CONSUMERS
Ticketmaster to give fans more information after uproar in way Oasis tickets were sold in the UK
A company that came under fire during the sale of tickets for British rock band Oasis’ reunion concerts this summer committed Thursday to a series of changes that aim to prevent fans being shocked by the price they end up paying. Following an investigation by the UK’s competition watchdog, Ticketmaster agreed that fans will be armed with much more information before and during their purchase of concert tickets. The moves follow the CMA’s investigation into the way Ticketmaster sold over 1 million Oasis tickets last year for the band’s reunion tour. Many Oasis fans who queued for hours online at the Ticketmaster site were left shocked at having to pay more than double the face value of the ticket. Some standard standing tickets were sold for $470 as compared to the expected $195. They accused the company of using dynamic pricing, an algorithmic strategy used in flight sales and home food deliveries, where demand levels can fluctuate and lead to surging prices while also sometimes leading to lower prices. It is a more common practice in the United States than in the UK. Though the regulator did not find evidence that dynamic pricing was used, it concluded that Ticketmaster did not tell fans that standing tickets were being sold at two different prices, and that prices would jump as soon as the cheaper tickets sold out. Ticketmaster, owned by Live Nation Entertainment, must now tell fans 24 hours in advance if a tiered pricing system is being used, as it was for Oasis standing tickets.The company must also provide more information about ticket prices during online queues, helping fans anticipate how much they might have to pay. This includes setting out the range of prices available for the event when people join the queue and updating fans swiftly when cheaper tickets sell out. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
TRAVEL
International flights to return to R.I.’s T.F. Green airport in 2026 with Breeze Airways service to Cancun
After securing a certification from the Federal Aviation Administration, low-cost airline Breeze Airways is poised to begin offering limited international flights early next year, including a weekly flight to Cancun, Mexico, out of its hub at Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport. “Cancun is the biggest destination for most markets on the East Coast and so it made sense to start with the largest on that side,” Lukas Johnson, Breeze’s chief commercial officer, said in an interview. The seasonal Saturday flight – slated to begin on Feb. 14, pending final government approvals – will mark the return of direct international flights at the Warwick airport, which despite its name, has had a sporadic history with such service over the years. For instance, Norwegian Air launched international flights out of the airport in 2017, but ended ended service two years later, citing how the routes were no longer commercially viable and pointing to complications from the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft that year. Most recently, BermudAir launched a twice-weekly direct flight to Bermuda in May. But the flights came to a quick stop after the airline underwent a larger route reorganization in June. — CHRISTOPHER GAVIN
ENTERTAINMENT
Jimmy Kimmel’s return draws 6.2 million viewers, ratings show
Jimmy Kimmel’s broadcast return scored big in the ratings. Tuesday’s episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” averaged 6.2 million viewers, according to preliminary figures from Nielsen. That is nearly four times as much as his usual audience, even though more than 20 percent of ABC affiliates boycotted the show. The preliminary Nielsen figures are expected to grow in the coming days as more data comes in. It does not include streaming viewership. The show was Kimmel’s first since executives at ABC and Disney — the network’s parent company — decided to pull his show Sept. 17. They made the move after growing criticism, including by a top federal regulator, over comments he made during his show about the man accused of fatally shooting conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The show’s suspension set off a national debate about free speech. — NEW YORK TIMES
DINING
Starbucks to cut jobs, close stores, and take $1 billion hit in revamp effort
Starbucks on Thursday announced plans to close underperforming stores in North America this weekend, as the coffee giant intensified its turnaround effort. Along with the store closures, the company said it would lay off about 900 corporate staff, in addition to the 1,100 jobs the company cut earlier this year. The company said it would take a $1 billion charge for the expenses associated with the latest store closures and layoffs. In a letter to staff, Brian Niccol, who just marked his one-year anniversary as CEO of Starbucks, said the locations that would be shuttered were “coffeehouses where we’re unable to create the physical environment our customers and partners expect, or where we don’t see a path to financial performance.” Starbucks said it would end the fiscal year, which concludes this weekend, with 18,300 stores across North America. In June, the company said it had 18,734 stores, suggesting around 400 stores would close. The company declined to confirm a figure. Since Niccol arrived at Starbucks from Chipotle, he has been moving quickly to try to put the coffeehouse on a better financial footing. In July, Starbucks reported its sixth consecutive quarterly decline in sales at stores open for at least a year. The company’s shares have fallen about 12 percent in the past year. The company said it would notify employees at the stores that are scheduled to close this week and hoped to offer transfers to nearby locations, where possible. — NEW YORK TIMES
GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT
US economy expanded at a surprising 3.8% pace in significant upgrade of second quarter growth
An uptick in consumer spending helped the US economy expand at a surprising 3.8 percent from April through June, the government reported in a dramatic upgrade of its previous estimate of second-quarter growth. US gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — rebounded in the spring from a 0.6 percent first-quarter drop caused by fallout from President Trump’s trade wars, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The department had previously estimated second-quarter growth at 3.3 percent, and forecasters had expected a repeat of that figure. The first-quarter GDP drop, the first retreat of the US economy in three years, was mainly caused by a surge in imports — which are subtracted from GDP — as businesses hurried to bring in foreign goods before Trump could impose sweeping taxes on them. That trend reversed as expected in the second quarter: Imports fell at a 29.3 percent pace, boosting April-June growth by more than 5 percentage points. Consumer spending rose at a 2.5 percent pace, up from 0.6 percent in the first quarter and well above the 1.6 percent the government previously estimated. Spending on services advanced at a 2.6 percent annual pace, more than double the government’s previous estimate of 1.2 percent. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
MILITARY
Microsoft disables some services to Israel’s defense ministry
Microsoft said on Thursday that it had disabled some services to Israel’s Defense Ministry, after a company review concluded that Israel was violating the terms of service for its products. The review found evidence that Israel was using Microsoft’s cloud storage services to hold surveillance data on Palestinians, according to a company blog post. The data included records of millions of phone calls made daily between Palestinians, confirming reporting this year from The Guardian and the Israeli news site +972. Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, said in the blog post that the company had “a shared interest in privacy protection, given the business value it creates by ensuring our customers can rely on our services with rock solid trust.” Microsoft would not provide technology to “facilitate mass surveillance of civilians,” he said. Israel’s Ministry of Defense did not respond to a request for comment. Microsoft is one of the first tech companies to take action to remove or disable services to Israel since the start of the Gaza war nearly two years ago. Israel has established a vast technology infrastructure to surveil Palestinians living in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and within Israel, monitoring phone calls, text messages, and social media, The New York Times has reported. Israel has used the information for military raids and airstrikes in Gaza. — NEW YORK TIMES