to improve. There are no major industries here such as: banking, insurance, advertising, stock market, general manufacturing, software, high tech manufacturing, entertainment, tourism and so forth. This eliminates large groups of highly paid executives who need to pay high prices for housing to be close to their workplace. Retirees have needs that are fairly simple and can be met in any many different places around the world and it remains to be seen how much the retiree will pay for real estate. Quite possibly Panama Real Estate Prices have not yet even come close to peaking. Time will tell.

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ronaldmrashid · 7 years

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What Percentage Of Americans Own Stocks Or Real Estate?

Now that the economy is on fire, all Americans should be rejoicing in their wealth, right? Wrong! Only 52% of Americans own any stocks according to a recent Gallup poll and only about 63% of Americans own real estate according to the Census Bureau, down from a high of about 69% in 2004. Given these figures, the bull market has left a lot of people behind.

According to the Federal Reserve, of the 10 percent of families with the highest income, 92 percent owned stocks as of 2013 (latest year for their study), the same level of ownership back in 2007. But ownership slipped for people in the bottom half of the income distribution.

The top 10 percent of Americans owned an average of $969,000 in stocks. The next 40 percent owned $132,000 on average. For the bottom half of families, it was just under $54,000. With over a 200% rise in the S&P 500 since 2009, the wealth gap has clearly widened.

The chart below shows stock ownership dropping from around 65.5% in 2007 down to 52% today, despite the massive rebound in the S&P 500. The main reason for the decline? Fear and distrust. Once burned, twice shy.

Although the decline in homeownership looks steeper than the decline in stock ownership, there’s only been a 6.3% move from peak to trough in real estate unlike the 13.5% peak to trough decline for stocks. The reason has to do with transaction costs, the difficulty to sell, the need for shelter, and the view that a home is a home first and an investment second.

Although a bull market tends to financially help everyone on the spectrum, there is often more dissatisfaction due to a widening wealth gap. Those families in the 90th percentile have a net worth of almost $1,000,000. Meanwhile, those in the 50th percentile or below have hardly any net worth at all!

The Solution To Greater Financial Security

The obvious solution to greater wealth and financial security is to own stocks and real estate over the long run. You can own one or the other, or preferably both. But certainly don’t own nothing. Inflation alone will destroy your wealth over the long term.

Here are some reasons why you might want to own real estate or stocks to help you get started, or help encourage you to own more of either asset class.

Why You May Want To Own Real Estate

1) You are more in control. Every physical real estate investment you make puts you in charge as CEO. As CEO, you are able to make improvements, cut costs (refinance your mortgage), raise rents, find better tenants, and market accordingly. Of course you are still at the mercy of the economic cycle, but overall you have much more leeway in making wealth optimizing decisions. When you invest in a public or private company, you are a minority investor who puts his or her faith in management. Nobody cares more about your investment than you.

2) Leverage with other people’s money. Leverage in a rising market is a wonderful thing. Even if real estate only tracks inflation over the long run, a 3% increase on a property where you put 20% down is a 15% cash-on-cash return. In five years you will have more than doubled your equity at this rate. Stocks, on the other hand, generate roughly 7% – 9% a year including dividends. Leverage also kills on the way down, so remember to always run the worst case numbers before purchase.

3) Tax advantageous. Not only can you deduct the interest on up to $1 million in mortgage indebtedness on your primary home, you can also sell your primary home for tax free profits up to $250,000 for singles and $500,000 for married couples if you live in the home for the last two of a five year period. If you are in the 28% or higher tax bracket, it behooves you to own property. All expenses associated with managing your rental properties are also deductible towards your income.

4) Tangible asset. Real estate is something you can see, feel, and utilize. Life is about living, and real estate can provide a higher quality of life while also making you money. Stocks aren’t even pieces of paper anymore, but ticker symbols and numbers. When the world comes to an end, you can seek shelter in your property. Real estate is one of the three pillars for survival, the other two being food and clothing.

5) Easier to analyze and quantify If you can calculate realistic expenses and rental income that’s all you really need when it comes down to valuing a piece of property. If you can borrow at 3% and rent out for a 7%+ gross yield, you’ve likely found yourself a winner. Real estate is immediately exploitable if you have the financial means to invest. There’s not only the cash flow component but the underlying equity component that helps investors build wealth. Take a look online for the latest estimates, comparables, and sales history. See: BURL: The Real Estate Investing Rule To Follow

6) Less visible volatility. Your house value could be tanking and you would never know it since there isn’t a daily ticker symbol. During bad times, the utility of your home really helps soften the blow as you enjoy your home and create great memories. During the 2008-2009 downturn, I still got to enjoy my vacation property in Lake Tahoe 15-20 days a year even though its value was plunging. Meanwhile, looking at tickers on the TV or computer screen stressed me out sometimes. When your investment is less volatile, it’s much easier to stay the course and not sell at the bottom.

7) A source of pride. Making money for money’s sake feels empty after a while. Every time I drive by my rental properties I feel proud to have made the purchases years ago. I know that my money is working as hard as possible so I don’t have to. Real estate is a constant reminder that taking calculated risks over time pays off. There is an indescribable feeling nobody tells you once you’ve closed on your property. Even though the bank probably owns most of it in the beginning, you literally feel like the King or Queen of your castle. When you die, you can pass on your pride to your children or closest companions to let them create their own memories.

8) More insulated. Real estate is local. If you’ve made a good decision to buy in an economically strong region, you will be more insulated from the national economy or the global economy. Spain blowing up is likely not going to affect the rent you can charge in Silicon Valley. Brexit actually helped drive mortgage rates lower as foreign investors bought safe US Treasury bonds. Look at prices in superstar cities such as NYC, Hong Kong, Singapore, London, Paris, and San Francisco over the past 20 years. They fall the least, recover the soonest and gain the most. Of course, industries in your area could suddenly disappear and leave you broke as well. Of course, it’s also a good idea to diversify into lower cost regions of the country with much higher yields. I do this through real estate crowdfunding.

9) The government is on your side. Not only do you get generous mortgage interest tax deductions and tax free profits, you get bailouts if you can’t pay your mortgage. The government also aggressively went after banks to force them to extend loan modifications to bad and good creditors. I even got a free loan modification from Bank of America to my surprise (cut my 30-year fixed rate from 5.875% to 4.25% for free). Programs such as HARP 1.0 and HARP 2.0 are allowing folks to put down a minimal downpayment. There are plenty of non-recourse states such as California and Nevada which don’t go after your other assets if you decide to stop paying your mortgage and squat for months. When was the last time the government bailed individual investors out of their stock investments?

Why You May Rather Own Stocks

1) Higher rate of return. Stocks have historically returned ~7-9% a year compared to 2-4% for real estate over the past 60 years. You can also go on margin to boost your returns, however, I don’t recommend this strategy given your brokerage account will force you to liquidate holdings to come up with cash when things go the other way. Your bank can’t force you to come up with cash or move out so long as you are paying your mortgage.

2) Much more liquid. If you don’t like a stock or need immediate cash, you can easily sell your stock holdings. If you need to cash out of real estate you could potentially take out a home equity line of credit, but it’s costly and takes at least a month.

3) Lower transaction costs. Online transaction costs are under $10 a trade no matter how much you have to buy or sell. The real estate industry is still an oligopoly and fixes commissions at a ridiculously high level of 5-6%. You would think the invention of Zillow would lower transaction costs, but unfortunately they’ve done very little to help lower expenses. They are in cahoots with the National Association of Realtors because they are their source of advertising revenue.

4) Less work. Real estate takes constant managing due to maintenance, conflicts with neighbors, and tenant rotation. Stocks can literally be left alone forever and pay out dividends to investors. Without maintenance you’re able to focus your attention elsewhere such as spending time with family, your business, or traveling the world. You can easily pay a mutual fund manager 0.5% a year to pick stocks for you or hire a financial advisor at 1% a year. Or you can just track and analyze your portfolio yourself due to so many free financial tools online.

5) More variety. Unless you are super rich, you can’t own properties in Honolulu, San Francisco, Rio, Amsterdam and all the other great cities of the world. With stocks you can not only invest in different countries, you can also invest in various sectors. A well diversified stock portfolio could very well be less volatile than a property portfolio.

6) Invest in what you use. One of the most fun aspects about the stock market is that you can invest in what you use. Let’s say you are a huge fan of Apple products, McDonald’s cheeseburgers, and Lululemon yoga pants. You can simply buy AAPL, MCD, and LULU. It’s a great feeling to not only use the products you invest in, but make money off your investments.

7) Tax benefits. Long term capital gains and dividend income are taxed at lower rates (15% and 20%) than the top four W2 income rates (28%, 33%, 35%, 39.6%). If you can build your financial nut large enough so that the majority of your income comes from dividends, you could lower your marginal tax rate by as much as 20% or so, depending on the current legislation.

8) Hedging is easier. You can protect your real estate investments through insurance. If disaster strikes, it’s often a pain to get your insurance company to pay for damages because the burden is on you to prove your claim. With stocks, you can easily short stocks or buy inverse ETFs to protect your portfolio from downside risk.

9) Potentially less ongoing taxes and fees. Holding property requires paying property taxes usually equal to 1-3% of the value of the property each year. Then there’s maintenance costs, insurance costs, and property management costs. You can build your own portfolio of individual stocks and bonds for just $5 a trade. Or you can have a digital wealth advisor like Wealthfront build and maintain your investment portfolio for just 0.25% a year in assets under management after the first $15,000.

Characteristics Most Suitable For RE Or Stocks

Real Estate

* Believe wealth is made up of real assets not paper.

* Know where you want to live for at least five years.

* Do not do well in volatile environments.

* Easily spooked by downturns.

* Tend to buy and sell too often. High transaction costs ironically keep you from trading too often.

* Enjoy interacting with people.

* Takes pride in ownership.

* Likes to feel more in control.

Stocks

* Happy to give up control to those who should know better.

* Can stomach volatility.

* Have tremendous discipline not to chase rallies and sell when things are imploding.

* Likes to trade.

* Enjoy studying economics, politics, and researching stocks.

* Don’t want to be tied down.

* Have a limited amount of capital to invest.

The Key Is To Invest For The Long Term

The choice between investing in real estate or stocks is like choosing between eating a seven layer chocolate cake or a homemade lemon meringue pie. Both are good provided you don’t go overboard and can hold on for the long term. When you are younger, investing in stocks is easier and makes more sense since you have less money and want to be more mobile for job opportunities. As you get older you probably want to set some roots so owning at least your primary residence is beneficial.

With stocks, it’s nice to see portfolio values go up. But after a while, it becomes unsatisfying to see more money accumulate in your brokerage account. Money needs to be spent on something, otherwise, what’s the point of saving and investing? Hence, my bias is towards real estate because you not only get to enjoy the asset, there’s also a good chance you can make a profit over the long run as well.

Own assets that rise with inflation such as stocks and real estate. Even if there’s a 20% correction, 10 years from now you’ll likely be happy you invested today.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll. Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Readers, do you own stocks, physical real estate, or both? Do you prefer stocks or real estate as an investment?

from http://www.financialsamurai.com/what-percentage-of-americans-own-stocks-or-real-estate/

#Financial Samurai

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the2travel · 7 years

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* World Travel Tips : 6 Underrated European Cities You Should Seriously Visit

Travel Tips -

You’ve been to Paris and you’ve been to Rome, but Europe is a big continent full of hidden treasures ripe for exploring. Here, six lesser-known European cities that deserve a spot on your travel bucket list.

Related: 6 August Vacations That Won’t Be Bananas Expensive and Overcrowded

GO TO AMSTERDAM, BUT DON’T MISS MAASTRICHT

On the southern tip of the Netherlands (just a stone’s throw from Germany and Belgium) sits the charming, cobblestone city of Maastricht. Book a room at the chic guesthouse Loft51 and explore the long, rich history of this small Dutch town. The annual European Fine Art Fair is basically a who's who of contemporary and modern collectors, and don’t miss the ten-course tasting menu at Beluga, the town’s beloved (and Michelin-starred) restaurant.

Read: 7 Summer Vacations to Take Before They Get Trendy

GO TO LISBON, BUT DON’T MISS PORTO

In northern Portugal, the city of Porto looks like it’s emerged from the pages of a storybook. Think: colorful cliffs and hilly streets lined with cable cars, hole-in-the-wall restaurants, hipster bars and baroque churches. The best part? Traveling luxuriously in this city is incredibly cheap. (A glass of refreshing sangria will run you less than $3.50!)

GO TO COPENHAGEN, BUT DON’T MISS AARHUS

Aarhus, the second-largest city in Denmark, is often overshadowed by its big sister, Copenhagen. But the charming canal town has plenty to offer. It’s a manageable city with a small-town feel that gets its energy from a young, bohemian population. Home to ARoS, one of Europe’s largest museums, it’s long been known as an arts destination. But increasingly it's also becoming a foodie mecca, as more and more chefs leave Copenhagen to open high-end Nordic restaurants here. (Our pick? Gastromé).

Related: Here’s Where to Travel Based on Your Zodiac Sign

GO TO SEVILLE, BUT DON’T MISS CÁDIZ

From Seville to Granada, Andalucía has no shortage of breathtaking destinations. Add Cádiz to that list. The ancient, Arabic-inspired city is set on a peninsula just north of Gibraltar, surrounded almost entirely by water. With its white houses, cobblestone streets and wide, open plazas, it’s a place where life moves slowly and people cling to traditions.

GO TO FLORENCE, BUT DON’T MISS PERUGIA

Perugia, the capital of Umbria, is often cast in the shadow of Tuscany’s better-known cities like Florence and Sienna. Quieter than its Tuscan neighbors, Perugia is a medieval, hilltop city that rises above a backdrop of lush hills and vineyards. The serpentine streets are dotted with small restaurants serving local Umbrian wine, cheese and charcuterie, and the vibe is a lot less touristy than the places you might hit up on a typical Italian tour.

GO TO BERLIN, BUT DON’T MISS HAMBURG

Sure, Berlin is the epicenter of German culture, but Hamburg is cosmopolitan and cool in its own right. Dance the night away at the clubs, where electronic music reigns supreme, then cure your hangover at the Hamburg Fish Market when it opens at 5 a.m. (As weird as it sounds, it’s a Hamburg tradition.)

The 7 Best Afternoon Tea Spots in London for Every Type of Traveler

19 Instagrams That Remind Us Santorini Is Dreamy Beyond Belief

The 17 Most Drop-Dead Gorgeous Places in Europe

How to Do Paris for $75 a Day

8 Life Lessons We Learned from Italians

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

World Travel Tips : Find cheap flights, hotels and car rentals. Plan your trip with travel guides, personalized recommendations, articles, deals and more. When you travel, you want your bags to travel with you. Follow these tips from travel professionals on how not to lose your luggage.

#best travel guides #Travel Tips #Travel Information #Travel Guide #Travel Agent News for The travel

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garynsmith · 7 years

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Why Global Matters: Looking Beyond Borders Integral to LeadingRE’s Growth

That timeless belief, “all real estate is local,” is so ingrained in the minds of most practitioners that eyes often glaze over when the topic of global real estate is brought up. But Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® has been taking an alternative view since the early 2000s, when it actively began expanding to other countries from its strong U.S. base.

“Real estate isn’t local or global,” says LeadingRE President/CEO Pam O’Connor. “It is both. Those who ignore the global piece are missing enormous opportunities.”

Recently, LeadingRE brought on its own chief economist to share insights on the global economy and how it impacts real estate. Dr. Marci Rossell, whose background includes stints with the Federal Reserve Bank, Oppenheimer Funds and as chief economist for CNBC, believes that real estate is only beginning to feel the effects of globalization.

“Globalization is still a strong force in real estate, despite the recent rise of economic nationalism worldwide,” says Rossell. “The factors that drive real estate buyers to one area of the world—things like safe political environments, cultural and family ties, the supply of talent—are still in place. And while a stronger dollar makes U.S. real estate more expensive for foreign buyers, these other forces are a powerful counterbalance to that trend. Globalization may be under threat, but it represents an international integration arising from economic, cultural and political factors. It is here to stay.”

The iPhone has had a lot to do with this. Introduced in June 2007—less than 10 years ago—it has unleashed a new era of innovation, made the internet and global communication accessible to the masses, and further eroded cultural differences. The world population as of August 2016 is 7.4 billion people, and the median age is 30.1 years old. This is the iPhone generation, and we can only expect more global integration in the future as a result.

But if you’re sitting in Omaha or Cincinnati or Atlanta, you may still be asking, “What does this have to do with real estate in my market? We don’t have a lot of international buyers.”

In 2015, NAR reported that foreign buyers purchased 214,885 residential properties from April 2015 to March 2016, a 3 percent increase over the prior year. While most of that has been in coastal markets like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, New York and Miami, many Chinese have purchased in college towns across the country based on where their children are studying. In any market, there is likely more international activity than you think. Individuals from other countries often gravitate to the same real estate agents who have worked with their friends and family or financial advisors and have thus established a foundation of trust. You could be missing out on international business in your town or city simply because you are underestimating the potential business and have not focused on it.

Even if you have few foreign buyers in your market, no one can ignore the changing demographics in this country in virtually every state and region, represented by millions of potential real estate buyers who come from different cultures and ethnicities.

Non-Hispanic whites are now 62 percent of the American population; they will be less than 50 percent by about 2055. Today, about 14 percent of all Americans are foreign-born, versus 5 percent in 1965 (though, ironically, that 14 percent is similar to what it was in the early 20th century). These changes in the composition of our country have major implications for real estate as we usher in a new generation of buyers and sellers from different cultures. If we expect to serve the needs of these potential customers who come from other backgrounds, we must learn those values, customs and needs. All of this bodes enormous opportunity for those who embrace the change and recognize the need to recruit agents from different backgrounds, to customize services for these different cultures, to engage with them online and in the community, and to provide services in different languages.

LeadingRE has jumped into globalization in terms of both coverage and culture. Comprised of 550 strong, independent brokerages with 4,000 offices and nearly 130,000 agents, the network is now operating in 63 countries and expects to hit 70 by fall 2017.

Leading that charge is EVP of Global Operations Christoph (Chris) Dietz, based in London and Frankfurt, Germany. Since joining LeadingRE five years ago, Dietz has expanded the network’s country count by more than triple, but even more significantly, he is continually reinforcing a global mindset that goes beyond coverage.

“In Europe—simply because of geography and other factors—we cross borders all the time and have a sense of the different cultures and practices,” Dietz says. “That is not the case in the U.S., so we are always thinking of the little things…having +1 before U.S. phone numbers for international dialing, scheduling multi-audience calls or webinars involving overseas colleagues at times that make sense, reviewing messaging intended for all members so that it isn’t so U.S.-centric.

“But the best way for that kind of thinking to be natural is to experience other cultures,” he continues. “At LeadingRE, we are very focused on connecting our members, not just having dots on the map. That way, we form trusted relationships based on mutual understanding and respect, and we find that at the end of the day, people are people. If we know each other, we are more likely to do business with each other.”

To foster these cross-border relationships, LeadingRE schedules at least two or three non-U.S. events each year in addition to its annual “Conference Week,” held last month in Miami with members from 25 countries in attendance. In 2016, the network’s annual Global Symposium was held in Amsterdam, and a luxury property event for its Luxury Portfolio division took place in Beijing. Regional networking webinars for members in the Caribbean proved so popular that they are being replicated in Europe and other regions this year. In 2017, in addition to its Global Symposium in Vienna at the end of September, a variation of its highly lauded “Asia Immersion” event in Shanghai in 2014 will be repeated in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with pre- and post-event visits to Singapore and Thailand.

“There is an enormous sense of comfort when gifting a client to a LeadingRE/Luxury Portfolio colleague in another part of the world,” says Lulu Egerton, a partner with London-based Strutt and Parker in the UK. “Even if we haven’t met a particular member, we know that these companies have been carefully vetted and share our values.”

For example, when Egerton’s team identified Turkey as a source of investor buyers coming to London, they reached out to LeadingRE/Luxury Portfolio member AYIKCAN Real Estate there, who organized a dinner with high-net worth Turkish business people during a Strutt & Parker visit to Turkey.

“That kind of thing lays the groundwork for relationships that inevitably lead to business transactions,” says Egerton, “and this simply wouldn’t happen without the connections fostered by LeadingRE and Luxury Portfolio.”

As the frequency and participation in LeadingRE’s global events have grown, so have its cross-border referrals. Member-to-member referrals are a core competency of the network dating back to its roots in the old RELO® network. Last year, members generated over 30,000 “client introductions” to one another with a whopping 50 percent conversion rate. Traditionally, most of that has been within the U.S., but cross-border referrals are doubling each year, and conversion is improving thanks to a “Cross-Border Liaison Team” that assists members with communication, customs, and follow-up required by referrals between different countries.

One recent success came with a referral from Smith & Associates Real Estate in Tampa, Fla., to Stone Real Estate in Sydney, Australia. Smith & Associates Vice President of Business Development and Relocation Jane Gowarty made an introduction on behalf of REALTOR® Amanda Heese, whose godmother had a distinctive property in the Blue Mountains of Australia.

With assistance from LeadingRE’s cross-border team, Heese connected with Reece Coleman, CEO of Stone Realty. “Immediately, I felt confident that Reece saw and appreciated the ‘story’ behind the property and would be a natural at marketing and selling it,” Heese says. The connection between the two companies was further solidified when Gowarty and Coleman met at LeadingRE’s Global Symposium in Amsterdam. A few months later, the property was sold just 10 days after being listed, in a market with an average days-on-market of 360—also setting a new residential price record in the area.

“It was an absolute delight marketing this property and getting to know and work with our LeadingRE colleagues,” says Coleman. “While we are literally on opposite sides of the world, we are aligned by a shared focus on delivering an exceptional experience, and this focus on quality is a universal trait of LeadingRE firms.”

Another globalization focus for LeadingRE is on the corporate relocation side. Its sister relocation management company, RELO Direct®, Inc., works with multi-national clients who relocate talent all over the world. As a result, in Shanghai and Munich, RELO Direct works via two firms that are also members of LeadingRE. These two companies operate both destination service companies (DSPs) to assist international expatriates moving from one country to another and real estate brokerages.

“The organization has synergies for us in both areas,” says Dima Lorenz of Ark Properties in Shanghai. “We work closely with RELO Direct to assist employees relocating to China with RELO Direct client companies, but we also work with fellow LeadingRE colleagues to support individual buyers and sellers.”

LeadingRE is expanding its referral business to also encompass commercial referrals, working with its members who operate dedicated commercial divisions as well as selected commercial-only partners in other cities. Given the growth in commercial investment in the U.S. in recent years, that is yet another way in which LeadingRE plans to extend its global reach.

“While the stock market is hot right now, investors are always looking for ways to diversify,” says Rossell. “Not only are financial advisors considering the real estate portfolio of their clients in addition to equities and other investments, but we’ve also seen growth in global real estate mutual funds and global real estate investment trusts (REITs). Additionally, we see consumers in other countries ‘parking’ their money by buying property in the relatively safe economic environment of the U.S. All of this indicates the fascination with and confidence in real estate from an investment, as well as lifestyle, perspective. As we continue to see an accelerated interest in cross-border real estate purchases, the traditional barriers to these transactions—financing, logistics, and more—will be increasingly minimized, so that buying or selling property in another country becomes nearly as routine as it is in the U.S.”

LeadingRE truly lives its mantra: “We’re Local, We’re Global®.” Its locally-branded independent real estate firms have to be market leaders in order to qualify for membership, whether a mega-brokerage like Howard Hanna or Long & Foster or a one-office firm that dominates the market in its small suburb or town. No matter what a firm’s local profile, having meaningful connections to other quality-focused firms worldwide is a real differentiator in this global economy.

This local “private label” character of LeadingRE’s members is serving them well in the age of the internet and today’s consumer interest in community roots and distinctive business personas. It is no accident that the love affair with local brands is driving many business decisions, whether it is the introduction of boutique-brand divisions by major hotel chains or the decision by HomeServices of America to retain the local brands of independent acquisitions like LeadingRE members Kentwood in Denver and Houlihan Lawrence in Westchester County, rather than moving them into its Berkshire Hathaway franchise network.

“We believe there has never been a better time for local brands,” says LeadingRE’s O’Connor. “Ironically, this translates in the global landscape, as well. In effect, we are able to offer the authenticity and connections of strong local brands around the world. When clients understand that they are accessing the same integrity, competence, and client care in another country that they’re used to at home with one of our members, this becomes a huge factor in bridging cultural, political and economic differences.”

So regardless of where you sit in the real estate world, why should you care about global?

National economies are increasingly intertwined, and when business crosses borders, so do people and the homes they buy and sell. As that happens, the barriers to real estate transactions will fall.

The internet and smartphones have introduced new vistas to consumers everywhere, particularly with younger people, so those who have never thought about buying a home in another country are or will.

You already have a host of cultures in your own backyard, and if you wish to have their business, you need to know them.

Having a global mindset does not mean abandoning love or loyalty to country; it simply recognizes the changing world in which we live and the many reasons—business, practical and personal—to respect and embrace the rich opportunities that diversity brings, just as it has in this country throughout our history.

For more information, please visit www.leadingre.com.

Maria Patterson is RISMedia’s executive editor. Email her your real estate news ideas at [email protected].

For the latest real estate news and trends, bookmark RISMedia.com.

The post Why Global Matters: Looking Beyond Borders Integral to LeadingRE’s Growth appeared first on RISMedia.

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uniquequotesonlife · 4 years

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Travel Experts Reveal 10 Ways To Save On Travel

1. Remember the Rule of Tuesdays.

2. Hit the shoulder season.

What’s the shoulder season, you ask? We explain—plus give you a few quick tips on how to avoid the tourists and get affordable flights—in the video below:

3. Be a little impulsive.

There are pros and cons to this tried-and-true technique for a quick escape from the day-to-day grind. But asking for a “cheap ticket to anywhere” doesn’t work like it used to.

4. Ditch the hotel.

5. Get off the plane.

6. Brown bag it.

7. Hydrate on the cheap.

Everyone knows you can’t bring liquids through security, including water. But you can bring an empty water bottle and fill it at a water fountain or fill station.

8. Find new ways to get around.

9. Take a cue from extreme couponers.

10. Book directly.

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uniquequotesonlife · 4 years

Text

Travel Experts Reveal 10 Ways To Save On Travel

1. Remember the Rule of Tuesdays.

2. Hit the shoulder season.

What’s the shoulder season, you ask? We explain—plus give you a few quick tips on how to avoid the tourists and get affordable flights—in the video below:

3. Be a little impulsive.

There are pros and cons to this tried-and-true technique for a quick escape from the day-to-day grind. But asking for a “cheap ticket to anywhere” doesn’t work like it used to.

4. Ditch the hotel.

5. Get off the plane.

6. Brown bag it.

7. Hydrate on the cheap.

Everyone knows you can’t bring liquids through security, including water. But you can bring an empty water bottle and fill it at a water fountain or fill station.

8. Find new ways to get around.

9. Take a cue from extreme couponers.

10. Book directly.

0 notes