Media

6 Most Important Things In Business Today

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: June 14, 2018 5:00 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 10:22 pm

Rolls Royce, plagued by problems with its jet engines, will chop jobs. According to MarketWatch:

British aircraft-engine maker Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC, facing investor pressure to boost competitiveness, said it would shed 4,600 jobs even as it grapples with mounting problems with an engine powering Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliners.

The cuts announced Thursday, which represent 8.4% of the company’s 55,000 workforce, will be implemented out over the next 24 months, the company said. The job cuts are Rolls-Royce’s largest since October 2001 when the company shed 5,000 jobs in response to a downturn in the global economy after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) may launch a new service which ups its competition with Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN). According to Reuters:

Microsoft Corp is working on technology that would eliminate cashiers and checkout lines from stores, in a nascent challenge to Amazon.com Inc’s automated grocery shop, six people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant is developing systems that track what shoppers add to their carts, the people say. Microsoft has shown sample technology to retailers from around the world and has had talks with Walmart Inc about a potential collaboration, three of the people said.

The U.S. will escalate its trade war with China. According to The Wall Street Journal:

The Trump administration, deepening its global trade offensive, is preparing to levy tariffs on tens of billions of dollars of Chinese goods in the coming week, perhaps as early as Friday—a move that is likely to spark heavy retaliation from Beijing.

Senior trade officials in the White House, the Commerce and Treasury departments and the U.S. Trade Representative’s office met on the issue before President Donald Trump went to a summit of the Group of Seven industrialized nations in Canada on Friday—and agreed that the U.S. should proceed, said U.S. officials and others briefed on the talks.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) may release a radical addition to iPhones. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Apple Inc. said it is working on a new security feature that could make it harder for investigators to retrieve data from iPhones, the latest twist in its long-running standoff with law-enforcement agencies over user privacy.

The new software feature, called USB Restricted Mode, is being beta-tested by Apple. It prevents other devices—personal computers, for example—from accessing data on the iPhone via its Lightning port an hour after a phone is last unlocked.

The value of WeWork could soar based on a potential new investment. According to The Wall Street Journal:

SoftBank Group Corp. is in discussions to invest another giant slug of capital in WeWork Cos., with a deal that would value the shared-office company at $35 billion to $40 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

Such an investment would roughly double WeWork’s $20 billion valuation, set last August when SoftBank invested $4.4 billion in the company. It would make the New York firm the second-most-valuable privately held, venture-backed U.S. startup behind Uber Technologies Inc

One of Elon Musk’s companies will build a high-speed train in Chicago. According to CNBC:

Elon Musk’s The Boring Company has won the bid to build a high-speed express train to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, the company told CNBC.

The company beat a consortium that included engineering firm Mott MacDonald, which worked on the development of a terminal at London’s Heathrow airport, and an infrastructure fund backed by former basketball star Earvin “Magic” Johnson.