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Ireland’s Supreme Court has ruled that bread sold by the fast food chain Subway contains so much sugar that it cannot be legally defined as bread. The ruling came in a tax dispute brought by Bookfinders Ltd., an Irish Subway franchisee, which argued that some of its takeaway products — including teas, coffees and heated sandwiches — were not liable for value-added tax.
Walt Disney has announced it will lay off 28,000 employees, mostly at its US theme parks. Disney cited the parks’ limited visitor capacity and uncertainty about how long the coronavirus pandemic would last as reasons for the layoffs. The company’s theme parks have taken a major hit from the pandemic. Disney shut all its parks earlier this year as the virus spread.
A judge has blocked a US government attempt to ban the Chinese messaging and payments app, WeChat. US Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler said the ban raised serious questions related to the constitution’s first amendment, guaranteeing free speech. The Department of Commerce had announced a bar on WeChat appearing in US app stores from Sunday, effectively shutting it down.
Chipmaker Nvidia has agreed to buy Arm Holdings, a designer of chips for mobile phones, from SoftBank in a deal worth $40 billion, the companies announced Sunday. The deal will include $21.5 billion in Nvidia stock and $12 billion in cash, including $2 billion payable at signing. Softbank acquired Arm in 2016 for $31.4 billion in 2016 in one of its largest acquisitions ever.
After days of whiplash over the future of TikTok, President Donald Trump said he would allow an American company to acquire the short-form video app. Trump on Monday set September 15 as the deadline for TikTok to find a US buyer, failing which he said he will shut down the app in the country. In an unusual declaration, Trump also said any deal would have to include a “substantial amount of money” coming to the US Treasury.
PepsiCo Inc (PEP.O) said on Wednesday it will change the name and brand image of its Aunt Jemima pancake mix and syrup, dropping a mascot that has been criticized for a racist history, amid a national debate over racial inequality in the United States. The offensive caricature is rooted in a stereotype of a friendly black woman working as a servant or nanny for a white family.
The chief executive of CrossFit has quit after causing offence with remarks about the death of George Floyd and the resulting protests. Greg Glassman stepped down after athletes, gyms and sportswear firms cut ties with his $4bn (£3.1bn) brand.Mr Glassman acknowledged having caused a “rift” in the CrossFit community. His exit came on the day of Floyd’s funeral in Texas.
Zoom (ZM) said Tuesday that its revenue skyrocketed 169% from the prior year to $328 million for the three months ending in April, as it became the go-to video-conferencing service for many stuck at home during the pandemic. The company reported an even more astronomical spike in business customers. There were roughly 265,400 companies with more than 10 employees using its platform.
Apple has been fined a record €1.1bn (£990m) by antitrust regulators in France for engaging in anti-competitive agreements with two wholesalers. The penalty imposed on the US tech giant is the largest ever handed out to a company by the Autorité de la Concurrence. The regulator alleged that Apple favored certain wholesalers more than others, allocating them more stock when new products were launched.
The French-based perfume maker LVMH recently announced plans to convert its cosmetics factories into hand sanitizer producers while distilleries in the U.S. are repurposing alcohol to make sanitizing solutions and giving them to customers for free. Companies that usually make liquor and perfume are shifting into hand sanitizer production as people seek ways to disinfect their palms in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.