Support the fact-based journalism you rely on with a donation to Marketplace today. Give Now!

Employee stock ownership plans may perk up productivity

Dec 10, 2018
Nearly 7,000 businesses in the U.S. have employee stock ownership plans or ESOPs.
Great Lakes Brewing in Cleveland, Ohio recently decided to give employees stock in the company.
Erik Drost/Flickr

How Lyft's IPO could challenge Uber's dominance abroad

Dec 6, 2018
Uber’s valuation still dwarfs Lyft’s, as both companies prepare to go public in 2019.
A Lyft driver is waiting for a ride in the city on Feb. 3, 2016 in San Francisco, California. 
Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Lyft

Microsoft claws its way back to the top. How did it do that?

Nov 28, 2018
We don’t really talk about Microsoft in the same breath as Apple, Amazon or Facebook these days. Maybe we should. Over the last couple of days, Microsoft has been taking turns with Apple as the world’s most valuable public company. The last time Microsoft held that position was 2003. Microsoft once dominated the tech world […]

GM pursues winning skill set with big layoffs

Nov 26, 2018
General Motors is shutting down production of some of its less-profitable vehicles, closing some plants and cutting an estimated 14,000 jobs. It will double its investment in autonomous and electric cars in the next two years in an effort to get ahead of major changes in the automotive landscape in America.  Click the audio player […]
A sign is viewed at the General Motors Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly as they announced the closing of multiple facilities including this one on November 26, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan.
JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP/Getty Images

Target's investments in online shopping are paying off

Nov 26, 2018
Target missed earnings expectations for the third quarter, yet the company is maintaining its forecast for the whole year. The reason? The retailer’s investments in its online segment are weighing down on its profit margins, but those investments are getting some traction as online sales jumped 49 percent in the latest quarter. Click the audio […]

The origin of the holiday half day of trading on Wall Street

Nov 23, 2018
Federal law prohibits markets from being closed more than three consecutive days.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Cryptocurrencies' collapse follows 2017 run, regulation threats

Nov 20, 2018
Down from its 1,400 percent rise in 2017, bitcoin is now trading at less than $5,000 — a sharp decline for what some once hoped was a new and promising asset that could excite institutional investors. Instead, many traders were just trying to make a quick buck. Click the audio player above to hear the […]
In this photo illustration a visual representation of the digital currency Bitcoin sinks into water. 
Photo Illustration by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

When Apple suffers, the pain is spread around

Nov 19, 2018
Shares of Apple took a hit Monday, declining 4 percent after the Wall Street Journal reported Apple has cut production orders in recent weeks for all three iPhone models launched earlier this year. When Apple runs into trouble, it tends to be a drag on many other companies and the market as a whole. Click the […]

Home Depot still doing well despite cooling housing market

Nov 13, 2018
Despite signs of a cooling housing market, the home improvement giant turned in a $2.9 billion profit for the third quarter.
A sign is posted in front of a Home Depot store on Aug. 14, 2018 in El Cerrito, California.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

SoftBank is taking its mobile division public. But what is SoftBank?

Nov 12, 2018
SoftBank Group Corp., the massive Japanese holding company, is planning to take its mobile division public. The company is trying to raise $21 billion in its IPO, and it’ll list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in December. You may not have heard of SoftBank, but it has a hand in a lot of our consumer technologies […]
Softbank group CEO Masayoshi Son delivers a speech during his company's financial results press conference at a hotel in Tokyo on Nov. 5, 2018.
TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images