Latest news with #Last
The Irish Sun
3 days ago
- Automotive
- The Irish Sun
Floundering car brand shuts down dealership forever amid wave of closures after profits dropped by 90% in one year
A STRUGGLING car brand has shut its dealership for good after its profits dropped by 90 per cent in just one year. The news comes amid a wave of closures as the 1 Nissan has shut its dealership in Petaluma, California Credit: Getty North Bay It read: "It has been a true honor serving the Petaluma and the North Bay communities and we are deeply grateful for your loyalty and support over the years. 'While this chapter is closing, exciting plans are already in motion for what's next at our location, so stay tuned for updates.' Customers are being redirected to the Vacaville dealership or locations in Santa Rosa and Napa. Read more on Motors The Nissan has been battling with falling vehicle sales in China, huge restructuring costs and US President Donald Trump's international tariff war. Trump's tariffs have raised the cost of importing vehicles, causing car sales of many different brands to nosedive across the world. Earlier this month, the car brand decided to shutter two factories in Mexico - its Civac plant in Morelos and the Cooperation Manufacturing Plant Aguascalientes (COMPAS) plant in Aguascalientes. Most read in Motors Both factories are set to close by 2027, putting thousands of jobs at risk. The Civac plant has been producing cars since 1966 and was the very first international manufacturing site that Farewell to the Nissan Versa: America's Last Affordable Sedan Discontinued It currently produces the South American version of the Frontier, the N18 Versa and the Mexico-only V-Drive. Nissan also announced plans to close its flagship factory in the Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo . The factory will close at the end of the 2027 fiscal year in March 2028. Over 2,400 jobs will be lost in the closure, which Nissan says was a 'tough but necessary decision'. The Oppama plant has been a prized symbol for Nissan Motor Corp., which rolled out its Chief Executive He promised employees will be treated fairly and responsibly, with transfer offers to other locations, or other work in the area in consultation with the trade union. Nissan has been approached for comment.
Miami Herald
22-07-2025
- General
- Miami Herald
AT&T making move designed to outrage older Americans
Do you remember life before cellphones? Maybe not, but there are probably many readers who do. As recently as the 1990s, most homes had one or two landlines per household. It was actually a big deal for a home to have two lines, one for the "kids" and a separate one for the adults. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter But in the later 1990s and earliest 2000s, as the price of cellphones came way down, they became ubiquitous. By 2004 there were more cellphones than landlines in the U.S., and by some estimates, around 98 percent of people in the country own cellphones, according to Consumer Affairs data. Now there are even more cellphones than there are people on Earth. Related: Verizon sends bold message to frustrated customers But some people are still committed to their landlines, and a recent Centers for Disease Control study revealed some interesting data around landlines. First, people with a landline are more likely than wireless customers to own a home and are more likely to live in the Northeast. Landline owners are also healthier: they are less likely to smoke or binge drink, and more likely to exercise, wear seat belts, and have health insurance, according to the research. So even though nearly "everyone" in America has a cellphone, some people also like having a landline. Maybe it's because they they can't afford a cellphone, or because they live in rural areas that have poor cell service. AT&T's recent announcement that it wants to withdraw from being the "carrier of last resort," ending its obligation to provide landline service across California, is angering many customers. Millions of people in California still depend on their landlines for phone service, including emergency and "life alert" systems that don't work on cellular networks. So California Public Utilities Commission said "Not so fast," and rejected AT&T's request. Related: Comcast has a gift for AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile customers Now AT&T has taken the fight to the government. More than a third (35%) of California residents still use landlines, and around 5% of Californians reside in rural areas where they depend on landlines. They might also have a cellphone, but they don't want to give up their landline. Many of the residents are elderly and have used landlines for decades. Critics of the plan say AT&T is attempting to push people away from landlines because they are more expensive to maintain, and newer technologies mean higher profits for the company. Before AT&T can stop landline service, they must have alternatives in place. Landlines depend on copper wiring, and copper theft has been a big and expensive problem for the carrier. This is one reason the company wants to end its commitment. "To put things plainly, our current Carrier of Last Resort (COLR) policy no longer reflects the reality of today's competitive communications landscape in California," said AT&T's Terri Nikole Baca to ABC7 Los Angeles. Nonetheless, AT&T is hugely profitable. AT&T's first quarter 2025 earnings, released on April 23, 2025, showed a strong performance with revenue of $30.6 billion, a 2% increase year-over-year. The company also reported an adjusted EPS of $0.51, which aligned with market expectations, and a free cash flow of $3.1 billion. These results were driven by growth in 5G mobility and fiber broadband businesses, according to AT&T's investor relations. AT&T's second quarter 2025 earnings come out later this week (July 23). Related: AT&T customers sound alarm on a frustrating problem The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
Business Insider
04-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
The Bulwark's top editor shares how the anti-Trump site tripled its subscriber base in a year — and why it's betting on YouTube
If President Donald Trump didn't exist, the staunchly anti-Trump news website The Bulwark might not either. But the president isn't solely responsible for The Bulwark's success. Instead, its top editor credits email newsletters, podcasts, and YouTube for its impressive growth in recent years. "We grew consistently, all the way through the Biden administration," Jonathan V. Last, editor of The Bulwark, said in an interview with Business Insider. "That's something I didn't expect." To be sure, Trump's resurgence has added fuel to the fire that Last and his colleagues were kindling. The Bulwark surpassed 100,000 paid subscribers on Substack in early July, which the company told BI is more than double its total in late October — just before the 2024 election. The Bulwark also now has 830,000 total subscribers, most of whom get its emails for free. The company said its total count has tripled in the last year and surpassed 500,000 a day after Trump retook office. YouTube is another key part of The Bulwark's growth. It crossed 1 million subscribers on the platform in mid-February, and that count rose 34% between then and early July, thanks to a healthy mix of short-form snippets and long-form videos. The news site uses YouTube Shorts, the platform's buzzy, TikTok-esque clips, as a foot in the door for newcomers. But long-form content of all kinds is crushing on YouTube, especially on TVs. The Bulwark's producers have taken note by making most of their videos at least 10 minutes long, and some run well over an hour. "We no longer think of podcast and video as separate," Last said. "We just think of it all as broadcast." The Bulwark was perfectly positioned for one of the wildest decades for news in the last century, complete with a pandemic, wars, and Trump's rise, fall, and rebound. "It's been a crazy eight years," Last said. "People have been forced to pay attention to the news in ways which are reasonably unique, at least in our lifetimes." Not just 'Never Trump' The Bulwark has gained much of its notoriety for its sharp criticism of Trump. But when asked who he's writing for, Last said he's not necessarily targeting a certain political group. "The target audience is people who take ideas seriously and aren't looking for confirmation bias and who think that the moment is important," Last said. He added: "I think of, honestly, our target audience as being indistinguishable from The Atlantic's." While Last said many Bulwark readers are largely on the center left to the center right, he added that the main common thread among his reader base is a distaste for authoritarianism. To Last, that's synonymous with an unease, or outright disgust, with Trump and many of his policies. "We're on a team, and the team is democracy," Last said. However, Last said The Bulwark doesn't have a vendetta against Trump. If the president enacts policies that Last and his colleagues like — such as Operation Warp Speed, which accelerated COVID-19 vaccine development during the pandemic — he said they'll gladly tout them. "We are not reflexively negative," Last said. "It's not like if Trump comes out and says that 'ice cream is good,' we have to say, 'ice cream is bad.'" Still, Last's readers know that he sees Trump as a serious threat to American democracy. "If I had described the events of 2020 to somebody in 2016, they would've said, 'You're crazy — that's "Trump Derangement Syndrome,"'" Last said. Critics may shrug off The Bulwark's warnings as alarmist, but Last insists he's not crying wolf. "The fact that people aren't freaked out by just the actual real things that have happened in front of our eyes is mostly a function of the pot being turned up while the frogs are in it," Last said. Straightforward and direct Authenticity sells in 2025, both in politics and media. Just look at the most popular podcasters, including Joe Rogan and Alex Cooper of "Call Her Daddy" fame. Audiences also crave honesty, Last said. That honesty and authenticity, combined with strongly held convictions, have become cornerstones of The Bulwark's popularity. "A lot of times, we'll sit around arguing with each other, and the argument will end with one of us going, 'Yeah, you guys are right. I got that wrong,'" Last said. Unlike traditional media organizations, The Bulwark is built on Substack. The newsletter hub has been a huge part of the news site's rapid growth, Last said, since readers of other writers can discover The Bulwark and subscribe in a single click. "Anything you can do to lower the friction just pays enormous dividends," Last said. By building its business around newsletters, The Bulwark reaches readers directly, without intermediaries like search engines or social media. Newsletters and podcasts can also build emotional connections. The Bulwark's publisher, Sarah Longwell, told Vanity Fair in May that "people feel like they are friends with us" since they hear their voices and can even reach their inboxes by replying to emails. This access makes The Bulwark feel fresher than newspapers or cable news channels, Last said. "That's the sort of thing that you often get from independent media operators, if you're a one-man band on Substack," Last said. "But it's, I think, not as common to see that at an institutional level." Putting MSNBC and CNN on notice Although The Bulwark has roughly doubled its paid reader base since the election, Last sees much more room to grow. The news site recently hired reporters to cover policy, immigration, and Congress, Last said. This can help The Bulwark add value through reporting, instead of just its opinions. But the biggest potential for growth is YouTube, Last said, given that its subscriber base can scale far faster on the world's biggest video platform than on Substack. The Bulwark could take its video strategy to the next level by producing shows in the style of traditional TV, Last said. He said his site is open to partnering with a streaming service, similar to The Daily Beast's deal with Netflix that was reported by Semafor. MSNBC and CNN have been a go-to spot for the anti-Trump TV news audience for years. Last suggested that The Bulwark is willing to encroach on their territory and beat them at their own game. "Cable news is dying," Last said. "All of the minutes of attention, which gets sucked up by CNN or Fox or whoever, those minutes are going to flow elsewhere. And I think that we should be a place where that attention goes." Legacy networks like MSNBC may be able to coexist with new media outfits like The Bulwark, especially since its writers regularly go on the left-leaning cable network. But regardless of who's pushing back against Trump, Last's hope is that American democracy is healthy. He doesn't want chaos, even if it can help his business, but he knows that's mostly out of his control. "Given the choice between having half of our audience, but living in a normal time, I would absolutely take that," Last said.
Business Insider
18-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Business Insider names Kim Last Editorial Director of BI Live
Business Insider welcomes Kim Last as Editorial Director of BI Live, the new events business that translates its award-winning journalism to global audiences through interactive event formats. In this role, Last will develop and curate a slate of events that bring Business Insider's unique editorial voice to life. The move is part of Business Insider's commitment to engage its audience by translating content into experiences that spark dialogue and drive value for decision makers. BI Live will focus on in-person, interactive events that showcase the best of Business Insider's reporting across core coverage in business, technology, and innovation. Last will co-lead the initiative alongside Priscilla Ellington, Vice President of BI Live. Last joins Business Insider from The Wall Street Journal, where she most recently served as Head of Live Journalism and Special Content. At the Journal, Last expanded the Future of Everything event franchise and played a pivotal role in driving the publication's live journalism efforts globally. Prior to the Journal, she held critical roles in conference development at Vox Media, including Recode, and at Fast Company, she launched the inaugural Fast Company Innovation Festival. "Kim is an innovative and inspiring journalist, colleague, and leader. We are so fortunate that she will help Business Insider build this critical new format for our journalism. Her vision and deep editorial expertise will drive the exciting future of BI Live," said Business Insider Editor in Chief Jamie Heller. "I'm incredibly excited to join Business Insider's new live events business. There's tremendous opportunity to not only build distinctive event franchises that engage and grow BI's audience across the business, tech, and innovation verticals, but also the chance to create live journalism that goes well beyond the spaces where we convene. I'm especially looking forward to working in the newsroom to help develop BI's journalists into dynamic, insightful live interviewers who can bring their expertise to life on stage," said Last.
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Business Standard
14-06-2025
- General
- Business Standard
King Charles leads minute's silence for Ahmedabad plane crash victims
Britain's King Charles III on Saturday led a minute's silence in memory of the Ahmedabad-London Air India plane crash victims after making last-minute amendments to his annual Trooping the Colour birthday parade, with black armbands commemorating the victims. Buckingham Palace said the 76-year-old monarch wanted the alterations "as a mark of respect for the lives lost, the families in mourning and all the communities affected by this awful tragedy". It saw all members of the royal family in uniform sporting black armbands as a mark of respect to the 241 passengers and crew who lost their lives in Thursday's London-bound plane crash in Ahmedabad. Following the Air India incident this week, His Majesty has requested that members of the Royal Family in uniform at Trooping the Colour should wear black armbands, as will mounted Officers in the Procession and all liveried Mews staff, Buckingham Palace said in a statement. The parade will also incorporate a minute's silence, to be observed after Their Majesties [King Charles and Queen Camilla] have exited the carriage and joined The Princess of Wales [Kate Middleton] on the dais, following the inspection of the parade," the statement said. " The silence will be signalled by the sounding of a Last Post and Reveille. This will be as a mark of respect for all the lives lost, the families in mourning and the communities affected by the tragedy, it added. In an earlier statement, King Charles had said he and Queen Camilla were desperately shocked by the terrible events in Ahmedabad. "Our special prayers and deepest possible sympathy are with the families and friends of all those affected by this appallingly tragic incident across so many nations, as they await news of their loved ones, a Buckingham Palace statement noted in the wake of the tragedy. "I would like to pay a particular tribute to the heroic efforts of the emergency services and all those providing help and support at this most heartbreaking and traumatic time," the statement added. The amended Trooping the Colour followed the United Kingdom's flags being flown at half-mast on Friday on all royal residences and government buildings as a mark of respect. The annual royal birthday parade includes an inspection of troops and parade, culminating traditionally in a Red Arrows Royal Air Force (RAF) flypast over Buckingham Palace watched over from the balcony by senior royals. King Charles III's birthday is on November 14, but traditionally the British monarch's public celebrations are held in mid-June during warmer weather. The ceremony dates back to the 18th century and sees regimental colours being displayed in front of the monarch, with the colours of the Coldstream Guards to be presented at this year's parade. The honour of Trooping their Colour rotates through the five Regiments of Foot Guards, and this year it was the Number 7 Company Coldstream Guards that took centre-stage. The King's son and heir, Prince William the Prince of Wales, was in uniform as Colonel of the Welsh Guards.
