Microsoft Lets Merchants Update Store Names and Domains in Merchant Center
Microsoft Advertising now lets e‑commerce merchants edit their Merchant Center store name and domain directly, removing the need for support tickets. Store‑name changes undergo editorial review while existing ads keep running, and domain updates require ownership verification before activation. The self‑serve feature maintains ad continuity during transitions and permits reuse of cleared names or domains. Overall, the update gives advertisers more autonomy while preserving safeguards against abuse.
Attacks on Mideast Aluminum Plants Threaten Supply Crisis
Iranian drones and missiles struck the Emirates Global Aluminium plant in Abu Dhabi and Aluminium Bahrain, causing significant damage to two of the Middle East’s largest aluminum smelters. The attacks sent LME aluminum futures up 6% to $3,401 per ton...
Manulife Selling TCW Tower To LA Water And Power For $93M
Manulife US REIT is selling the 35‑story TCW Tower in downtown Los Angeles to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power for $92.5 million, roughly $129 per square foot. The 719,000‑sq‑ft office building was only 46% occupied at the end of 2025,...
Harvard Returns to Market with a $675 Million Bond Sale
Harvard University is pricing a $675 million tranche of unsecured general‑obligation revenue bonds, rated Aaa by Moody’s and AAA by S&P. The proceeds will fund campus construction, refinance 2016 bonds and repay commercial paper. The sale comes amid ongoing federal lawsuits,...
Hopper’s Tech Will Power RBC’s Travel Reward Program
Hopper’s B2B arm, Hopper Technology Solutions, has secured a long‑term partnership with the Royal Bank of Canada to run the Avion Rewards Travel platform, replacing Expedia. The agreement is expected to lift Hopper’s annual revenue by hundreds of millions of...
Mevo Raises $18M Round Led by Prosus
Brazilian digital prescription platform Mevo secured an $18 million funding round led by Prosus, with participation from Matrix, Jefferson River Capital and Floating Point. The capital will fund expansion of exam‑scheduling tools, patient‑support program integration, and growth of its online pharmacy...
Jeffrey Sherman: Oil Price Causing Its Own Rate Hike | CNBC
Jeffrey Sherman of DoubleLine told CNBC that soaring oil prices are effectively creating a self‑inflicted rate hike, urging the Federal Reserve to look beyond commodity‑driven inflation and focus on labor‑market dynamics. He cautioned against aggressive cuts to the federal‑funds rate,...
The Guardian View on Trump’s Iran War: Escalation without End | Editorial
The Guardian editorial warns that Donald Trump’s fifth week of war against Iran lacks a coherent strategy, with U.S. strikes and Iranian missile attacks creating a stalemate. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has driven oil prices above $80...
The Broker Offers You Quick Pay and It Sounds Like Free Money. Read This Before You Take It.
Freight brokers offer quick‑pay programs that accelerate payment within 24‑72 hours for a fee of roughly 1.5%‑5% of the load value. In contrast, freight factoring sells unpaid invoices to a third‑party for a fee typically between 1%‑5%, often lower for...
Retail Media’s Measurement Problem Is A Trust Problem – And Incrementality Is The Way Forward
Retail media spending is surging, yet marketers struggle to prove true performance because attribution models often credit sales that would have happened anyway. The industry’s fragmented measurement standards make cross‑platform comparison unreliable. Incrementality—measuring the causal lift of ads—offers a clearer...
Invences Empowers Small Businesses With Smart Telecom Networks
Invences, founded in 2023 by telecom veteran Bhaskara Rallabandi, delivers autonomous, low‑cost private 5G/6G networks for small businesses, farms, factories and universities, especially in underserved areas. The Texas‑based startup leverages Open RAN, virtualized RAN, digital twins and agentic AI to...
Executive Decision-Making Demands a Different Kind of Discipline. Here’s What That Looks Like in Practice.
Senior executives are increasingly removed from day‑to‑day operations, forcing them to make high‑impact decisions with limited visibility. The article argues that decision‑making must be treated as a disciplined practice built on transparent systems, rhythm‑based reviews, and protected cognitive bandwidth. It...
Guess Drops Second Campaign with Hyunjin
Guess unveiled the second wave of its Spring/Summer 2026 global campaign, starring Hyunjin of K‑pop group Stray Kids. The Los Angeles‑based denim label is using the partnership to inject a bolder, more expressive energy into its heritage denim line. A Korea‑led creative...
Red Sea AWRP up After Houthi Attack on Israel
War risk premiums in the Red Sea have risen following a Houthi missile strike on Israel, lifting the additional war risk premium (AWRP) to roughly 0.65‑0.75% of hull and machinery value. Insurers note that a portion of the charge—25‑50%—may be...
The Costco Hot Dog Themed Bourbon Customers Are Buying Just For The Label
Costco partnered with Rare Character to release a limited‑edition, hot‑dog‑themed bourbon priced at $85.99. The single‑barrel, 11‑year‑old whiskey appeared in a Washington, D.C. store and sold out within 24 hours, driven largely by the novelty label rather than the spirit...
Flush With Cash, Universal Music Announces Share Buyback Plan
Universal Music Group announced a €500 million (≈ $575 million) share‑buyback, its first ever, signaling confidence in its strategy and long‑term growth. The programme follows a strong Q4 performance, with revenues of €3.605 billion (≈ $4.19 billion) and adjusted EBITDA of €810 million (≈ $942 million). Shares jumped over...
People News: GPA, CSX, CPKC, Northern Plains Railroad
Gateway Terminals Savannah named Bryan Blalock as its new President, effective April 13, 2026, while current President Kevin Price will move to a GPA-wide leadership role on July 1. CSX Technical Director Judy Covington‑Poole was honored as Woman of the...
Reddit Pro Opens to All Publishers, Adds New Features in Public Beta
Reddit has opened its Pro publishing tools to all publishers, ending the waitlist and launching a free public beta. The platform now offers features such as AI‑powered community recommendations, RSS auto‑import, community snapshots, and profile flairs. Early testers reported a...
Looney Tunes ‘Rabbit Season’ Month Launches April 1
Warner Bros. Discovery has kicked off a month‑long "Rabbit Season" Looney Tunes spring campaign on April 1, featuring Bugs Bunny across gaming, streaming, retail and live events. The initiative introduces Bugs Bunny to Fortnite with exclusive skins and accessories, while also reviving classic content through a...
ScaleOps Raises $130M Series C at Over $800M Valuation to Lead the Future of Autonomous Cloud and AI Infrastructure Resource...
ScaleOps announced a $130 million Series C round that values the company at over $800 million, led by Insight Partners and joined by existing backers. The funding brings total capital raised to more than $210 million as the firm scales its autonomous cloud and...
Raising Cane's Once Tried To Hire 10,000 Employees In 50 Days
Raising Cane's launched an aggressive hiring campaign in 2021, aiming to add 10,000 employees in 50 days to support its 2022 expansion. By redeploying corporate staff to front‑line roles and offering incentives, the chain hired 53,000 new crew members in...
UK: Balancing Protected Beliefs
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has sent the Ngole case back to the Employment Tribunal, highlighting the fine line between protecting a worker’s religious belief and responding to how that belief is expressed. The case stems from a mental‑health charity...
PAGA Reform Is Here To Stay, Hybrid Work Not Going Away, and Other New Labor/Employment Issues Coming Your Way
Littler’s Sacramento Spring Breakfast Briefing on May 20, 2026 will examine the latest labor and employment developments affecting California employers. The agenda spotlights the two‑year anniversary of the revised Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), a deep dive into hybrid‑remote work challenges, and...
Software Obsolescence Risk Menaces CLO Market
A looming debt maturity wall is hitting AI‑focused software firms, prompting borrowers to sell debt amid fears of product obsolescence. Bank of America warns that 2026‑2027 loan maturities could trigger self‑fulfilling defaults, pressuring CLO managers to shy away from refinancings....
CFPB Seeks Comment on Reinstating Mortgage Advertising and Land Sales Information Collections
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has opened a public comment period to reinstate two information collections: the Mortgage Acts and Practices—Advertising (Regulation N) and the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act (Regulations J, K, and L). Regulation N requires lenders and advertisers to retain mortgage...
India Must Pursue Value-Driven Critical Minerals Diplomacy in Africa
The recent Strait of Hormuz disruption highlighted India’s vulnerability to energy chokepoints and underscored the need for a resilient critical‑minerals supply chain. A forthcoming CSEP paper proposes a value‑driven diplomacy with Africa, focusing on Zambia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania to secure...
Potential Employment Red Flags for Mergers and Acquisitions
During M&A due‑diligence, employment practices often surface as hidden liabilities. Common red flags include FLSA misclassifications, unusually high workers‑comp experience modifiers, clusters of employee litigation, ambiguous bonus structures, outdated handbooks, and poorly drafted executive contracts. These issues can delay negotiations,...
Google: Pages Are Getting Larger & It Still Matters via @Sejournal, @MattGSouthern
Google’s Gary Illyes and Martin Splitt discussed the rapid growth of page size on the Search Off the Record podcast, citing the 2025 Web Almanac which shows median mobile homepages have tripled from 845 KB in 2015 to about 2.36 MB today....
This Skincare Founder Changed the Rules—Now Her Brand Is One of the Biggest in the Industry
Priscilla Tsai, a Wharton‑trained former J.P. Morgan analyst, founded clean‑beauty brand Cocokind in 2014 after battling hormonal acne. Leveraging a community‑first approach, she built the brand through transparent social media engagement and secured national retail placements at Target (2019) and Ulta (2022)....
Insurance Assurance: A Strong Use Of Spot TV For A Key Category
The latest Spot Ten report from Media Monitors shows that two auto‑insurance specialists and a leading accident‑attorney firm are maintaining strong commitments to spot TV advertising. These brands continue to allocate significant budgets to local television spots, reinforcing the medium’s...
Dresses for Rent: Hawke’s Bay Mother Builds a Business From Her Wardrobe to Stay Home with Her Baby
Nina Woodham, a Havelock North mother, launched Dress NZ, a home‑based dress‑rental service, using her own wardrobe as seed inventory. Within a year she expanded from 10 to about 60 dresses, each rented for roughly $36 USD with delivery included. The business...
Why Most Referral Programs Don’t Work — and How to Build One That Does
Most small and mid‑size businesses rely on referrals passively, lacking a structured system that turns word‑of‑mouth into a repeatable acquisition channel. The article outlines why typical programs fail—unclear asks, misaligned incentives, poor timing, cumbersome processes, and no feedback loop. It...
The $600 Million Asset Manager that Tracked a Startup for Three Years Before Investing $1.2 Million
BFA Asset Management, a $600 million spin‑off of Angola’s second‑largest bank, launched the Kimmo Fund to back mid‑market companies. The fund’s first deployment was a $5 million anchor from the sovereign wealth fund FSDEA into agri‑food processor FoodCare, followed by a $1.2 million...
Marijuana Farmer Turned Digital Sports Name Soars 922% In March
Urban‑gro, a controlled‑environment agriculture supplier for cannabis, merged with digital sports media firm Flash Sports & Media on February 17, creating Flash Sports & Media Holding. The combined entity secured international cricket broadcasting rights, prompting the stock to jump 416%...
Fed Chair Powell Sees No Threat of Private Credit 'Contagion,' Says Interest Rates Are in a 'Good Place'
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told a Harvard audience that private‑credit markets are experiencing a correction but pose no immediate contagion risk to the broader financial system. He said the Fed is closely monitoring any links to banks and finds...
Google Ads Editor Bug Links Structured Snippet Languages Across Accounts
Google Ads Editor has a bug that unintentionally links structured snippet extensions when they are copied between accounts. Changing the language setting in one account automatically propagates to the linked snippet in another account, even though the extensions appear separate....
Abu Dhabi Power Play: L’Imad Emerges As $300 Billion Sovereign Force
Abu Dhabi has merged its state‑owned fund ADQ into the newly created sovereign wealth fund L Imad, boosting the latter’s assets to roughly $300 billion. The consolidation places the fund under the direct supervision of Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohammed bin...
Porsche Turns To New CEO To Steer Through Missteps
Porsche appointed Michael Leiters as CEO on Jan. 1, ending Oliver Blume’s dual role with Volkswagen. The sports‑carmaker reported a 10% drop in 2025 deliveries, moving only 279,449 units – its steepest decline since 2009 – with China sales plunging 26%....
MBTA Invites Public Comment on Proposed FY27-31CIP
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority released its FY27‑31 Capital Investment Plan, a five‑year roadmap that earmarks roughly $10 billion for more than 680 capital projects. The plan groups spending into three pillars: regular maintenance, future‑focused modernization, and service improvements such as...
AIG’s Next Chapter: New CEO Faces Test Of Post-Revival Growth
Insurance giant AIG announced Eric Andersen as its interim president, set to assume the CEO role in June while current CEO Peter Zaffino transitions to executive chairman. Andersen, a former Aon strategic adviser with extensive brokerage experience, replaces John Neal...
Smashburger Named Official Smashburger of the Colorado Rockies for 2026 MLB Season
Smashburger announced it will serve as the Official Smashburger of the Colorado Rockies for the 2026 MLB season. The partnership includes a home‑run promotion that gives fans a free Single All‑American Smashburger or Americana Big Dog at participating Colorado locations...
Dr Martens Promotes Internally for UK General Manager Role
Dr. Martens appointed Nick Duff as its new UK General Manager in June 2024, after stints at Gant and Converse. The hire comes as the bootmaker restructures its EMEA operations, targeting a consumer‑first model and cutting costs. Dr. Martens reported...
Introducing Curated Packages: Commerce Creative + Audiences
Criteo unveiled Curated Packages, pairing deterministic, SKU‑level Commerce Audiences with dynamic, placement‑optimized creative through a single deal ID. The solution leverages real shopper behavior—product views, price checks, and purchase intent—to replace broad demographic targeting. In tests, a gaming console brand...
Fiscal Deficit Touches 80% of RE in April-February
India’s fiscal deficit for April‑February reached ₹12.5 lakh crore (≈ $151 billion), about 80 % of the revised estimate and lower than the ₹13.5 lakh crore (≈ $163 billion) recorded a year earlier. The shortfall represents 4.4 % of GDP, with the Finance Ministry targeting a 4.5 % ratio for FY26....
Florida Educator Tapped to Lead Fort Worth Schools Under Texas Takeover
Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath has named former Florida superintendent Peter B. Licata as the new leader of Fort Worth Independent School District, which is currently under state control. Licata, who briefly headed Broward County Public Schools, will oversee a...
Acquia Engage Denver 2026
Acquia Engage Denver 2026, the company’s North American flagship conference, will take place April 27‑28 at the Gaylord Rockies Resort. The two‑day event gathers digital leaders, marketers, and technical practitioners to explore AI‑driven digital strategies, platform innovations, and security‑focused ecosystems....
DRC and Canada Strengthen Trade and Investment Partnership
The Democratic Republic of Congo and Canada deepened their trade partnership during a WTO ministerial meeting, announcing plans for a joint DRC‑Canada Economic Forum. Both sides highlighted private‑sector collaboration to boost bilateral trade and diversify the DRC’s economy. Canada pledged...
Another Rocket Startup in India Hopes to Launch From Its Own Spaceport
Bharath Space Vehicle (BSV), an Indian rocket startup founded by former ISRO engineers, is developing the liquid‑fueled Agasthya‑1 small‑sat launch vehicle. The company has submitted a proposal for a private spaceport near Kodinar in Gujarat, a coastal site offering open...
Forrester B2B Summit North America Phoenix 2026
Forrester’s annual B2B Summit will convene senior revenue leaders in Phoenix from April 26‑29, 2026, focusing on AI‑driven go‑to‑market transformation. The event promises research‑backed frameworks to align marketing, sales, product, and customer‑success teams for measurable growth. Sessions cover unified GTM...
The OG of Private Credit: How We Got Here
Private credit, defined as tailored non‑bank loans, has grown from 1980s bank‑offloaded leveraged loans into a multi‑trillion‑dollar market. Specialized teams within banks and finance firms pioneered risk‑focused middle‑market lending, creating the foundation for today’s direct‑lending platforms. Recent coverage often paints...