Nominees sought for innovation awards
The Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce is seeking nominations for its 2019 Spirit of Innovation Awards, which honors top innovative busineses during Chattanooga’s Startup Week on Oct. 23.
To be eligible, a company must be headquartered in Chattanooga or the innovation must be developed in the Chattanooga region. The innovation must be new or different from what currently exists in the marketplace and have received or booked at least $50,000 in sales revenue.
Last year, Fillauer was chosens as the winner of the annual Spirit of Innovation award.
For this year’s awards, applications are due by Sept. 8. The award recipients are selected by an independent volunteer committee of local business leaders convened by the Chattanooga Chamber.
Beyond Meat ups outlook for 2019
Plant-based meat company Beyond Meat is raising its 2019 outlook after a big jump in restaurant and food service sales in the second quarter.
The El Segundo, California-based company expects full-year revenue to exceed $240 million, up from its prior forecast of $210 million.
Ten-year-old Beyond Meat burst into the spotlight in May with its IPO on Nasdaq. Its $25 opening share price has risen nearly 800% since then.
In the April-June period, Beyond Meat reported a net loss of $9.4 million, or 24 cents per share. Wall Street had forecast a 9-cent loss, according to analysts polled by FactSet.
But Beyond Meat beat revenue forecasts with sales of $67.3 million. Analysts anticipated revenue of $52.5 million. The company said restaurant and food service sales jumped 483% over the same period last year.
Uber lays off 400 in marketing team
Uber is laying off 400 employees in marketing, about a quarter of the marketing team’s global workforce of 1,200 people.
The move, announced Monday, follows a leadership shake-up in June when CEO Dara Khosrowshahi combined the company’s marketing, communications and policy teams.
The ride-hailing company has struggled to prove it can become profitable and its stock has traded mostly below its IPO price since its debut in May. Uber has blamed its losses partly on its costly promotions to attract riders and drivers. Those promotions are crafted by its marketing department.
Khosrowshahi installed Jill Hazelbaker to lead up marketing and public affairs in June. On Monday they announced a more centralized structure for marketing and said they want to build a consistent brand narrative across audiences, products and regions.
Ryanair trims jobs from 737 Max cuts
European budget airline Ryanair is looking at flight cuts, slower growth and job losses if deliveries of Boeing 737 Max jets keep being delayed.
The airline was supposed to get 58 Maxes by next summer, but it now expects 30 before the peak summer travel season, CEO Michael O’Leary said on an earnings conference call Monday. That could drop to zero, he said, using an expletive to talk about how Boeing needed to get its act together to win regulatory approval to get the planes back in the air.
The Max has been grounded since March and deliveries suspended after crashes that killed 346 people in Indonesia and Ethiopia. Boeing is working to fix faulty flight-control software that has been blamed in the crashes.
Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline, isn’t the only carrier being hurt by problems with the Max. Last week, two of the three large U.S. airlines with the jets updated estimates of how the plane is hurting their bottom lines. American Airlines said its 2019 earnings will be reduced by $400 million – $50 million more than its previous estimate. Southwest Airlines said the grounding trimmed $175 million from its second-quarter operating profit.