Noel Biderman knows how to sell his brand: his AshleyMadison website currently boasts more than 4.5 million aspiring cheaters. He’s not one of them, of course.Photographer: paulbuceta.com
Each week, Report on Business editors choose five stories that shouldn't be missed. Here are the 'must reads' for the week of Jan. 25, 2010.
Adultery enabler Ashley Madison may be too hot for the streetcar, but not for the stock market. Avid Life Media Inc., the parent company of dating websites such as CougarLife.com , EstablishedMen.com and the notorious AshleyMadison.com , a site for people seeking extramarital relationships, is raising $60-million and is pushing for a listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange, sources say. It's one of at least seven Canadian technology companies that could make its debut on public markets in coming months as investors rekindle a long-dormant interest in growth stocks.
You don't have to die by July 1 to save 7 or 8 per cent in tax. You just have to pay for your funeral by then. The death-care business in Ontario and British Columbia is gearing up for a marketing push to persuade consumers to prepay their funerals so they won't be hit with the new harmonized sales tax. With both provinces set to introduce the HST on July 1, transitional rules make it difficult to avoid higher costs from the combined tax by paying for services in advance. One of the few exceptions is for future funerals. If a contract is signed and payments begin before the end of June, the HST will not be added to the total bill.
For a small but growing number of this country's eBay vendors, the cheapest path across Canada lies through the heart of America. Canadians are showing up in increasing numbers at U.S. Postal Service outlets with parcels and letters destined for other provinces - and, in at least one case, a neighbouring town. The reason? It's often cheaper to send a letter from Toronto to Vancouver by dropping it off in Buffalo, N.Y., than it is to use the nearest Canada Post outlet.
The Apple spiderweb continues to grow. The lasting impact of yesterday's announcement of the company's much-anticipated tablet computer won't be the sleek, feather-light gadget itself. Rather, the iPad represents the latest tool in Apple's ongoing - and increasingly successful - effort to lure consumers in with stylish gizmos that subsequently require them to buy and download most, if not all, their movies, music, books and applications exclusively from Apple's online stores.
The storm battering Toyota Motor Corp. intensified as the company broadly extended its safety recalls, providing a rare opportunity for its rivals to halt the relentless gains in market share earned by decades of intense focus on quality. Toyota expanded its vehicle recalls Thursday to Europe and China, on top of a U.S. recall of 2.3 million vehicles last week, another one million this week, and a decision to halt sales and production of its most popular vehicles in North America. The company is working on new replacements parts for sticky accelerator pedals that could cause a vehicle to move suddenly or fail to stop. The recalls strike at the heart of the reputation Toyota developed since it first started selling cars in North America more than five decades ago and rode to global sales leadership: that the vehicles it sells have the highest quality and are the most reliable. Now, the recall fiasco opens up opportunities for competitors to win back consumers worried that Toyota's commitment to quality and safety was compromised by a rapid expansion into global sales leadership.