Behind the Rise of China’s HNA: The Chairman’s Brother

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Supported by Business Day Behind the Rise of China’s HNA: The Chairman’s Brother 查看简体中文版 查看繁體中文版 Photo Credit Jun Cen When a former Microsoft executive decided to sell his collection of eight golf properties in Washington State, a small Chinese company started quietly negotiating for them.
The company, West Coast Golf, said it was working on behalf of wealthy Chinese investors, including a Hong Kong company. Then the talks stalled.
A year later, a big Chinese conglomerate, HNA Group, suddenly swooped in and agreed to pay $137 million to buy the properties from the former tech executive’s company, Oki Golf.
The two Chinese companies had an important connection: The head of West Coast Golf, Wang Wei, is the younger brother of HNA’s longtime co-chairman, Wang Jian.
Continue reading the main story The activities of Wang Wei have been central to HNA’s transformation from a small regional airline to a vast global conglomerate, one with nearly $100 billion in revenue and stakes in Deuts..

A Publicist and D.J. Who Nurtures Underrepresented Artists

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Supported by Style A Publicist and D.J. Who Nurtures Underrepresented Artists Photo April Hunt, a D.J. and publicist, before her gig at the Armory Party earlier this month. Credit Caroline Tompkins for The New York Times If you’re out in New York City and spot April Hunt, then congratulations, you’re probably someplace fabulous.
A stylish presence in the city’s art and social justice worlds, Ms. Hunt, 36, weaves a connecting thread among the city’s cultural institutions, media gatekeepers and gifted, if overlooked, artists.
Along with her partner, Paola Zanzo-Sahl, she owns SparkplugPR, a public relations agency that works with underrepresented artists including women, people of color and gender nonconformists.
Ms. Hunt is also a sought-after D.J. on the art and philanthropy circuit (she calls it a “side hustle”), after making her mark at the Fair Trade art parties organized by Derrick Adams and Mickalene Thomas. Gigs include benefits for the Public Art Fund and the High Line, and..

Can Deutsche Bank Be Fixed?: DealBook Briefing

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Supported by Can Deutsche Bank Be Fixed?: DealBook Briefing Photo John Cryan, the chief executive Deutsche Bank Credit Daniel Roland/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Good Tuesday. Here’s what we’re watching:
• So you want to be Deutsche Bank’s next C.E.O…
• Investors are selling tech again.
• Will Wall Street’s top regulator keep going after bad bankers?
• More potential limits on gun sales
• Facebook’s growing political troubles
• Uber’s self-driving travails
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So you want to be Deutsche Bank’s next C.E.O…Imagine you are applying to be the C.E.O. of Deutsche Bank now that it’s reportedly seeking a successor to John Cryan, the bank’s current chief.
You survey the bank’s numbers to get a sense of the opportunities and challenges you’d face.
Staring you in the face is the stock price, down nearly 30 percent this year. Ugly, but it could be a good entry point. It gives you time to try out some tough measures aimed at improving D..

Recent Commercial Real Estate Transactions

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Supported by Commercial Real Estate Recent Commercial Real Estate Transactions Photo Credit Marcelo Krasilcic RECENT SALE$1.75 MILLION
221 Roebling Street (between South Second and South Third Streets)
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
An investor who owns other Brooklyn properties has bought this vacant 2,400-square-foot, three-story building, built around 1901, with plans to create three luxury rentals — a duplex on the lower floors, and two units above — and possibly extending the property back 15 feet. The building, on a 20-by-75-foot lot and originally listed at $2.1 million, has a large backyard and an attic, and offers 1,845 square feet in air rights.
Buyer: 221 Roebling Street
Seller: Rafael Medina Family Trust
Seller’s Brokers: Daniel Barcelowsky, Evergreen Realty & Investments
Photo Palisades Media Group has taken a corner space on the 15th floor at 171 Madison Avenue in Manhattan. Credit Alyson Leiter RECENT LEASE$52/SQ. FT.
$205,400 approximate annual rent
171 Madison Avenue (at..

Books News: Canceled Deals and Pulped Books, as the Publishing Industry Confronts Sexual Harassment

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Supported by Business Day | Books News Canceled Deals and Pulped Books, as the Publishing Industry Confronts Sexual Harassment Elizabeth Rusch’s picture book about Mario Molina, the Mexico-born chemist who won the Nobel Prize for his work studying the destruction of the Earth’s ozone layer, was a decade in the making. It took her nearly 30 drafts to get it right, and she was thrilled when the children’s publisher Charlesbridge acquired it in 2013. The book was finally due out next month.
Then, news broke that the book’s illustrator, David Diaz, had been accused of sexual harassment. Worried the book would be clouded by the controversy, Charlesbridge decided to postpone publication of “Mario and the Hole in the Sky,” pulp the finished copies and hire a new illustrator.
“It’s really sad that people won’t be able to read this version,” said Ms. Rusch, who posted a comment on Facebook strongly supporting the women who came forward. “But it’s the right thing to do for the book, and the..

A New Generation of Food Magazines Thinks Small, and in Ink

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Supported by Food A New Generation of Food Magazines Thinks Small, and in Ink Shayne Chammavanijakul, a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, felt let down by the way some magazines depicted Asian cuisines — framed as alien, styled with visual clichés and oversimplified. So she started her own.
Last summer, between her freshman and sophomore years, she fried corn chips and rolled burritos at Chipotle, saving her wages to pay a few contributors. She gathered enough financial and editorial support from friends and family to print 10,000 copies of the first issue of Dill, packed with articles about noodle dishes, from Indonesian soto ayam to Filipino pancit puso.
“We present things in a way that isn’t sensational,” said Ms. Chammavanijakul, 20, whose family has roots in Thailand. “Food isn’t bizarre or cool or something you do on a dare. We have no interest in exoticizing it.”
At a time when traditional food magazines are shrinking and cutting staff, Dill is part..

Square Feet: In the Catskills, New Hope for the Return of Tourism

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Supported by Business Day In the Catskills, New Hope for the Return of Tourism Photo A view of the Resorts World Catskills hotel from the lobby of the casino. The complex opened last month in Thompson, N.Y. Credit Eva Deitch for The New York Times THOMPSON, N.Y. — Patti Greco Sunshine, 57, a longtime resident of this town near the Catskill Mountains in Sullivan County, has watched as the region’s once-mighty hospitality industry literally crumbled around her.

The Pines resort, where Ms. Greco Sunshine, a professional singer, made her regional debut in 1970 at the age of 10, and which closed in the late 1990s, is now a rotting hulk.
Similarly, the Breezy Corners Bungalow Colony, where Ms. Greco Sunshine went to camp as a child, was bulldozed a few years back. It was replaced by a casino hotel, Resorts World Catskills, which opened last month.
But rather than bemoan the changes, Ms. Greco Sunshine has capitalized on them. In October, she relocated a business she owns, the Funky Hip..

U.S. Exempts Some Allies From Tariffs, but May Opt for Quotas

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U.S. Exempts Some Allies From Tariffs, but May Opt for Quotas Photo The United States trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, outlined the exemptions during questioning in the Senate Finance Committee. Credit Win Mcnamee/Getty Images WASHINGTON — The Trump administration began imposing stiff tariffs on imported steel and aluminum early on Friday morning. But it granted a brief exemption to some allies, and in a twist, said it might impose import quotas to prevent too much foreign metal from flooding into the United States.
The White House detailed the decision in a pair of presidential proclamations late Thursday night. They gave allies that won exemptions a May 1 deadline to negotiate “satisfactory alternative means” to address what the administration calls the threat to United States national security resulting from its current levels of steel and aluminum imports. The exempted group includes Canada, Mexico, the European Union, Australia, Argentina, Brazil and South Korea.
President..

The Sweet Spot: I Had an Affair With a Co-Worker. He Betrayed Me. Now What?

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Supported by Style I Had an Affair With a Co-Worker. He Betrayed Me. Now What? Photo Credit Heidi Younger Dear Sugars,
I had an affair with a co-worker that lasted several months. Though I had reservations about his character, we had an intense sexual connection. Due to the small, gossipy nature of our workplace, I repeatedly demanded discretion. He promised to never discuss my private life at work.
I found myself falling for him and needed to set boundaries, so I ended the affair. Soon after this, my co-worker’s supervisor revealed he’d been hearing about our relationship from Day 1. He knew details about my sexuality (I’m bisexual, but not out at work) and our affair that he could only have learned from my ex, who it seems was seeking validation from his buddies by bragging about our involvement.
I was devastated, but I also blamed myself. It’s not against company policy to date co-workers, but I should’ve trusted my gut. Instead, I was guided by my lust. The consequence is that..