Sabga upset over facebook, tax-free online shopping

[hydroep]

Protectionism? Yes please...

Sabga upset over Facebook
International tech companies undermining local media
Sean Douglas

Global technology giants like Facebook that operate online in TT without paying taxes undermine local media houses that make investments and create jobs, Ansa McAl chairman, Norman Sabga said yesterday.

He shared his views as he replied to Newsday’s query about a recent $11 million loss by Guardian Media Ltd (GML), after he presented the conglomerate’s latest half year report at the Tatil Building, Port of Spain.

“I have a problem with Facebook, Twitter and the other international companies being able to sell media in TT without paying a significant penalty,” he said, likening it to tax-free online shopping. “I don’t think these (foreign) organisations have any employees on the ground, I don’t think they pay tax, and they take foreign exchange because payments go to them in foreign exchange. They have a huge advantage in the market-place but they have nothing on the ground.” They do not invest in TT, he added.

Sabga did not object to locals using those platforms, but said local media must be able to enjoy a level playing field with them.

“That does not exist, because we have property, we pay taxes and business levies and every other cost associated with the market and we employ 600 (workers).”

Otherwise, Sabga said Ansa McAl had invested very heavily in automation for GML and expects to see a return on it. He expressed commitment to GML.

“We think we’ll reverse the trend and improve on the returns. We are in a transitional period.”

The region’s biggest conglomerate made a $303 million profit after tax for the first six months of 2019, down six per cent from the same period last year ($323 million), while revenues were up one per cent ($3.1 billion) verus $3.06 billion last year.

Asked whether a lull in the local economy was a cause for the two per cent drop in profits (despite the one per cent rise in revenues), Sabga said the reason for the dip was certain one-off costs plus a rise in some costs, such as $25 million for restructuring.

“Our volumes are on par and gross profits are on par, so it is not a result of the economy.”

Sabga also referred to a new $150 million furnace at Carib Glassworks to produce cheaper, lighter and stronger beer bottles; a newly acquired wind-farm in Costa Rica and an ongoing $300 million investment in a clay-block factory. Newsday asked how the conglomerate was coping with foreign exchange shortages in TT, group finance director Aneal Maharaj said the company was now doing business in euros (plus US dollars) but said a six per cent currency conversion fee for euros was an “astronomical” charge to the low-margin distribution business. The fee amounted to $10 million, even as he said obtaining foreign exchange remains a challenge. He said the group is trying to increase its efficiency.

“The cost of doing business is increasing,” said Maharaj, saying TT is disadvantaged relative to other Caribbean nations.

Andrew Sabga, Ansa’s CEO, said the Carib Glassworks upgrade now opens up new export markets for the conglomerate to earn more foreign exchange.

Earlier Norman Sabga confirmed the conglomerate had lost the local dealership for BMW but said, in terms of their overall operations, that was financially negligible, as its contribution to pre-tax profit was less than 2.3 per cent.

“BMW established a master dealer and he decided he wanted the brand, because of the good work we had done to build the brand. So he is taking it over. He’s excited. He wants a good thing.”

https://newsday.co.tt/2019/08/14/sabga-upset-over-facebook/

[Dave]

So is only them must make /save a dollar! I have to eat ah food before u!

[zoom rader]

SCUM is all I can say

[boxy]

He does have valid points. Does fb hire locals? The media houses are propelled by advertising dollars u prefer they send home staff due to lack of sponsors? Then u might say look they sending home people those bastards.
I don't think anything can be done though as the US govt economy is propelled by service based industry. If Growley pass any kinda tax on them Trump will start a trade war

[maj. tom]

Businesses are always going to have to be dynamic based on the technology available to get products to consumers. Jeff Bezos should have sat his ass in a bookstore and cried like these Sabgas right? Fred Smith (FedEx) should have just stuck to the norm at the time and let ships carry their mail every 2 weeks right? Instead of investing and buying airplanes and technology and giving the world overnight shipping.

btw imposing the skybox online tax did what exactly? Nothing but cost the consumers more. They didn't stop or reduce purchases and force people to buy locally. It's just now more of a pain in the ass.

Elite class who don't want to adapt to changing times and technology and maintain that middle-class gap. Make sure the gap continues to exist while crying about losing jobs and taxes and other scapegoat excuses. Why don't they actually create a viable platform to compete with what the world is offering instead of complaining? If it were up to them alone, Trinidad would still be transporting sugar cane on donkey carts and Sabga would own all the carts and donkeys.

[Slartibartfast]

I agree. He actually makes a good point. Any other industry and you would be required to pay taxes to generate revenue in another country. Tech companies seem to circumvent this because they have physical presence in many places where they operate.

The solution for this would be to find a way to tax facebook. Sadly, I'm afraid that they will more likely try to find a way to tax any online payment made using US$. If that's the route they want to go (thereby further reducing our purchasing power) then I'll have to disagree with them there.

[vaiostation]

No amount ah money could ever satisfy these people.
Just now he might call on de government to put a tax on ya monthly internet services.

[Les Bain]

Literally Old Man Yells at Cloud.

[maj. tom]

Sending home people is another excuse. Diversify your company and create more jobs that never existed before! How about making a deal with streaming service and get local media on subscriptions online? May lose a few jobs, but you now have to create many more jobs to create content and maintain servers, video editing teams, etc.

How about creating a local online purchasing platform similar to Gumtree or craigslist? You think those things just exist without hiring thousands of people to look after the websites and transactions? Why Trinidad does not have local online shopping and shipping? Why most businesses don't even have a website showing what products they offer? You feel it's 1973 where internet doesn't exist and people still have to physically go to a store to get a sneakers or a tv? Won't this create thousands of jobs and explode the local courier industry in Trinidad if not anything else?

This is quite similar to the sort of shitty piracy excuses and claims that studios used and employed all sorts of copyright protection tricks and got the federal government to pass serious laws for media piracy. And did it stop piracy? Nope, what reduced piracy was when you could suddenly get all your media cheaply and easily in one place like Netflix or Amazon Prime.

[VexXx Dogg]

Literally Old Man Yells at Cloud.

While vigourously shaking money laden fists

[dogg]

He's right though.

As someone in the communications field, I see first hand how devastating digital advertising is to traditional media.

Newspapers, Radio stations, printers, ad agencies and the like have been decimated in TT

[[X]~Outlaw]

Sabga could haul he MC!

[MG Man]

GML is primarily what....radio and newspapers.....he vex because his dying platforms are losing out to the global shift in consumer behaviour?
Why pay TT$250 for a radio spot where you have no clue how many people hear it, and no clue how many of those are in your target demographic?
He should look at trinituner.com as an example of how to survive....I can run a banner ad here, and get very detailed stats on my target audience. I can tailor my ads to rotate all throughout the day, and I know my cost per click
He vex because his scores of Lok-Jack EMBA in Innovation managers can't innovate?

[Mercenary]

let the small man eat nah....

[zoom rader]

This 1% scum wants to control your life and how you spend your money.

They make 300mill profit for 6mnts and still complain. These same scum underpay people, pay very little coperation tax and want more.

Hul they MC

[eliteauto]

GML is primarily what....radio and newspapers.....he vex because his dying platforms are losing out to the global shift in consumer behaviour?
Why pay TT$250 for a radio spot where you have no clue how many people hear it, and no clue how many of those are in your target demographic?
He should look at trinituner,com as an example of how to survive....I can run a banner ad here, and get very detailed stats on my target audience. I can tailor my ads to rotate all throughout the day, and I know my cost per click
He vex because his scores of Lok-Jack EMBA in Innovation managers can't innovate?

How big of a hammer you have to hit so many heads at the same time? You're correct the market shift is to digital content that has measurable metrics, then again marketing managers are still able to convince Trinis to invest in billboards based on the metric of passing vehicles even though the occupants are either focused on the road or their phones.

[DTAC]

The 1% neo-colonialists want Trinidad to remain third-world forever. Everything should remain the same. Pay over the odds for anything not considered basic and be grateful for anything better. You think there isn't 1% money in digital agencies here.

Everywhere else in the 21st Century world, old money giving up ground to new tech money. The 1% neo-colonialists biggest fear or a Trinidadian Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos coming up and usurping them as the richest and most powerful people in the country. Keep Trinidad down, fortify their position at the top of the pyramid is their raison d'etre.

[zoom rader]

The 1% neo-colonialists want Trinidad to remain third-world forever. Everything should remain the same. Pay over the odds for anything not considered basic and be grateful for anything better. You think there isn't 1% money in digital agencies here.

Everywhere else in the 21st Century world, old money giving up ground to new tech money. The 1% neo-colonialists biggest fear or a Trinidadian Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos coming up and usurping them as the richest and most powerful people in the country. Keep Trinidad down, fortify their position at the top of the pyramid is their raison d'etre.

There are people and tuners that defend these 1% folk.

[wingnut]

He's right though.

As someone in the communications field, I see first hand how devastating digital advertising is to traditional media.

Newspapers, Radio stations, printers, ad agencies and the like have been decimated in TT

So should have the governments of the world block the internet to keep more libraries and book stores open?


Instead of bitchin about it why not be like the rest of the world and adapt and innovate to these emerging technologies

[bluefete]

THIS!!!!

Businesses are always going to have to be dynamic based on the technology available to get products to consumers. Jeff Bezos should have sat his ass in a bookstore and cried like these Sabgas right? Fred Smith (FedEx) should have just stuck to the norm at the time and let ships carry their mail every 2 weeks right? Instead of investing and buying airplanes and technology and giving the world overnight shipping.

btw imposing the skybox online tax did what exactly? Nothing but cost the consumers more. They didn't stop or reduce purchases and force people to buy locally. It's just now more of a pain in the ass.

Elite class who don't want to adapt to changing times and technology and maintain that middle-class gap. Make sure the gap continues to exist while crying about losing jobs and taxes and other scapegoat excuses. Why don't they actually create a viable platform to compete with what the world is offering instead of complaining? If it were up to them alone, Trinidad would still be transporting sugar cane on donkey carts and Sabga would own all the carts and donkeys.

And THIS!!!

GML is primarily what....radio and newspapers.....he vex because his dying platforms are losing out to the global shift in consumer behaviour?
Why pay TT$250 for a radio spot where you have no clue how many people hear it, and no clue how many of those are in your target demographic?
He should look at trinituner,com as an example of how to survive....I can run a banner ad here, and get very detailed stats on my target audience. I can tailor my ads to rotate all throughout the day, and I know my cost per click
He vex because his scores of Lok-Jack EMBA in Innovation managers can't innovate?

[adnj]

The local newspapers' business model is no longer sufficient.

*************

Introduction to the Future of Newspapers

“Newspapers in this country are not dying, they are committing suicide.”
‒ Samir “Mr. Magazine” Husni

“It’s nice to see that the printed word is still, at least for now, the most powerful medium for reporting on the death of the printed word.”
‒ From The Onion, May 2008

The newspaper industry leads the charge to provide compelling proof that the Internet really is destroying traditional ink-on-paper publishing. The data has been troubling for a long time, and gets more convincing each day. A lot of analyses gloss over the data which demonstrates that the decline in newspaper readership and circulation easily predates the Internet. The story of the decline of the daily newspaper goes beyond the web. Furthermore the U.S. trends are not fully mirrored worldwide ‒ is that because of lagging indicators or fundamentally different forces at work?

The enduring strength of newspapers is their local coverage, from community news to financial to entertainment. The reality is that city newspapers have more “feet on the ground” than any of the competing city web sites. The smartest newspaper managers are translating their community strength onto the web. Community newspapers and other weekly newspapers seem to be largely avoiding the fate of their daily brethren.

[URL]https://thefutureofpublishing.com/industries/the-future-of-newspapers/

[/URL]

[bluefete]

^^^ Is that why the Guardian has all those Community Cook-up things now?

[SLVR1]

He talks about a level playing field. They are a monopoly here and therefore, there is no level playing field when they try to cut other local companies out with their tactics that they call competition. When someone else does it, cry like a baby and want a level field.

[Rovin]

well if is only guardian losing $ he obviously have to restructure it or find ways to cut expenses


as for his other rants = rich ppl opinions .... meh

[Les Bain]

He vex because his scores of Lok-Jack EMBA in Innovation managers can't innovate?

So much this.
GATE inadvertently fueled the career student bubble. All these supposedly educated people running round with, in many cases, multiple degrees yet cannot innovate ways to flow with or meet the tech driven challenges that traditional media is facing.

The only thing they willing to do when embracing modern communication systems is to monetize the hell out of it.

At this rate, Sabga should aggressively promote communism then commission a dome to seal Trinidad off from the rest of the world.

[Arcmanov]

LMAO @ 'tax facebook'.
How is that supposed to work, exactly, unless government enacts laws and procedures to block local access?

Then guess what? Local usage of VPNs will skyrocket.

[Coppershot]

[Ben_spanna]

after the ridiculous circus that happened with a local air condition "manufacturer" that saw anyone importing air conditions get a n almost 80% import duty because of supposed loss of local revenue and Ice cream manufacturer and paint manufacturers get monopolized I dont put anything past big business owners in this country.

[Monk BANzai]

ya'll commentating on the first part of the article....while totally ignoring his follow up comment about Automating (the question we should be asking is which AI applications are playing a role in augmenting the journalistic process, and which are actually replacing journalists?) the current process, and then goes on to talk about their investments in Wind Power and other tech to reduce whatever footprint they're eating up?

Sheep. lol.

Somebody lend me a Biography of the man fadda dey...clearly his ways are winning...

*borrows previously submitted gif...

[pugboy]

That is separate issue though
The monopolistic motives should not be ignored though