The word "business" leads here; for other meaning see The Business.

In economics, business is the social science of managing people to organize and maintain collective productivity toward accomplishing particular creative and productive goals, usually to generate revenue.

The etymology of "business" refers to the state of being busy, in the context of the individual as well as the community or society. In other words, to be busy is to be doing commercially viable and profitable work.

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NPR Topics: Business

Recession May Affect How Gadgets Pitched At Expo
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:01:00 -0500
The Consumer Electronics Show, the biggest showcase for new electronics products, is in Las Vegas this week. Those attending are trying to console themselves that their sales in 2008 are projected as flat, or only down between 3 and 4 percent.
In Grim Economic Times, NASCAR Sputters
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:00:00 -0500
The economic slowdown has begun to pinch NASCAR. Stock car racing is an expensive sport and waves of layoffs are filtering down now that corporate sponsors are driving away.
Amid Slumping Sales, Toyota Curbs Production
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:00:00 -0500
Toyota says it will suspend production at all 12 of its plants in Japan for 11 days over February and March. It marks a stoppage of unprecedented scale for the automaker as it too deals with shrinking global demand.

Latest financial news - CNNMoney.com

A gadget to track every calorie you burn
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:24:38 -0500
After falling in love with the Nintendo Wii's physically demanding sports games, serial entrepreneur James Park, 32, started to ponder other ways to combine video games and fitness. The result: a $99 lipstick-size gadget that clips on to your clothes and uses a motion sensor to track everything from steps taken to sleep patterns and calories burned.
Millionaires? More like $700,000-aires
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:50:10 -0500
While it may be hard to feel sympathy for America's millionaires, they're feeling the economic crunch, too - nearly a third of their assets have disappeared in the downturn, according to a consulting firm's report released Tuesday.
Fed predicts economy will get worse
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:16:46 -0500
The U.S. economy is likely to deteriorate further this year and unemployment will rise into 2010, according to the latest forecasts from the staff of the Federal Reserve.

The Financial Page

James Surowiecki: When fraudsters go bust.
James Surowiecki Mon, 05 Jan 2009 05:00:00 -0000
Along with slashed payrolls, rising foreclosures, and plummeting stock prices, 2008 brought another unwelcome development: a surge in bank robberies, which were up more than fifty per cent in New York. This wasn’t shocking: we typically expect property crimes to rise in hard economic times. There is, though, one crime . . .
James Surowiecki: The newspaper industry's uncertain future.
James Surowiecki Mon, 15 Dec 2008 05:00:00 -0000
When the Tribune Company announced that it was filing for bankruptcy, last Monday, Sam Zell, the man who bought the company a year ago, for $8.2 billion, said that its problems were the result of a “perfect storm.” You take readers and advertisers who were already migrating away from . . .
James Surowiecki: On the data surplus.
James Surowiecki Mon, 03 Nov 2008 05:00:00 -0000
When people talk about the ongoing tumult in the stock market, they typically blame investors’ lack of information. There’s the uncertainty about the future state of the economy. There’s the confusion about what the government will do next with its ever-changing bailout program. And there’s the mystery of what . . .

Reuters: Business News

Stocks gain as hope rises for stimulus plan
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:16:01 -0500
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks gained on Tuesday as bets rose on the likelihood of a government stimulus package after the release of minutes from the last Fed policy meeting painted a dismal picture of the U.S. economy.
Home sales tumble to 7-year low
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:27:17 -0500
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pending sales of existing U.S. homes dropped to a seven-year low in November, data showed on Tuesday, as rising job losses and a deepening economic recession kept potential house buyers on the sidelines.
German tycoon Adolf Merckle commits suicide
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:11:03 -0500
BLAUBEUREN, Germany (Reuters) - German billionaire Adolf Merckle has committed suicide, in despair over the huge losses suffered by his business empire during the financial crisis, his family said on Tuesday.

ABC News: Money

Can't Make Car Payment? Just Give It Back
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:24:22 -0500
Hyundai promotion lets consumers return cars if they lose their jobs.
Different Worlds and Eras, Same Scam
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:21:37 -0500
"Affinity fraud" runs throughout history, from the rich to the poor.
Mogul Kills Self Over Financial Meltdown
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:21:25 -0500
German billionaire commits suicide after businesses crumble in global meltdown.

BBC News | Business | UK Edition

Marks and Spencer cuts 1,000 jobs
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:37:54 -0000
Marks and Spencer will announce on Wednesday that it is cutting 1,000 jobs from its workforce of 70,000, the BBC confirms.
German billionaire kills himself
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:14:02 -0000
German billionaire Adolf Merckle commits suicide after his business empire runs into trouble in the global economic slowdown.
House prices 'fell 15.9% in 2008'
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:08:38 -0000
House prices fell by 15.9% last year, according to the latest survey by the Nationwide building society.

The Economist: Business

Management: Generation Y goes to work
Tue, 30 Dec 2008 11:39:46 -0000
Reality bites for young workersJESSICA BUCHSBAUM first noticed that something had changed in May 2008. The head of recruitment for a law firm in Florida, Ms Buchsbaum was used to interviewing young candidates for summer internships who seemed to think that the world owed them a living. Many applicants expected the firm to promote itself to them rather than the other way around. However, last May’s crop were far more humble. “The tone had changed from ‘What can you do for me?’ to ‘Here’s what I can do for you’,” she says.The global downturn has been a brutal awakening for the youngest members of the workforce—variously dubbed “the Millennials”, “Generation Y” or “the Net Generation” by social researchers. “Net Geners” are, roughly, people born in the 1980s and 1990s. Those old enough to have passed from school and university into work had got used to a world in which jobs were plentiful and firms fell over one another to recruit them. Now their prospects are grimmer. According to America’s Bureau of Labour Statistics, the unemployment rate among people in their 20s increased significantly in the two most recent recessions in the United States. It is likely to do so again as industries such as finance and technology, which employ lots of young people, axe thousands of jobs. ...
Performance management: The Rypple effect
Tue, 30 Dec 2008 11:39:46 -0000
A novel way to satisfy feedback junkiesONE defining characteristic of the Net Generation is that it thrives on feedback. Just as they are used to checking their progress on leader boards when playing video games, so Net Geners want to keep close tabs on their performance at work, too. This can be a problem for managers who may be badgered weekly—even daily—for appraisal by eager young members of staff.The creators of a new, web-based service called Rypple claim that it can satisfy Net Geners’ desire for frequent assessments while easing the burden on their supervisors. The service requires employees to establish a network of trusted peers, mentors and managers whose opinions they value. They can then send out short questions, such as “What did you think of my presentation today?”, to which their network’s members can respond online. The responses are kept anonymous so that, at least in theory, employees cannot tell who has made them. ...
America's car industry: No end to the nightmare
Tue, 30 Dec 2008 11:39:46 -0000
Detroit has been given a brief reprieve, but the threat of bankruptcy still loomsTHE sense of relief in Detroit that greeted the $17.4 billion federal lifeline thrown by President Bush to General Motors (GM) and Chrysler just before Christmas is unlikely to last long. The terms of the bridging loans amount to a gun at the heads of the two carmakers and their stakeholders. Unless they use the next three months to negotiate a viable way forward, the loans will be called in at the end of March—and bankruptcy will follow.In effect, the deal announced on December 19th is just one step short of the bankruptcy the carmakers have long insisted is not an option. “If restructuring cannot be accomplished outside of bankruptcy, the loans will provide time for the companies to make the legal and financial preparations necessary for an orderly Chapter 11 process that offers a better prospect of long-term success,” Mr Bush said. Dealers, bondholders, suppliers, unions and retirees are all going to have to make sacrifices, and with a speed and purpose that has hitherto been lacking. ...

Business News - UPI.com

CIGNA says it will lay off 1,100
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:50:55 -0500
PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- U.S. insurance giant CIGNA Corp. said it would eliminate about 1,100 jobs and freeze wages for salaried employees throughout 2009 due to the economy.
Enron CEO to get new sentencing trial
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:35:02 -0500
NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- A federal court in New Orleans ordered a new sentencing trial for former Enron Chief Executive Officer Jeff Skilling, while upholding his 19 convictions.
Rash of retailers end jobs in Britain
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:12:31 -0500
LONDON, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- British retailers began shedding jobs right after the holiday shopping season with thousands of positions slated to end soon, sources said.
Debt falling while credit is tight
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:52:50 -0500
NEW YORK, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- U.S. corporations and consumers are downsizing debt while credit remains tight, possibly marking a sea change in spending attitudes, a bank economist said.
Global accounting rules could cost plenty
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:27:28 -0500
WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- U.S. companies could end up spending tens of millions each to comply with new international accounting rules, sources said.
Pending home sales dropped in November
Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:51:47 -0500
WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Pending U.S. home sales fell sharply in November, falling 4 percent, the National Association of Realtors in Washington said Tuesday.

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