"After a tax crackdown, Apple found a new shelter for its profits" by Jesse Drucker and Simon Bowers New York Times November 06, 2017
NEW YORK — Tim Cook was angry.
I can't imagine why:
"Apple chief executive Tim Cook has collected $89.6 million as part of a lucrative 10-year deal that he signed as an incentive to keep the iPhone maker at the forefront of the technology industry after he took over the reins in 2011 from company cofounder Steve Jobs. The windfall detailed in a Monday regulatory filing flowed from 560,000 Apple shares sold during the past week. Cook received half the award because Apple’s stock delivered shareholder returns in the top third of the Standard & Poor’s 500 index during the past three years. He got the other 280,000 shares for simply staying on the job. Apple set aside more than 291,000 shares sold for $46.4 million to cover Cook’s tax bill. The stock package awarded to Cook in 2011 was originally valued at $376 million."
If I had collected a minuscule fraction of such loot I would not only not be angry, you would never see me here again.
It was May 2013, and Cook, the chief executive of Apple, appeared before a Senate investigative subcommittee. After a lengthy inquiry, it found that the company had avoided tens of billions of dollars in taxes by shifting profits into Irish subsidiaries that the panel’s chairman called “ghost companies.”
“We pay all the taxes we owe, every single dollar,” Cook declared at the hearing. “We don’t depend on tax gimmicks,” he went on. “We don’t stash money on some Caribbean island.”
True enough. The island Apple would soon rely on was in the English Channel.
Five months after Cook’s testimony, Irish officials began to crack down on the tax structure Apple had exploited. So the iPhone maker went hunting for another place to park its profits, newly leaked records show. With help from law firms that specialize in offshore tax shelters, the company canvassed multiple jurisdictions before settling on the small island of Jersey, which typically does not tax corporate income.
Apple has accumulated more than $128 billion in profits offshore, and probably much more, that is untaxed by the United States and hardly touched by any other country. Nearly all of that was generated over the past decade.
The previously undisclosed story of Apple’s search for a new island tax haven and its use of Jersey is among the revelations emerging from a cache of secret corporate records from Appleby, a Bermuda-based law firm that caters to businesses and the wealthy elite.
The records, shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists with The New York Times and other media partners, were obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.
The documents reveal how big law firms help clients weave their way through the gaps between different countries’ tax rules.
“US multinational firms are the global grandmasters of tax avoidance schemes that deplete not just US tax collection but the tax collection of most every large economy in the world,” said Edward Kleinbard, a former corporate tax adviser to such companies, now a law professor at the University of Southern California.
This reminds me of the Panama Papers (leak is coming through same news outlets), and I'm not expecting any real revelations or too much attention being focused.
Indeed, tax strategies like the ones used by Apple — as well as Amazon, Google, Starbucks, and others — cost governments around the world as much as $240 billion a year in lost revenue, according to a 2015 estimate by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The group is overseeing efforts to change the global rules that permit such maneuvers.
The disclosures come after last week’s proposals by Republican lawmakers to provide several new tax benefits for multinational companies, including cutting the federal corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent. President Trump has said that US businesses are getting a bad deal under current rules, but the documents show how major US companies find creative ways to avoid paying anything close to 35 percent.
Apple, for example, pays taxes at a small fraction of that rate on its offshore profits, according to calculations by the Times based on the company’s securities filings. Apple reports that nearly 70 percent of its worldwide profits are earned offshore.
An Apple spokesman, Josh Rosenstock, declined to answer most questions about the company’s tax strategy. He did say that Apple had told regulators — in the United States and Ireland and at the European Commission — about the reorganization of its Irish subsidiaries. “The changes we made did not reduce our tax payments in any country,” he said.
He added: “At Apple we follow the laws, and if the system changes we will comply. We strongly support efforts from the global community toward comprehensive international tax reform and a far simpler system.”
Congressional Republicans are also seeking to impose a 10 percent tax on some of the profits that US businesses say are earned offshore — half the rate they are proposing for profits in the United States. The lawmakers have also proposed another break, permitting multinationals to bring home more than $2.6 trillion stowed offshore at sharply reduced tax rates. Both proposals, critics say, would only create additional incentives for businesses such as Apple to shift more profits into island hideaways.
Yeah, that is trillion with a T (must be why UMass is in such bad shape).
What all of this shows you is the AmeriKan government and Congre$$ is a captive of the corporations. They are the ones who write the laws that allow them to avoid paying (and cash the campaign contribution kickback). In this case even the Republicans want their cut of the loot.
The other problem I have is this attitude from the pre$$ that government is entitled to that money. Corruption is at all time highs, it is leaking out of their own mouthpieces, is the standard operation procedure for governance in AmeriKa these days, and you want to give them more money?
That doesn't mean I approve of corporate tax avoidance while the citizenry ponies up more; I'm simply trying to claw through the lawyers of why this story is being presented now.
Because of the tax bill being considered in Congre$$?
Appleby is a member of the global network of lawyers, accountants, and bankers who set up or manage offshore companies and accounts for clients who want to avoid taxes or keep their finances a secret from authorities, business partners, or even spouses. The firm did not respond to questions from the Times about its work for Apple or other companies.
Since the mid-1990s, multinationals based in the United States have increasingly shifted profits into offshore tax havens. Indeed, a tiny handful of jurisdictions — mostly Bermuda, Ireland, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands — now account for 63 percent of all profits that US multinational companies claim to earn overseas, according to an analysis by Gabriel Zucman, an assistant professor of economics at the University of California Berkeley. Those destinations hold far less than 1 percent of the world’s population.
Criticism of such profit-shifting was largely ignored until government finances around the globe came under pressure in the years following the 2008 financial crisis, when the practice led to government inquiries, tax inspector raids, media scrutiny, and promises of reform.
Been largely ignored since, too.
In May 2013, the Senate’s investigative subcommittee released a 142-page report on Apple’s tax avoidance, finding that the company was attributing billions of dollars in profits each year to three Irish subsidiaries that declared “tax residency” nowhere in the world.
Under Irish law, if a company can convince Irish tax authorities that it is “managed and controlled” abroad, it can largely escape Irish income tax. By seeming to run its Irish subsidiaries from its world headquarters in California, Apple ensured that Irish tax residency was avoided.
At the same time, US law dictated that the subsidiaries were only tax residents in the United States if incorporated there. The federal government permits taxes on any income generated by foreign units to be deferred indefinitely, as long as the company says those profits stay offshore.
“Apple has sought the Holy Grail of tax avoidance: offshore corporations that it argues are not, for tax purposes, resident anywhere in any nation,” then-Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan who was the subcommittee chairman, said at the 2013 hearing.
Apple’s hunt for a tax haven is a familiar tale, said Reuven Avi-Yonah, director of the international tax program at the University of Michigan Law School, who also reviewed the Appleby documents.
“This is how it usually works: You close one tax shelter, and something else opens up,” he said. “It just goes on endlessly.”
And who benefits in the interim?
--more--"
Related:
"Apple Inc., looking to fund stock buybacks and dividends, sold $7 billion of bonds even as proposed new tax laws may leave it awash in cash it previously couldn’t use. Apple has been the second-most-active US nonfinancial issuer of debt this year, behind AT&T Inc., data compiled by Bloomberg show. Kristin Huguet, a spokeswoman for Apple, didn’t return messages seeking comment. Its bond sale comes shortly after House Republicans unveiled their proposal for overhauling US tax law, which would charge companies up to a 12 percent tax on the overseas profit they’ve earned, compared with the 35 percent they would pay if they brought that money back home now. Companies with high cash holdings overseas, typically in the tech and pharmaceutical industries, may end up with access to billions of extra dollars that they would otherwise have to keep abroad, meaning Apple could be borrowing at a time when it doesn’t need more cash....."
The art of buying back stock is the $ign of a fal$e economy, and they don't really pay that 35% rate.
"Apple is planning to unveil a renewed focus on the living room with an upgraded Apple TV set-top box that can stream 4K video and highlight live television content such as news and sports, according to people familiar with the matter. The updated box [is] to be revealed alongside new iPhone and Apple Watch models at an event in September....."
Might have to do away with some features because no one is immune from hacks, and the new malware turns smartphones into cyberattackers.
"The exclusive club of offshore accounts" by Scott Shane and Spencer Woodman New York Times November 08, 2017
NEW YORK — James H. Simons, a reserved mathematician and hedge fund operator from Boston now approaching 80, is a big Democratic donor. Warren A. Stephens, a 60-year-old golf enthusiast once called the king of Little Rock, Ark., inherited a family investment bank and became a booster of conservative Republicans.
Uh-oh.
But Simons and Stephens are both billionaires who have used the services of offshore finance, the trusts and shell companies that the world’s wealthiest people use to park their money beyond the reach of tax collectors and out of the public eye.
All for the public good, of course.
Simons was the main beneficiary of a private trust, never previously described, that was one of the largest in the world. In response to recent questions about the trust, Simons said that he had transferred his share to a Bermuda-registered charitable foundation.
Stephens used an opaque holding company to own an approximately 40 percent stake in a loan business accused by the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of cheating working-class and poor Americans. While earning millions from the investment, Stephens helped finance a political onslaught against the bureau, never mentioning his personal connection to the fight.
The details of the two men’s hidden wealth come from the files of Appleby, founded in Bermuda more than a century ago and considered one of the world’s top offshore law firms. A collection of 6.8 million Appleby documents, obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared with media organizations through the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, offers an inside look at the firm’s services and customers.
Just who is the ‘The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ anyway?
The leak was shared, huh?
That's important because Climategate and the 2016 election were called hacks.
What this tells you is someone's agenda is being pushed with approval.
Appleby operates in a rarefied universe of UHNWI’s — the industry’s abbreviation for ultra-high-net-worth individuals — where yachts and private jets are preferred transport and mansions sit empty because their owner has several others. Some of Appleby’s customers are also PEP’s — politically exposed persons — for whom avoiding unwanted attention is a crucial goal.
What offshore services offer to a diverse international elite is secrecy and discretion, along with the opportunity to minimize or defer taxes.
Appleby had 31,000 US clients, the most common nationality by far. The firm’s files include a who’s who of the nation’s wealthiest citizens: prominent Democrats like George Soros, the financier and philanthropist, and Penny Pritzker, commerce secretary in the Obama administration; and high-profile Republican supporters of President Trump, including Sheldon Adelson, the casino magnate, and Carl Icahn, the private equity investor.
Queen Elizabeth II, according to Appleby documents, invested through a Cayman Islands fund in a company that owned a share of a British rent-to-own company widely criticized for financing the sale of household items at interest rates as high as 99.9 percent. The leaked files reveal Madonna’s shares in a medical supplies firm, Bono’s investment in a Lithuanian shopping center and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s yacht and submarines.
In a statement, Appleby said the firm had done nothing wrong. “We are an offshore law firm who advises clients on legitimate and lawful ways to conduct their business,” the statement said. “We do not tolerate illegal behaviour.”
Simons, the hedge fund billionaire, was a young math professor in 1974 when a Colombian friend established a trust in Bermuda on his behalf using a gift of $100,000 to him, his parents, and his descendants. US tax authorities would consider the Lord Jim Trust, as it was named, a foreign entity, limiting the visibility of the IRS into its holdings and its ability to tax its funds until it made distributions to the Simons family. (Appleby did not create the trust but later provided legal advice.)
In 1982, Simons founded Renaissance Technologies, a New York-based hedge fund whose secret trading algorithms soon generated rates of return that became legendary on Wall Street. Over the next three decades, Renaissance became one of the most lucrative hedge funds on the planet, making Simons a billionaire many times over.
Related(?): Have Mercer
Simons, in response to questions, said that when he and his family received distributions from the Bermuda trust, they were reported to the IRS. But Simons said he and his relatives took out only limited amounts, mainly in the early years of the trust, whose main investments were Renaissance funds that enjoyed spectacular returns.
In 2014, a Senate committee accused Renaissance and another hedge fund of using a complex accounting maneuver to improperly avoid taxes. Renaissance is still fighting the resulting tax bill, estimated at $6.8 billion.
As the tax dispute has proceeded, Simons is now estimated to be the 25th-richest person in the United States, with a net worth estimated at $18.5 billion, according to the Forbes list of richest Americans. But such rankings often rely on incomplete public data.
Simons’ Lord Jim Trust offers one example. Though the trust has been listed in various filings, a 2010 document in Appleby’s files provides details for the first time. If it had been fully accounted for in calculating his net worth, he would have vaulted even higher in the ranks of the superrich.
Yet factoring the trust into his wealth isn’t so straightforward, because Simons says his share is now in an offshore charity, Simons Foundation International. In 2010, he and his wife, Marilyn, signed the “giving pledge” established by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, vowing to give “the great majority” of their wealth to philanthropic purposes.
Yeah, they are all such well-intentioned, wonderful people!!
--more--"
At least I didn't see the name John Henry in there, but a Patriot did pop up:
"Kraft, Pagliuca named in ‘Paradise Papers,’ report says" by Matt Rocheleau Globe Staff November 09, 2017
Owners of two Boston sports franchises were named in the newly leaked files known as the “Paradise Papers,” which exposed how celebrities and politicians use offshore tax havens to avoid paying taxes, according to a report Thursday by The Guardian.
They have been getting enough exposure over the last three weeks.
According to the report, documents reveal that New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft has owned an offshore company for more than two decades that could be used to legally avoid or reduce US taxes, the British publication said.
The report also said Boston Celtics co-owner Stephen Pagliuca, who is also cochair of the Boston-based private equity firm Bain Capital, is named in connection with a cruise ship venture with offshore holdings.
The two were among several owners of major professional football, basketball, and hockey franchises cited in the leak, the Guardian reported.
At least there are no charges of sexual harassment coming from those offices.
The Kraft business is an offshoot of the family’s International Forest Products wood and paper business. A spokesperson for Kraft told The Guardian that Kraft’s offshore company was created to do business with certain customers and dealt with relatively small sums of money.
“These entities are not organized or maintained for any reason other than to facilitate doing business in any particular location and decisions are not income tax motivated,” the spokesperson told the paper.
A Kraft spokesman told the Globe the Bermuda operation has been dormant since 2000 but declined to comment further.
A spokesman for Bain Capital declined to comment to The Guardian and the Globe. Bain, according to The Guardian, is a partner with businessman Richard Branson’s Virgin Group in Virgin Voyages.
A spokesman for the cruise business said: “As it relates to offshore registration, including Bermuda, given the international nature of the cruise ship industry and the voyages themselves, it is a universal and legal practice.”
The Paradise Papers consist of 13.4 million leaked files from a combination of offshore service providers and company registries of some of the world’s most secretive countries, according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which has partnered with reporters and media outlets to explore the files.
The files were obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Many of the files show paperwork from Appleby, a leading offshore law firm with offices in Bermuda and beyond.
--more--"
With the fall leaf cleanup in full swing, the city of Newton is at war.
"The Pine Manor land and the original site the town was considering are surrounded by several rich and powerful neighbors. In 2013, the college did sell 5.1 acres to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft owns four properties directly east of Pine Manor that are worth a combined $19 million, according to town records online. Kraft’s son Jonathan owns four properties on the west side of Pine Manor that are also near the original site where the town wanted to build a school. They are worth a combined $14 million, according to town records....."
The college is ready to fight and it accuses officials of breaking the law, while residents are divided over the issue of seizing the land.
Don't let it spoil the party, either:
"Patriots owner Robert Kraft is throwing an invite-only bash at Gillette Stadium Wednesday, and he’s booked Sir Elton John to entertain his guests. Kraft and the Rocket Man are longtime friends, but you don’t have to be a billionaire to get a big-name act to play at your kid’s bar mitzvah....."
No, that party is not for me, nor is this pre$$.
At least we now know why Kraft can pay exorbitant sums for private concerts.
Now about that tax bill:
"Parts of the [tax] bill includ[e] a proposed excise tax of 20 percent on payments made by US companies to foreign affiliates. The provision is aimed at preventing US companies from shifting profits abroad through payments, such as royalties, made to subsidiaries or other foreign affiliates. US multinational corporations are especially concerned about the proposal, which would raise just over $150 billion over a decade. They say the tax will harm US companies and their consumers..... "
Then avoid 'em!
The provision is also coming under fire from pharmaceutical companies and the small-government advocacy groups spearheaded by the billionaire Republican megadonor brothers Charles and David Koch.
"The House is making decisions the Senate won’t accept and the Senate is doing the same to the House. Delaying the corporate tax rate reduction was one of many tough choices Senate leaders made as they tried to craft a bill that would lower taxes but also add no more than $1.5 trillion to the debt over 10 years. Still, further changes are expected next week as lawmakers begin debating the measure. The bill currently does not comply with Senate rules that prohibit certain legislation from adding to the deficit after 10 years. This could force Republicans to make some of the tax cuts temporary, though those decisions have not yet been made. Senate Republicans briefed White House officials on the one-year delay, and Trump administration officials said they would accept such a provision....."
Related: Industrial, tech stocks fall on potential tax cut delay
FLASHBACK:
"Bribery and corruption came to the fore last month with the so-called Panama Papers scandal, in which documents leaked from a Panamanian law firm showed how some of the world’s wealthiest people channeled billions into offshore accounts, raising questions about tax evasion and money laundering...."
It was described as the ‘‘biggest leak ever,’’ and as soon as I saw the bigger picture regarding who is behind and funding the ICIJ, I shut off the light.
It's the usual suspects and enemies that are being embarrassed. We know why Iceland's prime minister was a target after what they did to their looting bankers. Everyone can see they are a U.S. plot. The reason they dropped Cameron's name is because he called for the Brexit vote and needed to be removed. No skirting around it. At least he will be getting help hunting down the hackers.
Call me crazy if you will, but that WaPo pos is about as far-fetched as the Wasserman hack. Looks like a false charge to me and another pre$$ failure. It's a big Red Cross right in front of you.
Of course, the top haven for tax cheats is guess-who. Expect more government agencies to adopt photo and biometric identification systems (thank God people never switch photos for fakes), and your driver's license photo will be sent straight to the FBI. You really get the “feeling it's a game,” because that's exactly what is the "leak." Pre$$ isn't getting all upset like they did during Climategate, and the Panamanians view it as a badge of honor.
In ‘Panama Papers,’ other countries’ corruption entwines with ours
I still don't $ee "ours," but my leaders have vowed to end offshore tax evasion and financial corruption (what names do you see? I know which ones I did not: Israelis or Amerikans)
I see the divorces of the wealthy in there, and some names that were left out before the coverage was dropped, no joke (not that anyone is laughing).
Now the source is claiming he has money problem, PFFFFT!
Where Are the Other 10 Million Panama Papers?
It's not brain surgery.
********
Broadcom targets Qualcomm in largest-ever tech deal
How much does GE earn?
It's hard to tell.
"GE’s Boston headquarters may soon feel a pinch" by Jon Chesto Globe Staff August 31, 2017
New chief executive John Flannery has only been in charge of General Electric for a month, but he’s already making clear he will do what it takes to boost the industrial giant’s profitability.
The latest example: a report on Thursday that Flannery has told top lieutenants to prepare for cuts at the Boston headquarters and other parts of the company that do not produce revenue or profits. The report, from the Reuters news agency citing an anonymous source, said GE has already frozen hiring for certain technology positions.
GE employees have been warned to expect budget cuts. In March, under pressure from activist investor Nelson Peltz, GE agreed to reduce spending by $1 billion in 2017, and another $1 billion next year.
When Flannery was named chief executive in June he said he would undertake a deep review of all company operations.
Nick Heymann, an analyst who follows GE at William Blair & Co., likens Flannery’s review to raking a lawn to get rid of dead leaves.
Don't remind me.
“You’re not hauling out the lawn,” said Heymann, who expects the budget cuts to eventually exceed the $2 billion agreed to in March when Jeff Immelt was chief executive. “You’re definitely reinvigorating it.”
On Thursday, GE officials declined to comment about the Reuters report beyond a brief statement repeating the $2 billion cost-cutting goal announced in March and the November timing for when Flannery will present the results of his review. The company stock is down nearly 23 percent since the beginning of the year.
Meanwhile, Fox Business Network’s Charlie Gasparino reported that Peltz might seek a board seat and possibly press for shedding more business lines. Gasparino cited sources close to Peltz, who leads hedge fund firm Trian.
Earlier this month, GE said it would delay completion of a new headquarters complex in Fort Point by two years. The $200 million project will now be done in two phases to save money.
What if costs go up?
Ann Klee, a GE vice president overseeing the project, said as recently as last week that the company remains committed to its original plan.
Uh-oh! Mixed messages already!
Any job cuts stemming from Flannery’s review probably will be minimal in Boston, though.
GE received a $25 million property tax break, spread over 20 years, from the city of Boston in return for the promise to employ 800 people at its new headquarters. But the agreement with the Walsh administration gives GE until 2024 to reach the hiring threshold, and GE officials remain confident they can hit the number by the deadline.
The size of the annual tax break ramps up steadily until reaching $1.5 million a year in 2025. If GE falls short of its employment goal, the incentive could be significantly reduced.
Why are the getting anything?
“It seems like a pretty good deal for the city,” said Sam Tyler, president of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, a fiscal watchdog. “[Boston’s] protected somewhat. If not all the jobs come, they don’t get the full tax break.
PFFFFFFT!
State officials also agreed to contribute up to $125 million toward the project, but that commitment isn’t contingent on a hiring threshold.
Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce chief executive James Rooney downplayed any concerns that GE’s budget cuts could hurt the city. “It was a major win for Boston and Massachusetts to get a company like GE here,” Rooney said. “Companies of this scale go through these kinds of things all the time, and I don’t think anyone should overreact to it.”
Even if it is a loss!
--more--"
Related:
"GE is looking to spread its philanthropic love beyond Boston. The focus until now has been on curbing the opioid epidemic and getting high school kids excited about careers in science and technology. This fall, GE will embark on a third initiative: guiding more women and minorities into science and technology fields....."
I once took pride in my Bo$ton Globe, but now.....
"Best Buy to offer in-home TV advice" Associated Press August 29, 2017
NEW YORK — Best Buy is rolling out a free service next month where salespeople will sit with customers at their own homes to help make recommendations on TVs, streaming services, and more.
Like magazine salesmen?
The service, which was tested in five markets, will be expanded to more cities around the country. Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly said Tuesday that the service is a way to unlock ‘‘latent’’ customer demand — the company has found that shoppers spend more at the home than they do at the stores.
Best Buy, the nation’s largest consumer electronics retailer, is trying to make itself indispensable to shoppers as people shop more online. It’s been beefing up its customer service in the appliance areas of its stores. This fall, it’s showcasing experiences of voice-activated devices from the likes of Amazon’s Alexa-controlled Echo and Google Assistant at 700 stores.
Then why is Amazon going brick-and-mortar?
Amazon, though, has reportedly also been trying out a program that sends its employees to shoppers’ houses for free ‘‘smart-home’’ recommendations. Amazon couldn’t be reached immediately for comment.
My response to the sales rep, no offense, is get the f*** out of here!
So far, Best Buy’s strategies are resonating with shoppers. It raised its full-year profit and revenue outlook Tuesday after second-quarter results that beat Wall Street estimates. Revenue at US stores open at least a year rose 5.4 percent, while Wall Street had estimated a 2.2 percent increase. Sales of products like smart-home devices, mobile phones, and appliances were especially strong. Online sales soared about 31 percent.
‘‘I see a wealth of opportunity to push the company forward,’’ Joly said.
Skeptics had been prepared to write Best Buy’s obituary just a few years ago, predicting it would follow its now-defunct rival Circuit City as shoppers used stores as a browsing showroom and then bought online. But the company has cut costs and improved stores and training. Best Buy is also working to forge deeper partnerships with its suppliers, and offering more online services.
Joly said Best Buy would do more marketing of the in-home service. Right now, sales associates are promoting it in stores — when they talk to shoppers about products, they often will recommend setting up a home visit. Consultation topics range from getting recommendations for TVs to streaming or smart-home services. That complements the Geek Squad service, which offers tech repairs and at-home installations for a fee. The salespeople for the new home service are being paid a salary or receive hourly wages, not commissions, spokesman Jeffrey Shelman confirmed.
‘‘There are large groups of customers who feel more confident buying online from Best Buy than other e-commerce only merchants, mainly because Best Buy has stores where they can seek advice, resolve problems, and return items if needed,’’ wrote Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail in an analyst note.
OMG!
Why would I need to return anything?
Best Buy joins other traditional retailers including Walmart, Target, Home Depot, and Lowe’s in seeing gains for a key revenue metric for the quarter.....
--more--"
I'm just not ready to give it a try, even with the same-day delivery (sales still dropping but they still made profit!), sorry.
