In The Headlines Is Crowdfunding the House Flipper’s Dream Come True? House flippers and property developers are increasingly crowdfunding—tapping the virtual wallets of anonymous internet backers on platforms such as RealtyShares, LendingHome, PeerStreet, and Patch of Land. For riskier ventures, such as building new homes and buying, renovating and selling existing [...]

In The Headlines Feds Signal “Big, but not Too Big” on Walgreens, Rite Aid Deal It now appears that drugstore chain Walgreens Boots Alliance would likely have to divest between 500 and 1,000 stores, more than its previous estimate of fewer than 500, to ease antitrust concerns over its pending $9.41 [...]

In The Headlines McDonald’s Signals the End of Small Fry Franchisees McDonald’s has long been famous for its small-owner-focused franchise system, in which entrepreneurs with only a store or two would sweat the details of their restaurants, yielding better customer service. Lately, however, the fast-food giant has begun shedding mom and [...]

In The Headlines Is it “Lights Out” for Once Highflying ITT Education Services? The federal Department of Education imposed strict new rules on one of the nation’s largest for-profit education companies, ITT Educational Services, barring it from enrolling new students who use federal financial aid and ordering it to pay $153 [...]

In The Headlines Gap Struggles in a Fashion World that is “Anti-Normal” Two years ago, Gap Inc. put such celebrities as Anjelica Huston and Elisabeth Moss in simple outfits—button-downs and blazers, jeans and airy, dull-hued blouses—and told shoppers to “Dress Normal” for its fall ad campaign. It backfired. Sales slumped over [...]

In The Headlines Aging Infrastructure Exposes Airlines to Risk of Outages Airlines will likely suffer more disruptions like the one that recently grounded about 2,000 Delta flights because major carriers have not invested enough to overhaul reservations systems based on technology dating to the 1960s, according to airline industry and technology [...]

In The Headlines PepsiCo Makes a Big Bet on Craft Soda” PepsiCo says the emerging “craft” soda industry is a trend that is here to stay. And that is why the company is vowing to make a bolder investment on the category as it aims to convince millennials that soda can [...]

In The Headlines Will Our Graying Workforce Taking a Toll on Productivity?” Population aging is expected to be a drag on U.S. growth, and the hit could be substantial. The retirement of baby-boomers in the decade between 2010 and 2020 will lower GDP growth per capita by 1.2% a year from [...]

In The Headlines Is TV About to Lose its Hold on Brand Advertising?” Television has long been the favorite entertainment habit in America and beyond, and as a result TV commercials have been the world's favorite way to sell people soda and laundry detergent. But that is changing. Money spent globally [...]

In The Headlines Are Declining Middle Class Fortunes a Global Problem?” From Brexit to Donald Trump, it seems that current events are telling us the man on the street is angry and wants change. A new report from the McKinsey Global Institute, with the chilling title Poorer than their Parents: Flat [...]