Author: Jimmy Aki

  • Converse Snaps up Wizards’ forward Kelly Oubre Jr.

    Converse Snaps up Wizards’ forward Kelly Oubre Jr.

    Converse is gearing up to make a fresh entry into the basketball market. In a world that is getting increasingly shaped by social media and the image which the brand projects to the public, the prominence that the sporting culture seems to be increasing by the day. Converse, who is on a new mission is looking to focus some of its creative energy on the basketball frontier.

    The company, which is a subsidiary of Nike Inc., have kicked off their efforts by signing young Washington Wizards forward Kelly Oubre Jr, per an ESPN report. The deal was made official with a video which announced Oubre Jr. as the new headliner for the apparel company. Oubre Jr. has been signed on a multi-year footwear endorsement deal which will see him feature in lifestyle campaigns, while also being consulted for his input and feedback on prospective footwear ideas and urban campaigns to promote the shoes.

    However, while Converse will keep him engaged for the off-court appeal, he will still be required to don Nike sneakers while when on the court for the duration of the contract’s validity.

    Oubre Jr. shared his excitement stating:

    “It’s a different vibration when it comes to someone who is trying to reinvent themselves in something that they started. It’s not necessarily someone trying to come in and disrupt the game, or someone trying to step onto the scene as newcomers again. [Converse] started this, and it’s cool to be a part of something with the exclusivity to work with this company, start a partnership and a foundation.”

    Oubre Jr. plays as a small forward for the Washington Wizards and was selected in the 2015 NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks. His rookie contract with Adidas expired recently, and while he has been courted by the likes of New Balance and Puma, he decided to go with Converse, due to the admiration he has for the lifestyle brand as well as the unusual nature of the deal.

  • David Arquette Suffers Bloody Neck on His Return to Wrestling

    David Arquette Suffers Bloody Neck on His Return to Wrestling

    47-year old actor David Arquette was left with a bloodied nose on Friday night as he completed his return to wrestling, TMZ reports. The event which was organized by Game Changer Wrestling at LA Confidential was aired at Fite TV on a pay-per-view basis.

    Arquette, who was the star of popular horror movies such as Scream and The Tripper, competed in a promotional wrestling Deathmatch, notorious for allowing makeshift weapons, in Los Angeles against the professional wrestler and ex-convict Nick FN Gage.

    Arquette, who wasn’t the first choice for the matchup, but was replacing an injured Joey Ryan, ran out of the ring at one point, after Gage had smashed light tubes over his head and sliced his neck with shards of glass.

    The ex-convict also put Arquette through a door that had a spear inserted on its corners, hitting the actor’s head. It wasn’t all Gage, though, as Arquette had his moments in the match, particularly when he smashed a cannonball on Gage, after taking a beating from the light tubes used to restrict his movement.

    Gage won the Deathmatch by pinning Arquette, a former World Wrestling Champion, who at that point, was more concerned with the bleeding than winning the match. Arquette, who had told Fox News, he was staging a comeback into professional wrestling in September had stated at the time:

    “I literally feel like I’m Rocky, I mean like I’m in the gym sweating like crazy going to the gym every day for hours, you know, getting it, so I don’t get winded so easily and putting on muscle losing a bunch of weight, so it’s all about training, it’s all about determination, it’s all about, you know, believing in yourself.”

    Visibly shaken, as the blood ran through his face, Arquette ran out of the ring the second Gage was declared the winner of the matchup. He later sent out a series of tweets explaining that he was getting the necessary treatments, adding:

    “Turns out Death Matches aren’t my thing.”

    Featured image from Fox News.

  • Billionaire Dan Gilbert Buys Dictionary.Com and Thesaurus.Com

    Billionaire Dan Gilbert Buys Dictionary.Com and Thesaurus.Com

    Rock Holdings, the company, owned by Detroit billionaire Dan Gilbert, announced that it had purchased both Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com from InterActiveCorp (IAC), a media firm based in New York. The terms of the deal are still unknown, at press time.

    Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com were launched in 1995, and they offer the public free access to a catalog of words, phrases, abbreviations, and much more. The site’s major income stream flows from online adverts.

    The press release from Rock Holdings Inc. took a jab at readers that might downplay the importance of a dictionary. It stated:

    “The annexations of Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com append a prodigious coterie of inestimable content proprietaries to Rock Holdings and its affiliated companies such as Rocket Mortgage, ForSaleByOwner.com, LowerMyBills, StockX, the Cleveland Cavaliers, Robb Report, and Genius, among others.”

    Rock Holdings is also the parent company of Quicken Loans, a mortgage giant, and other financial service firms owned by the 56-year-old Gilbert.

    Dan Gilbert Also Owns a Hotel and Casino

    Gilbert, who has a personal net worth of $6.6 billion, also announced on Wednesday that he was selling the Greektown Hotel and Casino in Detroit for $1 billion.

    The Detroit-based billionaire, who also has holdings in Cleveland (most notably his ownership of the Cleveland Cavaliers) and Cincinnati, bought the casino five years ago through his company JACK Entertainment.

    The hotel is being acquired by casino company Penn National Gaming and VICI Properties, a New York-based company that serves as an offshoot of Caesars Entertainment. Penn will provide payments of $300 million for the hotel and casino while VICI has made a $700 million commitment to purchase the land.

    In addition to all of this, VICI also agreed to lease the property to Penn for a 15-year period, with an annual rent of $55.6 million being remitted.

    Speculations have been rife regarding what he plans to do with his proceeds, with reports claiming that he might make a move for The Detroit Tigers, a Major League Baseball franchise.

    The Tigers are valued at $1.2 billion and are owned by the Litch family. Although they came out in September to say that they weren’t looking to sell the club, it wouldn’t be so much of a surprise if Gilbert snatched them up, knowing his penchant for making deals.

    The purchase of Greektown is the latest in a series of purchases made by Penn National, which also recently made a $2.8 billion acquisition of Pinnacle Entertainment. In total, Penn now has a stake in 41 gaming ventures across 19 states.

    Featured image by Wikipedia.

  • The University of Southern California Starts Esports Union Gaming Program

    The University of Southern California Starts Esports Union Gaming Program

    The University of Southern California (USC) has announced the launch of the USC Esports Union (ESU), its official collegiate Esports program, during the USC Conquest Event, Variety reports.

    The Conquest Event is held yearly as a means of celebrating the cross-town rivalry between the USC and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The event is slated to take place right before the football game between the UCLA Bruins and the USC Trojans on Saturday, November 16, 2018.

    Danny Bilson and Elizabeth Daley, the Dean of USC Cinematic Arts and Chair of the Interactive Media & Games Division at the USC commented on the launch of the ESU.

    According to both lecturers, the ESU will be focused on individual video games with a large following for a start. The end goal is to make gaming a part of the student’s consciousness. Publishers will sponsor teams and clubs to be developed at the ESU; the university will also organize events and provide the resources and staff to bring these events to life.

    The USC Esports Union Isn’t Only About Games

    The initiative won’t just be about actual game playing. It will also come with a special curriculum that includes design courses, as well as marketing, promotion, management, and other integral aspects of the general business of Esports.

    The school will organize and send students out to conferences, where meaningful discussions around the promotion of diversity within the gaming industry will be discussed.

    The ESU has chosen “League of Legends” as its inaugural title, due to the involvement of Riot Games founder and USC alumni Marc Merrill and Brandon Beck.

    To participate, USC gamers will be expected to practice playing “League of Legends” four times a week, with each session lasting no less than three hours.

    The USC Games is a design program for gaming offered by the University of Southern California, and Princeton Review rates it as one of the top gaming programs in the country.

    Featured image from LA Times.

  • Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Becomes Latest Crypto Billionaire

    Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Becomes Latest Crypto Billionaire

    The cryptocurrency market, it seems, is still a lucrative one for some–even despite the almost year-long bear market and the recent crash that reduced the crypto market cap to below $200 billion for the first time.

    Owners and CEOs of some cryptocurrency businesses (most notably, exchanges) have still made a profit despite the harsh conditions. And the latest of these visionaries to be smiling is Brian Armstrong.

    The 35-year-old graduate of Rice University currently serves as co-founder and CEO of Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States.

    With the company recently securing a $300 million funding round (which was led by Tiger Global Management), its value has hit an all-time high of $8 billion. This means that Armstrong has joined some of his compatriots in the “two comma club,” with his net worth skyrocketing to $1.3 billion, up from the estimated value between $900 million and $1 billion earlier this year.

    Who Is Brian Armstrong?

    Born and raised in San Jose, California, Armstrong always lived a comfortable, yet relatively confined life. Both his parents were successful engineers, and they provided him with all he needed while growing up as well as an environment that enhanced his intellect.

    However, while he saw the Internet as a tool that could bring about change to society, he always had a feeling that he was too late to play an essential role in the Internet revolution.

    When he came across the Bitcoin whitepaper written by Satoshi Nakamoto, Armstrong became increasingly drawn to the idea of a digital currency that was decentralized and beyond the reach of governments and central banking institutions.

    He believed in the possibility of a financial system that would eliminate the politics that had undermined the strength, effectiveness, and reliability of the traditional currency and economic systems.

    Armstrong eventually left his job at Airbnb to begin working at Coinbase, designing it as a means of allowing people to purchase cryptocurrencies with bank transfers and cards.

    While the dip in crypto prices this week will definitely not wipe out Armstrong’s holdings, he will likely feel it a bit.

    Featured image from Fortune.

  • Binny Bansal Resigns as Flipkart’s CEO After Misconduct Investigation

    Binny Bansal Resigns as Flipkart’s CEO After Misconduct Investigation

    Walmart Inc., one of the largest companies in the world by market revenue, has had its hopes for further control over the Indian online retail market dealt a massive blow following the resignation of Binny Bansal, the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Flipkart Group.

    According to a joint statement by Flipkart and Walmart, Bansal was forced to resign on Tuesday after an independent investigation was carried out on behalf of both companies into concerns regarding:

    “serious personal misconduct.”

    The statement went on to say that while there was no evidence found to corroborate the allegations that had been leveled against Bansal, it showed other lapses in judgment, especially related to how he handled the entire station.

    The news comes as a major blow to Walmart, who will be losing a key management staff of the recently acquired e-commerce giant. Walmart purchased a 77% stake in Flipkart back in May for $16 billion with the aim of owning a large stake in the Indian e-commerce market, which has seen steady growth in the past few years.

    The deal seemed to be lucrative for Walmart especially, as Flipkart had been able to account for about 40% of the online retail market in India when the deal was signed.

    However, six months on from the deal, there is trouble in paradise. In October, Walmart announced to its shareholders that the deal to acquire Flipkart was going to constitute a $740 million deduction from their quarterly profit. The sudden departure of Bansal is another problem Walmart didn’t expect when it acquired the Indian e-commerce giant.

    Nevertheless, Walmart’s commitment to Flipkart’s growth seems to be unwavering. The statement confirmed that in the wake of Bansal’s resignation, that Kalyan Krishnamurthy would continue to serve as the CEO of Flipkart. It also affirms that the leadership of Flipkart is looking to evolve into a public-traded company in the future.

    Back in the US, Walmart continues to innovate and lead the industry with new processes and systems that promote productivity in its stores. The retail giant recently introduced a new scheduling system, which they say will provide a greater degree of flexibility and consistency to their associates. The scheduling system is set to launch in all Walmart stores at the end of November.

    Featured image from Zee News India.

  • Esports Team Order Wants to Raise $1 Million Through Crowdfunding

    Esports Team Order Wants to Raise $1 Million Through Crowdfunding

    In a bid to become the first fan-owned team, Australian based esports team Order has floated an equity crowdfunding campaign to members of the public, according to the Australian Financial Review (AFR).

    The team had been planning the campaign, which was approved by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, for the first quarter of 2019.

    Order is offering 577,407 shares at an issue price of $1.74 per share for its seed fund investment, and it hopes to raise $100,000 minimum to a $1,000,000 maximum. At press time, it had been 246% oversubscribed leading to a total of $246,925.14 invested so far.

    Jake Tiberi, who is a founder of Order, was quoted in the report:

    “A lot of the messages that [Gerard] had around improving players, ensuring we’re investing in their future, trying to create longevity and jobs for them was the kind of professionalism the industry needed.”

    Order is owned by Gerard Murphy, the Leading Teams co-founder, and Jake ‘Spawn’ Tiberi, the team’s General Manager and co-founder. Last year, the team joined the League of Legends Oceanic Pro League.

    Sitting on Order’s board, is former Hitwise boss, Adrian Giles, as the chairman of Order and he credits the:

    “timing of the legalization of crowdfunding”

    as being key to their choice of this capital fundraising medium.

    Giles was referring to the equity crowdfunding legislation that was passed by the Australian legislative upper house in September, which opened up the funding method to a larger pool of startups.

    “The regulations that were put in around crowdfunding removed some of the requirements that normal public companies had around reporting and governance and so on to the nature of earlier stage organizations that were crowdfunded.”

    The seed funding raised from the campaign will be used to develop the team, and while the medium used by Order is entirely new in the industry, Giles sees it as being effective. He went further to argue that the success of the industry in the long-term will come down to how quickly it can attract sponsors. He noted:

    “Most esports organizations see around 70 percent of their revenue from sponsorship, and we’re predicting that it would sit at a similar number in the future. Endemic brands don’t require as much education, but there are non-endemic brands that we want to be associated with too… So one of the challenges is to continue that education process and hope that our brand and our place within the esports industry resonates.”

    Featured image from SportTechie.

  • US Army Says Games like Fortnite Will Change How They Recruit

    US Army Says Games like Fortnite Will Change How They Recruit

    15 years after launching first-person shooter game “American Army” used to enlist recruits, the US Army has taken its strategy up a notch by asking its active troops to participate in Esports as it seeks to revamp its recruitment strategy. As reported by Stars and Stripes, the US Army is making use of gaming competitions as a means to engage recruits.

    They have found this strategy to be more effective than having to speak with potential recruits over the phone—a method proven to be less attractive to potential recruits over the years.

    Stars and Stripes quoted Army Recruiting Command spokeswoman Kelli Bland, who stated:

    “They will be in a support role to help young people see soldiers in a different light and understand the many different roles people can have in the Army (and) help the Army address the growing disconnect with society.”

    The report states that gaming competitions for the likes of “Fortnite” and “Madden NFL,” which have massive followings, are some of the competitions which the Army has participated in to reach their target audience.

    There are also plans to create a “functional fitness” team that will serve as a viable alternative to the classic “Army Strong” program and also compete in a wide array of CrossFit athletic events.

    They are also reportedly looking to hold tryouts across various esports gaming platforms. The members of those teams will be able to travel to multiple esports events nationwide. They will also have a first-hand view of high-end Army apps and training simulation software.

    This new resolution came after the Army fell short of its recruitment goal for the first time in 13 years, according to the New York Post.

    The shortage was reportedly as much as 6,500 soldiers, and this is despite the extra bonuses, totaling up to $200 million as well as waivers for “bad conduct” and health issues.

    Featured image from ithothit.blogspot.com.

  • Chinese City Xi’an Is Set to Build an Esports Cluster

    Chinese City Xi’an Is Set to Build an Esports Cluster

    Megacity and capital of Shaanxi Province Xi’an has announced plans to build an Esports cluster dedicated to developing the industry, per reports in a local news outlet. The framework was signed between the Dalian Morningstar Network Technology and the Xi’an Economic and Technological Development Zone.

    Based on the report, the new location will be used to facilitate esports training for games, as well as a major source for investments into the industry. The local Xi’an development commission will supply the workforce and the real estate needed to build the esports cluster.

    It will be contracting Shaanxi Hanyun Real Estate as the general contractor to build it, while mobile hardware gaming company Morningstar Network Technology through its subsidiary Halcyon Network, will run the project and the installation of gaming hardware in the facility.

    While the news outlet didn’t offer specifics, we can expect a much bigger space, more substantial than the new arena built in Denver, featuring hundreds of custom-made gaming hardware connected to super-fast internet fiber connections.

    Xi’an as an Esports Center

    Known for its rich heritage, Xi’an has quickened its pace in the esports industry. In September, it signed an MOU with the World Cyber Games (WCG) to hold the WCG 2019 finals in the city of Xi’an.

    China is seen as one of the largest markets for the global esports industry. According to recent data from Newzoo, China currently has 619.5 million players, who are expected to spend $37.9 billion in 2018 alone.

    The WCG finals have been held previously in China in 2009, 2012, and 2013. This is the first time they will be held in Xi’an.

    At the WCG finals announcement, an official of the Xi’an municipal government stated:

    “I am very pleased to announce that Xi’an will partner with WCG to host one of the most successful global esports festivals next year. Xi’an will spare no effort for the success of WCG 2019 finals.”

    The popularity of Esports has continued to grow globally. Last year, ESPN signed a multi-year deal to broadcast the Overwatch Esports League on its network of channels including ABC and Disney XD. League of Legends championships were also viewed by a global audience of over 60 million people, way more than the 2017 NBA Finals.

    Featured image from Shutterstock.

  • LG’s New Boss Koo Kwang-mo Owes 50% in Inheritance Tax on $1.5 Billion

    LG’s New Boss Koo Kwang-mo Owes 50% in Inheritance Tax on $1.5 Billion

    Koo Kwang-mo is LG Group’s new Chairman, after inheriting an 8.8% stake in the company, following the death of his adopted father and former Chairman Koo Boon-moo in May 2018.

    Inheriting so much wealth would have made him a billionaire, except for one little snag—taxes. A whopping 50% is due to the authorities as the death tax, which the family plans to pay in full over a period of five years.

    LG Corp. is South Korea’s largest conglomerate with investments in the electronics, car battery, and phone display business. The company is one of South Korea’s most powerful family-run multinationals.

    Death taxes in South Korea vary but they can be as high as 50% when inheritance exceeds $2.7 million. There is an additional 20% in situations where the shares passed down are owned by the firm’s largest shareholder.

    At the current rate, Koo Kwang-mo could be looking at a tax bill of more than $630 million alone for his new status. But he’s not alone–his sisters also got a 2.5% stake in the LG Group which could see the Kwang-mo family cough up over $790 million (or more than 900 billion won).

    Koo Kwang-mo Has Payment Options Available

    While it remains unclear how Koo will afford the payment, a spokesman for the company told Bloomberg that the Korean tax authorities would decide the final figure to be remitted as taxes.

    Financing medium expected to be used by the Chairman of LG Corp. includes loan financing using his stake in the business as collateral, raising dividends, and selling some of the group’s principal subsidiaries.

    Evading tax laws by the elites is common in South Korea, which makes the Kwang-mo family’s acceptance to pay the tax bill in full a rarity. LG’s hefty tax bill is the latest in what could be a rain of inheritance bills to be paid by South Korea’s conglomerates planning succession for their heirs.

    Samsung Electronics Co. Chairman Lee Kun-hee, whose holdings at the company are worth around $16 billion would probably not be thrilled to see a massive chunk of that money going to the tax man when he passes his holdings to his son. But, according to local law, that’s precisely what could happen.

    Featured image from Nikkei Asian Review.