Business category, Page 164
Governor seeks to salvage aluminum mill deal promised to Kentucky
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Gov. Andy Beshear made a pitch Thursday to a steel company that took over plans to build an aluminum plant once promised to Kentucky, hoping to salvage a deal struck by his predecessor. Beshear said his economic development team has reached out to Steel Dynamics Inc., offering...
Facebook gives users new way to see all their friends’ posts
MENLO PARK, Calif. — Facebook is rolling out an update that enables its 2 billion daily users to more easily view their friends’ posts in chronological order. The new feature is the company’s latest attempt to keep people coming back to its social network amid intensifying competition with its trendier...
Home sales fell in June as prices reach new heightsVideo
Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slowed for the fifth consecutive month in June as higher mortgage rates and rising prices kept many home hunters on the sidelines. Existing home sales fell 5.4% last month from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.12 million, the National Association of...
Netflix loses nearly 1 million subscribers, but helped by ‘Stranger Things’
The popularity of sci-fi series “Stranger Things” helped Netflix fight back against a stream of subscriber cancellations. The Los Gatos, Calif.-based streamer said Tuesday that it lost 970,000 subscribers in the quarter, marking the second consecutive quarter of subscriber declines. Nonetheless, the drop was not nearly as bad as the...
Amazon sues admins of 10K Facebook groups over fake reviews
Amazon has filed a lawsuit against administrators of more than 10,000 Facebook groups it accuses of coordinating fake reviews in exchange for money or free products. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant said in a statement posted on its website Tuesday the Facebook groups were set up to recruit people “willing to...
Twitter-Musk takeover dispute heading for an October trial
Tesla CEO Elon Musk lost his fight to delay Twitter’s lawsuit against him as a Delaware judge on Tuesday set an October trial, citing the “cloud of uncertainty” over the social media company after the billionaire backed out of a deal to buy it. “Delay threatens irreparable harm,” said Chancellor...
How weird could things get if Twitter settles with Elon Musk?
As Elon Musk’s imbroglio with Twitter moves from the boardroom to the courtroom, one might expect that, under the watchful eye of Delaware’s Court of Chancery, things will take on a more predictable trajectory than they have so far. In theory, the lawsuit that the social media platform launched Tuesday...
John Dorfman: Foot Locker and CVS look good on price-to-sales
Stock-market bargain hunters are a little like baseball scouts, trying to find talent that other teams have overlooked. A scout might find a pitcher who is wild (walks a lot of batters) but has a thunderbolt of a fastball. An investor might find a stock with a low price relative...
Retail sales up 1% in June, easing fears of a recession
NEW YORK — Consumers picked up their spending from May to June, underscoring their resilience despite painfully higher prices at the gas pump and in grocery aisles and allaying fears that the economy might be on the verge of a recession. U.S. retail sales rose 1% in June, from a...
Altmeyer’s chain files for bankruptcy after 81 years; all locations closed
Altmeyer’s, a family-owned retail home goods chain that started in the basement of a New Kensington tavern 81 years ago and grew to multiple locations in the region, has filed for bankruptcy. The company’s board of directors on Sunday, July 10, authorized its president, Robert Altmeyer, who is the grandson...
Crypto plunge is cautionary tale for public pension funds
MINNEAPOLIS — When the Houston Firefighters Relief and Retirement Fund bought $25 million in cryptocurrencies, with the fund’s chief investment officer touting their potential, retired fire Capt. Russell Harris was concerned. Harris, 62, has attended the funerals of 34 firefighters killed in the line of duty. He was already worried...
He worked from home and died suddenly. 5 days passed before his body was found
LOS ANGELES — Dominic Green signed out of work as he always did, exactly at 4:30 p.m. “Good afternoon everyone, my shift has ended,” the 28-year-old emailed from his desk in the living room of his Los Angeles apartment on a winter Wednesday afternoon. A remote contract worker, Dominic had...
Is Twitter down? Service appears to return after outage
Twitter appears to be returning for some users after experiencing an hourlong outage that affected both its app and website on Thursday. Individuals attempting to use the social media platform were met with a message saying “Tweets aren’t loading right now. Try again.” According to Downdetector, users began reporting the...
Rite Aid officially moves HQ from central Pa. to PhiladelphiaVideo
It’s the end of an era. One of the most well-known companies in the country no longer has a Camp Hill address. Rite Aid, the long-time East Pennsboro-based pharmaceutical chain has official moved its headquarters to Philadelphia. On Wednesday, Rite Aid opened its new headquarters in the Navy Yard district....
Explainer: Why U.S. inflation is so high, and when it may ease
WASHINGTON — Inflation’s relentless surge didn’t merely persist in June. It accelerated. For the 12 months ending in June, the government’s consumer price index rocketed 9.1%, the fastest year-over-year jump since 1981. And that was nothing next to what energy prices did: Fueled by heavy demand and by Russia’s invasion...
Amazon handed Ring footage to police without user consent
Amazon has provided Ring doorbell footage to law enforcement 11 times this year without the user’s permission, a revelation that’s bound to raise more privacy and civil liberty concerns about its video-sharing agreements with police departments across the country. The disclosure came in a letter from the company that was...
Target opens in Downtown Pittsburgh
Sharon Stritmatter heard rumors the Downtown Pittsburgh Target was open several days ahead of schedule. She stopped by Wednesday afternoon during her lunch break for confirmation. After buying a drink and a jumper, she said she would be visiting the store often because of its convenient location near her office....
U.S. inflation surges again in June, raising risks for economy
WASHINGTON — U.S. inflation surged to a new four-decade high in June because of rising prices for gas, food and rent, squeezing household budgets and pressuring the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates aggressively — trends that raise the risk of a recession. The government’s consumer price index soared 9.1%...
Twitter sues to force Elon Musk to complete his $44B acquisition
SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter sued Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday, trying to force him to complete his $44 billion takeover of the social media company by accusing him of “outlandish” and “bad faith” actions that have caused the platform irreparable harm and “wreaked havoc” on its stock price. Back...
Amazon Prime Day comes amid slowdown in online sales growth
Amazon is heading into its annual Prime Day sales event on Tuesday much differently than how it entered the pandemic. The company has long used the two-day event — one of its biggest all year — to lure people to its Prime membership, for which Amazon recently raised the price...
Peloton to stop making its own bikes, treadmills
Peloton will stop making its own interactive stationary bikes and treadmills, outsourcing those duties to a Taiwanese manufacturer as it attempts to revive sales that surged during the pandemic. The New York City company, which recorded its only profitable quarters during the pandemic, is seeking to lower costs after sales...
John Dorfman: The Perfect 10 Portfolio has averaged 19.9% return
Summer is upon us, and after pandemic weight gains, few people will rate a “Perfect 10” on the beach this year. But my Perfect 10 Portfolio is ready to show off. This hypothetical portfolio contains 10 stocks, each of which sells for 10 times earnings. For example, MKS Instruments earned...
Looming Musk-Twitter legal battle hammers company shares
NEW YORK — Shares of Twitter slumped almost 10% in the first day of trading after billionaire Elon Musk said that he was abandoning his $44 billion bid for the company and the social media platform vowed to challenge Musk in court to uphold the agreement. Twitter is now preparing...
NerdWallet: How to afford big-ticket items for the year
When Brandy Baxter needed to replace her home’s entire heating and air conditioning system several years ago, she asked contractors if they offered deals at certain times of the year. She learned that if she waited until February, the slow season for such work, she could get a lower price....
Crypto plunge is cautionary tale for public pension funds
MINNEAPOLIS — When the Houston Firefighters Relief and Retirement Fund bought $25 million in cryptocurrencies, with the fund’s chief investment officer touting their potential, retired fire Capt. Russell Harris was concerned. Harris, 62, has attended the funerals of 34 firefighters killed in the line of duty. He was already worried...
