6 Most Important Things in Business Today

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Mar 13, 3:39PM EDT · Published Apr 18, 5:04AM EDT

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6 Most Important Things in Business Today — © courtesy of Southwest Airlines Co.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) has started a program to give users more privacy. According to The Wall Street Journal:

In a preview of how Facebook Inc. is changing its privacy policies, the site this week will start asking European users for permission to use their personal data to power features like facial recognition and some forms of targeted advertising.

Even with the updates, opting out of those features will remain more difficult than sharing such information with the social-media giant.

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) has begun a probe into an accident that killed one person in flight. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Southwest Airlines Co. said it is accelerating inspections of some engines following a fatal failure on a flight between New York and Dallas.

The airline said it expects within 30 days to complete its examination of fan blades on CFM56 engines of the type that broke apart on a Boeing Co. 737-700 on Tuesday. The engine failure forced an emergency landing and caused the first fatality in an accident on a U.S. airline since 2009.

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Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) has sped up production of its Model 3. According to Bloomberg:

Tesla Inc. will begin around-the-clock production at its Fremont, California, assembly plant to boost Model 3 output, chief executive officer Elon Musk told employees.

The electric-car maker will try to build 6,000 of the sedans a week by the end of June, Musk wrote in an email Tuesday first obtained by the blog Electrek. A Tesla spokesman declined to comment. The company’s shares rose as much as 2.7 percent in after-hours trading.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) researchers said the stock market may be in for a shock. According to CNBC:

Investors hoping that tax cuts and aggressive government spending plans will add another leg to the bull market likely are going to be disappointed, Morgan Stanley argues in an analysis that contends the end of big returns is near.

The firm maintains that boosts from fiscal policy are largely priced into the market and unlikely to last much longer.

Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) will close stores for training after a racial profiling incident. According to CNNMoney:

Starbucks says it will close its 8,000 company-owned stores in the United States for one afternoon to educate employees about racial bias.

The announcement follows an uproar over the arrest of two black men who were waiting for a friend at a Philadelphia Starbucks last week. The store manager called the police.

The racial bias training will be provided on May 29 to about 175,000 workers.

Toys “R” Us turned down an offer to keep some of its operations open. According to CNNMoney:

Toys “R” Us has rejected a bid from the billionaire toymaker behind Bratz dolls and Little Tikes.

Isaac Larian placed a $675 million bid for 200 of the remaining 735 Toys “R” Us locations in the United States, and almost all of more than 80 locations in Canada. Toys “R” Us is still considering other offers, but it’s not clear whether those would keep US stores open.

Sources with knowledge of the matter say the bid was too low.

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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.