•
108-
Buffett + $Bill = Burger King- "INVERSION"
Deal
••••TVI's
Person of theWeek, Warren Buffett greases $3
Billion to make the Burger King Inversion deal
happen
••••The
$11.4 billion dollar transaction for Canadian
coffee-and-doughnut
chain Tim Hortons Inc., with headquarter in Canada
is the latest company to undergo an inversion,
which happens when an American company uses a
merger to reincorporate as a foreign one.
••••
In such a maneuver, which is
legal, a U.S. company buys a foreign competitor in
a nation with a lower corporate tax rate and shifts
its headquarters to that country.
•••• As
inversions have gained in popularity in recent
years, the US administration has been pushing for
new restrictions. The latest in a series of
corporate offshore tax-reducing moves, also puts
the Obama administration in a difficult spot as it
tries to stem the flow of U.S. companies moving to
foreign countries with lower tax rates..
••••
Burger King's purchase of
Tim Hortons, creating the world's third-largest
fast-food company, is one of the highest-profile
tax inversions so far..
••••
Some have suggested
boycotting the fast food chain, while others have
directed their criticism and anger toward the
billionaire investor Warren Buffett, whose company
Berkshire Hathaway is partly financing the deal
with investing $3 billion..
••••
Industry experts said Burger
King is especially vulnerable to a backlash because
it is a popular consumer brand, unlike some of the
pharmaceutical companies that have undertaken other
recent high-profile inversions..
•••• But
a backlash against Burger King will be short-lived
because most people will not be thinking about
their patriotism when they are pulling through the
drive-through at Burger King, to get a
Whooper..
••••
Buffett is famous for
arguing that our tax code should be fairer and that
the rich and powerful should not get more breaks
than middle-income Americans -- views that some say
are incongruous with his involvement in.
•••• He
has been a staunch advocate of companies and
citizens paying their fair share of taxes &emdash;
so much so that the administration's proposal to
force millionaires to pay the same share of their
income in taxes as middle-class families is known
as the Buffett Rule..
••••
"How can you hammer a deal
for tax policies when the very person your
signature tax policy -- the Buffett Rule -- is
named after is involved and argues that [the
deal] is not tax-motivated?".
••••
Buffett said it made sense
for the combined company's headquarters to be in
Canada. The companies are roughly equal in market
value, and Tim Hortons had sales of $3.2 billion
last year, compared with $1.1 billion for Burger
King..
••••
"Tim Hortons earns more
money than Burger King does," Buffett told the
Financial Times. "I just don't know how the
Canadians would feel about Tim Hortons moving to
Florida. The main thing here is to make the
Canadians happy.".
••••
Anger toward Warren Buffett
is misdirected. He cannot close loopholes that
allow Burger King to claim Canadian citizenship any
more than he can close the loophole that allows him
and fund managers to pay a smaller percentage of
their income in taxes than their secretaries.
•••• The
real culprits are members of Congress, who have
failed to close these loopholes and have allowed
Burger King to claim that it is becoming a foreign
corporation for tax purposes even when common sense
tells us it is as American as any company could
be..
•••• You
see, Burger King will continue to serve U.S.
customers. It will not undergo much change in
ownership. And it will likely continue to have its
managers based in the United States. But when it's
time to pay taxes, it will claim to be a newly
restructured company based in Canada, which has a
lower corporate tax rate..
••••
Burger King Worldwide Inc.
executives said the move to create a corporate
holding company in Canada was not a tax dodge.
Instead, they said, it was justified because Canada
would be the new company's largest market. They
noted that Burger King would remain a stand-alone
brand with its headquarters still in Miami..
••••
Proposed restriction curbs
probably wouldn't apply to the Burger King-Tim
Hortons deal. A House bill has an exception when a
company has "substantial business activities," such
as 25% of its employees or assets, in the country
where it plans to place its headquarters..
••••
Burger King Executive
Chairman Alex Behring, who would hold the same role
for the combined company, insisted that the deal
was "not driven by tax rates.".
••••
Burger King, which is
controlled by Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital,
saw an opportunity to expand Tim Hortons globally,
he said..
•••• The
headquarters for the new firm will be in Canada,
which would be its "natural home," Behring said.
Two-thirds of the new company's revenue will come
from Canada, with 20% from the U.S. and 13% from
the rest of the world..
•••• The
combined federal, provincial and local corporate
tax rate in Canada is 26.3%; The combined U.S.
corporate rate is 39.1%..
••••
Burger King's overall
effective tax rate last year was 27.5%, according
to its annual report. Tim Hortons' effective tax
rate for the same year was 26.8%..
•••• "We
don't expect there to be meaningful tax savings,
nor do we expect there to be a meaningful change in
our tax rate," Burger King Chief Executive Daniel
Schwartz told reporters.
///
•
115-
SIMON COWELL, NAMED MIPCOM 2014 PERSONALITY OF THE
YEAR Paris, Sept. 1,
2014
•••••
Entertainment industry creative icon Simon Cowell
is to be honored as the MIPCOM 2014 Personality of
the Year.
•••••
The TV and film producer, music label boss and
internationally-renowned talent show judge will
receive his award at a gala dinner for industry
executives at the Carlton Hotel in Cannes on
Tuesday 14 October. On Monday 13 October, Cowell
will give a keynote interview in the Grand
Auditorium of the Palais des Festivals.
•••••One
of the best-known faces on TV screens in the world,
Cowell has transformed popular culture in the 21st
century through his wide-reaching TV and music
enterprise.
•••••"Simon
Cowell is a visionary producer whose television
franchises are on air in almost 200 territories
around the world, underlining his status as a
global creative icon. In recognition of his amazing
career as a creator of international formats and
his formidable impact on the entertainment industry
as a whole, we are honoured to welcome him to
Cannes as the MIPCOM 2014 Personality of the Year,"
said Paul Zilk, CEO of Reed MIDEM, organiser of
MIPCOM.
•••••Cowell's
Syco Entertainment is a world-renowned music, film,
and television production company responsible for
some of the most successful global music and
television franchises. Syco's television assets
include the two international phenomenon formats:
"Got Talent" and "The X Factor" both created by
Simon Cowell. The Syco Music roster includes stars
such as One Direction, Little Mix, Susan Boyle,
Ella Henderson, Il Divo, Labrinth, Cher Lloyd,
Fifth Harmony, Alex & Sierra, and
Collabro.
•
Click
For More
tviStory
115-s90- Simon Cowell named MIPCOM's 2014
personality of the
year
- More
MIPCOM ///
•101-CELEBRITY
SCENE - PETE ALLMAN HONORS MOTHER ON HER 93rd
BIRTHDAY
WITH MUSICIAL
CELEBRATION
- (TVI
Magazine)
••••
Celebrity Scene's Pete
Allman, known as ''the man on the scene,'' has been
involved in the entertainment business for years,
in helping escalate the careers of Lyn Ashley, The
Oscar Martinez Dancers and Kirby Van Burch, known
as The Prince of Magic.''
••••
Allman first arrived in Las
Vegas in 1978 where he opened his own review, ''The
Pete Allman Revue,'' which opened at The Fremont
Hotel, later moving up the strip to The Marina
Hotel, now The MGM.
••••
Allman, who can still belt
out a song, segued from singing and journalism for
over 40 different publications such as The Las
Vegas Tribune, The Hollywood Gazette, Showbiz
Magazine, The Las Vegas Hollywood Magazine,
lasvegas.net, newsblaze.com, into hosting
radio shows in California and Las Vegas, later
finding his true love in producing half hour
television shows such as The Las Vegan Report,
The Las Vegas Hollywood Report, CMX Sports and
Entertainment and currently Talk Back at
West L.A.
College.•••• •
Click
for More
tviNews stories Pete
Allman
///
"Game of Thrones" earned the
most nominations when the 2014 Emmy nominees were
announced. The HBO show received 19 nominations,
including one in the coveted drama series
category.
Actor in a drama: Bryan
Cranston ("Breaking Bad") Actress in a drama: Julianna Margulies ("The
Good Wife") Drama series: "Breaking Bad" (AMC) Comedy series: "Modern Family" (ABC) Mini series: "Fargo" (FX) TV Movie: "The Normal Heart"
(HBO) Variety Series: "The Colbert Report" •
Click
For
Complete
List of Emmy Nominees-
101-s90
•
Who Will Be The Next To Revamp the 1997 .
. . www.Google.com IDEA? ... or Better Yet
. . .Who will be the First to INVERT the
Industries of the Roaring "1890s" to
.... www.TheWirelessTelephon
Companyof
America.com
•
iMovie Credits
