6 Most Important Things in Business Today

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.
6 Most Important Things in Business Today

© Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) said its cars will add a new feature. According to Reuters:

An upgrade to Tesla Inc’s ‘Summon’ auto-parking feature will be ready within six weeks and will allow its vehicles to drive around a parking lot, find an empty spot and read parking signs, Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Thursday.

The Wall Street Journal made an estimate of gun ownership in the United States, which put the number as high as 256 million. According to the paper:

The survey concluded 22% of adults in the U.S. owned a gun, and each person owned 4.8 guns on average.

[nativounit]
Subaru and Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) issued huge recalls. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Toyota Motor Corp. and Subaru Corp. said they would recall more than 400,000 vehicles world-wide to repair a faulty engine part that could cause a car to stall while driving.

The recall affects some of Subaru’s most popular models, like the Forester sport-utility vehicle and Impreza, as well as the BRZ sports car. Toyota is recalling the Subaru-made 86 and Scion FR-S sports car.

Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) will release three of its original movies in theaters, a departure from normal streaming releases. According to The New York Times:

Netflix softened its longstanding view on movie distribution, saying late Wednesday that it would release three prestige movies in a way that it had repeatedly said was a nonstarter — in cinemas first, and on the streaming service later.

A limited number of theaters in the United States and overseas will receive an exclusive period of one to three weeks to play the films, which include Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma,” a black-and-white drama hailed as a masterpiece by critics who have seen it at festivals. After that, Netflix will make the films available for streaming.

Americans are willing to skip higher pay for better benefits. According to Bloomberg:

The study’s survey data show switching from a job with the worst mix of non-wage characteristics — such as no paid time off, heavy physical activity and inflexible hours — to the best mix is equivalent to an overall 56.1 percent wage increase.

Almost 40 percent of respondents preferred a relatively lower-wage job with flexible hours and telecommuting over one without such perks, the research showed. Setting one’s own schedule is equivalent to a 9 percent pay bump, while autonomy at work is worth 3.8 percent of the wage relative to a position with well-defined tasks.

Google employees walked out over sexual harassment claims. According to CNBC:

Hundreds of Google employees in more than 20 offices around the world are staging walk-outs to protest what organizers describe as “a workplace culture that’s not working for everyone.”

The demonstrations — set for 11:10 a.m. at each local time — come in in the wake of an explosive New York Times’ report that detailed how Google shielded executives accused of sexual misconduct, either by keeping them on staff or allowing them amicable departures. For example, Google reportedly paid Android leader Andy Rubin a $90 million exit package despite asking for his resignation after finding sexual misconduct claims against him credible. (Through a spokesperson, Rubin denied any misconduct and on Twitter he called his reported compensation a “wild exaggeration.”)

[wallst_email_signup]

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
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.

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

Continue Reading

Top Gaining Stocks

CBOE Vol: 1,568,143
PSKY Vol: 12,285,993
STX Vol: 7,378,346
ORCL Vol: 26,317,675
DDOG Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ Vol: 4,367,433
CLX Vol: 13,260,523
SYK Vol: 4,519,455
MHK Vol: 1,859,865
AMGN Vol: 3,818,618