Business

/

ArcaMax

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS

OpenAI teams up with former Apple design chief Jony Ive as AI race heats up

Business / Business News /

Jony Ive, a former Apple executive known for designing the iPhone, is joining forces with OpenAI, the San Francisco startup behind popular chatbot ChatGPT.

On Wednesday, OpenAI said it's buying io, an AI devices startup that Ive founded a year ago, for nearly $6.5 billion in an all-stock deal, the largest acquisition in OpenAI's history.

"We ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Surge AI is latest San Francisco startup accused of misclassifying its workers

Business / Business News /

Artificial intelligence training company Surge AI has been hit with a lawsuit alleging it has misclassified contractors hired to improve chat responses from AI software for some of the world's leading tech companies.

The proposed class action lawsuit alleges that "data annotators" — hired by Surge AI to ensure that powerful AI systems run by ...Read more

Jennifer Buchanan/Pool/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Boeing sticks to safety strategy, with new audits, officers and data

Business / Business News /

As Boeing attempts to rebuild its reputation among safety regulators and the flying public, the company’s safety office is sticking to a strategy put in place after two 737 Max crashes six years ago.

In its fourth annual safety report since the deadly Max crashes, Boeing laid out a multipronged safety plan focused on strengthening safety ...Read more

Bryan R. Smith/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Disney tells Venezuelans on TPS: Find a new legal way to work or you're out of a job

Business / Business News /

The Walt Disney Company has notified dozens of Venezuelan employees they might lose their jobs after the Supreme Court ruled Monday that the Trump administration could end their deportation protections and work permits under temporary protected status.

The corporation, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary, placed approximately 45 “cast ...Read more

Mandel Ngan/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

DOJ probes Live Nation, AEG for COVID-era refund collusion

Business / Business News /

The U.S. Justice Department is conducting a criminal antitrust probe into how companies responded to mass concert cancellations at the outset of the pandemic in 2020, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The investigation is focused on whether Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and AEG Presents illegally colluded on refund policies for...Read more

Dave Newman/Dreamstime/TNS

FTC rests at Meta monopoly trial, shifting focus to defense

Business / Business News /

The Federal Trade Commission wrapped up its case for breaking up Meta Platforms Inc. as an illegal social-media monopoly, with the company now set to lay out its defense in the ongoing antitrust trial.

Meta will take the next several weeks to make its case before U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington. The company also said Thursday ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Coinbase hack rocks the company that led crypto into mainstream

Business / Business News /

On the long list of crypto companies that have been hacked, there are plenty of examples of financial losses that are much more painful than what Coinbase Global Inc. appears to be facing from the attack it disclosed on Thursday.

Yet this one stands out for significance far beyond the $400 million the company expects it will cost: This time, ...Read more

Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times/TNS

Amazon claims warehouses are getting safer. Critics say progress is too slow

Business / Business News /

Injury rates in Amazon warehouses fell in 2024 for the third year in a row, but a coalition of labor unions that tracks the data said Amazon isn’t making improvements fast enough.

In 2020, founder and then-CEO Jeff Bezos said the company was committed to become “Earth’s safest place to work.” Injury rates had spiked in 2019, reaching as...Read more

Real estate Q&A: What happens to our mother's house after she died without a will?

Business / Business News /

Q: Our mother recently passed away in Florida. I live in another state, so the last year before she died, my brother moved in with her to be able to help. The house was owned for decades by both our parents, and our father passed away some time ago. My sister and I want to sell the house, but our brother wants to keep living there. We get along ...Read more

Kevin Clark/The Seattle Times/TNS

Seattle real estate industry feuds over private home listings

Business / Business News /

When Seattle real estate agent Sam Cunningham prepared to list a remodeled Issaquah home for sale earlier this year, he made the usual preparations: modern staging, pristine photos and marketing copy gushing over the house’s hardwood floors and “stunning new kitchen.”

But Cunningham skipped one notable step.

He advertised the property on...Read more

Jon Cherry/Getty Images North America/TNS

Michael Hiltzik: Crypto was already in bad odor before jumping into bed with Trump. Now it smells worse

Business / Business News /

One problem that promoters of cryptocurrencies have faced since the asset class first emerged is that its reputation stinks.

Crypto trading has become identified by regulators and in the public mind as a haven for scams, theft and other forms of sharp practice. The FBI, in its most recent annual report on cryptocurrency, found that crypto-...Read more

Allison Dinner/Getty Images North America/TNS

US spring homebuying season has its weakest start in five years

Business / Business News /

The crucial spring home-sales season in the U.S., barely off the runway, is already sputtering.

April is normally when transactions kick into overdrive, warmer weather drawing in buyers and sellers alike. But this year, the number of signed contracts was the lowest for the month since the Covid lockdown in 2020, according to seasonally adjusted...Read more

Carlos Gonzalez/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Adding to UnitedHealth woes, WSJ reports Justice Department has launched criminal investigation

Business / Business News /

UnitedHealth Group stock was sliding again Thursday as the market took in a report in the Wall Street Journal that the U.S. Department of Justice has launched a criminal fraud investigation of Medicare billing practices, the latest development in a string of allegations about the Eden Prairie-based company.

In a story posted late Wednesday, the...Read more

Richard Tsong-Taatarii/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

OSHA hits Target with nearly $30,000 in fines after Pennsylvania worker crushed to death

Business / Business News /

Federal regulators fined Target nearly $30,000 after a workplace death in Pennsylvania, less than a year after the Minneapolis-based retailer received a much higher fine for an employee death in Massachusetts.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued two violations related to the Nov. 1 death at a Pennsdale, Penn., store....Read more

Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Chicago residential developer now negotiating to buy the entire Lincoln Yards site, which is still mostly empty

Business / Business News /

The Chicago developer that was negotiating to buy the northern swath of the stalled Lincoln Yards megadevelopment site is now in talks to purchase the entire 53-acre tract, according to sources familiar with the deal.

JDL Development’s move to acquire both the northern and southern parts of the site was first reported by The Real Deal.

The ...Read more

Kevin Frayer/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Despite a trade truce with China, Silicon Valley is not out of the woods

Business / Business News /

WASHINGTON — Markets rejoiced this week over news that the Trump administration, after six weeks of maximalist rhetoric, had struck a preliminary deal with China to lower tariff rates between the two countries. Tech stocks led the rally, with investors hopeful that President Trump had finally retreated from plans for a protracted trade war ...Read more

Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump's pause on China tariffs is still a 'huge nightmare' for small businesses

Business / Business News /

President Donald Trump’s sudden move to lower tariffs on goods from China to 30% from 145% has thrown a lifeline to America’s small businesses who were running low on inventory — and cash.

But owners warn the reprieve will be limited.

Their caution goes like this: tariff rates remain sky high by historical levels and will keep pressuring...Read more

Bloomberg News/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

UnitedHealth Group lost half its value in 6 months. What the CEO shakeup may mean for its future

Business / Business News /

Stephen Hemsley hasn’t been CEO at UnitedHealth Group in nearly a decade yet he’s never really left.

Hemsley, 72, has remained chairman and a major shareholder in the health care behemoth — and now is back in the CEO suite and is expected to reinstate his brand of operational and financial discipline that turbocharged the company’s ...Read more

Kathleen Christiansen/Orlando Sentinel/Kathleen Christiansen

AMC is introducing huge Wednesday ticket discounts. Will it increase attendance?

Business / Business News /

As the box office improves, will a steep discount on tickets bring more people to the multiplex this summer?

That's what AMC Theatres is betting.

The Leawood, Kan.-based chain said this week that members of its AMC Stubs loyalty program, which has a free tier, will get 50% off adult evening-priced movie tickets all day long Wednesdays, ...Read more

Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group/TNS

San Jose State University beats Stanford, Cal in computer coding

Business / Business News /

San Jose State University has shot past Stanford and UC Berkeley to a top-10 spot in a ranking of U.S. universities based on a standardized computer coding test.

The school leapt to the No. 9 spot this year in rankings by CodeSignal, a San Francisco company whose General Coding Assessment is widely used by major technology companies to evaluate...Read more