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Why Meta is laying off 10% of its workforce

Business / Business News /

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is planning to lay off 8,000 employees, or roughly 10% of its workforce, in May, as it seeks to cut costs to better prepare to do more with artificial intelligence.

Meta told its employees about the layoffs in a Thursday memo that said the company will also close 6,000 open roles. Bloomberg ...Read more

Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune/TNS

Injury from 'return-to-office' mandate qualifies for workers' comp, state Supreme Court rules

Business / Business News /

As work from home and work in the office continue to bleed into each other, legal questions are being raised over when, exactly, you’re working for your employer.

The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that a Dakota County employee who was injured while loading her car with work equipment after being told to return to the ...Read more

Karen Ducey/The Seattle Times/TNS

Microsoft offers buyouts for longtime employees

Business / Business News /

Microsoft is offering voluntary retirements to thousands of its employees in the United States — for the first time in the tech giant’s 51 years.

The retirement program, which doesn’t have much precedent in the tech industry, is Microsoft’s latest effort to manage its head count.

The Redmond-based software maker, like other tech ...Read more

Daniel Kim/The Seattle Times/TNS

T-Mobile reportedly in merger talks with Deutsche Telekom

Business / Business News /

Bellevue, Washington-based T-Mobile could become part of the world’s biggest phone company.

The company is in talks with its German majority-owner Deutsche Telekom AG to combine under one holding company, according to a Bloomberg report.

Deutsche Telekom already owns a 53% stake in T-Mobile. The combined entity would be jointly owned by ...Read more

Jennifer Buchanan/The Seattle Times/TNS

Boeing will boost Max production this summer, marking 2nd bump since the blowout

Business / Business News /

After years of dampened 737 Max product, Boeing is hoping to bring its troubled workhorse back to pre-crisis production levels.

Boeing plans to increase monthly production of its 737 Max this summer – marking its second increase since the midair panel blowout upended its manufacturing system more than two years ago and bringing the planemaker...Read more

Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump's wage cut for foreign labor is a gift to American farmers

Business / Business News /

Joe Petrocco, a fourth-generation vegetable farmer in Colorado, is facing one of the toughest seasons he can remember, with rising costs for fertilizer and fuel as well as a looming water shortage after a dry winter.

But one part of his business is providing some optimism: As farms like his across the U.S. get going on the planting and ...Read more

Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Warner Bros. shareholders approve controversial $111 billion Paramount takeover

Business / Business News /

Paramount Skydance’s proposed takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery cleared a major hurdle Thursday as Warner stockholders overwhelmingly embraced the $111 billion deal.

Approval was expected. Paramount Chairman David Ellison’ s proposal would pay Warner investors $31 a share — four times the price of the company’s stock a year ago. Warner...Read more

Real estate Q&A: Do we have to tell potential buyers about nuisance neighbor?

Business / Business News /

Q: We are getting ready to sell our house, and one of the reasons is our next-door neighbor. He throws loud weekend parties that run late into the night, leaves trash in his yard for days and has gotten into shouting matches with several people on our street. We have called the police twice. Do we have to tell potential buyers about him? We are ...Read more

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This pipeline project promises to boost gasoline supplies in Southern California

Business / Business News /

Phillips 66 and Kinder Morgan have announced plans to move forward with a pipeline project that would provide Southern California a much-needed connection to gasoline and other refined products via fuel terminals in other parts of the country.

In a joint statement, the two companies said there’s been more than sufficient interest from ...Read more

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Redfin failed to disclose pay in job ads, lawsuit claims

Business / Business News /

Seattle-based real estate giant Redfin failed to disclose pay in its job openings, a new lawsuit claims.

Skagit County resident Shannon Spencer alleges in the lawsuit filed Tuesday in King County Superior Court that Redfin’s job advertisements did not include wage scales or salary ranges, as required by Washington law.

In 2023, Washington ...Read more

Nick Wagner/The Seattle Times/TNS

Why it is so hard to find, afford renting a Seattle single-family home

Business / Business News /

Tracy Cambron couldn't afford to buy a house in Seattle when she moved here a decade ago. Still, she wanted to give her two kids a childhood like hers — one where they could play in a yard, trick-or-treat at neighbors’ houses and pass a football in the street.

She rented single-family homes in Seattle neighborhoods to give them that ...Read more

Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group/TNS

Sky-high office vacancy levels haunt Bay Area's three major downtowns

Business / Business News /

Sky-high office vacancy rates still haunt the downtowns of San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco, despite bursts of tech lease deals in Silicon Valley that have largely bypassed the urban cores of the Bay Area’s three largest cities.

The vacancy levels for office space remain stuck above 30% in San Jose’s, Oakland’s and San Francisco’s ...Read more

Ivy Ceballo/The Seattle Times/TNS

Seattle renters, landlords clash over ratio utility billing system

Business / Business News /

How renters pay for utilities in Seattle has become a hot topic over the last year.

A system that divides a building’s total utility bills between units instead of a flat rate has raised fairness and transparency concerns among tenants. Some claim the system allows landlords to rake in more money while circumventing recently imposed rent ...Read more

Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Tesla boosts spending plan to $25 billion in AI, robotics push

Business / Business News /

Tesla Inc. anticipates billions of dollars in additional spending this year to support Elon Musk’s ambitions to transform the electric-vehicle pioneer into an AI and robotics company.

Capital expenditures this year will exceed $25 billion, the company revealed Wednesday, roughly three times last year’s outlay. The planned investment is up ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Why it's getting hard to use miles to book your flight

Business / Business News /

Air miles are becoming a precious commodity as uncertainty grows about the outlook for ticket prices and the availability of flights.

Frequent flyers are increasingly using their miles to hedge against global travel chaos by making overlapping bookings across different routes per trip, according to travel experts. Because award tickets ...Read more

Win McNamee/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump compliments outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook, but adds vulgar insult

Business / Business News /

It’s not every U.S. CEO who gets complimented by the U.S. president on their way out of their company — or gets insulted in vulgar terms at the same time.

But Tim Cook now has that double-edged distinction, after President Donald Trump this week declared he was a fan of the outgoing Apple CEO, but also recalled what he described with a ...Read more

Stephen Brashear/Getty Images North America/TNS

American Air explores Alaska Air revenue-sharing deal

Business / Business News /

American Airlines Group Inc. and Alaska Air Group Inc. are pursuing potential revenue-sharing agreements and other strategic partnerships, people familiar with the matter said, in a push for scale as the U.S. carriers grapple with higher costs and fierce competition.

The idea of a merger was raised as part of the talks around a stronger ...Read more

Darin Oswald/Idaho Statesman/TNS

Boise's viral 'Dan the Pizza Man' earned a $170K tip. What Domino's just did

Business / Business News /

A Boisean’s simple act-of-kindness-gone-viral is now the inspiration for a coupon code coming to Domino’s nationwide.

With a new code rolling out April 30, Domino’s and The Coca-Cola Company are teaming up to honor Dan Simpson, a 68-year-old pizza delivery driver, for going the extra mile on one recent Friday night delivery in Boise.

But...Read more

Glen Stubbe/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Best Buy's outgoing CEO and her replacement see AI as 'pivot point' for tech retail

Business / Business News /

For Corie Barry, any decision on a CEO transition comes down to a simple test: timing.

“Philosophically, I think any CEO transition begins with two things,” Barry said in an interview with the Star Tribune. “Hopefully, it’s the right time for the person. More importantly, it needs to be the right time for the company.”

After 27 years...Read more

John Autey/Pioneer Press/TNS

Updated lawsuit: Metro Surge cost St. Paul, Minneapolis businesses $600M

Business / Business News /

Operation Metro Surge led to an estimated $600 million loss in revenue to businesses in St. Paul and Minneapolis, according to a new filing in a lawsuit against the federal government.

The lawsuit says St. Paul and Minneapolis residents also missed out on an estimated $240 million in wages.

Filed by the state of Minnesota and both Twin Cities ...Read more