SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – In the shadow of Internet monoliths such as Facebook, Google and Twitter, it’s easy to forget that Silicon Valley got its start from hard-scrabble tinkerers building radios, microchips and other devices. Now, a proliferation of high-t... More »
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Cisco’s corporate venture-capital arm said it would deploy $150 million to start-up companies over the next two to three years, accelerating its investments into areas such as Internet-enabled communication between objects. That theme... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. small businesses boosted borrowing in March, signaling a renewal of confidence in growth prospects after an unusually harsh winter crimped investment. The Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index, which measures the volume of financ... More »
(Reuters) – Whirlpool Corp (WHR.N ) on Friday reported quarterly results below analysts’ expectations as currency and other headwinds in Latin America and Asia offset a modest sales increase in North America and Europe. The news sent Whirlpool’s shares down ne... More »
(Reuters) – Private equity firm KKR & Co LP (KKR.N ) plans to allow investors to sell parts of their stake in buyout funds through a new private market run by Nasdaq OMX Group Inc (NDAQ.O ), the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar ... More »
(Reuters) – Tired of the same restaurants and clubs? Not sure if friends would want to venture to a new cafe or bar? New apps show where people want to go, rather than where they have been. Superb, an iPhone app that launched last week, lets users create lists... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Across Spain, the message is hard to miss in office windows showcasing offers: banks want to lend to small companies again. After gorging on property lending in the run-up to a financial crisis, banks are looking to revive high-margin loans ... More »
(Reuters) – The troubles at BlackBerry Ltd, which fired more than half its staff and lost more than 90 percent of its market value as consumers shunned its smart phones, might have spelled disaster for the company’s hometown of Waterloo, Ontario. Instead, ther... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. small businesses borrowing hit a five month low in February, in the latest indication of slower economic growth in the first quarter after an unusually harsh winter. The Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index, which mea... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Lloyds Bank (LLOY.L ) said it will grow its lending to small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) by a further 1 billion pounds this year, seeing stronger growth prospects for smaller businesses as Britain’s economic recovery takes hold. Lloyds’s p... More »
(Reuters) – Men’s Wearhouse Inc said it would acquire rival Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc for about $1.8 billion, ending a five-month saga that started with Jos. A. Bank offering to buy its larger menswear rival. The companies, operating in a mature market, have ... More »
TORONTO (Reuters) – A trickle of new investment into global miners has created a tidal wave of interest among hundreds of small mineral explorers desperate for cash, a Reuters survey shows, setting the stage for a competition to raise funds that some are sure ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Before attorney David Wasinger decided to take on two of the biggest global banks in federal court in New York, he had visited the city just twice: once when he was 6, and the second time on a tour bus with his children. As the sole part... More »
(Reuters) – Contemporary women’s retailer Bebe Stores Inc (BEBE.O ) is exploring a potential sale and is reaching out to private equity firms, according to people familiar with the matter on Friday. The Brisbane, California-based company, known for its formfit... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – A cyber criminal ring targeting small retailers in 11 countries stole data on 49,000 payment cards using a malicious software known as “ChewBacca” before the operation was shut down, according to a cyber research firm. RSA FirstWatch disclos... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. online lender Western Sky Financial LLC has agreed to pay a $1.5 million penalty and provide refunds to New York borrowers on loans for which it charged interest rates as high as 355 percent, the New York attorney general said on Thur... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – When the corporate cash dam bursts, everything will be ok, right? Well, maybe. Investors betting that the past year of more than 20 percent gains in western stock markets can be echoed, or at least sustained, through 2014 have long assumed t... More »
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Offering a twist on the learn-from-anywhere convenience of Internet classes, a new university is asking freshmen to take a large leap of faith. Minerva Schools of KGI, a radically experimental university in San Francisco, is sifting t... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. small businesses increased their borrowing in November from a year ago, suggesting continued economic growth ahead even as the Federal Reserve begins to reduce its massive monetary stimulus. The Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending In... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Start-up companies will be able to raise much more capital through certain public stock deals without facing costly regulatory burdens under a proposal announced by U.S. securities regulators on Wednesday. The Securities and Exchange Com... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. small business sentiment bounced back from a seven-month low in November, with owners setting their sights on creating more jobs and expanding operations. The National Federation of Independent Business said on Tuesday its Small Bus... More »
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – At Pinterest, the four-year-old online bulletin board service that is valued near $3.8 billion, some 70 percent of the users are female. But the company’s board of directors is 100 percent male. Male-heavy boards dominate in the start... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. small businesses added jobs in November for the second straight month, bolstering the view that job gains across the economy were robust during the month. The Nashville-based National Federation of Independent Business said on Thurs... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. small businesses boosted borrowing in October to its highest level in over six years, an index showed on Tuesday, fresh evidence that the budget battle that shut the federal government for 16 days did little to derail underlying economic growt... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration on Wednesday postponed online health insurance enrollment for small businesses under Obamacare for one year, a move quickly seized upon by critics as proof the healthcare reform law should be delayed or replaced.... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The author of a report that criticizes Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS.L ) dealings with small businesses had lodged a complaint about the way his own business was treated by the British bank, a colleague of his told Reuters on Monday. Lawrenc... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L ) has appointed law firm Clifford Chance to conduct an inquiry into the treatment received by small business customers in financial distress, responding to suggestions it closed down viable businesses too quickl... More »
SHANGHAI/WENZHOU, China (Reuters) – Beijing’s strategy to reroute money away from state-owned giants towards smaller firms to help fuel the economic transformation behind its reform plans is less of a success than it may seem on the surface. Lending has increa... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – New media websites from BuzzFeed to Business Insider are on a roll lately, showered with dollars from venture capitalists betting that they will crack an advertising market that has stymied traditional media companies. With their mix of to... More »
HELSINKI (Reuters) – Riding a wave of euphoria surrounding the success of Finnish mobile game maker Supercell, venture capital firms are chasing after European tech start-ups in search of the next big thing. Japanese tech and telecoms group SoftBank’s 51 perce... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – Alibaba Group Holdings has secured approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) to act as a third party for the online sale of fund products, local media group Caixin reported on its website. The fund products will soon b... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N ) ranked first in a small business customer satisfaction survey in three of four regions of the United States, a sharp improvement from 20th place nationally two years ago, research firm J.D. Power and said on We... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – With 100 million people logging on every day for a fix of its games like Candy Crush Saga, global gamemaker King is showing rivals not just how to hook players, but how to get them to pay. King is the latest among European tech firms like... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government on Thursday announced new delays in rolling out President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform, saying small business and Spanish-language health insurance enrollment services would not begin on October 1 as planned. The ... More »
DETROIT (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co has bought a five-year-old software company for less than $10 million in a move the No. 2 U.S. automaker hopes will beef up its in-car connectivity that is critical to winning over younger, more affluent buyers. The acquisitio... More »
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Entrepreneur Nicole O’Rourke has a novel idea for raising cash that would have been illegal until this week: smacking a “fund me” sticker on every bottle or can of hair products from her start-up business, Rock Your Hair. O’Rourke is ... More »
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Minerva Schools of KGI doesn’t yet have accreditation, a campus or even a full faculty roster, but it is offering something even Harvard can’t – four years of free tuition for its first matriculating class. The San Francisco-based Min... More »
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – When asked to name the most notable rags-to-riches entrepreneur that his firm has funded, venture capitalist Ben Horowitz doesn’t hesitate: Christian Gheorghe, a Romanian immigrant who came to the United States without speaking Englis... More »
SINGAPORE/BANGKOK (Reuters) – Faced with rising living costs and unable to wait until pay day, growing numbers of Southeast Asians are putting their gold jewelry and designer watches in hock, creating a boom in pawnshops across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand an... More »
(Reuters) – Campbell Soup Co (CPB.N ), the world’s largest soup maker, reported quarterly revenue that fell short of analysts’ expectations as sales in its core U.S. soup business slowed, sending its shares down 3 percent. Under a turnaround effort led by Chie... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s cabinet has unveiled plans to set up more private banks to boost financial support for cash-starved smaller firms, in the latest bid to bolster the slowing economy. “We will actively develop small-sized financial institutions and op... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Christine Jensen has two adult daughters in their 30s, and they like to tease their mother about the amount of time she spends on Facebook. “They aren’t on it nearly as much as I am,” says Jensen, 58, who joined Facebook about three years a... More »
(Reuters) – J.C. Penney Co Inc (JCP.N ) said on Thursday that commercial lender CIT Group Inc (CIT.N ) continued to support deliveries from suppliers, and claimed reports to the contrary were untrue. The retailer added it had plenty of cash on hand and all maj... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and AARP usually can be found on opposite ends of the ideological spectrum when it comes to retirement policy. The two Washington advocacy powerhouses have often been at loggerheads on key policy fights, such as... More »
(Reuters) – The tightened credit terms now being offered by CIT Group Inc (CIT.N ) to small vendors supplying J.C. Penney Co Inc (JCP.N ) only affects future shipments, a source familiar with the situation said on Wednesday. The commercial lender and J.C. Penn... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Commercial lender CIT Group (CIT.N ) abruptly stopped funding some future shipments to J.C. Penney Co (JCP.N ), a source familiar with the situation said Wednesday, in a move that could disrupt the retailer’s holiday shipments and hamper s... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Commercial lender CIT Group Inc (CIT.N ) abruptly stopped funding some future shipments to struggling retailer J.C. Penney Co Inc (JCP.N ), just months before the all-important holiday season, a source familiar with the situation said on W... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Welder Mark Moynihan crawled down a narrow tube into a space the size of a car interior to seal the crack in the fermentation tank at Calhoun’s Bar-B-Q & Brewery in Knoxville, Tennessee. The space was oversaturated with oxygen. He lit his ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Small business optimism fell in June from its one-year high as an uncertain recovery continues to unfold. The National Federation of Independent Business said on Tuesday its Small Business Optimism Index decreased 0.9 point to 93.5 last ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) (RBS.L ) has commissioned a review of its lending to small businesses, responding to concerns of a shortage of finance in a sector seen as vital to Britain’s economic revival. Britain’s government and central ban... More »
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Institutional investors are tripping over themselves to buy so-called peer-to-peer loans offered by a new breed of Internet lending companies, a development that could transform the nascent sector into significant player in the credit... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) (RBS.L ) has commissioned a review of its lending to small businesses, responding to concerns of a shortage of finance in a sector seen as vital to Britain’s economic revival. The government-controlled bank, Brit... More »
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A few years ago, renting out a spare room via the lodging website Airbnb bordered on daring. Now, in thousands of cities around the world, it seems almost conventional. But as the founders of the emerging category of “sharing economy”... More »
DETROIT (Reuters) – A new company hopes to make the car-buying process easier for consumers and more efficient for dealers by bringing cars to buyers for test drives, avoiding the need to spend hours at a dealership. With car sales people ranked below members ... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – France trimmed tax breaks and other advantages for small entrepreneurs on Wednesday, saying the benefits introduced under former President Nicolas Sarkozy had failed to help business start-ups and were open to abuse. But Francois Hollande’s S... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Small business optimism rose to a one year-high in May, a hopeful sign for an economy that has hit a soft patch. The National Federation of Independent Business said on Tuesday its Small Business Optimism Index increased 2.3 points to 94... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Small businesses cut back on staff slightly in May, the first decline in six months and a sign of weakness in the job market recovery. The National Federation of Independent Business said on Wednesday employment shrank by 0.04 workers pe... More »
(Reuters) – International Business Machines said on Tuesday it would acquire Web hosting company SoftLayer Technologies and create a new division for clients interested in so-called cloud services, a move to better compete with larger rivals in the space. Exec... More »
HAY-ON-WYE, Wales (Reuters) – Prices of the rarest books are rising as the Internet drives the trade off dusty shelves and into the digital age, a leading expert said this weekend. Matthew Haley, head of the books, manuscripts and photographs department at auc... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Self-employed French workers angered by plans to restrict their special tax status are urging supporters to sign up as unemployed and inflate already record-high jobless figures. The plan, by a spin-off of an online protest group called “The ... More »
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – While many healthcare startups are hoping the new healthcare law going into effect next year will help drive more business their way, dental network Brighter believes being left out of the law will help it more. Dental services for ad... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – When Roger Simmermaker went shopping for clothes at a Florida mall in the mid-1990s, he wanted to buy American, but to his frustration, he couldn’t find anything made in the U.S.A. The experience motivated Simmermaker, an electronics techn... More »
DETROIT (Reuters) – Dan Gilbert has a vision for downtown Detroit that many would find hard to square with the long, painful decline commonly associated with this city: a vibrant urban core full of creative, innovative and talented young people. Yet Quicken Lo... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell last week and a trend reading hit a near five-year low, signs a grinding recovery in the labor market remains on track. Other reports on Thursday showed many top U.S. re... More »
WASHINGTON/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The medical marijuana shop next to a tattoo parlor on a busy street in Los Angeles looks much like hundreds of other pot dispensaries that dot the city. Except for one thing: On the glass door – under a green cross signaling ... More »
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – San Francisco-based entrepreneur Garrett Johnson is usually too busy with his messaging start-up for much travel, but one issue has inspired him to cross the country: immigration reform. On February 5, he and a dozen other entrepreneu... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – When mother of three Angela Allyn takes to Facebook, it’s usually not to post pictures of her latest party, but to drum up business for her entrepreneurial teenage son, Alec. “Teenage boy available for schlepping, sitting and various cleanu... More »
