Biz buzz: P100-M golf ‘charity’ event

Here’s some news that’s bound to excite golf fanatics in the business community.

Top ranked international golfers Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson will be in town later this month to play in a charity event organized by businessman Salvador “Buddy” Zamora.

Set for Nov. 29, the charity golf tournament will be held at the championship golf course of the Pradera Verde tourism estate in Lubao, Pampanga (owned by the powerful Pineda family, of course). And if you think getting such marquee sportsmen to play in the Philippines is expensive, you’re right. Biz Buzz learned that each golfing superstar is being paid $1 million as an appearance fee. That’s a cool $2 million for both gentlemen (exclusive of, we suppose, the cost of flying them into and out of the country, which is no problem for Mr. Zamora and his fleet of private jets).

In addition to the steep entrance fee that local golfers are going to have to pay for the right to mix and mingle with McIlroy and Johnson, slots to caddy for either golfer will also be opened up to interested parties. So how much will this set you back, if you want to be in closer proximity with either player? P2 million for the right to caddy for nine holes. Who would be crazy enough to pay that price? Well, guess what? Only one slot is left, as people are apparently too rich in that part of town.

But if you’re going to pay your main attractions almost P100 million to show up for a charity event, you’d better make sure you can recover your costs, right? Even with the Pinedas supposedly having pledged to shoulder $1 million for one of the McIlroy-Johnson duo, there’s the other $1 million cost organizers will have to contend with.

And because of that, we heard that the ticket price for each golfer wanting to play in this tournament has been set at P10,000 each. Pricey? You bet. But it’s for charity, so you can put your conscience to rest. Daxim L. Lucas

PLDT-Globe price war truce?

Are telco giants PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom seeking a ceasefire to a brewing price war? That looks to be the case, even as both traded barbs on who was lowering prices first—to the delight of consumers, no doubt.

The suggestion, while not made explicitly, was raised in media press briefings and (hopefully) not privately between players since that would, you know, worry antitrust officials already less than pleased with PLDT and Globe’s behavior on the San Miguel Corp. telco deal.

It came as both PLDT and Globe cited price competition as weighing on their earnings.

Globe Telecom got the ball rolling, with CEO Ernest Cu saying last week it was PLDT taking the lead in lowering mobile internet costs. Globe would only follow—but not always—due to their network “premium.”

Meanwhile, PLDT’s newly appointed chief revenue officer Eric Alberto said this week that telco players needed to be a “little more rational in the way they approach the business.”

He likewise refuted the rival’s claim with data showing that it was Globe—not PLDT’s Smart—that had a more dramatic decline in terms of prepaid average revenue per user based on figures dating back to early 2015. To be clear, price issues have been ever present between PLDT and Globe (or any other business that deals with high volumes of consumers or goods.)

Price issues led PLDT to acquire the operator of Sun Cellular a few years back. To some extent, that issue was likely a factor in PLDT and Globe’s decision to jointly acquire the telco unit of SMC this year.

Alberto noted that rational pricing was needed so that both companies, important service providers, could continue doing their business sustainably.

Will the dynamic soon change with recent rhetoric? That remains to be seen. —Miguel R. Camus

14,000-km lunch trip

Soon after joining President Duterte in his historic state visit to Beijing, the head of this large conglomerate did not fly back home to the Philippines like many of his other colleagues in the 400-strong business delegation.

And no, he didn’t stay around to do some shopping either.

Instead, this businessman took his private jet and pointed it and flew in the opposite direction to a secret meeting to seal what could be one of the biggest foreign investments that will enter local shores next year.

How far did he fly? All the way west to the desert nation of Kuwait for Sunday lunch with a sheikh and his top petroleum industry officials, we hear.

Of course, Kuwait is a small country in physical terms, but it punches above its weight on the economic front, being the ninth largest oil producer in the world (as well as being the temporary home of thousands of Filipino overseas workers in its petroleum industry).

And Biz Buzz heard that the results of this businessman’s trip is set to yield positive results.

Under broadly agreed terms, Kuwait will make the Philippines an intermediate staging point for its oil exports—a petroleum supply hub, if you will—before the coveted black gold is sent on to other buyers in this part of the world. Think of it as a depot for Kuwaiti oil on Philippine soil.

And who will build and operate the physical facilities to receive, store and distribute this massive amount of crude from the Middle Eastern oil powerhouse? The conglomerate which this businessman runs, of course.

The Kuwaitis win because it saves money with a regional distribution hub and the Philippines wins thanks to the billions in inward investments. Of course, it goes without saying that the local conglomerate also wins big time. Now that’s a 14,000-kilometer round trip flight (9 hours going, and 9 hours returning) for a lunch meeting worth making. —Daxim L. Lucas