Business category, Page 56
Workers at Charlotte airport, an American Airlines hub, go on strike during Thanksgiving travel weekVideo
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Workers who clean airplanes, remove trash and help with wheelchairs at Charlotte’s airport, one of the nation’s busiest, went on strike Monday during a busy week of Thanksgiving travel to demand higher wages. The Service Employees International Union announced the strike in a statement early Monday, saying...
Eggs are available — but pricier — as the holiday baking season begins
Egg prices are rising once more as a lingering outbreak of bird flu coincides with the high demand of the holiday baking season. But prices are still far from the recent peak they reached almost two years ago. And the American Egg Board, a trade group, says egg shortages at...
Macy’s says employee hid up to $154 million in expenses, delaying Q3 earnings
Macy’s reported stronger-than-expected sales for the third quarter and said it’s delaying the release of its full quarterly results after it discovered an employee intentionally hid up to $154 million of expenses over several years. The department store chain, which also operates Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury cosmetics chain in addition to...
Spirit Airlines plans normal operations out of Pittsburgh through bankruptcy filing
Passengers at Pittsburgh International Airport can expect Spirit Airlines to operate normally despite the company’s recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, officials said. Bryan Dietz, senior vice president for air service and commercial development at Pittsburgh International, said that Spirit’s financial situation will not have an immediate impact on its operations....
As Amazon expands use of warehouse robots, what will it mean for workers?
Amazon has introduced a handful of robots in its warehouses that the e-commerce giant says will improve efficiency and reduce employee injuries. Two robotic arms named Robin and Cardinal can lift packages that weigh up to 50 pounds. A third, called Sparrow, picks up items from bins and puts them...
Overhauls of ‘heritage brands’ raise the question: How important are our products to our identities?
LONDON — When Katja Vogt considers a Jaguar, she pictures a British-made car purring confidently along the Italian coastline — a vision of familiarity that conveys “that dreaming, longing feeling we all love.” She’s not sure what to think about Jaguar now after the 89-year-old company announced a radical rebranding...
Amazon to invest an additional $4 billion in AI startup Anthropic
Amazon is investing an additional $4 billion in the artificial intelligence startup Anthropic as major technology companies rush to fund generative AI. This will bring Amazon’s total investment in Anthropic — which began last year — to $8 billion. Anthropic said the Seattle-based tech giant will maintain its position as...
Tariff hikes will backfire, and China can manage such ‘external shocks,’ a senior official says
HONG KONG — Higher tariffs on Chinese exports will backfire, just increasing prices paid by consumers, while China can manage to weather the impact of such “external shocks,” a senior Commerce Ministry official said Friday in Beijing. Responding to a reporter’s question about U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to impose...
DirecTV calls off acquisition of rival Dish, possibly ending a yearslong pursuit
DirecTV is calling off its planned acquisition of rival Dish after the offer was rejected by bond holders at that company. The deal was reliant on Dish bond holders agreeing to trade in the debt they held for debt in the new company, a swap that would have cost them...
McDonald’s to expand U.S. value menu as fast food chains battle for bargain seekers
McDonald’s will expand its U.S. value menu early next year as it continues to try to win back inflation-weary customers. Starting Jan. 7, the burger chain will let customers buy one full-priced item from a limited value menu and get another item on that menu for $1. Items on the...
Steelworkers union boss rips PR blitz pushing U.S. Steel-Nippon deal
United Steelworkers International President David McCall is well aware of the cracks forming in his union’s opposition to a sale of U.S. Steel to Japan-based Nippon Steel as the companies press their advertising blitz, but he is not backing down. McCall swiftly came out against the $14.9 billion acquisition when...
One Tech Tip: How to get started with Bluesky
LONDON — Looking for a new social media platform because X, Threads and Mastodon just aren’t cutting it? You could try Bluesky. People seeking to avoid chaos, noise and political bluster in the aftermath of the U.S. elections are noticing a different mood on the Bluesky social platform, where the...
Bitcoin is at the doorstep of $100,000 as post-election rally rolls on
NEW YORK — Bitcoin topped $98,000 for the first time Thursday, extending a streak of almost daily all-time highs since the U.S. presidential election. The cryptocurrency has rocketed more than 40% in just two weeks. Now, bitcoin is at the doorstep of $100,000 and investors do not appear to be...
U.S. home sales rose in October, notching their 1st annual gain in over 3 years
LOS ANGELES — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes rose in October, the first annual gain in more than three years, with home shoppers encouraged by easing rates and a pickup in properties on the market. Existing home sales rose 3.4% last month, from September, to a seasonally adjusted annual...
U.S. regulators seek to break up Google, forcing Chrome sale as part of monopoly punishment
U.S. regulators want a federal judge to break up Google to prevent the company from continuing to squash competition through its dominant search engine after a court found it had maintained an abusive monopoly over the past decade. The proposed breakup floated in a 23-page document filed late Wednesday by...
Delta to serve Shake Shack burgers in first class on some flights
Delta Air Lines will soon serve Shake Shack cheeseburgers to first-class customers on certain flights out of Boston. The first-class meal option will be offered starting Dec. 1 on routes of more than 900 miles out of Boston Logan International Airport. The airline said it “plans for expansion to other...
Philadelphia’s mass transit system averts a strike by reaching a deal with its largest workers union
Philadelphia’s mass transit system has reached a tentative contract deal with its largest workers union, averting a potential strike that could have seen thousands of employees walk off the job. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and Transport Workers Union Local 234 announced the one-year agreement Wednesday. It calls for union...
Comcast to spin off cable networks, once star performers for the entertainment giant
WASHINGTON — Comcast will spin off many of its cable television networks that were once at the heart of the entertainment giant, with people increasingly swapping out their cable TV subscriptions for streaming platforms. Those one-time stars for Comcast’s NBCUniversal cable television networks include USA, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf...
John Dorfman: Here’s another stock picking tool for your kit
Here’s a stock picking tool you might not have thought about. It’s called the PEG ratio. The PEG ratio is a ratio of two ratios. The numerator, or top line, is a stock’s price/earnings ratio, expressed simply as a number. This is the stock’s price divided by per-share earnings. If...
Jersey Mike’s sandwich chain acquired by private equity firm Blackstone for $8 billion
NEW YORK — Jersey Mike’s, the quickly expanding sandwich chain, is being acquired by asset management giant Blackstone. In the transaction announced Tuesday, private equity funds managed by Blackstone will be used to acquire majority ownership of Jersey Mike’s. The deal is “intended to help enable Jersey Mike’s to accelerate...
Sewickley woman’s Sweet Water Decor business sells its 2 millionth candle
Melissa Horvath had just gotten engaged and was perusing the online platform Etsy looking for wedding invitations when this thought came to mind, “I could do this,” she said. So she did. The Sewickley resident started a business – Sweet Water Decor — in her basement in December 2014. “I’ve...
Forget driverless cars. One company wants autonomous helicopters to spray crops and fight fires
HENNIKER, N.H. — When Hector Xu was learning to fly a helicopter in college, he recalled having a few “nasty experiences” while trying to navigate at night. The heart-stopping flights led to his research of unmanned aircraft systems while getting his doctorate degree in aerospace engineering at Massachusetts Institute of...
Walmart’s promise of low prices proves to be a powerful draw in 3rd quarter
NEW YORK — Walmart ratcheted up sales and profits again in the third quarter with its comparatively low prices proving a powerful draw for shoppers seeking to cut spending where they could. The nation’s largest retailer raised its outlook for the year as well, underscoring its confidence in a strong...
‘Something to give back’: Retired Naval officer expands low-cost, self-serve bookstore business to Westmoreland Mall
Griffin and Naomi Lotson have gotten used to weaving through stacks of books piled high in their Indiana Borough home. Books line the walls of the Lotson’s three-car garage, allowing just enough room for them to park their vehicles. “We could barely fit our van in there,” said Naomi Lotson,...
Westmoreland airport officials maintain hope after Spirit Airlines bankruptcy filing
Westmoreland County officials are hopeful a stronger Spirit Airlines will emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is able to reverse a cutback in the commercial carrier’s flights at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport. With that in mind, the county airport authority is restoring reservation desk staffing it had curtailed at the...
