Daily Archives: February 14, 2020

The Barbie brand, at 61 years old, is still evolving to attract new customers.

Lisa McKnight, global head of Barbie and dolls portfolio at Mattel (MAT), says her team has spent the last five years trying to make her a better reflection of the world that girls see around them.

The classic blonde Barbie, who was known for her disproportionate body, has grown and reinvented herself into many new versions. Just last month, Mattel introduced an inclusive line ranging from a Barbie without hair to one who has the skin condition vitiligo.

We know that if girls can see themselves in the line, they will find Barbie more relatable and accessible, McKnight told Yahoo Finance at the MAKERS Conference in Los Angeles this week.

28 January 2020, Bavaria, Nuremberg: Barbie dolls from the Fashionistas line of the U.S. toy manufacturer Mattel are on display at the company's stand at the International Toy Fair. (Photo by Daniel Karmann/picture alliance via Getty Images)

This kind of re-invention has helped Barbie, a toy launched in 1959, stay relevant in 2020, according to McKnight. We are so honored to have the privilege to work on a brand that has spanned multiple generations ... This is an industry that is volatile, where the average life cycle for a toy is three to five years, she said.

So for Barbie to stand the test of time, its all about reinvention, evolution and really ensuring shes connecting to culture. So when we look to the future, well be going where culture goes. And well be making sure that Barbie is in lock step with that.

Still, Margot Robbie, who resembles the classic doll, is set to play the live-action version of Barbie in the forthcoming film written by Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach. When asked whether shes a good representation for this diverse new world of Barbie, McKnight said, We are thrilled to be working with Margot, although its still early days. The script is still in early stages of development and all I can share is there will definitely be a multidimensional view of beauty in the film and the brand will be conveyed as multifaceted, modern and not what you might not expect.

Mattel is set to report fourth quarter results after the bell on Thursday. This comes as the toymaker closes factories in an attempt to streamline its supply chain. Earlier this week, Hasbro (HAS) reported a blowout holiday quarter, driven by its Frozen 2 and Star Wars toy sales, part of its licensing agreement with Disney.Like other toy manufacturers, Mattel will likely remain concerned over whether the coronavirus in China affects its supply chain.

Melody Hahm is Yahoo Finances west coast correspondent, covering entrepreneurship, technology and culture. Follow her on Twitter@melodyhahm.

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How Barbie has survived for over 60 years in a 'volatile' toy industry - Yahoo Finance

Lululemon (LULU) has become a leader in promoting a healthy workplace culture.

Celeste Burgoyne, the companys EVP of Americas and Global Guest Innovation, made a pledge to promote and support mental wellness on Wednesday at the MAKERS Conference in Los Angeles.

MAKERS an organization that promotes and accelerates womens equality encourages board members to get on stage at its annual conference and commit to a specific goal to support accountability. Burgoyne, who is on the board, reflected on her pledges over the last three years.

We achieved 100% pay equity in 2018, a leading parenthood program offering up to six months paid leave [for both mothers and fathers] in 2019, and our senior leadership team is comprised of 60% women as of today. The next major step in our journey is leading the way in mental wellbeing because we know in order to be 100% authentically you, you need to be well. In 2020, we commit to offering our people leading mental health benefits, and providing training to all people managers so that they are equipped to support mental health conversations, she said.

Amid a relatively tight labor market, these offerings are critical in attracting high caliber talent.

This mental health pledge is really in our journey in... being the number one place that people come to work and develop as leaders, she added.

Sign on facade at Lululemon athleisure clothing store on Santana Row in the Silicon Valley, San Jose, California, December 14, 2019. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

Founded in 1998 as a womens yoga pants retailer, Lululemon has morphed into a dual gender brand, catering to both male and female consumers. Still, of the companys 20,000 global employees, 78% are women. And over 320 people, 200 of whom are store employees, have so far taken advantage of a gender neutral policy that gives up to three months of paid parental leave to employees who have been with the company for at least two years.

Lululemons internal focus on being gender neutral, providing both men and women equal opportunity and access to parental leave benefits, mirrors that of its business.

One of our big goals is growing our mens business. We do see doubling our mens business in the next four years, and were really doing that by continuing to connect with communities and connect people. Mens is a huge opportunity for us, Burgoyne said.

In the third quarter, revenue from mens apparel grew 38%. In 2018, the companytold investorsthat 21% of Lululemons $3.3 billion in sales last year came from mens products.

Disclaimer: MAKERS and Yahoo Finance are both part of Verizon Media.

Melody Hahm is Yahoo Finances west coast correspondent, covering entrepreneurship, technology and culture. Follow her on Twitter@melodyhahm.

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Lululemon exec: Mental health is the 'next major step in our journey' - Yahoo Finance

The Detroit Lions arent engaged in trade talks to deal quarterback Matthew Stafford because doing so right now would be financially crippling and a reversal of a contract restructuring done just months ago.

Late last season, the Lions and Stafford converted a $6 million roster bonus into a signing bonus. It was a salary-cap sleight of hand that means Staffords cap hit this season is $21.3 million if he plays in Detroit and $32 million if he is traded or cut.

What front office, let alone a front office with a win-now mandate to keep its job, is going to deal a good starting QB and handcuff itself financially just months after creating the handcuffs?

None. Not even at a franchise that has won just a single playoff game since 1957.

That didnt stop WDIV-TV in Detroit on Wednesday from reporting Stafford was on the trading block, citing sources close to both the Lions and Stafford.

Nor did it stop Staffords wife, Kelly, from going on Instagram and noting above a story that suggested the Los Angeles Chargers could be a possible destination that, Well, if Detroit is done with us I could stay in Cali.

100% False!! Lions general manager Bob Quinn responded via text message to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.

And so it appears that this was much ado about nothing. The Lions denial might not mean much, but $32 million in dead money does.

None of this necessarily means Stafford shouldnt be dealt its just he shouldnt be dealt this offseason.

If the Lions wanted to set a bold path forward, they would follow the lead of the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and draft their quarterback of the future now while still retaining their starting quarterback of the present.

Matthew Stafford isn't going anywhere, but the Lions need to develop his successor. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

In K.C., that meant trading up in the 2017 NFL draft to take Patrick Mahomes 10th overall and then having him sit and learn from established starter Alex Smith for a season. (Mahomes played in just one game, a Week 17 win when the Chiefs had already clinched a playoff spot).

Even though the Chiefs were in the middle of a prolonged run as a playoff team and title contender (they had won 23 games combined in 2015-16 behind Smith), the franchise was forward thinking.

The most valuable thing in the NFL is not a great quarterback, but a great quarterback on a rookie salary that allows a team to surround said quarterback with lots of talent.

You always have to think a few years ahead, Chiefs coach Andy Reid said.

The Lions went 3-12-1 last season and have the No. 3 pick in the NFL draft. Stafford, 32, has been their quarterback for 11 mostly fruitless seasons. Hes good. Hes isnt necessarily the problem in Detroit. Hes more likely a solution. Hes expensive though.

Mahomes cap hit in Kansas City in 2020 is just $5.2 million, a fraction of Staffords in Detroit.

If a team has a top-five pick in the NFL draft, then it should spend the entire scouting process figuring out what quarterback it should select. Its by far the most important position on the field. Any top-five selection not used on a quarterback should be defended with some kind of iron-clad reason (all the QBs stink; the team already has a franchise QB on a cheap deal).

Otherwise, trade the pick to a team that wants a quarterback.

Running backs and cornerbacks maybe even edge rushers such as Chase Young out of Ohio State arent generally worth it. At least not if a QB is available.

Which brings everything to Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who has received positive medical feedback three months after a massive hip injury ended his college career. The hip placed a question mark on a guy with the talent to be the No. 1 pick overall.

Its possible that a team trades up with Washington at No. 2 overall to get Tagovailoa (LSU QB Joe Burrow is the presumed No. 1 overall selection to Cincinnati). If not, and Tagovailoa falls to No. 3, then the Lions should go the Chiefs route.

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Take Tua and sit him behind Stafford, who was on pace for about 5,000 yards and 38 touchdowns before injuries halved his season.

One year of full rehab can only help the hip. The chance to sit and learn worked not just for Mahomes, but other guys who werent immediate starters such as Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady.

If Detroit likes what it sees, then one year from now trade Stafford. If Stafford plays like he normally does, then hes worth a haul in draft picks at least a first- and second-rounder and probably more than that. His dead cap number lessens and within another season, Detroit will have all sorts of flexibility and draft picks to build around Tagovailoa.

Stafford, a good soldier in Detroit, might actually get the chance to win in his career. He has been fiercely loyal to the Lions, but a change of scenery isnt the worst thing either.

No, its not a full-proof plan. Tagovailoa may not pan out. Or he may never be healthy. This is a team that has done almost nothing for over six decades though. Its clearly embarked on far worse ideas.

Kansas City had a playoff team and it traded draft picks to go get Mahomes. That looked like a gamble. Detroit has the No. 3 pick and is just a listless, drifting ship. What isnt a gamble at this point?

So sorry to Kelly Stafford. No California sun for you. At least not this winter. Check back a year from now though.

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How to fix the Lions: Keep Matthew Stafford and draft Tua Tagovailoa - Yahoo Sports

(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc.s stock surge is taking a toll on another hedge fund manager as Tom Clauguss GMT Capital suffered losses last month after betting against the electric-car maker.

GMTs three Bay Resource long-short equity funds, which have roughly $3.3 billion in combined assets, each plunged about 10% in January, Claugus confirmed. Teslas heavily shorted stock soared 55% in the month, helped by the companys second straight quarter of blowout earnings.

Tesla has done a really good job getting to sustainability, Claugus said in a telephone interview. Still, he said, the valuation is detached from reality.

Claugus joins investors including hedge fund managers David Einhorn and Crispin Odey who have held bearish wagers on Tesla as the stock reached records before retreating from the Feb. 4 peak. Some traders have covered their short positions against Elon Musks company, such as famed Big Short investor Steve Eisman, who called the stock cult-like.

The shares gained 83% this year through Wednesday. The stock is up 0.8% at 10:36 a.m. in New York after falling as much as 4.2% earlier Thursday.

Even brief pullbacks in the stock barely slowed Tesla down. The company had a market capitalization of $138 billion at the close of trading Wednesday. It has turned a profit in four of the last six quarters, and Musk accelerated the expected introduction of the new Model Y crossover vehicle, which he predicts will outsell all other Teslas combined.

For Einhorn, whose Greenlight Capital fell 7.6% across its funds in January, the bet against Tesla is mostly expressed through put options, so his firms exposure to the position has shrunk as the stock rallied, Bloomberg has reported.

Odeys flagship Odey European Inc. fund dropped 11.2% in January, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. A short bet on Tesla was its fourth-largest position, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the information isnt public. A spokesman for Odey declined to comment.

GMT has been short Tesla for a number of years. The position currently amounts to about 4.4% of its portfolio, said Claugus, who started the Atlanta-based firm in 1993. The funds were up 10% to 12% last year, depending on the fund.

Claugus said Tesla was just one factor in last months loss. Long bets on stocks with conservative valuations, largely in the oil and gas and materials sectors, also hurt.

The coronavirus is hitting anything thats cyclical and economically sensitive, so its sort of a worst of all worlds for us, Claugus said. When markets get this overheated I think its a very risky period. The run-up has lasted for a long time and is turning into a little big of a speculative bubble.

Hedge funds overall have had a tough start to the year, with the average manager falling about 0.2% in January, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Global equity markets fell and bonds rallied last month amid concerns that the spread of the coronavirus will hurt growth.

--With assistance from Nishant Kumar.

To contact the reporter on this story: Melissa Karsh in New York at mkarsh@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sam Mamudi at smamudi@bloomberg.net, Josh Friedman, Alan Mirabella

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

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Tesla Bruises Another Hedge Fund With Bearish GMT Facing Losses - Yahoo Finance

WASHINGTON Fresh from handing President Trump a victory in his impeachment trial, the U.S. Senate has moved to install federal judges who have expressed disdain for the Voting Rights Act, the landmark 1965 law that struck down rules across the South that kept African-Americans from the ballot box.

Overturning voting-rights protections tends to benefit Republicans, who have said states, not the federal government, should decide the particulars of how elections are conducted. Some scholars even believe that weakening the Voting Rights Act ahead of the 2016 election helped Trump win the presidency.

The first of those nominees, Andrew L. Brasher, 38, was formerly the solicitor general of Alabama, a position that allowed him to stake out conservative stances on issues from gun control to reproductive rights. He was confirmed to an Alabama district court last year and, in a rapid elevation, was nominated only months later for a seat on the 11th Circuit court of appeals, which is based in Atlanta. Despite intense opposition by progressive groups, Brasher was confirmed by the full Senate on Feb. 11 in a 52-43 vote.

He is the 188th judge confirmed during Trumps time in the White House.

The other nominee is Cory Wilson, 49, a former Mississippi politician who is now a state appellate judge there. He is currently being considered for a Mississippi federal district judgeship and is expected to face a full Senate vote sometime in March.

The nominations were an opening salvo to 2020, and not a welcome one at that, said Lena Zwarensteyn, an expert on the judiciary at the progressive Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. She worried that these two jurists, and others, were advancing really extreme arguments when it comes to voting rights.

Conservatives argue that it is unfair to characterize judges like Brasher for work they did on behalf of constituents they were required to defend in court. When lawyers take litigating positions on behalf of their clients, theyre doing their jobs, says Mike Davis, whose Article 3 Project advocates for a conservative judiciary.

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Democrats, he warned, need to remember that Eric Holder provided free legal services to suspected terrorists. The reference is to pro bono work by Holders firm, Covington and Burling, on behalf of suspected jihadists detained at Guantnamo Bay detention facility in Cuba. Holder served as U.S. attorney general for former President Barack Obama.

Brashers confirmation means that half of the judges on the 11th Circuit are now Trump nominees. None of those judges is African-American, though there are nearly 8 million African-Americans living in the three states it covers.

Wilson, meanwhile, would be seated in the Southern District of Mississippi, which is part of the Fifth Circuit along with Texas and Louisiana. Of the five Trump appointees to the Fifth Circuit, four have been white men.

Trump has remade federal courts all across the country, but those changes could be especially consequential in the Deep South, where judges helped keep segregation in place, but then later struck segregation down during the civil rights era. Many decades since then, courts have continued to struggle with race, in particular regarding the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which gave the federal government great powers to supervise elections in Southern states that had previously kept African-Americans from voting.

Fairness of elections was also at the heart of Democrats argument about the just-concluded impeachment inquiry. Trump was accused of pressuring the Ukrainian government to open investigations that would benefit him domestically, but he was acquitted by a Republican-controlled Senate.

Senate Republicans are trying to rig the election at every turn, Nan Aron of progressive organization Alliance for Justice told Yahoo News.

After giving Trump a pass on withholding foreign aid in exchange for interference in the election, they immediately returned to confirming nominees with terrible records, including on voting rights, she added.

As far as the presidents critics are concerned, appointing judges who will roll back voting-rights protections also has long-term effects on elections. Even if the new judges dont help Trump in the near-term, their lifetime tenure on the federal bench could ensure Republican majorities for a generation to come. Bob Moser, author of a book on Southern politics called Blue Dixie, notes that voter suppression efforts have been moving forward in Florida, Tennessee and Texas.

A former solicitor general of Alabama, Brasher has a long history of resisting federal oversight of state election laws. In 2012, he filed a petition in favor of an Arizona law that would require identification at the polls. Voter ID laws, as they are known, tend to decrease participation by poor people and minorities because they are sometimes unable to meet the kind of stringent documentary requirements such laws demand. The brief was signed by some of the most conservative attorneys general in the nation, including Greg Abbott of Texas and Scott Pruitt of Oklahoma.

In 2013, he filed a brief in Shelby County v. Holder, a case in which an Alabama county tried to get out from under the supervision foisted on it by the Voting Rights Act. The Alabama of 2013 is not the Alabama of 1965 or of 1970, 1975, or 1982, Brasher wrote in his brief. He argued that Congress violated the constitution by continuing to treat the state as if it somehow persisted in restricting African-American participation in the democratic process.

Later that year, the Supreme Court decided Shelby County in favor of Alabama, handing conservatives a long-sought victory.

In 2014, he argued Alabamas case against African-American legislators who charged that Republicans created electoral districts that concentrated black voters, depriving Democrats of broad statewide support, a practice known as gerrymandering.

Brasher denied that any gerrymandering took place. A district judge disagreed, writing that the evidence here is overwhelming that the State has intentionally singled out individuals based on race. In 2015, the U.S. Supreme court agreed, rejecting Brashers claim.

Progressives mounted a ferocious opposition to Bashers nomination. For Republicans determined to snuff out voting rights in the courts, Brasher is an ace in the hole, wrote former Florida gubernatorial nominee and voting rights advocate Andrew Gillum in a Tampa Bay Times op-ed.

Wilson, the Mississippi district court nominee, is also in favor of voter identification laws. In a 2013 article for the Press-Register of Mobile, Ala., he complained about the recent mayor election in nearby Hattiesburg, Miss., which a Democrat had won. Wilson, a Republican, complained of voter impersonation and disenfranchised felons voting, a claim frequently repeated by conservative media outlets covering elections.

In his article, Wilson argued that federal oversight was not necessary, while more stringent voting regulations were. They might spend less time chasing agendas that aren't there, he wrote of federal monitors, and more time investigating the voter fraud and other irregularities.

Writing in another op-ed, Wilson argued that Voter ID is a part of ensuring cleaner elections. Studies have found that to not be the case. Wilson blamed both politicians and the media: The Rachel Maddows of the media world have joined the chorus of voter suppression right on cue from Team Obama, he wrote.

Brashers confirmation was not a surprise, and Wilsons record of inflammatory writing may not make a difference. The current chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, has previously supported extension of Voting Rights Act provisions. But he is now one of President Trumps closest allies on Capitol Hill and has made confirming Trumps judicial nominees a priority.

The full Senate has sometimes proved more problematic for Trump nominees. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only African-American member of the Republican conference, has more or less single-handedly stopped the confirmations of two Trump nominees: Thomas Farr of North Carolina, who had been accused of voter-suppression efforts, and Ryan Bounds, who had published inflammatory articles on race.

But as the vote on Brasher neared, it became clear that Scott was not going to stand in the way. Scotts spokesman, Sean Smith, noted in response to a Yahoo News query that Scott had voted in favor of Brashers confirmation to the district court last year. I have not heard anything to indicate his position has changed, Smith said.

Judicial nominees could potentially encounter resistance from moderate Republicans Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska for reasons unrelated to voting rights. Collins and Murkowski have both expressed disfavor for judges who want to strike down Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

Wilson has called Roe the result of a liberal activist court and, as a state legislator, has endorsed a number of measures that would make it more difficult for a woman to terminate a pregnancy. As the solicitor general of Alabama, Brasher routinely defended similar measures.

Neither the office of Collins nor Murkowski responded to a request for comment ahead of the Brasher vote. Both senators voted to install him on the 11th Circuit.

Trump has appointed several judges with records on voting rights similar to those of Brasher and Wilson. Some of those judges have begun to agitate for the kind of lessened federal oversight conservatives have long yearned for.

Earlier this month, as the impeachment trial was coming to an end, a Trump-appointed judge said, in a dissenting opinion, that the Voting Rights Act infringed on states rights. That judge, Lisa Branch, sits on the 11th Circuit. She will soon have an ideological ally in Brasher.

In another dissent on voting rights, Fifth Circuit Trump judge Don Willett argued that states had the right to oversee their own elections, something conservatives want and progressives fear. Willett opened his dissent by invoking Abraham Lincoln, author of the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed African-Americans from slavery.

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Here are the companies the Yahoo Finance team is watching for you today.

Shopify (SHOP) is climbing this morning after posting a big beat on earnings and revenue last quarter. Shopify provides those back-of-the-house services like payment processing and marketing tools for small businesses. It saw revenue soar 47% last quarter and it boosted guidance for the rest of the year. Shopify is up more than 60% in the last 3 months.

Things arent looking good for Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY). The home goods retailer said its same-store sales fell more than5% in December and January, as the company struggles to attract customers to its stores. On the bright side, same-store sales from Bed Baths e-commerce channel grew about 20% in that two month period. CEO Mark Tritton said the company is going through short term 'growing pains' as it tries to modernize the business.

Google (GOOGL) is set to take on the European Union in court today over antitrust fines.The tech giant is looking to overturn the first of three large fines this first one being worth $2.6 billion. EU regulators are saying that Google favored its own shopping ads over those from smaller European companies. The EU has fined Google nearly $9 billion overa decade-long saga.

Good news for Apple (AAPL). China's Foxconn, the company that's a key supplier to the iPhone maker, is looking to restart some of its production facilities soon, according to Reuters.Production lines have been closed in China overthe coronavirus outbreak. Foxconn wants half of its plants up and running by the end of the month and to be at 80% capacity by the end of March.

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Shopify, Bed Bath & Beyond, Google, Apple: Companies to Watch - Yahoo Finance