The business news thread

This story says Verizon has "pumped the breaks a bit." Remember when reporters used to be able to spell?

Tim Armstrong to step down as CEO of Oath

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ne...o-oath-1142727

Shares of Nike closed today at $83.49, a year-to-date gain of $20.01. I'm not sure if I should read this article while standing.....or while kneeling.

Nike stock hits all-time high after Colin Kaepernick 'Just do it' ad campaign

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/comp...ko0G?ocid=AMZN

Coca-Cola may make a beverage containing cannabidiol, a legal chemical found in marijuana. They say production of such a beverage would be "diversification." I wonder what Cheech & Chong would call it.

Coca-Cola says it's looking at potential cannabis 'wellness drinks' business

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coca-co...ol-ingredient/

There are three AmazonGo stores in Seattle and one in Chicago. A shopper with the AmazonGo app on his smartphone simply scans the app when he enters the store. Then he can grab meal kits, baked goods, salads, beverages and grocery items and exit the store. Sensors and scanners -- which are smarter than human cashiers, apparently, because the system is supposedly shoplifter-proof -- note what the shopper takes and the purchase price is billed to his Amazon account.

Revelation 13:17 foretells a time when people will be unable to buy or sell unless they have "the mark of the beast, his name or the number of his name." No, I'm not saying Jeff Bezos is the beast -- but the fulfillment of the prophecy is now in its incipiency.

Amazon may open as many as 3,000 cashierless AmazonGo stores by 2021

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...919-story.html

Publicly, Ticketmaster is opposed to ticket scalping. Privately, however, Ticketmaster is making millions of dollars by reselling scalped tickets. Here is the story -- and you can read it without being charged a "convenience fee."

Ticketmaster is colluding with ticket scalpers and taking a cut, undercover report finds

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ticketm...esold-tickets/

Since 1993, Disney has acquired ABC, ESPN, Pixar, Lucasfilm, Marvel, Miramax, Saban Entertainment, 21st Century Fox and the Muppets but it's looking increasingly unlikely that Sky TV will become part of the House of Mouse.

Comcast outbids Walt Disney Co. with $40 billion offer for Europe's Sky TV

http://www.latimes.com/business/holl...922-story.html

Last Month I noted that United, Southwest, RyanAir and JetBlue raised their baggage fees. I said when one airline raises fees, it seems they all do. Did anyone doubt that?

American and Delta raise their checked baggage fees

https://www.businessinsider.com/amer...ge-fees-2018-9

Memo to Inspire Brands: Please get rid of those two annoying dorks who do the Sonic tv commercials.

Arby's parent company to buy burger chain Sonic in $2.3 billion deal

https://www.msn.com/en-us/finance/co...eal/ar-AAADuZd

Companies are often accused of stealing "trade secrets." The way I see it, if those secrets are so easily stolen, they obviously weren't very secret to begin with.

Qualcomm accuses Apple of stealing trade secrets to help Intel

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/25/t...-stealing.html

Fox owns part of Sky. Disney buys Fox. Disney tries to buy the rest of Sky. Comcast buys the rest of Sky. Fox sells part of Sky to Comcast. Comcast now owns all of sky. My head is spinning.

Fox will sell its 39% stake in Sky to Comcast, reducing Disney's debt

http://www.latimes.com/business/holl...926-story.html

Stripe launched in 2010 and went public in 2011. Headquartered in San Francisco, Stripe helps new companies set up online/mobile payment processing and provides anti-fraud tools to block fraudulent transactions. But.....with so many thousands of banks and online businesses using anti-fraud tools, why is there still so much fraud? Or did I just ask an unanswerable question?

Payment start-up Stripe is now a $20-billion company
Bloomberg, Sep 27 2018 11:30 AM

Payment start-up Stripe is has just closed a $245-million funding round that ups its value from $9 billion to $20 billion, co-founder and Chief Executive Patrick Collison said. Several large new customers have also been listed on Stripe's website this week, including Google and Uber.

Stripe was founded in 2010 by Patrick and John Collison, Irish brothers who immigrated to Silicon Valley to pursue careers in software. After experimenting with different businesses, the Collisons hit on the idea of making it easier for start-ups to set up their online billing and payment systems. Rather than dealing with a morass of banking paperwork and procedures, companies could inject a few lines of code from Stripe onto their websites and gain instant access to its payment infrastructure. The technology proved to be a hit with young companies and with up-and-coming tech powerhouses such as Instacart, Lyft and DoorDash. As these companies processed millions of transactions, Stripe charged a small fee on each one for its services.

Because it lurks in the background, Stripe hasn’t become a household name. But online shoppers use its service — albeit unknowingly — an awful lot. About 84% of American adults shopping online bought something via Stripe in the last year, Patrick Collison said. That figure will increase thanks to its deals with Google and Uber, as well as a number of other new customers, including Spotify.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...926-story.html

Boy oh boy, Bed Bath & Beyond has been brutally beaten up. The company just suffered the worst trading day in its 47-year history as sales continue to decline.

Bed Bath & Beyond shares fall 21% after earnings miss

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/tops...CHAT?ocid=AMZN

Some people -- one in particular -- are never punished for making irresponsible tweets. Elon Musk is not among them -- although he retains his position as CEO.

Elon Musk to step down as chairman of Tesla board, settles with SEC for $20 million

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elon-mu...an-2018-09-29/

More and more stores and restaurants are adopting new technology such as apps, scanners, digital coupons, touchscreen ordering and sensors that keep track of what shoppers put in their cart. Retail consultant Steve Dennis dismisses the idea that brick-and-mortar stores are dying: "Physical retail is clearly not dead -- but boring, undifferentiated, irrelevant and unremarkable stores are most definitely dead." I don't know which stores he's referring to.......but the ears of Sears CEO Edward Lampert are burning.

Amazon and Nike are charting a course for the store of the future
Business Insider, Sep 29 2018

New technology is increasingly being infused into stores and the results are finally starting to show. Tech-forward companies such as Amazon and Nike are completely changing the idea of what it means to have a physical store. Nike's Live concept store, which chooses items to stock by analyzing customer data, and Amazon's Go concept, which uses just-walk-out technology instead of cashiers, are two examples of how the way the industry is thinking about stores is changing.

https://www.businessinsider.com/amaz...-future-2018-9

The Edison General Electric Company -- yes, that Edison -- was incorporated in 1889 in New York. GE was worth nearly $600 billion in 2000. The company is now valued at around $100 billion.

GE shares soar after company suddenly dumps John Flannery as CEO
CNBC, Oct 1 2018

Struggling industrial conglomerate General Electric abruptly removed John Flannery as chairman and CEO today after only a year on the job and installed former Danaher CEO Lawrence Culp as his successor.

GE shares, which had fallen to a nine-year low last week, surged in reaction. GE also announced a $23 billion noncash charge for its ailing power business and said it will "fall short of previously indicated guidance for free cash flow and EPS."

Culp, 55, was named to the GE board in April. He served as the CEO and president of Danaher from 2000 to 2014, during which he quintupled the size of the science and technology company.

GE shares surged 9.7% today, trading as high as $13.07 a share. Last week, the stock posted one of its worst weeks of the year, down 7% and hitting a nine-year low of $11.21.

Flannery, 56, was appointed in August 2017, taking the helm from Jeff Immelt as the conglomerate's stock fell steadily. But GE's value had continued to erode, setting new lows as investors remain unconvinced by Flannery's turnaround plan.

Last June, GE was kicked out of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It had been the longest-serving component of the blue chip index — 111 years.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/01/ge-r...-guidance.html

Pinwheel, the first TV channel for children, launched December 1, 1977. It became Nickelodeon in 1979. It continues to be the most-watched channel among kids but its viewership numbers have been rapidly declining as children gravitate to Netflix, Amazon, YouTube and other online providers. Apparently there are millions more five- and six-year-old computer users than I thought!

Viacom taps movie/TV producer Brian Roberts to lead Nickelodeon

http://www.latimes.com/business/holl...001-story.html

Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced legislation to raise the federal hourly minimum wage to $15. He has claimed, perhaps falsely, that Amazon employees are paid so little, many have to rely on Medicaid, food stamps and public housing. Today, Sanders is happy. "I urge corporate leaders around the country to follow Jeff Bezos' lead," he said.

Amazon to raise minimum hourly wage to $15 for all US workers

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/02/b...imum-wage.html

Business Insider calculated Jeff Bezos' hourly income by dividing his 2017-18 earnings increase by the number of hours in a year. Are you sitting down? Okay, Bezos makes $4,474,885 an hour. At $15 an hour, an Amazon employee would have to work 298,325 hours to earn that amount. If you convert Bezos' earnings to eight-hour days instead of 24-hour days, he makes $13,424,655 an hour. I feel sick.

Amazon is raising its minimum wage to $15 an hour; here's how much CEO Jeff Bezos makes in those same 60 minutes

https://www.businessinsider.com/amaz...rnings-2018-10

I think they're beating a dead horse -- or maybe I should say a dead giraffe.

Toys Я Us lenders file a plan to revive the brand

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...002-story.html

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has been the wealthiest American for the past 24 years but Amazon's stock price has doubled in the last year, and.......

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos topples Bill Gates as richest person on Forbes 400

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeff-be...-man-in-world/