Corporate

The publishing group that controls the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune has rejected the offer made last week by Gannett, which publishes the newspaper USA Today. The Board of Tribune Publishing took the view that the tender offer price "undervalues the true value of the company" and therefore "it is not in the best interests of our shareholders." Gannett had made an offer of $ 12.25 per share value, recognizing a premium of 63% over the previous close.

ArcelorMittal, the first global steel producer, has closed the first quarter of 2016 improved, with net losses of $ 416 million (364.3 million euro) compared with 728 million the same period last year. The company has however confirmed that foresees further improvements on the side of profits, with EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), which for 2016 to exceed $ 4.5 billion (3.94 billion euro).

Meeting at Palazzo Chigi between the Government and representatives of the metalworkers’ unions to take stock of the Alcoa dispute.

The Government has announced that within two weeks we will know the intentions of Glencore, the Swiss multinational in talks to detect the aluminum plant of the US group which is located in Sardinia.

The Spanish oil company Repsol reported a decline in net profit in the first quarter by 43 percent to 434 million euro, compared with 761 million euro in the same quarter of the previous year. Adjusted net income in the quarter was 572 million euro, compared to the same period a year ago. The Bloomberg consensus was for just 261 million. Respol had closed 0.37% decline in the Wednesday session in Madrid.
Last month it cut its proposed dividend to € 0.30 per share, from an originally proposed € 0.50.

Twitter continues its descent on the New York Stock Exchange, where its meeting yesterday hit its historic low at $ 13.90 per share. It is not so much the daily downward (-2.9%) how much the difference compared to the listing price of 2013: the value of the stock of social microblogging has literally halved compared to the $ 26 IPO.

In addition, the performance year to date is bad (-36%) as well as the accumulated loss in the last 12 months stood at -70%. To determine yet another collapse were the disappointing quarterly results, disclosed last week, even if the title is for some time at a critical stage.

Blow to Johnson & Johnson, which will have to compensate the record sum of 55 million dollars to an American woman. A St. Louis court has in fact imposed on the American company a maxi-compensation against Gloria Ristesund, 62 year old of South Dakota which states that the use for years of talc-based products led her to develop an ovarian cancer .

It is not the first unfavorable verdict for J & J, after he was sentenced in February to pay $ 72 million to the family of an Alabama woman, Jackie Fox died following an ovarian cancer, who had sued claiming that illness, and death was caused by products containing talc. In addition the company is facing some 1,200 lawsuits on charges of failing to inform users about the risks linked to its talc-based products.

Beyoncé, the pop star Texas, after being climb atop the hit parade, decided to investiire a part of his wealth in the natural beverage industry, more precisely on the watermelon juice. The singer, who Forbes is worth $ 450 million, bought a share "significantly" in Wtrmln Wtr, a company whose forte are squeezed melons, seasoned only with a few drops of lemon. "This type of product is the future of clean hydration – wrote the singer in a statement – It’s more of an investment in a brand. It’ s a bet on women’s leadership, American agriculture and on people’s health and of the planet. "

The collapse in oil prices affect in a decisive manner on Royal Dutch Shell accounts. The Anglo-Dutch giant has closed the first quarter with a net profit of 421 million euro, a 89% decrease compared to 4.43 billion dollars in the same period of 2015. Without considering depreciation and exceptional costs, net profit amounted to $ 1.55 billion, -58%. The company also announced that it has reduced to 30 billion dollars from 33 previously expected, the investments planned in 2016.