6 Most Important Things in Business Today

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Mar 13, 3:42PM EDT · Published Mar 15, 4:59AM EDT

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Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) has run into trouble again. This time is because of their auto insurance policies. According to Reuters:

U.S. regulators are preparing to sanction Wells Fargo for receiving commissions on auto insurance policies it helped force on more than half a million drivers, people with direct knowledge of the probes told Reuters.

In July, Wells Fargo blamed a third-party vendor for wrongly layering insurance policies on its auto borrowers. Wells Fargo did not explain that it received payouts when those policies were written.

The fact that Wells Fargo stood to profit from the insurance program will form the backbone of fresh sanctions against the bank, said people with knowledge of the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly.

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Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) reorganized top management and created a new guessing game about who will eventually replace chief executive Robert Iger. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Walt Disney Co. is reorganizing its operations in a move that positions two top executives as potential successors to Chief Executive Robert Iger.

Kevin Mayer, the company’s longtime head of strategy who has specialized in acquisitions and digital investments, was named chairman of a new direct-to-consumer and international segment, while parks chief Robert Chapek added consumer products to his portfolio, giving him oversight of what would be the company’s biggest business unit by revenue and profit.

One of America’s largest radio companies has gone bankrupt. According to The Wall Street Journal:

iHeartMedia Inc., the company behind the biggest U.S. radio broadcaster, filed for bankruptcy protection after reaching an agreement in principle with investors over a balance-sheet restructuring, a decade after a private-equity-led buyout left the company laden with billions in debt.

iHeartMedia said in a statement early Thursday the agreement in principle was with holders of more than $10 billion of its outstanding debt and its financial sponsors.

The value of bitcoin continued to plunge. According to CNBC:

Prices of major cryptocurrencies continued their sharp downward slide on Thursday amid closer regulatory scrutiny on the space and after Google announced plans to ban advertising related to the sector.

The market capitalization or value of all the world’s digital coins stood at $310.4 billion, down from $372.9 billion a day before, according to Coinmarketcap.com, which tracks prices based on different exchanges.

Singapore is the world’s most expensive city, based on a new piece of research. According to CNBC:

Singapore has been dubbed the world’s most expensive city to live in for the fifth year running.

The city state marched in ahead of New York, London and Los Angeles, which didn’t even feature in the top 10 priciest places in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Worldwide Cost of Living 2018 survey.

Some Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) workers say the company has trouble with defective parts. According to CNBC:

Tesla employees say automaker is churning out a high volume of flawed parts requiring costly rework Tesla employees say automaker is churning out a high volume of flawed parts

Luxury automaker Tesla is manufacturing a surprisingly high ratio of flawed parts and vehicles, according to several current and former employees, leading to more rework and repairs than can be contained at its factory in Fremont, California.

Tesla’s future as a mass-market carmaker hinges on efficient, automated production of the Model 3, which more than 400,000 people have already reserved, paying $1,000 refundable fees to do so. Musk said in July 2017 that Tesla would probably be making 20,000 Model 3s per month by December.

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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.