Small/Medium Businesses

Jan. 16, 2024 12:01 am ETOne of the world’s most valuable battery startups is raising $3.4 billion in debt from the European Union and a group of banks including JPMorgan Chase, accelerating a race to build more batteries outside China and take advantage of a tidal wave of clean-energy subsidies.Europe’s Northvolt plans to use the funding to grow battery production at a factory in northern Sweden for customers such as Volkswagen and BMW. It also plans to expand a recycling facility next door that will convert scrap metal…

There’s a new task on the 2024 to-do list for founders: Make sure you can’t get Altmaned. While startups have ousted leaders before, the entrepreneur world was stunned to see the board of hot artificial-intelligence company OpenAI fire Sam Altman just before Thanksgiving. He had been the face of one of the biggest successes of the year and suddenly he was out. In startup land, founders and advisers say they started discussing new ways to protect themselves.Copyright ©2024Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.…

Puck tapped the former Twitter executive Sarah Personette as chief executive officer of the news startup, where she will be tasked with shepherding its expansion into new coverage areas and markets.The two-year-old publication, whose writers focus on covering power brokers in tech, media, finance and politics, has amassed around 40,000 full-paying subscribers and surpassed $10 million in revenue in 2023, according to a person close to the company. Copyright ©2024Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.…

The electric-vehicle startup Fisker is abandoning a direct-to-consumer sales model in the U.S. in favor of using traditional dealerships, after it found the approach too expensive and struggled in 2023 to get its cars to buyers quickly.The company is in talks with U.S. dealers and hopes to sign up at least 50 this year, said Chief Executive Officer Henrik Fisker. Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8 The electric-vehicle startup Fiskeris abandoning a…

Masimo Chief Executive Joe Kiani bet the future of the company he spent three decades building in an expensive legal battle with the world’s most valuable company. So far, he is winning, but it isn’t over.His company, which pioneered a better method for measuring blood-oxygen levels, has spent around $100 million fighting Apple in a dispute that temporarily halted Apple Watch sales. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8 Masimo Chief Executive Joe Kianibet…

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…

X wants Facebook’s secret weapon: small businesses.The social-media site formerly known as Twitter largely relies on advertising revenue from the world’s largest brands. But since owner Elon Musk alienated some of the biggest spenders, finding a new customer base has become critical.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8 X wants Facebook’s secret weapon: small businesses.The social-media site formerly known as Twitter largely relies on advertising revenue…

America’s tiniest employers have the highest share of job openings on record—more than one in five available positions—a sign the labor market might be tilting toward the little guy.Solid demand for workers from small establishments, such as mom-and-pop businesses and many franchise locations, stands in contrast to a cooling labor market more broadly. It could give smaller businesses a chance to catch up on hiring with less competition from larger companies on pay and benefits, and offer refuge for job seekers as the…

Updated Nov. 20, 2023 4:48 pm ETElectric-vehicle startup Fisker has lost its second chief accounting officer in less than a month, the latest setback for a company that only recently started selling its first model. Florus Beuting, who was named chief accounting officer in early November, has left the automaker, according to people familiar with the situation. His exit follows the departure of his predecessor, who left in late October after roughly three years at the startup to take a job with another company, leading…

Nov. 14, 2023 11:00 am ETKhosla Ventures is in the final stages of raising $3 billion for its latest set of venture funds, showing how some Silicon Valley investors remain bullish even as startups continue to stare down slower growth and lower valuations. The fundraise will be one of the largest completed by a venture firm this year and one of the few to grow in size. Khosla Ventures last raised $1.85 billion three years ago. Copyright ©2023Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.…