Latest news with #crossBorder
CNA
5 days ago
- Business
- CNA
Stablecoin issuer Circle's revenue jumps in first quarterly results since IPO
Circle posted higher revenue and reserve income on Tuesday in its maiden quarterly results since going public in June, driven by increased circulation of its USDC stablecoin and stronger subscription services. Shares rose 13 per cent, solidifying the rally that has pushed the company's stock to more than five times its initial public offering price. Stablecoins, which are digital tokens backed by low-risk assets such as the U.S. dollar or Treasuries, have drawn increasing investor attention, especially since the Genius Act was passed last month. The law has led some analysts to speculate that the tokens could be used for cross-border remittances and as a bridge between traditional banking and digital finance. The momentum has helped companies such as Circle, which issues USDC, the second-biggest stablecoin by market value after Tether. USDC in circulation grew 90 per cent as of June 30, compared to a year earlier. Circle expects it to grow at a compounded annual rate of 40 per cent through the years. After "our IPO and the Genius Act, we're seeing an acceleration of interest, with major institutions all leaning in," Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Fox-Geen said in an interview. The company's revenue and reserve income grew 53 per cent year-over-year to $658 million, thanks to a jump in the interest it earns from the cash and short-term investments backing its USDC stablecoins. Revenue from subscription and services also rose, Circle said. It reported a net loss of $482 million, primarily due to two non-cash charges related to its IPO, including costs for employee stock awards that vested when the company went public and a higher valuation of its convertible debt following a rise in its share price.
Irish Times
07-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Stelios Haji-Ioannou of Easyjet: I was asked ‘how are you going to fly into Belfast with an orange airline?'
Stelios Haji-Ioannou's interest in Ireland came in stages – first when EasyJet began flying out of Belfast in the late 1990s and then, more importantly, after he met a Kerry woman, Orla Murphy, and, later, became father to Aria, the couple's seven-year-old daughter. The Greek Cypriot billionaire knows a few things about divided islands: 'One of my earliest memories as a kid is the invasion of Cyprus in 1974. I remember we were all scared,' he says, 'it was a very vivid memory.' Today, Haji-Ioannou – better known simply as Stelios – has created the inaugural North –South Business Co-operation Awards with Co-operation Ireland to encourage cross-Border entrepreneurship and start-ups on the island of Ireland. His connection with Ireland goes back to the early days of the low-cost carrier EasyJet. In 1995, he had considered flying out of Belfast but shied away because 'it was considered always a difficult route'. READ MORE Fortunes, however, changed after the 1998 Belfast Agreement, with EasyJet beginning with three flights a day from Belfast. Today, it carries seven out of every 10 people who fly into or out of Northern Ireland. Stelios Haji-Ioannou of EasyJet at Glin Castle. Photograph: Mark Hennessy Remembering the early days, he tells The Irish Times: 'I remember one of the comments in '98 was, 'How are you going to fly into Belfast with an orange airline?'. I mean, can you imagine?' The billionaire is speaking in a bedroom in Glin Castle, one of three temporarily converted into offices while the family holiday in Co Limerick on the banks of the Shannon, in the ancestral home of the Knights of Glin. The historic location – the home of the Black Knight of Glin, one of the Fitzgeralds of Desmond, since the early 14th Century – is popular with the family because it 'is close to home' for his partner, whom he met after she had moved to Monaco. 'My daughter's name is Aria, A-R-I-A. We chose a name equally easy to pronounce in Greek and English. We tried others, but they weren't so easy to pronounce,' Haji-Ioannou says. In time, he hopes his daughter will take charge of the family's philanthropic arm, the Stelios Foundation: 'I wanted to do something more substantial in Ireland because, obviously, I'm spending time here. 'I have family here now. One day, hopefully, this foundation will be run by her, and I want to have a bigger project in Ireland.' Stelios Haji-Ioannou is no longer involved as an executive in EasyJet. Photograph: Chris Radcliffe/Bloomberg Many of his relatives left Cyprus after the 1974 invasion. In 2004, he returned after the border crossings that divided the Mediterranean island were opened: 'It was a time when I had started seriously to think about giving back to society.' So began in 2008 the Stelios Bi-Communal Business Co-Operation Awards, which offers more than €400,000 in prizes annually to Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot business people who are prepared to work together. It started quietly because he was not sure how welcome the awards would be: 'Because very often in Cyprus, there is misinformation that, you know, you're a traitor if you're doing business with the other side.' Bar Covid interruptions, the awards have flourished. Winners like prizes, he says with a smile: 'But the other thing they like is the endorsement, the clarification that it's actually approved, it's legal, it's lawful to do business with the other side.' The idea to bring it to Ireland came after Haji-Ioannou listened to a speech from former Irish ambassador to London and Washington Dan Mulhall at a lunch in Monaco attended by the principality's Prince Albert. 'I approached him, and I said, 'I'm doing this in Cyprus. Do you think it might work in Ireland?' Immediately, he said 'yes', and the rest is history. He introduced us to Ian Jeffers of Co-Operation Ireland,' he says. The awards will be made in Castle Leslie in Co Monaghan in October: 'Hundreds of applications have been downloaded, so people are thinking about it. Hopefully, we're going to have a good set of first winners and then they will become the ambassadors.' Today, he divides his time in three – a third is spent on the Easy family of brands, a third goes on his philanthropic work and the remainder on investments that have diversified his interests far beyond aviation. No longer involved as an executive in EasyJet, he still gets 25c for every passenger the airline flies. Last year, it carried more than 70 million passengers: 'The best decision I ever made after creating EasyJet was to keep the name in my own company.' Aviation is getting tougher, with higher fuel costs and future emissions charges, but Haji-Ioannou sees no return to the crippling charges that passengers paid in an era before EasyJet and Ryanair. Questioned about his one-time direct opponent, Michael O'Leary of Ryanair, Haji-Ioannou says: 'He's made a lot of money, so I think he's a very successful businessman. There's no doubt about it.' The two men clashed repeatedly and bitterly during the 1990s and 2000s, with the Greek Cypriot once calling Ryanair's customer service 'appalling', while O'Leary had to apologise for calling him a liar. 'He's made a lot of money for himself, for his shareholders. Some of the rhetoric is designed to reduce customer expectations. He has this philosophy that if you lower the expectations of the customer, you can lower your costs. 'I remember O'Leary as an accountant, ex-KPMG who was very shy and didn't talk to the media. He's become this very, very prominent personality largely because the media give him a lot of time,' he says. 'I haven't spoken to him for years. In the early days we used to every now and then meet or speak. Nothing personal. Because I don't have a day-to-day role in EasyJet, I don't have a reason to speak to Michael O'Leary.'
The Independent
27-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
E-tailers eye Europe to boost sales
Chinese cross-border online retailers are strengthening efforts to expand into Europe to attract new customers and bolster sales. Eyeing the growing demand for online shopping in European countries, particularly among younger shoppers, Chinese e-commerce players are providing cost-effective products to local consumers by leveraging efficient logistics and supply chain networks, according to industry experts. AliExpress, Chinese tech company Alibaba Group's cross-border e-commerce platform, recently opened its services to local merchants in Poland. Over the past year, AliExpress has appealed to a batch of well-known Polish companies, and this strategic move will further bolster the platform's business growth in the local market. AliExpress said some local merchants can enjoy benefits like zero deposit and commission-free services for the first three months, and directly sell their products to consumers from Poland and countries around the world. Data from market research company Euromonitor International showed that AliExpress and Polish online shopping platform Allegro are the two most popular e-commerce platforms in Poland, the largest e-commerce market in Central and Eastern Europe. To better support the operations of local merchants, AliExpress has partnered with more than 10 leading overseas warehouse service providers to roll out 'certified warehouses' covering the United States, Spain, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Poland. The certified warehouses will provide faster deliveries and smoother shopping experiences for overseas buyers. According to global research firm Statista, the revenue of Europe's e-commerce market is expected to reach $707.9 billion (£526.88 billion) in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.95 per cent, and the figure is projected to touch $961.27 billion (£715.47 billion) by 2029. Hong Yong, an associate research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said European nations have high consumption capacities and efficient and convenient logistics infrastructure, while local shoppers have developed mature online shopping habits, providing an ideal market environment for the development of cross-border e-commerce. 'As European consumers have shown surging demand for online purchasing in the post-pandemic era, Chinese e-commerce platforms could further expand their footprint there by offering commodities with high cost-effectiveness and localised operation and services,' Hong said. Temu, a cross-border e-commerce app owned by Chinese online discounter PDD Holdings, is expanding its presence in European countries in an attempt to diversify its customer base. According to Consumer Edge, a data insights and market intelligence company, Temu's growth in the European Union surged more than 60 per cent year-on-year in early May, with France leading the charge at nearly 100 per cent growth. TikTok Shop, the e-commerce marketplace of popular short-video app TikTok, which is owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance, has made inroads into Europe with its rollout in Germany, France and Italy.
CTV News
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Love story inspires B.C. couple to install dinosaur duo outside driveway
Adam finds out the love story behind a pair of big, blue dinosaurs on a driveway. Dan Taylor was visiting the U.S. a couple of decades ago when he first spotted a dinosaur standing outside a gas station. 'Then I realized it was a whole chain of gas stations,' Taylor says, before showing countless photos of bright brontosaurus statues. 'And it just blew me away.' Turns out, Sinclair Gas' mascot has been a colourful dinosaur since its commercials were black and white. 'I thought, that's kinda cool,' Taylor smiles. 'Maybe everyone should have a dinosaur at some point.' But first, Taylor had to meet Alex Whitman. After he said 'hi' to her at his cousins wedding, neither wanted to say goodbye. '[We] just talked the whole night,' Whitman says. 'And had a fun conversation.' Given Whitman lived in the U.S. the two started exchanging hand-written letters, which led to cross-border visits. Eventually, Taylor proposed. 'I said, 'I think you're the one too,' Whitman says. 'And then he flew down, and we eloped.' Eventually they staged a more traditional ceremony and had a couple of kids. The only thing missing was one of those gas station dinosaurs. 'It's impossible to get a hold of one,' Taylor says, explaining how he had tried everything to buy one for decades. He didn't know that Whitman was secretly doing the same. Eventually, she found one. 'Amazingly it fit exactly in my car,' she says, of the blue dinosaur she found at a small-town store specializing in large metal statues. 'The tail was coming around and pointing [right at my face] and I'm like, 'please don't get in a car accident'.' After avoiding a prehistoric impaling, Whitman staged an unforgettable Father's Day surprise. 'It just blew me away,' Taylor smiles. 'I felt amazed and loved.' After the pair of dinosaurs were placed on the boulevard in front of their home, the couple's children named the statues Gerald and Maurice - who sports a small, black moustache they made for him. 'We joke that when we're dead and gone our kids are not going to want china or glassware,' Whitman smiles. 'They're going to want dinosaurs.' Before they moved to their new house, their old neighbours begged for Gerald and Maurice to stay, because they'd proved to be a Jurassic spark for creating community. 'There's a lady that took a walk [to see them] every day and pet the dinosaurs.' Whitman says. 'And people would come by with their kids and sit on the dinosaurs.' 'They used to get decorated at Christmas,' Taylor says, adding how people would put bows and garlands on them, alongside dressing them up for Halloween and putting bunny ears on them for Easter. Since Whitman and Taylor have arrived in Canada, Taylor has surprised his colleagues by bringing Gerald to work. He hopes their new neighbours also find these driveway denizens dino-mite. 'I think it's important to get joy out of where you find it,' Taylor says. 'And if it's a big blue dinosaur, impart that joy on to others.'
Al Jazeera
07-05-2025
- Health
- Al Jazeera
Injured people treated after shelling in Indian-administered Kashmir
NewsFeed Injured people treated after shelling in Indian-administered Kashmir Injured civilians in towns in Indian-administered Kashmir were treated in hospital on Wednesday following cross-border artillery strikes between Pakistan and India. Several people were reported killed on the Indian side.
