The word "business" leads here; for other meaning see The Business.

In economics, business is the social science of managing people to organize and maintain collective productivity toward accomplishing particular creative and productive goals, usually to generate revenue.

The etymology of "business" refers to the state of being busy, in the context of the individual as well as the community or society. In other words, to be busy is to be doing commercially viable and profitable work.

More on [ Business ]

NPR Topics: Business

Cablevision Acquires 'Newsday'
Mon, 12 May 2008 16:00:00 -0400
Long Island-based Cablevision Systems Corp. buys New York Newsday from Sam Zell's Tribune Company for $650 million. The Dolan family, which owns Cablevision, outbid media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
Bill and Melinda Gates Name New Foundation Head
Mon, 12 May 2008 13:14:00 -0400
Jeff Raikes, a 27-year veteran of Microsoft, will take over the $37 billion Gates Foundation in September. Bill and Melinda Gates tell NPR that they picked Raikes because he shares their passion to try to help minimize poverty around the globe.
Young Workers Flee Midwestern States
Mon, 12 May 2008 13:01:00 -0400
Upper Midwestern states are in danger of losing a precious economic commodity: young people. Many are leaving for other parts of the country after finishing school. Without young, educated workers, there's little incentive for businesses to locate in economically hard-hit states.

Latest financial news - CNNMoney.com

Greenberg: 'AIG is in crisis'
Mon, 12 May 2008 21:25:16 -0400
Read full story for latest details.
Clearwire expansion doubles loss
Mon, 12 May 2008 18:14:35 -0400
Read full story for latest details.
HP in talks to buy EDS for $13 billion
Mon, 12 May 2008 19:12:00 -0400
Read full story for latest details.

The Financial Page

Cyclone
George Packer Mon, 12 May 2008 04:00:00 -0000
The Burmese military government, which hides from its people in the splendid isolation of a jungle capital newly manufactured in the center of the country, told the public, on April 29th, to expect widespread rain and forty-five-mile-an-hour winds on the southern coast. Cyclone Nargis arrived, on . . .
The Open Secret of Success
James Surowiecki Mon, 05 May 2008 04:00:00 -0000
In the current atmosphere of economic tumult, the announcement that Toyota sold a hundred and sixty thousand more cars than General Motors in the first three months of this year might seem like a minor news item. But it may very well signal the end of one of the most . . .
Parsing Paulson
James Surowiecki Mon, 21 Apr 2008 04:00:00 -0000
In the wake of a crisis, the natural response of government officials is often to offer up new rules and regulations. So it came as no surprise when, a few weeks ago, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson proposed a new regulatory scheme for the nation’s stricken financial markets. What was surprising . . .

Reuters: Business News

HP in talks to buy EDS to compete with IBM
Mon, 12 May 2008 20:32:58 -0400
NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co is in talks to buy technology outsourcing company Electronic Data Systems Corp for $12 billion to $13 billion in a deal which would vault it to a close second to IBM in technology services.
AIG sees no need to honor ex-CEO request to delay AGM
Mon, 12 May 2008 20:56:54 -0400
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, former chief executive of American International Group , has said the insurer is in "crisis" and urged a delay in its annual general meeting scheduled for Wednesday, according to a letter he sent to the board.
Australia's Westpac bids $17.6 billion for St George
Mon, 12 May 2008 21:57:28 -0400
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Westpac Banking Corp Ltd launched a $17.6 billion all-share bid for smaller rival St George Bank Ltd in a tie-up that would create Australia's biggest bank by market value.

ABC News: Money

Gas Prices Shoot Past $3.70 a Gallon
Mon, 12 May 2008 16:22:47 -0400
The Energy Information Administration reports prices are up 11 cents to $3.72.
Congress Gridlocked on Gas Price Policy
Mon, 12 May 2008 08:06:28 -0400
Congress' energy policy is out of gas and not likely to go far.
Cablevision, Not Murdoch, Buying Newsday
Mon, 12 May 2008 09:44:33 -0400
The company will pay $650M for the newspaper after Murdoch withdrew his bid.

BBC News | Business | UK Edition

British Gas bills may rise again
Mon, 12 May 2008 10:02:28 -0000
British Gas-owner Centrica signals fuel bills may rise as its profits are squeezed by high gas and power prices.
Second negative month for sales
Mon, 12 May 2008 23:00:35 -0000
UK retail sales fall for the second month in April, according to the British Retail Consortium.
HP confirms in talks to buy EDS
Mon, 12 May 2008 21:20:24 -0000
Hewlett-Packard confirms that it is in talks to buy the IT services provider Electronic Data Systems.

The Economist: Business

Rebranding Australia
Thu, 08 May 2008 12:40:10 -0000
How should Australia sell itself?STREWTH! It is almost 25 years since Paul Hogan, an Australian comedian, tried to lure tourists down under with his promise to throw ?another shrimp on the barbie?. A blend of beaches, bikini-clad women and bawdy humour made the ?Come and Say G'Day? campaign a sizzling success. In just three months Australia leapt into America's top ten ?most desired? holiday-destination list, having previously failed to make the top 50. The number of visitors doubled in four years.Ever since, Tourism Australia, the government outfit charged with pulling in tourists, has faced the irksome task of escaping from Mr Hogan's larger-than-life shadow. Its most recent campaign, launched two years ago, also combined cheeky humour with curvaceous bodies?the ad concludes with Lara Bingle, an Australian model, asking prospective tourists: ?So Where the Bloody Hell Are You?? This was judged too foul-mouthed for Britain, where the advertisement was initially banned. Meanwhile, the Japanese version, ?So Why Aren't You Coming?? sounded lacklustre and became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Last year the number of Japanese visitors fell by 12%. ...
Hungry like the wolf
Thu, 08 May 2008 12:40:10 -0000
A small Chinese carmaker with ambitious plansWITH a model line-up that includes the Wingle, Sailor and Socool, and a corporate action plan to ?attack the consciousness like a wolf while sensing danger like a rabbit?, it is easy to poke fun at Great Wall Motor, based in Hebei Province, south of Beijing. The carmaker's output of 108,000 vehicles in 2007 is puny by global standards?about half what Toyota builds in a week. Yet there is nothing modest about Great Wall's ambition.Its most popular models?the Hover, China's bestselling sport-utility vehicle, and the Deer, a small pick-up?have been supplemented by 14 new vehicles, with two more to follow this year. The firm also plans to introduce an electric car, the Gwkulla. Great Wall recently opened a third state-of-the-art factory which will allow it to increase volumes fivefold. It is already China's second-largest vehicle exporter (after Chery), shipping nearly half its output to over 80 countries. It builds cars with a licensee in Iran and opened a factory in Ukraine last year. ...
Methods and madness
Thu, 08 May 2008 12:40:10 -0000
Patent reform may soon happen in the courts, if not on Capitol HillONLY those inventions ?worth to the public the embarrassment of an exclusive patent? should receive patent protection, declared Thomas Jefferson, himself an inventor and America's first commissioner of patents. Since his day some patents have proved to be more of an embarrassment than others. Most notorious are ?business methods? patents, such as the patent held by Priceline, an online ticket agency, for the Dutch-auction method of selling tickets. Thousands of these patents have been issued since they were first recognised in 1998. But the federal court charged with hearing patent appeals has hinted that it may use a case, in which arguments were due to be heard on May 8th, to cut back the scope of patent protection for business methods.The patent application submitted by would-be inventors Bernard Bilski and Rand Warsaw is startling in its breadth and simplicity: it claims exclusive rights to the process of using transactions to hedge the risk that demand for a commodity will change. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rejected the application because it was not limited to the use of a particular machine and did not describe any methods for working out which transactions to perform. Any device or method could be used, or none at all. As a result, the USPTO explained, the application amounted to an attempt to patent an abstract idea?the idea of hedging consumption risk using contracts. ...

Subscribe to Business RSS feed