Best Workplaces, McDonald's Books, Neymar

McDonald’s becomes Latin America’s top book distributor; Neymar best paid athlete under 25.

BY LATINVEX STAFF

France-based hotel group Accor has Latin America’s best workplace among multinationals, followed by US-based technology company Dell EMC, US household cleaning product manufacturer SC Johnson, US-based technology company Cisco and Brazilian cosmetics company Natura, according to the latest ranking from the Great Place to Work Institute.

Among large companies in Latin America (with 500 or more employees), Brazil-based power distributor Elektro leads the way, followed by Brazil-based mining company Sama, Brazil-based laboratory Sabin, Chile-based Transbank and Brazilian retailer Gazin.

Meanwhile, among small and medium sized companies (with 50 to 500 employees), Peru-based credit card processing company VisaNet leads, followed by Mexico-based real estate developer Insar, Mexico-based fire prevention company Hidrosistemas Baja, Chile-based natural gas company GNL Mejillones and Colombia-based energy company Equion Energia.

ARCOS DORADOS: LATIN AMERICA’S LARGEST BOOK DISTRIBUTOR

Arcos Dorados Holdings, Latin America’s largest restaurant chain and the world’s largest McDonald’s franchisee, has distributed more than one million books throughout Latin America through its Happy Meals. That positions it as the region’s largest book distributor.

In April, Arcos Dorados started offering customers the choice of either a toy or a book when purchasing Happy Meals.  The collection of books includes hardcover titles with activities, stories, games and secret puzzles. It includes iconic children’s comic characters, such as Snoopy in Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia; Gaturro in Argentina, Uruguay and Chile; and Turma da Mônica in Brazil.

"We are very proud of this campaign’s results,” Dan Gertsacov, Chief Marketing and Digital Officer at Arcos Dorados, said in a statement.  “We are giving families the choice to pick an entertainment option that fosters lifelong learning and will be available throughout the year.”

As part of the campaign’s launch, Arcos Dorados conducted an analysis with Kantar TNS in three of the company’s markets about children's reading habits, their relationship to the world of play and its impact on families. More than 90 percent of the interviewees agreed it was important to foster reading habits from early childhood, as reading is a key component of a comprehensive education in contributing to learning, vocabulary, grammar, and stimulating imagination and creativity.

Thanks to earlier programs, Arcos Dorados has distributed more than 5 million books across the region over the last four years.

NEYMAR BEST PAID ATHLETE UNDER 25

Brazilian soccer star Neymar (Barcelona) is the world’s highest-paid athlete under 25 years, according to Forbes.

“He is the only soccer player to earn more off than on the pitch, including from sponsors Nike, Gillette, Panasonic and Beats by Dre,” Forbes says, estimating his earnings at $37 million.

Neymar makes more than athletes such as US basketball star Kyrie Irving (Cleveland Cavaliers).

Colombian soccer star James Rodriguez (Bayern Munchen) is also on the list, thanks to earnings of $21.9 million.

“There is little doubt about Rodriguez's marketability off the pitch,” Forbes says. “He inked new pacts with Calvin Klein, Huawei and Libertex over the past year. The Colombian's deal with Adidas reportedly calls for him to wear the No. 10 jersey for any team he represents.”

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