The European Union fines Qualcomm for allegedly violating antitrust laws. The EU is forcing the chipmaking company to pay $1.2 billion for illegally paying Apple to use its products exclusively. Apple and Qualcomm have been engaged in a long battle over this controversy.
Starbucks and Disney announce pay raises and better employee benefits thanks to savings from the new tax reform bill. Starbucks says it will increase employee salaries, offer stock options, and offer more benefits. Disney says it will pay one-time $1,000 bonuses to 125,000 employees. The company will also invest $50 million in an education program for hourly workers.
We talk to the directors behind the newest Netflix series, "Dirty Money," premiering this Friday, January 26th. Each episode in the six-part series will look at a different story of corporate corruption. Two of the directors, Kristi Jacobson and Erin Lee Carr, discuss how the series takes viewers beyond the headlines of big scandals such as VW's recall, Martin Shkreli, and even the Trump Organization.
And Brett Holts, VP of Nike Running Footwear, introduces Nike's newest sneaker, the Epic React Flyknit. Holts says the shoe features a brand new foam compound, developed entirely by Nike. In the ongoing sneaker wars between Nike and Adidas, Holts says competition is always good, but Nike is focused on its own products.
Oracle soars as it cashes in on the AI boom, Plus: Starbucks shares continue to fall under its new CEO, and does anybody actually want a new iPhone Air?
Swedish buy now, pay later company Klarna is making its highly anticipated public debut on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, the latest in a run of high-profile initial public offerings this year. The offering priced at $40 Tuesday, above the forecasted range of $35 to $37 a share, valuing the company at more than $15 billion. The valuation easily makes Klarna one of the biggest IPOs so far in 2025, which has been one of the busier years for companies going public. Other popular IPOs so far this year include the design software company Figma and Circle Internet Group, which issues the USDC stablecoin..
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison wrested the title of the world’s richest man from longtime holder Elon Musk early Wednesday as stock in his software giant rocketed more than a third in a stunning few minutes of trading. That is according to wealth tracker Bloomberg. A college dropout, the 81-year-old Ellison is now worth $393 billion, Bloomberg says, several billion more than Musk, who had been the world’s richest for four years. The switch in the ranking came after a blockbuster earnings report from Oracle. Forbes still has Musk as the richest, however, valuing his private businesses much higher.
