Business - Page 12

IKEA responds to outrage over Juneteenth menu, says meal not intended for public

By Josh Morgan IKEA Atlanta is responding after employees told CBS46 Monday that the Atlanta-based store created a menu to honor Juneteenth, with items like fried chicken and watermelon. The menu sparked outrage among employees and customers leading to around 20 people calling in sick. IKEA released a statement to CBS46 Tuesday saying, “the meal was intended to be served to co-workers as an internal celebration, not customers.” Employees told CBS46 the menu items selected were “racially insensitive and ignorant.” They also said no Black employees were involved in creating the menu, however, IKEA says that’s not true. “There were

Why this Prime Day may fall flat for Amazon’s stock

By Julia Horowitz After months of failing to break out, Amazon’s stock is close to a record high. Thank Prime Day, the annual sales bonanza that kicks off Monday. What’s happening: In 2020, analysts estimated Amazon’s Prime Day notched sales of $9 billion to $10.5 billion. The sales rush as the economy reopens could encourage even bigger spending this time around by consumers armed with excess savings. Adobe Analytics thinks spending could reach $11 billion. Amazon shares have risen in six of the past nine trading sessions, and are now just 1.3% below their all-time peak reached in September 2020.

A Black owner pioneered business on Route 66. His descendants are working to save that history.

By Michael Overall Originally a narrow, mostly unpaved road that zigzagged between farming communities, old Route 7 ran more or less diagonally between Tulsa and the state capital, making it one of the busiest highways in Oklahoma in the early years of statehood. Allen Threatt, a homesteader who came from Alabama sometime in the early 1900s, owned 160 acres of red dirt near the small town of Luther, along Route 7 half an hour northeast of Oklahoma City. And he capitalized on the highway traffic by opening a small filling station, where he not only sold gas but offered produce

Eliminating racial disparities could propel 2 million Black Americans to the middle class

Opinion by Shelley Stewart and Michael Chui If Juneteenth doesn’t make you think about the economy, maybe it should. Racial discrimination has an obvious human cost, but there’s an economic cost, too. In new research, we examined the disparities Black Americans face in various economic roles — as workers, business owners, savers, investors, consumers and residents. We found critical gaps that prevent Black Americans from full participation in the US economy, significantly limiting Black economic mobility, and holding back the nation’s economic recovery and potential in the process. Eliminating racial barriers for Black Americans could initiate a wave of growth, dynamism

Companies are celebrating Juneteenth in unique ways this week

By Chauncey Alcorn Major corporations are celebrating Juneteenth in unique ways this week. The annual June 19 tradition, which falls on Saturday this year, commemorates the day in 1865 when former American slaves in Galveston, Texas, were finally informed of President Abraham Lincoln’s January 1, 1863, Emancipation Proclamation and the end of the Civil War. It took Union troops more than two years to finish travel throughout the southern United States to inform all the former slaves of Lincoln’s executive order. The December 6, 1865, ratification of the 13th Amendment made slavery illegal throughout the US “except as a punishment for crime.” African Americans have been celebrating

Retail sales fell last month. But stores are still expecting a strong year

By Anneken Tappe and Nathaniel Meyersohn US retail sales fell 1.3% in May as the sector continues to come down from the stimulus-fueled high of recent months. The last round of stimulus checks from the American Rescue Plan approved by Congress in March boosted consumer spending in the early spring months. But the sugar rush has worn off. Sales numbers for April, which were initially reported as flat, were revised up to 0.9% growth. The culprit dragging the May sales down was autos, with car sales declining 3.7%, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday. Stripping them out entirely, retail sales fell by 0.7% last month. The data are

JPMorgan is calling for reforms to stop racial bias in housing

By Matt Egan JPMorgan Chase is throwing its considerable weight behind efforts to root out racial bias in the appraisal of homes in America. As part of a new bank-wide commitment to fight housing inequality, JPMorgan is for the first time outlining specific legislation that can fight appraisal bias, backing the study of innovative ways to value homes and promoting efforts to boost sorely needed diversity in the appraisal industry. Beyond appraisals, America’s biggest bank is promising to ease obstacles that make it harder for Black and Latinx households to buy homes, build wealth and access affordable housing. “There are systematic barriers in

Business leaders can fuel the next generation of Black innovators and entrepreneurs. Here’s what it will take

Opinion by Morgan DeBaun Innovators and entrepreneurs in the Black community have long sought opportunities to create businesses that would lead to their own financial stability and wealth creation for generations to come, but they have historically encountered one hurdle after another. During the first quarter of the 20th century, an entire Black community thrived in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Known as Black Wall Street, the community was home to dozens of Black entrepreneurs and professionals. But 100 years ago, that thriving community was burned and destroyed by an angry mob of White people during the Tulsa race massacre. The impact of

Black-owned banks are booming, and they’re pouring money back into their communities

By Chauncey Alcorn An estimated $150 million in equity capital has been invested in Black-owned banks since George Floyd was murdered last year, according to the National Bankers Association, a trade group that represents 24 of the country’s minority-owned financial institutions. Those funds have put the nation’s Black banking community in a stronger position today than it was a year ago, according to the group’s board Chairman Robert E. James II. “Our banks can now leverage that into $1.5 billion to serve minority communities,” James told CNN Business. The cultural movement to support Black-owned banks along with other African American

Corporate America promised to get more diverse. But it’s still mostly White women making gains

By Jeanne Sahadi The level of diversity on America’s biggest corporate boards has never been higher. But it’s still far from on par with what US society looks like. White women and minorities made up 38.3% of Fortune 500 board seats in 2020, up from 34% in 2018, according to a new study released Tuesday by the Alliance for Board Diversity in collaboration with Deloitte. And since 2010, the number of companies with greater than 40% diversity (including women) has almost quadrupled. Yet the average growth rate in minority representation on Fortune 500 boards has remained unchanged — at less

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