Business Highlights: Microsoft, Activision extend deal deadline;…
Public Group active 3 years ago___ Biden´s White House is taking on corporate mergers, landlord junk fees and food prices WASHINGTON (AP) – The Biden administration is proposing new guidelines for corporate mergers, taking steps to disclose junk fees charged by landlords and launching a crackdown on price-gouging in the food industry.
Wednesday´s announcements were discussed when President Joe Biden met with his White House Competition Council. The council is a group of administration officials established under a 2021 executive order with the goal of improving competition within the U.S. economy and helping consumers.
Attorney General Merrick Garland says the proposed guidelines “respond to modern market realties.” Republican lawmakers and some business group critics say the Democratic president´s effort will lead to greater regulatory costs that leave the economy worse off. ___ Microsoft and Activision extend deadline to close $69 billion deal under close regulatory scrutiny The deadline for Microsoft´s $69 billion acquisition of video game company Activision Blizzard has been extended to as the companies seek to close a deal that has been opposed by regulators in the U.S.
and the U.K.´s Competition and Markets Authority. Microsoft believes that pushing back the deadline to Oct. 18 will provide enough time to work through the remaining regulatory issues, said Brad Smith, the company´s president. The extension comes with a bigger termination fee, should the deal be called off, and a number of other new agreements.
Microsoft and Activision were supposed to close their deal by Tuesday according to their 18-month-old merger agreement. ___ Climate and violence hobble Nigeria´s push to rely on its own wheat after the hit from Russia´s war ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) – Nigeria is trying to make Africa´s largest economy reliant on its own wheat production. But climate change and violence in the northern part of the country, where grains are largely grown, have hindered these efforts.
That has worsened local food prices because Nigeria hasn´t been able to produce enough wheat to make up for lost supplies tied to Russia´s war in Ukraine. Russia´s decision this week to back out of an accord allowing Ukraine to ship grain from the Black Sea could make things worse after Ukraine had pledged more supplies of wheat at lower prices.
Some farmers are seeing extreme heat and irregular rain contributing to wheat yields dropping in half. ___ Teamsters and UPS to resume negotiations next week as contract deadline approaches NEW YORK (AP) – The Teamsters said Wednesday they will resume contract negotiations with UPS next week, marking an end to a stalemate that began two weeks ago when both sides walked away from talks while blaming each other.
The union credited the picketing and rallies it´s been holding across the country for getting the delivery company back to the negotiating table before the current contract expires on July 31. It said UPS reached out to resume negotiations. And that both sides will set dates soon as to when negations will happen next week.
In a prepared statement, the company confirmed negations will resume next week and said it was pleased to go back and “resolve the few remaining open issues.” ___ Chinese livestreamers set their sights on TikTok sales to shoppers in the US and Europe HONG KONG (AP) – Chinese livestreamers have set their sights on selling to TikTok shoppers in the U.S.
and Europe. They are hawking everything from bags and apparel to crystals in hopes that overseas livestream shopping could vastly increase their sales. The livestream e-commerce market in China is forecast to reach 4.9 trillion yuan ($676 billion). this year and popular hosts like “Lipstick King” Austin Li rack up tens of millions of dollars in sales in a single livestream.
Boot camps have sprouted up in China to teach livestream hosts how to become better salespeople. But it´s unclear whether their overseas ambitions can be realized given TikTok´s uncertain future in the U.S. ___ Stock market today: Wall Street ticks higher and adds to its big rally following profit reports NEW YORK (AP) – Stocks are ticking higher, adding to the strong run that has pulled Wall Street to its highest levels in more than 15 months.
The S&P 500 was 0.2% higher Tuesday, coming off its highest closing level since early April 2022. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 150 points, or 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower. Elevance Health was helping to lead the market after it reported stronger profit and revenue for the spring than analysts expected.
Several banks also rallied after reporting a rise in customer deposits. The S&P 500 has rallied nearly 19% so far this year. ___ UK homeowners get some respite as inflation falls by more than anticipated to a 15-month low LONDON (AP) – Inflation in the U.K.
has fallen by more than anticipated to a 15-month low in a development that offered struggling homeowners hope that interest rates will not rise as much as feared over the coming months. The Office for National Statistics said Wednesday that inflation fell to 7.9% in the year to June from 8.7% the previous month.
Economists had expected a more modest decline to 8.2%. Despite the decline, inflation is still running far higher than the Bank of England´s target rate of 2%. As a result, the central bank is expected to raise its main interest rate further at its upcoming meeting in early August. ___ Masks are out at In-N-Out after burger chain bans employees from wearing them in 5 states NEW YORK (AP) – In-N-Out will bar employees in five states from wearing masks unless they have a doctor´s note, according to internal company emails leaked on social media last week.
The policy, which goes into effect August 14, applies to all In-N-Out employees in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Texas and Utah, except for those who need to wear masks or other protective gear for job duties like working in the patty room or painting. But in contrast to other states, employees in California and Oregon will still be able to choose to wear a mask in stores.
A company customer service representative confirmed the accuracy of the new mask guidelines with The Associated Press Wednesday morning. In-N-Out´s press contact did not immediately respond to request for comment. ___ MacKenzie Scott´s $250 million open call for donations yields applications from 6,353 nonprofits NEW YORK (AP) – Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott´s first open call for grants yielded 6,353 applications from nonprofits – meaning candidates have at least a 4% chance of being selected for a $1 million grant.
Lever for Change, the nonprofit overseeing the application process, said Wednesday that the applications came from all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The 250 winners will be announced in early 2024. Scott has shaken up philanthropic giving since 2019, dropping large, unrestricted and unexpected donations on nonprofits when she began giving away the fortune she came into after divorcing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
She has donated more than $14 billion in unrestricted funds to 1,600 nonprofit organizations. ___ British political candidate uses artificial intelligence to draw up election manifesto LONDON (AP) – An independent candidate for a U.K.
Parliament has turned to artificial intelligence to come up with his campaign promises. Andrew Gray, who says he has no policies of his own, crowdsourced constituents´ sentiments and used machine learning to come up with his political manifesto. He calls the technology a faster and fairer way for politicians to widely reflect views of the people they represent.
He´s running in parliamentary by-election Thursday in northern England. It´s expected to be a hotly contested battle between three political parties, and Gray is realistic about his chances. He uses AI to canvas residents on local issues through his website.
An expert says “democracy isn´t going to be fixed by a new technology.” ___ The S&P 500 rose 10.74 points, or 0.2%, to 4,565.72. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 109.28 points, or 0.3%, to 35,061.21.
The Nasdaq composite rose 4.38 points, or less than 0.1%, to 14,358.02. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 8.82 points, or poker383 0.4%, to 1,984.89. ___
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