AT&T's WarnerMedia plans to launch new subscription video service in 2019

AT&T Inc is preparing to launch a subscription video service by the end of 2019 that will offer movies and TV shows from Hollywood's biggest library, as well as licensed programming from other companies and, within a year, original content, a top executive told Reuters.

The service, to be anchored by HBO, will include everything from film classics like "Casablanca" to the "Harry Potter" and "Batman" franchises to TV series "ER" and "Pretty Little Liars."

It is still in the planning phases and AT&T, the No. 2 US wireless carrier, has not yet articulated how it will be structured or how it will be staffed.

The announcement of the service delivers on a promise AT&T made in June after shareholders approved the telecom company's $85 billion purchase of Time Warner in order to make more money selling products directly to consumers rather than just go through middlemen such as cable companies.

"When we first discussed the benefits of combining WarnerMedia with AT&T, we saw the ability to create new consumer choices centered on unmatched options, value, quality, and experiences," John Stankey, WarnerMedia Chief Executive, wrote in the memo.

Why health activists are against Coca-Cola sponsoring Youth Olympics

Eleven-year-old Martin wants to become a sports star. Like Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, or Ronaldo. And make pots of money.

He will, however, never become a sportsman, because he is grossly obese. He is also addicted to fizzy cola drinks, which he has to have at every meal, starting from breakfast. He sits before the TV for endless hours, watching telecasts of the IPL, World Cups, Wimbledon and other gala international events, fantasising about his own future in sports.

Connect this boy’s lifestyle and health to the fact that the ongoing 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina, has the multinational soft drink giant Coca Cola as one of its main sponsors and you see how it all adds up, to trash the dreams of thousands of Martins around the world. A declaration condemning Coke’s sponsorship, released by health activists around the world, had received, at last count (August 2018) an impressive endorsement from 241 supporters (including five international associations of nutritionists as signatories) from Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Uruguay, New Zealand, Colombia, El Salvador and Ecuador. The signatories demand that the multinational withdraw its sponsorship.

After failed stake sale bid, govt has new plan for Air India: Will it work?

Earlier this year, the government failed to privatise Air India when its offer to offload its 76% stake in it drew a blank. Thereafter, the Niti Aayog advised the government to first turn the national carrier around and then sell it to get a decent price.

A recent report in Business Standard, quoting unnamed government sources, carries a fairly detailed account of what the Centre wishes to do to turn Air India around.

The idea is to give it an autonomous board and empower it suitably, thus enabling it to put in place a professional management. The board already has the benefit of the advice of top industrialists who are independent directors.

The aim will be to ensure that the suitably empowered autonomous board will get the company to stop making cash losses and therefore not need further government cash support beyond the current financial year. This is sorely needed because, over the five year period from 2012 to 2017, the carrier has posted a massive loss of Rs 270 billion and received capital infusion (cash to keep it going) totalling almost Rs 240 billion.

JSW Steel output up 6% to 4.18 mn tonnes in Sep quarter; shares slump 4%

JSW Steel Thursday said its crude steel output grew 6 per cent to 4.18 million tonne (MT) during the quarter ended September 30, 2018.

The Sajjan Jindal-led company had produced 3.94 MT crude steel in July-August 2017, it said in a statement.

During the said quarter, there was a rise of 2 per cent in production of flat rolled products at 2.96 MT as against 2.89 MT in the year-ago quarter, it said.

The company also registered 17 per cent growth in the output of its long rolled products at 0.91 MT as compared to 0.77 MT it had produced in year-ago quarter, JSW Steel added.

JSW Steel is a leading integrated steel company in India with an installed steel-making capacity of 18 MTPA.

The company's plant at Vijayanagar in Karnataka is the largest single location steel producing facility in the country with a capacity of 12 MTPA.

Shares of the company were trading 3.96 per cent down at Rs 361.20 apiece on BSE.

One chairman-CEO or two separate roles, Citigroup has to decide soon

JPMorgan Chase & Co and Bank of America Corp have placed the jobs of chairman and chief executive in the hands of one person, and now No. 3 Citigroup Inc must decide whether to follow suit.

The matter will be resolved in the next few months as the current chairman, Mike O'Neill, reaches 72, the company's retirement age for directors. Citigroup CEO Mike Corbat will soon know if he will be taking on the additional duties of chairman or working for a new boss.

"The change in the chairman is the biggest corporate governance decision at Citigroup in six years," said analyst Mike Mayo of Wells Fargo. "That's important given what we see as worst-in-class returns, efficiency and stock market valuation." Citigroup, the third-biggest U.S. bank by assets, reports third-quarter results on Friday. Investors will be watching its progress toward cost efficiency and return on equity targets, as well as revenue from its big U.S. credit card business.

Six years ago O'Neill became chairman and shortly after he led the board to replace then-CEO Vikram Pandit with Corbat.

Flipkart does not aspire to play a role in global markets: Binny Bansal

Even though it now has the backing of global retail giant Walmart, home-grown e-commerce major Flipkart says it does not aspire to play a role in global markets. It would instead continue to bet on India, where opportunities are immense.

In a fireside chat with Sudhir Sethi, founder and chairman of IDG Ventures India, on Tuesday evening, Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal said that e-commerce and retail were very local businesses and it was difficult to take the model and apply outside. Calling India a land of opportunities, Bansal said the country was the last big market and there were no such markets to take the model into.

“There are too many opportunities in India to build around e-commerce, such as financial services. We want to do more around Indian customers rather than stretch ourselves to markets where competition might be more,” Bansal added.

Opening up about the US retail giant Walmart’s deal with Flipkart, Bansal said since it was not a full acquisition, the deal went quite smoothly.

Indiabulls Ventures standalone net profit declines 54.59% in Sept quarter

Indiabulls Ventures has reported consolidated net profit growth of 60.6 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 1.40 billion, driven by strong business from broking and financing segments.

Profit in previous quarter period stood at Rs 877 million, the company said.

Consolidated revenue during the quarter increased 38.2 percent sequentially to Rs 4.76 billion with 20 percent QoQ growth in broking business and 46 percent in financing segment.

EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) surged 45.4 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 309.2 crore and margin expanded by 320 basis points to 64.9 percent in Q2FY19.

However, at 14:51 hours IST, the stock price was locked in 5 percent lower circuit at Rs 374.90 despite strong earnings.