Monday, June 27, 2016

Pandora Stock Rises on Merger Rumors Jill Scott Marries Longtime Boyfriend Mike Dobson, Big Daddy Kane Performs ...


SINGER JILL SCOTT MARRIES MIKE DOBSON, BIG DADDY KANE PERFORMS

Shares of Pandora Radio rose 2 percent on Friday and are now up 32 percent in the past three weeks as rumors swirl that the streaming-music firm is on the auction block.

Pandora is popular, with 100 million unique listeners each month, but it is losing money, and two months ago, Brian McAndrews stepped down as CEO and was replaced by co-founder Tim Westergren.

Pandora"s Biggest Shareholder Urges Sale of Company

Some investors are calling for a sale of the company, and SiriusXM Radio is often mentioned as a viable suitor, though there"s no indication the satellite firm is interested in such an acquisition.

In its most recent quarter, Pandora revenue came in at $297 million, mostly from selling ads, but it lost $57 million. While revenue rose 29 percent, the loss was three times greater than it was in the same quarter a year ago.

Despite the stock"s recent rally, shares were 39 percent lower on Friday than they were a year ago. The company"s market capitalization is $2.6 billion.

Source: http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7386090/pandora-stock-rise-merger-rumors

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Naval Academy grad Billy Hurley III wins PGA Tour event in Maryland


Billy Hurley III and Ernie Els’ slo-mo swing is analyzed at Quicken Loans

Billy Hurley III held the club in his left hand and fist pumped with his right. The ball disappeared into the hole in front of him as the crowd roared, and Hurley let loose the emotion he"d been holding in.

"That"s probably like the most emotion I"ve ever shown in my life," Hurley said.

An hour later, not far from his Annapolis home and the Naval Academy he graduated from 12 years ago, Hurley became a champion. He shot a 2-under 69 on Sunday to win his hometown Quicken Loans National at Congressional for his first PGA Tour victory.

"Couldn"t be a better tournament to win from all the facets of it," Hurley said with the trophy in front of him. "From just being close to home, being close to the Academy, close to where I grew up. It"s just perfect."

The 607th-ranked player in the world finished at 17 under in Tiger Woods" annual tournament, three strokes ahead of three-time major champion Vijay Singh, who said it was nice to see Hurley play well and not lose it at the end.

Hurley didn"t lose it. He only got better as it went along.

To beat Singh, Ernie Els and 21-year-old Jon Rahm, Hurley showed the poise he developed at the Naval Academy and during his five years of service. Mental toughness and focus he said help with adversity on the course, and that showed through in his 104th PGA Tour start.

With the 53-year-old Singh closing on him, Hurley was at his best. He holed out from 35 yards on the fairway for birdie on the 15th, a shot worthy of celebration and one Woods himself called "impressive, really impressive."

As if that wasn"t enough, Hurley made a 27-foot putt on the 16th to seal the tournament and wrap up the $1,242,000 first-place prize and a spot in the British Open. Hurley the family man said it wasn"t a foregone conclusion he"d go to Royal Troon because his sister is getting married that weekend in Leesburg, Virginia, where they grew up.

Open or no Open, this is a career-altering victory for Hurley, who served five years in the Navy and showed he could master drives off the tee as well as he mastered driving ships through the Suez Canal. Before now, he had never finished higher than a tie for fourth in a PGA Tour event.

Hurley celebrated on the 18th green with wife Heather, daughter Madison and sons Will and Jacob. His children held miniature American flags as they watched their father win.

"To have a serviceman actually win the event, it doesn"t get any better than that," Woods said. He"s actually truly one that did serve his country, and for him to win an event that honors the military more than any other event, it"s very apropos that he did it here."

Singh closed with a 65. Rahm, the former Arizona State star from Spain, wrapped up his professional debut with a 70 to tie for third with Bill Haas (68) at 13 under. Els was fifth at 12 under after an eventful 72 that included five bogeys and one double.

Hurley, Singh, Rahm and Harold Varner III qualified for the British Open as a result of the tournament and Smylie Kaufman got in through FedEx Cup points.

Future tournaments weren"t on his mind this week, but his father was. Willard Hurley Jr. died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound 10 months ago.

Hurley thought of his dad, a police officer, when he saw officers following his group Saturday.

"It"s been a hard year," Hurley said Sunday. "It"s been a really hard year, so it"s nice to have something go well."

Hurley maintained his focus in the final round with Woods watching in his trademark Sunday red and with galleries full of fans supporting the local boy who proudly sports Navy colors including a club head cover of the academy"s goat mascot.

All week, Hurley heard chants of "Maryland" and "21412," the zip code for the Naval Academy. The honorary starters on the first hole Sunday were Naval officers Georges Labaki and Matthew Cook, who both had met and talked to Hurley about golf and service.

"He served, for one," Labaki said. "He did his time and he"s also representing the Navy. I"ve had a talk with him, personally, also, a few years ago. He said it"s been an honor to serve, but he wanted to follow his passion, golf."

Memories of his time at the Naval Academy came back amid the birdies that peppered his round. They came flooding back once Hurley won the tournament.

"This is the stuff I remember being in plebe summer at the Naval Academy telling one of my teammates I was going to play on the PGA Tour and he kind of chuckled at me," he said. "And now to have won on the PGA Tour, unbelievable."

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2016/06/27/naval-academy-grad-billy-hurley-iii-wins-pga-tour-event-in-maryland.html

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Olympics: Simone Biles on top again at US gymnastics championships


Simone Biles - Vault 1 (end view) - 2016 P&G Gymnastics Championships - Sr. Women Day 2

Turning each rotation into a showcase for her unmatched talent, Biles posted an eye-popping score of 62.900, well clear of runners up Aly Raisman and Laurie Hernandez and everybody else on the plane.t

"It"s all about peaking for the right moment," Biles said. "I think this is a stepping stone toward it."

The gap the 19-year-old Texan has created between herself and the rest of the world during a winning streak that"s nearly three years and counting shows no signs of closing. If anything, it"s widening considering her nearest competitors are the four women who will join her on the plane to Brazil in August.

"There"s no one that can catch Simone," said Raisman after her best night since her return to competition in March, 2015.

Not in the U.S. and certainly not in the rest of the world.

Biles was nearly flawless from the start, her beam routine a 45-second showcase of precision with nary a wobble or even a peak at the floor 4-feet below. Her score of 15.7 is a significant step up from the 15.388 she posted at world championships last fall, an event she won easily. Her floor routine includes a series of hand flourishes that seems as if she"s saying "follow me" and a series of tumbling passes that are the gymnastics version of Michael Jordan at the height of his "airness" prime.

Asked to nitpick her performance and Biles paused. It"s not that she"s perfect gymnastics doesn"t do perfect anymore it"s just that she"s as close as anyone has been in a long, long time. While she pointed to nearly imperceptible miscues during her beam dismount and her first vault, even she had to admit there was little else that went wrong.

"I was pretty happy with it," Biles said.

So was Karolyi, who will have plenty to think about over the next two weeks as she tries to find the right four women to join Biles on the plane to Brazil in August. The one thing that"s not on her mind is the mental state of her star.

"Usually these very talented girls don"t have patience," Karolyi said. "They"re explosive and full with energy but sometimes they can be annoyed with doing the very same routine."

Biles hardly looked bored while putting on a show no one else can match. And she wasn"t the only one who looked ready for the stage that awaits in Brazil.

Raisman wanted to "vomit" while starting out on beam, where she won bronze in London four years ago. She didn"t exactly look nervous while putting up a 15.150, something she credited on the poker face she inherited from her father. After beating herself up for months after a poor showing by her standards anyway at world championships last fall, Raisman is right back where she was in 2012, maybe even a bit better.

Defending Olympic champion Gabby Douglas, who won the American Cup and in Italy earlier this spring, wasn"t quite as sharp. She wobbled twice on beam and needed a world-class save to stay on at one point. Yet she did to avoid a major deduction, a trait Karolyi welcomes nearly as much as a flawlessly executed routine. Still, her score of 58.9 needs to improve on Sunday to remove any lingering doubt.

"I just got a little bit relaxed and let things slip," she said. "I need to stay aggressive. The confidence level is there."

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sports/4049385-155/olympics-simone-biles-on-top-again

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Listen to the West Coast Remix of Fat Joe and Remy Ma"s All The Way Up, Featuring Snoop Dogg, The Game & E-40


French Montana, Fat Joe & Remy Ma -- 2016 BET Awards Rehearsal

If theres an easy candidate for song of the summer, its Fat Joe and Remy Mas All The Way Up, which has emerged as one of the biggest rap songs of the year in recent weeks. Fat Joe put his infamous issues with Jay Z aside so Hov could appear on the city-stopping official remix to the song, Fabolous and Meek Mill dropped their remix a day laterMeek sent some darts at Drake while he was at itand Jadakiss gave the hearty New York banger a raspy facelift.

Its been somewhat of a unifying track, and that unity has hit the West coast, as Snoop Dogg, The Game and E-40 team up for the official Westside Remix of the song. Listen to that below.

Source: http://thesource.com/2016/06/22/listen-to-the-west-coast-remix-of-fat-joe-and-remy-mas-all-the-way-up-featuring-snoop-dogg-the-game-e-40/

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Sunday, June 26, 2016

Here"s why Brexit might not be so bad for Burberry


How to Fundamentally Analyse Stock Statistics on Yahoo Finance 2014

Most analysts are saying that the UKs vote to leave the European Union will damage almost every retail sector in Europe across the board. It makes simple sense: A weaker British Pound means that British companies will spend more on production costs in other countries, and will have to pass on those expenses to the shoppers by raising prices; if its harder for other EU citizens to visit England, it may also cut down on shopping by European tourists. Theres good reason 90% of the members of the British Fashion Council wanted to stay in the union, and why British fashion designers are vocally unhappy about the vote.

But while Brexit is a negative for the sector overall, according to a new note from RBC Europe Limited, it is merely mixed for Burberry Group.

The real beneficiary of a weakening GBP should be Burberry, says analyst Rogerio Fujimori in the note. Currency fluctuations tend to shift travel flows and luxury purchases around the globe: A weakening GBP may shift overseas tourist flows to the UK, which would benefit Burberry Group. You may have seen this thesis already in other contextsthat while the plummeting pound is bad for Brits, its nice for foreigners whod like to visit England. It means your trip to London will be a lot cheaper. So Burberrys eventual higher costs may be offset by American tourists buying up Burberry threads in England.

Burberrys exposure to the pound is an important part of this. It sees about 14% of its revenue in pounds, 15% of its cost of goods sold (COGS, in retail parlance), and 40% of its operational expenses. Luca Solca, luxury goods analyst at Exane BNP Paribas, explained to Business of Fashion why those numbers mean Burberry, and other British brands that do a lot of business outside of Britain, could actually thrive post-Brexit: If their costs are largely in pounds, but their revenues are in euros or dollars, the euros and dollars they would get from abroad would buy a larger amount of pounds."

It helps that Burberry, which had 2.5 billion in revenue last year (in pounds), is not just the UKs largest luxury brand but by far its best-known.

In the most recent Brand Finance Global 500 report, Burberry was No. 2 in all of Britain for brand awareness, second only to Unilever. HSBC and Johnnie Walker are among the brands Burberry jumped to go from No. 6 the year before to No. 2. And despite Brexit, Burberry stock (BRBY.L) is up 2% in the past 5 days, and up nearly 2% in after-hours trading in England since Friday.

--

Daniel Roberts is a writer at Yahoo Finance, covering sports business and technology. Follow him on Twitter at @readDanwrite.

Read more of Yahoo Finances Brexit coverage:

Harry Potter author JK Rowling unleashes fury at Brexit voters

British millennials have themselves to blame for Brexit

Donald Trumps Brexit bump wont last

Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-brexit-bad-for-british-luxury-brands-but-might-not-be-so-bad-for-burberry-150904975.html

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5 players with Michigan ties picked in 2nd round of NHL draft


Oilers select Puljujarvi 4th overall at NHL Draft

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The referee holds back USA"S Alex Debrincat after his 20 minutes game misconduct penalty during the 2016 IIHF World Junior Ice Hockey Championship match between USA and Canada in Helsinki, Finland Saturday, Dec. 26, 2015.(Photo: Roni Rekomaa, AP)

Five players with local ties went in the second round of the NHL draft on Saturday and three players heading to Michigan were selected in the later rounds.

Forward William Lockwood (Bloomfield Hills) who played on USA Hockeys National Team Development Program in Plymouth and will be a freshman for U-M this coming season, was drafted 64th overall by the Vancouver Canucks in the third round.

Jack LaFontaine, a goaltender for Janesville (NAHL), who will also be an incoming freshman at U-M, was drafted 75th overall by the Carolina Hurricanes in the third round.

The New York Islanders drafted forward Nick Pastujov, another U-M commit, in the seventh round.

Erie (OHL) forward Alex DeBrincat of Farmington Hills was taken in the second round, 39th overall, by the Chicago Blackhawks.

Two defensemen from USA Hockeys National Team Development Program went in the second round. Chad Krys was selected 45th overall by the Blackhawks and Ryan Lindren went 49th overall to the Boston Bruins.

Tri-City (USHL) forward Wade Allison, who is committed to Western Michigan, was selected 52nd overall by the Philadelphia Flyers.

London (OHL) goaltender Tyler Parsons (Chesterfield) was drafted in the second round, 54th overall, by the Calgary Flames.

Three players from the Saginaw Spirit were drafted. Defenseman Markus Niemelainen was selected in the third round by the Edmonton Oilers. The Spirit had two players drafted in the fourth round. Defenseman Keaton Middleton was picked by the Toronto Maple Leafs, while goaltender Evan Cormier was selected by the New Jersey Devils.

The Flint Firebirds (OHL) had two players drafted. The Montreal Canadiens drafted forward Will Bitten in the third round and the Dallas Stars drafted forward Nicholas Caamano in the fifth round.

The Muskegon Lumberjacks had two players drafted. Forward Rem Pitlick was drafted by the Nashville Predators in the third round, while forward Collin Adams (Brighton) was drafted in the sixth round by the New York Islanders.

Source: http://www.freep.com/story/sports/nhl/red-wings/2016/06/26/nhl-draft-local-products/86401048/

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Chris Evans and Jenny Slate Take Their Relationship Public: "I Got My Dream 7th Grade Boyfriend"


Jenny Slate | Getting Doug with High

Its official! Chris Evans and Jenny Slate took their relationship public and made their red carpet debut at the premiere of The Secret Life of Pets in New York City on Saturday, June 25.

The couple posed arm-in-arm at the premiere of her new animated film at NYCs Lincoln Center, where Slate, 34, looked stunning in a red lace Huishan Zhang dress. Evans, 34, kept it casual in a light polo, black pants and a navy blue baseball cap.

PHOTOS: Better After Breakup!

I havent really had a large premiere before, so its nice to have someone who knows how it goes, Slate told Entertainment Tonight on Saturday afternoon of attending the premiere with the Avengers star. Its kind of like I got my dream 7th grade boyfriend. We didnt know each other growing up, but we grew up about a half hour away from each other. Weve been friends for a while.

Jenny Slate and Chris Evans at the premiere of "The Secret Life of Pets." Dave Allocca/Starpix/REX/Shutterstock

After watching the film, Evans tweeted, The Secret Life of Pets was fantastic! @jennyslate was a personal favorite. @KevinHart4real was hilarious too. Be sure to check it out!!

PHOTOS: Celebrity Couples and How They First Met: Love Story Beginnings

Us Weekly exclusively revealedthat the couple started dating shortly after the Obvious Child actress split from her husband of three years, Dean Fleischer-Camp, in May. Slate and Evans will star together in the upcoming drama Gifted.

See Chris Evans Hilarious 1998 Internship Cover Letter Kit Harington, Chris Evans and More Sing Prince Songs on His 58th B-day Jenny Slate Is Dating Chris Evans After Split From Husband

In April, the comedienne opened up about her first impression of the Hollywood hunk during an interview on Anna Faris Unqualified podcast.

PHOTOS: Stars As Superheroes

I didnt know what to expect when I met Chris, she explained. I was a little scared because I kind of felt like, well, I dont know him. Hes a giant man with huge muscles and hes Captain America. How could we ever connect? [But the] first night that we hung out, I was like, wow, I could hang out with Chris for, like, 90 hours.

Slate and film editor Fleischer-Camp decided to end their marriage in early May. It wasnt a bad breakup, a source told Us at the time, noting that the couple simply grew apart.

Can"t get enough of Us? Sign up now for the Us Weekly newsletter packed with the latest celeb news, hot pics and more!

Source: http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/chris-evans-and-jenny-slate-take-their-relationship-public-w211280

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