Just a year after he became chief executive officer of Philip Morris International Inc., Jacek Olczak swooped on rival nicotine pouch maker Swedish Match in a $16 billion deal.

Olczak wanted the company’s vast U.S. distribution network and popular Zyn nicotine pouches, which are about the size of a chiclet and meant to be placed between a ...Read more

OAKLAND, California — PG&E says a record-setting $15 billion federal loan guarantee will help customers save money on an array of critical projects — but multiple advocacy groups warn the utility’s ratepayers may face higher bills.

The U.S. Energy Department Loan Program Office has disclosed a decision to provide a $15 billion loan ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — YouTube on Tuesday announced a partnership with Century City-based talent representation firm Creative Artists Agency that will help actors and athletes better manage their digital likenesses in AI generated content.

Next year, actors and athletes from the NBA and NFL will have access to technology that will identify AI-...Read more

Morgan Stanley’s E*Trade is planning a suite of free funds, with a catch — only customers of the brokerage platform would be able to buy them.

The firm submitted plans on Monday for five mutual funds spanning stocks and bonds, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. While all five funds would be zero-cost, buying ...Read more

Analysts at Cox Automotive, an automotive services company, expect new vehicle sales in the United States for 2024 will come in at just over 15.8 million, beating a previous forecast and marking the best year since 2019.

After a strong fourth quarter, automakers are expected to post sales of 15.85 million in 2024, up 2.3% from 2023's 15.55 ...Read more

Grubhub has agreed to pay $25 million and put an end to practices that included misleading customers over the costs of using the food delivery service and listing restaurants without their consent under a proposed settlement with the Federal Trade Commission and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office, the agencies said on Tuesday.

...Read more

The Biden administration said Tuesday it was offering Pacific Gas & Electric a record $15 billion loan guarantee to help the utility upgrade its transmission lines, which have been blamed in causing wildfires, and make other improvements to meet fast-rising energy use.

The commitment, which still must be finalized, would help PG&E expand ...Read more

Federal regulators have cited solar panel company Sunrun Installation Services for allegedly exposing workers to what were described as “deadly” fall hazards in the Chicago suburbs, the U.S. Department of Labor said Monday.

Investigators for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration found Sunrun workers were installing solar panels ...Read more

Waymo, the self-driving vehicle company owned by Google parent Alphabet, has announced it’s bringing its driverless robotaxis to Miami amid wide-ranging questions about their safety and an ongoing federal investigation into collisions involving its cars in cities where the service is already operating.

In a statement, the company said it will...Read more

Three of Maryland’s top health insurers have higher than average claim denial rates, according to research that’s gained traction in the wake of the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and the arrest of suspect and Baltimore area native Luigi Nicholas Mangione.

UnitedHealthcare, Maryland’s third-largest health insurer ...Read more

A class-action lawsuit filed against Nevada Gold Mines claims the Elko operation fails to pay employees for all time worked, including overtime.

The lawsuit, filed by NGM employees, Kyle Wieben and Austin Stockstill, in U.S. District Court of Nevada, claims the mine requires employees take a company shuttle from the parking lot to the mine, ...Read more

More than 1 million people across the country earn paychecks of $500,000 or higher, according to a report that analyzed payroll records on millions of salaries paid over the course of a year.

The study titled "High-paying jobs? They're a dime a dozen," which was done by ADP, a leading management company that provides payroll and other services,...Read more

The subject line of a press release this month from Weld County, Colorado, was stark and foreboding: “County’s assessed value sees 20% decrease.”

The cratering of taxable property value in the large county that hugs metro Denver’s northeast corner — from nearly $25 billion in 2023 to just under $20 billion this year — would probably...Read more

For years, Amazon has faced accusations that the pressure the company puts on its warehouse workers to work more quickly has led to higher rates of injuries.

Now, an investigation by a U.S. Senate committee led by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, has found that Amazon itself made the link between productivity quotas and injuries and that Amazon...Read more

President-elect Donald Trump threatened to fire federal employees who don’t come back to the office, and said he would go to court to challenge a Biden administration labor contract that locked in remote work arrangements for thousands of federal employees.

“If people don’t come back to work, come back into the office, they’re going to...Read more

A revolution is underway in California's insurance market that could provide relief to homeowners in high-fire-risk neighborhoods who have found it difficult to find insurers to cover their homes, typically a household's most valuable asset.

Under the new rules, state insurers for the first time will be allowed to use so-called catastrophe ...Read more

Top Snapchat creators will soon have more ways to make money on the social media app.

The Santa Monica company introduced an expanded monetization program Monday, saying it would soon begin placing ads within longer Spotlight videos. Under Snapchat's current revenue-sharing arrangement, the company pays influencers some of the money it earns ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, California — Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Monday an education “master plan” aimed at narrowing the income gap between California’s highest and lowest earning residents.

Newsom said his administration would encourage high schools and colleges to offer students more workplace-focused training, such as apprenticeships and ...Read more

Aiming to narrow the state's economic divide, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday unveiled a blueprint to create more well-paying careers for Californians, especially those who don't have a college degree.

As more people question the value of higher education, unsure whether the economic payoff is worth rising college costs, Newsom wants to streamline ...Read more