All stories, page 7
Business news written here, in plain English, for people who run something. Every story is ours.
Sunday, October 18
IRS to host Tax Professional Awareness Week starting October 19
The Internal Revenue Service is launching Tax Professional Awareness Week on October 19. The agency will provide webinars, videos, and tools for the upcoming filing season. Topics include refundable tax credits and cybersecurity. Tax professionals can register online for the events.
Small Business Administration rewrites 7(a) loan rules with manual underwriting and collateral changes
Small Business Administration loans just got harder to get. Automated credit scoring ended on March 1, 2026. Every small loan now needs full manual underwriting. Clean books and airtight bank statements are now essential.
Scott and Elena Shleifer give $20 million to University of Pennsylvania for financial aid
Scott and Elena Shleifer just gave twenty million dollars to the University of Pennsylvania. The massive gift targets undergraduate financial aid and middle income students. Twelve million dollars will create a new scholars program for tuition free support.
Albertsons expands board to 15 members with Levi Strauss executive Harmit Singh
Albertsons just added its fifth new board member since September. Harmit Singh from Levi Strauss joins a growing fifteen person team. The supermarket chain is reviewing its entire business to fix falling profits.
SBA loans do not vanish in bankruptcy according to NerdWallet
Small business owners facing bankruptcy find SBA loans do not disappear. Chapter 7 liquidation sells assets to repay secured loans. Personal guarantees leave you on the hook for unpaid balances. Unpaid debts can trigger Treasury Department collection and wage garnishment.
Saturday, October 17
Capital One, Citi, and Amex card transfer bonuses and deals expire this week
Capital One and Citi point transfer bonuses expire this week. American Express offers for Airbnb bookings also end soon. Check your active travel rewards before these deals disappear.
Albion College receives $10 million gift from Joe and Julie Serra
Joe and Julie Serra just gave Albion College a $10 million unrestricted gift. It is the largest outright gift in the school history. The money lets the College invest in student scholarships and new learning programs. The Serras also agreed to co-chair the school fundraising campaign.
NYC Comptroller Mark Levine urges AI lab Anthropic to pause US IPO
New York City has $7 million tied up in Anthropic. Comptroller Mark Levine wrote a letter to CEO Dario Amodei. He wants the company to delay its upcoming public offering. Safety concerns and rapid AI development are driving the push. Pension funds manage over $325 billion in total assets.
Apple Store walk-in purchases for iPhone Duo likely unavailable on launch day
Apple retail staff received warnings about extremely low iPhone Duo stock. Walk-in buyers without pre-orders will likely find zero devices available. Online orders are currently sold out through the month of January. Check carriers or Best Buy instead if you need one quickly.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled a Roadster that turns in mid-air
Tesla CEO Elon Musk presented a new Roadster electric sports car at a SpaceX facility in Texas. The car does much more than drive on the street.
Friday, October 16
Southwest Airlines announces major changes to Rapid Rewards program effective January 1, 2027
Southwest Airlines just announced major changes to Rapid Rewards. The new rules take effect on January 1, 2027. Credit card signup bonuses will no longer count. Travelers must check how this affects their points.
IRS starts automatic refunds for over 50,000 taxpayers with adoption tax credit carryforward
Check your mail if you claimed the adoption tax credit. The Internal Revenue Service just started issuing automatic refunds to over 50,000 taxpayers. You do not need to file an amended return to get the money. Watch for an IRS notice arriving within 30 days of the adjustment.
Strategy buys 250 more Bitcoin and repurchases $192 million of STRC stock
Strategy just bought 250 Bitcoin for $21.5 million. The massive corporate treasury now holds 848,250 Bitcoin in total. That stash sits on roughly $6 billion in unrealized profit. Michael Saylor also repurchased $192.4 million of preferred stock.
Capital One launches limited time offer for Venture Rewards card with 75,000 bonus miles
Capital One launched a new limited time credit card offer. You earn 75000 bonus miles plus a 300 dollar travel credit. You must spend 4000 dollars in the first 3 months to qualify. The primary card has a 95 dollar annual fee.
Kroger to cut 3,000 corporate jobs over three years under CEO Greg Foran
Supermarket giant Kroger is cutting 3,000 corporate jobs over three years. CEO Greg Foran announced the plan in an internal memo on Monday. The cuts impact 37 percent of the corporate workforce according to Bloomberg. Workers now face years of uncertainty about their job security.
Warren Buffett's successor Greg Abel is spending billions on homebuilder Lennar
Berkshire Hathaway increased its Lennar stake by 94 percent in the third quarter. The giant holding company now owns around 11 percent of the homebuilder. Lennar shares have dropped 49.7 percent from their October 2024 high. Greg Abel is making a long-term bet despite a bumpy road ahead.
Scott Melker reports September wholesale inflation jumped 1.3%
Wholesale prices jumped 1.3% in September, far above the 0.6% forecast. Scott Melker, host of The Daily Wolf, tracked the sudden rise in the Producer Price Index, which measures inflation at the wholesale level.
Fannie Mae slashes 2027 mortgage forecast to $1.86 trillion amid higher rates
Fannie Mae cut its 2027 mortgage forecast by eighteen percent. Thirty-year rates are projected to average seven and a half percent. Refinance volume takes the biggest hit in the new outlook. Purchase originations will stay flat as the market remains tight.
American Express launches 10 percent back offer on Hotels dot com bookings
American Express just released a new Hotels dot com offer this week. You can earn 10 percent back on up to $1250 in prepaid stays. The catch is you must book directly through their specific promotional link. Check your card account to add the deal before you pay.
FedEx and UPS delivery prices set for record-high Q4 according to TD Cowen
Ground shipping costs dropped two percent in the third quarter. Fuel surcharges and discounts helped ease prices for shippers. Holiday surcharges will push rates to record highs soon. Large volume customers are getting the best carrier discounts.
Proofpoint agrees to buy cybersecurity firm Varonis for $49.75 a share
Proofpoint agreed to buy cybersecurity company Varonis for $49.75 a share. Talks about the deal were already circulating back in June.
U.S. Bank targets small-business growth by bundling checking and card services
U.S. Bank serves about 2 million small businesses today. Third-quarter average deposits for the segment reached $45 billion. Average loans jumped 11 percent to $18 billion. The lender wants to double that deposit growth soon. Bundling accounts and credit cards is the strategy.
Wegmans opens 110,000-square-foot Charlotte store and targets local rivals on price
Wegmans opened a massive new supermarket in Charlotte on Wednesday. The grocery chain claims its top items cost 20% less than Harris Teeter. Local shoppers are packing the aisles to check out the low prices. Grocery competition is heating up across the region.
IonQ to buy cybersecurity firm Elisity in up to $1.3 billion deal
Quantum computing company IonQ announced a massive all-stock deal on Monday. They are buying cybersecurity firm Elisity for up to $1.3 billion. The buyout includes $150 million in performance earn-outs.
Disney is making a $20 million bid for bankrupt chatbot platform Character.AI
Chatbot platform Character.AI filed for bankruptcy on Monday. The company agreed to sell assets for $20 million to Walt Disney. Character.AI burned through over $8 million every single month. The platform has roughly 12 million active users right now.
Capital One Shopping offers up to 100 percent back on eBay Live
Check your Capital One Shopping homepage today. You can earn up to 100 percent back on eBay Live. People stream and live auction items on the platform. Collectible cards can turn into very profitable flips. Rewards cash out as gift cards for various brands.
Tesla unveils new Roadster with SpaceX thrusters hitting 60 mph in 0.8 seconds
Tesla finally Revealed the long-awaited second-generation Roadster at SpaceX’s testing facility in McGregor, Texas. A prototype drove up a towering structure and used thrusters to fly forward and do a barrel roll. Elon Musk said production will start in 2028.
JetBlue launches new BlueFirst domestic class with flights starting at $249
JetBlue just put its new BlueFirst domestic class on sale for over 30 routes. The first flight takes off on Dec. 8 between Boston and Fort Lauderdale. Introductory fares start at $249 for select flights. Seats offer up to 7 more inches of legroom.
CoreWeave faces higher loan costs on debt coming due in 5 years
CoreWeave must pay back its borrowed money within 4 or 5 years, and refinancing will not come cheap. Smaller cloud computing providers that operate close to customers now have to recheck how much cash financial markets will lend them.
JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup report third-quarter earnings
Four big U.S. banks just posted third-quarter earnings results. JPMorgan Chase and three major competitors faced mixed market outcomes. Goldman Sachs beat revenue estimates thanks to strong equities trading. Watch your borrowing costs as these banking trends unfold.
