Index & Mutual Funds

Lesinurad, originally developed by Ardea Biosciences, was acquired by AstraZeneca through the acquisition of Ardea in June 2012. It works to reduce the uric acid levels in gout patients.

Netflix considers Japan to be a brand-sensitive market. Once it establishes its brand, it expects its connection with the Japanese audience to be long term.

The global e-commerce market is expected to grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 17 from $1.3 trillion in 2014 to $2.5 trillion by the end of 2018.

The Voya Japan TOPIX Index Portfolio Class A is an index fund, not an actively managed mutual fund, so it necessarily tracks its benchmark index.

Netflix holds the content licensing rights to its original content, but this original content is currently produced by outside studios like Disney’s ABC Studios.

eBay’s take rate fell from 3.79% in 2Q13 to 3.53% in 2Q14. However, the company isn’t worried about it since take rate is offset by healthy revenue growth.

There’s a direct correlation between the size of a country’s GDP and its automotive industry. The auto industry has been expanding at a fast pace over the past several years.

There are higher maintenance and repair costs as a car gets older. This supports the option of leasing a vehicle.

The automotive industry is one of the biggest spenders when it comes to advertising. General Motors (GM) paid out $928 million during the first half of 2014.

The automotive sector plays a crucial role in job creation. Car manufacturing activity has an employment multiplier value of five.

German automakers lead the luxury space in the US. Daimler AG had an 18.4% share. It was followed by BMW. It had a 16.8% share.

Salesforce.com (CRM) has a subscription business. It collects revenue for many of its offerings and applications before services. The company reports that the “deferred revenue” is rendered from its customers. In 2011, deferred revenue formed 65% of its liquid assets. It grew to 95% in 2014.

The “Internet of Things” is the network of physical objects, that connects them to the internet.

The global automobile market is impacted by global GDP, consumer confidence, employment, the availability of credit, the price of fuel, and consumer confidence.