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Amazon is reportedly leaning into automation plans that will enable the company to avoid hiring more than half a million US workers. Citing interviews and internal strategy documents, The New York Times reports that Amazon is hoping its robots can replace more than 600,000 jobs it would otherwise have to hire in the United States by 2033, despite estimating it’ll sell about twice as many products over the period.
Documents reportedly show that Amazon’s robotics team is working towards automating 75 percent of the company’s entire operations, and expects to ditch 160,000 US roles that would otherwise be needed by 2027. This would save about 30 cents on every item that Amazon warehouses and delivers to customers, with automation efforts expected to save the company $12.6 billion from 2025 to 2027.
Amazon has considered steps to improve its image as a “good corporate citizen” in preparation for the anticipated backlash around job losses, according to The NYT, reporting that the company considered participating in community projects and avoiding terms like “automation” and “AI.” More vague terms like “advanced technology” were explored instead, and the term “cobot” was used for robots that work alongside humans.
In a statement to The Verge, Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said the leaked documents reflect the perspective of just one team, and do not represent the company’s overall hiring strategy “now or moving forward.”
“Leaked documents often paint an incomplete and misleading picture of our plans, and that’s the case here. In our written narrative culture, thousands of documents circulate throughout the company at any given time, each with varying degrees of accuracy and timeliness,” Nantel said. “We’re actively hiring at operations facilities across the country and recently announced plans to fill 250,000 positions for the holiday season.”
Amazon told The NYT that its executives are not being instructed to avoid using certain terms when referring to robotics, and that community involvement is unrelated to the company’s automation plans.
“Nobody else has the same incentive as Amazon to find the way to automate. Once they work out how to do this profitably, it will spread to others, too,” Daron Acemoglu, winner of the Nobel Prize in economic science last year, told The NYT. Adding that if Amazon achieves its automation goal, “one of the biggest employers in the United States will become a net job destroyer, not a net job creator.”
Just months after announcing plans to split into two companies, Warner Bros. Discovery has signaled that it may be open to a sale of its business.
In an announcement on Tuesday, the entertainment giant said it had initiated a review of “strategic alternatives” in light of “unsolicited interest” it had received from multiple parties for both the entire company and Warner Bros specifically.
Warner Bros. Discovery did not specify where that interest was coming from, and a spokesperson said the company couldn’t share additional information when reached by The Associated Press on Tuesday. But its review arrives after growing reports of a potential bidding war — including from Skydance-owned Paramount, which closed its own $8 billion merger in early August.
Citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Paramount approached Warner about a potential majority-cash offer in late September — but that Warner Chief Executive David Zaslav had rebuffed those first overtures. According to the outlet, Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison later considered taking a more aggressive approach, such as going directly to shareholders.
CNBC has also reported that Netflix and Comcast are among other interested parties, citing unnamed sources. Comcast declined to comment Tuesday. Paramount and Netflix did not immediately respond to the AP’s requests for statements.
Back in June, Warner Bros. Discovery outlined plans to split its cable and streaming offerings — with HBO, HBO Max, as well as Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, DC Studios, to become part of a new streaming and studios company; while networks like CNN, Discovery and TNT Sports and digital products such as the Discovery+ streaming service and Bleacher Report would make up a separate cable counterpart.
Warner expected the split to be complete by mid-2026 — and said Tuesday that continuing to advance this separation was still among the options it’s now considering.
“We took the bold step of preparing to separate the Company into two distinct, leading media companies, Warner Bros. and Discovery Global, because we strongly believed this was the best path forward,” Zaslav said in a statement. Still, he added, “it’s no surprise that the significant value of our portfolio is receiving increased recognition by others in the market.”
The company said that there’s no definite timeline for its review process — and noted that, beyond the separation that is already underway, “there can be no assurance” that the process will result in a transaction.
Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, headquartered in New York, jumped over 11% by midday trading Tuesday.
General Motors anticipates a smaller impact from tariffs and is boosting its full-year adjusted earnings forecast as its third-quarter performance topped Wall Street’s expectations.
Shares surged more than 15% in afternoon trading on Tuesday, its biggest one-day jump since May 2018.
The automaker reduced its expectations for the full-year gross impact from tariffs to a range of $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion. Its previous guidance was $4 billion to $5 billion. GM anticipates its tariff mitigation actions will offset about 35% of the impact due to a lower tariff base.
On Friday President Donald Trump gave domestic automakers additional relief from tariffs on auto parts, extending what was supposed to have been a short-term rebate until 2030. It’s part of a proclamation Trump signed Friday that also made official a 25% import tax on medium and heavy duty trucks, starting Nov. 1.
The action reflected the administration’s efforts to use tariffs to promote American manufacturing while also trying to shield the auto sector from the higher costs that Trump’s import taxes have created for parts and raw materials.
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“The MSRP offset program will help make U.S.-produced vehicles more competitive over the next five years, and GM is very well positioned as we invest to increase our already significant domestic sourcing and manufacturing footprint,” GM CEO Mary Barra said in a letter to shareholders.
GM previously announced $4 billion in capital investments to onshore production at plants in Tennessee, Kansas, and Michigan over the next two years. Barra said that once those investments are in place, the company plans to make more than 2 million vehicles per year in the U.S.
The automaker is also investing nearly $1 billion to build a new generation of advanced, fuel-efficient V8 engines in New York.
For the three months ended Sept. 30, GM earned $1.33 billion, or $1.35 per share. A year earlier the automaker earned $3.06 billion, or $2.68 per share.
Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were $2.80 per share. That easily beat the $2.28 per share that analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research were calling for.
Revenue totaled $48.59 billion, topping Wall Street’s estimate of $44.27 billion.
GM now foresees full-year adjusted earnings between $9.75 and $10.50 per share. Its prior outlook was for $8.25 to $10 per share. Analysts polled by FactSet predict full-year earnings of $9.46 per share.
Barra also said Tuesday that GM is reassessing its electric vehicle capacity and manufacturing footprint.
The announcement comes a week after GM said that it would record a negative impact of $1.6 billion in the third quarter after tax incentives for EVs were slashed by the U.S. and rules governing emissions are relaxed.
The EV tax credit ended last month. The clean vehicle tax credit was worth $7,500 for new EVs and up to $4,000 for used ones.
“With the evolving regulatory framework and the end of federal consumer incentives, it is now clear that near-term EV adoption will be lower than planned,” Barra said in her shareholder letter.
Aside from the charge in the third quarter, Barra said that the company expects future charges.
“By acting swiftly and decisively to address overcapacity, we expect to reduce EV losses in 2026 and beyond,” she said.
GM remains committed to its Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC EVs, with Barra saying that the automaker anticipates their performance will improve, even in a smaller market.
The Coca-Cola Co. said sales of premium beverages and mini cans helped boost its third-quarter results despite tepid demand in the U.S. and elsewhere.
The Atlanta beverage giant said Tuesday it continues to see a divergence among consumers in North America and Europe, with higher-income buyers opting for its more expensive brands like Smartwater, Topo Chico, and Fairlife, while middle- and lower-income consumers are under more pressure.
Henrique Braun, Coke’s chief operating officer, said the company has focused on affordability by shrinking package sizes and leaning into sales of mini cans. Earlier this month, Coke announced it will sell individual, 7.5-ounce mini cans for the first time at North American convenience stores starting Jan. 1. The mini cans have a suggested retail price of $1.29.
“We’re pivoting accordingly. We know that the consumer landscape has not changed,” Braun said during a conference call with investors.
Coca-Cola said its organic revenue rose 6% to $12.41 billion in the July-September period. That was in line with what Wall Street expected, according to analysts polled by FactSet.
Unit case volumes were up 1% worldwide, reversing a 1% slide in the second quarter. Case volumes were flat in North America and Latin America and down 1% in Asia. But they rose 4% in the company’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa region. Coke said prices grew 6% in the quarter, partly due to the mix of beverages sold.
Coca-Cola Zero Sugar was a standout in the third quarter, with unit case volumes up 14% globally, while Diet Coke and Coca-Cola Light sales grew 2%. Case volumes for water, sports drinks, coffee, and tea rose 3%, while dairy and juice volumes fell 3%.
The company’s net income jumped 30% to $3.69 billion. Adjusted for one-time items, Coke earned 82 cents per share. That was also higher than the 78 cents analysts forecast.
Coca-Cola reiterated its full-year financial guidance, including organic revenue growth of 5% to 6% and adjusted earnings-per-share growth of 3%. Coke also said it continues to expect the impact of tariffs to be “manageable.”
Coca-Cola shares rose 3.5% in morning trading on Tuesday.
Coca-Cola also said Tuesday it is refranchising its bottling operations in Africa. Coke and Gutsche Family Investments, a private South African company, have agreed to sell a 75% controlling interest in Coca-Cola Beverages Africa to Coca-Cola HBC AG, a major bottler for the company based in Switzerland. The deal is worth $2.55 billion.
Coca-Cola will retain a 25% stake in Coca-Cola Beverages Africa. The transactions are expected to close by the end of 2026.
Coca-Cola Beverages Africa is the largest bottler on the continent, operating in 14 countries and accounting for 40% of Coke’s product volume in Africa. Coca-Cola HBC operates in 29 countries in Europe and Africa, including Nigeria and Egypt.
Coca-Cola Chairman and CEO James Quincey said Tuesday that the deal in Africa and a similar transaction in India in July were the last two big pieces of a bottler refranchising plan that Coke set in motion a decade ago.
Quincey said the strategy helps Coke focus more on brand building and innovation, while bottlers can invest in the manufacturing system.
“The bottler performs better and it helps us drive overall growth for the total system, so that the combination grows faster and is more profitable,” Quincey said.
Rival PepsiCo is under some pressure from an activist investor, Elliott Investment Management, to refranchise its bottling operations in North America.
JPMorgan Chase unveiled its new 60-story headquarters to the public on Monday, one of the first major office buildings to be constructed after the COVID-19 pandemic and one that will remake the New York City skyline for decades.
The bronze and steel tower at 270 Park, which reportedly cost $3 billion, replaced the Union Carbide Building, which sat on a full city block between 47th and 48th Street and Park Avenue and Madison Avenue for nearly 60 years. JPMorgan expects to house roughly 10,000 of its 24,000 New York-based employees in the new building, with some employees starting their first workday at the tower at the same time as the company holds its ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“For 225 years, JPMorgan Chase has always been deeply rooted in New York City. The opening of our new global headquarters is not only a significant investment in New York, but also a testament to our commitment to our clients and employees worldwide,” said Jamie Dimon, CEO and chairman of JPMorgan, in a statement.
The completion of the new 270 Park is a major accomplishment for Dimon, who has been one of the loudest voices calling for employees to report to an office for work. The building was designed before the COVID-19 pandemic made remote work more common. The bank held meetings to consider halting work on the building to either redesign it or scale it back, but Dimon was insistent that work should continue as designed.
Both politicians and CEOs, particularly Wall Street CEOs, have been vocal about the need for companies to have offices. New York politicians must answer to local businesses that have existed for decades and are used by workers to eat, groom, shop, and drink at.
“To have this investment at this extraordinary time is a testament to that New York audacity and ambition,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul, who attended as part of the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The ceremony ended with the playing of “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys.
At 1,388 feet, the new building, designed by famed architect Norman Foster, is taller than the Empire State Building’s roofline and is now the fourth-largest building in Manhattan. The building contains 2.5 million square feet and a block’s worth of public space. The bank also commissioned five new artworks for the building, adding to the bank’s already substantial art collection. The bank will house its trading operations in the building across eight floors, and has contracted out several food and coffee vendors to create a city-within-a-building concept.
The building was a major engineering and architectural undertaking by Foster, the building’s lead architect and Tishman Speyer, who handled construction and engineering. The old Union Carbide building had to be systematically demolished over a period of two years, most of that demolition happening during the pandemic. Construction was complicated by the fact the site sits above the rails of the Metro North Railroad and the Long Island Railroad that run underneath Park Avenue into Grand Central Terminal.
For years, JPMorgan has worked out of several buildings around Grand Central Terminal, a result of the bank’s growth and acquisitions over the years.
Corporate execs and investment bankers still use 383 Madison Ave, the former headquarters of Bear Stearns, and 277 Park, which housed Chemical Bank, also a predecessor of the current JPMorgan Chase. Parts of JPMorgan started using the Union Carbide Building in the mid-1990s, but the bank always struggled to fit all its operations in the building. The building was designed to house 3,000 employees when it was built in the 1960s, and JPMorgan housed more than 6,000 there within a few short years of moving in.
With 270 Park finished, the bank says it will now start a renovation of 383 Madison. Dimon said the bank has purchased a few other adjacent properties near 270 Park to centralize its operations around its new headquarters for the long term.
Workers on F-1 student visas and others who switch to H-1B status within the US won't be subject to the $100,000 Trump fee on the program, USCIS confirmed in guidance posted to its website Monday.
The fee won't apply to any petition "that is requesting an amendment, change of status, or extension of stay for an alien inside the United States where the alien is granted such amendment, change, or extension," according to the update.
That addresses one of the major questions businesses and attorneys pressed the Trump administration to clarify in the weeks since the surprise announcement of the $100,000 fee, which is now being challenged by two different lawsuits.
USCIS has also set up a pay.gov portal to submit payments for H-1B petitions along with an email address to request exemptions. But it doesn't appear to have made any movement on blanket waivers for certain occupations. Healthcare industry groups as well as some GOP lawmakers worried about worker shortages have asked for such carve-outs.