What to watch for today
Yahoo faces impatient investors. The embattled web giant reports its first quarter earnings, with analysts expecting a 12% drop in sales from the same period last year. But all the attention will be on the bids that suitors submitted yesterday for Yahoo’s core web business, which for all its troubles still boasts a billion monthly users.
Another round of Apple vs. the US government. Bruce Sewell, Apple’s general counsel, will testify before a House subcommittee alongside a top official from the FBI. The Feds are trying to force the company to give law enforcement access to iPhones and other encrypted devices to aid investigations.
New Yorkers go to the polls. With 291 delegates at stake for the Democrats (out of 4,763) and 95 for Republicans (out of 2,472), the New York primary is potentially game-changing (paywall) for the race to the nomination. Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump could scoop up all the delegates in his home state, while Democrat Hillary Clinton has the advantage over Bernie Sanders in New York City, where over two-thirds of Democratic votes will be cast.
While you were sleeping
Anheuser-Busch InBev accepted Asahi’s offer. The Japanese beer maker will pay $2.9 billion for AB InBev’s Peroni, Grolsch, and Meantime brands. The sale gives Asahi a foothold in the European beer market and removes a potential antitrust hurdle for AB InBev in its efforts to get regulatory approval to buy SAB Miller.
Australia’s prime minister called an early election. Malcolm Turnbull said he would request parliament to be dissolved after the budget on May 3, with elections called for July 2. The move came in response to the upper house blocking a piece of legislation twice, which in Australia allows the prime minister to call a “double-dissolution” election.
A far-right leader faced trial in Germany. The case against Lutz Bachmann, founder of the xenophobic party “Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of Europe”, or PEGIDA, began in Dresden. Bachman is charged of inciting hatred against immigrants after calling refugees “scum” and “cattle,” among other insults on his Facebook page.
China made a bid for Australia’s biggest farm. A company controlled by the Shanghai Pengxin Group is set to acquire 80% of Australia’s S. Kidman & Co. in a deal worth $289 million. If it wins regulatory approval, the deal would transfer ownership of land equal to 1% of all of Australia, an area larger than Ireland.
Pret a Manger got a veggie boost… The sandwich chain, owned by the Bridgepoint private equity group, reported a 14% jump in sales last year, buoyed by healthier menu options—avocados were the group’s fastest-growing ingredient, with customers eating five million during the year.
…and European blue chips also reported healthy results. In Switzerland, pharma giant Roche is confident it will hit its 2016 targets after first-quarter sales rose by 4%. In France, yogurt maker Danone posted a 3.5% rise in sales, buoyed by its baby-foods division. In the UK, the AB Foods conglomerate beat market expectations with a fall in sales but a boost in earnings, with its sugar business making up for a drop in activity at its Primark fashion chain.
Quartz obsession interlude
Hanna Kozlowska on the kids of incarcerated parents. “As the problem of over-incarcerating adults is gaining attention, the despair of their children remains. When it comes to national scale and severity of impact on a child’s life… the only period in US history comparable to our current era of mass incarceration is the Great Depression.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Adulthood has nothing to do with age. Denied a chance at financial independence, 20-somethings are trapped in extended adolescence.
Hollywood equates superpowers with whiteness. Two new films have erased compelling Asian characters.
Could social media prevent a Trump presidency? Facebook has the power to tilt an election.
Surprising discoveries
Piracy on the high seas is declining. As a result, maritime-security firms are going out of business.
Police broke up a vegan restaurant opening in Berlin. Cops were called after crowds of hundreds clogged the streets outside the trendy venue.
South Korean men are really into cosmetics. They account for 20% of the global male cosmetics market.
Bottled water is overtaking soda. After years of slurping liquid sugar, Americans are opting for overpriced H2O instead.
Pea milk has same amount of protein as cow’s milk. It also has more potassium and vitamin D, and is kinder to the environment.
Correction: In yesterday’s brief, we misstated the number of illegal immigrants that would be affected by a US Supreme Court ruling on a plan to shield them from deportation; the plan covers 4 million out of a total of 11 million estimated immigrants who have arrived in the US without documentation.
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