Author: Editor

In February 2020, Disney announced that it had picked a successor to CEO Bob Iger: Bob Chapek, who was running the company’s parks unit.That didn’t work out.Six years later, Disney is running it back. This time, it has picked parks boss Josh D’Amaro to replace Iger, who swears he’s really leaving Disney for good this time.The most obvious thing to say about D’Amaro’s selection is that the parks business he oversees is Disney’s most important business — a reliable profit and growth driver.But a counterpoint to that is worth thinking about, too. It means the company’s streaming business — the…

Private sector employment grew by 22,000 jobs in the first month of the year, despite steep job losses in the professional and business services sector, payroll giant ADP reported Wednesday, Processing ContentThe professional and business services sector, which includes accounting and tax preparation, lost 57,000 jobs in January, the largest losses in a year and a half.”This is the weakest number we’ve seen since August of 2024, and for the first time in several months, we actually saw a decline in large firms,” said ADP chief economist Nela Richardson during a conference call Wednesday with reporters. “We also saw that decline…

An aerial view of homes in San Francisco, Aug. 27, 2025.Justin Sullivan | Getty ImagesThe share of U.S. homeowners with high rates on their mortgages has jumped sharply in just the last few years. That’s having a marked impact on the refinance market and a somewhat more muted impact on home sales. Rates have been front and center in the debate over how to improve home affordability — and for good reason. In 2022, after mortgage interest rates hit more than a dozen record lows, sparking a refinance bonanza, barely 10% of homeowners had 30-year fixed mortgages with rates above…

A customer enters a Taco Bell restaurant in El Cerrito, California, US, on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesYum Brands on Wednesday reported mixed quarterly results, despite strong demand for Taco Bell.Here’s what the company reported for the period ended Dec. 31 compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:Earnings per share: $1.73 adjusted vs. $1.77 expectedRevenue: $2.51 billion vs. $2.45 billion expectedYum reported fourth-quarter net income of $535 million, or $1.91 per share, up from $423 million, or $1.49 per share, a year earlier.Excluding tax benefits and…

Eli Lilly on Wednesday posted fourth-quarter earnings and revenue and 2026 guidance that blew past estimates, as demand for its blockbuster weight loss drug Zepbound and diabetes treatment Mounjaro soars. The pharmaceutical giant anticipates its 2026 revenue will come in between $80 billion and $83 billion. Analysts expected revenue of $77.62 billion, according to LSEG. Lilly also expects adjusted earnings to be between $33.50 and $35 per share for the year. That compares with analysts’ estimate of $33.23 per share, according to LSEG. The guidance comes in stark contrast to the outlook of rival Novo Nordisk, which is also grappling with…

A Super Bowl LX sign is seen at Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. Stephen Lam | San Francisco Chronicle | Hearst Newspapers | Getty ImagesThe Super Bowl is prime real estate every year for advertisers eager to get their brands in front of millions of consumers at once. It’s also costly. That’s why a small subset of ad space for streaming-only commercials is gaining traction and granting smaller brands time during TV’s biggest night of the year. Comcast’s NBC broadcast network will air Super Bowl 60 this year, with the Seattle Seahawks and New England…

Attendees of Morgan Stanley’s annual investor conference at the posh Breakers resort in Palm Beach often leave with a good idea of who the next hot thing in the hedge-fund world is going to be.Last year, the buzz revolved around former Viking Global chief investment officer Ning Jin’s new fund, Avantyr Capital. The chatter at this year’s confab, held last week and closed to the media, was all about former Sequoia Capital investor Jeff Wang and his new fund, according to two people who attended meetings with the yet-to-launch firm.His new firm, Augnition Global Investors, is set to be a…

Luxury watches are often treated as timeless objects, but the market around them is anything but static.Shifting buyer preferences, price changes, and renewed interest in heritage and engineering are reshaping which brands are gaining ground. Despite industry-wide movement, volatility slowed in 2025, according to a report from online watch marketplace Chrono24, which analyzed millions of transactions on its platform.Average transaction prices on the platform in the US market rose 8.4% from the fourth quarter of 2024 to Q4 2025.While Rolex continued to dominate by volume, its market share dipped 3.3% year over year in 2025. Chrono24 described the dip as a…

The Alexander brothers’ sex-trafficking trial is in its second week, and each sibling has now watched from the defense table as a woman told the jury that he raped her.In sometimes tearful testimony, these accusers described being drugged, overpowered, or filmed while barely conscious. None reported their alleged assaults to police. The trial is expected to last a month.Tal Alexander, 39, was a real-estate broker who, along with his brother Oren Alexander, 38, sold multimillion-dollar properties in Miami and Manhattan to wealthy and influential clients. The third brother, Alon Alexander — Oren’s twin — is a former executive at their…

In Anne and Brian Klumpp’s 45-foot motorhome is a US map titled “on the road of adventure.” Some of the states are filled in with photos of them or their RV, which they’ve called home for over six-and-a-half years. The blank states will hopefully get their own photos one day, as Anne and her husband aim to see each one by RV.Michigan has a photo of their 35-foot boat, which was their “floating summer cottage,” that they’ve since sold. The couple also sold their house and then hit the road in 2019. Brian works a full-time gig during the week,…