New York Post, Tuesday, August 27, 2019nypost.com27SAY WHAT?:Bizarro
bundlings like Hasbro fave
My LittlePonyand Snoop
Dogg,aDeath Row Records
artist, bring to mind these
outré matches: Candy maker
Nestle owned diet company
Jenny Craig for seven years
until 2013 and Energizer
bought Playtex in 2007.Facebook won an appeal to a
German antitrust edict regard-
ing how it collects user data
across its platforms — includ-
ing Instagram and WhatsApp
— in an initial victory for the
social media giant as it faces
wide regulatory scrutiny in Eu-
rope and the US.
The Düsseldorf Higher Re-
gional Court on Monday sus-
pended an order of the Ger-
man Federal Cartel Office to
stop Facebook from combin-
ing data it collects about users
across its platforms, as well as
on third-party apps and Web
sites. In a statement, the court
said it had “serious doubts”
about the legal basis for the
cartel office’s decision.
“Even if the contested data
breached data-protection
rules, that would not be an in-
fringement of competition law
at the same time,” the court
said.
In February, Germany’s car-
tel office issued a landmark de-
cision against Facebook, which
is led by CEO Mark Zucker-
berg, arguing that it abused its
dominant position in the mar-
ket by collecting data about its
users. The antitrust authority
said at the time it planned to
use its decision as a basis for
further crackdowns against
other internet companies.
Shares of Facebook rose 1.5
percent, to $180.36. Dow Jones
a victor in
Germany
MARK ZUCKERBERG
Win was no piece of cake.Tesla will raise vehicle prices
in China this week, two people
familiar with the matter said, a
reaction to the trade war that
weighs on the country’s currency
and threatens to once again lead
to higher import tariffs.
Price hikes that were origi-
nally planned for September
will now take place this Friday,
a sales representative and an-
other Tesla employee said, ask-
ing not to be named as the in-
crease hasn’t been announced.
A spokesperson for the US-
based electric-car maker de-
clined to comment.
Tesla is among automakers
most affected by the US-China
trade tensions, because it hasno local production yet and
therefore gets directly hit by
any increases in tariffs. China
threatened last week to in-
crease duties on US-made cars
to as high as 50 percent in retal-
iation for President Trump’s
latest planned levies on Chi-
nese goods.
A decline in the yuan, mean-while, reduces the value of any
earnings that Tesla brings back
from China and converts to
dollars. The Chinese currency
fell to an 11-year low against the
dollar on Monday.
Tesla is constructing a plant
in China and plans to start pro-
ducing cars there by the end of- Bloomberg
Tesla price hike hits China soon
Confronted by a guard at the entrance to Shang-
hai Disneyland, Wang Yan raised a package of
cookies above her head and gave voice to a griev-
ance that has roiled the Chinese nation: “Why is
this not allowed inside?”
The Walt Disney Co.’s aim to make this theme park
the happiest place in China has hit a snag. Restive
Chinese consumers, already boycotting Western
brands over perceived disrespect of China’s territo-
rial integrity, have found a new object of ire in Shang-
hai Disneyland’s ban on outside food. Dow Jones
Tizzy over Disney
By ALEXANDRA STEIGRADIs Hasbro really getting into gangsta
rap?
That’s the question on Wall Street, as
the toy giant that owns My Little Pony and
Mr. Potato Head disclosed on Monday a
surprise, incidental acquisition of Death
Row Records.
Death Row — which was founded in
1991 by Suge Knight, Dr. Dre and The
D.O.C.— was one of hip-hop’s most influ-
ential labels, signing West Coast rappers
like Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg.
The label, however, filed for bankruptcy
in 2006 after a series of lawsuits and the
imprisonment of Knight. It has since
changed hands several times, landing at
UK-based Entertainment One, which
bought it in 2013 for about $280 million.
Last week, Hasbro shelled out $4 billion
for Entertainment One, looking to seize
control of the UK-based media company’s
Peppa Pig cartoon franchise.
Reps for Hasbro, which appears to have
acquired Death Row as an afterthought,
didn’t return requests seeking comment
on its plans.
The label is now effectively an archive
of hit rap albums that frequently carried
parental warnings, among them Snoop
Dogg’s “Doggystyle,” Dr. Dre’s “The
Chronic” and Shakur’s “All Eyez On Me.”
Analysts were divided on how — or
whether — Hasbro planned to fit Death
Row’s potty-mouthed portfolio into its
preschool-focused fare.
“People I am working with here were
making jokes,” said Linda Bolton Weiser, a
D.A. Davidson senior analyst. “I can’t
imagine they’d do anything with it.”
But Jeffries analyst Stephanie Wissink
thinks the toy maker will hang on to it.
Entertainment One has a “growing mu-
sic platform,” which expanded 30 percent,
to $79 million, for the year ending March
2019, she said. The company also owns in-
die country music label Dualtone Re-
cords, home of the Lumineers and Shakey
Graves.
When the deal was announced, Hasbro
CEO Brian Goldner didn’t address Death
Row — touting instead Entertainment
One’s “beloved story-led global family
brands” like Peppa Pig.
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Post photo composite