Business

From Trump headquarters at Breitbart: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he would impose a 35% tax on any cars made in Mexico to keep companies from moving out of the US. Discussing a scenario where a car company wanted to build a plant in Mexico, Trump stated, “What would President Trump do? So I’d call the head of Ford, …

Newsweek reports: If Donald Trump is elected president, will he and his family permanently sever all connections to the Trump Organization, a sprawling business empire that has spread a secretive financial web across the world? Or will Trump instead choose to be the most conflicted president in American history, one whose business interests will constantly jeopardize the security of the …

NBC News reports: California and federal regulators fined Wells Fargo a combined $185 million on Thursday, alleging the bank’s employees illegally opened millions of unauthorized accounts for their customers in order to meet aggressive sales goals. A staggering 5,300 employees at Wells Fargo were fired in connection with this behavior, according to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office. The San …

From Peter Thiel’s op-ed for the Washington Post: The establishment doesn’t want to admit it, but Trump’s heretical denial of Republican dogma about government incapacity is exactly what we need to move the party — and the country — in a new direction. For the Republican Party to be a credible alternative to the Democrats’ enabling, it must stand for …

TMZ reports: Apple’s big reveal for iPhone 7 was upstaged thanks to its own Twitter account … where images of the new phone were leaked even before CEO Tim Cook could unveil it. Cook was right in the middle of the iPhone debut presentation from Apple HQ — but hadn’t actually shown the device … when a few tweets went …

Via Politico: ITT Tech, one of the nation’s largest chains of for-profit colleges, announced Tuesday that it is shutting down – exactly 12 days after the Education Department banned the company from enrolling new students using federal student aid. “The actions of and sanctions from the U.S. Department of Education have forced us to cease operations of the ITT Technical …

Bloomberg reports: Apple Inc. was ordered to repay a record 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) plus interest after the European Commission said Ireland illegally slashed the iPhone maker’s tax bill. The world’s richest company benefited from a “selective tax treatment” in Ireland that gave it a “significant advantage over other businesses,” the European Union regulator said Tuesday. It’s the largest …

Deadline reports: With an estimated production cost that’s in the vicinity of $100M, MGM and Paramount certainly didn’t build Ben-Hur to fail this weekend. But if there’s one Come-to-Jesus from this remake’s estimated disastrous $11M opening: It’s still a challenge for Hollywood to cross over a faith-based film to the masses 12 years after the $370M ($612M global) success of …

The New York Times reports: On the campaign trail, Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has sold himself as a businessman who has made billions of dollars and is beholden to no one. But an investigation by The New York Times into the financial maze of Mr. Trump’s real estate holdings in the United States reveals that companies he …

New York Magazine reports: Jill Martinelli and Sabine Le Guyader have been designing the jewelry line Lady Grey since 2009, and in that time, Beyoncé and Rihanna have worn their designs. But their most famous customer interaction may be the one they just had with Ivanka Trump. Yesterday afternoon, Martinelli and Le Guyader posted a handwritten note to Trump, who …

The Washington Post reports: Target said Wednesday it is preparing to spend $20 million in the coming months to add single-stall bathrooms along with men’s and women’s restrooms in its stores, a move meant to accommodate shoppers who have expressed concern about the retailers’ policy of allowing customers and employees to use the bathroom that corresponds to the gender they …

The Huffington Post reports: The big health care news this week came from Aetna, which announced on Monday it was dramatically scaling back participation in the Affordable Care Act ― thereby reducing insurer competition and forcing customers scattered across 11 states to find different sources of coverage next year. Aetna officials said the pullout was necessary because of Obamacare’s problems …

Recode reports: Univision has won the auction for Gawker Media. The TV network and digital publisher has agreed to pay $135 million for the bankrupt blog network, according to a person familiar with the deal. Univision’s offer will encompass all seven of Gawker Media’s sites, including Gawker.com. Ziff Davis and Univision were the only two bidders for Gawker, which filed …

Back in February, Aetna reported $2.7 billion in earnings for 2015, a 15% increase over the previous year. But that’s not enough to keep them in Obamacare. CNN Money reports: In the latest blow to Obamacare, Aetna is vastly reducing its presence on the individual exchanges in 2017. The insurer will stop offering policies on the exchanges in 11 of …

Oliver reports that that tactic could spawn another subprime crisis. Mediaite recaps: Predatory loans for auto sales was the focus of John Oliver‘s deep dive Sunday night on Last Week Tonight, highlighting the questionable processes by which lenders can lure prospective car owners into the fold. One of the main hallmarks of the segment was a certain type of popular …

CNN Money reports: Macy’s announced plans on Thursday to close about 15% of its department stores, the latest effort to adapt to shifting consumer preferences for online shopping. Macy’s did not disclose which stores it will close, but said most of them will close in early 2017. The move comes as Macy’s revealed its second-quarter sales fell less than feared. …

The New York Times reports: Digital ads pop up online so frequently and ubiquitously that many people are using software to block them. But if you try to stop ads from showing up on Facebook’s desktop website, you will now be out of luck: The social network has found a way to block the ad blockers. On Tuesday, Facebook flipped …

San Francisco’s Lone Star Saloon has become the city’s first gay bar to earn “legacy business” status under a recently voter-approved program to protect culturally significant businesses from developers and their wrecking balls. The Examiner reports: When landlords sell their buildings, the “for sale” sign can feel like a death sentence for the businesses operating there, which are subject to …

Dozens of canceled conventions, boycotts from more than a dozen states and major cities, and no more NBA All-Star game. That’s just for starters. But nope, not a scratch on the economy says the budget director for North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory. From his op-ed in the Charlotte Observer: One of the benefits of being the Budget Director is that …

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports: Longtime conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly has lost her fight to block the maker of Schlafly beer from trademarking the brand’s name. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, in a decision last week, sided with the St. Louis Brewery, which applied for the Schlafly trademark in 2012 as its sales began to take off outside of …