Business

Listen to article(2 minutes)ADELAIDE, Australia—Ivan Williamsreckons he can help to break China’s dominance of a key ingredient of electric-vehicle batteries. To do so, he has been collecting wood chips from sawmills around the world.At a test plant in New Zealand’s picturesque Marlborough wine region, Williams and his team feed the wood chips into machines that turn out a form of synthetic graphite. He says the engineered material is as pure as synthetic graphite made from fossil fuels, which is mostly produced in China…

PARIS—A McDonald’s on a buzzy boulevard here offers a glimpse of what the future of serving fast food could look like. The burger giant doesn’t like what it sees.For those dining in, french fries are served in durable red containers, soda is dispensed into clear washable glasses and chicken nuggets come in hard plastic white bowls. When customers are finished eating, they are asked to drop the containers into a bin to be washed, dried and reused.Copyright ©2023Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.…

The Ronald McDonald balloon floats down Central Park West during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on November 23, 2023, in New York City.Gary Hershorn | Corbis News | Getty ImagesMcDonald's executives painted a rosy portrait of the fast-food giant's strength and ability to achieve long-term goals at its investor day, but the company faces some potential road bumps heading into 2024.The event, held Wednesday, featured few surprises and some new long-term targets, and Wall Street's reaction has been muted. Shares of…

At 1 p.m. on a Friday shortly before Christmas last year, Kent Walker, Google’s top lawyer, summoned four of his employees and ruined their weekend. The group worked in SL1001, a bland building with a blue glass facade betraying no sign that dozens of lawyers inside were toiling to protect the interests of one of the world’s most influential companies. For weeks they had been prepping for a meeting of powerful executives to discuss the safety of Google’s products. The deck was done. But that afternoon Walker told his team…

One day this summer, internet personality Adin Ross switched on his camera and started broadcasting himself live to thousands of fans, sipping a Yerba Mate drink and nodding along to Lil Uzi. Ross soon cut the music and started talking, assuring his fans that he would livestream Jake Paul’s coming boxing match, even though it would violate copyright laws. “I’ll pay the fines,” he promised. Later, he streamed himself playing online slot machines and blackjack on a gambling site, Stake. Once, he streamed pornography. He has…

The European Union today agreed on the details of the AI Act, a far-reaching set of rules for the people building and using artificial intelligence. It’s a milestone law that, lawmakers hope, will create a blueprint for the rest of the world.After months of debate about how to regulate companies like OpenAI, lawmakers from the EU’s three branches of government—the Parliament, Council and Commission—spent more than 36 hours in total—thrashing out the new legislation between Wednesday afternoon and Friday evening. Lawmakers…

The halted sale of a $60 million parking lot near Denver International Airport has led two of the lot’s co-owners to accuse a third co-owner of extortion. USAirport Parking, west of the airport at 18000 E. 81st Ave. in Commerce City, first opened in 1998. Its shuttle lot offers covered and uncovered parking, along with oil changes. In January, Green Courte Partners, a Chicago company that owns The Parking Spot chain, offered to buy USAirport Parking for $57 million, according to a Nov. 20 lawsuit. William Barber, a…

2023 Prius Prime on display, April 6, 2023.Scott Mlyn | CNBCDETROIT – As sales of all-electric vehicles grow more slowly than expected, major automakers are increasingly meeting their customers in the middle.More and more companies are reconsidering the viability of hybrid cars and trucks to appease consumer demand and avoid costly penalties related to federal fuel economy and emissions standards.The shifting strategies run counterintuitively to industry-wide EV messaging of recent years. Many auto companies have begun to…

The Paramount logo is seen on a building in Los Angeles on Nov. 13, 2023.Nurphoto| Getty ImagesParamount Global shares surged Friday following reports from Deadline and Puck News that Skydance and Redbird Capital were exploring potentially taking over the media giant.Paramount shares were up more than 14%. The company has a market cap of about $10.5 billion and is up more than 1% for the year, lagging the S&P 500's 19% gains.Paramount's controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, has been open to making big deals,…

As the number of households with children declines and pet ownership increases, more potential homebuyers seek pet-friendly homes and neighborhoods. According to Jessica Lautz, deputy chief economist and vice president of research at the National Association of Realtors, households with children under 18 decreased from 48 percent in 2002 to 40 percent in 2022. Meanwhile, families with pets increased from 56 percent in 1988 to 70 percent by 2022. Not only do more potential homebuyers have pets, but they also make…