Business Consultancy

Beef is getting cheaper, bringing some economic relief to U.S. consumers.Prices of beef, typically among the costliest grocery store purchases, are falling after more than a year of increases, as consumer demand softens for some cuts. Supplies are improving due to better staffing at meat plants, and supermarkets are offering more discounts on rib-eye, New York strip and other often-expensive products. For months, prices for food and consumer products have been rising across grocery aisles due to higher costs of…

The Democrats’ climate and tax bill increases incentives for buying electric-vehicle chargers, benefiting companies that are already rushing to build or install them. But permitting and supply issues remain, and the financial support won’t be a panacea.The Biden administration wants 500,000 public chargers by 2030; McKinsey & Co. estimates that as many as 1.2 million are needed. So far, the U.S. has around 124,000 public chargers, most of which take several hours to repower a car, according to government data.…

Many of the world’s most powerful companies and ambitious entrepreneurs are rushing to build “the metaverse,” an often vaguely described “next generation internet” or parallel virtual world intended to have the immersive feel of the real one. The metaverse is also popular with those working to develop “Web3,” which aims to build a blockchain-based internet that is largely beyond the control of regulators, banks and today’s tech platforms. McKinsey & Company estimates that during the first five months of the year,…

Broad new data on wages earned by college graduates who received federal student aid showed a pay gap emerging between men and women soon after they joined the workforce, even among those receiving the same degree from the same school.The data, which cover about 1.7 million graduates, showed that median pay for men exceeded that for women three years after graduation in nearly 75% of roughly 11,300 undergraduate and graduate degree programs at some 2,000 universities. In almost half of the programs, male graduates’ median…

For all of the effort companies have poured into hiring and advancing people of color, those moves rarely benefit the biggest—and most diverse—pool of workers they employ: the millions of low-wage workers in America’s stores, warehouses, plants and other front-line workplaces. Companies have devoted no shortage of resources and rhetoric to making their corporate and management ranks more racially diverse in recent years—from recruiting more at historically Black universities and colleges to appointing…

Faced with strong competition for talent and the prospect of an economic slowdown, companies are beefing up chief financial officers’ responsibilities or elevating their positions altogether to retain top executives.Demand for finance chiefs continues to be high as U.S. businesses face volatile stock markets, soaring inflation and rising interest rates. CFO turnover at companies in the S&P 500 rose to 18% last year, compared to 15% the year before and 14% in 2019, according to Russell Reynolds Associates, an executive…

CHICAGO—Whole Foods Market aims to re-emphasize its messages on sustainability and food quality as the grocer emerges from the pandemic, the company’s incoming chief executive said at The Wall Street Journal’s Global Food Forum on Tuesday.Jason Buechel, who is set to take over later this year as Whole Foods’ next chief executive, said there were many distractions during the pandemic, adding that as the new CEO he wants to build on the grocer’s quality standards and efforts to bring products to market. CHICAGO—Whole…

A bankruptcy judge approved a chapter 11 exit plan for Latam Airlines Group SA that puts $5.44 billion of fresh capital into the Chilean business, moving it closer to ending its pandemic-driven restructuring after two years. Judge James Garrity of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York said the chapter 11 plan resulted from “good faith, arm’s-length negotiations” among Latam and its stakeholders and provides the best available path to resolve its bankruptcy case.…

LOS ANGELES—Ahead of the year’s biggest gambling event, FanDuel Group Chief Executive Amy Howe was spreading her message of confidence in the U.S. sports-betting industry in interviews with journalists.Behind her, sports broadcaster Pat McAfee —whom the company is paying $120 million over four years to be its media star—appeared to be taking tequila shots with former Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith on the…