Chapter 18: Financial Management - McGraw-Hill Introduction to Business

Tech Giants Attempt to Break into Banking

November 15, 2019

This week, Google announced that it’s launching a banking service next year that will offer “smart checking” accounts to mobile-focused customers. Known as Cache, the program is the result of a collaboration between the search giant and two banks: Citigroup and Stanford Credit Union. Although details of the partnership remain limited at this time, Google eventually wants Cache to become an extension of its Google Pay app. The company also claims that customers will “benefit from useful insights and budgeting Continue reading →

[VIDEO] How Toys ‘R’ Us Went Bankrupt

November 8, 2019

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In 2017 Toys ‘R’ Us filed for bankruptcy under the weight of billions of dollars in debt. Six months later all of the retailer’s stores had closed with their stock liquidated and staff let go without severance. This in-depth video chronicles the rise and fall of this former “category killer,” detailing how the retailer’s bankruptcy changed the toy industry as well as the lives of its former workers.

Questions:

How did the bankruptcy of Toys ‘R’ Us affect its Continue reading →

Netflix Raises Prices as Streaming Market Gets Crowded

January 22, 2019

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When Netflix launched its video streaming platform in the late 2000s, all of the titles featured on the service came from other movie studios and production companies. If you boot up your account these days, though, most of the TV shows and films listed on the homepage are owned and produced by Netflix itself. Over the last few years the streaming giant has invested heavily to create its own content. By one estimate, Netflix spends more than $8 billion annually Continue reading →

Debt, Debt financing, Product Development, Licensing, Entertainment, Global, Pricing, Netflix, Streaming, Television, Product Distribution, Movies

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 18: Financial Management, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

General Electric Is No Longer Listed on the Dow Jones

September 14, 2018

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For more than a century, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has tracked the stock market performance of the country’s largest publicly owned companies. And from the very beginning General Electric was an essential component of this distinguished group. As the years went by and the company expanded into all sorts of industries, its continued dominance of the business world appeared all but guaranteed.

Then came the 2008 financial crisis. The collapse of the housing market dealt an enormous blow to Continue reading →

Finance, Dow Jones, Stocks, General Electric

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 18: Financial Management, Chapter 19: Securities Markets

How Private Funding Fuels Modern Corporations

April 17, 2018

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Earlier this month, the music streaming service Spotify went public on the New York Stock Exchange with a valuation worth approximately $30 billion. And while that is certainly an enormous amount of money, it pales in comparison to the $93 billion that the Japanese telecom giant Softbank privately raised last year to create a technology investment fund. In the past, major IPOs such as Spotify’s tended to be the most dependable way for up-and-coming companies to receive a major infusion Continue reading →

Finance, Regulation, Investing, Wall Street, Spotify, Capital, IPO

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 5: Forms of Business Ownership, Chapter 6: Entrepreneurship, Chapter 18: Financial Management, Chapter 19: Securities Markets, Chapter 20: Money and Financial Institutions, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

Apple Keeps Billions of Dollars Hidden in Offshore Accounts

November 10, 2017

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Even before the release of the Paradise Papers this week, Apple has faced plenty of criticism over the years for exploiting foreign loopholes to avoid paying taxes. The most prominent example of this occurred in 2013 during a Congressional inquiry of CEO Tim Cook. A Senate committee brought in the executive for questioning after they discovered Apple had hidden billions in taxable income through a series of “ghost companies” in Ireland. Cook admitted nothing, however, telling legislators, “We don’t depend Continue reading →

Regulation, Apple, Tax Avoidance, Global, Paradise Papers, Ethics

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 17: Accounting, Chapter 18: Financial Management, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law

[VIDEO] What Are the Paradise Papers?

November 9, 2017

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This week a group of investigative journalists released an enormous cache of leaked documents called the Paradise Papers. Like last year’s Panama Papers incident, these records detail the offshore financial activities of some of the world’s richest people and companies. But while 2016’s leak focused mainly on the tax avoidance strategies of foreign entities, the Paradise Papers are full of names that will be familiar to Americans. The video below provides a quick overview of this complex story. Tomorrow, we’ll Continue reading →

Tax Avoidance, Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Regulation, Legal, Global, Ethics, Offshoring

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 17: Accounting, Chapter 18: Financial Management, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law, Bonus Chapter D: Personal Finance, Videos

New Rules Seek to Limit the Power of Payday Lenders

October 10, 2017

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Each year some 12 million Americans take out a payday loan in order to get cash fast. But just because these borrowers can receive a quick injection of capital doesn’t mean they can pay it back with comparable speed. Many people who take out a payday loan end up drowning in a flood of loan fees and high interest rates. Last year alone the industry collected more than $7 billion in fees from customers. Borrowers can become so overwhelmed by Continue reading →

Product Development, Regulation, Financing, Ethics, Payday loans, CFPB

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 18: Financial Management, Chapter 19: Securities Markets, Chapter 20: Money and Financial Institutions, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law

Wells Fargo Faces More Claims of Employee Fraud

September 7, 2017

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Last year we took a close look at how Wells Fargo fostered a culture of fraud that encouraged employees to open unauthorized credit and debit card accounts for customers. Investigators at the time estimated the bank had created more than 1.5 million fraudulent accounts, leading Wells Fargo to fire thousands of employees. Further inquiries from Congress also caused the company to replace managers and roll back executive pay as part of an overhaul of its retail division. The scandal Continue reading →

Banking, Regulation, Fraud, Wells Fargo, Ethics, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 10: Motivation, Chapter 11: Human Resource Management, Chapter 18: Financial Management, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law

Bitcoin Users Become Targets for Hackers

August 22, 2017

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When Bitcoin launched in 2008, a single unit of the mysterious cryptocurrency was worth just a little more than half a cent. Bitcoin’s value remained under a dollar for years afterward, leading many to wonder why anyone would invest in a strange new currency that couldn’t be controlled by any government or company. Besides being seemingly worthless, Bitcoin also operated through a decentralized network of computers whose owner was impossible to verify. This anonymity extended to Bitcoin’s users as well, Continue reading →

Smartphones, Ethics, Mobile, Cyberattack, Bitcoin, Innovation, Currency, Security

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 2: Economics, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 18: Financial Management, Chapter 20: Money and Financial Institutions, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media