FINANCE
State Street hires new CEO for asset management arm
State Street Corp. has recruited the CEO of New York Life Investment Management to run the Boston financial services giant’s asset management arm. On Tuesday, State Street announced it had named Yie-Hsin Hung to be the next president and CEO of State Street Global Advisors, the world’s fourth largest asset manager with $3.5 trillion in assets under management. She will join State Street in December, and will report to State Street CEO Ron O’Hanley. Hung succeeds Cyrus Taraporevala, who announced earlier this year that he planned to retire. During her seven-year tenure running New York Life Investment Management, the firm’s assets under management nearly quadrupled. “Her career has been impressive, successfully delivering strong results as she expanded NYLIM’s investment capabilities, entered new markets and strengthened the business’ data and technology infrastructure,” O’Hanley said in a statement. “She also brings a true commitment to fostering a culture of inclusion, collaboration, and product innovation.” — JON CHESTO
REAL ESTATE
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Social media network for home buyers and sellers launched in Mass.
Bluebid Homes, which announced its Massachusetts launch on Tuesday, is a social network of sorts for homeowners and homebuyers. Homeowners “claim” their home on the Bluebid website or app, and interested parties can submit private offers, without the need for a formal listing. When both parties agree to move forward, Bluebid connects them with a licensed real estate agent. “Fewer than one percent of homes in the United States are for sale, and homeowners are increasingly hesitant to list,” said CEO Chris Mackey in a press release. “By enabling homeowners to privately receive offers and educate themselves before pursuing a transaction or listing their home for sale, our platform will uncover new inventory and play a massive role in combating the housing shortage.” — DANA GERBER
RETAIL
Walmart to offer fertility benefits to employees
Walmart is teaming up with a fertility startup to offer benefits under its insurance plan that will help its workers expand their families. The nation’s largest retailer and private employer said Tuesday it’s partnering with New York-based Kindbody to offer benefits such as in vitro fertilization as well as fertility testing regardless of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status. Walmart’s employees will get access to more than 30 fertility clinics and in vitro fertilization labs across the United States. Kindbody’s clinics will be available to help eligible workers access Walmart’s surrogacy and adoption benefits, as well. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
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MANUFACTURING
Orders for business equipment up in August
Orders for business equipment at US factories rose in August by the most since the start of the year, reflecting broad advances across categories, including machinery and computers, even as interest rates rise. The value of core capital goods orders, a proxy for investment in equipment that excludes aircraft and military hardware, increased 1.3 percent last month — the most since January — after an upwardly revised 0.7 percent July advance, Commerce Department figures showed Tuesday. The data aren’t adjusted for inflation. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Hertz teams up with BP to build charging stations
Hertz is linking up with oil giant BP to build out a network of charging stations in the United States, a move to help bolster the country’s electric-vehicle infrastructure. The two companies’ memorandum of understanding, announced Tuesday, aligns Hertz with BP’s goal of operating more than 100,000 chargers by 2030, 90 percent of which it says will be fast-charging. Hertz plans to electrify a quarter of its rental car fleet by the end of 2024. The deal with BP comes a week after it agreed to buy 175,000 electric vehicles from General Motors following similar purchases of battery-powered models from Tesla and Polestar. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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INTERNATIONAL
Police raid yacht in Germany linked to Russian oligarch
More than 60 police officers raided a luxury yacht in northern Germany linked to a Russian businessman in connection with alleged breaches of sanctions and money laundering rules, officials said Tuesday. The statement by Frankfurt prosecutors identified the suspect only as a 69-year-old Russian businessman. But German weekly Der Spiegel identified him as oligarch Alisher Usmanov, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin. Frankfurt prosecutors said the suspect of their investigation is alleged to have conducted several transactions between 2017 and 2022 using a complex network of offshore companies to hide the origin of the payments, which amounted to millions of euros. Usmanov is subject to sanctions in the United States and the European Union. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
FAST FOOD
Back to the future at McDonald’s
McDonald’s is going retro to give millennials a blast from their past and Gen Z a taste of what it was like when Happy Meals first hit big. The company has teamed up with streetwear apparel maker Cactus Plant Flea Market to create a retro-themed boxed meal for the US market, which has about 13,500 locations. Starting Oct. 3, the box will be available at restaurants and by delivery, and will include a Big Mac or Chicken McNuggets, fries, and one of four figurines — Grimace, Hamburglar, Birdie, and a new character, Cactus Buddy. Hoodies and other merchandise will be available for a limited time on cpfmmcdonalds.com starting at 11 a.m. ET. The company also plans on giving away T-shirts and other items on the McDonald’s app. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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WORKPLACE
NYC office occupancy slips a bit after Labor Day surge
After surging in the week following Labor Day, office occupancy dipped a bit in New York last week, suggesting that most everyone who plans to come back to their desk is already there. New York offices were 46.1 percent full in the week ending Sept. 21, according to card-swipe data from Kastle Systems, down slightly from 46.6 percent the previous week. The trend was the same across the United States, as the average occupancy in 10 big cities also eased off, from 47.5 percent to 47.3 percent. The only cities that saw real increases in workers returning were the tech hub of San Jose, where staffers are increasingly nervous about layoffs, and Houston. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
WORKPLACE
GM reverses RTO plan
General Motors walked back plans to require employees to return to a company office several days a week, delaying a change to its remote-work policies until next year, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg. The update, sent to salaried staff on Tuesday, clarified a directive issued on Sept. 23 that would have mandated spending three days on GM’s campus each week, starting later this year. While the automaker is still seeking “a more regular, in-person presence,” GM retreated from its return-to-office stance after pushback from employees. — BLOOMBERG NEWS