Business News Roundup, Nov. 22
Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal has upped its financial stake in BuzzFeed with an additional $200 million, bringing its total investment into the digital news site to $400 million.
BuzzFeed is a privately held news site that is eventually expected to sell shares to the public.
NuTonomy, a startup that makes driverless vehicles, says it will start testing its self-driving cars on public streets in Boston this year.
Hyperloop Technologies Inc. said it resolved a lawsuit brought by former employees, who in turn said they’ve started a competing company.
The June lawsuit’s allegations included defamation, breach of fiduciary duty, nepotism, and even a stray noose or rope left on one employee’s chair.
“My clients are pleased to announce that they have reached a confidential resolution of litigation with their former employer and look forward to moving on with their future plans,” said Justin Berger, an attorney for the plaintiffs including ex-executives Brogan BamBrogan, a former SpaceX engineer, and David Pendergast, a lawyer.
Walmart said Monday that it’s kicking off its so-called Cyber Monday deals at 12:01 a.m. eastern time Friday for the first time ever as it aims to grab customers ahead of its competitors.
Cyber Monday, which falls on the Monday after Thanksgiving, is typically the busiest day of the year for online shopping.
The phrase was coined in 2005 by the National Retail Federation’s online arm, Shop.org, to encourage online buying when people returned to offices where they had high-speed Internet connections.
[...] the proliferation of smart phones has given shoppers constant Web access and now Cyber Monday is being used by retailers to pull in shoppers hungry for deals continually.
The push to start Cyber Monday deals earlier follows what’s been happening with Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, which used to officially kick off the holiday shopping season in stores.
Over the past few years, retailers such as Walmart, Macy’s and Target have started the deals earlier into Thanksgiving.