SOCIAL MEDIA
Facebook to remove ban on political advertising
Facebook said Wednesday that it planned to lift its ban on political advertising across its network, resuming a form of digital promotion that has been criticized for spreading misinformation, falsehoods, and inflaming voters. The social network said it would allow advertisers to buy new ads about “social issues, elections or politics” beginning Thursday, according to a copy of an e-mail sent to political advertisers and viewed by The New York Times. Those advertisers must complete a series of identity checks before being authorized to place the ads, the company said. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, has said he wished to maintain a largely hands-off stance toward speech on the site unless it posed an immediate harm to the public or individuals. Former President Donald Trump used Facebook’s political ads to amplify claims about an “invasion” on the Mexican border in 2019, among other incidents. Facebook banned political ads late last year as a way to choke off misinformation and threats of violence around the November presidential election. In January, Facebook banned Trump from using his account and posting on the platform after he took to social media to delegitimize the election results and incited a violent uprising among his supporters, who stormed the US Capitol. — NEW YORK TIMES
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Plan aims to reduce number of Disney Stores
After 33 years as a shopping mall mainstay, Mickey Mouse is mostly calling it a day. The Walt Disney Company said on Wednesday that it would dramatically downsize its chain of Disney Stores, which have struggled amid the pandemic and a broader consumer shift to online shopping. At least 60 locations in North America — 30 percent of the Disney Store footprint in the region — will close this year. The company described the closures as the “beginning” of its downsizing effort. Disney operates 60 stores in Europe, a significant number of which are also expected to close. The Disney Store chain was founded in 1987 and once numbered more than 1,000 locations worldwide. — NEW YORK TIMES
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JOBS
Payrolls increased by less than expected in February
The number of employees at US businesses rose in February by less than expected, underscoring the labor market’s struggle to recover despite a decline in COVID-19 infections in recent weeks. Company payrolls rose by 117,000 during the month, according to ADP Research Institute data released Wednesday. The median projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for an increase of 205,000. The prior month was revised up to a 195,000 advance. The figures suggest that employment gains continue to be held back by pandemic-related constraints on businesses and economic activity. Even so, many economists expect a meaningful improvement in the labor market in the coming months as COVID-19 vaccinations pick up and virus concerns ease. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
NONPROFITS
More than a third are in jeopardy of closing within two years, study says
More than one-third of US nonprofits are in jeopardy of closing within two years because of the financial harm inflicted by the viral pandemic, according to a study released Wednesday by the philanthropy research group Candid and the Center for Disaster Philanthropy. The study’s findings underscore the perils for nonprofits and charities whose financial needs have escalated over the past year, well in excess of the donations that most have received from individuals and foundations. The researchers analyzed how roughly 300,000 nonprofits would fare under 20 scenarios of varying severity. The worst-case scenario led to the closings of 38 percent of the nonprofits. Even the scenarios seen as more realistic resulted in closures well into double digit percentages. Among the most vulnerable nonprofits, the study said, are those involved in arts and entertainment, which depend on ticket sales for most of their revenue, cannot significantly their reduce expenses, and don’t typically hold much cash. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
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RETAIL
Walmart to invest in American products
Walmart plans to invest $350 billion in products made, grown, or assembled in the United States over the next 10 years, a move it says will help create 750,000 jobs. The world’s largest retailer said Wednesday it is committing to source a wide range of American-made products, including textiles, plastics, small electrical appliances, food processing, and pharmaceutical and medical supplies. The announcement follows a similar commitment from 2013, when it said it would invest $250 billion in products made (or grown or assembled) domestically. That effort later came under scrutiny after consumer advocacy groups reported what they called misleading labels on Walmart.com to the Federal Trade Commission. — WASHINGTON POST
COSMETICS
Coty looks to make fragrances using sustainable key ingredient
Cosmetics maker Coty is teaming with an environmental technology firm to produce fragrances using a sustainable version of its key ingredient in a bid to make them more appealing to eco-friendly consumers. The approach will give New York-based Coty its supply of ethanol — used in perfume to disperse scent — without using traditional methods extracting it from agricultural products like sugar cane that rely on extensive use of land, water, and fertilizer. Its new partner, LanzaTech Inc., instead makes ethanol from recaptured industrial emissions such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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CASINOS
Las Vegas Sands sells the Venetian
Las Vegas Sands is selling the iconic Venetian casino resort and its Sands Expo and Convention Center for $6.25 billion, withdrawing from gambling operations on the Las Vegas Strip after changing the nature of the casino business there and just about everywhere else. The name of the Venetian, the expo center as well as the Palazzo, the Sands’ luxury casino and resort that is part of the same complex, will remain, and the company’s headquarters will stay in Las Vegas. But the company led by Sheldon Adelson until his death this year will effectively cease US operations. Under Adelson, the company’s focus turned to Asia years ago, where revenue eventually outpaced even the operations on the Las Vegas Strip. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
FINANCE
New York warns hedge fund managers to pay their taxes
New York has a warning for hedge fund managers: Pay your taxes like everybody else. Officials delivered the message as they announced that Thomas Sandell and his hedge fund, Sandell Asset Management Corp., would pay $105 million to New York, the biggest fine of its kind in the state, after being accused of faking a move to Florida to avoid paying state and city taxes in 2017 on deferred fee revenue of nearly half a billion dollars. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
RETAIL
Michaels to be taken private
Arts and crafts retailer Michaels is going private. The retail chain, based in Irving, Texas, said Wednesday that it has agreed to be acquired by Apollo Global Management Inc. for a transaction valued at $5 billion. Company executives said that by going private, Michaels will have the financial flexibility to invest and improve its retail and online business. The company operates more than 1,275 Michaels stores in 49 states and Canada. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
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RETAIL
Bed Bath & Beyond launching store brands in a bid for younger customers
Bed Bath & Beyond will launch a slew of new store brands to lure younger customers in a bid to energize sales at the home retail chain. The chain will begin selling eight new store brands this year, six of them in the first half of 2021. The new brands were announced Wednesday by CEO Mark Tritton, who was hired in late 2019 from Target where he did much the same thing as chief merchandising officer. The more than 30 new brands introduced under Tritton were key in Target’s revitalization. Bed Bath & Beyond recognized that stores had become cluttered and that it had lost customers to Target, Macy’s, and Walmart. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
AVIATION
NetJets to buy 20 supersonic business aircraft
NetJets, the private-plane unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, signed purchase rights for 20 supersonic business aircraft from Aerion, a startup founded by Texas billionaire Robert Bass and backed by Boeing. The deal lifts the backlog of orders for AS2 jets awaiting manufacture to more than $10 billion, with production set to begin in 2023 in Melbourne, Florida, according to a statement Wednesday from Aerion and NetJets. Aerion has sold 90 of the planes in total and is targeting 2027 for the first delivery, a company spokesman said. With the agreement, NetJets, which sells fractional ownership of business aircraft in exchange for flying hours, joins its smaller rival Flexjet as an Aerion jet buyer. — BLOOMBERG NEWS