Business Buzz
By Michael Hartley CFP® | A collection of the latest articles to help you spot business news, trends, and tools. Curated by DKE Inc. www.dkeadvisorsolutions.com
How Steve Jobs Set Apple On Course To Rule Consumer Augmented Reality
ARKit plays to Apple’s greatest strength: control over the software and hardware.<p>Apple last month launched what could soon end up being the largest augmented reality (AR) platform in the world, and its rivals may have a tough time answering in kind. Apple, it turns out, is probably the only company …
Augmented RealityDemocrats Push FTC to Scrutinize Amazon’s Whole Foods Purchase
A group of Democrats in Congress urged the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission in a letter this week to conduct a more in-depth …
Whole FoodsHow Tata’s New Chairman Plans to Fix India’s Biggest Company
Shortly after Natarajan Chandrasekaran turned 44, his doctor diagnosed him with diabetes. As the chief operating officer of Tata Consultancy Services …
IndiaMicrosoft Office 365 Just Hit a Big Milestone
Microsoft’s big bet on subscription services is paying off.<p>Amy Hood, Microsoft’s chief financial officer, said Thursday during a conference call for …
MicrosoftAlibaba Is Having a Huge Year for One Simple Reason
China's Alibaba (baba) expects its revenue to expand by 45 to 48 percent in its fiscal year from April as more small businesses join its online …
Jack MaPepsiCo Names a President but CEO Staying Put for “Foreseeable Future”
PepsiCo (pep) on Tuesday said it had named a president, filling a long vacant second-in-command job, as the food and beverage giant added an …
Indra NooyiAlberto Bombassei Drives Brembo To Peak Performance in Crucial U.S. Brake Market
Alberto Bombassei made at least two major moves as chief of Brembo SpA that helped land him in the U.S. Automotive Hall of Fame last week.<p>He made an eyebrow-raising bet in sticking with brakes for thirsty performance vehicles for the U.S. market even in the face of $4-a-gallon gasoline and the …
United StatesLyft Creates Self-Driving Car Unit
The San Francisco-based company announced Friday that it was setting up its own autonomous driving unit.<p>Lyft said Friday that it is setting up its own unit to develop autonomous vehicle technology, but its approach will be different from other companies and partnerships working on self-driving cars.<p>…
LyftVolkswagen Ordered to Pay $125 Million in Legal Fees Over Emissions Scandal
A federal judge on Friday approved $125 million in fees and costs for lawyers who sued Volkswagen AG on behalf of U.S. owners of 88,000 3.0 liter …
Volkswagen AGWells Fargo Accidentally Releases Trove of Data on Wealthy Clients
When a lawyer for Gary Sinderbrand, a former Wells Fargo employee, subpoenaed the bank as part of a defamation lawsuit against a bank employee, he and Mr. Sinderbrand expected to receive a selection of emails and documents related to the case.<p>But what landed in Mr. Sinderbrand’s hands on July 8 …
FraudPorsche May End Diesel Offerings, Switch To Electric
Porsche Panamera 4 E-Hybrid<p>Porsche (as part of Volkswagen Group) also suffers from the recent Dieselgate scandal, and according to company CEO Oliver …
AutosToyota May Start Mass Producing Electric Vehicles In China As Early As 2019
Toyota could start mass production of electric cars in China as early as 2019, according to Nikkei. China is planning to set production quotas for …
Electric VehiclesAll of Tesla’s seat options are now vegan
Overnight, Tesla made some changes to their available options, making some options standard, and notably eliminating one thing: leather seats. As of now, Tesla only sells vegan seats.<p>While this lack of leather is not made explicit on the Tesla configuration page, any mention of leather has been …
AutosThe cloud wars explained: Amazon is dominating, but Microsoft and Google are striking back
The cloud computing market is dominated by some familiar names.<p>Amazon's cloud service is its most profitable unit. Microsoft has pegged its future to its cloud computing businesses, leading to a very enthusiastic response from Wall Street. Google, too, is betting big on cloud computing as something …
Satya NadellaVisa raises its full-year earnings forecast
(Reuters) - Visa Inc, the world's largest payments network operator, on Thursday reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit and raised its full-year earnings forecast, as more people made payments using its network.<p>Visa, which generates revenue by facilitating credit- and debit-card …
MarketsApple Just Got More Public About Its Artificial Intelligence Plans
Apple is lifting the veil on some of its work in the red-hot field of artificial intelligence.<p>The consumer technology giant debuted Wednesday a …
Artificial IntelligenceGoDaddy Pulls the Plug on Its Amazon-Like Cloud Business
GoDaddy is giving up on a business that it debuted just a little over a year ago.<p>The website hosting company is ending its cloud computing business, …
GoDaddyWorld’s Most Admired Companies
HOW WE CONDUCT THE MOST ADMIRED SURVEY<p>As we have in the past, Fortune collaborated with our partner Korn Ferry Hay Group on this survey of corporate …
United StatesEBay’s Shares Tumble on Disappointing Forecast
EBay on Thursday forecast current-quarter profit largely below analysts' estimates, as it continues to invest in marketing as well as in revamping …
MarketsWhy Wall Street Thinks Home Depot Can Weather the Amazon-Sears Pact
When the news broke on Thursday morning that Sears Holdings (shld) would begin selling its popular Kenmore line of appliances on Amazon.com (amzn), …
Home DepotMicrosoft’s Cloud Helps Lift Profits
Microsoft reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue, helped by a strong performance in its fast-growing cloud business.<p>The …
MarketsKohl’s CEO Says Tech Will Spare His Stores From Retail’s Shakeout
The year 2017 has generated a constant drumbeat of mass store closure announcements by major retailers hit by chronically declining sales.<p>But Kohl's …
TrendsPizza Hut to Hire 14,000 New Drivers and Add New Delivery Algorithm
Pizza Hut said they will hire 14,000 more drivers by the end of 2017 in a bid to make deliveries faster for customers — meaning an extra 3,000 people …
Pizza HutSears Shares Jump 17% On New Partnership With Amazon
Sears (shld) has become the latest brick-and-mortar retailer to turn to Amazon.com (amzn) to get a desperately needed sales lift.<p>The struggling …
TrendsAmerican Express 2Q profit falls 33 percent, due to Costco
NEW YORK (AP) — Credit card company American Express said its second-quarter profit fell 33 percent, largely due to the fact that it had a significant one-time gain last year tied to the winding down of its business relationship with Costco.<p>The New York-based company earned $1.31 billion in …
MarketsGeely's Volvo Posts Profit Rise as Chinese Growth Gives Boost
STOCKHOLM — Volvo Car Group reported a 21 percent rise in first-half earnings on Thursday, helped by higher turnover in Europe and China, keeping it on track for record full-year sales.<p>Under Chinese ownership since being bought by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group from Ford in 2010, Volvo has begun to …
MarketsFirst half of 2017 has been successful on acquisition front: Unilever CEO
Following its recent earnings release, Unilever CEO Paul Polman talks about how to stay ahead and deal with competitors in the current market …
UnileverKeppel Corp 2nd-Quarter Net Profit S$161 Million; Down 21% on Year
Keppel Corp. (BN4.SG) on Thursday reported a 21% drop in second-quarter net profit, in part because of lower profit contributions from its offshore-and-marine division and its infrastructure unit.<p>The Singapore-listed company said net profit for April-June fell to 161 million Singapore dollars …
MarketsBlackberry wins the right to sell secure messaging tools to the US government
(Reuters) - BlackBerry Ltd said on Thursday it has won the right to sell tools for encrypting phone calls and text messages to the U.S. federal government, garnering an endorsement from the National Security Agency for the products.<p>The company said it received the endorsement from the NSA's …
National Security Agency (NSA)