Media

5 Most Important Things in Business Today

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: May 14, 2018 4:46 am

Last Updated: March 13, 2020 3:08 pm

President Trump said he will help China telecom company ZTE, which is suffering because of trade friction between the United States and the People’s Republic. According to Reuters:

U.S. President Donald Trump pledged on Sunday to help ZTE Corp “get back into business, fast” after a U.S. ban crippled the Chinese technology company, offering a job-saving concession to Beijing ahead of high-stakes trade talks this week.

“Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!” Trump wrote on Twitter in the first of two tweets about U.S. trade relations with China. It said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping were working together on a solution for ZTE.

A Xerox Corp. (NYSE: XRX) plan to merge with a Japanese company has died. According to Reuters:

Xerox Corp has scrapped a planned $6.1 billion deal with Fujifilm Holdings Corp in a settlement with activist investors Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason that also hands control of the U.S. photocopier giant to new management.

The victory for the billionaire investors puts the Japanese company further on the back foot in any new negotiations with Xerox, although it is by no means out of contention as Xerox is now expected to go up for sale in an auction at a higher price.

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) is having problems with engineering executives. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Tesla Inc. will be without two important executives just as the electric-car maker struggles to boost production of its first mass-market vehicle and faces doubts about its ability to raise cash.

Matthew Schwall, who was the company’s main technical contact with U.S. safety investigators as the Silicon Valley auto maker races to develop driverless-car technology, left the company for rival self-driving car company Waymo LLC. His departure comes as the National Transportation Safety Board has been investigating multiple crashes involving Tesla vehicles.

Nintendo is re-releasing one of its old products. According to CNBC:

Nintendo is bringing back its retro NES Classic Edition console in June, the company announced Monday.

The NES was first released in the mid-1980s. At the end of 2016, Nintendo re-released the console which was pre-loaded with 30 retro games such as “Super Mario Bros” and “Donkey Kong.”

It was in very short supply and many found it difficult to get their hands on due to the popularity of the console. But the Japanese gaming giant announced via Twitter that the NES Classic will return to stores in the U.S. on June 29. It costs $59.99.

“Avengers: Infinity War” has topped $1 billion in ticket sales. According to Box Office Mojo:

Disney and Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War had a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend. The superhero feature topped the domestic box office for the third weekend in a row, delivered the second largest opening in China ever*, became the eighth largest domestic release of all-time, fifth largest global release and became the first superhero film to ever top $1 billion internationally.