Business

USA Today reports: Al Jazeera America, the American cable news outlet owned by Qatar-based Al Jazeera, plans to shut down less than three years after its much-ballyhooed launch, unable to overcome low ratings, operational problems and a lack of advertisers. The cable news network will be phased out by April 30, according to a memo that was e-mailed to staffers …

Rupert Murdoch, Mick Jagger – what’s the difference? USA Today reports: Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and actress and former supermodel Jerry Hall announced their engagement Tuesday. The news was revealed in the births, marriages and deaths section of the Times of London, which is owned by Murdoch’s News Corporation media group. It reads: “Mr Rupert Murdoch, father of Prudence, Elisabeth, …

Bloomberg Business reports: One of China’s newly minted technology billionaires signed a deal to buy a controlling stake in Grindr, the world’s biggest gay social-networking app. Beijing Kunlun Tech Co., an Internet games company that helped introduce Angry Birds to China, offered $93 million in cash for 60 percent of New Grindr LLC, the company said in a statement to …

The first eight of 20 planned medical marijuana dispensaries open today in New York state, but unlike in most states, you won’t see actual buds available. CBS New reports: Vireo Health of New York in White Plains is one of the dispensaries opening Thursday, about 18 months after Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a medical marijuana bill into law. New York …

This news shocks no one. Via the New York Times: In Manhattan real estate, 2015 was a year for the record books, with the median price for co-ops and condos hitting a new high of $1.15 million in the final months of the year, according to reports by major real estate firms that will be released Tuesday. Strong overall sales …

Via New York Magazine: KaloBios, the biotech company briefly helmed by recently arrested “most hated man in America” Martin Shkreli, filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday. The company was already near collapse before Shkreli and a team of investors bought up a bunch of shares and he became CEO. He resigned from the San Francisco–based company shortly after getting arrested on …

In Missouri, as in many other states, it’s already completely legal to refuse to serve LGBT citizens as no such protections exist in state law. But that’s not good enough for GOP state attorney general candidate Josh Hawley. The Columbia Daily Tribune reports: Hawley wrote to legislative leaders urging them to pass exemptions for ministers, churches and businesses that do …

Via the Associated Press: “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has reached $1 billion at the box office, achieving the milestone with record-setting hyper speed. The Walt Disney Co. said “The Force Awakens” crossed the billion-dollar mark Sunday, accomplishing the feat in just 12 days. The previous movie to reach $1 billion the fastest was Universal’s “Jurassic World,” which did it …

Strictly for the fanboys: “With 2015 coming to a close, we take a look at what Apple might have in store for customers in 2016.”

Here we go again. This time it’s New Mexico. Via Albuquerque’s NBC affiliate: Two New Mexico lawmakers have pre-filed a bill that would give state business owners the right to refuse business to gay, lesbian and transgender people and their families on the basis of religious freedom. Republican Reps. David Gallegos and Nora Espinoza are the sponsors of the bill, …

NBC News reports: Martin Shkreli, the embattled health care businessman, has been let go by KaloBios Pharmaceuticals — one of the companies he had headed. KaloBios, which has a market cap of less than $100 million, hasn’t traded since last Thursday. It was halted about 10 minutes after news of Shkreli’s arrest. The company said the alleged fraudster was “terminated” …

Whoa. Bloomberg Business reports: A boyish drug company entrepreneur, who rocketed to infamy by jacking up the price of a life-saving pill from $13.50 to $750, was arrested on securities fraud related to a firm he founded. Martin Shkreli, 32, ignited a firestorm over drug prices in September and became a symbol of defiant greed. The federal case against him …

The New York Times reports: Martin Shkreli is once again provoking alarm with a plan to sharply increase the price of a decades-old drug for a serious infectious disease. This time the drug treats Chagas disease, a parasitic infection that can cause potentially lethal heart problems. “It’s caused a lot of angst in the Chagas community,” said Dr. Sheba Meymandi, …

This is….different. Tire Business reports: Bosch Automotive Aftermarket North America has launched a “Stop the Roadkill” campaign to promote motorists’ regularly changing their wiper blades. For the promotion the company has developed a public service announcement (PSA) in collaboration with the Humane Society of the U.S., the nation’s largest animal protection organization. Bosch said that every week “millions of wildlife …

The latest holiday ad from Microsoft features a song in which a line about God does not appear. Therefore they hate the Baby Jesus, says World Net Daily: Microsoft decided to leave God on the cutting-room floor for a commercial featuring “Let There Be Peace on Earth.” Producers for the computer giant’s latest television commercial reshuffled lyrics to the popular song …

NBC News reports: Norovirus has sickened 80 Boston College students who ate at a nearby Chipotle restaurant, state health officials said Tuesday. “Initial testing conducted by the State Public Health has shown the presence of norovirus,” the health department said in a statement. Although many of the students said they feared they’d been struck with the same E. coli bacteria …

As he does nearly every day, Donald Trump has reacted to a negative news report by declaring that the source is biased and unprofitable. Yesterday he accused Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos of running a tax dodge to benefit Amazon, which Bezos founded. Bezos, conveniently enough, is also owner of the Blue Origin rocket.

Twenty Three Ads reviews: Nordstrom demonstrates why they have a 100 percent approval rating from the Human Rights Campaign Buyers Guide. The upscale fashion retailer has created a dazzlingly beautiful holiday ad titled The Homecoming that features a man coming home with a suitcase and a Nordstrom shopping bag to be reunited his partner and their gorgeous dog. The two …

Pharma douchebro Martin Shkreli has told Forbes that he regrets not having raised the cost of his AIDS drug even more than he did. From the interview: Martin Shkreli hasn’t changed. If anything, the provocative pharmaceutical CEO — who became “the most hated man in America” earlier this year — thinks he didn’t go far enough when he hiked the …

In an open letter to their newborn baby girl, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife have announced that they are donating 99% of their Facebook stock to charity. The couple made their promise official today in a filing with with the Security & Exchange Commission. “On December 1, 2015, our Founder, Chairman and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced that, during his lifetime, …