Author: arthursheikin@gmail.com

[ad_1] Ayanna Gay was in her 30s and had been married for three years before she and her husband, Nakhaz, began seriously thinking about having a baby. A slew of considerations kept them on the fence, including not just the astronomical cost of childcare and fears about bringing a kid into a world in political and economic turmoil, but also a prohibitive mortgage.Finally, they decided to take the leap. Gay is due to have her first child in mid-August. “We got to a point where we were like, we can afford this more than we could have afforded it before,”…

[ad_1] Russia’s wartime boom is faltering — and the International Monetary Fund is the latest to weigh in with a downgrade.”We are expecting Russia’s economic growth to slow down in 2025, and that is very much due to the policy tightening and lower oil prices,” said Petya Koeva Brooks, a deputy director of the research department at the IMF, on Tuesday.After two years of defying sanctions and riding a military spending boom, the country is now facing a sharp slowdown, according to the IMF. The organization has slashed its growth forecast and flagged weakness across key sectors.The IMF now expects…

[ad_1] Elon Musk says he has banished the job title “researcher” from his AI startup, xAI.The distinction between researcher and engineer is a “thinly masked way of describing a two-tier engineering system,” Musk wrote in an X post on Tuesday.”There are only engineers,” Musk said.”Researcher is a relic term from academia.”Musk then drew a comparison to his rocket company, SpaceX, which he said did more “meaningful, cutting-edge” research on rockets and satellites than “all the academic university labs on earth combined.””But we don’t use the pretentious, low-accountability term ‘researcher,'” Musk said.xAI did not respond to requests for comment from Business…

[ad_1] Starbucks’ grab-and-go stores are on the way out.On Tuesday, the coffee store chain announced that it’s discontinuing its mobile order-only store model.Around 80 to 90 pickup-only locations in the US, many of which are located in office buildings and offer no seating, will be phased out, said CEO Brian Niccol. Some will be converted into full-service stores with room to linger.”These stores felt too transactional and didn’t deliver the warmth or human connection our customers expect,” Niccol told investors on the third-quarter earnings call.A Starbucks spokeswoman declined to comment, including on how much the store renovations would cost.The company…

[ad_1] Starbucks isn’t giving up on its China dream and is seeking a helping hand to run its stores there.CEO Brian Niccol said in an earnings call on Tuesday that the Seattle-based coffee chain is looking for a local partner to manage its stores in China. The country is Starbucks’ second-largest market after the US, and has seen sales stagnate in recent quarters.He said Starbucks is evaluating a pool of 20 interested parties who wish to partner with it.”What this is about is how do we ensure that the Starbucks brand is in a much better place in the future…

[ad_1] India has overtaken China to become the top smartphone exporter to the US, and the country has Apple to thank for its new ranking.India’s share of smartphone exports in the quarter that ended in June rose sharply from the same time last year.The country’s dethroning of China is largely driven by Apple’s shifting supply chains, according to analysis from research firm Canalys published on Monday.”Apple has scaled up its production capacity in India over the last several years as a part of its ‘China Plus One’ strategy and has opted to dedicate most of its export capacity in India to supply the US market…

[ad_1] Stocks @ Night is a daily newsletter delivered after hours, giving you a first look at tomorrow and last look at today. Sign up for free to receive it directly in your inbox. Here’s what CNBC TV’s producers were watching as the S & P 500 snapped a six-day winning run and what’s on the radar for the next session. Starbucks The coffee company posted its sixth straight quarter of same-store sales declines. Starbucks shares are up 3% after the bell. In 2025, the stock is up nearly 2%. CNBC’s Kate Rogers covers Starbucks. She just came back from…

[ad_1] Price changes are the last resort for Starbucks’ CEO, Brian Niccol, he said on Tuesday’s Q3 earnings call, but he won’t rule them out as part of his revitalization efforts of the coffee giant.A quick-service restaurant veteran, Niccol has led successful revitalization campaigns at Taco Bell and Chipotle. His “Back to Starbucks” campaign is proceeding ahead of schedule, the CEO told investors on Tuesday.”But with that said, you know, pricing will be a part of our business model,” he added. “There are times where it makes sense to take some price — and when those situations present itself, we’re…

[ad_1] AI chip startup Groq is in talks to raise a fresh $600 million at a near $6 billion valuation, sources tell Bloomberg, although the deal isn’t yet final and terms could change.  Groq raised $640 million at a $2.8 billion valuation in August 2024, making this double the valuation in about a year. Groq previously raised about $1 billion. The new round is led by Austin-based firm Disruptive, Bloomberg reports. The November round was led by BlackRock, with participation from Neuberger Berman, Type One Ventures, Cisco, KDDI, and Samsung Catalyst Fund. Groq was founded by Jonathan Ross, who previously…

[ad_1] Corporate America is on guard.A deadly shooting at a New York City office tower on Monday has companies and executives boosting security across Wall Street and corporate America. Firms are scrambling to hire armed guards, conduct risk assessments, review security protocols, and reassure employees that they’re safe, security experts said on Tuesday.”The phone hasn’t stopped since this morning,” Sean Crowley, the cofounder and CEO of CTS Research and Investigations, told Business Insider. CTS, based in NYC, is a partner and co-owner of Illuno, an app — “Like Uber for hiring security guards,” Crowley calls it — that makes it…