Category Archives: BUSINESS

Is Gibson, a Totem of Guitar Godhead, Headed for Chapter 11?

Supported by Business Day Is Gibson, a Totem of Guitar Godhead, Headed for Chapter 11? Photo Credit Jens Mortensen for The New York Times Gibson, what happened?
There’s been talk of bankruptcy swirling around Gibson, the venerated Nashville-based guitar company, which takes in more than $1.2 billion in annual revenue but is more than $500 million in debt. Buzzards are circling. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the private equity giant, is a bondholder. Blackstone is also a major lender.
Gibson’s problems are not hard to diagnose. The company’s longtime chief executive, Henry Juszkiewicz, wanted to diversify by turning Gibson into what he has called a “music lifestyle company” — basically a consumer electronics business that sells headphones and hi-fis as well as guitars. He made a splashy purchase of the audio and home entertainment division of Netherlands-based Royal Philips in 2014, and then ran headlong into the collapse of the euro.
It was a disaster. Mr. Juszkiewicz, in an interview,..

Bits: The Self-Driving Car Industry’s Biggest Turning Point Yet

Supported by Technology The Self-Driving Car Industry’s Biggest Turning Point Yet Photo Waymo said it would order up to 20,000 vehicles from Jaguar Land Rover in the next two years for its self-driving consumer ride service. Credit Joshua Bright for The New York Times Each week, Kevin Roose, technology columnist at The New York Times, discusses developments in the tech industry, offering analysis and maybe a joke or two. Want this newsletter in your inbox? Sign up here.
One perk — or hazard, I suppose — of being a technology writer for the past few years has been getting invited to ride in a bunch of autonomous vehicles. I’ve been shuttled around in nearly a dozen self-driving prototypes, including a Ford in Michigan, an Uber in Pennsylvania and a Chrysler minivan in the California desert.
Whenever anyone asks what it’s like to ride in self-driving cars, my reply is: “Which self-driving cars?” Casual observers tend to talk about the progress of autonomous vehicles as if they’re a ..

Your Money: A Student Loan Fix for a Teacher, and Many Other Public Servants

Supported by Your Money A Student Loan Fix for a Teacher, and Many Other Public Servants Photo Jed Shafer, a teacher, had pretty much given up on receiving full credit for repayments under the public service loan forgiveness program. But things changed, and not just for him, after a “Your Money” column about the case in October. Credit Ruth Fremson/The New York Times In October, I wrote a column about Jed Shafer, a teacher in Oregon who found himself on the wrong end of the student loan repayment bureaucracy.
Mr. Shafer thought he was following the rules to qualify for the public service loan forgiveness program, and spent years communicating carefully with the loan servicers who collected his payments on behalf of the federal government. But it turns out he hadn’t been doing it correctly after all.
The result? He learned he was going to have to pay tens of thousands of dollars extra. After many months of pleading his case to his loan servicer and the Department of Education, he’d..

Strategies: Why a Bigger Dose of Market Panic Could Help

Supported by Business Day Why a Bigger Dose of Market Panic Could Help Photo Credit Minh Uong/The New York Times The most surprising thing about the wobbly stock market of 2018 is that investors haven’t panicked — or at least that they haven’t panicked much.
That’s the view of James W. Paulsen, chief investment strategist of the Leuthold Group, an investment research firm based in Minneapolis. In some ways, panic is a subjective thing, he acknowledges, and it may seem that the storms that have swept through the stock market since early February have been more than enough already.
But Mr. Paulsen has data to back up his view that investors have maintained their composure to a surprising degree, and maintains that a bigger dose of fear could have a salutary effect.
“I think a much bigger panic is probably going to happen,” he said. “And I think the best thing for the market would be if it happened soon and we could just move on from there.”
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Entrepreneurship: Finding the Right Corporate Message Isn’t Always Easy

Supported by Business Day Finding the Right Corporate Message Isn’t Always Easy Photo Hildy Kuryk, founder of the consulting firm Artemis Strategies, which advises companies on how to reach socially conscious millennials. Credit Karsten Moran for The New York Times Hildy Kuryk was thinking about working at a hedge fund. “I think you’ll find it boring,” Anna Wintour told her. It was 2013, and Ms. Kuryk — who had just left her post as the national finance director of the Democratic National Committee — was at Condé Nast seeking career advice from the well-connected Vogue editor in chief.
Ms. Wintour was right. After a couple of meetings, Ms. Kuryk knew the finance game was not for her.
Instead, Ms. Kuryk soon found herself back at Condé Nast, no longer looking for a job but serving as Vogue’s director of communications, and the media gatekeeper to Ms. Wintour (who doubles as the artistic director of Condé Nast).
But in June, Ms. Kuryk decided to strike out on her own and start a con..

Going Cashless: My Journey Into the Future

Supported by Business Day Going Cashless: My Journey Into the Future Photo Credit Michael Waraksa I didn’t mean to do it. It just sort of happened. But what began with an empty wallet on New Year’s Day has evolved into something akin to a lifestyle change.
I’ve gone cashless.
For the first three months of the year, I have hardly touched paper money or metal coins. There are no grimy bills folded alongside my driver’s license. No quarters or pennies jangling in my pocket.
Instead, I’ve relied almost exclusively on credit cards, Apple Pay, online orders and the occasional generosity of an unsuspecting friend.
By essentially renouncing physical currency, I’ve slipped a little further into the future. Already, some technologically advanced nations — South Korea, Sweden — have all but done away with cash. Yet in the United States, I remain an outlier. In a study last year by ING, the vast majority of respondents from the United State said they would never go completely cashless.
Adver..

The New Old Age: Many Americans Try Retirement, Then Change Their Minds

Supported by Health Many Americans Try Retirement, Then Change Their Minds Photo Sue Ellen King returned to work at UF Health in Jacksonville, Fla., after retiring in 2015. Credit Charlotte Kesl for The New York Times Sue Ellen King had circled her retirement date on the calendar: March 8, 2015.
She had worked as a critical care nurse and nursing educator at University of Florida Health (UF Health) in Jacksonville, Fla., for 38 years; co-workers joked that she was there when the hospital’s foundation was laid, which happened to be true. So the send-offs went on for days — parties in the units where she had worked, a dinner in her honor, gifts including a framed photo signed by colleagues.
Ms. King felt ready. She’d turned 66, her full Social Security retirement age. She’d invested fully in the hospital’s 401(k) plan and consulted with a financial adviser. She and her husband, who had already retired, had paid off the mortgage on their three-bedroom ranch. They took a week’s trip t..

Trump Heralds a New Trade Deal, Then Says He Might Delay It

Supported by Politics Trump Heralds a New Trade Deal, Then Says He Might Delay It Photo “We’ll probably hold that deal up for a little while,” President Trump said Thursday of a new South Korea trade agreement, “see how it all plays out.” Credit Tom Brenner/The New York Times RICHFIELD, Ohio — President Trump heralded a new trade agreement with South Korea at his first public appearance in nearly a week on Thursday, but then immediately suggested that he might delay finalizing it while negotiating with North Korea over its nuclear program.
“I may hold it up until after a deal is made with North Korea,” Mr. Trump said, immediately after celebrating the new agreement. “Does everybody understand that? You know why, right? You know why? Because it’s a very strong card.”
He added, “We’ll probably hold that deal up for a little while, see how it all plays out.”
It was unclear what leverage Mr. Trump believed he could gain in the North Korea talks by delaying the deal with the South. The..