Featured Articles in National Business News

Antitrust Suit Targets Union Pacific Over Rural Rail Access

Thirteen farmers from Kansas and Colorado, along with Weskan Grain and Colorado Pacific Railroad (CXR), filed an antitrust lawsuit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas alleging that Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad (K&O) and Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP) conspired to block competition and inflate grain transportation costs across the region. Read More…

Mitsubishi buys Louisiana, Texas shale gas assets for $7.5B

(The Center Square) – The second largest natural gas producer in northwest Louisiana and east Texas has sold its assets to Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi. Aethon, a Dallas-based company that operates in the prolific Haynesville shale formation, agreed to a deal worth approximately $7.5 billion, according to an announcement on Friday. Mitsubishi agreed to pay $5.2 Read More…

OpenAI and SoftBank Invest $1 Billion in SB Energy to Power AI Data Centers

OpenAI and SoftBank Group Corp. are jointly investing $1 billion in SB Energy, the infrastructure company helping build out the United States’ next generation of artificial intelligence data centers. Under the agreement, OpenAI and SoftBank will each contribute $500 million to support SB Energy’s growth as a data center developer and operator, the companies announced Read More…

Berkshire Hathaway Completes $9.7 Billion Acquisition of OxyChem

Berkshire Hathaway announced Friday that it has completed its $9.7 billion acquisition of OxyChem from Occidental Petroleum (OXY). OxyChem, a leading chemical manufacturer, will continue to be led by Wade Alleman, OxyChem’s president and chief executive officer, according to Berkshire Hathaway. https://bigskyheadlines.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/MVD-office15.mp4 The acquisition expands Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio in the industrial and chemical sectors and Read More…

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How—and Why—the Owner of Jameson and Absolut Has Been Aggressively Expanding Its Portfolio of U.S. Alcohol Brands

Pernod Ricard, France’s largest spirits maker, is busy raiding America’s liquor cabinet. In 2019, the purveyor of Absolut vodka and Jameson Irish whiskey has bought Jefferson’s Bourbon, Firestone & Robertson Distilling, and a majority share of Rabbit Hole Distillery, all bets on America’s whiskey boom. This comes on top of recent new vodka distillery openings Read More…

It’s the bulls’ game to lose as the stock market heads for its final act of 2019

Wall Street’s final act of 2019 will hinge on whether investors should believe the messages being sent by corporate credit, crowd consensus and the calendar characteristics. The broad market has been a sloppy stalemate between supportive and antagonistic forces for many months: The S&P 500 is hovering around the 3000 level it first reached in Read More…

Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor looks to raise more than $600 million in IPO

Ari Emanuel’s company Endeavor detailed its plans Monday to go public, listing 19.4 million Class A shares, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The global entertainment, sports and content company expects to price its initial public offering at $30 to $32 a share, hoping to raise more than $600 million. Endeavor is planning Read More…

Small US banks are merging to pursue greater scale and cost efficiencies

A sizable group of community banks are in various stages of consolidation, highlighting how the industry-wide merger and acquisition (M&A) trend is extending down market, as community and regional banks pursue greater scale and cost efficiencies. M&A fever has already gripped the nation’s super-regionals and top banks. BB&T announced in February that it was acquiring SunTrust for Read More…

Struggling Nordstrom is banking on exclusivity to compete with Amazon and overcome sales woes

Though the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale officially opened to the public on Friday, July 19, the bargain hunting had already been well underway for an exclusive group of people — Nordstrom card holders. For several years, the department store has granted its most loyal shoppers special access to the annual sale, an effort to generate buzz and clout Read More…

Walmart announces executive shuffle to further integrate stores and digital

Walmart is making further organizational changes as it continues to integrate its store and digital operations and leadership, according to a memo obtained by CNBC that was sent by CEO Doug McMillon to the retailer’s employees. “Our customers want one, seamless Walmart experience,” McMillon wrote to employees. “Earning more of our customers’ business in food and Read More…

Saas Management startup Intello scores $2.5 million extended seed – TechCrunch

Intello, the New York City-based Saas management platform, announced a $2.5 million extended seed round today, along with some product enhancements. The round was led by Resolute Ventures . Harrison Metal and Magnetico Ventures also participated along with various individual angel investors including Zane Lackey from Signal Sciences, Chris Smoak from Atrium and Zach Sherman Read More…

A 10-year-old boy asked Qantas for advice on how to set up an airline — its CEO responded with a follow-up meeting

It’s not unusual for companies to be inundated with messages from people looking for answers — what is rare, however, is for a CEO to personally respond to one. Yet one 10-year-old schoolboy appears to have succeeded, grabbing the attention of the boss behind one of Australia’s largest airlines. Alex Jacquot recently penned a letter Read More…

No, Podcasting Is Not a Small Business

Believe it or not, there’s money in podcasts. Spotify is in advanced talks to acquire Gimlet Media, the Brooklyn-based narrative podcast company, for more than $200 million in cash, according to Recode. Gimlet has raised approximately $28.5 million in venture funding from investors including WPP, Stripes Group, LioneTree Partners, Graham Holdings, Betawarks, Cross Culture Ventures, Read More…

General Electric is making an accounting change that’ll make one of its biggest problems look less severe (GE)

General Electric‘s cash problem will look better in 2019 after an accounting change takes effect, an accounting professor says. For reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018, all public US companies should apply a new accounting standard that requires them to recognize financing-lease assets and operating-lease assets on their balance sheets. The previous accounting term Read More…

‘Business Still Strong, But…’: Here’s what Wall Street is saying about Alphabet’s earnings

Alphabet shares traded slightly lower Tuesday morning as Wall Street delivered a classic reaction to its earnings which were released the prior evening: the results were good, but not good enough. While Alphabet reported revenue and profits for the fourth-quarter that topped Wall Street’s expectations, analysts said the internet giant’s margins were disappointing. That revelation Read More…

Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman Raise $1 Billion for New Mobile Streaming Service

A startup unicorn is joining the streaming-video fray. Media mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg has raised $1 billion for a new mobile streaming service he’s calling “NewTV,” CNN reports. Disney, Warner Bros, Entertainment One, and other major media firms have invested. Katzenberg recruited in January former eBay and HP CEO Meg Whitman to helm “NewTV.” The service Read More…

Wendy’s had preliminary deal talks with Papa John’s before founder’s scandal erupted

Wendy’s had preliminary merger talks with Papa John’s before the company’s founder, John Schnatter, stepped down as chairman last week, a source familiar with the situation told CNBC. The talks cooled after Schnatter’s use of a racially charged slur led to his resignation. Schnatter still sits on Papa John’s board and has a nearly 30 Read More…

THE INSURTECH REPORT 2.0: The technologies disrupting the insurance industry and what incumbents can do to stay ahead

Tech-driven disruption in the insurance industry continues at pace, and we’re now entering a new phase — the adaptation of underlying business models. That’s leading to ongoing changes in the distribution segment of the industry, but more excitingly, we are starting to see movement in the fundamentals of insurance — policy creation, underwriting, and claims Read More…