6 Most Important Things in Business Today

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Jan 12, 7:24AM EST · Published Oct 9, 4:59AM EDT

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6 Most Important Things in Business Today — © courtesy of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) has opened a new process for fast drop-off of returns. The retail giant announced:

Walmart is now focusing its attention on returns, with the introduction of Mobile Express Returns – an innovative, industry-first experience that combines Walmart’s more than 4,700 locations with the Walmart app to make returning an item fast, easy – and maybe even a little enjoyable. The new simplified returns process will be available starting in early November for items sold and shipped by Walmart.com, followed by store purchases in early 2018. Walmart is also working to create a similar streamlined returns process for items sold by third-party sellers on Walmart.com.

The Weinstein Company has fired long-time CEO Harvey Weinstein due to sexual harassment allegations.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) has started work on flying taxis and planes without pilots. According to CNNMoney:

Boeing is betting big on automating its flying machines.

The aerospace giant is buying Aurora Flight Sciences, a maker of automated drones and aviation parts, in a bid to bring increased automation to airliners, military drones and even personal air taxis.

“The combined strength and innovation of our teams will advance the development of autonomy for our commercial and military systems,” said Greg Hyslop, chief technology officer and senior vice president of Boeing Engineering, Test & Technology in a statement.

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The movie “Blade Runner 2049” topped the weekend box office but fell short of expectations:

Warner Bros.’s release of Blade Runner 2049 isn’t getting October off to the kind of start September saw one month ago. The dystopian sequel, arriving 35 years after the original, crash landed over its three-day opening, falling well below even the most modest of expectations.

Bitcoin hit a one-month high. According to CNBC:

Bitcoin staged a rally over the weekend to hit a one-month high despite experts warning of a potentially volatile upcoming event for the cryptocurrency.

The digital currency traded at $4,626.26 on Monday morning at 4 a.m. London time, its highest level since September 8, according to data from industry website CoinDesk. It was up over 5 percent from the start of trade on Saturday.

Puerto Rico’s governor has asked Elon Musk to help restore its power grid after Musk said his companies could do so. The New York Post reported:

The governor of hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico — where more than 90 percent of the homes and businesses remain without power — wants Tesla chief and renewable energy guru Elon Musk to get the juice back on.

“Do you want to show the world the power and scalability of your #TeslaTechnologies?” Gov. Ricardo Rossello tweeted Thursday at Musk. “PR could be that flagship project.”

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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.