Business category, Page 60
Warren Buffett buys rest of Berkshire Hathaway’s utilities, but investors must guess at the price
OMAHA, Neb. — Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is buying the rest of its utility unit from the estate of a longtime board member who died three years ago, but it’s not clear exactly how much it will pay for that 8% stake in the massive utility business. Berkshire Hathaway Energy...
U.S. could see shortages and higher retail prices if a dockworkers strike drags on
NEW YORK — U.S. ports from Maine to Texas shut down Tuesday when the union representing about 45,000 dockworkers went on strike for the first time since 1977. A lengthy shutdown could raise prices on goods around the country and potentially cause shortages and price increases at big and small...
John Dorfman: Dividends don’t (usually) lie
Geraldine Weiss, who died two years ago at age 96, was a successful investment newsletter writer at a time when few women were prominent in finance. She wrote a book called “Dividends Don’t Lie.” Weiss’ investment strategy was to invest in stocks with a dividend yield above that stock’s historical...
Many Verizon customers across the U.S. hit by service outage
NEW YORK — Some Verizon customers across the U.S. were hit by a service outage Monday. The issue appeared to knock out cellphone service for tens of thousands of Verizon users. Data from outage tracker DownDetector shows that reports topped 100,000 shortly after 11 a.m. ET — and while that...
DirecTV buys rival Dish as satellite mainstays hunker down against onslaught of streaming services
DirecTV is buying Dish and Sling, a deal it has sought to complete for years, as the company seeks to better compete against streaming services that have become dominant. DirecTV said Monday that it will acquire Dish TV and Sling TV from its owner EchoStar in a debt exchange transaction...
Inflation explained: Cheaper consumer electronics an outlier among industries
Editor’s note: This is the fifth story in an occasional series on the causes and impact of inflation. It has been a while since televisions were a real money maker, at least for small businesses. Just ask Henry Yasczak, a semi-retired appliance seller and repairman. He still operates Henry’s, formerly...
Pitt staff join United Steelworkers union
About 6,300 employees on the University of Pittsburgh’s main and branch campuses are joining the United Steelworkers union, officials confirmed Friday after votes were tallied in a monthlong, state-supervised election. The union will work to secure a collective bargaining agreement between those workers and Pitt, Western Pennsylvania’s largest university. Results...
Trump favors huge new tariffs. What are they, and how do they work?
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump has identified what he sees as an all-purpose fix for what ails America: Slap huge new tariffs on foreign goods entering the U.S. The former president and current Republican nominee asserts that tariffs — basically import taxes — will create more factory jobs, shrink...
Ports seek order to force dockworkers to bargaining table as strike looms at East and Gulf ports
DETROIT — With a strike deadline looming, the group representing East and Gulf Coast ports is asking a federal agency to make the Longshoremen’s union come to the bargaining table to negotiate a new contract. The U.S. Maritime Alliance says it filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National...
Voting technology firm Smartmatic, Newsmax reach settlement in 2020 election defamation case
WILMINGTON, Del. — A settlement has been reached in a defamation lawsuit pitting an electronic voting machine manufacturer targeted by allies of former President Donald Trump against a conservative news outlet that aired accusations of vote manipulation in the 2020 election. Newsmax on Thursday confirmed a deal had been reached...
How much will Southwest Airlines change to boost profits? Some details are emerging
DALLAS — Southwest Airlines said Thursday that it plans to end the open-boarding system it has used for more than 50 years and start flights with passengers sitting in assigned seats during the first half of 2026 as the company tries to remodel the airline to change with consumer tastes...
Number of Americans filing for jobless aid falls to lowest level in 4 months
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week fell to the lowest level in four months. The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for jobless claims fell by 4,000 to 218,000 for the week of Sept. 21. It was the fewest since mid-May and less than the 224,000...
U.S. economy grew at a solid 3% rate last quarter, government says in final estimate
WASHINGTON — The American economy expanded at a healthy 3% annual pace from April through June, boosted by strong consumer spending and business investment, the government said Thursday, leaving its previous estimate unchanged. The Commerce Department reported that the nation’s gross domestic product — the nation’s total output of goods...
CrowdStrike executive apologizes to Congress for July global tech outage
WASHINGTON — An executive at cybersecurity company CrowdStrike apologized in testimony to Congress for sparking a global technology outage over the summer. “We let our customers down,” said Adam Meyers, who leads CrowdStrike’s threat intelligence division, in a hearing before a U.S. House cybersecurity subcommittee Tuesday. Austin, Texas-based CrowdStrike has...
Department of Justice sues Visa, alleges the card issuer monopolizes debit card markets
NEW YORK — The U.S. Justice Department has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Visa, alleging that the financial services behemoth uses its size and dominance to stifle competition in the debit card market, costing consumers and businesses billions of dollars. The complaint filed Tuesday says San Francisco-based Visa penalizes merchants...
Wall Street drifts to more records after Chinese stocks soarVideo
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks drifted to more records Tuesday after Chinese stocks soared following a slew of moves by the Chinese central bank to prop up the world’s second-largest economy. The S&P 500 rose 0.3% to set an all-time high for the 41st time this year. The movements were...
John Dorfman: What is the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Really?
You probably hear about the Dow Jones Industrial Average every day, but how much do you really know about it? Q: What is the Dow Jones Industrial Average anyway? A: It’s a venerable U.S. stock-market index that Charles Dow invented in 1896. It comprises 30 stocks, which the selection committee...
Longshoremen from Maine to Texas appear likely to go on strike, seaport CEO says
SAVANNAH, Ga. — The chief executive over Georgia’s two booming seaports said Tuesday that a strike next week by dockworkers across the U.S. East and Gulf coasts appears likely, though he’s hopeful the resulting shutdown would last only a few days. “We should probably expect there to be a work...
Wall Street hangs near its records after Chinese stocks soar
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are hanging near their records Tuesday after Chinese stocks soared following a slew of moves by the Chinese central bank to prop up the world’s second-largest economy. The S&P 500 was 0.2% higher in midday trading, a day after setting an all-time high for the...
Kmart’s blue light fades to black with the shuttering of its last full-scale U.S. store
NEW YORK — Attention, Kmart shoppers, the end is near! The erstwhile retail giant renowned for its Blue Light Specials — featuring a flashing blue orb affixed to a pole enticing shoppers to a flash sale — is shuttering its last full-scale store in mainland United States. The store, located...
Stock market today: Wall Street adds slightly to record highs
NEW YORK — U.S. stock indexes reached new heights Monday after drifting higher in a quiet day of trading. The S&P 500 rose 16.02 points, or 0.3%, to 5,718.57 and edged past its record set Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 61.29 points, or 0.1%, to its own all-time...
Biden administration seeks to ban Chinese, Russian tech in U.S. autonomous vehicles
NEW YORK — The Commerce Department said Monday it’s seeking a ban on the sale of connected and autonomous vehicles in the U.S. that are equipped with Chinese and Russian software and hardware with the stated goal of protecting national security and U.S. drivers. While there is minimal Chinese and...
‘Short corn’ could replace the towering cornfields steamrolled by a changing climate
WYOMING, Iowa — Taking a late-summer country drive in the Midwest means venturing into the corn zone, snaking between 12-foot-tall green, leafy walls that seem to block out nearly everything other than the sun and an occasional water tower. The skyscraper-like corn is a part of rural America as much...
The benefits of a 4-day workweek, according to a champion of the trend
Companies exploring the option of letting employees work four days a week hope to reduce job burnout and retain talent seeking a better work-life balance, according to the chief executive of an organization that promotes the idea. The trend is gaining traction in Australia and Europe, says Dale Whelehan, CEO...
Before you sign up for a store credit card, know what you’re getting into
NEW YORK — When Mykail James was 19 and working a holiday job at Victoria’s Secret, she took out a store credit card with a $2,000 credit line. When her school break was over, she realized she could no longer afford the payments. After missing a few, she paid off...
