Featured Articles in National Business News

Live Nation battles anti-competitive allegations on multiple levels

(The Center Square) – Live Nation Entertainment, the events giant that operates Ticketmaster, is fighting to hold on to practices that states and the federal government allege are anti-competitive and hurt both fans and musicians. The company recently lost its bid to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice and a coalition Read More…

Elon Musk’s xAI Acquires X in $33 Billion Deal, Marking a New Era for AI and Social Media Integration

In a groundbreaking move that fuses artificial intelligence with social media, Elon Musk’s xAI has acquired X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, in an all-stock deal valued at $33 billion. Announced by Musk on X late Friday, the acquisition raises xAI’s valuation to an impressive $80 billion, creating a combined entity that aims to Read More…

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Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine to Be Sold to Media Company Backed by Blackstone

Reese Witherspoon’s media business, Hello Sunshine, is selling itself to a firm backed by private-equity giant Blackstone Group Inc., the companies said, part of a plan to build an independent entertainment company for Hollywood’s streaming era. The companies didn’t disclose the terms of the deal. People familiar with the matter said it values Ms. Witherspoon’s Read More…

Southwest Airlines readies big play for business flyers as companies ready return to office

Southwest Airlines is ready to make the biggest push for business customers in the company’s history with a distribution deal with Southlake-based Sabre Corp. that started Monday. Dallas-based Southwest, which has long been reluctant to share revenue with third-party companies when it sells tickets, went live on Sabre’s global distribution platforms Monday. READ FULL STORY

How COVID revealed huge structural problems in US supply chains, resulting in shortages

WASHINGTON (SBG) — Economists believe the pandemic has revealed just how vulnerable the United States’ supply chain is to major economic shocks and that the time is coming where experts will have to rethink how to move products around the globe. The country has experienced severe shortages of everything from computer chips, to toilet paper, to furniture Read More…

ProPublica Donors Absent From Bombshell Report on Billionaire Tax Dodgers

ProPublica made waves after it obtained thousands of private tax documents for the country’s wealthiest citizens and published a scathing investigation centered on the tax rates of Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos, and Michael Bloomberg, among others. Absent from the report: any of the publication’s largest donors, including Laurene Powell Jobs, David Filo, and Pierre Omidyar. The nonprofit news Read More…

Vivendi sells 10 percent stake in Universal Music Group to Ackman’s SPAC

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman bought a 10 percent stake in Vivendi’s Universal Music Group for $4 billion, valuing the world’s largest record label — which is home to Drake, Taylor Swift and Billy Eilish — at around $42 billion. Ackman’s blank-check company Pershing Square Tontine Holdings and Vivendi announced the news on Sunday after weeks Read More…

Biogen faces tough questions over $56K-a-year price of newly approved Alzheimer’s drug

Biogen on Tuesday faced tough questions from Wall Street analysts over the $56,000 annual cost of its newly approved Alzheimer’s drug, Aduhelm – a price tag executives are calling “fair” and “responsible.” Shares of Biogen surged 38% on Monday after the FDA announced it approved the company’s drug, scientifically known as aducanumab. It is the first medication cleared by Read More…

Snowflake relocates executive office from California to Bozeman, Montana, as company goes distributed

Snowflake, the cloud data analytics vendor that held the biggest U.S. software IPO ever last year, has become the latest tech company to jettison California. In its earnings press release on Wednesday, Snowflake’s dateline showed up as “No-Headquarters/BOZEMAN, Mont.” As recently as May 3, when the company announced the date of its first-quarter earnings report, that same line said “SAN MATEO, Read More…

John Malone sees merged WarnerMedia-Discovery becoming No. 3 global streamer behind Netflix, Disney+

The blockbuster WarnerMedia-Discovery deal is especially good news for HBO Max, billionaire media mogul John Malone told CNBC’s David Faber. In an interview that aired Monday, Malone said his previous reservations about HBO Max’s ability to be a dominant player in the crowded digital-streaming landscape will be addressed once the AT&T-owned service is under the same roof as Discovery. READ FULL Read More…

Bernard Arnault Becomes World’s Richest Person As LVMH Stock Rises

French fashion tycoon Bernard Arnault is the world’s richest person this Monday morning, with an estimated net worth of $186.3 billion—putting him $300 million above Jeff Bezos, who is worth $186 billion, and Elon Musk, worth $147.3 billion. Arnault’s fortune has jumped from $76 billion in March 2020 to $186.3 on Monday, a massive rise of over $110 billion Read More…

Amazon reportedly in discussions to purchase MGM Studios

Amazon is reportedly in discussions with MGM about purchasing the movie studio. According to Variety, the deal could be worth a reported $7 to $10 billion. The Information reported that MGM’s extensive library includes James Bond movies, the “Rocky” franchise, “The Terminator,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and “Survivor.” READ FULL STORY

Warren Buffett says Berkshire Hathaway is seeing ‘very substantial inflation’ and raising prices

Warren Buffett is seeing inflation among Berkshire Hathaway’s collection of businesses as the economic recovery from the Covid pandemic kicks into high gear. “We are seeing very substantial inflation,” the Berkshire chairman and CEO said at the conglomerate’s annual shareholder meeting Saturday. “It’s very interesting. We are raising prices. People are raising prices to us and it’s being accepted.” Read More…

Bankrupt car-rental firm Hertz’ lenders are proposing a shakeup that would take a newly reorganized company public, report says

Hertz‘s unsecured creditors are proposing a restructuring of the car-rental firm that clashes with the company’s plan to exit from bankruptcy via a sale to two investment funds, Bloomberg reported Thursday. As part of the planned shakeup, the lenders want to convert their holdings in the bankrupt firm into shares of the reorganized company which could be taken Read More…

Sands Reaches Agreement to sell Las Vegas Properties for $6.25 billion

LAS VEGAS, March 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) today announced that it has entered into definitive agreements to sell its Las Vegas real property and operations, including The Venetian Resort Las Vegas and the Sands Expo and Convention Center (collectively, “The Venetian”) for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $6.25 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Read More…

Tesla buys $1.5 billion in bitcoin, plans to accept it as payment

Tesla announced Monday it has bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it bought the bitcoin for “more flexibility to further diversify and maximize returns on our cash.” Tesla also said it will start accepting payments in bitcoin in exchange for its products “subject to applicable Read More…

Facebook is reportedly prepping an antitrust lawsuit against Apple focused on its App Store rules

Facebook is readying an antitrust lawsuit against Apple, according to a report from The Information. Facebook has been preparing the case for months alongside external legal experts, sources told the outlet. The lawsuit specifically alleges that Apple abused its market power by forcing third-party developers, including Facebook, to follow a different set of rules that Apple’s Read More…

Robinhood restricts trading in GameStop, other names involved in frenzy

Retail brokerages restricted trading on Thursday in GameStop and other stocks caught in a frenzy that has captivated Wall Street and caused big losses for hedge funds. Free-stock trading pioneer Robinhood and Interactive Brokers said that in some cases, investors would be able to sell only their positions and not open new ones. Both brokerages raised margin Read More…

Lockheed-Boeing team pitch Defiant X, its candidate for the Army’s long-range assault helo competition

WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin-owned Sikorsky and Boeing have pitched a tweaked version of the team’s coaxial technology demonstrator — the SB-1 Defiant — which it plans to submit for the U.S. Army’s Future Long-Range Assault (FLRAA) competition, according to the companies.   The modified, competition-ready aircraft design is being called Defiant X, taking the same surname as little Read More…

Facebook warns staff to avoid wearing company-branded clothing, for safety reasons

MENLO PARK, Calif. – Facebook has reportedly sent out an internal memo about employee safety, warning staff to avoid wearing or carrying company branded items in public. According to Business Insider, the Menlo Parked-based social media company sent out the memo on Monday, stating, “In light of recent events, and to err on the side of caution, global Read More…