6 Most Important Things in the Business World Now

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Jan 12, 11:03AM EST · Published Jun 15, 4:51AM EDT

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The initial public offering of Saudi Aramco, which could be among the biggest in history, has been delayed because of arguments about where the large oil company should list its shares. The debate is between management of the company and the Saudi royal family.

Mattel Inc. (NYSE: MAT) cuts its dividend by more than 50% to provide cash for CEO Margo Georgiadis to turn around the company. She believes that digital toys and games are the company’s future. Mattel trades at below $23, very near the bottom of its 52-week price range.

After the Federal Reserve raised rates for the second time this year, skeptics say that the central bank’s plans for future rate increases are flawed. The current jump was one-quarter of a point. With inflation tame and GDP growth at little better than 2%, the question of whether low unemployment can fuel the economy is in doubt. Several indicators show consumer activity has slowed, from new car sales to retail activity. In some markets, real estate prices have topped. Low interest rates have been a primary engine of the economy since the financial collapse of 2008 and the Great Recession that followed.

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Qatar will buy more than 30 F-15 fighters in a deal that could be worth $12 billion. Given the fight between the country and its neighbors over terrorism, the timing has been questioned. According to Bloomberg:

Qatar’s Defense Ministry said the deal would create 60,000 jobs in 42 U.S. states while reducing the burden on U.S. forces. The F-15 accord will lead to “closer strategic collaboration in our fight to counter violent extremism and promote peace and stability in our region and beyond,” the ministry said Wednesday in a statement.

The Department of Transportation said there was a surge in airline complaints in March when compared to the same month last year:

The U.S. Department of Transportation released its June 2017 Air Travel Consumer Report, compiling air carrier data for the month of April 2017. In April, DOT received 1,909 complaints about airline service from consumers, up 70.0 percent from the total of 1,123 filed in April 2016 and up 68.6 percent from the 1,132 received in March 2017.

Verizon Communications Inc.’s (NYSE: VZ) HuffPo fired 39 journalists, one of a long line of media companies that are downsizing because of revenue trouble in the industry.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.