Plus, Uber hires its first-ever COO, watch out for “porch pirates” shadowing Amazon trucks, and the year-end list of year-end lists.
Comcast and AT&T, among the bigger beneficiaries of President Trump’s tax reform and neutering of net neutrality, responded quickly to their anticipated tax breaks by promising $1,000 bonuses to employees once the legislation is signed into law — which Trump may delay until January. The new tax law drops the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from the current 35 percent, and includes other measures that Republicans say will spur businesses to invest domestically. Here’s what other big corporations say they’ll do with their tax cuts. [CNBC]
Uber hired its first-ever COO, the second major executive hire by new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Barney Harford, the former CEO of online travel site Orbitz, previously worked for and later competed with Khosrowshahi in the online travel business; the appointment gives Uber another leader with extensive experience in the travel business to repair the ride-hail company after a scandal-wracked year under co-founder and then-CEO Travis Kalanick. Next priority: Finding a CFO. [Johana Bhuiyan / Recode]
Here’s the deal behind Jann Wenner’s deal to sell Rolling Stone, his iconic music magazine. Penske Media is buying a majority stake in Wenner’s Wenner Media, which in turn gives it control of Wenner’s 51 percent stake of Rolling Stone. The deal puts Rolling Stone’s enterprise value at more than $100 million — which means Penske put in something in the $50 million range to buy the magazine. Wenner’s team describes it as an “investment,” not a sale. [Peter Kafka / Recode]
Dozens of companies are using Facebook to exclude older workers from job ads, including Amazon, Target, Verizon, Goldman Sachs, UPS — and Facebook itself. By targeting jobs to limited age groups, the companies may be violating the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, which prohibits bias against people 40 or older in hiring or employment. Facebook defended the practice, saying “age-based targeting for employment purposes is an accepted industry practice.” [ProPublica / The New York Times]
Walmart is developing a personal-shopper service for rich moms — and a store with no cashiers. It’s all part of the evolution promised by the company’s new digital head, Marc Lore, who aims to make Walmart a significant challenger to Amazon. A new subsidiary, called Code Eight, recently started testing a service for “busy NYC moms” — the goal is letting these “high net worth urban consumers” get product recommendations and make purchases simply through text messaging. [Jason Del Rey / Recode]
“Porch pirates” are especially active during the holiday season, when UPS plans to deliver 750 million packages — up from 500 million five years ago. The more efficient thieves follow delivery trucks, scooping up packages as they are dropped off; the Nextdoor local network says it sees a 500 percent increase in posts about missing passages at this time of year. Meanwhile, responding to rising shipping costs and environmental concerns, Amazon is trying to reduce the number and bulk of all those boxes by experimenting with padded envelopes and more compact product packaging. [Nick Wingfield / The New York Times]
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The year-end list of year-end lists.