MEXICO CITY — Cartier, the luxury jewelry brand, is not known for giving out gifts, but in the case of one Mexican guy, they pretty much did.

Rogelio Villarreal was browsing Cartier’s website when he stumbled upon an offer that appeared too good to be true. “I broke out in a cold sweat,” he posted on his X account, previously known as Twitter.

Luxury Jewelry Maker Cartier Doesn’t Give Stuff Away, But They Pretty Much Did For One Man In Mexico

Cartier made a mistake and advertised gold-and-diamond earrings for 237 pesos ($14) rather than the exact price of 237,000 pesos ($14,000). Villarreal ordered two sets.

What ensued was months of back-and-forth, during which he claimed Cartier offered him a consolation gift instead of the jewelry, and Mexican officials supported his argument that the corporation should uphold the listed price.

Villarreal eventually received the earrings last week at his price, and he posted a video online of himself unwrapping them. But he quickly grew tired of the public attention, realizing that not all that glitters is gold, and posted on Monday, “Alright already, talk about something else, I’m tired of the earrings being the only thing anyone knows about my personality.”

Villarreal’s case had become a lightning rod online during a particularly polarizing period in Mexico, ahead of the June 2 presidential elections.

Some onlookers chastised Villarreal for taking advantage of what they perceived as a genuine error by the high-end jewelry manufacturer. Some claimed he should return the earrings or pay taxes on them. Some called him a thief.

Luxury Jewelry Maker Cartier Doesn’t Give Stuff Away, But They Pretty Much Did For One Man In Mexico

Villarreal, a doctor doing his medical residency, claimed he had to fight for months to get the company to deliver and that it offered to give him a bottle of champagne instead.

The corporation did not reply to inquiries for comment.

“I have the worst luck in the world, and I’ve never made any money, and what I do have is because I bought it,” Villarreal posted on social media. However, he could now purchase two $14,000 sets of earrings for only around $28.

He says he gave one of them to his mom.

“It feels great and it’s cool not to be the underdog for once in my life,” Villarreal said.

Profeco’s representative, Jesús Montaño, validated Villarreal’s account of his struggle.

Luxury Jewelry Maker Cartier Doesn’t Give Stuff Away, But They Pretty Much Did For One Man In Mexico

“He filed a complaint in December,” Montaño explained. “There is a conciliation hearing scheduled for May 3, but the consumer already received his purchase.”

When asked about ethics, Montaño stated that corporations “have to respect the published price.” If an error occurs, “it’s not the consumer’s fault.”

SOURCE – (AP)

Peloton is shedding approximately 400 jobs worldwide as part of a restructuring exercise, and its CEO, Barry McCarthy, is stepping down after two years as the company works to turn around its business.

Shares fell approximately 2% in morning trading to $3.16.

Peloton has been working on a major rebranding effort since last year, transitioning from a vendor of luxury workout bikes and equipment to a health technology provider for all.

Peloton Cutting About 400 Jobs Worldwide; CEO McCarthy Stepping Down

During the coronavirus outbreak, the New York corporation enjoyed extraordinary sales growth. Its stock price increased by more than fivefold in 2020 as lockdowns made its expensive bikes and treadmills popular among clients who pay a monthly subscription to partake in interactive workouts.

However, sales began to decline in 2021 as vaccines permitted individuals to leave their houses more freely, including for gym visits.

The corporation lost $1.26 billion in the fiscal year ending in June, plus an extra $350 million in the six months ending in December. In fiscal 2023, free cash flow, or the amount left over after paying corporate expenses, was negative $470 million.

The losses continue. Peloton disclosed on Thursday that the company lost $167.3 million in the third quarter or 45 cents per share. While this is better than the $275.9 million loss, or 79 cents per share, announced a year ago, it is still below the 39 cent loss that Zacks Investment Research analysts had predicted. Revenue was $717.7 million, below Wall Street’s estimate of $719.9 million.

It decreased its full-year sales projection by $25 million to $2.675 billion to $2.7 billion, down from $2.8 billion last year.

Peloton Cutting About 400 Jobs Worldwide; CEO McCarthy Stepping Down

Peloton Interactive Inc. announced Thursday that the job cuts represent around 15% of its global workforce. The restructuring initiatives, intended to reduce annual run-rate expenses by more than $200 million by the end of fiscal 2025, include continuing retail showroom closures.

The job losses are just the latest round for the corporation, which said in October 2022 that it would lose around 500 jobs in addition to the almost 800 layoffs it made in August of the same year.

McCarthy, who is also stepping down as president and board member, will continue to serve as Peloton’s strategic adviser until the end of the year.

McCarthy had taken over as CEO from founder John Foley to turn around a company that had endured multiple setbacks, ranging from marketing mistakes to recalls. At Peloton, he worked hard to change the company’s focus from expensive hardware to software and a fee-based app.

Peloton Cutting About 400 Jobs Worldwide; CEO McCarthy Stepping Down

McCarthy wrote in an email to Peloton’s team this morning that the recently announced job layoffs were a time of “dealing with the world as it is and not as we want it to be.”

“Hard as the decision has been to make additional headcount cuts, Peloton simply had no other way to bring its spending in line with its revenue,” he said in a statement.

Peloton announced that Chairperson Karen Boone and Director Chris Bruzzo will serve as interim co-CEOs while it searches for its next CEO. Jay Hoag, a board member, will become the new chairwoman.

SOURCE – (AP)

The Liberal government’s resolution to introduce Budget 2024 in the House earlier today did not include Chrystia Freeland’s proposed capital gains tax adjustments.

These measures, which include raising the capital gains inclusion rate from half to two-thirds, increasing the Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption, and creating a new incentive for entrepreneurs, have sparked strong opposition from the country’s technology elite.

During a news conference today, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland reiterated the federal government’s support for these policies but declined to answer journalists’ inquiries about why they were not included in today’s motion. It now looks that Freeland intends to seek approval from Parliament through separate legislation.

“We are very committed to the capital gains measures that we put forward in the budget,” said Freeland, who added that “further details and implementing legislation will be forthcoming,” but did not provide a particular date or explain why they were absent from today’s motion.

When asked if she had removed these capital gains tax provisions from this bill to compel the Conservatives to vote on this specific issue, Freeland replied, “No,” and grinned.

The motion contains several of the other measures outlined in Budget 2024. The federal government restated its plans for the new capital gains measures to take effect on June 25, but has yet to provide draft legislation or a detailed technical briefing on these changes.

Capital Gains Tax a Political Football

Ben Bergen, president of the Council of Canadian Innovators, told BetaKit that it is unclear whether implementing capital gains changes through separate legislation is a “political football,” or if it simply indicates that the government has “not done its homework” on what the capital gains changes will mean for the economy.

“[This government] really struggles at some of the most basic elements of execution, and whether or not they’re able to deliver it on the 25th [is a] question mark,” Bergen told CNN. “But given what we’ve seen so far from this government over the last eight years, don’t hold your breath.”

“One simple reason for not including the capital gains tax changes in the budget implementation bill is that the government has not yet written them,” CD Howe Institute CEO William Robson told BetaKit.

“The budget provided only additional details on the rules before the higher rates go into effect on June 25th. “We may not have clarity even then,” Robson warned. “The government might believe this is smart politics. “It’s bad tax policy.”

BetaKit has contacted the Ministry of Finance for comment on why these changes were excluded from today’s motion, when it intends to share the full details of these changes and introduce legislation to support them, and whether such legislation is expected to be implemented by June 25, when the changes are scheduled to take effect.

Canadian tech executives outraged

These capital gains tax adjustments are intended to fund billions of dollars in new expenditure on housing and other priorities while also increasing tax equity between middle-class and wealthy Canadians. Freeland referred to them as the “fiscal foundation” for the government’s other investments.

“Our view is it is absolutely fair to ask those in our country who are at the very top to contribute a little bit more, and that is why we put forward a plan—which we are absolutely committed to—to increasing the capital gains inclusion rate,” Freeland said in a statement.

However, many Canadian tech executives are outraged by them: over 2,000 have signed an open letter urging the federal government to reconsider, claiming that they will hinder tech entrepreneurship and investment while exacerbating Canada’s already-existing productivity difficulties.

In a recent op-ed for The Globe and Mail, Robson stated that the next two months will likely be a “scramble” as the government attempts to issue the rules before June 25. Robson said that the government should “back up the budget’s capital gains tax proposals with rules or abandon them.”

Robson also remarked that the government may not be concerned about completing its deadline. “The June implementation of a higher inclusion rate that is retroactive—affecting past gains, not just those that accrue in the future—matters more to its revenue plans than the permanent changes,” Robson stated in an email.

Bergen noted that putting the capital gains measures to a vote suggests the government is attempting to “line up political parties” by positioning the Conservatives to vote against the reforms. On the other hand, he speculated that given the extensive—but not universal—backlash from Canadian tech executives and others, the government may be aiming to “remove the problem child” from the budget.

Bergen stated that the impact of these measures on businesses, employees, and investors will be highly depending on how the new laws are implemented. “The fact that we have so much ambiguity and chaos in this process is again just another indication of where this government is,” he said.

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