6 Most Important Things in Business Today

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Mar 13, 3:30PM EDT · Published Aug 8, 5:00AM EDT

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6 Most Important Things in Business Today — © Courtesy of BMW

A plant in South Carolina laid off people, and management said tariffs were the cause. According to The Herald:

Beleaguered Fairfield County is losing another 126 jobs after TV-maker Element Electronics said Monday it will close its Winnsboro plant in response to tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.

BMW recalled 324,000 cars. According to MarketWatch:

BMW is recalling about 324,000 diesel vehicles in Europe related to a potential malfunction in the exhaust gas recirculation module, reports Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, citing the car maker. The malfunction can in rare cases cause fires, BMW said in a statement in its website.

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Elon Musk caused wild confusion about Tesla Inc.’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) future as a public company. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk jolted financial markets on Tuesday with a surprise proposal to take the electric-car maker private in what would be the biggest buyout in history.

About three hours into the trading day, Mr. Musk startled investors by writing on Twitter: “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.”

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) will press further into the streaming media business. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Robert Iger gave investors a preview of what he wants his company’s next chapter to be.

After several years of assuaging investors nervous about cord-cutting and competition from streaming giants such as Netflix Inc., Mr. Iger, on a conference call with Wall Street analysts Tuesday, focused on Disney’s high-stakes plan to fight back: the company’s own direct-to-consumer offerings and a pending $71.3 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox Inc.’s entertainment assets.

Whole Foods will get further into the grocery pickup business. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Whole Foods is introducing pickup points for online grocery orders, the latest change Amazon.com Inc. is introducing to compete against rival food retailers.

Grocery pickup is the first major new service introduced at Whole Foods stores since Amazon in May began slashing prices that Prime members pay there.

Stores with the service will have reserved parking spots for customers who have placed orders online. Whole Foods clerks will bring goods those customers have ordered directly to their cars.

Papa John’s International Inc.’s (NASDAQ: PZZA) revenue dropped in the most recent quarter. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Papa John’s International Inc. on Tuesday posted its third consecutive quarterly sales decline since founder John Schnatter made remarks last fall that the company said turned away the pizza chain’s customers.

Same-store sales in North America fell 6.1% in the second quarter, Papa John’s said Tuesday. Executives attributed the decline to “recent events” and reiterated that they are reviewing the company’s culture. Shares fell more than 10% to $36.83 in after-hours trading.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.