title: Makati

text: Makati is divided into 33 barangays (the smallest local government units) which handles governance in a much smaller area. These barangays are grouped into two congressional districts where each district is represented by a congressman in the country's House of Representatives. The 1st Congressional District is composed of the barangays straddling EDSA, the barangays to the north and west of them, while excluding Guadalupe Viejo, while the 2nd Congressional District is to the south and east of the 1st District, including the aforementioned barangay. The districts elect the sixteen members of the city council, eight from each of the two congressional districts, that are coextensive with the congressional districts.


title: Makati

text: Under the Köppen climate classification system, the city features a tropical monsoon climate. Together with the rest of the Philippines, Makati lies entirely within the tropics. Its proximity to the equator means that the temperature range is very small, rarely going lower than or going higher than . However, humidity levels are usually very high which makes it feel much warmer. It has a distinct, albeit relatively short dry season from January through May, and a relatively lengthy wet season from June through December.


title: Makati

text: The Global Climate Risk Index 2021 lists the Philippines as one of countries most affected by catastrophes due to extreme weather events. Makati is a low-lying, coastal city vulnerable to natural calamities intensified by climate change, such as typhoons, floods, and landslides. The city's disaster risk reduction and management office noted a rise in rainfall experienced by the city over the years, particularly during the rainy season.


title: Makati

text: In August 2022, the city government declared a climate emergency, amid rising sea levels and global temperature changes.


title: Makati

text: Makati undertakes climate adaptation programs to address vulnerabilities to climate change, which include health services to residents, emergency response, and environmental management and protection. It intends to increase projects to address climate change, including a planned purchase of more electric vehicles, installation of solar panels in public schools and government offices, and improvement of public transport to lessen greenhouse gas emissions.


title: Makati

text: Makati has a population of 629,616 as of the 2020 census. Makati ranks ninth in population size within Metro Manila municipalities. 88.9% of Makati residents identified their religious affiliation as Roman Catholic. Other groups having large number of members in the city are the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ang Dating Daan, Iglesia ni Cristo, Protestantism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism.


title: Makati

text: Based on the city's Transport and Traffic Improvement Plan 2004–2014, the city's daytime population is estimated to be 3.7 million during weekdays, owing to the large number of people who come to work, do business, or shop.


title: Makati

text: The daily influx of people into the city provides the skilled labor force that allows Makati to handle the service requirements of domestic as well as international transactions; it also serves as the base of a large consumer market that fuels the retail and service trade in the city. At the same time, however, the large tidal population flows exert pressure on Makati's environment, services, and utilities, most noticeably causing large traffic volumes along the major road corridors leading to the city as well as within and at the periphery of the central business district.


title: Makati

text: The city of Makati remains the richest local government unit (LGU) in the Philippines in terms of income from local sources and on a per capita basis. As of end-2012, Makati had registered over 62,000 business enterprises, which are engaged in financial services, wholesale/retail, services, real estate, export/import, and manufacturing. Makati also boasts of having the highest number of BPO offices in Metro Manila at 1,159 companies to date, as well as the highest number of PEZA-accredited IT Parks and Buildings. The city government of Makati has not increased its tax rates since its new Revenue Code took effect in 2006. The city has been free of deficit for 26 years.


title: Makati

text: The Ayala Triangle is a sub-district of the Makati CBD, comprising the parcel of land between Ayala Avenue, Makati Avenue and Paseo de Roxas, as well as the buildings on those streets. Many multinational companies, banks, and other major businesses are located within the triangle. A few upscale boutiques, restaurants, and a park called Ayala Triangle Gardens are also located in the area. Ayala Avenue and Paseo de Roxas also have the distinction of being the runways of the former Nielson Field, Metro Manila's main airport in the 1930s.


title: Makati

text: The Makati Business Club has over 800 chief executive officers and senior executives, which represents 450 of the country's biggest corporations.


title: Makati

text: Most of the tallest skyscrapers in Metro Manila and the Philippines are located in Makati such as the PBCom Tower, Gramercy Residences in Century City and G.T. International Tower.


title: Makati

text: PBCom Tower along Ayala Avenue is the country's tallest office building. It is the headquarters of the Philippine Bank of Communications, or PBCom. The PBCom Tower is an office skyscraper ranked officially as the tallest building in the Philippines from 2001 to 2017. It has a total ground-to-architectural-top height of , with 52 stories including an 8-level radio tower.


title: Makati

text: Makati is one of the most well-known shopping hubs of Metro Manila. Various shopping centers, offering both international and local retail shops, high-end boutiques, dining outlets and entertainment facilities can be found around the city.


title: Makati

text: The Ayala Center is a major commercial development operated by Ayala Land located in the Makati CBD. The center is known for its wide array of shopping, entertainment, and cultural offerings, making it a premier shopping and cultural district in the metropolis. It is a vast walkable complex with high-end malls that houses cinemas, local and international shops, homegrown restaurants and international food chains. The shopping malls that are located at the Ayala Center include Greenbelt, Glorietta, Park Square, and The Link. The Ayala Center is also home to 3 department stores namely, SM Makati, Rustan's, and The Landmark.


title: Makati

text: The University of Makati, a public, non-profit university, is the city's flagship university. Other institutions of higher education located in the city include the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), iAcademy, Asian Seminary of Christian Ministries (ASCM), Don Bosco Technical Institute of Makati, Assumption College San Lorenzo, Saint Paul College of Makati, Our Lady of Guadalupe Minor Seminary, and Asia Pacific College.


title: Makati

text: Several higher education institutions headquartered outside the city have established branch or satellite campuses in Makati. These include the Ateneo de Manila University (Ateneo Professional Schools), De La Salle University, Far Eastern University, Mapúa Institute of Technology, Lyceum of the Philippines University, Centro Escolar University, and AMA Computer College Colleges, among others.


title: Makati

text: Makati is home to a number of fine art museums, colonial-era churches and recreation areas. Along the south-eastern border of Makati beyond Forbes Park are the Manila Golf Club and the Manila Polo Club. The Manila Golf Club features an 18-hole golf course. The Manila Polo Club counts among its polo enthusiasts some of the country's wealthiest people. The Makati Sports Club in Salcedo Village is another popular place for sports. The Makati Coliseum is another famous sports landmark in the city, where some of the biggest sports gatherings are held.


title: Makati

text: The University of Makati Stadium was the home venue of Philippines Football League club Kaya F.C.–Iloilo, prior to their move to Iloilo City. In the northwest, Circuit Makati Blue Pitch is a multi-use stadium, used not just for football games but since 2017 serves as the primary hub of the Philippine-American Football League.


title: Makati

text: The Ayala Museum is a private fine arts and history museum housing various exhibitions such as the "Gold of Ancestors," an exhibition of more than one thousand golden pre-Hispanic artifacts. Other popular museums also in Makati also include the Yuchengco Museum and the Museo ng Makati.


title: Makati

text: Makati has several Spanish-era churches, such as the Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Nuestra Señora de Gracia Church (Our Lady of Grace) in the old town. At the Greenbelt Park stands the modern domed chapel of the Santo Niño de la Paz. Between Forbes Park and Dasmariñas Village is the Santuario de San Antonio, a popular church for weddings in the Makati area. The National Shrine of the Sacred Heart is located in San Antonio Village. Makati also houses the country's only Jewish synagogue, Beth Yaacov.


title: Makati

text: Ayala Land and the Makati Tourism Foundation launched a year-long campaign titled "Make It Happen, Make it Makati" to increase Makati's visibility as an arts and culture destination. The campaign is part of Ayala's ongoing US$1.5 billion redevelopment masterplan for Makati, which began in 2011 and divides the city into six distinct hubs for business, lifestyle, entertainment and transport.


title: Makati

text: Major roads in Metro Manila surround Makati, such as Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA), located in the southwestern part of the city, the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), which intersect EDSA at the Magallanes Interchange, the Skyway which is built on top of SLEX and Osmeña Highway, and Carlos P. Garcia Avenue (C-5) which traverses the eastern portion of Makati.


title: Makati

text: Two of Metro Manila's main arteries pass through Makati. The Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) pass along the city's southeast part and connects it with the cities of Mandaluyong and Pasay. The South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) starts in southwestern Makati and connects it with southern Metro Manila and Southern Luzon. The Skyway is an elevated expressway that connects with NLEX and SLEX, providing residents coming from Northern Luzon, Northern Metro Manila, Southern Luzon and other cities of Southern Metro Manila a fast way to reach Makati. SLEX and EDSA intersect at the Magallanes Interchange, which is the most complex system of elevated roadways in Metro Manila. Carlos P. Garcia Avenue, a component of Circumferential Road 5 that runs parallel to EDSA, traverses the eastern portion of Makati and connects it with Taguig and Pasig.


title: Makati

text: Buses plying the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA/C-4) route from Parañaque to Quezon City and Caloocan pass through the central business/financial district daily, as well as buses to and from Alabang in Muntinlupa and Biñan and Santa Rosa in Laguna. Jeepneys ply Makati's inner roads and connect the city to its surrounding towns and cities.


title: Makati

text: The country's first-ever e-jeepney and hybrid bus services were piloted in Makati. The buses are parallel electric hybrids, powered by an electric motor and a Euro 3 diesel motor. The hybrid buses ply the route from Gil Puyat Avenue (Tramo/LRT-1 Taft) to Kalayaan Avenue (near C-5), which are considered among the busiest in the city's central business district, cutting through other major roads like South Superhighway; Chino Roces, Ayala and Makati Avenues; Paseo de Roxas and EDSA.


title: Makati

text: Other major roads in the city include Gil Puyat Avenue, which connects EDSA and SLEX in the north; Ayala Avenue, an important street that runs through the Makati CBD; Osmeña Highway, which connects SLEX to the city of Manila; Makati Avenue, which connects Ayala Avenue with Gil Puyat Avenue, also extending north to cross the Pasig River to Mandaluyong; and J. P. Rizal Avenue, the oldest main thoroughfare of Makati which connects it to the city of Manila and Pateros. At the center of Makati is the Ayala Triangle, a park built on the former Nielsen Air Base.


title: Makati

text: Manila Metro Rail Transit System Line 3 (MRT Line 3) on EDSA has four stations located in Makati: Guadalupe, Buendia, Ayala and Magallanes.


title: Makati

text: The Philippine National Railways has three stations in the city: Dela Rosa, Pasay Road and EDSA. Pasay Road, formerly known as Culi-culi and Pio del Pilar, is the first railway station in Makati. Dela Rosa replaced the old Buendia station in 2017.


title: Makati

text: In 2013, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) worked on a feasibility study for a $1.75 billion monorail project. The proposed elevated monorail is envisioned to connect Makati, Bonifacio Global City and Pasay through MRT Line 3 as well as the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. The present alignment being considered starts from the Guadalupe MRT Station, enters Bonifacio Global City through the north gate and ends at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3. If approved, the monorail project can be completed by 2016.


title: Makati

text: In 2015, NEDA approved the Public-Private Partnership project for the Makati-Pasay-Taguig Mass Transit System Loop which will have stations at key points in Makati namely Buendia MRT station, Ayala-EDSA, Ayala Triangle, Makati Post Office and PNR-Buendia which was later shelved and partially revived in 2018 as the Makati Intra-City Subway which inherits most of the stations in Makati and its designation as Line 5.


title: Makati

text: The Pasig River is located north of Makati. The Pasig River Ferry Service has two stations: Guadalupe and Valenzuela.


title: Makati

text: The incumbent mayor is Abby Binay, the daughter of former mayor and former Vice President Jejomar Binay. Monique Yazmin Q. Lagdameo is the incumbent vice mayor. The vice mayor heads a legislative council consisting of 18 members: 8 councilors from the 1st District, 8 councilors from the 2nd District, the President of the Sangguniang Kabataan (Youth Council) Federation representing the youth sector, and the President of the Association of Barangay Chairmen (ABC) as barangay sectoral representative. The council is in charge of creating the city's policies in the form of Ordinances and Resolutions. Current district representatives of the city are Romulo "Kid" Peña Jr., representing the 1st district and Luis Jose Angel Campos Jr., husband of Abby Binay, for the 2nd district.


title: Makati

text: The Seal of Makati, adopted in August 1995, composes of the outline map of Makati containing 33 rays, green buildings, and a church.


title: Makati

text: The map of Makati is in golden yellow color which represents wealth and prosperity. The rays represent the 33 barangays of Makati which are described to be "surging forward to a brighter future". The color of the buildings symbolizes life which is described to reflect a "new progressive" Makati. The church represents the oldest church of Makati, the Nuestra Señora de Gracia, which was used by Filipino revolutionaries against the Spaniards in 1896 and the Americans in 1898. The waves represent the tide which came from the phrase "Makati na, Kumakati na" which means ebbing tide.


title: Makati

text: Most of the diplomatic missions to Manila by foreign countries in the Philippines have their chanceries located in Makati:


title: Makati

text: Makati's sister city is Los Angeles, California. Makati is also twinned with Ramapo, New York and Vladivostok, Russia.


title: Makati

text: 60. http://urbansdgplatform.org/profile/profile_caseView_detail.msc?no_case=281#:~:text=The%20establishment%20of%20a%20unified,launching%20of%20the%20Makatizen%20Card.


title: Papa John's

text: Papa John's International, Inc., d/b/a Papa Johns, is an American pizza restaurant chain. It is the fourth largest pizza delivery restaurant chain in the United States, with headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky and Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan areas.


title: Papa John's

text: Papa John’s global presence has reached over 5,500 locations in 49 countries and territories; and is currently the world’s third-largest pizza delivery company.


title: Papa John's

text: The Papa John's restaurant was founded in 1984 when "Papa" John Schnatter installed an oven inside a broom closet in the back of his father's tavern, Mick's Lounge, in Jeffersonville, Indiana. He then sold his 1971 Camaro Z28 to purchase US$1,600 worth of used pizza equipment and began selling pizzas to the tavern's customers out of the converted closet. His pizzas proved sufficiently popular that a year later he moved into an adjoining space. Dipping sauce specifically for pizza was invented by Papa John's Pizza that same year, and has since become popular when eating pizza, especially the crust. The company went public in 1993. A year later it had 500 stores, and by 1997 it had opened 1,500 stores. In 2009, Schnatter bought the Camaro back after offering a reward of $250,000 for the car.


title: Papa John's

text: On May 22, 2010, the first ever Bitcoin transaction was made between Laszlo Hanyecz and Jeremy Sturdivant. The swap involved an agreement to trade 10,000 bitcoins for two large Papa John's pizzas. The day is now celebrated annually by bitcoin enthusiasts as "Bitcoin Pizza Day", on May 22.


title: Papa John's

text: On January 1, 2018, John Schnatter stepped down as CEO of Papa John's Pizza in favor of company President Steve Ritchie; Schnatter remained chairman. In February 2018, Papa John's and the NFL ended their sponsorship agreement after Schnatter's criticism of the NFL made headlines.


title: Papa John's

text: On July 11, 2018, news outlets reported that during a conference call with the marketing agency Laundry Service that was working under contract for Papa John's, Schnatter had used the word "nigger" by saying "Colonel Sanders called blacks niggers and Sanders never faced public backlash." Schnatter said that referencing the quote by the KFC founder was meant to convey his dislike for racism. After the call, the owner of the marketing agency moved to end their contract with Papa John's. Schnatter resigned as chairman of the board on the day the incident was reported.


title: Papa John's

text: After the incident, Ritchie apologized in an open letter, and ordered the company's workforce to undergo bias and diversity training.


title: Papa John's

text: On July 26, 2018, John Schnatter filed a lawsuit against Papa John's Pizza to give him access to the company's internal books and records after they fired him from the company after the teleconference call scandal. He describes the company's procedures as an "unexplained and heavy-handed way" to cut ties between him and the company that he founded. In addition to preventing him from accessing information, the corporation also implemented a poison pill strategy in order to limit Schnatter's chances of buying back a majority stake in the company.


title: Papa John's

text: On February 4, 2019, it was announced that the activist hedge fund Starboard Value, which had played a large role in turning around the troubled Olive Garden restaurant chain, would be investing $200 million into Papa John's Pizza and that Starboard could possibly invest an additional $50 million by March 29, 2019. It was simultaneously announced that Starboard Value CEO Jeff Smith would become the new Papa John's chairman and that Anthony Sanfilippo, former CEO of the gaming company Pinnacle Entertainment, would be another addition to the company's board. Following that announcement, Ritchie said that he hoped the deal would put an end to the ongoing feud with Schnatter, telling CNBC's David Faber, "Obviously, we're very hopeful that we can bring John along." However, Schnatter has expressed concerns that Ritchie is not the right executive for Papa John's.


title: Papa John's

text: On March 5, 2019, Papa John's announced a settlement with Schnatter under which he will resign from the company's board of directors at the company's annual meeting on April 30 or when a mutually acceptable independent director is appointed to replace him, whichever comes first. Schnatter agreed to dismiss two lawsuits filed against the company and to withdraw his plan to run for a seat on the board at the annual meeting. Papa John's agreed to remove the "acting in concert" provisions from its "poison pill" plan that prevented Schnatter from communicating with other company shareholders. Schnatter, who then still controlled 31% of Papa John's shares, issued a statement saying he was "thankful that I've been able to resolve these important issues" and hoped everyone could now "focus on the company's business without the need for additional litigation". The company also agreed to remove a requirement that Starboard Value, which owns about 10% of the company, must vote in favor of the incumbent board.


title: Papa John's

text: In March 2019, NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal joined Papa John's board of directors and became a spokesman for the brand. The next year, Papa John's introduced the "Shaq-a-Roni", a pizza dedicated to O'Neal.


title: Papa John's

text: Amidst these changes, in May 2019, Schnatter began selling off his shares in the company. Initially starting with 9.8 million shares. Throughout the next year, he had reduced his stock ownership to just 4%.


title: Papa John's

text: On August 27, 2019, Papa John's announced that Arby's President Robert M. Lynch would be the new CEO replacing Steve Ritchie, who was handpicked by founder John Schnatter to succeed him in 2018.


title: Papa John's

text: In September 2020, Papa John's announced plans to establish a new headquarters in the Atlanta metropolitan area. In November, the company announced its new global headquarters would be located in Three Ballpark Center at The Battery Atlanta. The existing headquarters in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, a community within the merged government of Louisville, was retained, and currently houses the IT, supply chain, and legal departments.


title: Papa John's

text: In November 2021, Papa John's announced it was rebranding its logo (by removing the apostrophe and simplifying the design) and store locations.


title: Papa John's

text: In March 2022, Papa John's suspended its business operations in Russia in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, but independent franchisee-owned locations remained open.


title: Papa John's

text: Papa John's primarily takes carryout and delivery orders, although some restaurants have tables and chairs for dining in.


title: Papa John's

text: Franchise owners pay a one-off franchise fee of US$25,000 per restaurant, then a royalty fee of 5% of net sales, plus a charge for advertising of 8% of net sales. The company requires franchisees to have net worth of at least $250,000, the approximate amount of investment needed. Corporate operations look over franchisees to ensure brand consistency. Papa John's International is a publicly traded company.


title: Papa John's

text: Based on 2019 sales information provided by Technomic, "PMQ Pizza Magazine" reported that the company was the fourth-largest take-out and pizza delivery restaurant chain in the United States. (According to "PMQ", Little Caesars is the third-largest pizza chain.) The company's net profitability though, is far behind its main competitors. In 2014, its net margin was 4.6% of total sales, whereas Domino's Pizza's net margin was 8.2% and Yum! Brands, which owns Pizza Hut, was 7.9%. Its slogan is "Better Ingredients. Better Pizza. Papa John's."


title: Papa John's

text: Papa John's has over 5,199 establishments—4,456 franchised restaurants operating domestically in all 50 states, and in 44 countries and territories. Papa John's operates 246 "company owned stores" under joint ventures and 35 units in Beijing and North China. In September 2012 the 4,000th Papa John's Pizza restaurant opened, in New Hyde Park, New York. The company celebrated the event by giving away 4,000 free pizzas to customers throughout New York City.


title: Papa John's

text: In January 2002, Papa John's became the first national pizza chain to make online ordering available to all of its U.S. customers. Most other national chains later added online ordering to their services. On July 10, 2004, Papa John's controlled an estimated 6.6% of the market, according to Technomic.


title: Papa John's

text: In February 2017, it was reported by the Associated Press that the company was testing a "Papa Priority" $2.99 fee that lets people jump to the head of the line for their pizza order.


title: Papa John's

text: Papa John's has operated in the United Kingdom since 1999. In July 2015, the company had 300 shops in the UK, although in 2010 it had plans for the number rising to between 400 and 500 within the next five years.


title: Papa John's

text: Papa John's operates throughout Ireland, with its head office at Ballybrit, County Galway. The company has over 50 locations and operates mobile units around the country. The franchises are often located adjacent to Supermacs fast food outlets, whose parent company owns the exclusive franchise rights for the chain in Ireland.


title: Papa John's

text: Spain is the second most important European market for Papa John's. The chain has been operating in Spain since 2016, and had 42 restaurants by late 2017. In particular, the restaurants achieved a significant presence in the Madrid province with more than half of the Spanish restaurants being located there. Papa John's expects to open at least 100 restaurants just in the province of Madrid, as well as expanding to other regions across Spain.


title: Papa John's

text: Papa John's also operated in Russia and Belarus with plans to expand to several other European and Central Asian countries.


title: Papa John's

text: In 2018, Papa John's opened their first restaurant in Kazakhstan, which became the 46th country in the world where the chain is represented.


title: Papa John's

text: In May 2019, it was announced that Papa John's would enter the German market by taking over Halle/Salle-based Uno Pizza and converting their stores into Papa John's, with the aim of opening up to 250 locations in Germany in the following five to seven years.


title: Papa John's

text: After a failed step in the early 2000s, in 2019 Papa John's returned to Portugal with a restaurant in Lisbon and plans to expand to other parts of the country.


title: Papa John's

text: In the Netherlands Papa John's opened its doors in 2019, starting in Amsterdam and expending further through the Netherlands in 2019.


title: Papa John's

text: Papa John's entered the Indian market in 2006 with its first store opening in Noida, Uttar Pradesh with an aim to open up 100 stores in India. They couldn't keep up the efficient sophisticated ordering technology and fast delivery methods of their rivals Domino's Pizza and Pizza Hut in India. When Papa John's started in 2006, Domino's Pizza already had 126 branches. By 2017, Papa John's decided to exit the country completely, having opened only 66 stores and being unable to compete with Domino's Pizza and Pizza Hut, which had entered in the mid-1990s.


title: Papa John's

text: In 2018, Papa John's sold ownership of its 34 corporate-owned locations in Beijing, shutting down their operations in China.


title: Papa John's

text: On March 30, 2006, Six Flags announced that its parks' pizza would exclusively be from Papa John's. In turn, Six Flags received an annual sponsorship and promotional opportunities from Papa John's. Papa John's is also the official pizza supplier of the Olympic Speedskating Oval in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.


title: Papa John's

text: In November 2006, Papa John's signed with ESPN Regional Television to become the title sponsor of the annual PapaJohns.com Bowl, a college post-season football bowl game in Birmingham, Alabama, which Papa John's continued to sponsor through 2010.


title: Papa John's

text: In 2010, Papa John's signed an agreement to be the Official Pizza Sponsor of the National Football League and Super Bowls XLV, XLVI and XLVII. In 2011, Papa John's became the official Pizza Sponsor of the NFL in Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom. In October 2012, Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning became a franchisee in the Denver area for Papa John's, and also purchased 21 franchises in the area. In July 2013, Papa John's announced it had become the Official Pizza Partner of The Football League in the UK. The sponsorship ended after the 2017 season when Pizza Hut became the official pizza of the NFL in February 2018.


title: Papa John's

text: The company was the former beneficiary of the naming rights to Papa John's Cardinal Stadium used by the University of Louisville's football team, in exchange for Schnatter personally donating $5 million for the rights. Schnatter made a further $10 million donation for the stadium's expansion, and extended the naming rights to the year 2040. The Papa John's name was taken off the stadium in July 2018, after Schnatter's resignation from the company.


title: Papa John's

text: In 2020, Papa John's became the main sponsor of the EFL Trophy, a football competition for lower league and under-23 clubs in England.


title: Papa John's

text: Papa John's received attention in May 2008 when a Washington, D.C. franchise distributed T-shirts making fun of Cleveland Cavaliers star player LeBron James at a playoff game against the Washington Wizards. Photographs of the shirts quickly spread from the Internet to Cleveland television. Increasing awareness of the controversy prompted an apology from the Papa John's national headquarters on May 5. To apologize, Papa John's offered large single-topping pizzas for 23 cents (matching James' jersey number) at all locations in Greater Cleveland and throughout northern Ohio. The chain sold over 172,000 pizzas at 23 cents a piece, with customers waiting in lines outside of some stores for as long as three hours.


title: Papa John's

text: Papa John's also received media attention on January 6, 2012, when an employee typed the phrase "lady chinky eyes" on a receipt issued to an Asian American customer at a restaurant in New York City. The employee was fired and the company issued a formal apology. A manager at the restaurant where the incident occurred told the "New York Post" that the cashier, a teenager, did not intend to offend saying, "It's a busy place, and it was a way to identify her and her order. You know, we do stuff like that sometimes. We'll write 'the lady with the blue eyes' or 'the guy in the green shirt.' I think the lady put it out there just to get some attention, some people like that type of attention."


title: Papa John's

text: John Schnatter's claim that a reverse in NFL viewer ratings (supposedly because of the NFL kneeling controversy) had directly led to decreased same-store sales across Papa John's franchises was extensively reported in November 2017. It was estimated that Schnatter's personal holdings in the chain had lost millions of dollars in value. Papa John's disavowed statements by white supremacist groups expressing support for the brand in the wake of Schnatter's comments.


title: Papa John's

text: A media report surfaced on July 11, 2018, claiming that Schnatter had used a racial epithet in a conference call the previous May, along with graphic descriptions of violence against racial minorities. "Forbes" magazine reported that a media agency working with Papa John's severed its relationship with the company following the report. Steve Ritchie, who had replaced Schnatter as CEO, responded with a memo stating that "racism has no place at Papa John's," and a company spokesman wrote in an email that Papa John's "condemns racism". The same day, Schnatter admitted to using the racial epithet during the conference call and resigned as chairman of the company's board of directors. On July 13, 2018, top executives of the company decided to remove Schnatter's image from marketing materials.


title: Papa John's

text: In 1997, Pizza Hut filed a lawsuit against Papa John's based on a series of advertisements that compared the ingredients of Papa John's and its competitors. Pizza Hut successfully argued that Papa John's slogan did not constitute statements of literal fact – that "fresher ingredients" do not necessarily account for a "better" pizza. This ruling was overturned in 2000 when Papa John's appealed the decision. Although the jury's decision on the misleading advertising was upheld, the appeals court determined that Pizza Hut failed to prove, under the requirements of the Lanham Act, that the misleading advertising and puffery had a material effect on consumers' purchasing decisions.


title: Papa John's

text: In 2012, the company was the subject of a class-action lawsuit for allegedly sending over 500,000 unwanted text messages to customers. The suit sought over $250 million in damages, though the company settled to pay $16.5 million, awarding claimants up to $50 in damages, and a free, large, one-topping pizza.


title: Papa John's

text: In August 2015, Papa John's agreed to pay $12.3 million to settle a class-action lawsuit in which the company was accused of undercompensating 19,000 delivery drivers in the states of Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri and North Carolina. The complaint stated that the flat reimbursement amount per delivery for drivers failed to equal minimum wage.


title: Papa John's

text: In July 2016, Panera Bread filed a lawsuit with the U.S. Eastern District Court in Missouri accusing Papa John's of stealing digital trade secrets and proprietary data management strategies by hiring Michael Nettles, a former Panera executive who was in charge of the chain's corporate digital technologies deployment. In August, a Federal judge issued a restraining order, preventing Nettles from reporting to work at Papa John's while the case was active. Later that year, Panera told the Federal court that it had agreed to drop the lawsuit in December 2016. Details that led to the lawsuit being dropped were not made public.


title: Elena Gilbert

text: Elena Gilbert is a fictional character and protagonist from the novel series "The Vampire Diaries". In the television series adaptation, set in the fictional town of Mystic Falls, she is portrayed by Nina Dobrev. In the books, Elena was popular, selfish and a "mean girl". However, the show's producers, Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson, felt that it wasn't the direction they wanted to go with their heroine in "The Vampire Diaries" television series. Instead, she became a nicer, relatable, and more of "the girl next door" type, until her life gets flipped upside down when she meets the Salvatore Brothers. In April 2015, Nina Dobrev announced that she would be departing the series after the sixth-season finale.


title: Elena Gilbert

text: Much of Elena's story revolves around her relationships with vampires Stefan Salvatore and his older brother, Damon. It is revealed that Elena is a Petrova Doppelgänger(like Katherine and Nadia), which is thus responsible for her being identical to her ancestor, Katherine Pierce (née Katerina Petrova). This also has the implication of making her a supernatural creature. Dobrev portrayed the "conniving" Katherine as well, who is opposite of Elena. The actress stated that it has been a challenge distinguishing the two, and enjoys playing them both. In the television series's fourth season, Elena becomes a vampire and dies then deals with the struggles that come with her change. She took the cure and became human again towards the end of the sixth season. In the finale of the sixth season, Kai linked Elena to Bonnie's life by magic. Elena will only wake up when Bonnie dies in around 60 years. She was locked inside the Salvatore tomb, then relocated to a warehouse in Brooklyn, New York in the seventh season, then back to Mystic Falls. In late 2016, when it was announced that the eighth season would be the final season, Dobrev was in talks about returning to the television series to reprise her role in the final episode. After much speculation. Dobrev's return was confirmed on January 26, 2017, via an Instagram post. Dobrev appeared in the final episode of the show as both Elena and her evil doppelgänger Katherine Pierce. She was a real vampire and she was never a human.


title: Elena Gilbert

text: On March 9, 2009, it was announced that Bulgarian-born Canadian actress Nina Dobrev, known for her portrayal of on "", had joined the cast of "The Vampire Diaries" as Elena. She was the second cast member to be announced following Steven R. McQueen, who plays Elena's brother Jeremy Gilbert. Steve West Cinema Blend said the vampire brothers' battle over Elena will wreak havoc on the entire town.". Executive producer Kevin Williamson recalled Dobrev auditioning while having the flu, which he described as the "worst audition ever", and they "didn't even look at her a second time". Dobrev went back home to Canada, yet, still wanting the part, she submitted a videotape audition, which saw her cast as Elena Gilbert.


title: Elena Gilbert

text: Dobrev said that after reading the script, she was drawn to Elena because she was "this average girl who was damaged in many ways". Initially, she believed that she would be playing the "bad girl" Elena from the books, but the show wanted to go in a different direction for the character. After researching, Dobrev discovered she would also play Elena's 534-year-old vampire doppelgänger Katherine Pierce whose characteristics are the "complete opposite". Dobrev described this as "one of the rarest, coolest opportunities in television, to play two people on the same medium". She had confessed that she enjoys playing Katherine more than Elena. Dobrev stated that she changes her appearance to distinguish Elena from her doppelgänger, Katherine; "Changing my hair helps me transform," she told "Glamour". Additionally, she said "I think I have one of the coolest characters on the show — I get to play two completely different people on opposite sides of the spectrum and I just have so much fun doing it". Dobrev felt that her biggest challenge on "The Vampire Diaries" was distinguishing Katherine and Elena, and found it "interesting" to create a whole new character. In the novels, Katherine originated from Germany. However, in the television series, she is Bulgarian, as is Dobrev, who can speak the language fluently . Dobrev said, "The writers heard me speaking Bulgarian to my mom on the phone while I was on set one day. One thing led to the other and voila".


title: Elena Gilbert

text: In the books, Elena is considered "one of the popular girls" at her high school and always gets "anything she wants". Executive producer of the television show, Julie Plec, said the Elena from the books was "really kind of selfish". In "The Vampire Diaries", Elena's "selfishness" in the books as a human was never explored, because it "didn't ever feel like a characteristic" the show wanted for their heroine. Plec said "We kind of abandoned that queen-bee popular complex that in a lot of ways defined early Elena in the books", while feeling that Elena's actual flaw is her "deep, deep connection to other people". In the books, Elena had blonde hair, but has brown hair in the television show. Describing Elena from the books, Dobrev said she is "one of those mean girls that gets what she wants, popular . . . and she's blonde and blue eyed". Williamson told her that "the angle we wanted to go for was the relatable, nice, girl next door, who the audience roots for". Katherine, on the other hand, is penned as a "conniving, narcissistic bitch". Describing Elena years later, Dobrev said she evolved from a "younger, naive, sad, young girl" to a "strong woman".


title: Elena Gilbert

text: Before "The Vampire Diaries", Elena dated Matt Donovan (Zach Roerig), who was unable to move past his feelings for her initially after their break-up. Elena began dating Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley), and later discovered he was a vampire. As the episodes progressed, she developed a connection with Stefan's adventurous brother Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder), who consumes human blood, unlike Stefan, who has an animal blood diet. Speaking about the different qualities Stefan and Damon bring to Elena, Dobrev said they have "different qualities that are very appealing", which combined make "the perfect man". She said "Stefan is committed and sweet and protective and loving, and Damon is spontaneous and crazy and fun and exciting".


title: Elena Gilbert

text: After Elena became a vampire, she became sired to Damon and they slept together. According to Plec during an interview with TVLine, Elena "really believes what she feels is 100 percent genuine and real", and the couple "wants to be together and realizes that they shouldn’t, yet really wants to. So what do they do?" Stefan became heartbroken, feeling angry and betrayed, and lashed out at Damon and Elena. In the season 4 finale, an unsired Elena confirms that she is in love with Damon, and the two kiss passionately. At the end of season 6, the two plan to become human, get married, and have children together, but their dream is abruptly compromised by Kai, who puts Elena into a magical coma. Damon remains entirely devoted to Elena throughout the remaining two seasons as Elena sleeps peacefully. In the season 8 finale, she is revealed to be happily married to Damon.


title: Elena Gilbert

text: Executive producers Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson agreed that in the book series, Elena was turned into a vampire too early, which was around page 200 of "The Awakening". Elena's transition into a vampire was planned for two years. Plec said: "That felt obviously too soon, and rushed, and we didn’t want to make a show about a teenage girl who instantly becomes a vampire. But we always knew that her journey would take her there eventually". At the second season's conclusion, Elena was nearly turned into a vampire. Dobrev was happy that she wasn't, because she felt "it would have been too soon", and also didn't think it was something Elena or she wanted.


title: Elena Gilbert

text: In the show's third season, Elena has a brain hemorrhage which was initially thought to be a concussion, and begins to die. In what was described by the "International Business Times" as "the moment Vampire Diaries fans have been waiting for", Elena had to choose whether to be driven to Damon or Stefan to say goodbye to. At the time, Klaus was killed, meaning all vampires sprouting from his bloodline also die, which includes Damon and Stefan. She picks to say goodbye to Stefan. However, all these vampires end up surviving when Klaus never really dies. To save her, Doctor Meredith Fell (Torrey DeVitto) fed Elena Damon's blood. Rebekah Mikaelson kills Elena on Wickery Bridge, unaware of the vampire blood in her system. She woke up as a vampire at the end of the season. "The Hollywood Reporter" interviewed Plec, and described her transition as "monumental changes" which would have Elena in for a "wild ride". Plec said Elena becoming a vampire is "an awakening of a person who is about to go through a lot of changes", and "she is going to evolve as a person and her relationships are going to evolve accordingly". While Stefan was afraid she would hurt someone, Damon thought it was inevitable and wanted to "rip the band-aid off". Plec felt that "She’s, unfortunately, not getting the same advice from the two people she values most in the world. It’s going to make it more difficult for her", while describing the situation as "a whole new Elena and it’s a whole new day. It’s a different dynamic between the three of them especially".


title: Elena Gilbert

text: Elena Gilbert is born on June 22nd, 1992, in Mystic Falls, Virginia to John Gilbert (David Anders) and Isobel Flemming (Mia Kirshner) while they were still in high school. With the help of John's brother Grayson, Isobel and John flee town days later, leaving Grayson and his wife Miranda to adopt Elena as their own. A doctor, Grayson fabricated a birth certificate so that it appeared Elena was his daughter with Miranda. In 1994, Miranda and Grayson had a child of their own, Jeremy Gilbert. Elena dates her childhood friend Matt Donovan, who was her first love. On May 23rd, 2009, Elena called her aunt Jenna Sommers, after getting in a fight with Matt while attending a party. When her parents came to get her, the three of them later end up in a car accident, with their car driving off a bridge due to the road being slick after a rain storm. Stefan Salvatore finds them, and saves Elena, but it was too late to save Grayson and Miranda, who died. It remained unknown for months who saved Elena, and it was considered a miracle that she lived. Her relationship with Matt ended when they broke up.


title: Elena Gilbert

text: Elena, still empty after losing her parents, begins to fit back into school. She meets a mysterious new student named Stefan Salvatore. They connect instantly, and begin dating. She meets his older and malevolent brother, Damon. After researching, Elena realizes Stefan was alive in 1953. It is later revealed that he is a 162-year-old vampire. Damon also begins falling for Elena. Elena finds a picture of a woman named Katherine Pierce who looks exactly like her. Stefan reveals that it is the woman who made him and Damon feud 145 years ago and the person who turned them into vampires. He also told her that he is the person that saved her the night of her parents death. At the end of season one, Elena discovers that Grayson and Miranda weren't her biological parents, and that a woman named Isobel and her uncle John, who she grew up hating, were.


title: Elena Gilbert

text: In season two, she learns that she is a Petrova doppelgänger, having an appearance just like Katherine Pierce, which means that she has to be sacrificed to release Klaus' werewolf side. The sacrifice later happens, but Elena is saved, because John sacrificed himself for her after being put under a spell by Bonnie. However, her aunt Jenna is turned into a vampire and, as part of the sacrifice, is killed by Klaus, leaving Elena without a guardian. In the season two finale, while Damon is dying due to a werewolf bite, she forgives him for forcing her to drink his blood and kisses him with the thought that it might be Damon's last day, however Damon gets cured by drinking Klaus' blood.


title: Elena Gilbert

text: In season three, Elena does everything in her power to make Stefan get his humanity back, which was turned off by Klaus as payment for saving Damon from a werewolf bite in the latter part of season two. Meanwhile, she grows closer to Damon while working together on saving Stefan and trying to defeat Klaus, eventually even sharing a kiss. She later admits to Stefan that she has feelings for Damon as well but that she never stopped loving Stefan. While in Denver together, Elena kisses, Damon, later telling him that she doesn't know how she feels about him. It is eventually revealed that Elena met Damon the night of her parent's death, though he compelled her to forget. She eventually chooses Stefan in the season finale but before she can tell him, Elena drowns while having vampire blood in her system. During the last moments of season three, she awakens as a vampire in transition.


title: Elena Gilbert

text: In season four, Elena is faced with the tough decision of whether to die or to feed on human blood so she can fully transition into a vampire. Elena, after realizing Stefan's desperation to keep her alive, decides to complete her transition. Her relationship with Stefan ends, allowing her to begin a proper romance with Damon. Although, it is later revealed there is a sire bond between them. Sometime later whilst searching for the cure for vampirism, Jeremy is fed to the immortal Silas by Katherine. As a result, Damon used the sire bond to convince her to turn off her humanity, due to her incredible grief over losing her brother and the last remaining member of her family. Elena became ruthless without her emotions, going on killing sprees and being very hateful towards her friends. Towards the end of season four, Damon kills Matt in front of Elena to trigger her grief. After revealing that Matt had the Gilbert Ring on, Elena's humanity was switched on and her emotions were focused on hate towards Katherine for killing Jeremy. Season four ended with Bonnie as a ghost after bringing Jeremy back to life and Elena fed Katherine the cure for vampirism in a moment of desperation as she was about to be killed. Elena had chosen Damon as the Salvatore that she loved, leaving a devastated Stefan.


title: Elena Gilbert

text: In season five, Elena starts at Whitmore College and is happy after spending the summer with Damon. There she realises that Silas has taken Stefan's place and that Stefan is in that safe in a river constantly drowning. She and Damon then find the safe, only to find a dead body there meaning that someone opened the safe and Stefan is a Ripper again. However, Qetsiyah had fried Stefan's brain causing him to suffer amnesia. While trying to bring him back, they almost kiss meaning that she still feels something for him. Qetsiyah soon brings back Stefan's memories and says that Elena and Stefan were always meant to be as the Universe had to unite the doppelgängers of Silas and Amara. This leaves Damon and Elena questioning their relationship. Later on, she is kidnapped and experimented on by Wes Maxfield, and she learns that her father also used to experiment on vampires.


title: Elena Gilbert

text: Later, when Katherine is about to die as a result of all of her years catching up with her as a result of having the cure in her system, Katherine uses a spell and possesses Elena, a fact that her friends were initially unable to deduce. But once they did, they trapped Katherine and left her with no escape. Stefan stabbed her with the traveller dagger, but ghost Katherine reveals to Bonnie, shortly before trying to cross into the Other Side, that she had injected Dr Maxfield's enhanced ripper/werewolf virus into Elena's body, infecting Elena. The gang is eventually able to find an antidote.


title: Elena Gilbert

text: She, unfortunately, loses trust in Damon, partly because he killed her friend Aaron, so they break up, but realise they cannot survive to be apart and get back together.


title: Elena Gilbert

text: Once Markos and his traveller army begin to take over Mystic Falls, setting an anti-magic barrier around the town, the gang comes up with a plan to take out the travellers by killing them all at the same time, overpowering the anchor to the Other Side AKA Bonnie and creating a possible way out of the now-collapsing Other Side. Elena and Damon drive into the gas-filled Mystic Grill with most of the travellers in it, blowing it up and killing most of the people in it, including Elena and Damon. She wakes up as a ghost and finds her body, sending her to Bonnie, where she passes to the Other Side, and she and many others are able to pass back to the land of the living afterwards. But the spell that allows this is broken before Damon passes back through, and as Bonnie is the anchor, she is a part of the Other Side and shall, therefore, disappear along with it. This leaves the gang mourning the loss of Damon and Bonnie in the season finale.


title: Elena Gilbert

text: In season six, Elena starts back at Whitmore, and is unable to set foot in her hometown. She is also unable to recover from Damon's death and starts lurking the borders of Mystic Falls in order to grab civilians, drink their blood, then compel them to forget, but as spirit magic no longer works in Mystic Falls, any of her victims who cross into the town remember the ordeal, putting her identity as a vampire at risk when one of her victims, Sarah, comes to town.


title: Elena Gilbert

text: Elena begs Alaric to compel her to forget that she ever loved Damon, which Alaric is able to do, due to him being an Enhanced Original, with the ability to compel other vampires. She eventually wears him down and asks her friends to never remind her once the compulsion had been done. After a number of failed attempts, Alaric successfully compels her to forget her love for Damon. She however leaves Alaric with some of her reminders of Damon, should she ever need them again. She is told of her former feelings for Damon soon afterwards, but decides to stay the way she is, as she doesn't want to go back to being unhappy again. She starts to date her classmate, Liam.


title: Elena Gilbert

text: Once Damon comes back to life, Alaric tries to convince Elena to allow him to undo the compulsion, a decision she is reluctant to make. She eventually decides to have him undo it, but Alaric goes back to being human again after crossing into Mystic Falls, causing him to lose his vampire status (he only stayed alive because his once fatal human injuries were healed), meaning he will not be able to do so. She is then left to finally come face-to-face with Damon and see if she'll still feel the same way about him. They eventually rekindle their relationship, Elena takes the cure that Bonnie gave Damon. At Alaric's wedding, Kai ruins their wedding and casts a sleeping spell on Elena, linking her life to Bonnie's. She makes a sacrifice to let Bonnie live out her life until it is her turn. She bids goodbye to her friends and loved ones before parting ways but knows that she will see Damon, Stefan and Caroline again one day.


title: Elena Gilbert

text: Elena doesn't make an appearance but is heard calling Damon's name when he visits the Armory vault. It was a way of Sybil, the Siren, luring him into a trap.


title: Elena Gilbert

text: In the final episode, Elena makes an appearance. When a weakened Bonnie dies from the sounding bell, she meets Elena in a dream-like forest. Elena hugs her and wonders if she really has died. Enzo appears and says it isn't her time and takes Bonnie back to the world of the living. When Bonnie wakes up, it was Stefan who resuscitated her. Elena, asleep, is then taken to the Mystic Falls High School by Katherine and places her in the boiler room. Stefan tries to rescue Elena, but Katherine had Kai spell the boiler room, so that Elena can't be taken out of the room. After Bonnie had deflected the hellfire back into the bell, Bonnie passes out. Elena wakes up and wanders the school. Stefan meets up with her. It looks like Bonnie has died, but in fact Elena is still sleeping and Stefan's ghost came to visit her in her dream. He had taken the place of killing Katherine instead of Damon, since Damon is human after Stefan gave him the cure. He came to say goodbye. After a tearful hug and saying goodbye, Stefan goes into afterlife. Elena finally wakes up because Bonnie has broken the spell over her. Elena reunites with Damon and the rest of the gang. Elena gives Caroline the message Stefan whispered into her ear, saying he did hear her voice message and will love her forever. In the epilogue, Elena continued to study at medical school. After finishing her education, she went back to Mystic Falls and lived together with Damon, happily married for a long time. After living out her life, she crosses over to the afterlife where she finally reunites with her parents, Aunt Jenna and Uncle John.


title: Elena Gilbert

text: The penultimate episode of "The Originals", "The Tale of Two Wolves", features Elijah and Hope Mikaelson visiting Mystic Falls, where the window of a doctor's office reads "Elena Salvatore, MD", showing that Elena established her own medical practice.


title: Elena Gilbert

text: Elena has received mainly positive reviews. Steve West of the Cinema Blend compared the story of "The Vampire Diaries" and the character of Elena to the popular vampire franchise, "Twilight", and its protagonist Bella Swan. West said "Clearly Elena is way hotter than Bella, she has two immortal vampires fighting over her". After she transitioned into a vampire, Carina Adly MacKenzie of Zap2it hoped that the "fierce" and "ripper" side of Elena would emerge when "someone messes with the people she loves". McKenzie noted that when a person becomes a vampire, "their strongest personality traits are heightened", and hoped that wouldn't see Elena's "compassion and selflessness" double into "helping old ladies with their groceries and nursing injured animals back to health". Robyn Ross of "TV Guide" also hoped that after Elena "has had a taste for blood", she would lose control. Prior to her becoming a vampire, Ross thought she was less fun and "slightly boring", and wanted Elena to follow her instinct and "stop protecting everyone's feelings".


title: Elena Gilbert

text: Elena's romances with Stefan and Damon have become a popular craze with viewers, who have nicknamed them "Stelena" and "Delena". Andy Swift of the website HollywoodLife praised Elena's relationship with Damon, which was a combination of real love and a sired bond, hoping they would live "happily ever after". Vlada Gelman of TVLine, however, felt that their romance was "over in a rather mature way for a young love triangle" and questioned whether Elena was "ready to jump into a relationship with Damon right away" while Stefan was still in the picture.


title: Elena Gilbert

text: Tonner Doll Company, Inc. created dolls for Elena and Katherine along with Stefan and Damon, from 1864.


title: John Wick (character)

text: John Wick is a fictional character created by Derek Kolstad, and the titular protagonist of the neo-noir action thriller film series "John Wick", portrayed by Keanu Reeves. John is a legendary hitman who had retired until a gang invades his house, steals his car, and kills the puppy that his late wife Helen had given him. This sets him on a path of revenge, returning to the criminal underworld and eventually coming into conflict with the international organization of assassins of which he was once a part.


title: John Wick (character)

text: John was born Jardani Jovanovich (Russian: Джордани Йованович, Belarusian: Ярдані Яванавіч) in Padhorje, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union on September 12, 1964. He was orphaned at a young age before being taken in by an old friend of his father, who would eventually become John's mentor. It is revealed in the "John Wick" comic book mini-series that he spent a significant portion of his adolescence in El Sauzel, Mexico. At one point, he was recruited by a Ruska Roma organized crime group and trained by its leader, a woman known as "the Director", in New York City. Under the Director's supervision, John was trained as a hitman and learned skills including martial arts, firearms and other weaponry, tactical driving, infiltration, escapology, and more. After leaving the Ruska Roma organization, he was arrested for an unspecified crime and incarcerated. Upon release, he was manipulated into joining the underground crime world operating out of the Continental Hotel chain. John eventually became the top enforcer for the New York Russian crime syndicate, becoming a feared and ruthless hitman that people describe as "a man of focus, commitment, and sheer will". He was later nicknamed "Baba Yaga", being further described as the man one would send to "kill the Bogeyman". His prowess was such that he once single-handedly killed three men in a bar with a pencil.


title: John Wick (character)

text: Eventually, John fell in love with a woman named Helen. Hoping to leave his past as a contract killer behind him and pursue a normal life, he met with Viggo Tarasov, boss of the Tarasov mob, who agreed to grant him his freedom if he could carry out what was described as an "impossible task", implying that Wick was not expected to survive the mission. In order to accomplish his goal, Wick requested assistance from crime boss Santino D'Antonio and subsequently ended up owing him a blood oath called a "marker". John eliminated all of Tarasov's major rivals, thus enabling him to become one of New York's most powerful crime bosses. John retired and settled down with Helen, his reputation now legendary, and the two lived happily together for five years.


title: John Wick (character)

text: Following Helen's death from a terminal illness, John largely remains isolated from society. He spends his days driving his prized 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1, and caring for his new dog, a beagle pup named Daisy, the last gift from his deceased wife. When Iosef Tarasov, Viggo's son, breaks into his home, assaults John, steals his car and kills Daisy, the vengeful John goes on a violent rampage. Knowing that John will likely stop at nothing to kill Iosef, Viggo attempts to protect his son and sends numerous assassins to stop John, but he kills them all. John eventually kills both Iosef and Viggo. Afterwards, John rescues a pit bull puppy scheduled to be euthanized from an animal shelter and returns home.


title: John Wick (character)

text: After taking revenge on the Tarasovs, John retrieves his prized car from Viggo's brother, Abram, and forms a truce with him. Wick's hopes of returning to retirement are ruined by Camorra crime boss Santino D'Antonio, who demands he complete his blood oath and assassinate Santino's own sister, Gianna D'Antonio, allowing Santino to take her place at The High Table. When John refuses, Santino retaliates by destroying his house. John reluctantly travels to Rome and fulfills the oath, only to realize that Santino is targeting him to tie up loose ends. Santino sends his bodyguard Ares and Gianna's former bodyguard Cassian after John, but ultimately John kills Ares and wounds Cassian. Santino places a $7 million bounty on John's head, after which John enlists assistance from the Bowery King. John, after massacring hordes of assassins, eventually finds Santino in the Continental, where no bloodshed is permitted. John breaks the rule by killing Santino on the hotel premises, forcing Winston to declare him "excommunicado", meaning that he has been thrown out of the Continental without any way to call on it again for help. Winston, however, gives John one hour to flee before the excommunicado becomes active and the bounty on his head is doubled and offered globally by The High Table.


title: John Wick (character)

text: Excommunicated, exhausted, and wounded, John prepares to escape from New York as assassins gather to kill him after learning of the $14 million bounty placed on his head. Fleeing to Morocco using his former allegiances, John meets with Sofia, an old friend, manager of the Moroccan Continental, and someone whose marker John holds for rescuing Sofia's daughter. Sofia helps him find the Elder, the one man who is above the High Table itself. The Elder agrees to rescind the excommunicado in return for John killing Winston and serving the High Table for the remainder of his life. John severs his ring finger and offers his wedding ring to the Elder to prove his fealty. John then returns to New York and is pursued by assassins until he reaches the safe haven of the Continental. John reunites with Winston but decides to spare him. Instead, John and the hotel's concierge, Charon, fight against the High Table and their enforcers. Successfully defeating waves of attackers, Winston and High Table representative, the Adjudicator, have a parley on the hotel roof. Ultimately, Winston knowingly shoots John in his bulletproof jacket multiple times to restore his standing with the High Table, while not wanting to betray him, and John tumbles from the roof into the street. The Bowery King, recovering from grave wounds inflicted by the Adjudicator's assassin named Zero, retrieves the badly injured John in his hideout, where he tells John that he plans to declare war against the High Table and John agrees to join him.


title: John Wick (character)

text: The character and franchise has been described as a "central boogeyman character who can't be killed" and a "modern, action-oriented equivalent of '80s horror franchises", and reportedly has a kill count of 306, exceeding Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers combined. Wick's violent one-man crusade has been described as an extreme case of workplace revenge. He is largely seen wearing dark colored, tailored suits outfitted with ballistic armor. He is a deadly combatant and proficient with handguns, rifles, knives, and various other forms of weaponry as well as with hand-to-hand fighting. He has a large tattoo on his back with a Latin phrase written across praying hands holding a cross that reads, .


title: John Wick (character)

text: Since the franchise's inception, the character of John Wick and his development in subsequent sequels have been seen as a reinvigoration of Keanu Reeves's career. The films have a massive cult following and Reeves's portrayal of the character has been wildly praised.


title: John Wick (character)

text: John Wick appeared in "Payday 2" as part of free tie-in content and later on the John Wick Heists DLC.


title: John Wick (character)

text: John Wick appeared as a crossover cosmetic outfit in the battle royale game "Fortnite". This was the result of young children and teens mistaking Reeves for another outfit named The Reaper.


title: John Wick (character)

text: A parody of John Wick, simply referred to as "the Boogeyman" and "the Living Blade", and visually based on a beardless Keanu Reeves, is featured in a Marvel Comics "Black Widow" storyline published in January 2022, written by Kelly Thompson and illustrated by Rafael T. Pimente.


title: 17 (XXXTentacion album)

text: 17 is the debut studio album by American rapper and singer XXXTentacion. It was released on August 25, 2017, by Bad Vibes Forever and Empire Distribution. With a total length of just under 22 minutes, the album is barely an LP, and does not feature a song longer than three minutes, which is considered unconventional for a studio album. The album was supported by the lead single "Revenge", and is XXXTentacion's second commercial record, following the compilation mixtape of the same name (2017). "17" includes a sole appearance from Trippie Redd and heavy sampling of Shiloh Dynasty, and production was handled by XXXTentacion, among others.


title: 17 (XXXTentacion album)

text: The album is built on acoustic and piano-driven songs, rather than the "turn-up" style and distortion bass sounds that was popular in XXXTentacion's native Florida scene. It experiments with a variety of genres, such as emo, lo-fi, indie rock, alternative R&B and grunge, while the lyrics are based around themes such as suicide, failed relationships, and infidelity. XXXTentacion stated that the album's target audience is people who suffer with depression, and that the album is also an "entry" into his mind.


title: 17 (XXXTentacion album)

text: The album produced the singles "Jocelyn Flores", and "Fuck Love". "Jocelyn Flores", "Revenge", "Everybody Dies in Their Nightmares", "Depression & Obsession", "Save Me" and "Carry On" all debuted on the "Billboard" Hot 100. "Jocelyn Flores", "Everybody Dies in Their Nightmares" and "Fuck Love" also debuted in the top 100 of the UK Singles Chart.


title: 17 (XXXTentacion album)

text: Although "17" was marketed with no radio play or much press coverage, it was a commercial success and was positively reviewed by several publications. It debuted at number two on the US "Billboard" 200, with 87,000 album-equivalent units, and has been certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It also charted highly in numerous European countries, including top five positions in Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, Italy, Sweden, and a number one position in Norway. The album has also been certified platinum in Canada, Denmark and New Zealand. XXXTentacion posthumously won Favourite Soul/R&B Album for "17" at the 2018 American Music Awards.


title: 17 (XXXTentacion album)

text: While XXXTentacion was in jail for aggravated battery charges on his allegedly pregnant ex-girlfriend, he signed an exclusive distribution deal with Empire Distribution. Empire Distribution made an official announcement on March 2, 2017, while he was still in jail that his debut album "Bad Vibes" would be released in spring 2017. Talking to "XXL" while in prison, XXXTentacion announced "17, I Need Jesus" and "Members Only, Vol. 3" saying: I got this really really, really good album called "17." That's more of an alternative, R&B sound. Then I've got this mixtape called "I Need Jesus," which is mainly rap and the underground sound I did. So I'm trying to give my fans and anybody that comes in and listens to me everything with the mixtape and album. And then I want to come out with "Members Only Vol. 3". People are gonna be really surprised about the shit I drop.XXXTentacion later reaffirmed the announcement of "17, Revenge, Members Only Vol. 3" and "I Need Jesus" during an interview with WMIB following his release from prison in March 2017. He later used the app Periscope to talk to his followers and announce the three albums once again. He later said that "17" would be released after he finished working on "Members Only Vol. 3" with his collective, "Members Only". "Members Only Vol. 3" was released on June 26, 2017. He began to preview short snippets on his Instagram page that were later taken down, one of the snippets had the caption "Working on the album, what do you think?".


title: 17 (XXXTentacion album)

text: "17" was released on August 25, 2017. With a total length of 22 minutes, the album was barely an LP. "17" is eleven tracks long with not a single track being longer than three minutes long, which is unconventional for a studio album.


title: 17 (XXXTentacion album)

text: XXXTentacion stated that the album's target audience is people who suffer with depression, and that the album is a 'gateway' into his mind. The lyrics for "17" are based around suicide, failed relationships, and infidelity. It also focuses on events in XXXTentacion's life and involves a lot of internal dialogue. Speaking on the sound of "17," XXXTentacion explained that the album was different from his previous works, saying "If you listen to me to get hype or to not think, don't buy this album, this one is for the depression, for the depressed ones, for the lost ones."


title: 17 (XXXTentacion album)

text: Speaking to "XXL," XXXTentacion said the album would consist of "an alternative R&B sound". The album takes a different style from XXXTentacion's traditional music which is often considered rap rock and trap music. The album adapts different genres of music, including emo and indie rock to create an unconventional style that fits within the genre of alternative R&B. The album itself is produced mainly by XXXTentacion, Natra Average and Potsu, a producer who generally creates lo-fi instrumental hip hop on SoundCloud.


title: 17 (XXXTentacion album)

text: Andrew Matson of "Mass Appeal" highlighted that XXXTentacion "is at the forefront of the current rock & roll twist on hip-hop...and constructs an emo record that calls on some of his past work (the guitar stuff) but completely leaves behind his popular turn-up style and distortion bass" that was popular in the Florida scene. Matson further described the songs on "17" as mostly acoustic guitars and piano-driven. Jon Powell of "Respect." called the album an "emotional rollercoaster contained of different genres, all kept together by XXX's ever-changing lyricism and Aaron Lewis-esque harmonics", and that it "has you in absolute awe of [XXXtentacion's] talent, even in the midst of his alleged past transgressions."


title: 17 (XXXTentacion album)

text: Snippets were released showing him in a collaboration with Kodak Black, Lil JJ, and Juicy J. He later announced via his Snapchat story that the release date for "17" was August 25, 2017. In the same story, he claimed that the album would be different from his previous works and more for people with depression.


title: 17 (XXXTentacion album)

text: XXXTentacion previewed snippets on August 6, 2017, via his Snapchat story. The snippets shown was his iTunes library page with the album being played showcasing a tracklist of 8 songs. He kept his thumb on the feature that showcases the song count on the computer monitor and didn't announce the tracklist as official. The songs showcased in the snippets included "Jocelyn Flores", "Save Me", "Fuck Love" featuring Trippie Redd, "Orlando" and "Ayala (Outro)". "XXL"'s Vernon Coleman called the snippets "very somber". On August 22, 2017, X revealed the official tracklist alongside the final cover for the album. The day before the album's release, the song "Fuck Love" featuring Trippie Redd was uploaded to SoundCloud.


title: 17 (XXXTentacion album)

text: The lead single, "Revenge", was released on May 18, 2017, for streaming and digital download, originally titled as "Garrette's Revenge".


title: 17 (XXXTentacion album)

text: The third single, "Fuck Love", featuring Trippie Redd, was sent to rhythmic radio on January 23, 2018.


title: 17 (XXXTentacion album)

text: On August 23, 2017, Onfroy posted a short 3.5-second clip of what appeared to be him hanging himself from a tree to his Instagram account. The video circulated much controversy and criticism, and led to rumors that Onfroy had indeed committed suicide. However, many were quick to point out that the video was fake and was a publicity stunt to draw more attention to his upcoming album. This was heavily criticized by the press, with many calling the act an insensitive ploy to draw attention by projecting a message of suicide to a young fanbase.


title: 17 (XXXTentacion album)

text: Later in the day, Onfroy posted another clip to his Instagram, showing more clips of the hanging, but this time elaborating that the clips were a teaser for an upcoming music video. He later offered an explanation of the situation fully and publicly apologized on his Instagram.


title: 17 (XXXTentacion album)

text: Meaghan Garvey of "Pitchfork" stated that "17" "presents XXXTentacion as impressively adept at reconciling his influences into a sound that is shockingly elegant, even at its most unpolished—an album whose disparate influences dissolve in an acid bath of raw feeling." Andrew Matson from "Mass Appeal" described the album as "musically excellent, morally problematic". "Pigeons and Planes" Eric Skelton called the album's composition "progressive" and "genre-defiant." Mitch Findlay of "HotNewHipHop" called it "different from your average hip hop album", highlighting its lo-fi aesthetic, experimentation with guitar arrangements and vocals.


title: 17 (XXXTentacion album)

text: Notable figures in the hip hop music industry also gave recognition to the album, including American rapper Kendrick Lamar, who wrote on Twitter, "listen to ["17"] if you feel anything. raw thoughts." XXXTentacion posthumously won Favourite Soul/R&B Album for "17" at the 2018 American Music Awards, and the album received a Top R&B Album nomination at the 2018 "Billboard" Music Awards.


title: 17 (XXXTentacion album)

text: "17" was released on August 25, 2017, on iTunes, Spotify and Apple Music for streaming. Following the release, the album was promoted on social media by numerous other artists including Kendrick Lamar, Tory Lanez, 9th Wonder, and Lil Yachty. The sales projections for the album, managed by the magazine "Hits" estimated that "17" would collect over 80 million streams and would sell 74–79,000 album-equivalent units in the US, including 16–18,000 pure sales.


title: 17 (XXXTentacion album)

text: In the United States, "17" debuted at number two on the "Billboard" 200 with 87,000 album-equivalent units, of which 18,000 were pure sales. "17" dropped down to 3 on the "Billboard" 200 for its second week of release with 51,275 total album equivalent units sold. In its third week, 17 fell to 6 with 40,100 album-equivalent units sold. "17" had sold 313,000 album-equivalent units by October 12, 2017, dropping to 12 in the same week. Seven songs—"Jocelyn Flores", "Revenge", "Fuck Love", "Everybody Dies in Their Nightmares", "Depression & Obsession", "Save Me" and "Carry On"—debuted in the "Billboard" Hot 100 at numbers 31, 77, 41, 54, 91, 94 and 95 respectively, with "Jocelyn Flores" becoming XXXTentacion's highest charting song since "Look at Me", which peaked at 31 on September 16, 2017. Following XXXTentacion's death, "17" re-entered the "Billboard" 200 at number seven, earning 55,000 album-equivalent units. It has been certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).


title: 17 (XXXTentacion album)

text: "17" debuted at number one in Norway (where it remained for three weeks) and in the top twenty in numerous album charts, including the UK Albums Chart, where it entered at number 12, selling 4,520 album-equivalent units. The album also charted in Belgium, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Italy, and Sweden. Three songs—"Jocelyn Flores", "Everybody Dies in Their Nightmares" and "Fuck Love"—debuted in the top 100 of the UK Singles Chart, at numbers 56, 88 and 99, respectively. "Jocelyn Flores" peaked at 39 on the UK Singles Chart. The album has been certified platinum in Canada, Denmark and New Zealand. "Rolling Stone" reported that "17" "hit the charts with no record label besides his own imprint, no radio play and a near-total press blackout."


title: Smart (marque)

text: Smart (stylized as smart) is a German automotive marque. Smart Automobile Co., Ltd. is a joint venture established by Mercedes-Benz AG and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group in 2019 and aimed at producing Smart-badged cars in China to be marketed globally. The venture is headquartered in Ningbo. It produces small battery electric vehicles in their manufacturing plant in China, while previously the marque was known to produce microcars and subcompacts, primarily the Fortwo and Forfour, at Smartville in Hambach, Moselle, France and in the Revoz plant (Novo Mesto, Slovenia). Its distribution, marketing and aftersales activities in Europe are currently handled by smart Europe GmbH which is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany.


title: Smart (marque)

text: The marque was founded in 1994 by Micro Compact Car AG (MCC), a joint venture between SMH and Daimler-Benz. MCC became a wholly owned subsidiary of Daimler-Benz in 1998, and was subsequently renamed to MCC smart GmbH, then smart GmbH. smart GmbH was then absorbed by DaimlerChrysler (later Daimler AG) in 2006, making smart a marque within the Mercedes-Benz Cars division.


title: Smart (marque)

text: The name "Smart" derives from the cooperation of the Swiss company Swatch with Mercedes-Benz: "Swatch Mercedes ART". In its branding, the company lowercases its logotype and the logo incorporating a "c" and an arrow for the car's "cute", "compact", and "forward-thinking" styling, respectively.


title: Smart (marque)

text: The design concept for the marque's automobiles began at Mercedes-Benz in the early 1970s to late 1980s. After brief backing by Volkswagen, the first model was released by Daimler-Benz in October 1998. Several variants on the original design have been introduced, with the original being the "City Coupé" that would be renamed the "ForTwo".


title: Smart (marque)

text: In late 1982, SMH (makers of the Swatch brand of watches) CEO Nicolas Hayek began developing an idea for a new car using the same type of manufacturing strategies and personalization features used to popularize Swatch watches. He believed that the automotive industry had ignored a sector of potential customers who wanted a small and stylish compact city car. This idea soon became known as the "Swatchmobile". Hayek's private company Hayek Engineering AG began designing the new car for SMH, with seating for two and a hybrid drivetrain.


title: Smart (marque)

text: While design of the car was proceeding, Hayek feared existing manufacturers would feel threatened by the Swatchmobile. Thus, rather than directly competing, he preferred to cooperate with another company in the automotive industry. This would also relieve SMH of the cost burden in setting up a distribution network. Hayek approached several automotive manufacturers and on 3 July 1991, he reached an agreement with Volkswagen to share development of the new project.


title: Smart (marque)

text: By 1993, Ferdinand Piëch had become CEO of Volkswagen and he immediately sought to terminate the project with SMH. Volkswagen had already been working on their own "three-litre car": a car which would consume three litres of fuel per 100 kilometres of driving (the eventual Volkswagen Lupo 3L). Volkswagen's own concept was believed to be a better business proposition, featuring four seats and more cargo room.


title: Smart (marque)

text: Hayek had suspected that Piëch would seek to end the agreement with SMH upon his ascendancy to the CEO position; therefore, he discreetly began approaching other car companies with the Swatchmobile project. Rebuffed by BMW, Fiat, General Motors and Renault, he finally reached an informal agreement with Daimler-Benz AG, maker of Mercedes-Benz cars.


title: Smart (marque)

text: A deal was announced on 4 March 1994, at a press conference at Mercedes-Benz headquarters in Stuttgart, that the companies would join forces in founding Micro Compact Car AG (MCC). 49% of the initial capital of 50 million Swiss francs were provided by SMH and the remaining 51% by Daimler-Benz. The company consisted of two subsidiaries: MCC GmbH based in Renningen (a suburb of Stuttgart) which would design the car, and the then-unnamed manufacturing plant. SMH Auto SA, owned by Hayek, would design a hybrid electric drive system for the car, while Hayek Engineering would audit the design and manufacturing.


title: Smart (marque)

text: The press conference also featured the debut of two concept cars: the ""eco-sprinter"" and ""eco-speedster"", styled by Mercedes-Benz's design studio in California. The cars were similar to the eventual Smart City-Coupé. No mention was made of the fact that SMH had no input in the design of these concepts, and they were badged as normal Mercedes-Benz vehicles.


title: Smart (marque)

text: Three co-directors were immediately named to head the new company: designer and engineer Johann Tomforde and financial administrator Christoph Baubin from Daimler-Benz, and marketing manager Hans Jürg Schär, who spearheaded the original Swatch marketing campaigns in the mid-1980s. Tomforde had previously created concept sketches of an electric rear-engine, 2-seat, ultra-short economy car in 1972, which formed the basis for the 1981 Mercedes-Benz NAFA concept. Tomforde had been working on the Mercedes City Car (coincidentally abbreviated MCC) project at Daimler-Benz since 1990, which produced the "eco-sprinter" and "eco-speedster" concepts, as well as the "Vision-A" concept, which eventually became the Mercedes-Benz A-Class.


title: Smart (marque)

text: One of the first controversies at MCC was the name of the car itself. Nicolas Hayek insisted it retain Swatch in some way: "Swatchmobile", or "Swatch Car". Daimler-Benz refused, and pushed for a neutral name. The final selection was "Smart", an acronym that had been previously used internally by MCC for "*S*watch *M*ercedes *Art"*.


title: Smart (marque)

text: By May 1994, the co-directors had identified 74 potential sites for the assembly plant. The final site was announced on 20 December 1994: Hambach, France. The purpose-built factory quickly gained the nickname "Smartville".


title: Smart (marque)

text: In 1995, Tomforde devised a modular system of assembly for the car, insisting suppliers design and assemble, and even install their own modules onto the final car, at the new plant using their own employees thus reducing the cost overhead for the parent companies and divesting MCC of the financial and legal liabilities for those parts. It also provided a fiscal framework whereby MCC could share the development costs with the suppliers, rather than having to fund the entire project themselves. MCC secured contracts with suppliers to design and supply almost all parts of the car: seats by Faurecia, interiors by VDO, chassis and door modules by Magna, door panels by Dynamit Nobel, and suspension by Krupp.


title: Smart (marque)

text: Despite offloading a substantial amount of the development on the suppliers MCC required more capital. Recapitalization by Daimler-Benz increased their share of ownership in the company to 81% by 1996, leaving SMH with only the remaining 19%.


title: Smart (marque)

text: The assembly plant opened on 27 October 1997, with a ceremonial ribbon-cutting by then-French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Introduction of the new Smart City-Coupé was planned for March, 1998, however dynamic instability of the prototypes prompted Daimler-Benz to announce postponing the launch until October, 1998. Johann Tomforde was replaced as chief engineer by Gerhard Fritz. Fritz lowered the centre of gravity, widened the track, stiffened the suspension, changed the steering, and added ballast weight to the front of the car in order to increase its stability in emergency avoidance manoeuvres (notably the Swedish "moose test").


title: Smart (marque)

text: The car launched successfully in nine European countries in October 1998, but the final design did not fulfill Hayek's expectations. Hayek pushed for a hybrid drivetrain but the final product used a relatively conventional gasoline engine. Shortly afterward Daimler-Benz bought out SMH's remaining stake in the company. MCC was now a wholly owned subsidiary of Daimler-Benz (which soon merged with Chrysler Corporation to become DaimlerChrysler). The office in Biel was shut down and operations were consolidated at the MCC GmbH design centre in Germany. On 1 January 1999, MCC GmbH changed its name to "MCC smart GmbH", and by 2000, it dropped the last vestiges of the association with SMH, becoming "smart GmbH".


title: Smart (marque)

text: The model line was subsequently expanded to include the rear-engine, rear-drive Roadster and a four-door, four-seat supermini aptly named Forfour (the original City-Coupé was renamed "Fortwo" to fit the new naming scheme).


title: Smart (marque)

text: The expansion did not increase profits at the company; Smart GmbH lost nearly four billion euros from 2003 to 2006. Plans were enacted to increase the company's profitability and integrate its operations with Daimler (at the time DaimlerChrysler).


title: Smart (marque)

text: In 2005, Daimler decided against purchasing a 50% share in the Dutch NedCar plant used to manufacture the ForFour, ending its production. A planned SUV called Formore was terminated as the assembly plant in Brazil was being fitted with machines, and production of the Roadster was discontinued. In 2006, after dwindling sales and heavy financial losses, Smart GmbH was liquidated and its operations were absorbed by DaimlerChrysler directly.


title: Smart (marque)

text: Until April 2019, Smart operated under the Mercedes-Benz Cars division of Daimler AG, offering the Fortwo coupé, Fortwo convertible and Forfour hatchback.


title: Smart (marque)

text: In 2019, Daimler announced the establishment of a joint venture partnership with Chinese automaker Geely. The deal, worth a total of ¥5.4m RMB (about $830m USD), involves a new production plant to be built in China, which will start production on a new generation of Smart-branded vehicles. In 2021, the first concept of this partnership, called Concept #1, was unveiled at the Munich Motor Show. The concept vehicle is built on Geely's SEA platform, and features design details of existing Smart models, including a panoramic glass roof, frameless suicide-style rear doors, and a large touchscreen infotainment system.


title: Smart (marque)

text: Apart from the original Smart Fortwo, a sporty Smart Roadster, a limited production of 2000 erstwhile concept Smart Crossblade and a supermini Smart Forfour were also offered. These have now been discontinued. There were also plans to introduce the French made cross-over based on the body of the ForFour and the AWD hardware of the Mercedes C-class with the name of Formore but industrialization of this was cancelled at the 11th hour (even as tooling was being installed in the assembly plant) due to unfavourable exchange rate swings and spending cutbacks driven by losses elsewhere within Smart.


title: Smart (marque)

text: First generation Smart models equipped with engine sizes smaller than fit into the Kei car category of cars in Japan, and are eligible for a range of lower taxes. Recent models with a larger engine do not meet the Kei qualifications. An official version of the Smart Fortwo called the "Smart K" has been released to fit the Kei car category. English musician Steve Appleton is featured in a Smart TV commercial, running in Japan during 2010.


title: Smart (marque)

text: The Smart Fortwo started the pre-sales in October 2008 and the Smart vending machine road show in 12 cities from October 2008 to February 2009.


title: Smart (marque)

text: Since 29 November 2010, the Smart Fortwo has been available in Indonesia with PT. Mercedes-Benz Indonesia (MBI) as the authorized dealer. MBI originally offered three models: Pure Coupe, Passion Coupe, and Passion Cabriolet, for sale in Jakarta and Bali. Indonesia is also the first country in Southeast Asia to have the Smart Electric Drive, which has been lent to the Government of DKI Jakarta for a one-year period and can be extended for further indefinite period by a signed agreement between PT. Mercedes-Benz Indonesia, PT. Siemens Indonesia, and the Government of DKI Jakarta. The Smart ED will then serve as a pilot project to prove the effectivity of zero-emission car usage that can utilize alternative sources of energy.


title: Smart (marque)

text: The Smart Fortwo was introduced in Canada in late 2004 and was sold through Mercedes-Benz dealers. Demand was initially heavy with up to 6-month waiting lists in major urban areas in the spring of 2005. The vehicle was especially popular for commuters, small car enthusiasts, people needing light delivery and service vehicles. Demand relaxed slightly in the second year on the market. Sales rebounded with the second generation. Canadian Smart cdis cannot be registered in some states in the US.


title: Smart (marque)

text: 10,239 Smart Fortwo cdis had been sold in Canada by the first month of 2008. Just before the Type 450 ended production (after which the production had equaled 770,256 cars) Mercedes-Benz Canada built up stock of cdis to tide dealers over until the successor model 451 arrived at the end of 2007.


title: Smart (marque)

text: The Canadian version of the Type 450 Smart Fortwo cdi sold to 915 customers over three months in 2004; 4,080 were sold in 2005, and 3,023 in 2006. Virtually all the deliveries in 2004 and many of the deliveries in 2005 were to long-time Smart fans who had been waiting for their car for years, which largely accounts for the higher numbers. Through 2007, sales totaled about 2,200 units, with the last few cars being sold in the first month of 2008, when the new Type 451 was already on sale. The Smart's strongest sales performance ever in Canada was in April 2007, when more than 500 units were sold. Sales are strongest (per capita) in Western Canada, with Vancouver Island and Vancouver being especially hot markets.


title: Smart (marque)

text: The 2008-2011 (North America) Smart Fortwo Type 451 was totally redesigned, with a 70 HP naturally aspirated Mitsubishi-sourced gasoline engine of 999 cc for North America, up from the 799 cc cdi diesel, with the attendant loss of fuel economy. Smart decided not to import the cdi version of the 451, now with 55 DIN HP, although this decision has led to criticism that the new Smart does not get the fuel economy that many would expect from such a small car. The 799 cc, far more fuel efficient diesel is sold in Europe and some other markets.


title: Smart (marque)

text: The Brabus Tailor-Made program is not well advertised in Canada, but at least 16 Tailor-Made cars have been produced to Canadian specification. These vehicles are sent to the Brabus factory in Bottrop, Germany, where the standard ex-works cars are stripped to the shell and repainted/retrimmed to suit individual customers' tastes. The first four are the Brabus Canada 1; three in bright red (including the tridion, two cabriolets and one coupé) and one in all white (a cabriolet). Aside from the special paint, all had every Brabus part fitted to the body and interior, and the seats, door panels and dashboards were trimmed in black Nappa leather and Alcantara. Three of these cars are in British Columbia and #1-of-1, the Concept vehicle used at Canadian International Auto Shows (a red cabrio with silver alloys), is now in London, Ontario. The next Brabus tailor made Canadian car was a one-off all orange 451 made for a customer in Vancouver. The other ten were all ordered by Mercedes-Benz Canada as the special "edit10n" of the Canadian Brabus 451 (with only 70 HP), painted in metallic dark grey with an orange Nappe leather interior. There is also at least one BoConcept 451 built to Canadian standards.


title: Smart (marque)

text: In 2009, the Government of Canada acquired the European Smart mhd (micro hybrid drive) through partnership with Mercedes-Benz Canada. The project was administered by the ecoTECHNOLOGY for Vehicles(eTV) program within Transport Canada. Goals were to identify the benefits of the start-stop system equipped on the vehicle and how to accelerate the penetration of this technology throughout Canada. See Smart mhd Test Results Report.


title: Smart (marque)

text: On April 30, 2019, Daimler announced 2019 will be the last year for Canada and will continue to support owners going forward.


title: Smart (marque)

text: Before 2008, Smart cars were only available in the United States as "grey market" imports, such as ZAP. U.S. federal regulations allow certain grey market importing in large quantities provided the vehicles are modified and tested to conform to U.S. safety and emissions regulations. Smarts were imported into the United States by "The Defiance Company LLC", modified by G&K Automotive Conversion in Santa Ana, California, and distributed and sold by independent dealerships which were not affiliated with Mercedes. U.S. regulations did not permit the purchase and import of used Smart CDi vehicles from Canada, as the diesel powered Canadian Smarts did not meet American emissions regulations.


title: Smart (marque)

text: In June 2006, DaimlerChrysler confirmed that Smart would be officially launched in the United States in the first quarter of 2008. The cars were offered through a dealership holding company Penske Automotive Group, which created a new U.S. dealership network for the brand under the name Smart USA. Initially, an updated gasoline powered Fortwo was offered, starting around US$12,000. The new model made its debut at European auto shows in November 2006.


title: Smart (marque)

text: A "Forbes" article has been critical of the stated reasons that Daimler-Chrysler gave for introducing the car in the United States. The Smart Fortwo may have claimed to be the most fuel-efficient fully gasoline-engined car for sale in the US, but it actually lags behind the 4-door Mitsubishi Mirage and 2-door Scion iQ (combined 40 mpg and 37 mpg, respectively). According to the EPA, the Smart's fuel efficiency is lower than the fuel efficiency of some hybrids, including the Ford Fusion, the Toyota Prius, the Honda Civic Hybrid, and the 2-seat Honda Insight, which achieve 41/36, 51/48, 40/43, and 40/43 respectively while the Smart achieves 33 city and 41 highway. The Smart Fortwo is the most efficient car at its pricepoint, since it costs about half as much as a hybrid in the US.


title: Smart (marque)

text: The Fortwo has received much attention in the U.S. In its April 2008 issue, "Men's Vogue" raised the question, "in a nation where your supersized car is your castle, is the Smart too mini for a man?".


title: Smart (marque)

text: To obtain a Smart Fortwo originally required obtaining a "reservation" costing $99 through a dealer or over the internet. The waiting time in January 2009 was approximately 12 months; by July 2009, there was no wait to obtain a vehicle and dealers had them in stock for immediate delivery.


title: Smart (marque)

text: On January 25, 2010, Smart USA began its first lease program in the US market for Smart Fortwo models. The program was scheduled to last through February 28, 2010, but has been extended indefinitely despite lack of leasing sales.


title: Smart (marque)

text: Penske Automotive Group announced plans February 14, 2011, to relinquish distribution of the Smart Fortwo under Smart USA, to Mercedes-Benz USA. In 2011, Smart USA offered four versions of their Fortwo model. These models include the following: cabriolet, the high-cost convertible version; passion, the mid-cost moonroof version; pure, the low-cost basic version; and electric drive, the electric version.


title: Smart (marque)

text: On July 1, 2011, Mercedes-Benz USA took over the distribution, sales and marketing of the Smart brand from Penske Automotive Group. Smart is owned and produced by Mercedes' parent, Daimler AG.


title: Smart (marque)

text: The third generation Smart Fortwo coupe (C453) was introduced in the United States as a 2016 model in September 2015. The fortwo cabrio (A453) model arrived at American dealerships in 2016 as a 2017 model, and was sold alongside the fortwo coupe. In February 2017, smart USA announced that gasoline models would be discontinued after the 2017 model year, and the brand would focus on an all-electric strategy beginning for the 2018 model year. Both coupe and cabrio models will remain on sale as battery-electric vehicles, with the fortwo cabrio electric drive being offered as the only electric convertible for sale in the United States.


title: Smart (marque)

text: The year 2018 marked 10 years of Smart sales in the US, and the brand offered a limited-edition 10th anniversary edition fortwo coupe electric drive to celebrate. The edition was announced in January 2018, and shown at the 2018 North American International Auto Show.


title: Smart (marque)

text: Smart exited the US market after the 2019 model year due to slow sales and the high cost of homologating the Fortwo for the US.


title: Smart (marque)

text: The Smart Fortwo was introduced in 2003, and were sold in department stores Sanborns and Liverpool. Later Mercedes-Benz dealers started to offer the car. Currently Smart cars are still offered in the country, with only the Fortwo model available.


title: Smart (marque)

text: In Argentina, the Fortwo has been for sale since 2010 and models (Fortwo Cabrio and Fortwo Coupé) can be bought in dealerships located in the Puerto Madero neighborhood of Buenos Aires.