business
Twitter Invests in to SoundCloud
Twitter has made an investment in music streaming startup SoundCloud. The deal, which Recode pegs at $70 million of a $100 million round, comes less than three months after SoundCloud launched paid service Go in an effort to capture a piece of the subscription music business. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey told Recode that the investment was “to help support some …
NBCUniversal Telemundo to Build New $250 Million Global Headquarters in Miami
NBCUniversal Telemundo to Build New $250 Million Global Headquarters in Miami Comcast and NBCUniversal Fund New Headquarters, Opening In 2018 In a clear nod to its growing clout inside the U.S., NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises announced today plans to break ground on a new 450,000 square foot facility in Miami that will serve as the company’s …
Enrique Iglesias Signs With Sony Music
Enrique Iglesias has left his longtime home at Universal and signed with Sony Music, Billboard has learned. His albums will likely be released by Sony Music Latin in Spanish and RCA in English. Iglesias has had a long and very positive relationship with Universal, which released his albums in English and Spanish for over a …
YouTube Growth Impresses Analysts, Wall Street
Morgan Stanley estimates YouTube grew revenue 60 percent year-over-year in second quarter. YouTube was a standout of Google’s second-quarter earnings on Thursday. With the help of the online video service, the tech giant’s revenue increased 11 percent to $17.73 billion, pushing shares up 3.1 percent to $601.78 at Thursday’s close of trading. Just a few …
Jay Z’s Tidal Now Offers Lower Prices for Family Plans
Reacting to the lower prices of Apple Music and other competitors, Tidal now offers a family plan with discounted prices for its on-demand music subscription service. The company announced Wednesday it is offering a 50-percent discount when subscribers add up to four additional users to the same account. The new pricing works out to $30 for …
Facebook Says It Has ‘No Plans’ to Launch a Music Streaming Service
A year-and-a-half ago, Facebook’s director of strategic partnerships Ime Archbongtold Billboard that the company was looking to fragment its Swiss Army Knife-like social platform, creating separate apps for each of the many powerful features it has. Evidence of this came soon after out talk with Archibong, when the company split off its messaging service into …
Amazon is now in Mexico
Amazon has formally launched full service operations in Mexico, under the URL amazon.com.mx. The Amazon launch in Mexico — its first in Latin America — comes after nearly two years in which the company has tested the market by selling eBooks via its Kindle store. Now, the new Amazon Mexico store will sell millions of products, including three Kindle …
Univision Files for IPO
Univision Holdings said Thursday that it has filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering. The number of shares to be offered in the IPO and the price range for the stock offering have not yet been determined, according to the filing. In a related move, …
Jessica Rivera Surges at Universal Music Publishing Group
Universal Music Publishing Group exec Jessica Rivera has been promoted to executive VP/head of East Coast operations. In this new post, Rivera will be tasked with leading the expansion of the New York creative team — the company says in a statement — and to continue to develop, nurture and sign talent. She reports to Jody Gerson, …
Universal Music Partners With Brazilian Bank for New Streaming Subscription
Brazilian banking giant Banco Bradesco has announced a partnership with Universal Music Group to create a new streaming music platform exclusively for its credit card holders. When launched, Bradesco Music will give customers access to over half a million songs and 50,000 hi-def videos from UMG’s catalog at a monthly subscription of $4.90 reals (approx. $2 USD). …
Wal-Mart Stores to Raise Employees’ Minimum Wage
Wal-Mart plans to increase hourly pay to all of its U.S. workers to at least $9 per hour by this April. By next year they will raise their minimum wage to $10 per hour. Wall Street Journal reports the increased rate of pay will beat the federal minimum wage by 24 percent and dig into …
Uber Car Service App Launches Spanish Version of UberFresh
A court in December banned Uber Technologies from providing ride share services in Spain, so the company has reemerged as a service to deliver prepared meals, reports the Wall Street Journal. Uber announced Thursday that it opened a food delivery service in Barcelona, which is similar to the one it operates in California. Prepared meals …
Latinos With High Income Support Lifting Cuban Embargo, Says Poll
U.S. Latinos were found to have mixed views on the Cuban embargo, but the difference in opinion could depend on an individual’s income. Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Business and Economics Polling Initiative (BEPI) polled Latinos about lifting the embargo. Polling results found Latinos with high incomes were most likely to support lifting the U.S. embargo …
Developer Robert Finvarb talks about South Florida’s hot hotel market
With two hotel construction projects coming in for a landing, developer Robert Finvarb was sounding confident during an interview earlier this month. Construction of both properties — the Hyatt South Beach and AC Hotel Miami Beach, both set to open in April — was running on schedule, no easy task in a market flooded with …
Hispanic-Owned Goya Foods Looks to Corner the Latin Food Market Via $300 Million Expansion
Goya Foods, the United States’ largest Hispanic-owned food company, has expanded its West Coast headquarters, developing a distribution center and a new facility in Southern California as a response to growing demands for Goya products among immigrant populations and Americans. The new West Coast facilities are part of a $300 million expansion. Within the U.S. …