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LVMH’s Arnault family faces off-pitch challenges at new Paris soccer club

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Reuters

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January 27, 2025

French billionaire Bernard Arnault‘s family is struggling to secure a deal on a much-needed new stadium for its recently acquired football team Paris FC, with compensation and other costs proving a sticking point in discussions, sources say.

The family of the owner of French luxury giant LVMH , has been in talks since late last year with rugby team Stade Francais to share its Jean-Bouin stadium in western Paris to replace Paris FC’s current venue, a run-down athletics stadium east of the city.

The Arnault family announced the acquisition of the second-division club in November, teaming up with sports management experts Red Bull for their first foray into the world’s most popular sport.

Antoine Arnault, Bernard’s eldest son who spearheaded the investment, started discussions with Stade Francais soon after the deal was announced but so far has made no headway, said four sources with knowledge of the matter.

The negotiations centre on compensation for replacing the Jean-Bouin stadium’s synthetic lawn, which will result in higher maintenance costs and some lost revenue for Stade Francais, adding to other issues including security and scheduling constraints, the sources said.

The rugby club initially asked Paris FC for an annual rent of almost €5 million – well over a third of the soccer club’s 2023 annual turnover – to play its home matches in the stadium, said one of the sources. Another source said the latest demand was lower, around €4 million.

Antoine Arnault, the city of Paris – which owns the stadium – and Stade Francais managing director Thomas Lombard all declined to comment.

Paris FC President Pierre Ferracci, whose team is well-positioned to make it to France’s top-tier league next season, told RMC Sport radio last week he hoped for a stadium deal by February.

Juergen Klopp weighs in on stadium

Just opposite the Parc des Princes, home of League 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain, the Jean-Bouin stadium is closer to the city centre and has 20,000 seats and the potential to create state-of-the-art hospitality areas.

Red Bull global soccer head Juergen Klopp, the former Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund manager, has also criticised Paris FC’s current venue, saying it did not allow for much atmosphere and reminded him of his early days as a small-town coach.

Paris FC is third in the Ligue 2 standings, on par with second-placed Metz, with the top two teams granted automatic promotion to the top flight while the three next best teams qualify for playoffs.

An overhaul as planned by the Arnault family could eventually turn it into a potential rival to PSG, owned by Qatar Sports Investments.

The family’s well-known deep pockets are expected to make negotiations in other areas – including player transfers – complicated too, said one of the sources with close ties to the club.

French media have reported Paris FC was valued at 90 million euros, a figure Antoine said in November was not “too far from the truth”. The valuation was multiple times higher than what minority shareholders had paid to enter the capital roughly three years ago.

The Arnaults so far have bought out all but one former minority shareholder in the club who rejected their offer, two of the sources said.

© Thomson Reuters 2025 All rights reserved.



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Alibaba launches advanced AI model to rival GPT-4

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ETX Daily Up

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January 31, 2025

(AFP) – Chinese tech and e-commerce giant Alibaba on Wednesday announced the release of Qwen2.5-Max, an advanced artificial intelligence model that the company says outperforms several leading AI systems in key benchmarks.

The launch follows Chinese startup DeepSeek’s recent release of models that stunned Silicon Valley and challenged assumptions about US dominance in the booming AI sector.

The rapid emergence of consecutive Chinese models will likely intensify concerns in the United States, where companies have invested billions of dollars in AI development that startups in China are matching at significantly lower costs.

In a blog post, the Qwen team said their new model outperformed DeepSeek V3 in multiple tests, including code generation and general capabilities, while showing competitive results against industry leaders like OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Anthropic’s Claude-3.5-Sonnet.

The model, trained on over 20 trillion tokens of data, notably was not compared with DeepSeek’s R3 model — the reasoning-focused AI that made waves when it launched through a chatbot on January 20.

Qwen2.5-Max is now available to developers through Alibaba Cloud services and can be accessed via Qwen Chat, the company’s conversational AI platform. The system offers compatibility with OpenAI’s API format, potentially simplifying adoption for organizations already using similar AI services.
 

Copyright © 2025 ETX Daily Up. All rights reserved.



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Caledonia Park says 2024 was “best year ever”

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January 30, 2025

There are going to be quite a few contenders for the ‘best year ever’ winner in the shopping centre category. Entering the field is Caledonia Park, Scotland, with the premium designer outlet village’s owner/operator Railpen saying it experienced a “record-breaking year for sales and performance” in 2024. 

The path to success was helped by the destination introducing seven new brands and securing a series of long-term renewals, “demonstrating the success of [our] strategic asset management”.

Surpassing 2023 levels, footfall rose 8%, “underlining the impact of its targeted leasing strategy tailored to evolving consumer demands” and standout categories included Health and Beauty, which saw a “staggering sales growth of 26%”. It said this was bolstered by the continued success of Rituals.

Also, the Black Friday weekend was “particularly successful” with a 19.1% uplift in sales vs the same period last year.

Last year’s key arrivals included Ben Sherman, which opened its first outlet location in Scotland there at the end of last year, taking a 1,500 sq ft space adjacent to fellow Scottish outlet debutant Moss, which recently opened its refurbished store, and kate spade new york.

The venue’s “targeted and considered leasing strategy” also resulted in several lease renewals for long-standing tenants, including  Polo Ralph Lauren, who has now committed to another five years at the destination, as well as Berghaus, and Levi’s, “signifying appeal for both brands and visitors across the country”.

Maria Averkina, asset & development manager at Railpen, said: “2024 has been a standout year for us as we remain strong in our position as the go-to place for outlet debuts in Scotland.

“[The] record footfall and sales, [puts] us on a positive trajectory as we kick off 2025, and our portfolio of brands is continuing to excel, catering to our visitors tastes. Our focus will remain on supporting existing tenants as well as attracting new ones, with several discussions already under way with leading retailers.”

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Cole Haan opens third New York City store in the Flatiron District

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January 30, 2025

American lifestyle and accessories brand Cole Haan announced on Thursday the opening of its third New York City location. 

Cole Haan opens third New York City store in the Flatiron District. – Cole Haan

Located at the corner of 5th Avenue and 19th Street in the historic Flatiron District, the 1,622-square-foot store offers an immersive shopping experience for customers to explore Cole Haan’s diverse collections across lifestyle, sport, and dress categories.

Housed within a 1904 neo-Renaissance landmark building, the new store boasts floor-to-ceiling windows that flood the space in natural light. Design elements, including herringbone wood flooring, mosaic tiles, aged iron chandeliers, and custom-built shelving, create an inviting atmosphere that bridges the brand’s heritage with its forward-thinking approach. Completing the space is artwork throughout the store including macro photography of the iconic Flatiron Building.

“New York has long been a key and successful market for Cole Haan, and we’re excited to open a new store in this vibrant city in the iconic Flatiron District,” said Jack Boys, CEO of Cole Haan. 

“This next step in our brand and retail journey offers a unique opportunity to engage with both long-time and new customers allowing us to share our most innovative products and classic designs in one of the world’s most inspiring neighborhoods.”

The store opens with Cole Haan’s Spring 2025 collection. Customers will find new products in Men’s including the OriginalGrand Energyweave Oxfords, alongside best-selling styles. In women’s, new styles include the Georgie Ballet and Graclyn MaryJane Ballet Flats, as well as the Carolyn Foldover Tote in the handbag category. 

Cole Haan currently operates over 500 stores in nearly 100 countries worldwide.

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