World News

Microsoft is cutting a small percentage of jobs across departments, based on performance, the company confirmed to CNBC on Wednesday. “At Microsoft we focus on high-performance talent,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in an email to CNBC on Wednesday. “We are always working on helping people learn and grow. When people are…

Disney said Wednesday it has an estimated 157 million global monthly active users watching ad-supported content across its streaming platforms — Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+. That number includes 112 million users domestically and is an average per month over the last six months. While traditional TV outlets have a standard way…

Tens of thousands of dockworkers reached a tentative agreement Wednesday on a new, six-year contract with the U.S. Maritime Alliance, which represents 14 major ports from Boston to Miami and along the Gulf Coast from Mobile, Alabama, to Houston. Both sides say the tentative agreement will avoid a looming strike…

Tech companies big and small are offering bold visions of artificial intelligence-infused products that could be headed into our everyday lives soon. Unless tariffs trip them up. That’s the message from the head of the Consumer Technology Association, which is holding its annual electronics show in Las Vegas less than…

D-Wave Quantum CEO Alan Baratz said Nvidia’s Jensen Huang is “dead wrong” about quantum computing after comments from the head of the chip giant spooked Wall Street on Wednesday. Huang was asked on Tuesday about Nvidia’s strategy for quantum computing. He said Nvidia could make conventional chips that are needed alongside quantum computing…

The chief executive of U.S. Steel appealed directly to President-elect Donald Trump to take a second look at a Japanese company’s $15 billion deal to buy the American steelmaker. President Joe Biden blocked the deal between U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel on Friday, citing national security concerns after a key…

Panera Bread’s parent company announced Tuesday that CEO Jose Dueñas is stepping down, effective immediately. The change in leadership is the latest challenge to the company’s plans to go public eventually, following several years of hurdles. Panera Brands CFO Paul Carbone will step in as interim chief executive while the board…

Getty Images said on Tuesday it would merge with rival Shutterstock to create a $3.7 billion stock image powerhouse geared for the artificial intelligence era, in a deal that would likely draw antitrust scrutiny. The move comes at a time when the licensed visual content industry is facing threats from…

Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan said Tuesday she hopes the incoming Trump administration will not let Amazon and Facebook parent Meta off the hook from pending  antitrust lawsuits by her agency with a “sweetheart deal.” But, “I can’t predict what future people in my position are going to do,” Khan said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”…

Four years after launching a push for more diversity in its ranks, McDonald’s is ending some of its diversity practices, citing a U.S. Supreme Court decision that outlawed affirmative action in college admissions. McDonald’s is the latest big company to shift its tactics in the wake of the 2023 ruling and a conservative…