Business news 2021

[Rewind]

Juul Labs was founded in 2015. The company's electronic cigarettes contain a very high concentration of nicotine. Juul insists their e-cigarettes are for adult smokers who are trying to quit – but their marketing and advertising clearly targeted children and teenagers. Several states and school districts have filed federal lawsuits accusing Juul of marketing an unsafe product to teenagers. One of those lawsuits has just been settled. Juul will pay $40 million and make changes to its business practices.

E-cigarette company Juul to pay $40 million in North Carolina lawsuit settlement

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/28/healt...ent/index.html

[Rewind]

What's the old expression? "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer."

CEOs made 299 times more than their average workers last year

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/14/inves...ort/index.html

[Rewind]

Robert Adler, acting chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, said in a statement, "CPSC faces a massive challenge in ensuring that consumers are protected from potentially hazardous products sold on third‐party platforms. Many of the suppliers to these platforms are not domestic companies or companies with the financial ability to conduct recalls. The best solution to this problem would be for CPSC and third‐party platforms to work together to craft agreements that establish a framework for dealing with these products." Good luck with that!

US sues Amazon for selling dangerous products
CNN Business, Jul 15 2021 12:26 PM ET

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission says Amazon is selling hazardous products to its customers. The federal safety watchdog is suing Amazon to stop. Among the products cited in the suit are carbon monoxide detectors that fail to alarm, children's pajamas that could catch fire and hair dryers that could electrocute people if dropped in water. The products cited are not sold directly by Amazon – they're sold by third parties using Amazon's platform. Many of those companies selling the dangerous products are foreign and the CPSC has limited ability to force a recall of their products if they are found to be hazardous.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/15/tech/...zon/index.html

[Rewind]

How nice it would be if other businesses followed suit! Walmart stock closed today at 142.64, a gain of one cent (0.007%).

America’s largest retailer will cover 100% of college tuition for its workers

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/27/busin...fit/index.html

[Rewind]

AT&T bought DIRECTV for $48.5 billion in 2015. Today, after selling a minority stake in DIRECTV and spinning it off into a new subsidiary, AT&T owns 70% and private equity firm TPG Capital owns 30%. Shares of AT&T closed today at $28.19, a gain of 8 cents (0.28%).

AT&T finalizes spinoff of DIRECTV into its own company
AT&T TV and U-verse video services will soon be under a single brand called DIRECTV Stream.

https://www.engadget.com/att-direc-t...051610804.html

[Rewind]

Beginning in October, first-class mail that would normally be delivered within three days will now take five days because the Postal Service will be relying more on surface transportation instead of costlier air transportation. Hey, maybe they could save even more money bringing back the Pony Express. And on August 29, the cost of a first-class postage stamp will rise 3¢ to 58¢.

US Postal Service finalizes plan to slow some mail deliveries

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...es-2021-08-06/

[Rewind]

Hackers obtained the names, addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, and driver's license numbers of millions of T-Mobile customers. T-Mobile believes hackers did not obtain any debit card numbers or credit card numbers. How can T-Mobile be so sure?

T-Mobile customers file class action lawsuits as investigation finds 53 million affected by data breach

https://www.businessinsider.com/cust...million-2021-8

[Rewind]

Is there really a need for sunglasses that can take photos and play music? Facebook apparently thinks so.

See Facebook's Ray-Ban smart glasses that can take photos and calls

https://www.businessinsider.com/face...d-calls-2021-9

[Rewind]

For safety reasons, someone will have to be riding in each self-driving car. Hey, Walmart, here is a novel idea: ditch the self-driving cars and let those people – who you're already paying – drive regular delivery vehicles.

Walmart to test self-driving delivery service with Ford and Argo AI
Companies aim to start autonomous-vehicle delivery service in Miami, Austin and Washington DC.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/walmart...ce-11631710243

[Rewind]

The Dollar Tree discount variety store chain – originally known as Only $1.00 – was founded in 1986 and today has more than 15,200 locations in the United States and Canada. Historically, prices have always been $1 or less – but rising shipping and labor costs are squeezing profit margins. Therefore.......

Dollar Tree to sell more items above $1 as costs rise
Discount chain expanding earlier tests to boost prices, citing higher wage and freight costs

https://www.wsj.com/articles/dollar-...se-11632918816