Here’s all you need to know today.
1. Cabinet approves new BoT head
Thailand’s cabinet has approved the new head of Bank of Thailand. Setthaput Suthiwart-Narueput has been appointed to replace outgoing governor Veerathai Santiprabhob who is not extending his five year term. Setthaput is currently on the Prime Minister’s economics advisory team and former senior economist at World Bank.
The role is a challenging one, particularly for an incoming governor who will have to deal with a post pandemic state, a slow down economy and a re-shuffled ministry of finance.
2. Starbucks sees shift in consumers’ routines
Starbucks is feeling the burn of American office workers’ changing routines. As the pandemic means that less people are grabbing coffees on the go in the morning, it’s hurting the chain’s bottom line.
Interestingly though, people are going into Starbucks around 9.30am and 2pm to beat that afternoon snooze.At the same time, Starbucks has also seen more group orders and more people getting food with their beverages.
Same store sales in the US fell by 41% for its Q3 earnings, with comparable transactions down by 53%. Total revenue for the quarter came in at $4.22 billion. Net loss is at $678.4 million.
The pandemic has accelerated Starbucks’ plans to open more pick-up-only stores.
3. McDonald’s sales fell by 30%
McDonald’s sales tumbled 30% last quarter to $33.77 billion as the fast food chain continues to have a rough year. Net income dropped 68% to $483.8 million.
Breakfast continues to be a drag on its numbers, but drive-thru & delivery are picking up.
The pandemic has prompted McDonald’s to accelerate the closures of restaurants originally planned to shut down in years ahead. The company will close 200 locations this year, with the majority of them being in “low-volume” Walmart locations.
It will also divest part of its stake in the Japan business, reducing ownership there from 49% to at least 35%. This is actually a good thing as Japan sales are steady and it shows confidence in the local management.
4. Spotify grew subscribers by 29%
Spotify had some good news to report with its quarterly earnings, as the pandemic effect is still leading people to virtual entertainment.
Active monthly users grew by 29% to reach 299 million, with 138 paid users.
The pandemic took a negative toll on Spotify’s advertising business, with ad revenue down 21% year-over-year.
It’s also diving deeper into podcasts. The platform is selling its own podcast ads and building out other tools for podcast creation.
