Featured Articles in Business

Montana Logging Industry Faces Uncertain Future

Pyramid Mountain Lumber officials have announced their intention to sell the mill rather than resorting to an auction, although no concrete plans have been finalized apart from the impending closure. The company’s decision to shutter operations has sent shockwaves through the lumber industry, with many individuals and stakeholders deeply impacted by the news. Dick Rossignol, Read More…

Realtors group ends commission model; biggest ‘jolt’ in housing in 100 years

(The Center Square) – The National Association of REALTORS announced Friday an agreement where it will end the 6% commission that is routine in home sales. In the settlement with homeowners, the association will pay $418 million in damages and end litigation on the matter. Experts say that Americans pay $100 billion a year in Read More…

Senators concerned over growing agricultural trade deficit

(The Center Square) — U.S. agricultural trade exports declined by $17 billion in fiscal year 2023, raising concerns from U.S. senators about how the Biden administration will address the issue. The deficit is growing and will decline by another $8 billion in fiscal year 2023, the senators said in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Read More…

All in: Business

Facebook working on mysterious ‘authentic’ robot eyeball that could track where humans are looking

Facebook has patented a new technology for an “authentic” robot eye. The idea, granted in December, would let the social media company build a “high performing and realistic” eyeball that would be like an “animatronic device” to track humans’ eye movements. Tracking eye movements is used in digital ads to detect what people look at, as Read More…

As workers quit in droves, companies get creative to attract and retain employees

WASHINGTON — With workers quitting their jobs in record numbers across the United States, employers are getting creative with their offerings to attract and retain talent. Many are providing more money and benefits amid a nationwide labor shortage that has worsened supply chain shortages and hampered businesses, especially those that employ front-line workers. In Arizona, one Read More…

One-third of workers would take a pay cut to never dress for work again. Here’s how retailers are responding

This past fall, Lululemon’s design team noticed something unusual. Wall Street bros were flocking to the Brookfield Place store in the Financial District to buy the On the Move trousers, which look like chinos but are made from the same soft, stretchy, moisture-wicking material used in the brand’s activewear. That’s right: Finance execs were finally ditching their Read More…

Montage Hotels & Resorts Announces the Opening of Montage Big Sky

BIG SKY, Mont., Dec. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Montage Hotels & Resorts today announced the opening of Montage Big Sky, a modern alpine retreat offering an elevated spirit of comfort and distinctive amenities that epitomize today’s sense of luxury, in an idyllic location for year-round adventures in Southwest Montana. The resort is located less than an hour from Yellowstone National Park and surrounded by Read More…

Lucid stock tanks after being slapped with SEC subpoena over SPAC deal

Shares of Lucid Motors tanked Monday morning after the electric car maker disclosed that its been slapped with a subpoena as part of an investigation into the merger that took Lucid public earlier this year. “On December 3, 2021, [Lucid] received a subpoena from the [Securities and Exchange Commission] requesting the production of certain documents related to an Read More…

‘F—k you, dude’: Startup valued at $7B gets flak as CEO lays off hundreds over Zoom

Just days after receiving a $750 million cash infusion, a tech startup that Forbes branded in October as a “unicorn,” valued at $7 billion, laid off hundreds of employees in a manner that some online deemed “brutal.” Better.com, a digital mortgage lender with offices in Oakland, laid off 900 employees weeks before Christmas on a mass Zoom call. Only those Read More…

‘Let’s go Brandon’ cryptocurrency sees massive boom

“Let’s go Brandon” to the moon? A cryptocurrency digital coin labeled $LGB, which stands for the phrase “Let’s go Brandon,” went up 150%. The cryptocurrency is “America’s Coin,” according to its website . The digital coin is part of the mission to fight back “against the establishment, their mismanagement, and the financial fleecing of the American people,” the website Read More…

Barclays CEO Jes Staley Steps Down Amid Pressure Over Jeffrey Epstein Ties

Jes Staley stepped down as chief executive of Barclays PLC under pressure from regulators about how he characterized his relationship with the convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein. Barclays said Mr. Staley stepped down “in view of the conclusions” made by U.K. regulators in its long-running investigation into what Mr. Staley told the bank about his Read More…

Kalispell Finalizes Ordinance to Restrict Marijuana to Industrial Zones

The Kalispell City Council voted to restrict marijuana dispensaries, cultivation and manufacturing to industrial zones after a second reading of the ordinance at the Oct. 18 council meeting, setting the city’s framework for facilities once operations can begin on Jan. 1, 2022. While marijuana operations are permitted in the city, they will be limited to Read More…

Montana company taps into new farming techniques to meet growing food demand

HAMILTON — It’s fall in Montana, with windswept mountain ranges and morning temperatures hovering in the 30s, and it’s not the ideal growing season. That is unless you’re inside Local Bounti. “This new type of growing is really exciting,” said Meaghan McGrath, director of product development. Local Bounti is a company specializing in growing facilities that Read More…

Southwest drops plan to put unvaccinated staff on unpaid leave starting in December

Southwest Airlines has scrapped a plan to put unvaccinated employees who have applied for but haven’t received a religious or medical exemption on unpaid leave starting by a federal deadline in December. Southwest Airlines and American Airlines are among the carriers that are federal contractors and subject to a Biden administration requirement that their employees are vaccinated against Covid-19 by Read More…

As Pressure Mounts on Private Timber Companies to Convert Forestland for Development, Many in Northwest Montana Choose to Conserve

If the growing scrum of land and development interests bearing down on the intermountain west were to attend a formal gala, the region’s swaths of privately owned forestlands would surely stand out as the belle of the ball. And yet, as America’s working forestlands endure an unprecedented degree of pressure to convert their traditional bases to Read More…

YouTube announces crackdown on anti-vaccine content

YouTube is cracking down on anti-vaccination content on its site, taking down several channels from high-profile anti-vaccination activists. A representative for Google, YouTube’s parent company, confirmed to the Washington Examiner that channels belonging to “well-known vaccine misinformation spreaders,” such as Joseph Mercola, the Children’s Health Defense Fund, which is affiliated with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Erin Elizabeth, Read More…

Gianforte Touts Montana’s Business-Friendly Climate on Kalispell Visit

At a Sept. 14 Kalispell Chamber of Commerce, Convention and Visitor Bureau luncheon at the Hilton Garden Inn, Gov. Greg Gianforte promoted Montana as a competitive business state while emphasizing its economic resiliency during the pandemic. Gianforte spoke following a visit with GL Solutions, a software company that recently relocated to Kalispell from Bend, Oregon, Read More…

Twitter to Pay $809.5 Million to Settle Lawsuit Alleging Jack Dorsey, Others Misled Investors

Twitter disclosed a binding agreement to settle a class-action lawsuit, under which the social network will pay $809.5 million to resolve claims it provided misleading user-engagement info to investors. The original lawsuit, filed in 2016 by a Twitter shareholder, alleged Dorsey and others including former CEO Dick Costolo and board member Evan Williams hid facts about Read More…

Consumer protection agency looks to increase transparency for small business loans

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a rule Wednesday to raise transparency around loans for small businesses. If finalized, the federal agency’s rule would require lenders to collect and report more data about credit applications from small businesses, including demographic and pricing data and reasons for which lenders deny a loan. The rule would help regulators learn how entrepreneurs Read More…