Senate seen taking up House bill on startups
WASHINGTON – The Senate will vote this month on a bipartisan measure already passed by the House of Representatives to make it easier for small firms to raise capital, according to a Senate Democratic aide.
The move by the Democratic-led Senate to take up the version from the Republican-led House is a rare spot of election-year bipartisanship, as both parties try to convince voters they are helping the economic recovery.
The JOBS Act, which passed the House with overwhelming support last week, packages several measures aimed at easing restrictions on small businesses and startups raising capital.
The aide said that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will likely add an amendment reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank to the legislation, something Republicans have opposed.
But the aide added that if the amendment fails to get folded in to the bill, the Senate will still move to pass the overall legislation.
The Ex-Im Bank, established in 1934 by President Franklin Roosevelt, provides financing to exporters to make sales that are viewed as too risky by private banks.
Its charter is generally renewed for four or five years at a time, but the bank has been operating on temporary authority since October, and has run afoul of Republicans who have branded its mission as “corporate welfare.”
Apex aims to turnaround Wiluna gold mine
Gold mining veteran and chairman of Drummond Gold Eduard Eshuys is to take over as chairman of Apex Minerals as part of a rescue of the embattled miner that includes a $22.2 million capital raising.
The turnaround strategy includes the proposed appointment of a new corporate and operational management team featuring directors of Drummond and intends to help establish Apex as a sustainable gold producer.
It is planned for Apex’s new board to consist of Mr Eshuys as executive chairman, and Ross Hutton and Brice Mutton as non-executive directors.
Mr Eshuys’ experience in Western Australia includes as managing director of gold producer St Barbara, and being part of the teams that established the Bronzewing and Jundee gold mines.
Robin Sing Leung and Mark Ashley will resign from the board of Apex, while Kim Robinson will step down as chairman but remain a non-executive director.
Apex will raise the $22.2 million through a fully underwritten two-for-one renounceable rights issue at an offer price of 0.2 cents per share. Azur
Pierce Outdoor Furniture Relaunches on WordPress
Pierce Outdoors sells high-quality outdoor furniture. Visitors to their website can view the products they carry from a variety of different materials:
Pierce Outdoors was happy with their current website design, but felt that their search engine visibility could be improved.
Why we must not confuse the market with too much choice
There is a great talk on TED by Sheena Iyengar that shows how businesses can improve the experience of choosing and I highly recommend a listen. It is very tempting to offer the world everything – but I hate to say less really is more. I commented in a previous blog how websites that have too much on offer are more likely to turn people off than excite them especially if the website design calls for the prospect to search for the value of them becoming a customer. The example that Sheena gives is a high end grocery store that stocks over 75 different types of olive oil – this amount of choice is not necessarily a good thing – in order for someone to make an informed decision on which olive oil would be best for their needs they would have to study each one using their own individual criteria. I k