Business

CNBC reports: Southwest Airlines is ending open seating and will offer extra legroom seats on its airplanes as mounting pressure on the carrier to increase revenue prompts the biggest changes to its business model in its 53 years of flying. The airline plans to start selling the first flights that will offer extra legroom next year, it said Thursday. The …

Axios reports: Delta Air Lines is under federal investigation over how it’s been handling delays and cancellations amid technical issues with its crew scheduling software. Delta’s continuing problems, as its competitors have rebounded from a widespread software outage, are a black eye for the company. Every major U.S. airline except Delta was back to normal operations by Monday morning. Delta …

Quartz reports: Elon Musk’s endorsement of former President Donald Trump — the man who has promised the U.S. will “drill, baby, drill” for more oil — isn’t endearing his company to potential Tesla buyers. The electric vehicle maker’s favorability among Democrats has dropped to 16% as of July 16, down 20 percentage points from January, Yahoo Finance reports, citing new …

Bloomberg reports: Mark Zuckerberg said that former President Donald Trump’s immediate reaction after being shot was “badass” and inspiring, and helps explain his appeal to voters. “Seeing Donald Trump get up after getting shot in the face and pump his fist in the air with the American flag is one of the most badass things I’ve ever seen in my …

NBC News reports: John Deere said Wednesday it would cease lending its name to social events like LGBTQ Pride parades — the latest corporation to reassess its stance on hot-button social issues as the culture wars ignite ahead of the presidential election. In a statement posted on its X account, the nearly 200-year-old industrial and farming equipment manufacturer said it …

The Associated Press reports:  Prime Day, a two-day discount event for Amazon Prime members, kicks off on Tuesday and runs through Wednesday. The Better Business Bureau reminded consumers to watch out for lookalike websites, too-good-to-be-true social media ads, and unsolicited emails or calls during sales events this month. The Israel-founded cybersecurity company Check Point Software Technologies said more than 1,230 …

CBS News reports: SpaceX launched another batch of Starlink internet satellites from California Thursday, but the engine powering the rocket’s second stage suffered a catastrophic failure, if not an explosion, during an attempt to carry out a final “burn” to raise the low point of the orbit, company founder Elon Musk posted early Friday on X. Musk referred to the …

The Associated Press reports: The Beastie Boys are suing the parent company of Chili’s in a case that accuses the chain restaurant of running an advertisement that used the hip-hop trio’s smash hit “Sabotage” without permission. The rap group, in a federal case filed Wednesday in New York, alleged Brinker International created a Chili’s ad that used significant portions of …

TechCrunch reports: U.S. phone giant AT&T confirmed Friday it will begin notifying millions of consumers about a fresh data breach that allowed cybercriminals to steal the phone records of “nearly all” of its customers, a company spokesperson told TechCrunch. In a statement, AT&T said that the stolen data contains phone numbers of both cellular and landline customers, as well as …

NBC News reports: DVD rental service Redbox is set to shut down after 22 years in business, as streaming continues to dominate the at-home entertainment market. Redbox’s parent company, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, changed its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, filed last month, to a Chapter 7 liquidation case on Wednesday. The conversion signifies that the company couldn’t come …

NBC News reports: Target will soon stop accepting personal checks as a form of payment at checkout. In a statement to NBC News, the retail giant said it was committed to creating an easy and convenient checkout experience — but that due to “extremely low volumes,” it would no longer take personal checks starting July 15. It said it has …

CNBC reports: Boeing agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge tied to the fatal 737 Max crashes, the Justice Department said Sunday, months after U.S. prosecutors said the aerospace giant violated a 2021 settlement that shielded it from prosecution. Under the deal, Boeing agreed to pay a $243.6 million fine. An independent compliance monitor would also be installed …

Reuters reports: Elon Musk wants to dismiss a lawsuit by former Twitter shareholders who said he waited too long in early 2022 to reveal his large ownership stake in the social media company, saying “all indications” show his delay was a mistake. In a late Wednesday night filing in Manhattan federal court, Musk called it implausible to believe he wanted …

The New York Times reports: In a move that will further consolidate the luxury retail market, the parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue has agreed to acquire Neiman Marcus in a $2.65 billion deal, creating the ultimate high-end department store behemoth. The deal, which had been rumored since Neiman Marcus filed for bankruptcy protection during the pandemic, comes just over …

The Associated Press reports: Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, the parent of DVD rental operator Redbox, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The bankruptcy filing comes after months of a series of financial struggles for the company and piling unpaid bills. Chicken Soup for the Soul has accumulated nearly $1 billion in debt, the Chapter 11 filing submitted …

NBC News reports: A new law in California will require bars and clubs to offer drug-testing devices in an effort to protect patrons from drinks spiked with “date rape drugs.” The law, Assembly Bill 1013, took effect Monday. It will require 2,400 establishments with Type 48 licenses from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, which authorizes the sale of …

Reuters reports: The U.S. Justice Department will criminally charge Boeing with fraud over two fatal crashes and ask the planemaker to plead guilty or face a trial, two people familiar with the matter said on Sunday. The Justice Department planned to formally offer a plea agreement to Boeing later in the day, which includes a financial penalty and imposition of …

CNN Business reports: Walgreens is set to close a substantial number of its roughly 8,600 locations across the United States as the company looks to reset the struggling pharmaceutical chain’s business. The company didn’t announce a specific number of store closures, but it said Thursday that it is planning “significant” closures of underperforming stores across America as part of a …

Reuters reports: The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said on Thursday it was sanctioning Boeing for disclosing non-public details of an ongoing investigation into a 737 MAX mid-air emergency and would refer its conduct to the Justice Department. The NTSB said Boeing had “blatantly violated” the agency’s investigative regulations by providing “non-public investigative information to the media” and speculating about …

Axios reports: NASA picked SpaceX to develop and deliver a spacecraft that’ll bring the International Space Station out of orbit after the operational life of the ISS ends in 2030, the space agency announced Wednesday. The spacecraft, which NASA is calling the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle, needs to guide the ISS safely back through Earth’s atmosphere before its planned crash into …