In The Headlines GM Gets Serious About Driverless Cars General Motors (GM) recently announced that it will acquire Cruise Automation, a San Francisco-based developer of autonomous vehicle technology. No financial terms were disclosed, but sources close to the situation estimate that the deal is valued at “north of $1 billion,” in a combination of [...]
In The Headlines Sports Authority, a Faded Brand, Falls into Bankruptcy Once the world’s largest sporting goods retailer, Sports Authority has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and said it will close 140 stores, nearly a third of its locations, over the next three months. Customers and others had long complained that Sports Authority’s shopping [...]
In The Headlines What’s in Your (Digital) Wallet? An increasing number of people who used to use bank cards to pay bills and buy merchandise are seeing mobile payment services as a handy alternative. That attitude concerns financial institutions, which believe services such as Venmo and Apple Pay could erode loyalty, particularly among millennials, [...]
In The Headlines The Gig Economy Keeps Growing On-demand work helps Americans offset losses or boost pay according to a new study by the JPMorgan Chase Institute. An estimated 10.3 million Americans earned income through web-based platforms like Uber and Airbnb between 2012 and 2015, demonstrating that there is a job market revolution underway. [...]
In The Headlines Under One Roof: Multigenerational Homes Grow in Popularity Miami-based builder Lennar is offering a new type of house these days called a “NextGen” home. The brand is doing very well for Lennar, which has made a heavy push into the multigenerational housing segment. Year-over-year, sales of NextGen grew by 24% in [...]
In The Headlines Payday Lenders Race to Make Changes Ahead of New Regulations Getting cash-strapped people into very expensive debt has been a good business for Matt Martorello. His company, Bellicose Capital, helps an American Indian tribe in Michigan run websites that offer small loans to the public at annualized interest rates as high [...]
In The Headlines Unlocking the Box: The FCC Proposes to Open Up the Future of TV The cable TV industry is being disrupted in a variety of ways, thanks to the rise of “cord cutting” and the popularity of streaming services like Netflix. But there is one area where the cable business still reigns [...]
In The Headlines Does the Melting of the Arctic Represent a $1 Trillion Opportunity? The melting of the Arctic ice cap, and the unveiling of resources below it, presents mind-boggling opportunities for energy, shipping, fishing, science, and military exploitation. Energy and shipping have been first up. Norway made its national fortune drilling in northern [...]
In The Headlines Large Department Store Chains Rethink their Focus on Apparel Consumers are spending more on experiences, from travel to a meal out, which is chipping away at sales of tangible things, like clothing. And when shoppers do buy apparel, they are gravitating to off-price retailers such as T.J. Maxx and Nordstrom Rack, [...]
The Rich Are Different Back in the Gilded Age, an ambitious social climber and noted toady named Ward McAllister coined the phrase "the Four Hundred," named for the number of people that Manhattan heiress Caroline Astor could fit in her Fifth Avenue ballroom. In 1982, Forbes magazine borrowed that same number for their annual [...]