Leaders at major drug firms with manufacturing facilities in Puerto Rico share lessons learned following Hurricane Maria, but more than anything they talk about the resiliency of their employees. Jose Vidal, who was VP of drug substance operations at Amgen at the time, said aside from buildings and products, the first thing they had to do was to establish a haven in the municipality of Juncos, "a bubble where you should feel normal."
Luxury automakers Jaguar, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz are preparing to release all-electric SUVs in competition with Tesla's Model X. Audi this week introduced its E-Tron model, which is expected to cost less than the Model X and to feature Amazon's Alexa voice tool.
The University of Pennsylvania next fall will become the first Ivy League school to offer online bachelor degree courses aimed at adult learners. Students will be able to earn a bachelor of applied arts and sciences and some on-campus work will be required, says Nora Lewis, vice dean of professional and liberal education.
China has responded to US tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese products by imposing retaliatory tariffs on $60 billion in US goods. Both sets of tariffs take effect Monday.
⋅ CNNMoney
Walmart has increased its focus on using the health care market as an avenue for growth, including a deal for over-the-counter sales reached last month with insurer Anthem. The retailer is looking at wellness visits as an opportunity to bring customers into the store, according to Oliver Wyman's Sam Glick.
Spanning Cloud Apps polled over 400 US employees and found that 60% of government workers would let colleagues use their work computer, compared with 40% of health care staffers. Another study by Wombat Security found that on average, health care employees incorrectly answered 23% of questions related to IT security best practices, compared with 24% among those in the hospitality industry.
Brian Hammond explores the ramifications of the imminent arrival of 5G networks, highlighting the faster download speeds and services that will be provided by the major industry players including Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint. The implementation of 5G will boost mobile content consumption as well as support the increasing popularity of internet of things connectivity in homes and in cars, he writes.
⋅ Axios
Amazon, which earned 50 cents of every dollar spent online in the US last year, is impossible to beat at its own game, according to New York University business professor Scott Galloway, speaking this week at Recode's Code Commerce conference. A panel of retailer CEOs said opportunities do exist, such as Shopify's model of working closely with merchants and Macy's advantage of a physical presence.
As many as 14 million records were exposed in a breach of the GovPayNet website, security expert Brian Krebs reports. At least six years' worth of data, including addresses and the last four digits of payment cards, were leaked on the website, which manages online payments for government agencies.
The Senate voted 99-1 to approve a bipartisan legislative package consisting of 70 bills designed to combat the opioid crisis, including measures that would provide the US Postal Service with more tools to block illegal fentanyl shipments, offer incentives to the National Institutes of Health to prioritize non-opioid painkiller development, and give the FDA the authority to require drugmakers to package opioids in smaller quantities. The package must be reconciled with House legislation that passed earlier this year.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai criticized California's net neutrality bill passed by the state legislature, but still needs Gov. Jerry Brown's signature, calling it "illegal" and "anti-consumer." "California's micromanagement poses a risk to the rest of the country," Pai said, but the bill's sponsor state Sen. Scott Wiener countered Pai by saying, "California understands exactly what it takes to foster an open innovation economy with a level playing field."
The national buyer traffic index shows a four-point drop in August, according to Credit Suisse, indicating a sharp slowdown in homebuying. The slowdown stems from increasing prices and interest rates, as well as an imbalance between supply and demand.
Caesars Entertainment has committed to reduce carbon emissions by 95% of 2011 figures by 2050. Meanwhile, 60% of Caesars' suppliers will set science-based emissions reduction targets by 2023, according to the company.
SpaceX has secured the first private passenger who wants to fly around the moon. The passenger's identity and other details are scheduled to be unveiled Monday.
As proof that it's not kidding about wooing a younger clientele, The Colony hotel in Palm Beach, Fla., has employed a "manager of fun" since November. A complimentary bicycle fleet and a pink buggy to ferry families to the beach are among touches Rickey Kalinowski has added, along with his own jolly persona.