The high-stakes partnership between Microsoft and OpenAI is showing fresh signs of strain after reports that Microsoft is weighing legal action over a massive cloud agreement between OpenAI and Amazon. According to a report cited this week, Microsoft is considering whether a reported $50 billion deal involving Amazon Web Services and OpenAI could violate its Read More…
U.S. stocks fell again this week, extending Wall Street’s losing streak to four straight weeks as rising oil prices, stubborn inflation concerns and fading hopes for near-term Federal Reserve rate cuts pushed investors into a more defensive posture. By Friday’s close, the S&P 500 had fallen 1.9% for the week, while the Dow Jones Industrial Read More…
A federal jury in San Francisco found Elon Musk liable for misleading Twitter investors during his 2022 bid to buy the company, concluding that some of his public statements improperly affected the stock price while the $44 billion takeover was still in dispute. Jurors, however, rejected broader allegations that Musk carried out a larger scheme Read More…
Gov. Greg Gianforte visited Dahlman Farms during Montana Agriculture Week to highlight the importance of international trade to the state’s farmers and ranchers and to underscore the role export markets play in supporting Montana’s top industry. The visit put a spotlight on the Dahlman family’s long history in Montana agriculture and on the broader significance Read More…
HELENA – While U.S. Senate Republicans’ plan to repeal “Obamacare” has been criticized for potentially undercutting coverage for thousands of low-income Montanans, at least one group is firmly behind it: The state’s primary lobby for small businesses. “What we’re looking for is a health-care system that is affordable, flexible and predictable,” says Riley Johnson, state Read More…
Economics professor Gregg Davis wasn’t always interested in economics, though his interest in natural resources began at an early age. In high school, Davis got a job working in a landscape nursery and fell in love with working in nature. “I loved working with living things,” he said. A Columbus, Ohio native, Davis was the Read More…
Missoula tech firm Submittable announced a $5 Million Series A investment led Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm, True Ventures. Submittable is a cloud-based submission platform that was founded in 2010. The company now has more than 35 employees. “We are positioned as the matching and reviewing platform for any organization looking for work or any Read More…
When Keith and Katie Poe contemplated the best way to make a living that allowed them to raise their family on Katie’s great-grandfather’s homestead in Trego, sausage became their savior. The Poes are in the fourth summer of taking their Saucy Dogs food truck on the road. The popular food trailer is a staple at Read More…
She had heard about T-shirt screen printing as a kind of “get rich quick” scheme and figured it was a way to move on from waitressing gigs. Plus it would let the Savannah School of Art and Design grad get her creative juices flowing again. So Tatum Johnson bought a screen printing book and Read More…
CASCADE – Tucked in an old poker room in the back of the Driftwood Bar in Cascade, Amy Eisenzimer (formerly Parker) mixes just five ingredients to make a drink with a kick: Parker’s Hangover Tonic. “I do recommend this to customers that are hungover…a little hair of the dog always helps,” said Eisenzimer. Parker’s Hangover Tonic is Read More…
The Better in Butte Local Crowd is seeking proposals from businesses, organizations, and individuals who need funding to get their projects off the ground. Butte was selected in 2016 to be a Local Crowd crowdfunding demonstration site as part of a research project funded by USDA. Crowdfunding is the practice of sourcing small contributions from Read More…
Patrick and John Collison have come a long way from the quiet village outside of Limerick, Ireland where they grew up. With little around except “mooing cows,” the brothers turned to coding to occupy themselves. To access the internet, their parents had to buy a special satellite. In 2011 the Collisons founded Stripe, an online Read More…
An electric utility company is closing two coal-fired power plants by next year, citing economic conditions. Dayton Power & Light, a subsidiary of utility giant AES Corp., announced on Monday the closure of the J.M. Stuart and Killen generating stations, following a monthslong review of the plants. They are the latest in a string of Read More…
A pair of new streets are under construction in North Bozeman as part of a 20-acre commercial development slated for the vacant field off 19th Avenue south of Target. Located south of City Brew coffee across Cattail Street, the Opportunity Subdivision will contain six lots, five of which will be available for shops and businesses. Read More…
The Flathead Valley’s best and brightest young professionals will be honored in June at the inaugural 20 Under 40 celebration and event. The Daily Inter Lake will be presenting these honors in June along with the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce and the Flathead Area Young Professionals group. “The Flathead Valley is full of talented young Read More…
A Missoula company is fed to the “sharks.” TOMIS takes home the winning prize at the Montana made “Shark-Tank” business plan competition. Tourism is one of Montana’s leading industry. In 2016, non-resident visitors spent $3.5 billion. According to one Missoula company, more of that money could go directly into the pockets of local tourism businesses if they Read More…
The U.S. 93 bypass, Glacier Rail Park and the reconstruction of Going-to-the-Sun Road have one thing in common. All three projects were once included on the community wish lists that shaped the Flathead Valley’s comprehensive economic development strategy in years past. Every five years, Montana West Economic Development embarks on a regional improvement plan, but Read More…
Christopher Gregory is one of the principals of Fortis Group, a newly formed business brokerage firm. Fortis Group operates out of Bozeman offices with its parent company Compass Advisors. Both businesses assist in the sale of businesses, with Fortis specializing in the sale of smaller market businesses, of which Montana is largely comprised. How Read More…
Flathead County’s unemployment rate posted at 6.7 percent in January, increasing from 5.9 percent in December, the state Department of Labor and Industry said Monday. The county has a current workforce of 42,248 people. The jobless rate in other Northwest Montana counties also increased over the same month. Lincoln County had a 10.5 percent unemployment Read More…
NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) – I spend a lot of time at Fox 5 covering startups. One of the biggest compliments you can pay a startup is to call it a disrupter, changing not just local business, but entire industries across the country and even around the world. Former TLC Commissioner Matthew Daus says we haven’t had such Read More…
Wikileaks today published a trove of documents, allegedly taken from the CIA, that detail the government’s efforts to hack popular devices like iPhones, Android phones, and Samsung smart TVs. But Apple is pushing back against claims that the CIA’s hoarded vulnerabilities for its devices were effective. The documents, if they are indeed legitimate, include charts that Read More…
Norwegian startup Gobi raised $500,000 at a $15 million valuation to take on Snapchat with its “Stories” communication tool. The platform enables users to create public and private groups where users can share photos and videos that stay around for three days before vanishing into digital pixel-dust. “We originally created a Snapchat group for our college,” says Kristoffer Lande, Read More…
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said Thursday that he does not believe carbon dioxide is a “primary contributor” to climate change. “I think that measuring with precision human activity on the climate is something very challenging to do and there’s tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact. So no, I would not Read More…
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has awarded the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce with one of its top honors, recognizing the local organization for its effective structure and positive impact on the Flathead Valley. The Kalispell chamber received a five-star accreditation for its sound policies, effective procedures and positive impact on the community. The chamber advocates Read More…
A pair of local nonprofits plan to buy the 270-acre Bohart Ranch Cross Country Ski Center to create a 500-acre recreational area adjacent to Bridger Bowl, the groups announced Friday. Crosscut Mountain Sports Center, in partnership with the Bridger Biathlon Club, will finalize the sale of the Bridger Canyon ranch by early June, before setting Read More…
High tech companies brought in more than $1 billion dollars in revenue in 2016 and the industry is growing seven times faster than the rest of the Montana economy. A University of Montana Bureau of of Business Economic Research (BBER) study showed $1.09 billion in revenue last year, up from $867 million in 2015. Companies in Read More…
For a state that has the highest ratio of entrepreneurs, Montana does not rank well in how it treats those entrepreneurs, and the impacts of those policies are far reaching for every citizen. Montana ranks 32nd in the 21st annual ranking of all states by the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council (SBE), regarding policies which Read More…
On a recent Wednesday night, Montana State University channeled its inner Silicon Valley. A group of startup businesses gathered to present their various ventures — from a rideshare app to a bioengineered toothpick — in front of a crowd in the atrium of Jabs Hall. The startups, six in total, represented the first cohort of Read More…
Talen Energy is pushing Montana lawmakers for a tax break worth millions to keep two units of the coal-fired Colstrip power plant open, with one Republican leader saying Tuesday the units could close within the year without some form of assistance. House Speaker Austin Knudsen, R-Culbertson, said the $10 million coal severance tax reduction proposed Read More…
Local taco connoisseur Marley McKenna is hoping to feed Four Corners’ growing appetite with a new Taco del Sol shop off Huffine Lane. The restaurant, which will join McKenna’s Main Street location, is set to open in April. From Bozeman Daily Chronicle
There has been a sudden surge in job openings in the Bakken – particularly for hydraulic fracturing and completion crews – as companies ramp up to put more wells on line in the first half of 2017, reports Oil Patch Hotline. Pay scales are running between $16 and $30 an hour. The number of job Read More…
About 77,000 visitors to Montana used Airbnb accommodations last year spending more than $10 million. Bozeman led all of Montana cities in 2016 in Airbnb use with 13,000 guests spending $1.9 million for their accommodations, according to an Airbnb press release issued Wednesday. From KTVQ
In December 2007, a man named Robert Thomas bought a $351,800 RV at the Dixie RV Super Store in the city of Hammond in his home state of Louisiana. But it wasn’t technically Thomas who made the purchase — a fact a court would later agree with. Instead, it was bought by a Montana Read More…
For several days in January, students at Park High School learned what it takes to make pet toys. Over the course of the last week, a pair of employees at West Paw Design, a Bozeman-based pet goods company, took over teacher Jamie Isaly’s manufacturing class. From Bozeman Daily Chronicle
Billings-based GTUIT, LLC announced that the firm has been providing Liberty Resources, LLC natural gas liquids (NGL) recovery and flare reduction services since June 2016. GTUIT has provided up to 4,500 MCFD of processing capacity at four well locations. GTUIT’s gas processing helps Liberty Resources reduce air emissions and meet the State of North Dakota Read More…
Adam MacDonald founded Western Spindle in his garage in Townsend more than a decade ago, and it has now grown into a nationwide supplier of fixtures for historic homes. He says some people were skeptical of his business model from the start. From KXLH
Ultra Petroleum Corp. has reached an agreement to settle a $303 million breach of contract claim by Rockies Express Pipeline LLC’s (REX) and its operator, Tallgrass Energy Partners, LP. The company said Tuesday that the settlement will be submitted to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for approval and will be implemented in connection with Ultra’s chapter Read More…
A Cheyenne businessman is reaching out to the local millennial generation to improve downtown. Steve Borin is a Cheyenne land developer and owns property downtown. He is not a millennial himself, but he wants to get younger people involved. From Wyoming Business Report
Renewable energy and Wyoming jobs received a boost Wednesday as the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approved the first 500 wind turbines for the Chokecherry Sierra Madre (CCSM) Wind Energy Project. The BLM action followed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Record of Decision (ROD) indicating that it would issue an Eagle Take Permit Read More…
The problem with the iPhone is that the current design isn’t suited to wireless charging. Apple makes use of a metal rear cover, and metal and wireless charging just don’t go well together (although there are budding technologies that allow wireless charging through metal, none are yet ready for prime time). In order to add Read More…
A Missoula restaurant will soon be featured on the Food Network. The Notorious P.I.G. barbecue restaurant in downtown Missoula opened just about two years ago. Owner Burke Homes explained, “I’m from St. Louis, Missouri. I knew I wanted to live in Montana and catch fish and shoot ducks and drink good beer and hang out with Read More…
Amazon plans to hire 100,000 people across the U.S. over the next 18 months. The online retailer said Thursday that the jobs are full time and come with benefits. Many of the new jobs will be at fulfillment centers currently being built in a number of states, including California, Florida and Texas. From KULR 8
Final decisions on four Business Ready Community (BRC) grant and loan requests will be made by the Wyoming State Loan and Investment Board at its 8 a.m. meeting on Jan. 19 in Room 1699 in the Herschler Building. The Wyoming Business Council administers the Business Ready Community grant and loan program, which provides financing for Read More…
Fans of Cold Smoke beer should soon be able to pick up cans of the Missoula-based Scotch ale in Billings stores and bars. Billings-based Briggs Distributing announced Thursday that it has signed a partnership with Kettlehouse Brewing Co., which makes Cold Smoke and other beers, to distribute in a seven-county region surrounding Yellowstone this spring. Read More…