SoftBank Soars While France’s X-Mas Sours (For Retailers)

Sizzle

SoftBank Mobile IPO: With $23.5 billion in corporate pockets, becomes the biggest listing in Japan on record and the second largest stock market listing in history — and per reports, helps cements the tech investment fund as one of the biggest players in the mobile (and other) spaces.

Stocking Stuffers: Likely to swell a bit as Amazon offers same day delivery to Prime customers right up until Christmas Eve and the free shipping deadline gets an extension.

Global Card Payments: Gain traction, as the number of merchants accepting card payments grows by 13 percent in 2017 to 69.2 million across the globe. RBR research shows that card acceptance will grow by eight percent annually through 2022.

Fizzle

French merchants:  The protests helped spur a governmental retreat from taxes, but forcing main avenues of brick and mortar commerce to close by shattering windows and clogging sidewalks means more than a billion dollars in lost sales right in the key Christmas selling season.

Apple Ban: The trade war seems to have its lingering impact as a Chinese court has banned the sale and import of most iPhone models — though not newer ones such as the iPhone XS.  The phones covered by the ban make up about 10 percent to 15 percent of current iPhone-related device sales in China, according to some estimates.

MoviePass: Shares show easy come, easy go, as the CEO of the parent company Helios and Matheson Analytics was awarded $7 million last year – and the slug of shares (which were most of his comp that year) are now worth roughly $50.