I was in Charlotte, N.C. a couple of years ago negotiating the sponsorship of a NASCAR truck race when I spotted this van parked near Lowes Motor Speedway. Folks down there know how to use each square inch of a car to their marketing advantage. Sean
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Wordless Wednesday January 1 Links

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When Alex Met Andrew
Barron’s On the web - The results will be presented to Wall Street in Might. In the meantime, the Street is becoming convinced that BNY Mellon will deliver on the promised 9% cost savings from the merger. That’s raised the confidence level in the consensus 2008 earnings

Wall Street Wraps Up ‘07 in Somber Mood
Baltimore Sun - NEW YORK - Wall Street ended a painful year with another steep loss Monday as investors glumly anticipated that 2008 would bring more of the uncertainty and turbulence of 2007. The Dow Jones industrials fell 101 points, the latest in a string of

Australian shares outlook - Lower following falls on Wall Street
Forbes - SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - Australian shares are expected to begin the new year in negative territory on Wednesday as investors take their cue from Wall Street, which ended 2007 sharply lower, while falls in gold and oil prices weigh on the

HK stocks seen lower, properties in focus
Reuters UK - HONG KONG, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Hong Kong stocks are expected to fall on Wednesday, the first trading day of 2008, dented by losses on Wall Street, with profit-taking seen in property stocks as investors await hints on the direction of U.S. interest

SH@theBell: Wall Street ends 2007 on a Dow-ner
Stockhouse Canada - SHfn / - U.S. stocks slipped Monday yet finished higher on the year, while financials kept Bay Street in the black. Stockhouse Community News: Predictions for 2008 SHfn - Why Alberta still looks like the place to be in the New Year . Microcap

2008 will be a year of decision - and survival depends on getting it
Guardian Unlimited - Former US secretaries of say Henry Kissinger and George Schultz wrote in the Wall Street Journal last year that reliance on deterrence was becoming “increasingly dangerous and decreasingly effective”. The rising numbers of nuclear says, coupled

SKorean shares outlook - Lower on caution after Wall Street’s fall
CNBC - SEOUL (Thomson Financial) - South Korean shares are expected to open lower on Wednesday as investors are apt to start the new year with caution following Wall Street’s decline on Monday. The Dow Jones industrial Average fell 101 points after the

Malaysian shares open slightly lower on Wall Street’s decline
CNBC - KUALA LUMPUR (Thomson Financial) - Malaysian shares opened slightly lower Wednesday, tracking Wall Street’s fall on Monday amid a lack of fresh leads. At 9.05 am (0105 GMT), the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) was down 1.05 points or 0.1 percent

Philippine shares outlook - Lower on Wall Street decline, lack of
Forbes - MANILA (Thomson Financial) - Philippine shares might open lower Wednesday, its first trading day for 2008, taking its cue from Wall Street’s fall on the last trading day of the past year and a lack of fresh domestic leads. The Dow Jones industrials

Thai Hot Stocks - Seen opening higher, PTTAR makes debut
Reuters UK - BANGKOK, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Thai stocks were expected to open higher on Wednesday as parties move closer to forming a coalition government, but Wall Street’s fall and Tokyo’s holiday would keep trading quiet, analysts said. “Our market should open

Customers, Not Brokers, Profited in an Odd 2007
New York Times - The brokers’ customers did reasonably well. The brokers didn’t. That’s not the usual way of Wall Street. Two-thirds of a century ago, a ideal seller asked, “Where are the customers’ yachts?” It noted that somehow the brokers always made

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Daily Telegraph - Relief comes. A reflation rally ignites Wall Street and global bourses late, but first we do penance for leveraged excess. Japan slides into recession, not helped by an 18pc surge in the yen against the euro. The Japanese bring money home, slicing

Malaysia Hot Stocks-Market to struggle after Wall St’s drop
Reuters - KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Malaysian shares are prone to struggle to rise on Wednesday, after Wall Street’s fall, but buying in large cap stocks could lend some support, analysts said. Planters Sime Darby (SIME.KL: Quote , Profile , Research

After 11 percent loss in 2007, Tokyo shares to remain under pressure
Forbes - Investors are expecting emerging economies to weather the US credit market meltdown, with their rapidly-growing wealth providing some of Wall Street’s biggest names with a safety net in recent weeks. At the same time, surging demand is creating

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Citigroup gets a black eye in Rusnak caper
Baltimore Sun - JUST WHEN you thought it was safe to walk down Wall Street again without two Dobermans to repel the white-collar muggers, Allied Irish Banks brings new allegations of misdeeds against Bank of America and Citigroup. OK, the purported transgressions

Emerging CME rival shaping up
Chicago Tribune - The Wall Street houses’ most profitable domain is OTC because they’re not paying fees,” Pirrong stated. “Centralized clearing would reduce their benefits.” The investment banks participating in the new exchange declined to comment, routing all

Top headlines
Lexington Herald-Leader - has had his desk hauled away and is working on stacked-up cardboard boxes. The date Dec. 31 is circled in red on a wall Richmond police say he was shot sometime before 2:35 a.m. as more than a hundred patrons at the Cherry Pit, on Second Street

Wall Street spooked by negative outlook for 2008
News.com.au - US EQUITY markets ended a tumultuous 2007 on a downbeat note, retreating in the face of a new year fraught with worries about economic growth, a housing meltdown and tight credit. Wall Street investors were spooked again by housing industry data

Investors reintroduced to volatility
Chicago Tribune - Nonetheless, investors rang out the year in a bad mood, as Wall Street turned the tables on the consensus forecast. “I thought at the beginning of the year that the market was starting to run out of positives,” stated Peter Jankovskis, research

Battle of the Bushes
Salon - Why Wall Street should be more like a cockroach Finance whiz Richard Bookstaber, one of the first to predict the subprime meltdown, says that today’s financial system is dangerously complex. By Andrew Leonard America’s first Me Generation Did Emerson and

For Never-Ever Golfers – Invest 36 Hours and Learn to Play Golf
Cybergolf - Prior to working in the golf industry, Nancy was an attorney for a Wall Street firm and then held a number of senior executive positions with Prudential Financial, including Assistant General Counsel and Vice President of Corporate Marketing

Macy’s among huge movers on Wall Street
Associated Press - The bank is in talks to line up capital from Chinese and Middle Eastern investors in exchange for portions of the company, according to a report. Macy’s Inc., up 39 cents at $25.87 The retailer will close nine underperforming stores that collectively

Citigroup, Merrill Top Wall Street Underwriters in ‘07
CNBC - Citigroup and Merrill Lynch were the world’s top underwriters of stocks and bonds in 2007, measured by volume and reported fees, despite being at the epicenter of the global credit crisis. [ C   Loading       ( %)   ] remained the top

Wall Street sees light at end of tunnel in 2008
Biloxi Sun Herald - The credit crisis that walloped Wall Street this year shows no signs of abating in early 2008, but investors can take some comfort in the fact that the new year brings with it a battle plan. If the last half of 2007 is any indication, the U.S

Wall Street wraps up 2007 in a somber mood, but Dow finishes year with
MSN UK News - Wall Street ended a painful year with another steep loss Monday as investors glumly anticipated that 2008 would see a continuation of the uncertainty and turbulence of 2007. The Dow Jones industrials fell about 100 points but managed to finish 2007

Bad outlooks sink year-end stocks
Chicago Tribune - Stocks ended 2007 on a downbeat note Monday. A report of weak holiday sales via the Internet and a bleaker outlook for 4th-quarter profits by Reuters Estimates helped depress year-end parties on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average fell

Wall Street Wraps Up ‘07 in Somber Mood
Baltimore Sun - NEW YORK - Wall Street ended a painful year with another steep loss Monday as investors glumly anticipated that 2008 would bring more of the uncertainty and turbulence of 2007. The Dow Jones industrials fell 101 points, the latest in a string of

Thursday, December 27
News.com.au - Shares rise on higher commodity prices THE share market shut modestly higher today, despite a flat lead from Wall Street, as investors focussed on a two per cent jump in the oil price and higher commodities prices.

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Happy New Year!

The new year has arrived and promises to be exciting here at b5media. Looking back, 2007 was definitely a newsworthy year for businesses and the b5media Business Channel had it covered. Some businesses experienced record profits, some businesses spiraled into bankruptcy and some just kept getting greener.

Here as promised, in one convenient package, are the top business stories of 2007 from across the b5media Business Channel:

If you read Behind the Buzz even a tiny, you knew that Barbie Girl would make the list of the top posts in 2007. Find out what else did.

Brandcurve offers a review of branding and marketing for 2007 along with a look back at what people were talking about this year. Paris Hilton? Red Cross? Disney? It’s all there.

Sure, the hookers got all of the attention but what else did you miss this year on Buzz Networker? Social networking goes under the microscope: what was hot and what wasn’t this year?

Copyblogger doesn’t just offer us a “best of” list - it’s a play by play of what makes Copyblogger a top blog (pick a list, any list).

Doing Biz Abroad reminded us about the pitfalls of assumptions and cultural challenges that you might face in the international business world.

Franchise Pick exposes 10 Terrifying Tales of Fraud, Failure & Franchising.

Here at Greener Assets it’s the Green Biz year in review. Is green the new black?

Home Biz Notes rounds out the year with five popular posts including Mary Emma’s winning country grocer entry and mistakes for the home business owner to avoid.

In a move that stunned many, Alberto Gonzales resigned his post as the top lawyer in the US. Interview Chatter highlights other career and hiring stories of 2007.

For those of you playing along at home, Just Make Money Online focuses on the very best posts tackling making money on the internet for 2007.

Leadership Turn made 2007 about thinking outside of the box when it comes to leading and managing. She offers her top six posts here: Are ethical values set or fluid?, The quandary of ethics, The effects of CEO map, The number one world beating ideal motivator, More-on-comfort-zones, What leaders should do to have the perfect attitude

Pimp Your Work reminds us of the best ways to deal with your boss. Yeah, sucking up made the list.

Project Management 411 wraps up a short year with ten top stories from 2007. Innovation appears to be a common thread.

Small Business Boomers wishes you perspective and humor for 2008 with commentary on why looking back is important.

Begin Up Spark gets our attention with the top three start-up stories for 2007 and the site’s most popular posts. They aren’t necessarily the same.

Successful Blog doesn’t make this a year end event. On the site, there’s a whole page of the ideal posts year round.

Taxgirl offers the top ten taxgirl headlines of 2007. Jail, pregnancy and college football - we’d it all this year.

The Golden Pencil confirms her most popular post of 2007. Stats don’t lie.

With the end on its way out, the economy is still reeling from the subprime mortgage fiasco and government bail-outs. Yielding Wealth reflects on the biggest stories that affected personal finance.

We wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous new year! And don’t forget to cease by and check out all of the business goodness here at the b5media business channel in 2008. We can’t give you the details but changes are afoot. And we promise, it’s going to be a very good year!

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Happy New Year!

We thanks all who visited and contributed during 2007, the first full year of blogging at FranchisePick.com.

We wish you a happy, blessed and prosperous 2008!

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(FranchisePick.Com)  The abrupt closing of 400 Pure Weight Loss centers nationwide, which has left thousands of members owed hundreds, even thousands of dollars in products and services, is remarkable in the complete lack of information being provided even to the its own soon-to-be-unemployed staff members.   Vahan Karian, chairman and chief executive officer of the company, would not speak to the media.  The company’s attorney did not return calls.  Pure Weight Loss’  public relations firm would disclose how many diet centers and employees were affected by the closure.

If you have information or insight to add to the murky timeline of events, please share it in the comments section below.

August, 2007  LA Weight Loss changed its name to Pure Weight Loss.  Pure Weight Loss hired Joy McAndrew, formerly with NutriSystem, as VP Marketing.

December 8, 2007:  FranchisePick.Com reader and Pure Weight Loss member Ana reports that she and her sister “went in for our usual weigh in, only to find that the office was shut, called monday, and nobody answered.went on the web got their 800 # and called they simple stated that they closed their California offices.”

December 11, 2007  Pure Weight Loss VP Marketing Joy McAndrew posted a press release touting a new affiliate program for the “Pure at Home” (PureAtHome.com) online weight loss program.  (SEE BELOW)  Shortly after, pureathome has the same closure notice as the main site.

December 17, 2007   FranchisePick.Com reader and Pure Weight Loss member Martin W reports he and his wife ”found out that the office will be open for 2 more days. Yesterday apparently many people went in and got as many products as they could to fill what they had already paid for.”

December 18, 2007  FranchisePick.Com reader and Pure Weight Loss member Nala says she called her center  ” to let them know when I would be coming in for a weigh in and no one answered the phone, so I called another center to see what was going on…. When the counsler answered the phone she told me the only reason why she answered the phone is because she thought I was another counsler returning her call and that as of Jan. 2, 2007 all the stores will be closed.”

December 19, 2007  Philly.com posted:  “In a terse statement, Pure Weight Loss said it would close Jan. 4 after 18 years because of “fierce competition from the Internet; the introduction of Alli, the over-the-counter weight-loss pill, and other commercial diet programs; combined with a difficult economic environment.”

Pure Weight Loss Affiliate Program Set to Gain Momentum Pure Weight Loss, facilitating weight loss management through centers and Web sites, has recently launched an affiliate program. (PRWEB) December 11, 2007 — Pure Weight Loss, facilitating weight loss management through centers and Web sites, has recently launched an affiliate program. Interested parties in the on the internet community will be able to showcase Pure Weight Loss‘ “At Home” services. We hope to extend our services to more individuals and provide our affiliates with opportunities to grow their own businesses through the affiliate program. These services focus on helping people lose weight from the convenience of their own homes by offering consultation from dietitians, on the web tools, recipe modifications using their exclusive Pure Chef service, and their own line of products that include weight loss supplements to help keep clients in control. Those affiliates partaking in the program will be able to offer browsers the same opportunities found at Pure Weight Loss‘ At Home site. Affiliates will be able to utilize their sites to host Pure Weight Loss’ banners and logos, directing potential members to the Pure Weight Loss affiliate site. Affiliates will benefit $35 for each new At Home member joining the system through their site. Pure Weight Loss established the At Home concept to make it easier for clients to lose weight anywhere at their convenience. The site offers the same services found in their 350+ nationwide centers. “We want to deliver the same individualized attention and effective results to our clients at home as we do in our centers,” states Senior Vice President of Operations, Chris Burnard. “We hope to extend our services to more individuals and provide our affiliates with opportunities to grow their own businesses through the affiliate program.” The Pure Weight Loss At Home site is designed with resources to ameliorate weight loss. Customized programs are engineered by dietitians, and counselors are available to provide support 24/7. The site proudly boasts their exclusive Pure Chef feature which allows users to submit a recipe for their favorite dishes to be modified to fit their weight loss program. Meal planners, restaurant guides, and other tools are incorporated into the site, as well. PureAtHome.com also offers the entire line of products offered by Pure Weight Loss, available for buy with free shipping on orders over $50. Pure Weight Loss offers their services in their nationwide centers and on the web. The objective of their services is to promote learning and the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle. The company utilizes one-on-one support, teaching about nutrition, and providing insights about eating healthy in order to help their clients obtain their goals. Pure Weight Loss was founded in 1989 and has become a leading company in the weight loss industry. The Pure Weight Loss system is designed to offer their members convenient, effective, and affordable results using an individualized approach. Pure Weight Loss offers freedom and flexibility to help their clients stay in control. Visit the Pure Weight Loss Web site at www.PureWeightLoss.com. ###

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(FranchisePick.Com)  Source: Some fitness clubs leave members in bad shape

…Chris Bruno, president of Burlingame-based weight-loss chain Lite for Life, said it’s not uncommon for fitness companies to change their name or shut down in response to lawsuits alleging shoddy business practices. Industry giant Pure Weight Loss, formerly LA Weight Loss, recently announced the closure of all 400 of its locations, including one in San Carlos.

After reading about Inches-A-Weigh’s closure in the Daily News, Bruno offered to honor its former customers’ contracts, saying he wants to show not all weight loss clubs are disreputable.

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(FranchisePick.Com)  Source:  PR.WEB

Smart for Life™ Invites Pure Weight Loss Clients to Lose Weight the Smart Way

Smart for Life™ Weight Management Centers is offering Pure customers $100 towards program fees at participating Smart for Life™ Centers*.

Boca Raton, FL (PRWEB) December 23, 2007 — Smart for Life™ Weight Management Centers is offering Pure customers $100 towards program fees at participating Smart for Life™ Centers*. The Smart for Life program is the Smart Way to lose weight without contracts or long-term food purchasing. Clients are motivated to stick with the Smart for Life™ program when they see a loss of 12 to 15 pounds a month** and feel great!

“We’re here to help you continue your journey,” states Dr. Sasson Moulavi, Chief Medical Officer of the Smart for Life™ Weight Management Centers. “When people finally make the decision to lose weight and gain superior health, it is imperative that they are able to make progress on a safe, effective program. Especially during this time of year, Smart for Life™ is eager to help the Pure clients achieve success on our program and not lose the momentum they’re experiencing in achieving their weigh loss goals.”

Pure Weight Loss clients are invited and encouraged to call 866-821-THIN or find a location on our Smart for Life™ website at www.smartforlife.com.

The revolutionary Smart for Life™ Weight Management Program is a science-based program for safe, rapid weight-loss. The one-on-one doctor supervised weight-loss program empowers clients with the knowledge, guidance, and motivation they need to lose weight. The experienced medical staff monitors and encourages the client’s progress until the goal weight is reached, and then follows the client on a long-term maintenance plan. Smart for Life™ physicians address metabolic and health-related problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and under active thyroid. The combination of Smart Foods and professional supervision enables the Smart for Life™ client to safely and quickly lose up to 12 to 15 pounds a month**. There are no contracts with the Smart for Life™ program and products are bought on a weekly basis.

Smart for Life™ Weight Management Centers, the Franchisor with corporate headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida, is an international franchise company with over 40 locations in North America. The company has helped hundreds of thousands of people make positive changes in their lives by helping them reach and maintain their weight loss goals.

*Offer good only at participating Smart for Life™ Weight Management Centers.
**Results might vary.

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(FranchisePick.com)

 Source:  PRNewswire
Jenny Craig Offers Help to Stranded Clients 
 
     Weight Loss Leader Offers Free Programs to ‘Stranded’ PURE clients

    SAN DIEGO, Dec. 31 /PRNewswire/ — Due to the high demand for weight
loss programs during the New Year’s resolution season, Jenny Craig is
offering support to clients of newly shut Pure Weight Loss centers.

    Jenny Craig will provide their program — without any service fee –
for the length of time left on all Pure weight loss contracts. Customers
who present their contracts to participating Jenny Craig centers will only
pay for the cost of food on the program for the time remaining on their
current contracts.

    “This new year is a landmark for our Company,” said Scott Parker, Jenny
Craig’s Vice President of Marketing. It marks our 25th year of consistently
helping people lose weight and, when we read comments from disgruntled Pure
customers looking to lose weight without losing what they already invested,
we knew we had to help. These people have already demonstrated a commitment
to losing weight in an effort to improve their lives and, of course, we
want to help anyone who is serious about becoming healthier.”

    Jenny Craig is offering this solution to Pure Weight Loss customers
until June 1, 2008. For more information call 1.800.JENNY20.

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