Business category, Page 250
U.S. brings new charges against Chinese tech giant Huawei
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has added new criminal charges against Chinese tech giant Huawei and two of its U.S. subsidiaries, accusing the company in a plot to steal trade secrets from competitors in America, federal prosecutors announced Thursday. The case comes as the Trump administration is raising national security...
Twitter, Facebook fined for not moving user data to Russia
MOSCOW — A court in Moscow fined Twitter and Facebook 4 million rubles each Thursday for refusing to store the personal data of Russian citizens on servers in Russia, the largest penalties imposed on Western technology companies under internet use laws. The fines of nearly $63,000 are the first five-figure...
McClatchy files for bankruptcy protectionVideo
The publisher of the Miami Herald, The Kansas City Star and dozens of other newspapers across the country is filing for bankruptcy protection. McClatchy Co.’s 30 newsrooms, including The Charlotte Observer, The News & Observer in Raleigh, and The Star-Telegram in Fort Worth, will continue to operate as usual as...
Solid earnings send stock indexes higher on Wall Street
Stocks closed broadly higher on Wall Street on Wednesday, driving the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes to more record highs. Technology stocks powered much of the rally as investors focused on the latest batch of mostly solid company earnings reports. The latest gains came as worries about the economic impact...
More U.S. firms boosting faith-based support for employees
NEW YORK — It has become standard practice for U.S. corporations to assure employees of support regardless of their race, gender or sexual orientation. There’s now an intensifying push to ensure that companies are similarly supportive and inclusive when it comes to employees’ religious beliefs. One barometer: More than 20%...
Powell: Economy looks resilient despite risk of China virus
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday that the U.S. economy appears durable, with steady growth and unemployment near a half-century low, but faces risks from the broadening viral outbreak that began in China. Powell also said that the Fed is content with where interest rates are, suggesting...
What college grads should know about the job search
College students about to graduate this spring already have a lot going for them. Armed with degrees, they will enter the workforce at a time of historically low unemployment when companies are desperately vying for talent. Still, career experts say there are steps that recent graduates should take to ensure...
U.S. open jobs fall sharply for 2nd straight month
WASHINGTON — U.S. businesses sharply cut the number of open jobs in December for the second straight month, an unusual sign of weakness in an otherwise healthy job market. The number of available positions dropped 5.4% to 6.4 million, a historically solid number that exceeds the number of those who...
Oil from federal lands tops 1 billion barrels as Trump eases rules
BILLINGS, Mont. — Oil production from federally-managed lands and waters topped a record 1 billion barrels last year, federal officials said Tuesday, as technological advances helped drive development in new areas and the Trump administration eases rules on the industry. The production figure was up 122 million barrels, or more...
Global energy-related carbon emissions flat in 2019
BERLIN — Global energy-related emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide remained steady last year, with declines in rich countries balancing out a rise in poor nations, according to data published Tuesday. The International Energy Agency said emissions of the main man-made greenhouse gas stayed at 33 gigatons in 2019, even as...
Federal judge approves T-Mobile’s $26.5B takeover of Sprint
NEW YORK — A federal judge has approved T-Mobile’s $26.5 billion takeover of Sprint, rejecting objections from a group of states and removing a major obstacle to a shakeup in the wireless industry. After the deal closes, the number of major U.S. wireless companies would shrink from four to three....
Alphabet heads my list of balance-sheet powerhouses
The wealthiest people don’t always have the biggest salaries. And the wealthiest companies aren’t necessarily those with the best earnings lately. I believe that companies with a great balance sheet deserve recognition. So, in 2001 I started compiling an annual list of Balance Sheet Powerhouses. To make it, a company...
Trump budget targets loan program that could help Lordstown
DETROIT — The Trump administration’s budget proposal scraps a loan program that could help an upstart electric vehicle company’s plans to reuse the now-closed General Motors factory in Lordstown, Ohio. In a summary of the budget for the coming fiscal year, the administration said Monday it wants to eliminate the...
Chinese military stole masses of Americans’ data, U.S. says
WASHINGTON — Four members of the Chinese military have been charged with breaking into the networks of the Equifax credit reporting agency and stealing the personal information of tens of millions of Americans, the Justice Department said Monday, blaming Beijing for one of the largest hacks in history to target...
Schick owner retreats from $1.37B buyout of Harry’s
SHELTON, Conn. — The company that owns Schick has terminated its attempt to buy the upstart shaving company Harry’s for $1.37 billion, just days after the United States sued to block the acquisition. Edgewell Personal Care Co. said Monday that it will move forward as a standalone company. It also...
2nd big mall deal in as many weeks; Simon buys Taubman
The Simon Property Group will buy mall operator Taubman Realty in a deal valued at around $3.6 billion as those properties continue to struggle along with their retail tenants. Simon Property Group Inc. is the nation’s largest mall operator. It said Monday that its operating partnership, Simon Property Group, LP,...
Sony, Amazon drop out of major European tech show over virus
LONDON — Sony and Amazon are the latest companies to pull out of a major European technology show due to fears over the outbreak of the new coronavirus. Sony said Monday it’s scrapping its appearance at Mobile World Congress, the world’s biggest mobile industry trade fair, in Barcelona, Spain, this...
Unique Illinois privacy law leads to $550M Facebook deal
CHICAGO — Adam Pezen, Carlo Licata and Nimesh Patel are among millions of people who have been tagged in Facebook photos at some point in the past decade, sometimes at the suggestion of an automated tagging feature powered by facial recognition technology. It was their Illinois addresses, though, that put...
U.S. employers add a strong 225K jobs; unemployment up to 3.6%
WASHINGTON — Hiring jumped at the beginning of the year as U.S. employers added 225,000 jobs, bolstering an economy that faces threats from China’s viral outbreak, an ongoing trade war and struggles at Boeing. The Labor Department also said Friday that a half-million people streamed into the job market in...
Online mattress pioneer Casper soars in debut tradingVideo
NEW YORK — Shares of online mattress pioneer Casper Sleep Inc. popped in their debut trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange. But the New York-based company still faces challenges ahead to prove to investors it can profitably sell mattresses as it becomes a bigger name in the so-called...
U.S. agency approves vehicle designed not to have human driverVideo
DETROIT — For the first time, the U.S. government’s highway safety agency has approved a company’s request to deploy a self-driving vehicle that doesn’t meet federal safety standards for human-driven cars and trucks. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration granted temporary approval for Silicon Valley robotics company Nuro to run...
Asia stocks surge after Trump acquitted, China virus aid
Asian stock markets surged Thursday after President Donald Trump was acquitted in an impeachment trial and China promised tax cuts and other help to businesses reeling from a virus outbreak. Tokyo’s market benchmark rose more than 2% and indexes in Shanghai, Seoul and Hong Kong also advanced. Oil prices gained....
YouTube, Venmo: Artificial intelligence firm must stop scraping faces from sitesVideo
Payment service Venmo joined YouTube and Twitter on Wednesday in demanding that a facial recognition company stop harvesting user images to identify the people in them, which the startup does as part of its work with police. Venmo said Wednesday it is sending a cease-and-desist letter to New York-based Clearview...
Super Bowl betting brings big business to sports booksVideo
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Gamblers in Nevada wagered $154.7 million on this year’s Super Bowl, an increase from last year but still below the high set in 2018. The Nevada Gaming Control Board released its Super Bowl betting figures on Tuesday, a day later than expected, because of technical difficulties...
Disney Plus streamer hits nearly 29 million subscribers in 3 months
NEW YORK — Disney said its Disney Plus streaming service reached nearly 29 million paid subscribers in less than three months, an impressive start for what the company has positioned as its future as more people drop cable subscriptions. But as expected, starting up a new service comes with huge...
