CNN – Business/Consumer

By Parija Kavilanz, CNN New York (CNN) — Adults bought more toys for themselves than for any other age group last quarter for the first time ever, surpassing toys for even the historically-dominant preschooler market. Consumers 18 years of age and up spent $1.5 billion in toy-related purchases in the period from January through April,

By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN (CNN) — Kia is warning owners of almost 463,000 of its popular Telluride SUVs in the United States to keep them parked outside and away from buildings because the front seats could start burning. Seat control switches on the front power seats of the SUVs can become misaligned and stuck if

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN New York (CNN) — Friday marks the last day of Melinda French Gates’ more than two-decade run as the co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation she ran with her ex-husband. “I’m holding a complicated mix of emotions today,” she wrote in a letter to staff posted on her X

By Alicia Wallace, CNN (CNN) — At a time when Americans and the Federal Reserve are clamoring for clear-cut data about the state of the economy, Friday’s jobs report was much more opaque than everyone had hoped. While “it’s hard not to like a lot of jobs,” as economist Dean Baker told CNN, other contents of the May jobs report add to the

By Jordan Valinsky and Emily Smith, CNN New York (CNN) — It’s National Doughnut Day, and there are a ton of sweet deals. For businesses, it’s an easy way to cash in. Fast food historically has been a low-profit business with little customer loyalty. So, chains unveil big giveaways, typically tied to their mobile apps,

By Issy Ronald, CNN London (CNN) — IKEA has put a new spin on remote working, seeking 10 real-life staff to work in its Roblox virtual store that opens on June 24 and becoming the first brand to offer paid work on the gaming platform. “This is not the typical IKEA job,” the Swedish flatpack

By Wayne Chang, Will Ripley and John Mees, CNN Taipei, Taiwan (CNN) — When Nvidia surpassed Apple this week to become America’s second most valuable company, its CEO Jensen Huang was being feted like a rockstar in his birthplace Taiwan. Wearing his signature black leather jacket, Huang spoke Sunday at a packed stadium in the

CNN By Wayne Chang, Will Ripley and John Mees, CNN Taipei, Taiwan (CNN) — When Nvidia surpassed Apple this week to become America’s second most valuable company, its CEO Jensen Huang was being feted like a rockstar in his birthplace Taiwan. Wearing his signature black leather jacket, Huang spoke Sunday at a packed stadium in

By Alicia Wallace, CNN (CNN) — US job growth shot much higher than expected in May, jumping to 272,000, while the nation’s jobless rate rose slightly and broke a 27-month streak of below-4% unemployment. At a time when Americans and the Federal Reserve are clamoring for clear-cut data about the state and trajectory of the

By Laura He, CNN Hong Kong (CNN) — As profit margins get squeezed, temperatures are rising in the world’s biggest car market. A tense exchange between two major Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers in recent days highlights the pressures they face as a price war in the industry intensifies. It all started on Saturday, when

By Hilary Whiteman, CNN (CNN) — Netflix said on Friday it will fight a multimillion-dollar claim for damages brought by a Scottish woman who alleges she was defamed by the global hit show “Baby Reindeer.” Fiona Harvey is seeking a jury trial and damages totaling $170 million for “mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life

By Yoonjung Seo and Diksha Madhok, CNN Seoul (CNN) — A labor union at Samsung Electronics in South Korea said many workers went on strike Friday, marking the first such walkout in the smartphone and chipmaking giant’s 55-year history. The Nationwide Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) said last week that its 28,000 members — just under

By Oliver Darcy, CNN (CNN) — Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Thursday moved to liquidate his personal assets, agreeing to demands from the families of Sandy Hook victims whom he owes more than $1.5 billion in damages over his lies about the 2012 school massacre. The seismic move paves the way for a future

By Jon Passantino, Oliver Darcy and Hadas Gold, CNN (CNN) — William Lewis, the new publisher and chief executive of The Washington Post, reportedly tried to kill a story about his alleged involvement in a UK phone hacking scandal coverup, offering an NPR reporter an interview in exchange for squashing the forthcoming article. The decade-old UK scandal that engulfed

By Parija Kavilanz, CNN New York (CNN) — American households want the biggest bang for their buck right now when they pull their wallets out to shop. That doesn’t mean they want something cheap all the time. They’ve been paying more for goods and services for a while because of higher inflation that stubbornly stuck

By Hadas Gold, CNN (CNN) — The Israeli government is seeking to extend its controversial ban on the Al Jazeera news network in the country, after a court upheld the ban but shortened it by 10 days. In May, Israel banned the Qatari-based news network from operating in the country for 45 days under a sweeping new wartime law that allows the Israeli government to ban foreign media

By David Goldman, CNN (CNN) — Rachel Smolkin, a veteran media executive who leads CNN’s global digital news, is departing the network to become the next president and CEO of Oregon Public Broadcasting. OPB called Smolkin a forward-thinking journalist and a strong business strategist who can help lead the 100-year-old public media organization through a