OPRAH WINFREY AND DISCOVERY COMMUNICATIONS TO FORM NEW JOINT VENTURE:

OWN - Oprah Winfrey Network- Wow! don't you just love to hate this woman. She is just so amazing!This is one of the reasons why when she makes a wrong move, we are so gleeful.

Chicago, IL and Silver Spring, MD — Tuesday, January 15, 2008 — In an unprecedented deal, Oprah Winfrey and Discovery Communications announced plans today to create OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. The new multi-platform media venture will be designed to entertain, inform and inspire people to live their best lives. OWN will debut in 2009 in more than 70 million homes, on what is currently the Discovery Health Channel.

The venture will also include the award-winning digital platform, Oprah.com. "Fifteen years ago, I wrote in my journal that one day I would create a television network, as I always felt my show was just the beginning of what the future could hold," said Oprah Winfrey, who will serve as chairman of OWN.

"For me, the launch of The Oprah Winfrey Network is the evolution of the work I've been doing on television all these years and a natural extension of my show."

Well done, Ms Winfrey.

read more

TIFFANY SHARES LOSE THEIR LUSTRE

Tiffany, the world's second-largest jewelry retailer, reduced its profit forecast Jan. 11 after same-store sales declined 2 percent. The New York-based retailer, known for its robin's-egg-blue gift boxes, said it may consider lowering 2008 targets.

Internet holiday spending climbed 19 percent in 2007, the slowest growth on record, Reston, Virginia-based ComScore Inc. said on Jan. 7. The results for November and December trailed its forecast of a 20 percent gain compared with a 26 percent gain a year earlier.
Wal-Mart, Costco Wholesale Corp., the largest U.S. warehouse-club chain, and retailers that sell food and essential clothing will fare best in 2008, Davidowitz said.
'They are selling things that you have to have versus things you want to have,'' Davidowitz said.
Tiffany’s shiny quarter didn’t satisfy investors who pulled down shares of the luxury retailer.

By early-afternoon Friday, shares of the New York-based company were down 2.4%, or $1.16 cents, to $47.59.
For the third quarter, which ended on Oct. 31, Tiffany & Co. (nyse: TIF - news - people )’s sales increased 18.0% to $627.3 million from the $531.8 million reported during last year’s corresponding period.
Based on generally accepted accounting principals, earnings rose 239.9% to $98.9 million, or 71 cents per share, from $29.1 million, or 21 cents per share, posted last year.
Although impressive at first glace, Tiffany’s results include the sale-leaseback of its flagship store in Tokyo, which contributed 48 cents to the per share total. When excluding charges and gains, the company’s earnings were 27 cents per share.

IPOs Are Fashionable: Hilfiger Offering Seen First of Many in 2008

LONDON — Despite a sagging stock market and a slowdown at retail on both sides of the Atlantic, 2008 is shaping up to be the year of the fashion initial public offering.

Tommy Hilfiger Group may well be the first to take the plunge, with industry sources saying its planned IPO is on track for the first half of the year.

Hilfiger is expected to be followed by Prada, which, if it goes ahead this time, will likely wait until the second half.

Ferragamo also has unveiled plans to go public this year, and is expected to elaborate on them later this month. Industry sources here said Hilfiger's IPO is on track to take place on Euronext, the pan-European stock exchange that counts LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, PPR, Hermès, Christian Dior and Clarins among its listed companies.

The flotation is expected to value the American sportswear company at $3 billion to $4 billion.And Hilfiger, which is owned by the U.K.-based equity fund Apax Partners, has been rapidly getting its house in order in advance of going public.

First, last October, it inked a major deal with Macy's Inc., which will be the exclusive retailer of Tommy Hilfiger sportswear in the U.S. beginning this fall.