Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he would be uncomfortable growing the automaker to be a leader in artificial intelligence and robotics without having at least 25% voting control of the company, nearly double his current stake.Musk said on Monday in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that unless he got stock in the world’s most valuable automaker that was “enough to be influential, but not so much that I can’t be overturned,” at Tesla, he would prefer to build products outside of the ele ...

Goldman Sachs reported its lowest annual profit since 2019 following losses from a failed expansion into consumer banking — combined with an economic slowdown that hit its primary businesses last year, the Wall Street giant said Tuesday.The drag on its bottom line came despite the bank posting fourth-quarter earnings that beat analyst expectations, Goldman CEO David Solomon told analysts. The bank reported net income of $8.5 billion for 2023 — a 24% drop from 2022 and the lowest level the bank has seen in ...

The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed a court order to take effect that could loosen Apple’s grip on its lucrative iPhone app store, and potentially affect billions of dollars in revenue a year.The justices rejected Apple’s appeal of lower-court rulings that found some of Apple’s app store rules for apps purchased on more than 1 billion iPhones constitute unfair competition under California law.The appeal stemmed from an antitrust lawsuit filed by Epic Games, maker of the popular Fortnite video game.Epic lo ...

Washington state has asked a judge to block a proposed $25 billion merger between two of America’s largest grocery chains, Kroger and Albertsons, claiming the new entity would harm customers and raise prices.A lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court on Monday seeks to block the proposed Kroger-Albertsons merger, calling it “presumptively unlawful” and alleging that together, the stores would “account for more than 50% of supermarket sales statewide.”The suit is the first formal move by regulators to ha ...

Apple is offering rare discounts on its iPhones in China, cutting retail prices by as much as $70 amid growing competitive pressure in the world’s biggest smartphone market.The U.S. tech giant cut prices of some iPhones by 5%, its Chinese website showed on Monday. The time-limited promotion, branded as a Lunar New Year event, will last from Jan. 18 through Jan. 21 in a lead-up to the holiday in mid-February.Sales of Apple’s latest iPhone 15 series of handsets have been far worse than previous models in Chi ...

U.S. Customs and Border Protection determined on Friday that Apple can use a redesign to bypass an import ban on newer Apple Watch models stemming from its patent infringement dispute with medical-monitoring technology company Masimo, according to a Monday court filing.The import ban, issued by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), applies to Apple’s current Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches and initially went into effect on Dec. 26. Apple convinced a U.S. appeals court to pause the ban the next day, a ...

Retail giant Costco Wholesale is reportedly testing out a way to make sure its customers maintain their elite status.Costco Insider, a website that says it gets its tips from readers, on Jan. 8 shared photos on social media of what appears to be a tablet attached to a stand along with a sign that reads, “You will be asked to scan your membership card before entering the warehouse,” at the Issaquah, Washington state, store.“They’re checking to make sure the photo matches the person. What do you think?!” Cos ...

A McDonald’s cashier who predated the rollout of McNuggets and Happy Meals during her more than four decades at the fast food chain is hanging up her drive-thru headset.Dot Sharp, who turned 84 last month, served her very last customer — her granddaughter — from the drive-thru window at a McDonald’s in Gibsonia, Pa., on Friday, according to Business Insider.“The drive-thru line was wrapped all the way around the building because so many of her regulars wanted to wish her well,” a spokesperson for McDonald’ ...

Boeing will add further quality inspections for the 737 MAX after a mid-air blowout of a cabin panel in an Alaska Airlines MAX 9 earlier this month, the head of its commercial airplanes division said on Monday.The planemaker will also deploy a team to supplier Spirit AeroSystems — which makes and installs the plug door involved in the incident — to check and approve Spirit’s work on the plugs before fuselages are sent to Boeing’s production facilities in Washington state, Stan Deal, president of Boeing Com ...

The US Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a challenge by Starbucks to a judicial decision that required the coffee chain to rehire seven employees at one of its cafes in Memphis, Tenn., who a federal agency determined were fired for supporting unionization.The justices took up a Starbucks appeal of a lower court’s ruling that found that the company likely discouraged other employees from exercising their rights under US labor law by firing the Memphis workers in 2022. This is the first case to reach th ...