To founder Jeff Bezos, hiring “has been the secret to scaling Amazon all along the way,” he said at a fireside chat in India on Jan. 14, crediting his employees for the company’s growth. So when hiring, the billionaire looks for very specific traits in prospective candidates, including people that could “tutor” him. “If you ever get lucky enough to be hiring people, make sure you’re hiring people that not only you can teach, but make sure you’re hiring people who are also going to teach you thin

A recent Australian study found that certain alarm noises can decrease morning grogginess, so you wake up faster and feeling more alert. Study participants who woke up to a melodic song had lower levels of morning grogginess than those who chose a beeping sound, according to the study findings. “If we can reduce these symptoms by altering the alarm sounds we use to more melodic and tuneful varieties, we may at least head towards safer conditions for everyone,” he says. Beyond curating your alarm

Makan Delrahim, U.S. assistant attorney general for the antitrust division, listens during a Bloomberg Television interview at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., on Tuesday, April 30, 2019. “He and the ethics office have decided that he should now recuse himself from a matter within the tech review in an abundance of caution. Associate Deputy Attorney General Ryan Shores will continue to oversee the tech review. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Alex Okuli

Ralph Lauren beat market expectations for the holiday-quarter profit on Tuesday, as higher prices for its winterwear boosted margins, sending the fashion house’s shares up 6% in premarket trading. The company has said it could sell products at higher prices due to a ramp-up in marketing, especially on social media through supermodels and actors, which has helped lift its brand image. Its marketing expenses rose 16% in the third quarter, while average prices at its own stores and website gained 6

American Airlines on Tuesday suspended its Hong Kong service, halting flights to and from Dallas/Fort Worth and Los Angeles through Feb. 20 citing a drop in demand as the coronavirus spreads. The union that represents some 15,000 American Airlines pilots had sued the carrier last week to end China flights, including service to Hong Kong. American last week suspended its mainland China flights through March 27 but intended to continue flying to Hong Kong. “We will continue to monitor the situatio

Children with face masks wash their hands before prayer at Erawan shrine, a popular spritual landmark in Bangkok on January 27, 2020. The “most important” way to stop the spread of China’s coronavirus is to wash your hands, according to the professor who headed the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global response to SARS. China’s National Health Commission on Tuesday confirmed 20,438 cases of the coronavirus in the country and 425 deaths. The outbreak of the deadly pneumonia-like virus, which i

Beauty retailer Sephora has big growth plans, at a time when many businesses are shutting their doors for good. The company, owned by Louis Vuitton parent company LVMH, will open 100 stores in 2020. This marks its largest real estate expansion to date, more than doubling its store growth in 2019. “We love our stores in malls … but the focus on this next 100 is more off-mall locations,” Jeff Gaul, senior vice president of Real Estate and Store Development at Sephora Americas, said in an intervi

Alphabet unveiled greater transparency in its fourth-quarter earning report, but it wasn’t enough to completely satisfy Wall Street analysts. The internet giant released its earnings results on Monday after the bell, beating earnings estimates, but missing revenue expectations, sending the stock lower. Analysts were pleasantly surprised by the the new revenue disclosures surrounding YouTube, Search, and Google Cloud from new company CEO Sundar Pichai but remain concerned about the deceleration i

Billionaire investor Ron Baron said on Tuesday that the recent investment into Barstool Sports is going to be a boon for Penn National Gaming. Appearing on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Baron said the deal for the sports media company will bring more people to Penn National’s casinos. Penn National shares jumped 4.4% in premarket trading. Baron’s fund owns 8.6% of Penn National with a market value as of Monday at $296 million. As of Monday’s close, shares of Penn National have risen 13.3% since last Wedn

Billionaire investor Ron Baron runs through his top stock picksRon Baron, chairman and CEO of Baron Capital, joins “Squawk Box” to discuss some of his top market bets.

Bloomberg advisor explains campaign’s strategy despite not being in Iowa caucusesSarah Bianchi, head of U.S. policy and politics at Evercore ISI, and Tim O’Brien, senior advisor to Mike Bloomberg’s 2020 campaign, join “Squawk Box” to discuss Trump’s policy plans as well as how the Democratic candidates’ economic plans are resonating on the campaign trail.

Just over 400,000 startups opened their doors in 2015, according to the Small Business Association. “To combat the inevitable ups and downs, think of what you can do to set your business up for recurring revenue,” Loper said. Unless you track the numbers, you don’t know how much you are actually bringing in, says Josh Bauerle, a CPA in Willard, Ohio. “If you don’t know your risk and exposure, how do you mitigate it?” “You don’t do the math on what it takes to scale, and how much cash you need to

Billionaire investor Ron Baron believes Tesla has the potential to hit “at least” $1 trillion in revenue in 10 years and continue to grow from there. Baron, whose eponymous investment firm holds nearly 1.63 million Tesla shares, said Baron Capital will not sell a single share of company. The company’s market cap is now more than $140 billion — nearly triple that of General Motors but below Toyota Motor at roughly $227 billion. He said he accumulated the Tesla shares at an average cost of $219 e

Halfway through earnings season for the fourth quarter of 2019, and it’s been a tale of haves and have-nots. The haves include megacap tech names like Netflix, Intel, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon that reported good earnings. As a result, blended earnings estimates for the S&P 500 have turned positive for the fourth quarter, now up a modest 1.1%, according to Refinitiv. Those megacap tech stocks have seen their first quarter 2020 estimates raised by analysts, and they have helped pull first quarte

The entrance to a Macy’s department store. Officers of the embattled department store chain will meet with investors Wednesday at the New York Stock Exchange. Macy’s shares have fallen more than 35% over the past 12 months and are trading around $16.40. Now, in the new year, Macy’s has to prove it can get back to same-store sales growth. Last month, Macy’s said it would be closing 28 Macy’s stores and one Bloomingdale’s location in 2020, wrapping up a plan it announced in 2017 to shut 100 stores

Larry Kudlow, director of the U.S. National Economic Council, speaks during a television interview at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S. on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020. President Donald Trump’s economic advisor Larry Kudlow said Tuesday that the deadly Chinese coronavirus outbreak will delay a surge in exports that is expected to flow from the first “phase” of the U.S.-China trade deal signed last month. “It is true the trade deal, the phase one trade deal, the export boom from that trade dea

“Yes, we’re … near all-time highs in the S&P 500, but you still see people looking for yield,” said Jeff Kilburg, founder and CEO of KKM Financial. “You have seen a long-term attraction in this search for yield, this global search for yield.” “So, right here, at 1.53, you’ve seen a lot of buyers in the TLT,” which moves inversely to the 10-year yield. “So, I think this search for yield, this global search for yield, persists.” “For sure, this bid for yield [and] safety has pushed up all the de

Tesla’s market value deserves to be twice the combined value of General Motors and Ford, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said before Tuesday’s Wall Street open. The combined market cap of GM and Ford after Tuesday’s open was about $85 billion. Cramer said Tesla is a technology company, “and you got to value it like a technology company now.” Tesla trades at a multiple of over 80 times, while GM and Ford trade at multiples in the high single-digits. Since Dec. 11, the day Cramer said he had officially turned b

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos accused his girlfriend’s brother of seeking to extort him by suing for defamation, according to a court filing. In the lawsuit, Sanchez accused Bezos and de Becker of spreading inaccurate rumors to journalists that he had leaked nude photos of the executive to the National Enquirer. De Becker said his investigation found Michael Sanchez to be the paid source to the Enquirer. An AMI spokesperson previously told CNBC that Michael Sanchez was the single source for the story. I

Google on Tuesday confirmed that some people recently received private videos from strangers that were uploaded to Google Photos. Here’s what happened: Lots of people use Google Photos to store videos and photos stored on their phones. Google offers an option for people to download a copy of their private data, called Google Takeout. “We are notifying people about a bug that may have affected users who used Google Takeout to export their Google Photos content between November 21 and November 25,