Business

Generation z is different. As a whole, Americans born between the late 1990s and early 2000s are less likely to have work or look for it: their labour-force-participation rate is 71%, compared with 75% for millennials (born between 1980 and the late 1990s) and 78% for Generation x (born in the decade or so to 1980) when each came of age. As a result, they make up a smaller share of the workforce. On the other hand, they are better educated: 66% of American Gen-zs have at least some college (see chart 1). The trend is similar in other rich countries. With graduation ceremonies behind them, the latest batch of diploma-holders are entering the job market. What they want from employers is also not quite the same as in generations past. And as the economy sours following a pandemic jobs boom, those wants are in flux.Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

As summer descends with a vengeance on the northern hemisphere, you may be fantasising about the promise of “working from anywhere”. A colleague’s PowerPoint presentation would go down better by the poolside, washed down with a mojito. For most office grunts such fantasies remain just that—“anywhere” boils down to the discomfort of the sweaty kitchen table, a noisy café or the office hot desk. Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

As summer descends with a vengeance on the northern hemisphere, you may be fantasising about the promise of “working from anywhere”. A colleague’s PowerPoint presentation would go down better by the poolside, washed down with a mojito. For most office grunts such fantasies remain just that—“anywhere” boils down to the discomfort of the sweaty kitchen table, a noisy café or the office hot desk. Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia announced Thursday he is stepping down from his role in the company.

Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb and chairman of Airbnb.org, during South By Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas, U.S., on Sunday, March 13, 2022.
Matthew Busch | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia announced Thursday he is stepping down from his role in the company.
The 40-year-old has been with the company since its inception in 2007 and will remain on the board of directors.

“After great consideration, I’ve decided to step back from my full-time operating role at Airbnb,” Gebbia said in a letter to employees. “The primary reason for this transition is that this is the only company I’ve ever helped build, and my brain is bursting with more ideas to bring to the world.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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Ford Motor said Thursday that it has secured 100% of the battery supplies needed to deliver electric vehicles at a rate of 600,000 per year by the end of 2023.
Ford will begin offering lower-cost LFP batteries in its Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning.
Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology will help it get to a rate of 2 million EVs per year by 2026.

Ford F-150 Lightning pickup trucks sit on the production line at the Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center on April 26, 2022 in Dearborn, Michigan.
Bill Pugliano | Getty Images

Ford Motor said Thursday that it has secured 100% of the battery supplies needed to deliver electric vehicles at a rate of 600,000 per year by the end of 2023 – and that Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology will help it get to a rate of 2 million EVs per year by 2026, while reducing the costs of some of Ford’s most popular electric models.
Investors and Wall Street analysts have questioned whether global automakers like Ford will be able to source the batteries and raw materials needed to hit their ambitious EV sales targets. Ford’s announcements were part of a larger presentation intended to show that it has already secured much of the supplies it will need.

“Ford’s new electric vehicle lineup has generated huge enthusiasm and demand, and now we are putting the industrial system in place to scale quickly,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a statement. “Our Model e team has moved with speed, focus and creativity to secure the battery capacity and raw materials we need to deliver breakthrough EVs for millions of customers.”
“Ford Model e” is the company’s electric-vehicle division.
Ford said that it will begin offering vehicles with lower-cost lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries from Contemporary Amperex, better known as CATL. While LFP batteries provide somewhat shorter range per pound than Ford’s current batteries, they also cost about 10% to 15% less, Ford said – and they will reduce the company’s reliance on minerals such as nickel that are expected to be in short supply over the next few years.
Ford will begin offering its Mustang Mach-E with CATL-supplied LFP battery packs next year, and will expand the option to its F-150 Lightning pickup truck in early 2024.
At the same time, Ford will lean on its current battery suppliers, the Korean companies LG Energy Solution and SK On, to meet its late-2023 production targets and to help it get to at least 2 million EVs per year by 2026.
Ford said as of now, it has already secured about 70% of the battery capacity needed to support that latter goal. The automaker has signed a non-binding memorandum with CATL to explore a larger relationship that could make up much of the remaining ground, it said.

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American Airlines swung to a profit in the last quarter.
It expects to be in the black in the third quarter, another sign of strong travel demand, even at high prices.
But American’s CEO said the carrier would limit its expansion this year.

American Airlines posted its first quarterly profit since the pandemic started without government aid but joined competitors in scaling back growth plans after a host of disruptions this year. The carrier on Thursday forecast a third-quarter profit, however, another sign of strong travel demand, even at high prices.
American posted a second-quarter profit of $476 million, up from $19 million a year earlier, though the carrier was still benefitting from federal coronavirus payroll support last year.

Second-quarter revenue of $13.4 billion was up 12% from before the pandemic, even though American flew 8.5% less than the same period of 2019, the airline said.
American has been more aggressive than rivals United Airlines and Delta Air Lines in restoring capacity, but American’s CEO said the carrier would limit its expansion this year.
“As we look to the rest of the year, we have taken proactive steps to build additional buffer into our schedule and will continue to limit capacity to the resources we have and the operating conditions we face,” CEO Robert Isom said in a note to staff.
The airline said it would fly 8% to 10% below 2019 levels in the third quarter but said revenue would be up as much as 12% from three years earlier as high fares continue into the summer.
American shares were down about 3% in premarket trading after releasing results.

Here’s how the carrier performed in the second quarter, compared with Wall Street expectations according to Refinitiv consensus estimates:

Adjusted earnings per share: 76 cents versus an expected 76 cents.
Total revenue: $13.42 billion versus expected $13.40 billion.

Unit costs surged 45% in the second quarter from 2021 as the carrier, like its rivals, faced a jump in fuel and other expenses.
American’s executives will hold a call to discuss results at 8:30 a.m. ET Thursday. They are likely to face questions on future travel demand, capacity, its labor talks with its pilots and flight attendant unions, hiring progress and aircraft needs.
United late Wednesday reported its first profit since the pandemic without the help of government aid, but said it would cut its growth plans through 2023.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that American Airline’s second-quarter unit costs surged 45% over 2021. An earlier version misstated the comparison period.

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Domino’s Pizza missed Wall Street’s expectations for its second-quarter earnings but beat estimates for its revenue.
The pizza chain raised its outlook for food prices for fiscal 2022.
The ongoing shortage of delivery drivers hurt the chain’s sales again this quarter.

An employee places a cooked pizza into a delivery box inside a Domino’s Pizza Group Plc store.
Jason Alden | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Domino’s Pizza on Thursday reported mixed quarterly results as the pizza chain struggled with higher costs and an ongoing shortage of delivery drivers.
The Ann Arbor, Michigan-based company also said it’s expecting food costs to keep rising and foreign currency exchange rates to drag down its international revenue more than previously forecast.

Shares of Domino’s were down almost 3% at $400.10 in pre-market trading.
Here’s what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:

Earnings per share: $2.82 vs. $2.91 expected
Revenue: $1.07 billion vs. $1.05 billion expected

Net income in the three-month period ended June 19 was $102.5 million, or $2.82 per share, down from $116.6 million, or $3.06 per share, a year earlier.
“We continued to navigate a difficult labor market, especially for delivery drivers, in addition to inflationary pressures combined with COVID and stimulus-fueled sales comps from the prior two years in the U.S.,” CEO Russell Weiner said in a statement.
Net sales rose 3.2% to $1.07 billion. Domino’s largely attributed the increase in sales to the higher food costs it’s charging franchisees. This quarter, operators paid 15.2% more than they did a year ago.

But the company’s same-store sales fell at home and abroad during the quarter. In the U.S., same-store sales fell 2.9% as it faced tough comparisons in the year-ago period, which was boosted by stimulus checks and people ordering more pizza at home.
Wall Street was expecting domestic same-store sales growth of 5%, according to StreetAccount estimates.
International same-store sales, excluding foreign currency changes, declined 2.2%. Domino’s said a tax holiday in the United Kingdom drove sales higher a year ago, but the country didn’t repeat it this year. Analysts were forecasting roughly flat same-store sales growth for the chain’s international unit.
The company opened 233 net new stores this quarter, the vast majority of them overseas.
For fiscal 2022, Domino’s is now expecting food basket prices to climb 13% to 15%, up from its prior forecast of 10% to 12%. The company also said that foreign currency exchange rates will weigh on its revenue by $22 million to $26 million, up from its previous outlook of $12 million to $16 million.
Read the full earnings report here.

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The hottest thing in business depends on where you are. Bars in San Francisco tend to be abuzz with talk of enterprise software. Regulars at City of London pubs may discuss sustainable investing, and in particular concern for environmental, social and governance (esg) factors. Combine the two subjects and you have a winner—both as a topic of conversation and, hopes Watershed, a fast-growing climate-software startup, as a business proposition.Watershed seems an unlikely subject of animated discussion. It helps companies measure and report their carbon emissions. It is, in other words, a firm of carbon accountants—not usually a profession to set pulses racing. What makes it titillating is its potentially vast market. Over a third of the world’s investable assets, or some $35trn-worth, falls under the esg umbrella, and a large chunk of that is chiefly about the e. Someone has to count the emissions from all those assets. And Watershed could be that someone, reckons a clutch of worthies from Silicon Valley (John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins and Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital, veteran venture capitalists, co-led its last funding round) and beyond (Mark Carney, former governor of the Bank of England turned climate warrior, is an adviser). In January the firm raised $70m at a valuation of $1bn.Businesses spew some carbon directly (by operating a vehicle fleet, say). Most also buy some electricity from the grid, which may be fossil-fuelled. And they are at least in part responsible for the emissions produced up and down their value chain. This particular indirect kind, known as “scope three”, makes up the bulk of most firms’ carbon impact. It is also devilishly hard to measure, especially across a complex web of suppliers and customers. Watershed’s algorithms ingest information about line items in its clients’ books and match them with data on the carbon cost of those activities. The result is a granular picture of a firm’s carbon footprint, says Taylor Francis, the firm’s co-founder.The market for carbon-accounting technology could get a regulatory boost. In America the Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed a rule that would require some firms to report their scope-three emissions. The European Union has issued broader rules that, when implemented, could make nearly 50,000 firms subject to reporting requirements. Some firms will try to do this on their own. Many will enlist specialists like Watershed. The company is already facing competition. Persefoni ai, a startup in Arizona, is popular with finance firms. Business-software giants like Salesforce and ibm may get in on the action. As for demand, regulators could get cold feet or, in America, be forced to relax disclosure rules by the Supreme Court, whose conservative majority spies executive-branch overreach in climatic matters. For now, though, Europe is moving full-steam ahead and American investors are demanding more details on firms’ carbon footprints, whatever the justices think. Mr Francis says that Watershed’s client list includes big names in tech (for example, Stripe and Spotify) and, more recently, in retail (Walmart). How’s that for a conversation starter? ■For more expert analysis of the biggest stories in economics, business and markets, sign up to Money Talks, our weekly newsletter. More