Latest news with #CynthiaWilliams
Wall Street Journal
3 days ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
She Always Felt Like an Outsider. Now It's This CEO's Superpower.
Cynthia Williams grew up playing make-believe in the woods of North Carolina. She was an outsider dreaming of being part of something bigger. She took that mindset with her as she started her career and scaled the ranks of and Microsoft. To fight off impostor syndrome Williams came up with her signature Wonder Woman pose: Standing up with her hands on her hips for two minutes.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Funko Inc (FNKO) Q1 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Navigating Tariffs and Expanding Internationally
Release Date: May 08, 2025 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Funko Inc (NASDAQ:FNKO) delivered net sales of $191 million, in line with guidance. Gross margin was 40%, and adjusted EBITDA came in at a negative $5 million, both ahead of expectations. International performance continues to be a strength, with Funko gaining market share and outpacing the broader toy market in Europe. Funko is expanding its global footprint with new licensed and partner stores in the United Arab Emirates, China, and the Philippines. The direct-to-consumer business remains a critical pillar, with the fan rewards loyalty program continuing to grow and drive profitability. Funko Inc (NASDAQ:FNKO) is withdrawing its 2025 outlook due to complexities and uncertainties related to global tariffs. The company faced intensified pressure in the US from tariffs and more selective consumer behavior. Shipping delays on products crossing the Mexico border hampered sales of Pop Yourself in Q1. Total debt increased by $19.4 million from the end of the previous quarter, reaching approximately $202.2 million. Funko implemented a 20% reduction in its global workforce as part of cost discipline measures. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 3 Warning Signs with FNKO. Q: Can you offer any extra color on the mitigation efforts Funko is taking in response to the current tariff situation, particularly regarding price adjustments and retailer sentiment? A: Cynthia Williams, CEO: The pricing decisions were made back in January, allowing us to discuss them with retail partners since the New York Toy Fair. Retailers view our products as a fantastic value in pop culture collectibles, priced below competitors. The tariffs led to deeper partnerships with retailers, and we decided to hold the line on pricing at $14.99, the same as our exclusives, while investing in quality improvements. Q: Can you discuss the POS trends you're seeing so far in the quarter and what you're looking for over the next few months? A: Eve Le Pendervan, CFO: In the US, POS has been down mid-single digits year-to-date but improved to low single-digit growth in the past four weeks. In Europe, which is over a third of our business, we continue to see high single-digit year-over-year comps, gaining momentum. Q: Were the price increases planned for the year, or were they in response to the original 20% tariffs? A: Cynthia Williams, CEO: The price increases were planned for the year and not in response to the tariffs. We had already communicated these changes to our retail partners. Q: Did margins come in above expectations, and what were the drivers? A: Eve Le Pendervan, CFO: Yes, gross margin came in slightly above the high end of our guidance range. There wasn't much tariff impact in Q1. Improvements were seen across product margins, inventory reserves, and discounts, with no major driver to call out. Q: Regarding the 20% headcount reduction, how should we think about its impact moving forward? A: Cynthia Williams, CEO: The reduction was challenging but necessary. Most of it has already occurred, with some attrition and planned hires not being backfilled. The cost savings will be reflected throughout the remainder of the year. For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Maryland budget deficit, Trump cuts imperil Chesapeake bay cleanup funds
After decades of frustrating delay, silt-clogged Lake Marion in suburban Severn, Md., is finally getting a badly needed makeover. The 2-acre stormwater detention pond, filled with 50 years' worth of mud from surrounding homes and streets, has been dredged out so it can capture runoff again. 'For 20 years, we'd been trying to get funding for this project,' said Cynthia Williams, president of the Provinces Civic Association. With the help of the nonprofit Arundel Rivers Federation, the community finally rounded up enough support from state and local agencies and others to cover the nearly $4 million cost. When work is finished later this year, the new pond and its rock-lined 'step pools' are expected to prevent about 11 dump truck loads of water-fouling sediment from being flushed downstream every year into the Severn River. But environmental advocates fear it could be one of the last sizable runoff control projects done in Maryland for the next several years because state funding that helped make it possible is threatened. Vote in our St. Pat's bar poll: Vote for your favorite bar, pub or tavern in Ocean City and Salisbury, Md.: St. Pat's poll While the Trump administration has paused or canceled billions in environmental funding nationwide, Maryland faces a fiscal crisis of its own. Lawmakers in Annapolis are struggling to figure out how to fill a staggering $3 billion budget gap, and legislative analysts have recommended they drain funds reserved for preserving land, restoring wildlife habitat and reducing stormwater pollution. Advocates warn that could further cripple water quality, climate mitigation and environmental justice efforts in the state. 'We're struggling … right now with these budget cuts in Washington,' said Matt Johnston, Arundel Rivers' executive director. 'Now is not the time for Annapolis to abandon its leadership role in Chesapeake Bay restoration.' To balance the state's budget, Democratic Gov. Wes Moore initially proposed a combination of spending cuts and increased taxes and fees. Environmental programs and the four state agencies that administer them faced a 25% reduction totaling $255 million. Deep as those cuts seemed, environmental advocates for the most part accepted them. The spending reductions proposed by the Moore administration left something to work with, they said. But Moore's plan has drawn widespread pushback over his proposed tax changes and his other spending cuts. Lawmakers are looking for other ways to close the budget gap. The General Assembly's nonpartisan fiscal analysts responded by recommending a panoply of additional cuts, including taking another $180 million overall from environmental efforts — not just for one year, as Moore had proposed, but for the next four years. Now environmental advocates are alarmed. They're warning that efforts in Maryland to improve the Bay and to fight or adapt to climate change could stall out. Worcester gets new hiking trails: New hiking trails now open at former Bay Club in Berlin. What you can expect. Especially hard hit would be the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund, which in fiscal year 2024 distributed more than $60 million for projects like Lake Marion that aim to reduce polluted runoff from farms and communities. The fund, created in 2010, is underwritten by revenue from a tax on gasoline and car rentals. Moore originally proposed taking $10.5 million from the trust fund to offset some of the cuts he would make in the budgets of state environmental agencies. The fiscal analysts in the Department of Legislative Services suggested increasing the diversion to $65 million annually for the next four years. Also slashed would be Maryland's Program Open Space, which uses money raised by a .5% tax on real estate transfers to acquire land for parks, playgrounds and natural areas. Since the program's creation in 1969, more than 394,000 acres have been protected. A portion of the transfer tax revenue also goes toward preserving farmland. The transfer tax brings in more than $200 million a year, a revenue stream that previous administrations and legislatures have dipped into whenever budgets were tight. Despite politicians' pledges to put back what they took, advocates point out that more than $600 million diverted since 2012 has never been restored. In his budget, Moore had suggested shifting $16 million from Program Open Space to offset cuts he proposed in general funding for the Maryland Park Service. Legislative analysts upped the ante, though, recommending a complete diversion for the next four years of the state's share of the open space funds and a halving of a similar amount set aside for local governments to spend on parks and recreation facilities. Advocates say such a loss of funding could kill land preservation deals that have taken years to negotiate. Ann Jones, an officer with a Baltimore County land trust, said a young farmer she's trying to help purchase his first farm could not do so without state assistance. 'It would basically shut these programs down,' said Allison Colden, Maryland executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Berlin singer on 'American Idol': Singer, songwriter with Berlin, Maryland, roots to audition on 'American Idol' The cuts would have economic as well as environmental consequences, Colden said, affecting Maryland's seafood and tourist industries, among others, which depend on clean water and healthy fisheries, while also costing jobs in businesses that specialize in environmental restoration. 'These projects employ dozens if not hundreds of workers,' said Nick Dilks, a managing partner with Ecosystem Investment Partners, a Baltimore-based firm that has worked on trust-funded stream restorations in Cecil County. 'At any given time, we probably had at least 10 to 15 people out there working,' he added, doing everything from operating backhoes to planting trees and spraying weeds. 'This is part of the Chesapeake economy,' said Arundel Rivers' Johnston. 'If we lose a quarter-billion dollars (through the proposed Bay trust fund cut), it would be years before we could come up with enough money to do another Lake Marion project.' Advocates were cheered recently when legislative analysts retracted one of their recommendations to siphon $25 million from the state's waterways improvement fund. But then Moore declared he would trim proposed spending on climate-related efforts by $80 million — which would still be an increase, but a much smaller one. The state's economic forecaster warned that federal layoffs are putting thousands of Marylanders out of work, widening the state's budget gap. Lawmakers have until the General Assembly's close at midnight on April 7 to finalize the budget. 'It's not over till it's over,' said the Bay Foundation's Colden. Timothy B. Wheeler is a Bay Journal staff writer and associate editor. He can be reached at twheeler@ This article, distributed by the Bay Journal News Service, was originally published on March 7, 2025 on This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: Chesapeake Bay funds imperiled by Maryland budget deficit, Trump cuts
