CNN – Business/Consumer

By Ben Westcott, CNN Business Billionaire Sun Dawu, a vocal critic of the Chinese government, was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Wednesday for “picking quarrels and provoking troubles,” according to an official statement posted by the court. Sun was arrested in March this year. His company, Hebei Dawu Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Group,

By Frank Pallotta, CNN Business Disney World and Disneyland, the two crown jewels of Disney’s parks unit, will again require masks indoors. The company announced on Wednesday that it was adapting its health and safety guidelines based on “guidance from health and government officials.” The resorts — which are located in Orlando, Florida and Anaheim,

By Andy Rose, CNN Business Infomercial king Ron Popeil died “suddenly and peacefully” Wednesday at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to a statement provided to CNN by Popeil representative Eric Ortner. He was 86. Popeil started his sales career in Chicago-area flea markets at the age of 16, according to his official

By Matt Egan, CNN Business Robinhood’s highly-anticipated debut on Wall Street is getting off to a rough start. The fast-growing trading company failed to raise as much money as it had hoped. Robinhood’s initial public offering priced at $38 a share, the low end of the expected range. That suggests demand for the controversial company

By Alexis Benveniste, CNN Business Corporate America is getting serious about vaccines. In the last week, companies from Disney to Walmart to Google have begun mandating their employees get shots to protect against Covid-19. Even famed restaurateur Danny Meyer said it’s not just his employees who must be vaccinated: He won’t serve customers in his

By Chris Isidore, CNN Business Ford overcame the effects of the chip shortage to post a narrow profit in the second quarter, and said it expects much better times in the second half of this year. Ford earned net income of $561 million in the quarter, about half of what it earned a year earlier

By Danielle Wiener-Bronner, CNN Business Coffee prices are surging. But that won’t make a difference in how much you spend on a cup of joe at Starbucks. Higher input costs have been prompting companies across industries to charge their customers more. Household furnishings are more expensive. Cereal boxes are shrinking while prices stay the same

By Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN Business Stores are re-evaluating their mask policies after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated guidance Tuesday to recommend that fully vaccinated people wear masks indoors in areas with high transmission of Covid-19, which includes nearly two-thirds of all US counties. The CDC’s new guidance was in response to

By Parija Kavilanz, CNN Business You can now add toys to the growing list of products that global supply chain woes have made more expensive to produce. Toymaker Mattel whose brands include Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price and American Girl, said in an earnings conference call on Tuesday that it is raising prices in the second

By Anneken Tappe, CNN Business The Federal Reserve left interest rates and monetary policy unchanged on Wednesday, pointing to the nation’s as yet incomplete economic recovery. “The path of the economy continues to depend on the course of the virus,” the central bank said in a statement. While vaccinations are helping to limit the virus

By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN Business Most employers have not outright mandated Covid vaccines as a condition of employment for their current staff … at least not yet. Instead, many have “strongly encouraged” employees to get vaccinated and, in some cases, incentivized them with things like cash or more time off. But given the precipitous rise

By Chauncey Alcorn, CNN Business Simone Biles’ sponsors offered statements of support Wednesday following her decision to pull out of Thursday’s individual, all-around gymnastics competition at the Tokyo Olympics. The 24-year-old champion cited mental health concerns as the reason for her earlier withdrawal from Tuesday’s team competition during interviews with reporters in Tokyo. Biles may

Opinion by Rosabeth Moss Kanter for CNN Business Perspectives As the economy continues to reopen, labor market turbulence is on the rise. Workers are leaving their jobs in favor of new careers or locations, and some aren’t going back to work at all, leaving critical jobs unfilled. To deal with labor shortages, employers must go

By Moira Ritter, CNN Business New car inventories, strained for months by a global semiconductor shortage and supply chain disruptions, aren’t expected to begin recovering until September -— and will remain well below their pre-pandemic levels through next year, according to Goldman Sachs. Automakers in recent weeks have sharply revised down their production schedules as

By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN Business Pat Shozo has been trying to buy a used car for his son who’s going to attend college in the fall. But after looking for more than three months, Shozo, who lives near Los Angeles, said he’s ready to give up. “Everything’s so inflated,” he said. “It’s actually absurd.” Prices

By Alexis Benveniste, CNN Business Restaurant menus got a makeover thanks to Covid: Now, placing your order means simply whipping out your phone and scanning a Quick Response code. QR codes are all the rage now, but the technology behind them is hardly new. They were invented in Japan in the 1990s as a sort