Business and Finance

The Biden administration filed a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Apple Thursday that targets a product that has long been the major revenue driver for the company’s $2.76 trillion business: the iPhone. The Department of Justice, joined by 16 state attorneys general, accused Apple in a New Jersey federal court of maintaining a monopoly on the US market for smartphones, of which the iPhone makes up 65 percent. The complaint alleges that Apple has deliberately thwarted apps, products, and services that would make it…

Reddit, the launchpad for many meme stocks, could now become one: The social media giant makes its debut on Wall Street this week in one of the most highly anticipated initial public offerings of the year. The nearly 20-year-old company is seeking to raise up to $748 million in its IPO on March 21, putting its valuation at about $6.4 billion. It’s the first time that a major social media company has gone public since Snap (i.e., Snapchat) in 2017. It will sell approximately 22 million shares priced at $31 to $34 each…

In the future, the ideal time to eat a burger won’t be when you’re hungry and really hankering for one. It’ll be the oddest, most awkward hours — late mornings or afternoons, the middle of the night on a Tuesday — the slices of time when prices will be lowest. Not unlike your Uber ride, fast food prices will go up or down depending on demand. At least, this is the world people imagined when fast food chain Wendy’s revealed it would be tinkering with “dynamic pricing,” a broad term that describes any strategy where…

The Senate is now considering a bipartisan bill that could force a sale of TikTok, with the House having already passed a similar measure and President Joe Biden throwing his support behind it. If the legislation is signed into law — and if it survives likely legal challenges — the question then becomes: Who would buy TikTok? The bill would require the app’s Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell the social media platform within 165 days of the law going into effect or else the platform will be banned from US app…

Bitcoin is nearing its record-high price, previously set in 2021 at about $69,000, and some financial experts say the cryptocurrency’s recent surge could cement its status as a viable alternative to state fiat currency. This is a big moment for bitcoin, which has long been vying for legitimacy among traditional investors. Recent regulatory changes that make bitcoin easier to trade mean that more of those investors are now finally embracing it as part of a diverse investment portfolio. There are a couple of factors…

In mid-2021, about a year before he began his longstanding feud with the biggest employer in his state, Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation attempting to seize control of content moderation at major social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter (now called X by Elon Musk). A few months later, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, also a Republican, signed similar legislation in his state. Both laws are almost comically unconstitutional — the First Amendment does not permit the government to order…

Elon Musk uses drugs. So do some of the people he works with — including directors on the Tesla board — sometimes allegedly partaking with Musk. These revelations have been a minor point of scandal in the media lately, particularly after a Wall Street Journal article last year discussed how popular microdosing drugs like ketamine, LSD, and shrooms are in Silicon Valley, including among some of the most famous executives in the industry. It has become, the piece noted, “a routine part of doing business” for many. Musk…

In 2022, grocery prices rose more than they had in over four decades, since the “great inflation” of the 1970s. The hair-raising climb has finally stopped, but the pain remains: We’re still paying 25 percent more for groceries than we did in 2019. A pound of ground beef in December 2019 was $3.86 — in December 2023 it was $5.21. A 16-ounce bag of potato chips went from $4.53 to $6.40. The price of a 12-ounce can of soda rose almost 64 percent. Consumer prices tend to go only one way — up. Despite a falling inflation…

Imagine being mid-flight when a part of your plane rips out, leaving a yawning hole at 16,000 feet above ground. On a January 5 Alaska Airlines flight, the emergency door plug — usually fitted seamlessly into the aircraft’s fuselage — on the Boeing-made plane blew out. Luckily, the seat next to the panel was empty, and there were no fatalities. Federal investigators are still trying to figure out exactly why the door plug didn’t stay put. Boeing’s reputation in the public, meanwhile, has taken yet another nosedive. The…

In late 2023, the richest woman in the world became a centibillionaire. But she didn’t get there by building an online shopping empire or by selling sleek EVs. She did it the good old-fashioned way: by inheriting it. The scion of the French beauty brand L’Oréal, Françoise Bettencourt Meyers saw the value of her stake in the company shoot up during the rush of cosmetics and luxury fashion spending that’s taken place in the last few years. She’s far from alone in receiving billions from a parent. A recent report from the…