The matter is finally settled: Pomegranates may be good for you, but they're not that good for you.
At least that's what the U.S. Supreme Court said Monday. The top court denied a petition from POM Wonderful to appeal a 2015 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals that left a sour taste in the mouth of the pomegranate juice maker.
The FTC had previously found that Los Angeles-based POM Wonderful was guilty of misleading advertising over claims that its pomegranate juice was effective in fighting heart disease, prostate cancer and erectile dysfunction.
The appeals court agreed, ruling POM could say it treated or prevented disease only if the claim was backed up by a controlled clinic trial with human subjects that were supported by "competent and reliable scientific evidence," as Reuters reported.
So POM back-pedalled on most of their claims and now only asserts that its products are are a "powerful source of antioxidants" and are "healthy, honest and beneficial to the well-being of humankind."
So while POM Wonderful isn't the fruit juice equivalent of answer to Viagra, at least it's a boon to "humankind."
Starbucks chills out
Before the U.S. Supreme smack-down on Monday, litigation-loving America saw another unusual case spring up the previous week, courtesy of one Stacy Pincus.
Now, Ms. Pincus expects value for her money, so when the Chicago woman ordered an iced coffee at Starbucks, she didn't like what she saw, as The Wall Street Journal reported. While some may see a glass half full, Mr. Pincus saw hers as half empty. Or at least, half full of ice.
What's at issue here, says the complaint filed in Illinois Federal Court, is that Starbucks charges for a drink that is really only half there. And just so the justices are clear on the subject, the document explains that "the word 'beverage' is defined as 'a drinkable liquid,' " and helpfully offers a link to to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary's entry.
"This is a class-action lawsuit against Starbucks for misrepresenting its cold drinks as having more fluid ounces of the ordered cold drink than it actually delivers – and charges – the customer for. " And so on behalf of Mr. Pincus and everyone else who's ordered an iced coffee at Starbucks, docket 1:16-cv-04705 will hear a claim for damages of more than $5-million (U.S.), plus interests and costs. Good luck on that one.
Monk business is on a roll
If they happened to be looking for publicity, 2016 is shaping up to be a banner year for Buddhist monks.
In February, Associated Press reported that Amazon Japan had launched an online monk delivery service called Obo-san bin (Mr. Monk Delivery), offering a low-cost alternative for funerals and other rituals.
Last week, Reuters reported on the 500-year-old Longquan Buddhist temple near Beijing that features a miniature robot monk that chants mantras and can answer questions.
This week, the incredible story of the British underdog soccer team clinching the Premier League title was made even more incredible by the fact that the team's billionaire Thai owner, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, had enlisted a 63-year-old Buddhist monk named Phra Prommangkalachan to bless Leicester City and its home stadium before games this season.
Some fans reportedly believe the monk possesses magical powers, but he himself debunked the idea, according to a report in the International Business Times.
"It's not got anything to do with magic. It's Vichai's good deeds that help garner support from fans across the world which became the power for Leicester City Football Club," the monk said earlier this season, adding, presciently: "I believe that all the good karma that Vichai has made will be a factor that helps Leicester to definitely win the Premier League."
All that good karma paid off in spades. Maybe Canadian NHL teams could import a bit of it.
One sweet investment
In an age of low returns, 7.25 per cent sounds pretty sweet. That's the yield you'd have got if you bought a three-year Hotel Chocolat bond in 2014. They were all snapped up pretty quickly, and you haven't seen any on the secondary market for good reason: The returns are in chocolate.
Investor dividends are paid in the form of a Hotel Chocolat Card that can be used to purchase products at the upmarket British confectioner's stores, cafés, restaurants and online. At maturity, the principal is returned or can be reinvested annually.
The company devised the novel form of cash raise years ago after it decided it didn't want to go the private equity route. And it's worked out just fine, with Hotel Chocolat floating on London's junior market, the AIM, on Thursday.
The offering pulled in £55.5-million ($103.5-million) to value the chocolate chain at £167-million, the Financial Times reported, earning founding partners Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris a payday of £43.5-million between them and two-thirds of the stock. Sweet indeed.
A new technology table?
There's a dizzying array of technical indicators out there that can help predict which way a market is likely to move. For tech investors, the one they might want to pay a little closer attention to is the table tennis index.
Okay, so it's not actually a real index, but the fortunes of the table tennis business appear to have an eerily close correlation to the state of the technology sector in Silicon Valley.
Well into 2014, Twitter had been placing regular orders for tables with Billiards Wholesale of San Jose, when owner Simon Ng suddenly found them drying up, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Twitter last week reported lacklustre results for the first quarter, with revenue growth falling short of analyst expectations and sliding user growth.
Mr. Ng told the WSJ his sales in the first quarter sank 50 per cent from the previous quarter. The report noted that U.S. startup funding dropped 25 per cent, according to Dow Jones VentureSource.
Other sellers have noticed a similar trend, including David Vannatta of Sports Authority in San Francisco, which saw a decline in sales since the end of last year.
A spokesman for Twitter suggested hopefully that the reduction in orders may not necessarily be a reflection of the company's performance.
"I guess we bought really sturdy ones," Jim Prosser said.