Can this British designer save Coach?

Coach has hired Stuart Vevers to try to revive a brand that has been around since 1941.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The British designer was hired last year to revive the Coach brand, a comeback that may be even harder to pull off than Martha Stewart's.

Coach (COH) stock is down almost 40% this year. The bad weather that kept many American shoppers out of stores this winter only exacerbated the company's problems. The brand is stale.

Known for its leather handbags, Coach doesn't have a clear identity anymore.

The company, founded in 1941, really hit its stride in the 1990s under the dynamic duo of CEO Lew Frankfort and head designer Reed Krakoff. They popularized the concept of "luxury for the masses."

They found the sweet spot in the retail market where customers wanted a bit of brand cache but at a cost that was a lot less than Prada (PRDSF) and Gucci had to offer.

The company went public in 2000 (as a spin-off of food company Sara Lee no less) and the stock rose steadily for a few years with the introduction of products like the "Hampton bag." Wall Street pushed for growth, and Coach responded by opening a lot of outlet stores, which diluted the luxury brand notion.

It also didn't help that competition increased from Michael Kors (KORS), Kate Spade (KATE)and Tory Burch, among others.

Coach's turnaround plan: Enter Vevers. The company is aiming for the higher-end consumer again now that Vevers is Executive Creative Director.

He has the track record. He was named Accessory Designer of the Year by the British Fashion Council several years ago and has worked at other brands trying to reinvent themselves -- such as Calvin Klein and Mulberry.

Thanks to Vevers, Coach held its first New York Fashion Week show earlier this year, garnering largely positive reviews.

But Wall Street is not convinced that the runway success will lead to higher sales just yet.

Related: Coach is going out of fashion among investors

"Some of his designs will be in full-price stores in the fall. You're not going to see it in the outlet channel until probably 2015, which is the majority of sales" says Evan Staples, a senior analyst at Nuveen Asset Management. He argues any turnaround will be a long time coming.

"Only if you're a very risky value investor would you be stepping in here," he says.

It's also not clear if this is even the right direction for Coach.

"Can Stuart Vevers put good product on the floor? I don't know," says Paul Lejuez, who covers retail stocks for Wells Fargo Securities. "The more important question is even if the product looks good, does it matter? Will people buy it?"

Coach is in the process of closing some stores. After the latest round, it will have about 250 full-price stores and 200 outlet stores in North America, Lejuez says. That makes it difficult to re-cast the brand as a more up-scale "luxury-lifestyle" brand when its discount stores are still everywhere.

Related: The 1% is spending: Luxury stocks soar

Buying opportunity? Robert Drbul, an analyst who covers the retail sector for Nomura, is more bullish. He has a "buy" rating on the stock, which currently trades around $34, a big drop from 2012 when it traded around $75. Drbul has a target price of $45.

"The company has a track record of brand re-invention and a strong team," Drbul says. "Coach clearly remains committed to their dividend, so from the investor standpoint, they are paid to wait and hold their shares." Coach's dividend yields nearly 4%.

Drbul also points out that many luxury and pseudo-luxury brands are fighting for traction in Europe and Asia. Bringing on a British designer with many European ties could also give Coach an edge internationally.

But the biggest "buying opportunity" may be for consumers. Many retailers are increasing discounts as they try to clear inventory after a slow winter and spring. Coach is also motivated to make room on its shelves for Vevers' designs.

So even if you aren't interested in the stock, Coach's current predicament is a good chance to pick up a nice handbag or pair of shoes at a cheap price.

First Published: July 19, 2014: 9:19 AM ET

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Can Malaysia Airlines survive latest tragedy?

Four months after a Malaysia Airlines plane goes missing, another one of its passenger jets is shot out of the sky.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The tragic events have taken the lives of 537 people in all, and brought devastation to their families.

It has also left many pondering the future of the airline and its ability to weather the latest storm.

If customers flee, it could really put a dent in its bottom line, said Justin Green, a military trained pilot and aviation attorney.

Malaysia Airlines was already a struggling company before these latest tragedies.

Related: Malaysia Air's troubled year

Even before Flight 370 disappeared, a difficult business climate forced the airline into the red for the three years in a row, leading to a loss of about 4.2 billion ringgit ($1.3 billion) over that period.

"But the situation has become much graver," said Daniel Tsang, an aviation analyst at Aspire Aviation. "Bankruptcy is unquestionably a possibility."

According to international law, Malaysia Airlines is responsible for making initial payments of about $150,000 to the families of each deceased passenger in both flights.

There will also be lawsuits to fight. Even thought it appears Flight 17 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile last week over Ukraine, there's a chance the airline could be found negligible for flying in the disputed airspace where Ukraine rebels are operating, Green said. While the flight's route was approved by Eurocontrol, other carriers were avoiding the airspace.

Those additional payments still wouldn't break the bank, Green said. Many of Malaysia Airlines' expenses will be covered by the maze of insurance policies that cover a plane and its passengers.

Very few airlines went bankrupt immediately after previous tragedies, Green said.

The now defunct Pan Am was in financial trouble long before the terrorist bombing of its Flight 103 over Scotland, but the attack did help push the airline toward its ultimate bankruptcy, the airline's former CEO Tom Plaskett told CNN.

The airline survived for two more years after the attack, until it filed for bankruptcy in 1991.

Related Passengers' families could collect millions

So far, Malaysia Airlines customers have proved quite loyal.

After Flight 370 went missing on March 8, Malaysia Airlines did not see an immediate decline in passengers, according to its April traffic report. But the number of passengers dropped 4% in May compared to the same month last year.

The airline is also waiving fees and refunding tickets until the end of December for anyone who wants to cancel or postpone their travel plans.

Overall, the company experienced a 13% uptick in the number of passengers for the year to date.

Another factor that will play in its favor is that Malaysia Airlines has state-backing. The government's investment firm owns nearly 70% of the company, which just might help it survive these tough times.

First Published: July 19, 2014: 2:09 PM ET

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Snowden asks hackers to protect whistleblowers

Ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden, exiled in Russia, speaks via video connection to a crowd of hackers in New York City.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Daniel Ellsberg, who famously released the Pentagon Papers, and former NSA contractor Edward Snowden spoke to a packed crowd of computer experts on Saturday at the Hackers On Planet Earth conference in New York City.

It was a call to digital arms: Create easy-to-use software that lets insiders spill secrets of corporate or government malfeasance to journalists or politicians without getting caught.

"A lot of blood has flowed because people bit their tongues, swallowed their whistles and didn't speak out," Ellsberg said. "You people need to do what you can ... to make it possible for people to do this without spending their life in prison."

Related story: FBI sends agents to Holocaust museum for history lesson

A clampdown on government whistleblowers began during the Bush administration -- and has only intensified. The Obama administration has used the Espionage Act to prosecute whistleblowers who leaked to journalists more than all previous U.S. presidents combined.

"You are the people who can make it possible for democracy to survive that attack on whistleblowers," Ellsberg told the crowd of hackers.

Snowden, in exile in Russia and speaking via a video connection, urged professionals to develop computer programs that hinder mass surveillance by encrypting all communication, thus making it private.

It's a technological answer to a civil rights problem, he explained.

"You have the means and the capability to build a better future by encoding our rights into the programs and protocol we use everyday," Snowden said.

First Published: July 19, 2014: 5:58 PM ET

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Murdoch says he can't buy Tribune but mum on Time Warner

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

"Sorry can't buy Trib group or LA Times -- cross-ownership laws from another age still in place," Murdoch tweeted late Thursday night.

Murdoch was referring to Federal Communications Commission rules that limit how many newspapers and broadcast television stations a single company can own.

But the Twitter message confirms that Murdoch has thought about pursuing Tribune, and particularly the Los Angeles Times.

Last year, when Tribune (TRBAA) was actively considering a sale, The New York Times reported that Murdoch was "weighing whether a bid would be worth the headache and regulatory battles."

Tribune later decided not to sell its eight papers immediately, but to spin them off into a new company, Tribune Publishing, instead. The split is expected to take effect in August.

After that point, a buyer might be able to acquire the new company -- which also owns the Chicago Tribune and Baltimore Sun.

The journalism institute Poynter said earlier this month that a new rumor about Murdoch's interest in Tribune was making the rounds, and that "various circumstances would make such a deal logical for both buyer and seller."

Anything can happen down the road, of course, and Murdoch's tweet might have been a way to blow off some steam about government regulation.

Of Murdoch's two companies, News Corp (NWSA). would be the one interested in more newspapers. It already owns Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones and the New York Post.

21st Century Fox (FOXA), the home to Murdoch's movie studio and cable and TV programming networks, is the one that made a bid for Time Warner (TWX).

There have been no new reports about overtures from Fox to Time Warner since Wednesday's confirmation from both companies that Time Warner had rejected the bid Fox proposed in June.

Related: Why Murdoch wants Time Warner

The original bid was worth about $86 per share. Time Warner indicated in a statement on Wednesday that Fox could never pull together a compelling offer (both in terms of value and the right mix of cash and stock), but that has not stopped Wall Street from speculating on a magic number that could rekindle talks.

Janney Capital Markets analyst Tony Wible, who wrote about a potential tie-up of Fox and Time Warner last month, said Thursday that he expects a $100 per share offer from Murdoch.

"Simply put, Fox has the capacity to pay more but would likely target a mix of stock and cash," he wrote in a report.

And even though Murdoch did not tweet directly about Time Warner, he did seem to hint that the deal may have been a reason why he hadn't tweeted since July 8 before writing a trio of tweets from Australia yesterday.

"Sorry, I have been busy lately with many preoccupations!" he wrote.

CNN's Cristina Alesci contributed to this report.

First Published: July 18, 2014: 4:01 PM ET

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Retirement accounts hold record balances

Fidelity says the stock market helped lift retirement balances to a record high.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The average balance in a Fidelity Individual Retirement Account (IRA) rose 15% on an annual basis in the second quarter to $92,600 -- an all-time high.

In the same period, the average balance in a Fidelity 401(k) account also set a record, up nearly 13% annually to $91,000.

The mutual fund giant credited 77% of the gains to a surging stock market, and 23% to employee and employer contributions.

Fidelity said the balance for employees who have been in a workplace 401(k) for 10 years rose 15% a year over the past decade to $246,200.

But even that balance is probably not enough to retire on. Fidelity recommends saving eight times your yearly salary.

Even more sobering, a 2013 study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that nearly half of all workers had less than $10,000 saved.

First Published: July 18, 2014: 3:22 PM ET

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Facebook says: If you Like it, Buy it.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The social media giant announced Thursday that it's testing a new Buy button feature with "a few" small and medium-sized businesses across the country.

The button is available on the mobile and desktop version of Facebook and lets customers purchase products directly from businesses. Businesses partnering with Facebook on this test can embed the button on their Page posts or in Facebook ads.

Just how few are we talking? Right now, very. A Facebook spokesman said the exact number can be counted using one hand. They declined to identify the specific businesses but the picture included in the announcement showed that one is a watch company, Modify Watches, in San Francisco.

Though the test is small for now, if successful, it could be a major win for small businesses.

Facebook launched my startup

Facebook said there are 30 million active small business pages worldwide.

"This represents a tremendous opportunity for savvy small businesses to generate sales in real time," said Brian Solis, principal analyst at Altimeter Group. "This is an opportunity for innovation."

It's not the first time Facebook has tested ecommerce ideas. In 2012, the company tried out Facebook Gifts, which ended less than a year later.

This particular trial comes after conversations with business owners and marketers about their business challenges. A lot of small businesses are sharp when it comes to mobile and digital (almost 19 million small business owners manage their page via mobile, according to Facebook) but many don't have the ecommerce platform to sell their products. This option is specifically designed to solve that problem.

When a customer clicks the Buy button, they'll be prompted to make a transaction, all without leaving the page. Processing is handled by a third party, so information isn't shared directly with Facebook (unless a user chooses to store their credentials on the site) or with the merchant. The third party will only share information pertinent to fulfillment (i.e. shipping address).

Yes, Americans want bacon with that

Right now, the feature is completely free for businesses, and Facebook has no plans to monetize it at the moment. The intention is twofold: See how people react to seeing it on the social media site, and how successful retailers are in driving ecommerce business.

"This could be so incredibly successful if businesses think about it as a new opportunity," said Solis.

First Published: July 18, 2014: 4:02 PM ET

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Google's money machine is going strong

Google co-founder and CEO Larry Page.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Google (GOOGL, Tech30) reported another quarter of surging sales growth Thursday, with revenue rising 22% versus last year. The news sent the stock rising 1.6% in after-hours trading.

The challenge for Google in the past few quarters has been convincing marketers to pay as much for mobile ads as they do for desktop ads, a task that's become increasingly pressing as Web usage shifts to smartphones.

Part of the way Google is addressing this issue is through the "enhanced campaign" strategy it introduced last year, which requires advertisers to buy across multiple platforms.

Google said marketers paid 6% less per ad in the second quarter compared with last year, but ad viewing rose 25%, giving the company strong revenue growth. Google held a whopping 68% share of the U.S. search market as of May, according to comScore.

Related: Google's plan to fight cyberattacks

Overall, the company reported sales of nearly $16 billion, beating analyst expectations. Earnings came in at $4.2 billion, a bit below Wall Street's forecasts.

Google, like rival Facebook (FB, Tech30), has been spending big on emerging technologies recently as it works to expand outside its core search business. The California-based company has invested billions of dollars in driverless cars, wearable gadgets, military robots and, through its $3.2 billion purchase of Nest earlier this year, connected home devices.

Google also announced Thursday that Nikesh Arora, its chief business officer, is leaving to become vice chairman of Sprint (S) parent SoftBank and CEO of its SoftBank Internet and Media division.

First Published: July 17, 2014: 4:43 PM ET

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Russian hackers placed 'digital bomb' in Nasdaq - report

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

That's according to an investigative report by Bloomberg Businessweek, which revealed the details of a 2010 cybergrenade that never detonated.

Although it had been reported previously that hackers had snooped around the Nasdaq's computer network, specific information about the attack had remained secret until this week.

Hackers broke into Nasdaq's network four years ago with custom-made malware that had the potential to spy and steal data. But it could also cause digital destruction, potentially disrupting Nasdaq's computer system.

It's still unclear who the attackers were. A federal official briefed on the investigation said the FBI has not developed enough evidence to conclude a foreign government was responsible behind the hack.

Related story: Google's superhero plan to rid the world of cyberattacks

George Venizelos, the FBI's New York assistant director in charge, explained in a statement to CNNMoney that the agency is still investigating the break-in.

Bloomberg's story points its finger at the Russian government, which Russia called "pure nonsense." Yevgeniy Khorishko, the Washington embassy's press secretary, said there was nothing more to say about the matter.

However, those familiar with the investigation say the more likely attacker is an independent Russian hacker from the city of St. Petersburg named Aleksandr Kalinin. The U.S. Secret Service and FBI say they caught him relentlessly attacking Nasdaq computers between 2007 and 2010. Cybersecurity professionals who covertly share information about attacks on major U.S. banks and financial players concur that Kalinin is the likely culprit.

Nasdaq tried to reassure listed companies and traders that hackers walked away empty-handed -- and the digital bomb never went off.

"The events of four years ago, while sensationalized by Businessweek, only confirmed what we have said historically: that none of Nasdaq's trading platforms or engines were ever compromised, and no evidence of exfiltration exists from directors' desks," said Ryan Wells, a company spokesperson.

Yet the fact that the bomb never went off isn't the point. The details of the attack make clear -- in real terms -- the national security threats long feared by technology experts.

Hackers halting trades for a day and tanking the stock market is now a real possibility, said Christopher Finan, who served as a White House cybersecurity expert sometime after the Nasdaq incident. He said the U.S. government needs to focus more on protecting against these kind of attacks from occurring in the future.

"It's not farfetched, and people should understand this can happen," Finan said. "This shows we're not seeing enough investment in infrastructure for systems with national consequences."

Related story: A plague of computer viruses that extort you

It's yet another sign hack attacks can have the ability to paralyze a nation. The U.S.-made Stuxnet worm destroyed centrifuges at an Iranian nuclear plant in 2009. Iran ruined 30,000 computers at Saudi oil producer Aramco in 2012. North Korean hackers froze some of South Korea's banks and media networks in 2013.

First Published: July 17, 2014: 3:17 PM ET

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FedEx indicted for shipping drugs sold online

Prosecutors say FedEx knowingly shipped prescription drugs from illegal online pharmacies to addicts and dealers.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The shipping giant, however, said it is innocent and will plead not guilty.

While some Internet pharmacies are managed by well-known chains and follow proper protocol, others fail to require a prescription before filling orders. Instead, they only require a person to complete an online questionnaire, without meeting with a physician.

"The advent of Internet pharmacies allowed the cheap and easy distribution of massive amounts of illegal prescription drugs to every corner of the United States, while allowing perpetrators to conceal their identities through the anonymity the Internet provides," said U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag.

She added: "This indictment highlights the importance of holding corporations that knowingly enable illegal activity responsible for their role in aiding criminal behavior."

Related: Top 10 counterfeit goods

It also revealed the aggressive behavior of some recipients, who would jump on trucks, threaten drivers and demand their shipments immediately. In response, FedEx would hold packages from problematic shippers at area pick-up stations rather than deliver to recipients' addresses.

The prosecution was the result of a nine-year investigation into shipments from two pharmacies between 2000 and 2010. A spokeswoman for prosecutors would not comment on whether other shippers would face charges, too.

Related: Shipping the Internet's random stuff

A conviction could mean more than $820 million in fines and penalties.

FedEx (FDX), which ships 10 million packages a day, said it has provided assistance to federal authorities combating rogue Internet pharmacies.

"We continue to stand ready and willing to support and assist law enforcement," said spokesman Patrick Fitzgerald. "We cannot, however, do the job of law enforcement ourselves."

The company will appear in federal court in San Francisco on July 29.

First Published: July 17, 2014: 8:13 PM ET

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Reimagining labor: Saket Soni is fighting for the future of work

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Some begin with a dial-in, some with the tchwap of butcher paper tearing — a fresh sheet for a group strategy session. Others are free-form, like when Soni counseled a woman struggling to organize construction workers. They walked together, did breathing exercises. The ocean sounds in Soni's iTunes library provided backdrop for guided meditation.

"When you're an organizer, nothing is too small," he says.

Conference calls can be memorable, too. The labor organizer has conducted them in church stairwells, outside labor camps, inside ICE detention centers. On Easter weekend six years back, Soni joined a conference call while marching with dozens of Indian welders from Montgomery, Alabama, to Atlanta, Georgia. Like many of the people who find their way to Soni, the welders had been screwed. Recruiters had convinced them to pay $20,000 for a green card and the chance to help rebuild post-Katrina New Orleans. Forced labor and squalid trailers awaited them.

The organization Soni directs, the National Guestworker Alliance, focuses on immigrants with temporary work visas. Hundreds of thousands come to the United States each year. Despite their numbers, they're difficult to organize: transient, for starters; vulnerable and risk averse, besides. Guest workers don't come here to make trouble. Because their visas bind them to one employer, quitting means deportation, or worse.

Soni has led guest workers to some of the ballsiest collective actions in recent history — the welders, for instance, ended up marching all the way to Washington, D.C., going on a hunger strike and catalyzing an uproar in India and the White House. A strike by Mexican crawfish-peelers — who'd been forced to work 16- to 24-hour shifts and threatened with bodily harm — changed corporate policy at Wal-Mart. Striking student guest workers at a Hershey packing plant led the State Department to rewrite certain visa policies.

More remarkable than all this, maybe, is what Soni thinks the guest workers represent: you.

"The guest workers and low-wage workers that I organize hold a crystal ball into the changing nature of work," he argues. It's part of a theory about the future of work that he's elucidated in lectures at Harvard Law School, Soros-funded forums, on television and, soon probably, in a book. "What's happening to low-wage workers is not just happening to low-wage workers," he says .

What's happening is the rise of contingent labor — temporary, part-time, gig-to-gig — and the lengthening of labor supply chains, like independent contractors and sub-subcontractors. In their wake, even American-born professionals have lost leverage. At universities, adjunct professors are paid per class, hired per semester. Lawyers who used to work at firms now contract for them. Sixty-four thousand Silicon Valley engineers just won a settlement against four tech giants who'd agreed not to solicit one another's employees. To Soni, their plights all resemble guest workers'.

Stories about abused guest workers once elicited sympathy, Soni says. Now they elicit recognition. "There's a real national panic about work that has not been named in our society," he says. "It's a United States of Anxiety."

Of course, it's in Soni's strategic interest to describe a common plight. Many Americans would resist the notion that they share a boat with guest workers; they're more likely to think about guest workers as threats to their own jobs. That's if they think about guest workers at all. Guest workers are just slightly less invisible and marginalized than when Soni started his work.

But within the labor movement, the idea that we are all guest workers now has force.

"Saket could well be one of the architects of the next labor movement in the United States," says George Goehl, no organizing slouch himself. Soni's "future of work" analysis packs as much disruptive punch as Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, Goehl says, though for years the packaging wasn't fancy. ("There was something charming about seeing him show up at meetings and take that butcher paper out of his backpack," says Goehl.) It's fancier now, enough to sway hundreds of skeptical organizers around the country, including those who work with Goehl.

Despite the seriousness of his work and his immersion in it — even his partner, Marielena Hincapié, is a prominent immigrant advocate — Soni seems boyish: baby face, sweep of dark hair, open demeanor, short stature. Without his goatee and glasses, he'd look younger than his 36 years.

He spent his childhood in Delhi, and his parents, though not particularly political, sent him to a school where Soni felt he was "in a swirl of social forces: You were writing a school play and it was about Nelson Mandela; then you were going out to protest [against] the Indian cricket team going to South Africa; and then you were meeting with Nelson Mandela because he was free.

"And we were told it happened only because of us — and because we were kids, we believed it."

With a sense of protagonism and possibility, Soni went to the University of Chicago on a full scholarship. He studied theater and, after college, worked at a theater company whose scripts were based on the immigrant experience. Rent came from sweeping floors and washing dishes and cars. He overstayed his student visa just in time for the post-9/11 crackdown on foreigners.

That period was a crucible, he says, "being undocumented and entering into a period of low-wage work, and in the meantime trying to continue to work in the arts, and eventually defending more and more people from deportation."

On the other end of it, Soni emerged an organizer. "Just because the political climate was really bad, I would not give in and self-deport," Soni says he told himself. "I would stay and be part of a rebuilding of democracy in this country." That immigrant idealism about America stayed with Soni through the horrors he said he saw in the years after Hurricane Katrina and during his work at the National Guestworkers Alliance.

He retains a sense of the dramatic, too. For Soni, strikes, demonstrations and marches are all forms of public theater — except the stakes are real and high. On the eve of a Mexican strawberry picker walkout in Louisiana, Soni met with the workers and a few others in their trailers, rehearsing and gathering courage. The boss had abused them and confiscated their passports. Everyone was frightened. The workers wrote one word, "Dignidad," on placards.

The next day, at the appointed hour, the workers rose from the strawberry fields, pulled the placards from under their shirts, and began to march toward the boss. They'd eventually get their passports back, but what stays with Soni is the beauty of it: "To see these workers walking toward us, holding these signs — what a gorgeous image," he says.

First Published: July 16, 2014: 5:31 PM ET

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