news blog from Hisako

The following is a guest column by Chris Ahearn, President, Media at Thomson Reuters. Last summer, I published a blog post that laid out my feelings about the link economy and its positive contribution to the evolution of the business of journalism. One year later, Reuters.com continues to encourage linking to the rich content we offer and even pulling interesting excerpts for discussion in a different forum. In exchange for that occasional use of our content, we ask others to respect the hard work our journalists put into their craft and in some cases risk their lives in doing so by offering prominent links and attribution. We encourage bloggers and individuals to use a teaser and perhaps add their own perspective to enhance the online experience.  The RSS feeds on Reuters.com are designed to make this easy to do. Recently, we engaged in a controlled experiment with Attributor to identify websites that republish complete or near complete versions of Reuters articles and have a commercial model, without a license or agreement. In many cases those websites utilize third party ad networks to monetize their audiences.  Some question why we object to websites posting full copies of our stories without a licensing agreement. The answer is simple – we believe it is neither fair nor legal nor ethical. Our efforts to identify such environments are focused on opening up a conversation with these publishers to create a mutually beneficial relationship.  In the last few days, we received many emails about this experiment, varied in tone from humorous to helpful to downright nasty.  It seems, however, that some of the facts are being overlooked. First, we absolutely respect and encourage people to discuss and debate breaking news, particularly when referencing our reporting.  We believe it makes societies stronger and are delighted when it happens.  Second, we expect websites and users to kindly respect how we wish our content is linked to and excerpted as opposed to copying and pasting (again, that is why we make our RSS feeds available and always welcome linking to the Reuters.com network).  Third, if websites are commercial in nature (i.e. take advertising) and want to post our full articles we should have a fair commercial relationship. We have established commercial license agreements with some of the biggest brands in the world to utilize the work of our journalists, but we also have tailor made agreements for smaller publishers, bloggers and individuals to create a model that works well for all parties. The way I see it, I prefer to resolve issues with our business development arm rather than through lawyers.  That way we can find new ways that respect each other’s hard work and make journalism prosper in the digital age.  Perhaps it is old fashioned, but to me that is doing unto others.

* Expects 2011 sales growth of 10-20 percent versus earlier forecast 20 percent after it temporilary shut its plant from Oct. 17* Cuts its fourth-quarter sales target to 2.0-2.5 billion baht ($65-81 million) from 3 billion baht due to impact from floods* Says it may stop production for 3-6 months in worst-case scenario* Has inventory for food division of 11-14 days and 30 days for beverage division; its Nava Nakorn plant produces 64 million units of beverage products a month* Says its plant at Amata industrial estate runs normally at 15 million bottles a month($1 = 30.66 Baht)

By Ross KerberOct 17 (Reuters) - Fallen stock indexes are expected weigh on the third-quarter earnings of big U.S. asset managers, showing how market turmoil can affect a broad swath of financial companies.The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 14 percent during the quarter, finishing at 1,131.42, on growing concerns about Europe’s debt crisis and the U.S. economic and political outlook.The index has come back a bit since then, but the drop cut into asset managers’ share prices and led some analysts to reduce their earnings estimates for big managers like BlackRock Inc and Legg Mason , knowing that lower markets will leave them with fewer assets under management against which to charge fees.”These businesses can’t drop their expenses fast enough to offset the sharp declines in revenue,” said KBW analyst Robert Lee. He said he was not predicting the companies would turn to layoffs soon, even though personnel are usually a company’s highest expense.In a research note last week Lee lowered his estimates for how much the group would earn by 6 percent on average from estimates he issued in early September.Another analyst, Craig Siegenthaler of Credit Suisse, said in a recent note to investors that market uncertainties have had another effect, “de-risking,” such as driving money away from the equity funds that traditionally were among the companies’ most profitable products.Data from Chicago research company Morningstar bears out that idea. Investors withdrew a net of $45.7 billion from long-term mutual funds in the quarter, with U.S. stock funds accounting for nearly all the outflow. On the other hand, low-cost exchange traded funds took in an estimated $19.7 billion in the quarter, Morningstar said.SEASON STARTS OCT. 19An earnings report from the largest asset manager, BlackRock Inc , will start the season on Oct. 19, followed by T. Rowe Price Group on Oct. 25 and Franklin Resources Inc on Oct. 27.A hint of what is to come came Oct. 13 when JPMorgan Chase & Co issued third-quarter earnings that included its own asset-management unit. There, net income of $385 million was down 8 percent from the same period a year ago and down 12 percent from the second quarter of 2011.”This is a business that was clearly … affected by volatile markets this quarter,” said Doug Braunstein, JPMorgan’s chief financial officer, on a conference call with analysts. Though revenue of $2.3 billion was up 7 percent from a year ago, it fell 9 percent from the second quarter.The asset-management business, Braunstein continued, is one in which “we would expect to see continued pressure on revenue in the fourth quarter if the current market conditions persist.”

Shares in cement maker Cemex added 13 percent.The Cemex stock has risen by more than a third since slumping to a 13-year intraday low last week on fears that slowing growth would undermine its ability to pay its debts.