• An offer by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin to cover NASA costs of an astronaut lunar lander increased from $2 billion to upwards of $3 billion
• Bob Smith, the CEO of Blue Origin said that the company would “add valuable competition” and help in covering NASA’s “budget and funding shortfall” for the program that led to the agency selecting just one company for the HLS contract

Roblox and Nike strike deal to create virtual world called “Nikeland”

• On November 18, Nike announced that it is partnering with Roblox to create a virtual world called “Nikeland” on Roblox’s gaming platform online
• In this virtual gaming space, it will include Nike buildings, fields, and arenas for players to compete in multiple mini-games
• The company eventually plans to integrate in-play moments that emulate global sporting event

Amazon and Starbucks open chashierless coffee shop showcasing new technology

• In midtown Manhattan, New York, Starbucks is opening a pick-up cafe with Amazon that utilizes cashierless technology
• The first Starbucks Pickup with Amazon Go location opens Thursday in New York City on 59th Street, between Park and Lexington Avenues, with a flag outside waving both companies’ logos
• Amazon’s technology allows customers to leave without seeing a cashier and scales, cameras and shelf sensors tally up customers’ totals and charge them when they leave 

GlobalFoundries and Ford partner to increase supply of chips for vehicle production

• Included in Ford’s plans to inrease its short- and long-term supply of semiconductor chips, the company has announced a new partnership with GlobalFoundries
• This may eventually result in new chip designs specifically for Ford and an increase in the domestic production and supply of chips for the overall automotive industry

CVS plans to close 900 stores in transition to its “digital strategy”

• On November 18, CVS Health said that it will close about 900 stores over the next 3 years as it transitions to better serving online shoppers
• The chain has said that it will focus more of its funding towards digital growth and transitioning its stores into a sort of department store for health-care products
• According to CVS, store closures will begin in the spring of 2022

Ford CEO says EV production to increase to 600,000 by 2023

• According to Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford, the company plans to increase production capacity of its electric vehicles to 600,000 vehicles
• Farley expects this mode to make Ford the second-largest US based EV manufacturer in the world, behind tesla
• Ford’s first three new Electric vehicles are currently the Mustang Mach-E, E-Transit, and F-150 Lightning

The post Business News – 11-18-2021 appeared first on Easy Ad - Local Small Business Resources.

• On November 3, Democratic lawmakers unveiled their new social spending and climate provision that increases the EV tax credit of up to $12,500 for higher prices vehicles
• According to this new update, vans, SUVs, and trucks prices up to $80,000 will be eligible for the full tax credit

Kroger to use automated robots to get groceries to customers

• With the help of UK based company Ocado, Kroger is opening automated warehouses across the United States
• According to Kroger, the robots will help to retrieve bags of items like fruit, meat, and more to speed up the fulfillment of customers’ grocery orders
• Once the groceries are gathered for an order, Korger will have their fleet of delivery drivers drop off the bagged groceries to the customer

NASA wins lawsuit against Blue Origin over SpaceX lunar Lander contract

• According to the US Court of Federal Claims, Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin lost against NASA over $2.9 billion lunar lander contract awarded to SpaceX
• In a statement in defense of Blue Origin, its spokesperson said that the company’s lawsuit “highlighted the important safety issues with the Human Landing system procurement process that must still be addressed’

WHO says that Europe is the center of the COVID-19 pandemic once again

• According to the World Health Organization, Europe is facing another spike in COVID-19 cases
• The WHO has two main reasons for Europe’s soaring case numbers which are low vaccination coverage and less strict public health and social measures

Google invests $1 billion into CME, as both sign cloud deal

• Two large tech companies CME Group Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google have made a deal to move Google’s core trading systems to the cloud
• Google will invest a total of $1 billion into this project 

The post Business News – 11-04-2021 appeared first on Easy Ad - Local Small Business Resources.

• Jeff Bezos, the founder of Blue Origin, has offered to give NASA $2 billion to cover their costs in exchange for a contract to construct a “lunar lander” to land astronauts on the moon
• Back in April, NASA has awarded SpaceX with a $2.89 billion contract to build the next crewed “lunar lander under their Human Landing Systems Program

New home sales drop to pandemic low and possibly marks end of housing boom

• The annualized sale rate of single family homes of 676,000 is 6.6% lower than May’s rate of 724,000 and 19.4% lower than June 2020 level of 839,000
• From June 2020 to June 2021, the median price of a newly built home increased by 6%

The post Business News – 07-26-2021 appeared first on Easy Ad - Local Small Business Resources.

• Stitch Fix shares have risen today (Monday) and this has been driven by consumers looking to add to their wardrobes for this month of June
• For the full year, the company raised its revenue after its previous lowering because of the Covid pandemic
• In regards to what the loss per share was for May, it was 18 cents versus 27 cents expected and their total revenue was $535.6 million versus $511 million expected

• This Thursday, Kroger will be holding a hiring event to fill 10,000 jobs across their chain-grocery brand
• In regards to the positions to be available, the grocer’s retail, e commerce, pharmacy, manufacturing, and logistical operations segments will be the main focus
• Kroger has also announced its plans to raise their average worker wage in March after other criticism revolving around the company lowering them in the pandemic

• The CEO of Biogen, Michel Vounatsos has told CNBC today (Monday) that the list price of $56,000 a year for his company’s Alzheimer’s disease drug is fair 
• Along with this, the CEO has also announced that the company will not increase prices for the drug for at least 4 years

• The US is now reporting an average of about 14,500 for the daily infection rate over this past week
• An approximation of about 960,000 vaccinations have been reported to be administered each day across the country 
• More than ½ of Americans have received at least partial progress in Covid vaccinations (1 dose at least) and 42 % are now fully vaccinated

• Blue Origin plans to launch the mission on July 20, the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing
• Bezos’ brother will join him, as will the winner of an auction being held for one of the seats

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