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Canada: Aldo acquires Vince Camuto in latest fashion industry deal

 |  August 3, 2017

Aldo, the privately held Canadian shoe company, has agreed to acquire the footwear and accessories operations of the Camuto Group, the company founded by the fashion impresario Vince Camuto, who died in 2015.

The takeover will give Aldo, which makes its own shoes and sells them in thousands of stores around the world, a bigger footprint at a moment when fashion brands are seeking growth through mergers and acquisitions. Terms of the deal, which was confirmed by the companies, were not made public.

“This will create a very impressive, large and scaled footwear operation,” said William Susman, managing director at Threadstone, a boutique investment bank that specializes in consumer and retail transactions but is not involved in the deal. “And given trends in retail, I believe that benefits accrue to those with scale.”

Aldo’s takeover of the Vince Camuto brand is the latest transaction to reshape the fashion industry. Last week, Michael Kors said it would acquire Jimmy Choo for about US$1.2 billion, and in May, Coach agreed to pay US$2.4 billion to acquire Kate Spade.

Full Content: New York Times

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Google’s Privacy Class Action Lawsuit Moves Forward After Court Rejects Dismissal Request Google's Privacy Class Action Lawsuit Moves Forward

Google’s Privacy Class Action Lawsuit Moves Forward After Court Rejects Dismissal Request

 |  January 8, 2025

A federal judge has denied Google’s attempt to have a privacy class action lawsuit dismissed, allowing the case to proceed to trial. The lawsuit, filed by users of both Android and non-Android devices, claims that Google continued to collect personal data from their mobile phones despite users opting to disable the tracking feature via the Web & App Activity settings.

According to a Reuters report, Chief Judge Richard Seeborg of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that Google had not sufficiently disclosed how its data tracking functions, nor had it secured valid user consent. In his 20-page decision issued on Tuesday, Seeborg dismissed Google’s argument that its basic record-keeping did not harm anyone and rejected claims that users were adequately informed about the company’s data practices. The lawsuit alleges that Google violated California’s law against unauthorized computer access, accusing the company of capturing and storing users’ browsing histories without their consent.

The case centers around accusations that Google continued to collect data even after users took steps to prevent it, such as switching off the tracking button in their privacy settings. The plaintiffs assert that Google’s actions were a violation of their privacy rights, and their concerns about unauthorized data collection have led to a legal challenge that is now scheduled to go to trial in August 2025.

Read more: Google Faces Cease-and-Desist Order from Japan’s Fair Trade Commission

In his ruling, Seeborg noted that Google’s conduct could be perceived as “highly offensive” by reasonable users. This was partly due to internal communications within Google, cited in the decision, which indicated that the company deliberately kept some details about its tracking practices vague. Per Reuters, these communications revealed that some employees had raised concerns about how the company distinguished between data collected inside and outside Google accounts, with some suggesting that full transparency could alarm users.

While Seeborg acknowledged that the employees’ intentions may have simply been aimed at improving Google’s services, he emphasized that the dispute over whether the company’s actions were misleading or simply part of standard product development remains a triable issue of fact. In his opinion, the case should proceed to trial, where a jury will ultimately decide whether Google’s conduct violated user privacy rights.

This legal battle began in July 2020, and it now heads toward a jury trial set for August 18, 2025. Notably, this is not the first time Google has faced such accusations. Last August, a federal appeals court in San Francisco revived another lawsuit that accused the company of tracking users of its Chrome browser even after they chose not to synchronize their browser data with their Google accounts.

Source: Reuters