Forever 21 Can Not Pay Your Bills

Don and Jin Sook Chang, the billionaire owners of Forever 21, seemed to have it all in recent years a happy marriage and one of the hottest retail chains in the country.

Now both may be on the rocks.

The fast-fashion retailer, which for years was busy opening ever-larger stores around the globe, is late paying its bills, industry sources tell The Post.

The tardy payments are spooking vendors and lenders who were already edgy, having witnessed Forever 21 take the unusual step of closing two massive California stores.

Famously private about their closely held chain, the Changs have rebuffed efforts by vendors and lenders to discuss their financial affairs.

As a result, some lenders are withholding credit on Forever 21 orders.

“We are unable to get timely financial disclosures from the company,” said Gary Wassner, chief executive of Hilldun, a New York lender in the retail industry that recently pulled its credit lines for Forever 21.

Without Hilldun providing a financial backstop for suppliers, it becomes harder for the Changs to get clothes made. “We are approving on an order-by-order basis,” Wassner said.

Lenders are jittery because Forever 21 is paying its vendors about 30 days late.

Pearl-Vina Co., one of the Los Angeles-based retailer’s major factories in China, is asking other customers to pay their bills early because Forever 21 has been slow to pay, according to vendors.

The fast-fashion retailer did not respond to requests for comment.

Forever 21’s financial woes are also fueling rumors that the pair who built a single LA store into a global chain of 700 by catering to trendy, cost-conscious young women are on shaky ground as well, sources said.

The Changs Korean immigrants who spun a rags-to-riches tale of washing dishes, cleaning offices and pumping gas before achieving the American dream  are worth a combined $4.4 billion, according to Forbes.

Their two Ivy League-educated daughters, Linda and Esther, are taking a more active role in the company, sources said.

“After having a great five- to 10-year run, they probably don’t have the cash flow they had before when they were the ones taking market share,” said RBC Capital Markets analyst Brian Tunick, adding that “our contacts in the channel have estimated that they’ve had negative same-store sales for the past several years.”

Shoppers have grown tired of Forever 21’s inexpensive togs  priced from $4 to $20 as traffic in its stores has declined sharply, say industry experts.

“Like many teen retailers, they were drinking too much of their own Kool-Aid and overexpanded the store fleet both in terms of units and square feet with new stores averaging over 35,000 square feet and some stores over 100,000 square feet,” said Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners.

Recently, the retailer launched an off-price concept, F21 Red, of which there are about 30 stores.

“It’s crazy to think that people would want stuff cheaper than what Forever 21 sells,” said A-Line Partners retail consultant Gabriella Santaniello.

Universities Preferred by Parents and Children in US

The Princeton Review has conducted a survey on universities to which they would like Preuniversitarios Go Students and Their Parents , What son Challenges together that they face and what makes them choose one or another university.

When starting college, there are many factors to consider , for both young people and their parents . To learn more about the centers preferred by college futures and their parents , the challenges the admission process and the college experience in general, and what studies are the reasons for choosing one or another institution , the magazine Princeton Review has conducted a survey of 12,062 people , 9,650 pre-university waiting for acceptance to college and 2,412 of their parents, from all 50 US states .

United States has more than 4,000 colleges, universities and non-university educational options are vast. With regard to universities, many of which are prestigious and recognized worldwide. The magazine consulted senior high schools and parents about what the college you wish to attend, and the results revealed mentions of up to 700 different institutions. These are the 10 centers they chose:

The University has several benefits for those attending. When consulting senior high schools and parents about what they see as the main benefits, most young people (45%) believe that the main benefit is "a potentially better job and a higher salary", while 31% believe it is the "exposure to new ideas" and 24% perceive education as the primary advantage.

48% of parents agree with young people about the possibility of better employment and remuneration as the main benefit of university education, followed by 28% who considers education as the primary, and 24% prefer "exposure to new ideas."

In both cases, 99% of them feel that the experience definitely worth it.

Regarding the Election Study Center, 42% of young people surveyed choose the one that best fit a LUS: interests. 40% would choose the institution that best sea for his career, while only 0.9% Cares academic reputation or lower costs. As the number of requests Youth sent to colleges, 43% said send Between 5, 32% Between 1 and 4, 19% Send 9 to 12.

The distance between the university and Home familiar is motivo discrepancy between the youth and parents, given that the majority of young people (63%) prefer to study at least 400 kilometers away from the house, while over the half of parents (52%) and 37% would opt for a pre-university University 400 kilometers less.

The admission process can be difficult to bear, and for 34% the entrance exam is the most difficult, while 33% consider It is more complicated to complete the form, 19% given to Expect The answer is what more stressful and 14% believe that the hardest part is to choose a tail Centers presented.

What worries Young Once in college?

39% said the level of debt that paragraph ASSUME pay for their studies redeem your concern Mayor, 34% fear being accepted into the chosen university but not alienating pagársela resource. A 20% worry they will not be accepted into the chosen university, while 6% IR concerned an institution that no sea to your liking.

Financing of Studies is motivo of concern for parents and children, since 90% agree that Aids son "extremely" or "very" necessary for university study, although a 11% of parents surveyed said it's " something important.

10 Best Software in the Business World

1: Server software

If you're still battling Microsoft's IIS platform, you need to experience Apache. The flagship open source web server software is one of the most widely used on the planet. It's free, incredibly reliable, easy to manage, and doesn't require the enormous overhead needed for IIS. But open source isn't limited to just web servers. If you need SMB sharing across your company, consider Samba. Samba 4 even integrates with Active Directory, so you don't have to worry about setting up separate user accounts on the Samba server.

2: Development

Developing with open source is a no-brainer. PHP, Rails, Perl there are as many languages to develop with as there are tools (from IDEs to bug tracking). There are a lot of options for developing for open source or with open source tools (as are there with proprietary development). The biggest difference between open source and proprietary is the access you have to the software code. Within the world of FOSS (free open source software) the code is readily available. For many developers, the Linux operating system has everything they need to develop, built right in (especially those who code without a full-blown IDE). If you do require GUI development tools, open source has you covered.

3: Security

The route to security is a challenging one, but there are many paths to success. You can opt for the "security in a box" solution and go with the likes of Cisco (a solid solution) or you can craft your security to perfectly fit your needs with the likes of iptables. Yes, the open source security route will take a bit more time to deploy (with a much higher learning curve), but the end results are generally incredible. This doesn't even address the idea that using open source on the desktop is, generally speaking, a more secure platform than most proprietary systems. Deploy Linux on the desktops and your security woes will drop dramatically.

4: Desktops

This area is where most of the pushback happens. However, you must take into consideration the fact that the daily workflow has undergone a major paradigm shift. Most of what we do now is done via a web browser. So why not deploy Linux on the desktop? Not only does it work with the majority of today's tasks, it will do so without suffering from viruses, malware, and updates that cripple a system. It's not perfect  what platform is? But it's solid, and in the end, it can save you money. That's a win-win.

5: Workflow

Every business depends upon workflow. For some businesses, a smooth workflow depends upon tools. Open source has this arena covered. CRM, HRM, ERP, BI, BPM... you name it, open source handles just about every possible acronym you can think of  and it does it very well. With the likes of Pentaho, Collabtive, and SugarCRM, open source can keep up with closed source tools any day.

6: Collaboration

Without the ability to work together on projects, your staff wouldn't be able to get the job done. So the collaboration tools you choose are crucial. You'll find plenty of quality collaboration tools within the world of open source. Cyn.in community edition, Zimbra Open Source Edition, and Kolab are just three examples of the excellent collaboration tools that exist within the open source world.

7: Big data

When it comes to big data, open source can't be matched. Thanks to the likes of SUSE, big data and open source now go hand in hand. Innovations like in-memory data and live kernel patching make open source an ideal solution for big data. It can be perfectly tuned to meet the massive demands big data places on the platform. Closed source software can't touch this level of flexibility.

8: Cloud

The major players in the cloud are open source. Red Hat, Ubuntu, SUSE, Amazon, Rackspace they all get it and know that open source is the best solution for cloud deployments. But if you don't want to go with the larger companies, there are always up and coming tools like ownCloud, where you can either take advantage of its hosted cloud solutions or build your own. 

9: Multimedia

If your company does podcasting or video for PR, open source has you covered. With tools like Audacity and OpenShot, you can do just about anything with audio or video you need  and do so on the cheap. In fact, you'll be hard-pressed to find a better podcasting tool than Audacity or an easier-to-use video editor than OpenShot. Both pieces of software do an outstanding job of creating professional-quality results without the steep learning curves or the high prices often associated with closed source tools.

10: E-commerce

If your business sells products online, you'd be remiss not to give a tool like PrestaShopa try. PrestaShop is, hands down, one of the most powerful e-commerce solutions available regardless of license. With just about every feature you could possible want (and some you probably haven't even thought of), the open source platform excels at e-commerce on every level. 

Top 10 World Banks Ranking WORLD

The last year HSBC which has restructured significantly and increased its focus on Asia – slipped from fifth place to ninth. Citigroup which has also curbed its overseas presence – fell from sixth to seventh place. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) fell to 18th place after the UK government bailout thwarted its international ambitions. 

Before the financial crisis in 2008, HSBC topped the list, Citi placed second and RBS third, measured by capital strength.

Meanwhile, Chinese banks are powering ahead in the ranking. China now has three banks in the top five places, with Bank of China moving from seventh place to fourth, and China Construction Bank staying in second place. Agricultural Bank of China moved up from ninth place to sixth.

The top four Chinese banks are also the world’s most profitable. Combined profits from all Chinese banks in the ranking are almost double those of US rivals and 10 times bigger than those of UK banks. In 2008, both UK and US banks were more profitable than their Chinese counterparts.

However, Chinese banks are not taking as much global market share as their predecessors. ICBC, which tops the ranking for the third year in a row, is aiming to have 10% of its assets outside China in five years’ time. But this is small in comparison with the global banks in their heyday.

Brian Caplen, editor of The Banker, said: “At one time the ambition of the largest banks was to have operations in all parts of the world and across all business sectors. Now they are focussing on a few areas in a bid to restore profitability. We may have seen the end of the global bank.”

While global banks are cutting back on employees – Citigroup has reduced staff by 12% since 2011 and HSBC by nearly 8% with further losses to come – China’s ICBC and in contrast China Construction Bank have each increased staff by 13% over the same period. China’s big four banks now employ 1.6 million – 1.5 times more than the number employed by the big four US banks.

In most areas of the world banks increased their profits. Suffering heavy losses in 2012 and 2013, eurozone banks have increased their profits by 123% from a low base. African banks increased profits by 18%, Latin American banks by 17% and Asian banks by 7.5%. Asian banks account for more than half of total world profits.

The worst performance was in central and eastern Europe where profits plummeted 69%, largely due to falls in the value of the Russian and Ukrainian currencies.

The best returns on capital are made in South America at 26%, followed by Africa at 24% and Asia-Pacific at 19%. The eurozone’s return on capital is the lowest in the world at just under 5%.