Makeup icon Revlon files for bankruptcy
NEW YORK — Revlon, a cosmetics maker that broke racial barriers and dictated beauty trends for much of the last century, said June 14 it is filing for bankruptcy protection.
The company has been a mainstay on store shelves since its founding 90 years ago in New York City as it oversaw a stable of household names, from Almay to Elizabeth Arden.
Revlon failed to keep pace with changing tastes, however, slow to follow women as they traded flashy red lipstick for more muted tones in the 1990s. The company will continue to operate as it restructures debt.
Biden signs shipping law, says it’ll cut costs
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden signed legislation June 16 meant to make shipping goods across oceans cheaper. It’s a move the White House says will help ease logistical costs for retailers that have remained high since the start of the coronavirus pandemic and helped fuel record inflation.
The Ocean Shipping Reform Act passed unanimously by the Senate via voice vote in March after winning bipartisan House support. It empowers the Federal Maritime Commission to investigate late fees charged by carriers while prohibiting ocean carriers and marine terminals from refusing to fill available cargo space.
Musk aims to put Twitter workers at ease
SAN FRANCISCO — In an unusual move for what’s been an unusual takeover bid for Twitter by the world’s richest man, Tesla CEO Elon Musk addressed the social platform’s employees June 16, even though his $44 billion offer has not yet been completed.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced an all-hands meeting to employees in an email on Monday, saying they’d be able to submit questions in advance, according to The Wall Street Journal. Musk reached a deal to acquire Twitter in April, but he has clashed with the company repeatedly since then over the number of bots, or fake accounts, that exist on the social media platform.
Fewer in US apply for unemployment aid
WASHINGTON — Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week as the U.S. job market remains strong in the face of rising inflation and interest rates.
Applications for jobless aid fell by 3,000 to 229,000 for the week ending June 11, the Labor Department reported June 16. First-time applications generally represent the number of layoffs.
Jobless claims application this week and last week, though still relatively low, were the highest since the first weeks of the year. The total number of Americans collecting jobless benefits for the week ending June 4 was 1.312 million. That figure has hovered near 50-year lows for months.
Disney delays opening of new Fla. campus
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The Walt Disney Co. is delaying by more than three years the opening of a campus in Florida to which 2,000 workers were being relocated from Southern California to work in digital technology, finance and product development.
Despite being targeted in recent months by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature, Disney officials said Thursday that the delay had nothing to do with tensions with state officials. Instead, more time was needed to build the campus in the Orlando area and the company wanted to give workers more time to adjust to the transition.
The new opening date for the Florida campus is in 2026.
Musk appeals ruling that upheld fraud deal
DETROIT — Tesla CEO Elon Musk is appealing a federal court ruling that upheld a securities fraud settlement over Musk’s tweets claiming that he had the funding to take Tesla private in 2018.
Musk lawyer Alex Spiro filed a notice of appeal June 15 with the federal appeals court in Manhattan. No grounds were stated, and a full filing with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals is expected later.
In April, U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman rejected Musk’s bid to throw the settlement that Musk signed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The settlement required that Musk’s tweets be approved by a Tesla attorney before being published. The SEC is investigating whether Musk violated the settlement with tweets last November asking Twitter followers if he should sell 10percent of his Tesla stock.
McD’s to pay $1.3B in France tax case
PARIS — McDonald’s France and related companies have agreed to pay $1.3 billion to the French state to settle a case in which the fast-food giant was accused of vast tax evasion.
Prosecutors say a Paris court approved the settlement June 16. That means a tax fraud investigation targeting the company will be closed. It had been opened after a legal complaint by unions in 2016.
The company was accused of hiding French profits in lower-tax Luxembourg and reporting artificially low profits in France. McDonald’s has said it is working with French tax authorities.
Ferrari details its plan for electric sportscars
MILAN — Italian luxury sportscar maker Ferrari has outlined an electrification strategy that calls for 40 percent full-electric and 40 percent hybrid models by 2030.
CEO Benedetto Vigna said June 16 that the first electric car will be presented in 2025, with the first deliveries the following year. Now, just four Ferrari models, or 20% of the range, are hybrid cars. Its first hybrid model was the limited edition La Ferrari launched in 2013, capitalizing on Formula 1 technology.
Vigna, a former technology entrepreneur who joined Ferrari as CEO nine months ago, said the electrification strategy is “highly relevant” to meet emissions regulations and to enhance performance.