Business

Facebook is testing a new feature which offers users the option of blocking their ex-partner if their relationship status has changed. Via the Independent: The social network will trial the new relationship tool in the United States, with plans to roll out the changes worldwide after receiving feedback. The tools will allow users to limit the photos, videos or status …

Some time last night Adele’s third album, 25, surpassed N-Sync’s 2000 release No Strings Attached to break the all-time single week sales record since the industry began using SoundScan in 1991. By the Thursday night end of the sales week, 25 is expected to have sold nearly three million copies versus the 2,416,000 copies sold in the first week of …

CNBC reports: Pfizer announced Monday it will buy Allergan for $363.63 a share, or about $160 billion. The deal represents a premium of over 30 percent based on the companies’ unaffected shares price as of Oct. 28, Pfizer and Allergan said in a joint statement. Allergan shareholders will receive 11.3 shares of the combined company — Pfizer PLC — for …

UnitedHealthcare, which reported a net income of $8.4 billion this year, says it’s not making enough money with Obamacare and may leave the system within two years. “In recent weeks, growth expectations for individual exchange participation have tempered industrywide,” said Stephen Hemsley, the company’s CEO. “Co-operatives have failed, and market data has signaled higher risks and more difficulties while our …

Twitter has ended its participation in blood drives after a gay man was rejected from donating at their San Francisco headquarters. International Business Times reports: “These are the only policies that the FDA has based on a person’s identification and not any type of risky behavior that they’re engaged in,” said Jim Halloran, Twitter’s Associate Manager of Sales Operations and President …

Business Insider reports: The 5,000% increase in the price of an anti-parasitic drug hasn’t brought Turing Pharmaceuticals into the black just yet. For the third quarter, ending September 30, the company posted a $14.6 million net loss. Those three months cover the time that Turing acquired the US marketing rights to Daraprim, a 62-year-old drug that’s used to treat malaria …

Taxi owners and their creditors yesterday sued New York City and the Taxi & Limousine Commission, claiming that Uber is destroying their business. CNBC reports: The lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court accused the defendants of violating yellow cab drivers’ exclusive right to pick up passengers on the street by letting Uber drivers who face fewer regulatory burdens pick up …

Yesterday the Liberty Counsel issued their annual “Friend Or Foe” ranking of companies that don’t express their religious liberty in the precise manner stipulated by the Baby Jesus. Today comes a similar ranking of 100 companies from the American Family Association. They write: There are secular forces in our country that hate Christmas because the word itself is a reminder …

You-know-who is going to go apeshit. The Advocate reports: The new Moschino Barbie is a huge hit (currently sold-out!), and its commercial is breaking boundaries by featuring a young boy in it. “Moschino Barbie is so fierce!” the boy screams as he and two female friends laud the doll, done up in designer Jeremy Scott’s sleek glamour. Barbie’s cellphone goes …

The Seattle Times reports: Not one single business has turned away Seattle police Officer Jim Ritter when he’s asked them to join a program aimed at offering help and a safe haven to lesbian, gay and transgender victims of hate crimes. Starbucks announced Wednesday that it, too, is partnering with the Seattle Police Department’s (SPD) Safe Place program, even though …

Oh, brother. Yahoo News reports: Dunkin’ Donuts unveiled its seasonal coffee cup design for the holidays on Tuesday, giving java drinkers a cup sporting Christmas-themed colors and the word “Joy” in red script. While many praised the release, others thought the coffee brewer’s move was a transparent jab at its competitor, Starbucks, whose own holiday cup this week sparked a …

At tonight’s Out 100 event, title sponsor MassMutual will present Freedom To Marry head Evan Wolfson the Vow to Protect Equality Award. The clip below isn’t so much of an ad as the company’s logo only appears briefly at the end after several married couples tell their stories, which are alternately amusing and touching. You’ll enjoy this.

Today is Singles Day, the biggest shopping day of the year in China. Singles Day falls on November 11th because the written date is all lonely, lonely ones: 11/11. From the BBC: E-commerce giant Alibaba has broken its own record for sales on China’s Singles Day, the world’s biggest online shopping event. About half way through the 24-hour-long sale, the …

“The old cups had snowflakes and Santa’s elves – you know – all the things you find in the bible. Now look at THIS cup. You might as well call it a ‘Satan-Sipper’.”

“You know I’m passionate about protecting the heart of Christmas! And these next couple of months really can be ‘The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!’ Funny, though, how some grinches on the Left take things too far in attempts to make all us jolly revelers look ridiculous, lumping us in the same box concerning misplaced outrage over a coffee …

Faith Driven Consumer is exploiting the ridiculous Starbucks flap to promote the launch of this year’s Shopping For Jesus campaign. They write: “Starbucks is free to design cups and other materials as they see fit, and each consumer—driven by their values and ideals—will respond based on the relative appeal of these products. For those Faith Driven Consumers and others dissatisfied …

“It’s not the Holy Grail, folks. It’s a cranberry-colored, environmentally-friendly coffee cup. I stopped drinking Starbucks coffee years ago – back when their chief executive officer said he did not want to do business with people like me – a gun-toting, Bible-believing offspring of white privilege. So I figured – why spend my hard-earned money on a company that actively …

Former Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Seblius has joined the global advisory board of Out Leadership and penned an op-ed for the Guardian in which she calls on corporations to back the Equality Act. She writes: We can’t do this without the support of the business community, which was vital throughout the marriage equality fight and will be no …

With four days left before the referendum, Apple has joined dozens of major corporations in backing Houston’s LGBT rights law. Their statement: “Apple is proud to be a part of Houston with four stores that employ over 500 people. Our stores and our company are open to everyone, regardless of where they come from, what they look like, how they …

Just opened on the Lower East Side is Gotham’s third kitty coffee shop, where you can play with (and adopt!) felines over your nonfat extra-hot no-foam light-whip semen-free mocha latte. This one also serves booze! Gothamist reports: The Lower East Side grew ten cats stronger yesterday with the opening of Koneko, NYC’s newest cat cafe located on Clinton Street. Koneko …