Cross-Border (Mergers & Acquisitions) M&A: Key Considerations for U.S. Businesses

Cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) play a crucial role in helping companies expand their global presence and enter new markets. These deals involve merging or acquiring companies from different countries, providing businesses with strategic advantages and opportunities for growth. One of the main benefits of cross-border M&A is the potential for international expansion.

By merging or acquiring companies in foreign markets, businesses can gain access to a larger customer base, distribution networks, and established infrastructure. This expansion can lead to increased market share and revenue streams, helping companies achieve their growth objectives. However, it is important to recognize that cross-border M&A presents key challenges that need to be carefully considered.

Legal and Regulatory Considerations

When participating in cross-border transactions, it is essential to comprehend the legal considerations involved. Each country has its own set of laws and regulations governing mergers and acquisitions, making it necessary to navigate the legal landscape in order to minimize risks and ensure compliance.

Failure to adhere to local laws and regulations can have significant consequences for the parties involved. To effectively navigate the legal aspects of cross-border transactions, it is recommended to seek the assistance of local legal experts who specialize in such deals. These experts possess a deep understanding of the local legal framework and can offer valuable guidance throughout the process of making the deal. Their expertise extends to interpreting local laws and regulations, enabling companies to identify potential legal pitfalls and find practical solutions.

Our firm can introduce your company to expert attorneys and accountants in China, Mexico, Canada the UK and Australia as well as other countries to expedite the process of understanding the intricacies of potential stand-alone acquisitions or possible mergers.

Cultural Barriers in Mergers and Acquisitions

Overcoming cultural and language barriers is vital in global business mergers and acquisitions. The differences in communication styles, business practices, and work cultures between companies from different countries can create challenges and misunderstandings.

To navigate these barriers successfully, companies need to prioritize open and transparent communication, cultural sensitivity, and bridging the gap between different business norms. It is crucial to foster understanding and collaboration among employees from diverse cultural backgrounds. Additionally, investing in cross-cultural training programs can enhance employees’ cultural awareness and equip them with the necessary skills to work effectively in a multicultural environment. These programs can cover topics such as cultural etiquette, intercultural communication, and negotiation styles, ultimately creating a more inclusive and collaborative work environment.

Tax Implications

The tax implications of a cross-border M&A deal can be intricate. U.S. businesses must carefully assess both U.S. and foreign tax laws to understand the financial impact of the transaction. This involves considering the most favorable deal structures and mitigating potential tax liabilities to optimize the financial outcomes. Our structured accounting advice will aid in the decisions.

Technology and IT Systems

The compatibility of technology and IT systems is a practical consideration often overlooked. IT systems and processes can differ significantly between companies, even within the same industry. This can make it challenging to integrate systems and processes smoothly, leading to inefficiencies and potential system failures. Additionally, differences in technology standards and protocols between countries can create compatibility issues that need to be addressed.

Talent Retention

The success of a cross-border M&A is closely tied to talent retention. Businesses must develop strategies to retain key personnel in both the acquiring and target companies. Clear communication about job security, career pathways, and organizational culture can foster a positive environment conducive to retaining critical talent.

Often the employees of the target company are fearful of the new owner and a public relations campaign is needed to keep employees in place, without getting recruited by competitors seeking to take advantage of “acquisition fear”.

Embarking on a cross-border M&A journey demands a strategic, comprehensive, and culturally sensitive approach. Businesses should collaborate with M&A Advisors such as Sterling Cooper Inc. to navigate the complexities associated with international transactions successfully. By carefully considering these key factors, businesses can position themselves for a successful cross-border M&A experience, unlocking new avenues for growth and global competitiveness.

Sterling Cooper, Inc is a business acquisition advisory company in the USA having decades of experience. From emerging startups to established enterprises, Sterling Cooper’s tailored approach fosters innovation, efficiency, and market leadership. Our seasoned team leverages a meticulous selection process, financial acumen, and industry expertise to seamlessly integrate acquired entities into a cohesive and dynamic portfolio. For business inquiry fill our short feedback form or call us at our Toll-Free Number 1-866-285-6572.

PUTIN’S HOME NEAR FINLAND BORDER!

Secret Putin home on Finnish border revealed by drone – complete with £8,000 bidets and ‘stolen’ waterfall

Putin's secret house near Lake Ladoga has been filmed from the air — Putin’s secret house near Lake Ladoga has been filmed from the air

Vladimir Putin has reportedly built a sprawling estate complete with bidets costing £8,000 each, a “stolen” waterfall and the framework for an air-defence system less than 20 miles from Russia’s border with Finland.

The secretive complex is nestled deep in the forests of the northern region of Karelia, according to the Dossier Centre, a Russian investigative organisation which tracks various people associated with the Kremlin.

Leaked details and aerial footage of the estate, on the shores of Lake Ladoga’s Majalahti Bay, revealed it was protected by round-the-clock security, barbed-wire fences, intelligence officers and drone jammers.

The estate houses three properties known as The Barn, The Fisherman’s Hut and The Garden House.

Leaked details previously suggested the extravagant properties are decorated with expensive bidets, shower heads costing £3,500 apiece and a floor made from Fior di Bosco Italian marble worth £85,000.

Putin is believed to travel to the estate at least once a year, according to residents.

“There is no doubt the president relaxes here,” a reporter for Dossier Centres said in a video report.

“During his visits, the local security is replaced by FSO [Federal Guard Service] employees, entrances are blocked off, and neighbouring islands are sealed off.”

The three houses boast two helipads, several jetties, a trout farm and a herd of cows for “marbled beef production”.

The grounds also house a factory kitted out with nearly £300,000 worth of Austrian brewing equipment capable of producing 82 pints of beer a day, and a second-floor tea room overlooking Lake Ladoga.

Drone footage published alongside the report appeared to reveal a waterfall, which the Dossier Centre claims was “stolen” from the Ladoga Skerries National Park, which sits within the estate.

It is not clear how the outlet’s journalists managed to avoid security to gain access to the grounds. Normally, it is only accessible via boat or aircraft.

A large raised embankment which could be used to station an air defence system is located at the back of the main property.

Vehicle tracks started appearing on the site shortly after it was constructed two years ago, further adding to the suggestion of surface-to-air missile systems being stationed there.

The Karelia estate was financed via companies linked to the Russian president’s associates and Kremlin-friendly oligarchs, the Dossier Centre claimed.

It said the owner of the estate was listed as Yury Kovalchuk, the chairman of Bank Rossiya, described by the US treasury as Putin’s “personal banker”.

He is said to run a network that looks after “the president’s leisure activities and all of his real estate”.

A nearby hotel is owned by Mr Kovalchuk, while a neighbouring residence is owned by Roman Abramovich, the Western-sanctioned former owner of Chelsea Football Club.

Construction on the 1,000-acre estate, which is roughly twice the size of Monaco, began more than 10 years ago.

Putin has very few assets declared in his name. They include a small apartment in St Petersburg, two Soviet-era cars from the 1950s, a trailer and a small garage, alongside his presidential salary of about £110,000 a year.

After Dossier Centre’s report emerged, the head of Putin’s presidential campaign said on Tuesday that the majority of the Russian leader’s savings were made up of his annual salary..

MAKE YOUR BUSINESS LAST 1,000 YEARS! Many have!

WANT YOUR BUSINESS TO LAST 1,000 YEARS??? Some did!

The average American business closes shop after about 21 years. Some businesses, though, last longer—a lot longer. Take Kongo Gumi, a Japanese construction company founded in 578 A.D., or Santa Maria Novella, an Italian pharmacy that’s been perfuming the elite since Michelangelo was decorating ceilings. Here are some longevity lessons from businesses with more than ample experience.

Kongo Gumi Co. Est 578 AD
The Lesson: Find a niche and don’t let go

Until it became a subsidiary of Takamatsu Construction Group in 2006, Kongo Gumi was the world’s oldest continuously operating company. Even as a subsidiary, it still does things the really, really old-fashioned way. Its specialty is the restoration of Buddhist temples and other historic buildings. Workers could train for as long as 10 years, during which time they were sometimes set against one another, competing to see which craftsperson demonstrated the most skill working with the timber and clay traditionally used to build temples. “I think that’s where things have slipped through the cracks in a lot of other traditions or professions, because people either weren’t interested or there was actually a devaluing of some of that workmanship,” says Danielle Willkens, an architecture professor at Georgia Institute of Technology. By keeping these techniques alive, Kongo Gumi has made itself indispensable to the preservation of Japanese architecture.

St. Peter Stiftskulinarium, est. c. 803
The Lesson: Don’t be afraid to mix it up

Noted by a courtier of Charlemagne’s as having one of Europe’s best wine collections, St. Peter Stiftskulinarium has been delighting diners in Salzburg, Austria, for more than 1,200 years. If it’s not the world’s oldest restaurant, it’s one of them. The wine cellar, built to store the treasures of the monks in the attached monastery, was the genesis of the restaurant, says Nora Wunderwald, a publicity representative for St. Peter. After all, she says, patrons, who over the centuries have included Mozart, Faust and Karl Lagerfeld (who was feted at the restaurant by Chanel), needed some food to pair with their wine. The restaurant’s current operators, Veronika Kirchmair and Claus Haslauer, have made it a point to diversify the menu beyond schnitzel and strudel. This month’s offerings include confit fillet of char, artichoke Wellington and an innovation Charlemagne and his compatriots would surely have marveled at: brunch.

The Olde Bell, est. 1135
The Lesson: Furniture can change, but service shouldn’t

Once upon a time, perhaps during the reign of King Stephen (he spent most of his reign warring with his cousin Matilda, the Holy Roman Empress), you might pull into the Olde Bell hotel, about 35 miles outside London, expecting to get a pint of ale and a hunk of bread to dip in your stew before you fell asleep on a mattress stuffed with horsehair and, in the morning, continued on your way across medieval England. Since then, the Olde Bell has expanded to include more guest quarters and a nuclear fallout shelter-turned-wine cellar, but the idea that every weary and thirsty traveler deserves a place to rest and a pint of ale remains the same, says sales manager Debi Hayes—“except we’ve got comfier mattresses now!” History, of course, begets more history, with Winston Churchill, Boris Karloff, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Elizabeth Taylor all having spent time in the hotel’s cozy rooms and cozier bar, where sections of the original walls are covered with glass to keep them stable.

Santa Maria Novella, est. 1612 (pharmacy from 1542)
The Lesson: Signature products are signature products for a reason

For Gian Luca Perris, chief executive officer and “nose” of Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, the brand’s most enduring fragrance is inextricably linked to its most famous patron, Catherine de’ Medici. Acqua della Regina, with top notes of petitgrain and a base of musk, is still one of Santa Maria Novella’s bestselling products, a chance for today’s shoppers to capture a little bit of long-ago glamor and romance. In Perris’ telling, in 1533 the princess, as part of her wedding entourage, brought a perfume maker who was rumored to have been raised by Santa Maria Novella’s friars. The friars, who called the monastery of the Church of Santa Maria Novella home, had long dabbled in fragrant waters, often thought to keep the plague away. Catherine, possibly the 16th century’s most famous “it” girl, was both a patron and something of a muse to the pharmacy; for her marriage scent, her perfumier was ready to create his greatest perfume yet. “For their upcoming marriage,” Perris says, “he created a bridal gift for Catherine’s future husband: a perfume that enchanted the courts of France by embodying Florence’s elegance and grace.”

Brooks Brothers, est. 1818
The Lesson: Focus on your core customer

Founded as a small clothing manufacturer and shop in Lower Manhattan, Brooks Brothers has been supplying prep school students and Wall Street bankers with starched shirts and blue blazers for 200 years, pioneering the ready-to-wear suit and blanketing downtown office cores with retail locations stocked with in-case-of-emergency ties and pocket squares. When Ken Ohashi took over the company in late 2020, it was a strange moment for a brand that depends on people needing to dress up. For Ohashi, the key to outlasting Covid quarantines was to figure out what his die-hard customers might want more of. The answer, he says, was casual wear. Items such as oversize striped rugby shirts and corduroy pants embroidered with jaunty hunting dogs now account for 40% of the company’s business, up from 20% before the pandemic. Ohasi stresses, however, that Brooks Brothers sportswear is done the Brooks Brothers way. “Our core customer loves our sweatpants,” he says, “because you can get them monogrammed.”

Consolidated Edison, est. 1823 (as New York Gas Light Co.)
The Lesson: Location, location, location

ConEd, energy provider to New York City and many of its surrounding counties, is the oldest continuously operating company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. It even predates Thomas Edison himself—when he was born in 1847, the company that would someday bear his name was known as the New York Gas Light Co. Having dominated the market for gas lights across Manhattan (thanks, in part, to a little help from the bosses of Tammany Hall), the company—renamed the New York Steam Co. in the early 1880s—was primed to become a major player in the newly electrified NYC of the late 19th century. But it wasn’t the only business with designs on (literal) power. By the 1890s no fewer than 30 companies sought to provide electricity to the homes and businesses of New York and Westchester County. According to Dan Taft, a chief engineer in central operations at ConEd, “when laying the original electric feeder cables in the streets of Lower Manhattan in 1882, Edison was so impressed with the quality of the pipe-laying work being done simultaneously by the New York Steam Co. that he made arrangements to send surplus steam from his Pearl Street Station into the steam system, thereby becoming the very first co-generator.” By the mid-1920s the competition had been mostly wiped out, leaving ConEd (the name became official in 1936) the sole source of electric light in a city that uses a lot of it.

SHOPPING MALLS QUICKLY DYING?

I have visited hundreds of abandoned places in my life—factories to asylums, schools to churches—but suburban malls might be the most surreal and striking. They captivate the imagination in a way few other types of environments can: with an almost imperceptible layer of fog that forms between the first and second floors of an atrium, endless reflections of vacant storefronts, or a chance encounter with a groundhog in the remains of a food court.

Stripped of signage and wares, they are nearly perfectly liminal spaces. Malls have become a part of the modern collective unconscious, through both the haze of half-buried memories of any American over the age of 20 and their ubiquity in popular media. They reflect the American consumer’s identity, and to see a suburban mall in ruins warps nostalgia into something nightmarish and forlorn in a way that abandoned factories, hospitals, or even churches don’t quite do.

We are all, to some extent, intimately familiar with the mall experience. Many of us in America had an indoor shopping center that was “our mall” at some point in our lives. Those memories are shared, because even though we weren’t all going to the same mall, we were: franchise stores—Auntie Anne’s, Sbarro, The Gap—share the same layout and inoffensive color palette and logo lettering across the country. To know one of these malls is to know them all. It’s a powerful magic I’m not sure I can fully explain, even after wandering the deserted storefronts of many vacant shopping hubs.

Much has been written on the phenomenon of the collapse of the American mall and the reasons for it. The most obvious—the rise of online retail—is undeniably a significant factor, but it also masks a rot that had been spreading before Amazon gutted brick-and-mortar. It’s hard to think of any comparable social institution that cost so much and covered so much physical space and then imploded so quickly. As always, the story is far more complex than any tidy summary can encompass.

The first contemporary, enclosed suburban shopping mall in America*—Southdale Shopping Center in Edina, Minnesota—was built in 1956, and the idea was incredibly successful. The exodus from urban centers to suburbs created an enormous opportunity to fill a vacuum for goods and services in smaller communities. A mall patron could get their hair styled, buy groceries, visit the bank, and enjoy an art installation all in one building.

As the concept gained steam, the mall seemed a well of endless novelty—a preeminent showcase of modern architecture and innovative products. For the archetypal suburban housewife, otherwise isolated, it was a place for socialization and escape. As malls flourished, in many communities they decimated urban shopping districts, which by then had come to be viewed by some as outdated and unsafe.

By their heyday in the late 1970s and 1980s, malls had established themselves as dominant retail hubs, and for developers, they seemed like a never-ending source of income. In communities that already had “their” malls, new ones were built to compete with them: bigger, more upscale, or just different. Even though the popularity of malls would continue well through the 1990s, this competition was the first factor that led to the cascade of closures that followed. There were too many, cannibalizing each other’s customers. Novelty meant that when one mall became dated or, sometimes, viewed as dangerous—often through white shoppers’ perception of nonwhite shoppers and the stores that served them—there was another one to go to instead. A single police incident could turn away scores of patrons for years.

The overabundance of suburban malls heralded a subtle but important perceptual shift—by the 2000s, dated and poorly maintained malls were commonplace, and the view of them as sparkling palaces of wonder and delight was fading. It had become trendy to hate them. Department stores were losing the battle for cost-conscious consumers to big box retailers like Walmart, which spread like wildfire through the 1990s.

Poor management, obsolete marketing strategies, and unsustainable expansion left retailers like JCPenney and Macy’s at a tremendous strategic disadvantage against bargain stores like TJ Maxx and fashionable (and often freestanding) chains like Target. Leveraged buyouts, a vampiric process where outside investors purchase controlling shares in companies, saddle them with unmanageable debt, and then liquidate them, wiped out mall staples: Sears, Payless ShoeSource, and Toys “R” Us (though all of those recognizable brands have lingered in some diminished fashion).

The failure of larger anchor stores presented another catastrophic problem. The very size of malls became a liability: dead ends, darkened storefronts, and vacant corridors created eerie, lifeless pockets—and a death spiral. Fewer tenants, fewer shoppers, decreased income, more unkempt areas. Where an outdoor strip mall could simply tear down an underperforming section and build something else, malls were static islands surrounded by seas of asphalt. When online shopping grew, it stabbed a victim that was already bleeding out. The pandemic and inflation didn’t improve the situation, either. In the 1980s, there were roughly 2,500 malls in the United States. Today, there are approximately 700—a number most analysts expect to continue to decline.

Nevertheless, some malls are weathering the storm, at least for the moment: the American Dream Mall in Rutherford, New Jersey, which opened at the beginning of the pandemic, pairs entertainment—indoor water parks, ski slopes, and roller coasters—with unique stores and restaurants, and the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, narrowly dodged foreclosure through a forbearance agreement.

Some malls are turning into mixed-use developments, hotels, and community centers to survive, while others are thriving by catering to certain populations, such as the Asian Garden Mall in Westminster, California. A study by Coresight Research reports that, as of 2022, sales and foot traffic in malls has increased 10 to 12 percent, and malls such as the Select Citywalk in New Dehli, India, are flourishing, as countries with high population density and low online market penetration seek new retail experiences. Downtown shopping districts are also making a comeback in cities such as Alexandria, Virginia, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. If anything is certain in the quickly changing retail environment, it’s that nothing is: There are no sure bets, and the champions of today’s marketplace may be buried in dust and shadows tomorrow.

As an explorer of abandoned places, though, I go to dead malls, with their problematic history of devastating downtown districts, in an attempt to reconcile their spotty legacy with the fond memories I have of them: reading comics in Waldenbooks, gazing longingly at K·B Toys, playing Street Fighter 2 in the arcade in the basement, and petting puppies and kittens in the pet store. My mother worked at a John Wannamaker store with a giant eagle statue perched by the railing in front of the second-floor entrance, gazing down at the shoppers below. I vaguely recall winning a Halloween costume contest at our mall when I was six or so—I was a pirate, by the way.

These empty malls I see, by virtue of their similarity, are my mall, too, and they are stuffed with the same kinds of memories: ear piercings at a cart, first jobs at the Orange Julius, love connections at the Sam Goody’s. Compared to a thriving galleria at its zenith, big box stores and online retailers seem shabby and isolating. There’s nowhere to sit, no fountains or planters, no people-watching. Perhaps as a culture, we have outgrown the mall, but it is an emotional loss. We may not have always wanted to go them, but we miss them when they’re gone.

I don’t believe that ghosts haunt us, but memories most certainly do. A dead mall is filled with echoes and the sting of lost youth. Even if we find nothing to mourn there, the Age of Malls as we once knew it is over and will most likely never be repeated. My hope is that the photos I take of them in their final days are both a shared reminiscence and a final goodbye.

REJECTING THE “GREAT RESET”: FUELS AND ALL WOKE MANDATES

An Acquaintance got a rental of a Tesla over the holidays. It’s undoubtedly the industry standard for EVs and a complete blast to drive. The problem: It’s not a practical car at all. He was driving in the cold, and the car was nearly drained after two hours. Searching for a charge was no easy task. The first one didn’t work. The second one stated that it would be charged in 10 hours, which he didn’t have.

The freezing weather in the Midwest this winter rendered all EV batteries totally unusable, and cars left in parking lots at airports and outdoor parking garages were just abandoned. Charging stations were NOT WORKING to charge automobiles either due to weather.

His conclusion: This is indeed a glorified golf cart designed to keep you at home and under the thumb of the manufacturer. And this is just a test. The repairs are worse. Keep in mind that this is the best the industry has to offer. The other manufacturers of these things make products not nearly as high-rated, which is why so many of them are sitting on lots unsold and why orders for the machines are plummeting.

It seems like the EV craze has peaked already. Growth in gas cars is now far higher than electrics, flipping a trend from 12 months ago. Finally, consumers are figuring it out. This is a good second car, provided you’re driving in your own town, you have a hook-up at home and can charge it overnight, and you don’t suddenly have to go out of town. It’s a toy, sometimes a fun one, but not a real car. For that, you need gas.

The idea that this car is going to transition the United States to “clean energy” is absurd. If every car were electric, the grid would crash and rationing would be the norm. And maybe that’s the whole point. You drive only with permission. Nothing about your transportation is within your control. Authorities will decide everything for you. It’s a perfect strategy for creating a society of dependents.

Fortunately, consumers aren’t playing along. We still live with the remnants of a capitalist system whereby manufacturers have to make profits. So that’s a serious problem for the whole industry. It could very well collapse in 2024.

Tesla will still be around making luxury cars and trucks for well-to-do urbanites, and bless them for it. But it’s not for everyone. It isn’t even for anyone who has a long way to go. Even now, the only substantial pockets of broad ownership are California and D.C. The heartland knows better and so do people in very cold latitudes.

As long as we’re on the topic of fails, consider fake meat. Remember how it was going to replace real meat? Well, take a look at the grocery stores today. This is another product that has peaked. The stock for Beyond Meat was $196 in 2019. It has fallen and fallen. Today it’s a bargain at $8.72, with no one being particularly interested. It looks like this one isn’t long for this world either, which makes you wonder why muckety-mucks are still pushing this nonsense on us. Consumers aren’t having it anymore.

The same goes for COVID-19 vaccines, for which your tax dollars paid. The companies have stock sales and patents and a seeming public demand. Except for one thing: They don’t work. They’re also highly dangerous. This is an incredible disaster for both Moderna and Pfizer. The Pfizer stock is down to $28 from $59 in two years. Moderna has fallen to $100 from $384 in the same time frame. They’re both sitting on massive stockpiles of these vaccines, with almost no remaining public demand for their endless boosters.

They also face lawsuits with claims that the companies wildly exaggerated the benefit. In any case, they were never necessary for the vast majority of people and certainly not for children. They paid off the Food and Drug Administration to give them permission to even sell products that would never have been approved under normal conditions.

Once again, we have the remnants of capitalism to thank for this. Government tried to force everyone to get the vaccine. They succeeded among some segments of the population for a time. They also enlisted Hollywood stars and every manner of “influencer” to browbeat people into getting them. Whole cities (New York, New Orleans, Chicago, and Boston) were even shut to the unvaccinated. At the very least, the companies and cooperating government officials should apologize for this disaster.

And consider Mark Zuckerberg’s alternative to X (Twitter) called Threads. It came out earlier this year to great fanfare. Here’s a social media service that’s thoroughly censored! As if that’s some kind of marketing pitch. It was always ridiculous. It started with 4 million users, mostly by drafting the users of Instagram. Today it’s down to 1 million, but even they’re hardly active at all

When I saw how Instagram was being abused, I immediately deleted my account.

Threads was a disaster for this company, adding to the other disaster of Mr. Zuckerberg’s Metaverse itself, which is completely empty and boring but now apparently people are claiming to being virtually raped???!.

It turns out that Mr. Zuckerberg isn’t a good businessman at all. Maybe the movie The Social Network was correct that he merely stole the whole idea of Facebook itself. He never really had business acumen. And speaking of Facebook, good grief, what happened to this thing? There’s essentially no reach on the platform.

Facebook has turned into nothing more than an advertising platform that markets your data. It’s really only useful for its marketplace. Otherwise, what’s the point of this thing anymore? It’s a wonder that its stock price hasn’t been hit, not just yet.

Another piece of toast this year has been online learning. Frankly, people are sick of it. Classrooms should be real. The fakery of remote classes is obvious to one and all.

Even DEI has hit the skids! Wisconsin just dialed back all funding and froze the programs.

Are you noticing a pattern here? Markets in the real world are rejecting the “Great Reset.” Whether eating bugs, driving EVs, munching fake meat, or living in the metaverse with censorship, none of it’s working. We can only hope that this trend continues in 2024 and that it bankrupts the companies that threw themselves into the whole racket. Let’s hope the consumer marketplace can render its final judgment before all of this jazz becomes mandatory, which is the real goal.

In the meantime, let’s be grateful for every amount of capitalism we have remaining, because markets mean consumer choice. And when given the choice, we know now that consumers don’t like Klaus Schwab’s plans for our lives, no matter how much Bill Gates endorses them.

INDIAN CREEK ISLAND, FL-WHERE BILLIONAIRES IVANKA TRUMP LIVES

Ivanka Trump strolls past the lush green golf course, blond ponytail poking through a white cap, her back to the house she and her husband bought for $24 million and renovated, probably with a low interest mortgage from the Saudi’s?. The billionaires live just like the clustered bungalow homes Brooklyn, where your next door neighbor is right next to your bathroom window and can her you flushing the toilet! But they can say they are exclusive and they are billionaires!

The overpriced homes that can be bought elsewhere for $1.5-$3.5 million, get those people with more money than brains, to shell out 20 times or more for homes that are due to be submerged with the forecast of rising seas!

Next door to Ivanka and Jared’s home is the mansion of superstar DJ David Guetta, down the street from homes owned by Tom Brady, the football superstar, Carl Icahn the takeover icon, who bankrupted Trans World Airlines, Blockbuster, Hertz and Auto Plus and Eddie Lampert who managed to bankrupt Sears Roebuck.

Moving to Indian Creek Village, you can get sympathy from other billionaires to make your losses hurt less. However, since billionaires adhere to the principle of using “other people’s money”, they suffered no losses; while their stockholders and investors did, LOL.

It’s warm and and sunny in Indian Creek Village, a town for the ultra rich on an island off the coast of Miami, a perfect winter morning in Florida’s Billionaire Bunker.

Out of sight that day was Jeff Bezos, the world’s second-richest person and the newest addition to the insulated enclave. His purchases mean the island’s five wealthiest property owners alone control fortunes totaling some $191 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He still can not park his yacht there!

The exclusive paradise — accessible for those with invites via a single, heavily guarded 24/7 bridge — is ground zero for the unprecedented migration of wealth to South Florida over the past five years. It’s also a showcase for the issues cropping up throughout the region as a result — soaring home prices, one of the country’s fastest inflation rates and a growing divide that separates the elite from the hoi polloi, who increasingly struggle to afford to live there.

The island itself even has its own version of gentrification — the merely affluent are now being displaced by the fabulously wealthy able to spend $100 million for a mansion in Indian Creek, which was built almost 100 years ago for that generation’s rich.

“Florida has always been infamous for gated communities,” said Richard Florida, a serendipitously named professor at the University of Toronto’s School of Cities and an occasional Bloomberg Opinion contributor. “What is new is the massive infusion of the top 0.0001% in and around Miami.” ( Lot’s of cheap illegals as household help.)

Bezos, the 59-year-old Amazon.com Inc. founder, announced he was moving to Miami in November. Already he’s shelled out $147 million for two mansions in Indian Creek, which he’s expected to tear down and replace with custom builds. One of the houses had been in the same family since 1982, a wealthy Venezuelan dynasty that bought it for $1.4 million. The other was purchased from a Brazilian executive whose electronics company thrived in the early 1990s.

Prices for homes renovated to the standards of billionaires in Indian Creek will soon start at nine figures, according to Dina Goldentayer, a real estate broker who has been involved with three of the island’s five most recent sales.

“This is all post-Covid, and it was actually quite different before,” Goldentayer said. About seven years ago, “there would be five or six listings at the same time and $20 million was a big sale.”

Bezo’s emissaries have reached out to at least three other homeowners on the island about purchasing their properties, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters. Conversations are ongoing. Maybe he is thinking of using them as rentals for extra income? The problem is that he can not park his oversize yacht close by the home.

There’s perhaps no more exclusive address in the region, though, than the 41 lots on Indian Creek Island Road, which runs along the village’s perimeter. In the middle of the island is a luxury golf course and country club; its coveted memberships are one of the few ways outsiders can get in. There are no other businesses.

The island is its own municipality, with an elected mayor, a role currently filled by Benny Klepach, the founder of duty-free retailer 3Sixty. City hall and the police station sit just across the bridge that connects Indian Creek to the community of Surfside. The town’s logo features a drawing of the iron gates that bar outsiders. Sidewalks were only added in recent years and sewage is still collected through septic tanks — though there are plans to change that.

Architect Kobi Karp, who has worked in Miami “since the Miami Vice and Scarface days,” said clients tell him that the island’s biggest draw is privacy.

“In other neighborhoods, I can come in if I want to serve you papers or harass you or take photographs of you,” said Karp, who has designed several residences in Indian Creek. “Some people don’t like that at all.”

Though Indian Creek is about the same size as Bay Harbor Islands, another oceanfront enclave of wealth in Florida, the former is home to only 84 people, while the latter has a population of almost 6,000, according to the 2020 census.

In addition to Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, Indian Creek Village property owners include short-seller Icahn, who purchased his mansion in 1997 for $7.5 million. Colombian billionaire banker Jaime Gilinski assembled five properties in the island that he’s used to create a compound for his family.

Gilinski’s decades-long buying spree is emblematic of the shifts on the island. He made his first purchase almost 30 years ago, shelling out $6 million. His latest was in 2021, for $40 million. All told, Gilinski has spent close to $80 million on his Indian Creek estates — about the same as the $79 million Bezos spent on a single, seven-bedroom mansion in October.

“Only the very wealthy, the billionaires,” can afford to live in Indian Creek now, said Paul George, the resident historian at the HistoryMiami Museum. “Hundreds of millions aren’t gonna cut it anymore.” Come on Mr. George, a person having a net worth of a few hundred million can easily afford $25-$50 million home which will sit right next to the bathroom window of an adjoining overpriced “mansion”.

Top Mistakes to Avoid When Selling a Business – Tips to Sell Your Business Quickly

Selling a business is a complex and strategic process that requires careful planning and execution. In this intricate process, avoiding common pitfalls is imperative. Lack of preparation, over or under valuation of a firm are few common mistakes, sellers must be aware of. Here are five critical common mistakes to avoid when selling a business.

Trying to do Everything Yourself

Trying to run the process alone is one of the biggest blunders to avoid when selling a business. For a few reasons, a business broker is more qualified to sell your firm. We work with brokers as your consultant to establish a value. It is best NOT to state an asking price when selling a business, but it is good for you to know what values may be reasonable when you start receiving offers. They are experts who are aware of every aspect of the procedure, from the big picture to the smallest details.

In order to get your company to the closing table, business brokers have the time and access to buyers and professionals. They can put together a presentation because they are skilled negotiators and financial specialists and, they have experience with business valuation and know how to create a competitive price with our assistance for your review.

Setting An Unrealistic Price for The Business

It is difficult to separate your emotional investment from the company. Starting a business from the beginning requires a significant financial, mental, and emotional commitment. As a result, you run the risk of pricing it excessively or expecting unrealistic pricing offers while trying to sell it because of your strong feelings. If priced too high, you will not be able to sell your business since all the buyers will be turned off. On the other hand, you might consider lowering the price to receive the desired flow of eligible buyers. Under-valuing the business may create a fast sale but short changing you on the real value. The state of the economy and comparing pricing for comparable companies (if available) on the market should also be considered. Occasionally, an unexpected tragedy or health concern may force you to quickly sell your business. All of these factors should always be considered when determining your price expectations.

Ignoring Due Diligence

Neglecting thorough due diligence on potential buyers and not conducting self-due diligence is another key mistake that have major impact on selling a business. Inadequate due diligence can result in unfavorable deal terms, undisclosed liabilities, or a mismatch in expectations. Business consulting firms such as Sterling Cooper, Inc., can conduct comprehensive due diligence for potential buyers, and equally, perform sellers’ due diligence to identify and address any issues that may arise during the sales process.

Failure to Provide Prospective Buyers with Accurate Information

Prior to purchasing a firm, buyers may like to know crucial details such as the company’s projected sales, the risks associated with the purchase, and the timeframe for receiving a return on investment. Ideally, you want to offer as much of this information as possible to a prospective buyer. It can be beneficial to be open about the company’s income and the true compensation received by the seller including salary and all benefits, commonly referred to as ADJUSTED EBITDA.

Avoiding these common mistakes is crucial to successfully selling a business. By accurate business valuation, maintaining confidentiality, staying informed about market trends, and diversifying potential buyers, sellers can maximize the enterprise value of a firm and navigate the sale process with confidence. A well-executed sale requires careful planning, attention to detail, and strategic decision-making to achieve the desired outcome and ensure a smooth transition for both the business and its new owner. It is better to engage business consulting firm such as Sterling Cooper. Inc. (www.sterlingcooper.info) to avoid these mistakes. Their insights will optimize the sale strategy, ensuring the business is accurately priced, confidentially marketed, and attracts qualified buyers. Their guidance streamlines the complex process, addresses potential pitfalls, and enhances the likelihood of a successful and profitable sale.

Sterling Cooper, Inc is a business consulting firm in USA having over 100 years of experience. For business inquiry fill our short feedback form or call us at our Toll-Free Number 1-866-285-6572.

USA POSTS RECORD OIL PRODUCTION IN SPITE OF BIDEN ADMINISTRATION HOLDBACKS

As diplomats convene at the United Nations’ COP 28 climate change summit, fossil fuel production and consumption are hitting new highs, and tanker owners are in prime position to profit from rising trade flows.

The Biden administration is a leading proponent of decarbonization, and wants to kill the US economic growth, yet the U.S. is pumping out record volumes of hydrocarbons thanks in great part to fracking to extract oil from rock!. America is on track to be the world’s largest producer and exporter of natural gas this year, as well as the leading exporter of refined products and liquefied petroleum gas.

There are also big wins — for energy producers and shipowners, not decarbonization advocates — on the crude oil front. The Biden administration is a leading proponent of decarbonization, yet the U.S. is pumping out record volumes of hydrocarbons.
The U.S. produced 13.2 million barrels per day (b/d) of crude oil in September.
Kepler: In January-November 2023, U.S. seaborne crude exports averaged 4million b/d, an all-time high and up 19% year on year.

The U.S. produced 13.2 million barrels per day (b/d) of crude oil in September, according to data released Thursday by the Energy Information Administration. That is the country’s highest monthly production level ever.

And not only is America producing more crude, it is exporting a larger share of the crude it produces, further boosting volumes aboard tankers bound for Europe and Asia.

Seaborne crude exports up 19% vs. 2022

Exports of U.S. crude were banned between 1975 and 2015. For 40 years, U.S. production could only be sold overseas if it was refined first, then exported as petroleum products.

The end of the ban dramatically increased market opportunities for U.S. production, thereby stimulating higher output — creating more business for oil companies and tanker owners.

That upward momentum continues. Seaborne crude exports are tracked by commodity intelligence provider Kpler. In January-November, its data shows that U.S. seaborne crude exports averaged 4 million b/d, an all-time high and up 19% year on year.

Exports in November averaged 4.45 million b/d, the second-highest monthly average on record, just slightly below the peak of 4.46 million bpd in March.

Volumes rise sharply to both Europe and Asia

The Panama Canal is wreaking havoc on many cargo supply chains, but it has virtually no effect on U.S. crude exports.

U.S. crude exports to Asia are loaded on very large crude carriers (VLCCs; tankers that carry 2 million barrels) via ship-to-ship transfers in the U.S. Gulf. VLCCs are too large to transit either the Panama or Suez canals; they use the Cape of Good Hope.

U.S. exports to Europe are shipped aboard Aframaxes (750,000-barrel capacity), Suezmaxes (1 million-barrel capacity) and VLCCs.

Since the invasion of Ukraine, Europe has hiked its purchases of U.S. crude to help offset banned Russian supply. According to Kpler data, an average of 1.83 million b/d of U.S. crude flowed to Europe in January-November, up 26% from the 2022 full-year average.

Europe’s share of total U.S. crude exports has risen to 46% this year compared to 37% in 2021, the year prior to the invasion, while Asia’s share is 41%, down from 47% in 2021.

“In volumetric terms, the story has been all about Europe this year,” Reid I’Anson, senior commodity analyst at Kpler, told FreightWaves. “Europe continues to grow increasingly reliant on U.S. energy — not just LNG [liquefied natural gas] but across the board.”

Despite the pull of Europe, U.S. crude exports to Asia have also continued to escalate. According to Kpler data, exports to Asia are averaging a record-high 1.65 million b/d year to date, up 15% from last year and up 26% from 2021.

Rising volumes to Asia translate into profitable business for VLCC owners. Brokerage True North Chartering counted 40 spot VLCC cargoes loading in the U.S. Gulf in both October and November, matching the prior monthly high in April.

It is totally nonsense to think that the world can operate all necessary industry and electrical, food production and machinery without OIL. Add to it all he other products that use OIL: packaging, road building asphalt, and thousands of applications in manufactured products we use daily.

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION SHAFTS SENIORS: DIVERTS BILLIONS FROM MEDICARE TO ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Green Energy

Why Is Joe Biden Screwing Seniors To Subsidize Electric Vehicles?

The Biden administration is more interested in pet projects, unsustainable green schemes, and ideological revenue redistribution than in the core functions of government.

The news of EV and green energy subsidies flew under the radar until a poll conducted in Arizona alerted voters there to the scheme. Fully three-quarters of Arizona voters polled (76 percent) said they didn’t know the Biden administration diverted money from Medicare “savings” to subsidize green projects, and by an 80-10 margin, respondents strongly opposed such a tactic.

The information came from a report by Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), which

shows the inaccurately named Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 diverted some $280 billion from Medicare’s prescription drug provisions to green tax credits and other leftist climate initiatives — instead of lowering prescription drug costs for seniors. The ATR report reveals the so-called Inflation Reduction Act as nothing more than a pork-laden payoff to cronies and an effort by the Biden administration to implement the Green New Deal.

EVs have had a rotten track record in recent years. Example after example shows what a terrible investment they are. In Florida, EVs caught fire in the aftermath of flooding from Hurricane Ian in 2022. Several EVs burst into flames and then reignited later. This year, a Tesla lost control and rolled down a boat ramp into the intercoastal waterway — the fire department reportedly had no choice but to let it burn itself out underwater. Fire departments are fully unprepared to deal with the types of fires caused by the interaction of rare-earth elements in EV batteries and exposure to water.

More to the point, EVs also represent a terrible fiscal commitment. One report indicates electric vehicles depreciate in value by roughly 50 percent over the first five years of their lives, significantly more than standard vehicles. This stands to reason, as the batteries are prohibitively expensive to replace and owners can expect to spend more on repairs to EVs than standard gasoline-powered vehicles. That helps to explain why they’re more difficult and more expensive to insure as well.

EVs don’t save the average consumer on refueling costs, either. The equivalent price of “refueling” an EV works out to approximately $17 per “gallon” in a comparable internal combustion engine vehicle. That cost includes tax credits, rebates, subsidies to vehicle manufacturers, and regulations and mandates by various agencies.

EV owners experience the real sensation of “range anxiety,” in which the limited range of a battery charge, combined with a lack of charging station infrastructure outside of major metropolitan areas, leads drivers to wonder if they’ll get stranded somewhere with a dead car. Perhaps this explains why EVs have sat unsold by the thousands at car lots across the nation — not that you’d know it from listening to the corporate media. Holiday commercials continue to encourage viewers to buy that special someone a luxury electric SUV for Christmas, despite increasing reports of malfunctions, expensive repairs, deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and a thorough lack of consumer enthusiasm for these expensive new products.

The massive subsidies the Biden administration pays to the green energy industry overall seem to go into a giant rat hole, which makes using the Medicare drug savings to pay for them all the more insulting. For instance, one California-based luxury EV manufacturer, Lucid, loses $430,000 on each vehicle it sells. Ford also loses thousands on every EV it sells.

Despite all the problems, the Biden administration continues to subsidize the manufacture and sale of EVs to advance its decarbonization and net-zero goals. Green subsidies are far from trivial, with renewable energy receiving about three and a half times as much as the “fossil fuel” industry.

But the Biden administration is more interested in pet projects, unsustainable green schemes, and ideological revenue redistribution than in the core functions of government — and seniors hoping for relief on drug prices get screwed once again.

Jeff is an experienced communications professional who

HUMANS BREATHING IS CAUSING GLOBAL WARMING! STOP BREATHING!

MAYBE THIS WILL FINALLY PUT AN END OF THE INSANITY OF GLOBAL WARMING PUSHED BY GRETA AND AL GORE?

A new government-funded study out of Britain, conducted by scientists at the U.K. Center for Ecology and Hydrology, purports to show that “human breathing is contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.”

Therefore, the study authors are urging “caution in the assumption that emissions from humans are negligible.”

The peer-reviewed study published in the Public Library of Science’s journal PLOS One investigated greenhouse gas emissions of methane and nitrous oxide in human breath, which allegedly “contribute to global warming.”

Well, there it is! I knew it was coming! Are you serious about stopping global warming? Well, then, just stop breathing!

What a boon to depopulationists! Turns out “we are not the ones we have been waiting for”; we are the problem!

Of course, some of us suck up more air — and are bigger blowhards — than others. You know who you are. Al, Greta, John Kerry, the Donald…?

Gee, I wish we had a smarter God, one who didn’t design humans (and most animals) to respirate! And then have the nerve to say, “Be fruitful and multiply!”

The implementation of “statist interventions” and “unreliable energy alternatives” isn’t enough.

So if you truly care about the planet, please go ahead and make the ultimate sacrifice.STOP BREATHING!

Do it for the scientists who conducted the study. Do it for Al, Greta, and John. Do it for Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum (WEF). I’m sure they will thank you for it.

They might even breathe a sigh of relief.in PLOS ONE, titled “Measurements of methane and nitrous oxide in human breath and the development of UK scale emissions,” researchers have embarked on a quest that epitomizes the absurdity of current climate change discourse. This study, focusing on the emissions of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) from human breath, is not only a glaring example of scientific overreach but also a worrying indicator of the lengths to which climate alarmism is willing to go.

The study’s objective to investigate emissions from human breath in the UK population is fundamentally flawed. It operates under the assumption that these emissions are significant enough to warrant detailed analysis and inclusion in national greenhouse gas inventories. This premise is laughable at best, considering the minuscule percentage these emissions contribute to the overall greenhouse gas emissions.

The methodology employed in the study is questionable. Collecting 328 breath samples from 104 volunteers hardly constitutes a representative sample of the UK population. Furthermore, the study’s reliance on such a small sample size to draw conclusions about national-scale emissions is a classic case of over-extrapolation.

The study’s findings that 31% of participants were methane producers and that all participants emitted nitrous oxide are presented without adequate context. These results are portrayed as significant, yet they fail to consider the broader environmental impact. The fact that these emissions are stated contribute a mere 0.05% and 0.1% to the UK’s total emissions of CH4 and N2O, respectively, well below any margin of error in “national inventories” renders these findings insignificant.

The idiocy of this study and the entire genre of human behavior studies, whether it be meat eating, or owning pets, diverts attention from more pressing environmental issues and misallocates resources that could be better used elsewhere. This approach is indicative of a climate change narrative that is increasingly detached from reality. This study dangerously overstates the impact of human biological processes on climate change. By attributing environmental consequences to the act of breathing, it sets a precedent for viewing every aspect of human existence through the lens of environmental impact. This perspective is not only scientifically unsound but also potentially leads to dehumanizing policies.

The study, and the subsequent media coverage, lack a rational discourse on climate change. There is a conspicuous absence of critical analysis or questioning of the study’s relevance and implications. This omission is a testament to the current state of climate change discussions, where sensationalism often trumps scientific rigor.

The obsession with carbon, its compounds, and greenhouse gases as seen in this study’s focus on CH4 and N2O, is a misplaced concern. It reflects a narrow view of the complex and dynamic nature of Earth’s climate system. This fixation on carbon emissions is a distraction from more holistic environmental strategies.

The implications of this study for policy making are extremely concerning. It represents a step towards justifying intrusive and overreaching policies based on negligible environmental impacts. Such an approach is not only impractical but also poses a threat to personal freedoms which continue to be under attack daily and the dignity of human life.

In conclusion, this study is emblematic of the absurd lengths to which climate alarmism has gone. It represents a worrying trend in the climate debate, where even the most basic human functions are scrutinized for their environmental impact.

There is a dire need for a return to scientific sanity and rational discourse in addressing environmental issues. The path to a prosperous future does not lie in fear-mongering or exaggeration but in reasoned and rational scientific inquiry. I know we can’t expect that from the current crop of ideologically captured academics, but we must not stop working toward weeding out the rot in these institutions, even though it will likely take decades.