Ford joins European car-sharing sector as demand surges.

KKR lands former general David Petraeus for private-equity firm.

Nasdaq to pay $10 million fine for botched Facebook IPO.

Airbus and Boeing split a $17-million widebody-jet purchase by Singapore Airlines.

Apple shifts supply chain away from Foxconn to Pegatron.

Associated Press and New York Times resist meeting with US Attorney General Eric Holder on leaks investigations.

BMW will recruit trainees from Spain's pool of young jobless.

Carnival Cruise Line launches ad-agency review.Continue reading...

Tim Cook just said at #D11 that former EPA Admin Lisa Jackson will be joining @apple as enviro coordinator reporting to him. Congrats girl!

— Hilary Rosen (@hilaryr) May 29, 2013

Apple is the mine's canary. That's the takeaway from a recent press conference in China where the head of corporate sustainability for China tech giant Huawei told reporters that, unlike Apple, it will "learn from the issues that Apple has faced in China" and "never let supplier issues tarnish our brand.”

Whether Huawei means to "learn" from Apple or just copy it, the brand that has been singled out for a beating in the last few years over everything from China labor issues to tax avoidance has come under fire for a failure to innovate. But those critics all have tunnel-vision for Apple's electronics products.

What about innovating its "cultural product"? What if buying a iPhone 6 meant buying a better future? That just might be what Apple's aiming for with its latest high-profile hire. (Plus, the one better future we already have with Jackson's addition.) Continue reading...

Uniqlo kept out of Bangladesh safety pact by owner Fast Retailing.

Renault suffers blow from failure of Better Place EV startup.

ESPN layoffs underscore sports-network battle and soaring rights fees.

Acura eyes emerging markets.

BMW hints at bringing out super-luxury coupe with a Pininfarina touch.

BuzzFeed, CNN and YouTube plan online-video channel.

Club Med buyout sees large role for Chinese investors.Continue reading...

Mega tech manufacturer Foxconn has been in the negative spotlight a lot over the past few months. Despite once being the main manufacturer for Apple products—as well as a significant player for Hewlettt-Packard, and to a lesser extent, Sony, Dell and Acer—Apple recently decided to take their iPhone 4S and iPad mini business to Taiwanese competitor, Pegatron. Apple has also promised to eventually bring a chunk of their manufacturing work back to the United States to help create new jobs.

Unfortunately, Foxconn was thrust back into the spotlight recently as reports of three employee suicides surfaced. While Foxconn is hardly the only Chinese or global company to be accused of archaic and dangerous labor conditions, the recent suicides mark a new low in the category, especially since the company had previously come under fire and had supposedly reformed many of its practices.Continue reading...

Apple accused of avoiding billions in overseas taxes. 

Hershey launches new brand to get piece of China market.

Foxconn confirms employee deaths.

Best Buy swings to a loss on lower revenues.

Burberry is lifted by China performance.

Chevrolet joins Mad Men buzz on Twitter.

Chris-Craft rebuilds boat maker after recession.

Flowers Foods predicts "record year" after acquisition of Hostess brands.

Giorgio Armani profit is boosted by Asia.

GrubHub and Seamless merge their food ordering services.Continue reading...

While Apple has had some good news lately (it reached 50 billion downloads from its App Store, signed a deal with CW to have the network’s content appear on Apple TV, and its UK retail locations received the top customer-service rating in Britain), it also is going through some tough times as a brand.

A recent poll from Bloomberg notes that, “71 percent of poll respondents say the Cupertino, California, company has lost its cachet as an industry innovator, which includes 28 percent who say it is permanent and 43 percent who say it may be a temporary hiccup.” While some Apple loyalists remain dedicated to the company that has brought the world such innovations as the iPod, iPhone, and iTunes, plenty of folks in the general population aren’t as high on Apple as they used to be, with some turning to competitors like Google and Samsung. “Google plays offense while Apple has recently settled for playing defense,” Forbes reports. “Apple is struggling to maintain its position in the market, while Google is expanding its position.” 

Google’s shares have gone over a record $900 while Apple’s are now just above $400 after being over $705 in late September. While it can be difficult to keep up with its own track record of innovation, Apple apparently has got to keep pushing in order to keep the masses satisfied. “Where Apple went wrong is they began to confuse version releases and feature improvements with innovation,” Forbes reports. “What Apple is learning the hard way is even the most loyal base of consumers will jump ship when provided a valid reason to do so.”Continue reading...

Dell reports 79 percent drop in profit as takeover battle continues.

Dow Chemical is ordered to pay $1.2 billion in price-fixing case.

Google Glass expands apps and integrates Facebook and Twitter.

Apple fights back in antitrust case over e-book pricing as it loses luster in global poll.

Audi shifts to high-performance models to propel sales.

BlackBerry regains lost market share in Canada.

Citigroup bans traders from using Bloomberg terminal chat groups.Continue reading...

SAP moves into cloud computing as brand projects $10B boost from banking software.

Coca-Cola plans to invest $2 billion in Florida orange groves.

Disney second quarter soars 32% on theme parks, ESPN ad sales as company withdraws trademark application for Dia de los Muertos.

Alibaba IPO anticipation grows on revenue surge.

American Airlines launches Klout-based promo.

AOL profits boosted by advertising.

AT&T presses case in lower bandwidth spectrum case.

Bitcoin startups begin to attract real cash.

Burger King makes bold move with delivery expansion.Continue reading...