A sign is displayed on a wall at the former Anchor Brewing Company brewery on May 31, 2024 in San Francisco, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Beer drinkers rejoice, Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya has officially acquired Anchor Brewing Company in a move that will save the 127-year legacy business.
Craft beer fans everywhere collectively gasped last summer when the iconic San Francisco beer brand — fondly referred to as America’s first craft brewery — announced it would cease operations after generations of support.
Shepherd Futures, the family office of Chobani CEO, announced the acquisition of the assets of Anchor Brewing Company on Friday for an undisclosed amount, according to a press release.
“What an exciting time for San Francisco and Anchor Brewing,” Hamdi Ulukaya said in a statement. “Both are experiencing the magic of rebirth. I have fallen in love with this city, its history, grit and charm. I believe brands born in places like this are incredibly special and must be treasured, respected and loved.”
Anchor’s history dates back to the California Gold Rush in 1896 and is beloved by beer aficionados, best known for its Anchor Steam beer and renowned brewery and Public Taps taproom in the Potrero Hill neighborhood, which closed last July.
“San Francisco is at the heart of Anchor Brewing, and Anchor embodies so much of what makes this city great,” the Chobani founder continued. “I am humbled and excited to be part of this city and its rich community of people, who have a spirit that is special and unique. I have learned so much about Anchor and its role in San Francisco’s journey, and I look forward to doing whatever I can to support this amazing story of revitalization.”
Ulukaya said he intends to bring back the iconic brand that so many in San Francisco and around the world have loved for so long.
He also took the opportunity to share the news on Instagram, writing, “I am honored to work with the people of San Francisco to bring Anchor Brewing, this dream, back to life.”
(NEW YORK) — The stock price of former President Donald Trump’s social media platform Truth Social made turbulent swings in the aftermath of his conviction in a New York court on Thursday.
A jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in an effort to conceal hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels. The verdict made Trump the first president to be convicted in a criminal trial.
In the immediate aftermath of the verdict, the stock price of Truth Social plummeted roughly 15% to a price of about $47. The stock recovered in after-hours trading, however, rallying above its pre-verdict level to about $52.
In early trading on Friday, the price was down about 5%.
While acknowledging an overall decline since the verdict, analysts offered an optimistic view of the stock performance because in their view the stock showed resilience after the initial drop.
“The fact that it reversed right back off of that and almost immediately made new highs above where it was the day before — that’s textbook bullish,” Tyler Richey, an analyst at Sevens Report Research, told ABC News.
The price movement since the verdict reflects a dynamic that bodes well for the stock going forward, Richey added.
“Die-hard Trump supporters may not care what the stock does — they just want to support Trump,” Richey said.
By contrast, opponents of Trump face the logistical barriers and financial risks involved with shorting the stock — an investing strategy that delivers returns when a stock drops and, in turn, places downward pressure on the price.
“You have an imbalance between supporters and opponents of Trump in what they can do in the markets,” Richey added.
The volatile performance since Thursday afternoon marks the latest in a series of dramatic price swings for the stock.
Shares vaulted from an initial offering price of about $50 to a peak of nearly $80 in late March. Over the ensuing two weeks, the price fell nearly 70%, reaching a low of about $23.
As of Thursday morning, the stock had rebounded to a price of about $51 before plummeting in the aftermath of the verdict.
The stock performance holds significant financial implications for the former president, whose 60% stake in the company could ultimately deliver a multibillion dollar windfall. Truth Social shares make up a large portion of Trump’s overall net worth, according to Fortune.
Experts who previously spoke to ABC News described Truth Social as a so-called meme stock since it largely appeals to investors on the basis of ideology rather than financial outlook.
Truth Social generated roughly $3 million over the first nine months of 2023, government filings show. Meanwhile, the company reported $49 million in net losses over that period. By comparison, Instagram-parent Meta delivered nearly $135 billion in revenue last year, company earnings revealed.
The absence of financial underpinning leaves the stock vulnerable to major declines even in response to mildly negative or routine news, experts previously told ABC News.
A selloff in April coincided with financial challenges for Trump. Early that month, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee posted a $175 million bond in a New York civil fraud case.
“The only thing that you can predict is that there will continue to be volatility,” Jay Ritter, a professor of finance at the University of Florida, told ABC News.
(NEW YORK) — The cost of child care in the U.S. is rising at nearly double the pace of overall inflation, according to a new report by tax firm KPMG.
Between 1990 and April 2024, the cost of day care and preschool rose 263%, according to KPMG. The consumer price index, the government’s key measure of inflation, has increased 133% in the same time frame.
“The child care crisis, which was simmering prior to the pandemic, has come to a boil,” the report’s researchers said.
Diane Swonk, KPMG’s chief economist, told ABC News the high cost of child care is a key reason why Americans are downbeat about the economy, despite strength in other indicators like unemployment.
And while many companies have returned to pre-pandemic work patterns, Swonk said women are still disproportionately staying on the sidelines of the workforce because of child care responsibilities.
The labor force participation rate of women with kids under the age of 6 was 69% in 2023. The rate of men in the same group was 95%.
“This is an untenable choice — a catch-22 — choosing between caring for and providing for your family,” Swonk said.
The Hyundai Motor Co. logo is seen on the front grill of a Santa Fe sports utility vehicle (SUV) at the Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama (HMMA) facility in Montgomery, Alabama, July 19, 2017. — Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Department of Labor filed a complaint against a Hyundai manufacturing plant in Alabama that allegedly employed a 13-year old child to work over 50 hours per week on an assembly line.
The child was jointly employed by the Hyundai manufacturer, another auto parts manufacturer and a staffing agency, the complaint says. The agency is asking a court to prevent the three companies from employing children illegally, according to the complaint.
“A thirteen-year-old girl worked up to 50-60 hours per week at [a] manufacturing facility in Luverne, Alabama over a period of six to seven months,” the filing said. “Instead of attending middle school, she worked on an assembly line making parts.”
In the complaint, the agency also asked the court to require the three companies to “surrender profits related to the use of oppressive child labor.”
“Defendants unfairly profited by their use of oppressive child labor. Consumers throughout the United States unknowingly purchased automobiles that were manufactured with oppressive child labor,” the filing said.
The latest action signals an aggressive approach by the federal agency to hold companies accountable, even as several states are working to relax child labor laws.
“Companies cannot escape liability by blaming suppliers or staffing companies for child labor violations when they are in fact also employers themselves,” said Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda.
In a statement to ABC News on Thursday, Hyundai said the “use of child labor, and breach of any labor law, is not consistent with the standards and values we hold ourselves to as a company.”
“We worked over many months to thoroughly investigate this issue and took immediate and extensive remedial measures,” the company said in the statement. “We presented all of this information to the U.S. Department of Labor in an effort to resolve the matter, even while detailing the reasons why no legal basis existed to impose liability under the circumstances. Unfortunately, the Labor Department is seeking to apply an unprecedented legal theory that would unfairly hold Hyundai accountable for the actions of its suppliers and set a concerning precedent for other automotive companies and manufacturers. We are reviewing the new lawsuit and intend to vigorously defend the company.”
Last year, the Labor Department investigated 955 cases of child labor violations, involving 5,792 children nationwide, including 502 children employed in violation of hazardous occupation standards.
An employee adds sour cream to a burrito bowl at a Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky, Feb. 2, 2019. (Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE)
(NEW YORK) — Social media is full of hot takes, especially when it comes to food and more recently amid shrinkflation and higher food costs — people’s perceived portion sizes.
After Chipotle Mexican Grill recently came under serving size scrutiny on TikTok, the company’s Chief Corporate Affairs and Food Safety Officer Laurie Schalow told ABC News’ Good Morning America in an emailed statement that “There have been no changes in our portion sizes, and we have reinforced proper portioning with our employees.”
Keith Lee, who has risen to social media stardom, is well known for his viral videos dishing his honest feedback and rating popular food items — including Chipotle — as he films himself eating the products.
“I’ve been such an out loud supporter of Chipotle. So I feel like the love [has] gotta be just as loud as the constructive criticism,” he said in a recent TikTok video with three menu items from Chipotle. “It’s been the portions too, the portions [have] been crazy low.”
His review of the crispy tacos, chicken al pastor burrito bowl and steak quesadilla earlier this month soared to viral status and served as a launch pad for similar sentiments from commenters.
“I think I see just four pieces of chicken,” he said digging through a bed of brown rice and various toppings with his fork.
He said this version of the limited-time offering, “has no spice at all,” compared to the early iteration which he also reviewed and said were “sweet, spicy, flavorful and had a little bit of tang to it.”
“Our intentions are to provide a great experience every time, and our meals have always been completely customizable so guests can vocalize or digitally select their desired portions when choosing from the list of real ingredients,” Schalow said of the person-to-person feedback. “If we did not deliver on our value, we want our guests to reach out so we can make it right.”
(NEW YORK) — Nissan has issued a “do not drive” warning for 83,920 vehicles from model years 2002-2006 with recalled Takata airbags.
The warning covers certain model year 2002-2006 Nissan Sentras, 2002-2004 Nissan Pathfinders and 2002-2003 Infiniti QX4s.
The vehicles were already subject to open Takata airbag recalls from 2020. A vehicle’s frontal passenger airbag inflators may explode due to “propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, high temperatures, and high temperature cycling,” according to the recall notices from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
“Due to the age of the vehicles equipped with defective Takata airbag inflators, there is an increased risk the inflator could explode during an airbag deployment, propelling sharp metal fragments which can cause serious injury or death,” Nissan said on its website.
NHTSA said vehicle owners should check if their car has an open Takata airbag recall, and if so, should schedule a free repair at their dealerships and follow warnings from the manufacturer. Nissan and Infiniti are offering free towing, mobile repair and, in some places, loaner vehicles.
“Even minor crashes can result in exploding Takata airbags that can kill or produce life-altering, gruesome injuries,” NHTSA said in a press release. “Older model year vehicles put their occupants at higher risk, as the age of the airbag is one of the contributing factors.”
An estimated 67 million Takata airbags—ranging across vehicles from multiple automakers—have been recalled because exposure over time to heat and humidity can cause metal parts inside the air bag to shoot out at drivers or passengers when deployed, according to NHTSA. The agency said 27 people have been killed by a defective Takata airbag and over 400 people have been injured.
The Independent Monitor of Takata and the Coordinated Remedy Program called the recalls “the largest and most complex vehicle recalls in U.S. history.” As of 2021, approximately 50 million defective Takata airbag inflators had been repaired, with the most dangerous air bags replaced first, the group noted.
In 2017, Takata pleaded guilty to wire fraud and agreed to pay $1 billion in criminal penalties for selling the faulty airbag inflators. Later that year, the company filed for bankruptcy.
T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert speaks during a T-Mobile and SpaceX joint event, Aug. 25, 2022, in Boca Chica Beach, Texas. (Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — T-Mobile, one of the nation’s largest wireless providers, announced on Tuesday that it will acquire most of U.S. Cellular in a $4.4 billion deal.
The agreement would grant T-Mobile an additional four million customers, hundreds of brick-and-mortar stores and wider reach in rural areas. The move would also expand T-Mobile’s spectrum rights, a valuable federal license that allows firms to transmit mobile signals.
The deal is expected to close in the middle of next year, T-Mobile said.
“As customers from both companies will get more coverage and more capacity from our combined footprint, our competitors will be forced to keep up — and even more consumers will benefit,” Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile, said in a statement.
After the agreement, U.S. Cellular will retain some of its spectrum rights and cellular towers, T-Mobile said.
The acquisition will provide customers with a more competitive alternative to the nation’s two largest wireless carriers: AT&T and Verizon, T-Mobile said.
“By tapping into the additional capacity and coverage created through the combined spectrum and wireless assets, T-Mobile will spur competition,” T-Mobile said in a statement.
For years, T-Mobile has pursued high-profile acquisitions as a means of accelerating growth.
In 2012, T-Mobile merged with Metro PCS, increasing T-Mobile’s customer base by roughly one third. In 2020, T-Mobile acquired Sprint in a $26.5 billion deal, which at the time combined the nation’s third- and fourth-largest wireless carriers.
“The integrations of MetroPCS in 2013 and Sprint in 2020 have been noted as two of the most successful merger combinations in wireless history that resulted in competition-enhancing shifts benefiting millions of consumers,” T-Mobile said.
Customers currently with U.S. Cellular will automatically become customers of T-Mobile once the agreement is finalized, the statement said.
(NEW YORK) — A company that posted a discriminatory job advertisement seeking only white candidates has been fined by the federal government and come to separate agreements with the U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Labor as punishment, according to officials.
Arthur Grand Technologies, an information technology services firm based in Virginia, posted a discriminatory job advertisement in March 2023 that restricted eligible candidates to “only US Born Citizens [white] who are local within 60 miles from Dallas, TX [Don’t share with candidates],” according to a statement from the United States Department of Justice released on Thursday.
“An investigation by OFCCP (Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs) determined that, in April 2023, Arthur Grand Technologies advertised an opening for a business analyst position with its sales and insurance claims team in Dallas on a public online hiring website,” the Department of Justice said in their statement. “The advertisement includes a bolded note that read ‘Only Born US Citizens [White] who are local within 60 miles from Dallas, TX [Don’t share with candidates].’ The position, the announcement stated, would serve two clients, HTC Global an information technology company based in Troy, Michigan, and Berkshire Hathaway, the multinational holding company based in Omaha, Nebraska.”
The Department of Justice also cited a separate case alleging another incident of discriminatory practices by Arthur Grand Technologies.
“In May 2023, the Civil Rights Division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) opened an investigation and determined that Arthur Grand discriminated based on citizenship status and national origin after a recruiter working for Arthur Grand’s subsidiary in India posted the advertisement on the job website Indeed,” the DOJ said. “The advertisement was widely circulated on social media and generated several news articles. Arthur Grand’s actions harmed individuals with permission to work in the U.S., including U.S. citizens born outside the United States and certain non-U.S. citizens, by unlawfully deterring them from applying to the job advertisement.”
As part of the Justice Department settlement with Arthur Grand Technologies, the IT company has been ordered to pay a civil penalty to the United States, and the agreement also requires Arthur Grand to train its personnel on the INA’s (Immigration and Nationality Act) requirements, revise its employment policies and will be subject to departmental monitoring going forward, officials said.
In the conciliation agreement with the Labor Department, Arthur Grand will also pay compensation to individuals who filed complaints with its Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and the company “has committed to providing workplace specific training for all company employees involved in recruiting, selecting candidates or tracking expressions of interest for open positions,” the DOJ said.
“The Labor Department’s agreement resolves its determination that Arthur Grand violated Executive Order 11246, which prohibits federal contractors from discriminating in employment based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin,” the DOJ said.
“It is shameful that in the 21st century, we continue to see employers using ‘whites only’ and ‘only US born’ job postings to lock out otherwise eligible job candidates of color. I share the public’s outrage at Arthur Grand’s appalling and discriminatory ban on job candidates based on citizenship status, national origin, color and race,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department, working with other government agencies, will continue to hold employers accountable when they violate our nation’s federal civil rights laws.”
Said Acting Director Michele Hodge of the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs: “Over the past 58 years, OFCCP has protected workers and job seekers from workplace discrimination. We are committed to holding federal contractors accountable for outrageous discriminatory practices like this advertisement. Companies like Arthur Grand, that accept federal contracts cannot have a ‘whites only’ hiring process.”
A worker hands food to a customer at the drive-thru window of a Burger King fast food restaurant in Hialeah, Florida, April 18, 2024. Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Burger King is throwing its crown into the summer savings fast food ring as customers continue to voice frustrations over high costs of food.
The Miami-based burger chain confirmed to ABC News that it will be accelerating value offers, like its $5 Your Way deal. This follows McDonald’s adding a value bundle for a limited time this summer.
The deal at Burger King will include a choice of one of three sandwiches, a Whopper Jr., Chicken Jr. or Bacon Cheeseburger, with chicken nuggets, fries and a soft drink for just $5.
Unlike the Golden Arches, which is expected to launch its option for just four weeks in June, Burger King said it plans to run the $5 deal for several months.
Many companies have been implementing new types of pricing models as customers crave discounts, especially with fast food prices up 33% in March compared to 2019, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
For example, Wendy’s recently announced a new $3 English muffin meal combo that includes a small portion of seasoned potatoes and choice of either a bacon, egg and cheese English muffin sandwich or a sausage, egg and cheese English muffin sandwich, the company stated.
The latest Consumer Price Index data showed a growing difference between the cost of going out to eat vs. buying groceries, with experts explaining to “GMA” that “When you buy food away from home, 70% of that is overhead and labor, so you’re really only buying 30% of the food with the dollar that you spend.”
Wells Fargo’s Chief Agriculture Economist Dr. Michael Swanson told “GMA” he expects competitive discounts “to continue, because from what we’ve seen, all these companies are really battling for market share — and this usually reflects either quality or price and hopefully both.”
Restaurant Brands, the parent company of Burger King, has yet to release any further information on the new Burger King promo as of time of publication.
(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration announced this week that it is releasing 1 million barrels of gasoline from a Northeast reserve in an effort to reduce prices when drivers hit the road this summer.
The gasoline will be sold in 100,000-barrel tranches over a six-week stretch between Memorial Day and July 4, bolstering the nation’s fuel supply during the busiest driving season of the year, the U.S. Department of Energy said in a statement.
“The Biden-Harris Administration is laser focused on lowering prices at the pump for American families,” Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said.
However, experts who spoke to ABC News rejected the notion that the release of gasoline reserves would meaningfully lower prices at the pump. The move will likely result in a modest reduction for drivers in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast but will have little effect nationwide, they said.
“This is not a needle-mover,” Patrick de Haan, the head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, told ABC News. “It will not impact prices for the majority of Americans.”
The White House did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Since the beginning of the year, the average national price for a gallon of unleaded regular gas has jumped about 16%, amounting to an increase of more than 50 cents per gallon, according to AAA data shared with ABC News.
The national average price for a gallon of unleaded regular stands at $3.61, which marks a slight uptick from where the price stood a year ago, AAA data showed.
The move by the Biden administration will lower gasoline prices for drivers in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast by 5 to 15 cents, de Haan said, characterizing the release as a relatively small injection of additional supply.
The release of 1 million barrels, or 42 million gallons, is roughly equivalent to the amount of gasoline consumed by the U.S. every two-and-a-half hours, de Haan said.
Price increases so far this year match the typical bounce in spring when warm-weather travelers drive up demand and refineries switch to a more expensive blend of summer fuel.
By adding gasoline to the marketplace at this time of year, the Biden administration aims to mitigate the risk of further price increases as even more drivers travel over the coming months, experts told ABC News.
“It’s a perfect time of year for this release,” Timothy Fitzgerald, a professor of business economics at Texas Tech University who studies the petroleum industry, told ABC News.
Still, Fitzgerald added, the ultimate price effect of the move will be modest, in part because the added supply will not make its way to regions like the West Coast where drivers are suffering the highest prices.
In California, the state with the nation’s stiffest gasoline prices, an average gallon costs $5.15, according to AAA data. In nearby Washington, AAA said, an average gallon runs $4.58.
“This gasoline [release] is unlikely to help in those markets,” Fitzgerald said, pointing to a lack of pipeline capacity necessary to transport gasoline from the Northeast to the West.
The Northeast Gasoline Supply Reserve was established in the mid-2010s in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy when refinery damage left some New York gas stations without fuel for 30 days, the Department of Energy said.
The decision to empty gasoline from the reserve comes after Congress called for the closure of the facility as part of a spending measure enacted in March.
In a statement this week, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the move makes up part of the Biden administration’s effort to lower energy prices for American consumers.
“This builds on other actions by President Biden to lower gas and energy costs — including historic releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and the largest-ever investment in clean energy,” Jean-Pierre said.
Despite the rise in gasoline prices, U.S. oil production has surged in recent years.
The U.S. set a record for crude oil production in 2023, averaging 12.9 million barrels per day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, a federal agency.
Rising gas prices can hurt perceptions of an incumbent president and damage the prospects for reelection, experts previously told ABC News.
In 2016, a study in the academic journal, Political Psychology examined the relationship between gas prices and presidential approval rating between the mid-1970s and mid-2000s, finding that elevated gas prices drove a president’s approval downward.
To be exact, each 10-cent increase in the gas price was associated with more than half a percentage point decline in presidential approval, the research showed.
