October 2022

Starbucks announced on Wednesday its plans to sell Seattle’s Best Coffee brand to Nestlé.  In 2018, the two companies set up a partnership called the Global Coffee Alliance. “Nestlé paid roughly $7.2 billion for the right to license packaged coffees, teas, and ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages from Starbucks,” according to The Motley Fool.  Nestlé already owns a long list of food and beverage companies including the Nescafe, Nespresso,...

Pickleball, the fastest-growing sport in America, has gained incredible popularity over the last few years, and now, even celebrity athletes want in on it. Pickleball was started in 1965 with ping-pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball. According to USA Pickleball, Joel Pritchard and Bill Bell were hanging out at Pritchard’s home in Bainbridge Island, Washington with their families and needed something to keep them entertained....

On Wednesday, BMW announced its plans to invest $1.7 billion to build electric cars in the United States.  According to Reuters, the German automaker announced that $1 billion of the investment would go into its Spartanburg, South Carolina plant to prepare for the production of electric vehicles. BMW will also spend $700 million on a new high-voltage battery assembly facility in Woodruff, South Carolina which will...

Netflix is on its way back to the top. The company’s third-quarter earnings report brought good news. It showed a beat on both top and bottom lines in addition to adding 2.41 million subscribers. This far surpassed their forecast for 1 million gained subscribers.  On Tuesday, Netflix shares jumped more than 14%, according to CNBC. Netflix is not growing as fast as it was years ago. The...

Last Tuesday, the Biden Labor Department released a proposal that might result in raised costs for companies like Lyft, Uber, Instacart and Doordash. According to CNBC, the proposal “could pave the way for regulators and courts to reclassify gig workers as employees rather than independent contractors.” CNBC also reported, “Shares of Lyft fell nearly 10% on Tuesday morning, while Uber dropped 8% and DoorDash shed 6%.” When...

The recent spike in fuel prices has affected driver supply for ride-sharing companies, Uber and Lyft.  CNBC reported, “In early July 2021, Uber and Lyft drivers were about 40% below capacity.” The companies are now investing millions of dollars to help fix the driver shortage.  Lyft announced on Tuesday that it would be testing an “earnings algorithm” that allows drivers to see the destination and pay details...

Recently, Dunkin’ Donuts made changes to its loyalty program which resulted in the process of collecting and redeeming rewards becoming more expensive. This change upset some customers and has prompted them to vow to visit the chain less and stop using the rewards program.  Restaurant Dive explained how the changes affect the points system. “The company doubled its points accrual rate from 5 points per dollar...

Starbucks Corp. is in hot water after eight employees filed a def-amation lawsuit against the company claiming their manager falsely accused them of assault and kidnapping.  The incident which ultimately led to the lawsuit, happened at a Starbucks location in Anderson, South Carolina.  Business Insider broke down the events that unfolded on Aug. 1 for us. The eight employees delivered a letter to the manager asking for...

We previously reported last week that the Education Department provided a glimpse at the student loan forgiveness application. The form was not yet live and the release date was unknown. Since then, the beta version of the website was opened to the public and student loan recipients were allowed access to complete and submit the form.  However, according the Yahoo Finance, the applications will not be...

The rise we saw in wholesale prices during the month of September was higher than expected, despite Federal Reserve efforts to control inflation. A report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, published on Wednesday, proved this. Important information from CNBC to note is, “The producer price index increased 0.4% for the month, compared with the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.2% gain. On a 12-month basis,...