An exploded bridge, a car dealership cyberattack, and Boeing's slow CEO search: Business news roundup
Engineers blew up a 110-year-old bridge after they ‘forgot’ to get approval
What kind of repercussions are there if you make a mistake at work? Maybe you pump the wrong gas for a driver in New Jersey, shred the wrong screenplay and break a budding writer’s heart or accidentally use soap on the Cybertruck production line leading to a massive recall. Whatever mistake you made, it can’t be as bad as the mess up the Swiss rail operator made when it blew up a 110-year-old bridge earlier this year.
A major car dealership system got hit by cyberattacks
CDK Global has been forced to shut down its dealership management for the second day in a row after being struck by back-to-back cyberattacks.
CDK, which serves almost 15,000 car dealerships across North America, was first hit by an attack early Wednesday morning. That forced it to shut down its systems, which are relied on by dealerships to conduct most of their routine business. Later on Wednesday evening, a second “cyber incident” occurred, according to a message to customers viewed by Automotive News.
Boeing’s CEO search is not going well
Boeing’s search for a new CEO does not appear to be going well. Several people once thought to be ideal candidates are spurning offers to run the plane manufacturer, The Wall Street Journal reports. That list reportedly includes Larry Culp, CEO of GE Aerospace; Stephanie Pope, COO of Boeing; and Pat Shanahan, CEO of fuselage supplier Spirit Aerosystems.
All the chip companies getting billions in U.S. subsidies (so far)
As generative artificial intelligence takes off and tensions between the U.S. and China rise, the Biden administration is making a multi-billion dollar effort to bring chipmaking back to the U.S.
The 8 most popular AI tools right now
The release of ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence chatbot, launched a race among tech companies to develop more powerful competitors. Since November 2022, the AI market has been flooded with models from tech giants such as Microsoft and Google, as well as startups including Anthropic and Perplexity.
Embraer weighs the possibility of competing with Boeing and Airbus
A possible competitor to Boeing and Airbus continues to bide its time.
Reuters reports that Brazilian planemaker Embraer is relishing the possibility of taking a little business from the commercial airline duopolists while they struggle to fill orders from their airline customers. The outlet says CEO Francisco Gomes Neto told reporters at the company’s headquarters that he thinks his planes would be a “great solution” for carriers in a bind because it can build jets more quickly.
Hertz wants to sell $750 million in debt to dig itself out of an EV hole
Hertz is raising the better part of a billion dollars to refresh its fleet and shore up its balance sheet. In a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the rental car company said Thursday that it will be selling $750 million in debt to those ends.
Nvidia just passed Microsoft and is now the most valuable company in the world
Nvidia recently joined Apple and Microsoft in the $3 trillion market cap club — and now it’s passed both companies to become the most valuable public company by market cap in the world.
Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft battle it out to be the most valuable company in the world
Nvidia recently joined Microsoft and Apple in the $3 trillion market cap club before passing both and then retreating in afternoon trading
A Southwest Airlines Boeing plane almost crashed into the Pacific Ocean
Another Southwest Airlines-operated Boeing plane was involved in a serious mid-air incident. Sky News reports that a 737 Max 8 being flown by the carrier came within 400 feet of running into the Pacific Ocean during a flight in Hawai’i.