Weeks after Twitter rolled out a suite of new customer service tools for businesses using the social network to connect with clients, the company has come out with a not-at-all-shocking report that interacting with customers on Twitter is good for business. Flabbergasted? Probably not. [More]
profit
Mylan’s Capitol Hill Critics Still Don’t Believe Company Only Makes $80 Profit Per EpiPen
By 9.27.16
Last week, when Mylan CEO Heather Bresch told a congressional panel that her company only makes $50 profit per EpiPen — the emergency allergy treatment that has risen in price by 600% in recent years — lawmakers found that hard to believe. And now that Mylan has revised that profit figure to $80 per EpiPen, the company’s critics are only getting louder. [More]
Comcast CEO On Expanding Data Caps: “The More You Use, The More You Pay”
By 12.9.15
Comcast may be a provider of TV and internet services, but at its heart it’s in the exact same business as literally every business: making profit. Bringing in more money without spending more money is the tried-and-true way of making profit, so that’s exactly what Comcast wants to do. And their planned way of doing it involves charging consumers more for the internet they already use, and then adding some more on top of that, too. [More]
Report: Taking For-Profit Colleges Nonprofit Can Generate Hefty Profits For Owners
By 3.3.15
Earlier this year Education Credit Management Corporation bought 56 campuses from embattled for-profit chain Corinthian Colleges Inc. and took the schools to the nonprofit sector. While that conversion was initiated because of the ongoing collapse and financial problems facing CCI, other college chains have dropped the for-profit status seemingly to pick up hefty profits. [More]
Government Has Made $4 Billion On The Bailout, So Far
By 8.31.09
The NYT says a little less than a year after the economic meltdown, the government is starting to see a profit from banks repaying bailout money.
AIG No Longer Hemorrhaging Money, Actually Makes Profit
By 8.7.09
Big news! AIG, poster child of the economic meltdown, has reported a profit. The company says it had a net income for the second quarter of $1.8 billion, which is much better than in 2008 when it lost $5.8 billion. So, how much did we-the-people get for our investment? $1.5 billion.
Twitter Says No To Ads For Now
By 5.19.09
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone and his partners are some cool cats. Facebook tried to buy the company for half a billion and they turned it down. The fledgling social networking service also staved off Google from gobbling it up.
Did Bad Customer Service Doom Circuit City?
By 5.10.09
Best-practices guru Joel Spolsky thinks Circuit City imploded because of their terrible customer service, not any “recession” or “macroeconomic conditions” nonsense. To prove his point, he looks at thriving New York electronics retailer B&H, which succeeds because they understand that stellar service leads to healthy profit margins.
Is Target Too Expensive? Profit Down 41%
By 2.24.09
Consumers are cutting back — and the AP says that shoppers are abandoning Target for even cheaper stores. In addition, Target’s credit card division is running into trouble as shell-shocked shoppers aren’t able to pay their bills.
Why Was Gas So Expensive?
By 10.13.08
Did you know that gas price gouging almost never occurs as prices rise? Rather, it’s most often when dealers keep prices artificially high even as their costs fall. As gas costs were near $5 a gallon until falling and oil companies earn around $100 billion each year, it’s a good time to question what really goes into the price of gas. The numbers on the gas station sign hide a complex set of transactions. Before gas can power your car, it must be discovered as crude oil, traverse three markets, and be refined from crude into gas. Inside, we’ll explain the three markets, walk you through the role of refineries, and show how oil companies use creative tactics to manipulate gas prices…
Why Is Gas So Freakin' Expensive?
By 5.29.07
Did you know that gas price gouging almost never occurs as prices rise? Rather, it’s most often when dealers keep prices artificially high even as their costs fall.
Time To Call And Ask For A Discount, Comcast Revenue Up 80%
By 4.27.07
As you well know, calling your cable company and calmly telling them they’re way overpriced will likely result in your cable bill being lowered significantly. Don’t believe us? Try it.
Anyone Want To Buy A FEMA Trailer?
By 3.8.07
FEMA has some used trailers (41,000 of them) to sell and so far, they’ve been netting “about 40 cents on each dollar spent by taxpayers,” according to the Washington Post.
Burger King Is In The Video Game Business; Earnings Up 40% Thanks to XBOX
By 2.1.07
“Burger King Holdings Inc., the world’s second-largest hamburger chain, said Tuesday that quarterly earnings rose a better-than-expected 40 percent as an Xbox 360 video game promotion spurred sales in the U.S.”
Yikes. Are those games any good? —MEGHANN MARCO
