Newsletter: California Inc.: Big change coming for credit cards
Welcome to California Inc., the weekly newsletter of the L.A. Times Business Section.
I'm Business columnist David Lazarus, and here's a rundown of upcoming stories this week and the highlights of last week.
All eyes today will remain on Volkswagen, which continues to grapple with the repercussions of its grudging admission that, yes, it cheated on emission tests for diesel vehicles. Considering the company’s huge role in the German economy and thus all of Europe, what’s bad for VW may be bad for the rest of the world.
Looking Ahead
Mobile spending: A new mobile payment platform, Samsung Pay, debuts today in the U.S. to compete with Apple Pay, Google Wallet and Android Pay. Samsung said its system reached $30 million in transaction volume in its first month in use in South Korea. Samsung Pay's advantage: It can work with existing credit card readers at most American stores.
New Tesla: After months of teases, Tesla’s Model X SUV with falcon wing rear doors will make its debut Tuesday at the company’s Fremont, Calif., assembly plant. The X, a sibling of the Palo Alto automaker’s Model S electric sedan, won’t come cheap. It will cost $75,000 to $132,000, depending on features.
New phones: On Tuesday, Google unveils two new Nexus smartphones, the first devices to run the Android 6.0 system, nicknamed Marshmallow. One model will be made by South Korea’s LG Electronics; the other by China’s Huawei Technologies. Google also is expected to announce a new version of its Chromecast television stick.
Shutdown looms: The federal government faces a shutdown Thursday if Congress doesn’t pass a budget bill. Republicans want to strip funding from Planned Parenthood, a move opposed by the Obama administration and most Democrats. That puts the budget bill in peril as the Sept. 30 fiscal year deadline approaches.
New jobs: On Friday, the Labor Department will release its jobs report for September, assuming the government isn’t shut down. The data is a key element in helping Federal Reserve policymakers determine whether recent financial market turmoil has hurt the U.S. economy.
The Agenda
Today's Business section looks at a big change coming for credit- and debit-card transactions. Starting Thursday, many shoppers will no longer be swiping their plastic into merchants’ card readers. They’ll be inserting them — chip-side first. Chip-equipped cards, common in Europe, make it more difficult for criminals to forge fake cards.
Story Lines
Here are some of the other stories that ran in the Times Business section in recent days that we’re continuing to follow:
VW fallout: Volkswagen’s deception over pollution controls prompted the Environmental Protection Agency to launch a new program to test emissions from all diesel cars. The worldwide scandal cost Martin Winterkorn his job as CEO, though he said he was “not aware” of any wrongdoing on his part. Porsche’s leader, Matthias Mueller, was named to replace him.
Adios, Haggen: Haggen Inc. is leaving California after a dramatic expansion gone wrong forced the grocery chain to file for bankruptcy protection. The Bellingham, Wash., company said it's closing all its stores in the state as part of a larger exit from Arizona and Nevada as well. Haggen plans to keep 37 stores in Washington and Oregon.
Beer maker buy: Topping off weeks of deals for California beer makers, Anheuser-Busch InBev said it would acquire Golden Road Brewing, Los Angeles' largest craft brewer. AB InBev said the deal would help introduce Golden Road to customers outside of California, Nevada and Arizona.
No refinery fix: Just when Southern California motorists were expecting to see some relief soon from high gasoline prices, they now may have to wait well into next winter — at least. Exxon Mobil Corp. appears poised to build a new pollution-control system for its damaged Torrance refinery and abandon efforts for a short-term fix.
Calling all Jedis: The biggest expansion of Disneyland will begin Jan. 10 when the park will permanently close several attractions, including Big Thunder Ranch, to begin construction of a new Star Wars Land. Walt Disney Co. said it would overhaul several existing attractions to include new Star Wars characters and scenes.
What We’re Reading
And some recent stories from other publications that caught our eye:
Diesel premium: Bloomberg spots a different angle on the VW scandal by noting that cars with diesel engines typically come with higher prices. “Because the combustion of the fuel is more violent, they have to be built to withstand higher pressures and more wear and tear,” it says.
Fiorina's record: Yale’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld reflects in Politico on being cited as the authority on Carly Fiorina’s track record in Silicon Valley. He had concluded that "she was one of the worst technology CEOs in history," and he hasn't changed his opinion over time.
Books still breathing: Analysts once predicted that more books would be sold digitally than in paper form by this year. The New York Times reports that not only has this not come to pass but e-book sales have slowed sharply.
Mom's ashes: Salon serves up a very tasty story about a Los Angeles man whose mother’s ashes can be found at the city’s newly renovated Clifton’s Cafeteria. She is “literally entombed in the permanent cafeteria décor,” he says.
Doomsday vault: Reuters points out that the Syrian civil war “has prompted the first withdrawal of seeds from a ‘doomsday’ vault built in an Arctic mountainside to safeguard global food supplies.” The seeds have been requested to replace those in a damaged gene bank near the Syrian city of Aleppo.
For the latest money news, go to www.latimes.com/business. Until next time, I'll see you in the Business section.
