(The Center Square) – U.S. LNG exports hit record-high 11.7 million metric tons in March as new plants in Texas ramped up production while supply disruptions caused by the war in the Middle East drove global gas prices sharply higher, according to preliminary LSEG data. Asian benchmark LNG prices spiked above $22 per million Btu Read More…
SpaceX, the private rocket and satellite company founded by Elon Musk, has filed confidentially for an initial public offering that could value the company at approximately $1.75 trillion — a figure that would make it the largest IPO in U.S. history if it moves forward at that valuation. The filing, which allows companies to submit Read More…
The U.S. economy added 178,000 jobs in March, the Labor Department reported Friday, a figure that surpassed expectations and came in roughly triple some earlier forecasts, signaling continued resilience in the nation’s labor market as geopolitical tensions mount abroad. The unemployment rate dipped to 4.3%, while wage growth moderated slightly from previous months — a Read More…
Bank of America has agreed to pay $72.5 million to settle a federal class-action lawsuit accusing the bank of helping facilitate Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation — becoming the latest major financial institution to face accountability for its ties to the disgraced financier. Details of the settlement were presented Friday to U.S. District Judge Jed Read More…
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…
WASHINGTON— Amazon.com Inc. AMZN +1.38% Chief Executive Jeff Bezos tries never to schedule a meeting before 10 a.m. “I go to bed early, I get up early, I like to putter in the morning” reading the newspaper, drinking a cup of coffee and eating breakfast with his children, he said. Mr. Bezos schedules “high IQ” meetings before lunch, and tries Read More…
Now that the trade war between the US and China is on, observers on both sides are wondering what more China will do to retaliate against the US. One measure China could take that keeps popping up in conversation is that the country could start dumping its massive hoard of $1.1 trillion worth of US Read More…
Apple stock plunged nearly 6% Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Apple customers can sue the company over prices on its App Store. The 5-to-4 ruling lets consumers move forward with a long-running lawsuit that claims Apple (ticker: AAPL) is using its market dominance to inflate prices via a 30% commission at its Read More…
Everything goes through a lifecycle, and operating systems are no different. They start out as new and fresh and full of possibilities and go through an explosive phase of stratospheric growth. This is the exciting period. But going along with that growth are the inevitable teething troubles or bugs and problems and sleepless nights. And Read More…
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…
Though not generating the fanfare that its new ConceptD computers have, Acer also introduced a pair of new Chromebooks at its press event this week. Unlike its numerous education models, however, these new laptops are designed to appeal to enterprises that want to add Chromebooks to their mobile fleet. The Chromebook 714 and 715 may Read More…
Shopko will close its remaining stores across the country, including all of its Montana locations. According to a document filed on March 18, the company will close all of its remaining locations by June. The company stated in a press release that it was unable to find a buyer for the business, which declared bankruptcy Read More…
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…
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‘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…
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…
Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana knows an opportunity when he sees one, and one of the largest growing industries is cannabis. The NFL Hall of Famer joined former CEO of Yahoo Carol Bartz and invested in Caliva, a San Jose-based weed dispensary and delivery service, raising $75 million in funding, the company said Thursday. Read More…
In 1992, Ozzy Osbourne hit the road for his farewell “No More Tours” run. In 2019, there’s the sequel, “No More Tours II.” That would seem to contradict the whole “farewell” thing, but such is the way with rock ‘n’ roll. It’s become as predictable as the concert encore. Time and again, artists book “one final Read More…
Facebook has recruited Kate Patchen, a veteran of the U.S. Department of Justice who led its antitrust office in Silicon Valley, to be a director and associate general counsel of litigation. Patchen takes up her post amid ongoing scandals and reputation crises for her new employer, joining Facebook this month, according to her LinkedIn profile. The Read More…
Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market plunged on Wednesday after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission delayed a decision on whether to approve a proposed bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). The federal agency said it will continue deliberations on the bitcoin ETF, which, if approved, would be the first of its kind. The bitcoin ETF, which Read More…
Elon Musk’s lawyers are probably poring over rule 14e-8 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 right about now. That regulation is the one the Tesla CEO may or may not have violated when he sent the markets into a frenzy and halted trading in Tesla’s shares after nonchalantly tweeting Tuesday that he was thinking Read More…
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…
Apple shares are jumping Wednesday after a strong fiscal third-quarter report, trading more than 5 percent higher and inching the stock toward a $1 trillion market value. The stock hit the $200 mark in midmorning trading after opening at $199.13. Shareholders had previously been looking for a price of $203.45 to make Apple the first Read More…
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…
Amazon’s Prime Day again broke records this year, but the sales holiday also boosted sales across the broader U.S. e-commerce industry. According to Adobe Analytics data released this morning, larger retailers – meaning those with over a billion in annual revenue – saw a 54 percent increase in sales on Prime Day, compared with an Read More…
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…
Judge Kimberly Mueller on June 10, 2016 in the U.S. Eastern District Court of California found that John Duarte, a nursery operator and wheat farmer, plowed wetlands, four to six inches deep, and therefore violated the Clean Water Act (CWA). The Judge found Mr. Duarte, by chiseling a pasture, discharged fill material into a water Read More…
Venture capital-backed companies based out of California are usually recognizable. But what can get lost in the mix are the companies based throughout the rest of the country. VC research firm Pitchbook compiled every state’s most valuable VC-backed startup into an interactive graphic. READ THE FULL STORY.
MONTANA – AMC Theatres, the world’s largest movie theater chain, has unveiled a $20-a-month subscription service as a rival the flagging MoviePass. The theater chain on Wednesday unveiled a new service to its loyalty program, AMC Stubs, allowing subscribers to see up to three movies a week for a monthly fee of $19.95. That’s more Read More…
A federal judge said Tuesday that AT&T’s $85.4 billion purchase of Time Warner is legal, clearing the path for a deal that gives the pay-TV provider ownership of cable channels such as HBO and CNN as well as film studio Warner Bros. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon did not impose conditions on the merger’s Read More…
An obscure wireless industry deal from last year can help explain why T-Mobile and Sprint finally agreed to merge this week after years of flirting with a deal. Last May, Verizon signed a deal to buy acompany called Straight Path for more than $3 billion. If you remember the deal, it’s probably because AT&T and Read More…
The Florida-based operator of supermarket chains Winn-Dixie and Bi-Lo announced Tuesday that it’s the latest grocery chain to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, after a New York-based chain, Tops Friendly Markets, filed earlier this month. While rumors of the filings have been swirling for months, the chains didn’t start officially filing in court until the Read More…
VAN NUYS (CBSLA) — An online prankster is targeting In-N-Out Burger and now the chain is taking legal action. When a man in a dark suit walked into an In-N-Out in Van Nuys and claimed to be their CEO, some believed him, but the manager wasn’t convinced. “Who are you?” the exchange started. “I’m actually Read More…
Lyft made a lot of progress in 2017, helped by strong market expansion within the U.S. and riding some very bad news from its primary rival, Uber. That’s helped it grow revenue to more than $1 billion as measured by GAAP standards for its fiscal 2017, with a particularly strong Q4 during which its revenue Read More…
President Donald Trump killed Broadcom’s proposed buyout of Qualcomm, citing national security concerns, according to a statement issued by the White House on Monday. “There is credible evidence that leads me to believe that Broadcom Limited, a limited company organized under the laws of Singapore (Broadcom)…through exercising control of Qualcomm Incorporated (Qualcomm), a Delaware corporation, Read More…
There’s currently around $200 billion of bitcoin floating around in people’s digital wallets. For many of their owners, those bitcoins have proved to be a valuable asset. They’re happy to leave them to rise in value and build up their wealth. For others though, those giant piles of coins are exactly what they’re supposed to Read More…
A South Korean official who guided Seoul’s regulatory clampdown on cryptocurrencies was found dead on Sunday, according to a government spokesman. Jung Ki-joon, 52, was head of economic policy at the Office for Government Policy Coordination. He helped coordinate efforts to create new legislation aimed at suppressing cryptocurrency speculation and illicit activity, the spokesman said. Read More…
Insurance giant Anthem has pledged to make a $1,000 retirement contribution to all of its 58,000 employees and recent retirees in response to Republicans’ tax cuts legislation. Anthem made the announcement Monday. READ THE FULL STORY.
Apple on Wednesday made a slew of announcements about its investment in and contribution to the U.S. economy in part because of the new tax law. The headline from Apple is that it will make a $350 billion “contribution” to the U.S. economy. The company also promised to create 20,000 new jobs and open a Read More…
It was a nice run. For the first time in over a decade, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is worth less than its longtime rival, Morgan Stanley, at least in the eyes of equity investors. After reporting a plunge in bond trading, Goldman’s market capitalization fell to $99.4 billion at the close on Wednesday, a fraction Read More…
With Bitcoin crashing, some cryptocurrency HODLers are hurting. That might include the Winklevoss twins. Tyler and Cameron bought 120,000 bitcoins in late 2012 with money from the $65 million payout from their lawsuit against Facebook. That’s more than $1.32 billion worth of bitcoin at Wednesday evening’s value of about $11,000 per bitcoin. That seems like Read More…
Amazon has added a new $10 and Under section to its app and website, featuring, as one could infer, items that are priced $10 or cheaper. All items have free shipping, regardless of whether a user has Prime membership. The feature, first spotted by TechCrunch, looks to compete with budget shopping apps like Wish — Read More…
Google’s Project Fi cell service never played the “unlimited data” game that most carriers in the U.S. like to play (and which is never truly unlimited). Instead, Google simply offered data at $10/GB/month and would give you a refund for any data you paid for but didn’t use. Now, however, it’s taking its own stab Read More…
What happened Shares of Vista Outdoor Inc. (NYSE: VSTO) fell 62% in 2017, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, as firearm sales plunged in the United States. The company is restructuring in an effort to focus on key brands, but if the core firearm business doesn’t recover in 2018, it could be difficult Read More…