Spotify’s top content executive is leaving, just ahead of the streaming music company’s planned public offering. Stefan Blom, Spotify’s chief content officer, announced his departure via an internal memo today. The company hasn’t named a successor to Blom, who reported to CEO Daniel Ek. Blom’s departure comes after Spotify has filed confidential plans to go […]
Read moreCable and satellite TV providers are ringing in the new year with an unwelcomed gift: higher cable bills. Comcast, for instance, says customer bills will rise 2.2 percent, on average, in 2018. AT&T is raising DirecTV’s prices by up to $8 a month in mid-January. Smaller providers are planning increases, too. Over the past decade, […]
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THE strength of the global economy is one reason why the stockmarket has started 2018 in a buoyant mood (with the Dow passing 25,000). At some point, in any expansion, businesses find it harder to recruit workers or get the materials they need; these bottlenecks cause wages and prices to rise. Central banks then start […]
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Playing in the same niche as Calm, Headspace offers guided meditation sessions and mindfulness training. Its co-founder, Andy Puddicombe (pictured here leading a meditation class), has become a minor meditation celebrity: He is the author of multiple books under the Headspace brand, a Ted talker and even led the Tonight Show‘s band The Roots through […]
Read moreAngola, OPEC producer and one of sub-Saharan Africa’s largest economies, unveiled two economic overhauls this week. Central bank Governor Jose Massano and Finance Minister Archer Mangueira announced Wednesday that the country was to scrap its currency peg to the U.S. dollar, and instead allow the Angolan kwanza to trade within a band against the U.S. […]
Read moreIt will be another great year for Amazon shareholders, according to one Wall Street firm. Citi Research reiterated its buy rating for the internet giant’s shares, predicting Amazon will generate strong growth. “We remain bullish on the consumer Internet sector, especially near term considering that a positive, tax reform fueled, business climate should benefit the […]
Read moreFitbit has made its first-ever start-up investment, putting more than $6 million into an enterprise called Sano, which is developing a coin-sized patch that tracks blood sugar levels to help control diabetes. Building blood-sugar tracking into a future device could dramatically increase the market for Fitbit devices since more than 100 million Americans are now […]
Read moreThe retail industry is about to get a big boost from Republican tax cuts, setting the sector up “exceptionally well” in the new year, according to one of Wall Street’s biggest banks. Barclays raised its rating on Target and Lowe’s stocks on Friday, citing numerous benefits for the retail sector as a result of the […]
Read moreThe U.S. economy added a disappointing 148,000 jobs in December while the unemployment rate held at 4.1 percent, according to a Labor Department report Friday. Economists surveyed by Reuters had been expecting nonfarm payrolls to grow by 190,000. The total was well below the November pace of 252,000, which was revised up from the initially […]
Read moreJust two days after California began sales of legalized adult-use cannabis, Attorney General Jeff Sessions decided to rescind the Justice Department’s Cole Memorandum. This Obama-era document listed guidelines for states that legalized marijuana. Sessions decision, however is more bark than bite because it doesn’t change the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment which cut off funds to the Justice […]
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