Tax on Stock Buybacks

Posted by & filed under Financial Reporting and Analysis, Student life.

Description: The federal government is set to introduce a 2% tax on stock buybacks. The government hopes this move will encourage companies to reinvest their profits in order to grow and benefit the Canadian economy, rather than buying back shares with excess cash. Kim Forrest of Bokeh Capital Partners does not believe the 2% penalty… Read more »

Facebook Falling

Posted by & filed under eCommerce, Financial Reporting and Analysis, Marketing & Strategy.

Description: The stock price of Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has been tanking. On Thursday, the markets wiped out 20 percent of the big tech giant’s market valuation, following two quarter’s of revenue declines. Investors see former Facebook advertisers heading off to TikTok as one of Meta’s problems. Others see the billions of spending on the… Read more »

Netflix Light?

Posted by & filed under Financial Reporting and Analysis.

Description: Perhaps it will appeal to some customers in these inflationary times; Netflix is offering Canadians a reduced monthly rate of $5.99. The catch is you have to be willing to put up with about five minutes of ads each hour in exchange for your rate reduction. The move seems to fly in the face… Read more »

Loading up on Debt

Posted by & filed under Financial Reporting and Analysis, Student life.

Description: Canadians are taking on more debt with Statistics Canada telling us that debt per household in Canada is now 181.7 per cent of income. This figure is up from just under 180 per cent in the previous quarter. According to Ksenia Bushmeneva, an economist with TD Bank, “the selloff in financial markets earlier this… Read more »

Streaming Changes

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers, Financial Reporting and Analysis.

Description: With word this week that Netflix reported its first drop in subscribers since 2011, and with streaming service CNN+ shutting down only one month after launch, https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/cnn-streaming-1.6426163, it’s no wonder some are speculating about challenges ahead for streaming services. Rising inflationary pressures may be part of the reason for Netflix’s declines, as the video… Read more »

Paying Big Dividends

Posted by & filed under Financial Reporting and Analysis.

Description: Two big Canadian banks, TD and CIBC, have upped their dividends by 10% after announcing their latest quarterly results. The banking sector has done quite well during the pandemic, and the market had anticipated some range of dividend increase. Until recently, the regulator had been restricting dividend payments by the banks during Covid-19 in… Read more »

Optimistic Entreprenuers

Posted by & filed under Financial Reporting and Analysis, Student life.

Description: Optimism and entrepreneur seem like two words that should be linked. But with the Covid-19 pandemic still entrenched in Canada and around the world, some might be surprised to see entrepreneurs optimistically plowing forward with major capital projects in the tourism sector. In Cape Smokey, Cape Breton Island, the ski hill is set to… Read more »

Chicken Fight

Posted by & filed under Financial Reporting and Analysis.

Description: The Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled Subway can proceed with its $210 million legal action against the CBC. In a broadcast aired in 2017, CBC’s “Marketplace” stated that genetic tests performed at Trent University concluded that close to 50% of the DNA in Subway’s chicken sandwiches was actually soy DNA. Subway has countered… Read more »

Google Absorbs Fitbit

Posted by & filed under Financial Reporting and Analysis.

Description: Fitbit is now part of the Alphabet/Google empire. This deal first hit the news in the autumn of 2019, but it had to clear a long probe into how Fitbit users’ data might be used to groom custom advertising. This acquisition certainly gives Google a big presence in wearable devices, and a Google executive… Read more »