Business category, Page 272
White House launches survey looking for tech industry bias
SAN FRANCISCO — On the heels of President Trump’s repeated assertions claiming anti-conservative bias by tech companies, the White House has launched an online form asking people to share their experiences if they think political partisanship has led them to be silenced by social media sites. The White House’s official...
California cafe touts its $75 coffee as the world’s priciest
SAN FRANCISCO — A California cafe is brewing up what it calls the world’s most expensive coffee — at $75 a cup. Klatch Coffee is serving the exclusive brew, the Elida Natural Geisha 803, at its branches in Southern California and San Francisco. The 803 in the coffee’s name refers...
American Express buys restaurant reservation service Resy
NEW YORK — American Express is buying the online reservation startup Resy, the latest move by AmEx to establish and maintain a foothold for its card members in some of the world’s most desired restaurants. AmEx and Resy declined to disclose the terms of the deal. However, Resy announced it...
Under soda tax, beverage sales at chain stores in Philly dropped 51%, study finds
PHILADELPHIA — Sales of soda and other sweetened beverages have declined by 51% at chain stores in Philadelphia since the city’s controversial tax on beverages took effect in 2017, according to a study released Tuesday, one week before city primary elections in which the tax is a key issue. Total...
Bayer’s stock falls after $2 billion verdict against Roundup maker Monsanto
Bayer’s stock fell 2% Tuesday afternoon, one day after a California couple was awarded more than $2 billion over allegations that its Roundup weed killer causes cancer. The decision marked the third consecutive jury verdict against the company over its top-selling herbicide. The company has said it will appeal the...
Walmart matches Amazon with one-day shipping on many items
Walmart wants to one-up Amazon.com in the fight for online shoppers. The world’s largest retailer is rolling out a next-day delivery service to counter Amazon’s recent move to speed shipment times for top customers to just one day from two. Starting Tuesday, Walmart customers in Phoenix and Las Vegas who...
Disney takes over Hulu
BURBANK, Calif. — Disney is taking full control of Hulu, extending the reach of its streaming abilities. Disney said Tuesday that it’s taking operational control of the streaming service immediately. NBCUniversal owns 33% of Hulu right now. According to the agreement, Disney can demand Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal, sell the...
Forget Uber, company offers N.Y. airport transfers via helicopter for $195
It’s just enough time to mix a cocktail. Helicopters have been whisking the wealthy from Manhattan to New York’s airports for decades. Now the ride costs as little as $195, and you can book it via a smartphone. Back in 2014, when Rob Wiesenthal founded Blade Urban Air Mobility, a...
Trader Joe’s debuts deliciously weird, wonderful YouTube channel
Trader Joe’s has debuted a wacky and wonderful YouTube channel. If you are a Trader Joe’s fan — and who isn’t? — then you’re going to love the chain’s new YouTube channel. The California-based grocer, which recently took top honors in Consumer Report’s annual supermarket survey, quietly launched the new...
Is the U.S. ready for ruby chocolate?
The world’s largest chocolate market is finally getting a taste of the ruby range, the first new type in more than 80 years. Switzerland’s Barry Callebaut, the top maker of bulk chocolates, is rolling out its ruby breakthrough in the United States almost two years after announcing the discovery. The...
WhatsApp patches security flaw that lets attackers to deliver malware through calls
WhatsApp is urging its 1.5 billion users to update their app after the company detected sophisticated hacking attempts that may have targeted human rights activists. The Facebook subsidiary said “an advanced cyber actor” exploited a security flaw and installed the malware by reaching targets on their mobile phones through WhatsApp’s...
Jury: Monsanto to pay $2 billion in weed killer cancer case
OAKLAND, Calif. — A jury on Monday ordered agribusiness giant Monsanto Co. to pay a combined $2.05 billion to a couple claiming that the company’s popular weed killer Roundup Ready caused their cancers. The jury’s verdict is third such courtroom loss for Monsanto in California since August. The state court...
As China retaliates on tariffs, stock markets take deep diveVideo
U.S. markets plunged Monday as China said it would raise steep tariffs on $60 billion in U.S. goods, upping the stakes of a trade war that threatens to imperil the global economy. The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 617 points, or nearly 2.4%, as investors feared that a trade...
Condom company’s plugin blocks baby photos on Facebook
Your friends just can’t stop posting photos of their new babies on Facebook. And it’s infuriating. Well condom maker Skyn is here to rescue you — with a “social media contraceptive.” They’ve come up with a Google Chrome extension that filters out those annoying photos on your Facebook feed and...
Escalating U.S.-China trade war sinks stocks
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks moved sharply lower Monday on Wall Street and extended the market’s slide into a second week as investors seek shelter from an escalating trade war between the U.S. and China. The world’s largest economies had seemed on track to resolve the ongoing trade dispute that...
Supreme Court rules against Apple, allowing lawsuit targeting App Store to proceed
Apple suffered a significant defeat at the Supreme Court on Monday, when the justices ruled that consumers could forge ahead with a lawsuit against the iPhone giant over the way it manages its App Store. The 5-4 decision could spell serious repercussions for one of Apple’s most lucrative lines of...
First Commonwealth to acquire 14 Santander Bank branches
Indiana-based First Commonwealth Bank announced it is buying 14 branches of Santander Bank in central Pennsylvania. First Commonwealth, which also has been in growth mode in Ohio, last week applied to the Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities for approval to purchase assets and assume liabilities for the branches located...
Amazon to employees: We’ll pay you to quit and haul packages
NEW YORK — Amazon, which is racing to deliver packages faster, is turning to its employees with a proposition: Quit your job and we’ll help you start a business delivering Amazon packages. The offer, announced Monday, comes as Amazon seeks to speed up its shipping time from two days to...
Washington state to offer first ‘public option’ insurance in U.S.
SEATTLE — Washington is set to become the first state to enter the private health insurance market with a universally available public option. A set of tiered public plans will cover standard services and are expected to be up to 10% cheaper than comparable private insurance, thanks in part to...
Uber’s hyped-up IPO hits potholes on 1st day
NEW YORK — After much hype leading up to the largest initial public offering in five years, Uber hit a few potholes on its first day of trading, closing down 8% and reflecting lingering doubts about its future prospects for profitability. The ride-hailing company injected investors with a dose of...
Stocks rebound as hopes rise that trade tensions will ease
Major U.S. stock indexes turned higher in late afternoon trading Friday, shaking off an early slump triggered by the latest escalation in the trade war between the U.S. and China. The market fell sharply in the early going after the U.S. raised tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods...
Here’s how tariffs on Chinese goods will affect U.S. consumers
WASHINGTON — With the Trump administration more than doubling tariffs on billions of dollars of Chinese imports, will Americans soon see higher prices on store shelves? Yes, but it may take a few weeks. U.S. import taxes on $200 billion of Chinese goods jumped to 25% on Friday, from 10%,...
Natty Light looking to fill sweet summer intern gig
When you get back to college in the fall, you will surely be asked by friends: “What did you do over the summer?” If the answer to that is anything other than, “I was a summer intern for Natty Light,” then you have failed at summer. That’s right: The crew...
In France, McDonald’s ditches fries for cucumbers in Happy Meals
Hopefully, the irony isn’t lost in translation. Instead of french fries in its Happy Meals, young diners at McDonald’s restaurants in France will be getting Petits Concombres (“little cucumbers”), reports VegNews. It’s all for the health of it’s customers. “The arrival of the Little Cucumbers is fully in line with...
Coal’s slide to continue in U.S. as renewables fill the gap
BILLINGS, Mont. — U.S. demand for coal to generate electricity will continue its slide in coming months despite efforts by the Trump administration to prop up the struggling industry, federal officials said Thursday. Renewable energy sources are expected to fill much of the gap left by coal’s decline, according to...
