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Business June 30, 2016

NHTSA Will Look At Tesla's Autopilot Mode, After Deadly Car Crash

A Tesla Model S like the one seen here at an auto show earlier this year was in autopilot mode when it crashed into a tractor trailer.

A Tesla Model S like the one seen here at an auto show earlier this year was in autopilot mode when it crashed into a tractor trailer. Mark Schiefelbein/AP hide caption

toggle caption Mark Schiefelbein/AP

The fatal crash of a Tesla Model S car that was in autopilot mode when it collided with a truck on a Florida highway last month is prompting the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to open a preliminary evaluation of the automatic driving feature.

“This is the first known fatality in just over 130 million miles where Autopilot was activated,” Tesla says in a blog post announcing the NHTSA plan. “Among all vehicles in the US, there is a fatality every 94 million miles.”

The car in question was a a 2015 model of the Tesla Model S. Here’s how the company describes the crash:

“What we know is that the vehicle was on a divided highway with Autopilot engaged when a tractor trailer drove across the highway perpendicular to the Model S. Neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied. The high ride height of the trailer combined with its positioning across the road and the extremely rare circumstances of the impact caused the Model S to pass under the trailer, with the bottom of the trailer impacting the windshield of the Model S.”

Discussing the man who died in the crash, the company’s blog post says, “He was a friend to Tesla and the broader EV community, a person who spent his life focused on innovation and the promise of technology and who believed strongly in Tesla’s mission.”

In the post, the company also extended its sympathies to the man’s family.

Neither Tesla nor NHTSA identified the man — but several media outlets, including Forbes, are reporting his identity as Joshua Brown, 40, an Ohio technology executive and former Navy SEAL who was in Florida when the fatal accident occurred.

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Business June 29, 2016

Facebook Brings New Changes To Its Newsfeed

Facebook announced on Wednesday it will de-emphasize content posted by publishers in users’ newsfeeds, shifting the emphasis to material posted by friends. Though publishers are accustomed to the company making tweaks to newsfeeds, this change has the potential to affect traffic for news organizations.

Transcript

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

Facebook says it is again tweaking the algorithm that drives its news feed. They say people will see more posts from and about their families and friends rather than posts from media organizations. But what might be good news for people who use Facebook might also be making some media executives uncomfortable. To talk about this we have NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik on the line from New York. Hi there.

DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE: Hey, Kelly.

MCEVERS: So what exactly does Facebook say that it is doing?

FOLKENFLIK: Well, in a sense, Facebook is saying it’s going back to basics. There was a post yesterday from Adam Mosseri. He’s a vice president who helps to oversee the famous and vaunted news feed. If you think about how Facebook started, it was, you know, a bunch of kids in college. It grew to include people outside the college years, but they wanted to connect with friends and family. And that’s what they say they are receiving as a message from their users.

Now, a lot of, you know, publishers, news organizations, media outlets have really come to rely on Facebook in a lot of way. And we should say NPR has a financial arrangement with Facebook. The Wall Street Journal has reported that it’s to the tune of $1.2 million a year to produce what are called Facebook Live, these live-stream videos. So there are ways in which there’s these entanglements, and people have come to rely on Facebook in the media world.

MCEVERS: So you say that, you know, this comes as people were demanding that Facebook go back to what Facebook originally was, but why now? Why has Facebook made this change now?

FOLKENFLIK: Well, I don’t know that people were demanding it, but they were noting it that they were getting that kind of feedback. I think the reason there’s this disclosure now is this comes just a few weeks after we’ve been talking about – the questions were raised about bias. That is that whether human error – editors at Facebook were putting a thumb on the scale to what was called the trending topics. If you’re looking on a desktop computer terminal, that would be on the right hand column. It’s not the news feed, but these are stories and subjects that are surfaced by people as well as algorithms that you might be interested in.

And Facebook is making an attempt to be more transparent in what it’s doing and why it’s doing. And I think we should point out these tweaks happen all the time. Facebook doesn’t always announce them.

MCEVERS: Right, and so I can understand why news organizations would not be happy with the fact that a lot of their stories aren’t getting out there, but why are still – why else do they feel threatened by this move?

FOLKENFLIK: Well, the real threat is to the kinds of stories that are posted in the official Facebook accounts and pages of the news organizations. So take NPR’s, we’ve got just shy of 5 million people who have liked the page. That means they receive notifications when we post things. And that’s going to be pushed down in the list of priorities.

Now, all of that taken into account, you know, media executives I spoke to about – to executives at about six different media companies today, and they say, look; our stories are still going to be built to be as viral as ever. If your cousin Millie shares a story, that story is going to be very much in your feed. It’s that if NPR shares it, it will not be quite as prominently placed. They used to perhaps over-promote it. Now they’re going to reduce it back that. You know, what Facebook giveth, it can taketh away.

MCEVERS: Any sense that, you know, the algorithm could be tweaked further and we would either know or not know about it?

FOLKENFLIK: I think there’s going to be a roller coaster ride. I think this is – you know, we used to hear about apps or programs being in beta form – that is being tested and figured out. I think there is – this is the land of the eternal beta where Facebook is going to be overwhelmingly testing and retesting, seeing what will keep users on their pages.

And they’re – you know, they’re not dispensing with what professional media companies are doing. They’re kind of sending them to things like the Facebook Live, what we here at NPR call the NPR Live, live streams. There are instant articles where it’s an immediate flow of content done, but it’s within very specified, almost gardens of Facebook as opposed to just the postings and innovations done by the media companies themselves.

MCEVERS: That’s NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik. Thank you very much.

FOLKENFLIK: You bet.

Copyright © 2016 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Business June 28, 2016

Brexit Makes Investors Nervous, But U.K. Recession Isn't Certain

Traders at work at ETX Capital work in central London on Monday. Financial markets in the U.K. and around the world have been in turmoil since the Brexit vote last week.

Traders at work at ETX Capital work in central London on Monday. Financial markets in the U.K. and around the world have been in turmoil since the Brexit vote last week. Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images

Last week’s Brexit vote sent financial markets tumbling around the world, wiping out months of stock market gains and pushing the British pound down to levels not seen in more than three decades.

It also raised tough questions about the future of the United Kingdom’s economy, especially with the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron and the ensuing political turmoil.

“Nobody quite knows what sort of government’s going to come in, and that uncertainty absolutely discourages consumer spending, discourages investment. So the chance of a recession is substantially increased by this,” says Simon Johnson, professor of entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

About 30 percent of the U.K.’s economy is tied to exports, much of it in services, and almost half of that goes to the European Union. After Thursday’s referendum supporting an exit from the EU, exports are expected to take a hit.

“There are potentially some issues over standardization and continuing to conform to European regulations, and there are issues in terms whether tariffs would be applied as well to certain goods,” says Andrew Goodwin, chief U.K. economist at Oxford Economics. “The level of tariffs varies quite considerably across different sectors. So there are lots of issues about how we can actually trade with the EU going forward, if we don’t have a formal free-trade agreement.”

Before the vote, the U.K. economy was growing at an annual rate of little more than 2 percent a year. While much of Europe is just emerging from a long period of deflation and high unemployment, the U.K. has held its own.

“I would hesitate to call it a boom, but the economy is certainly considerably more robust than most of their European Union partners,” Johnson says.

Helping to fuel the growth has been a large wave of foreign money from China, Russia, the Middle East and elsewhere. Investors have been attracted to Britain because of its stable government and its role as an international financial capital. Meanwhile, its membership in the EU allowed companies access to the enormous European market.

Last week’s vote could stem the flow of foreign investment. Goodwin doesn’t believe the U.K. will fall into recession but he estimates that annual growth could fall to 1.4 percent through next year.

“We acknowledge that companies are very nervous and they will be quite reticent about investing and committing to big investment plans while there’s so much uncertainty. However, we don’t think the impact on the consumer sector will be quite as large,” he says. Continued consumer spending should offset some of the negative effects of the Brexit vote, he says.

The vote will probably lower growth somewhat, but the impact will be limited, says Thomas Simons, a money market economist at Jefferies and Co.

“We wouldn’t see a huge decline in activity. Rather we would see a more cautious tone for their business investment overall,” he says.

“The other thing to keep in mind is that although the U.K. voters have said they want to leave the EU, they are still in it right now. So all the current trade agreements are still in place and business will continue as usual, it’s just that investment for future activity will decline.”

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Business June 27, 2016

In Quest For Happier Chickens, Perdue Shifts How Birds Live And Die

Perdue will study the effects of features such as perches in chicken houses. It hopes to double the activity levels of its chickens in the next three years.

Perdue will study the effects of features such as perches in chicken houses. It hopes to double the activity levels of its chickens in the next three years. Business Wire hide caption

toggle caption Business Wire

One of the country’s leading poultry companies, Perdue Farms, announced plans Monday to make both life and death a little easier for its chickens.

The changes are a break with current standard practices in the industry, and animal welfare groups are cheering.

Jim Perdue, chairman of Perdue Farms, says there’s a simple motivation behind the new initiative. Consumers, especially millennials, “want to make sure that animals are raised in as caring a way as possible. With the least stress, the least discomfort.”

On that score, his industry is under pressure. Animal rights groups have released videos recorded inside poultry houses that show chickens with broken legs or with breasts dragging on the floor.

A year or so ago, Perdue Farms invited one of those groups, the Humane Society of the United States, to visit the company and lay out its critique.

“We went through the top issues regarding the poor treatment of animals in the chicken industry,” says Josh Balk, senior food policy director at the Humane Society, adding that the company itself recognized some of the problems.

Attitudes were shifting inside the corporate headquarters at Perdue Farms, in part because of the company’s decision to acquire Coleman Natural, an organic chicken producer, in 2011.

Bruce Stewart-Brown, a veterinarian and senior vice president of Perdue, says his company started to appreciate some of the advantages of organic production methods. “You go into those chicken houses and … there’s several things that really jump out at you,” he tells The Salt. “The chickens are more active. You enjoy being in the chicken house. And you come back and you go, ‘Look, maybe we can transfer some of these techniques to the rest of our chickens.”

One result was an industry-leading initiative to drop the use of antibiotics in conventionally raised chickens.

Perdue is now announcing a new initiative focused on animal welfare. Balk, from the Humane Society, calls it “precedent-setting.”

One part involves procedures for slaughtering chickens and turkeys. Currently, when birds arrive at a typical poultry processing plant, they’re hung upside down in moving shackles. Their heads then go into a water bath that contains an electrical current, which stuns them and renders them unconscious before they’re slaughtered.

Perdue is now promising to abolish the shackles and knock the birds out with gas instead. “It’s a dramatically less cruel way to kill these animals,” says Balk.

Perdue is also planning to change the poultry houses, adding windows to provide natural light and perches for chickens to sit on. This is supposed to encourage chickens to be more active.

And Perdue says it will at least study the idea of using breeds of chickens that grow a little more slowly. That could allow birds to support their weight a little better and walk around more easily. Whole Foods recently announced that it will shift to selling slower-growing breeds of chickens.

Slower growth rates currently come at a cost, though. A slow-growing chicken requires more feed — and thus more money — to accumulate the same amount of meat. Bruce Stewart-Brown admits that this is a “critical” consideration. He’s hoping research will allow the company to minimize the additional cost.

The company is also hoping that any additional costs will be outweighed by increased sales. Jim Perdue says he’s encouraged by the company’s experience so far with its antibiotic-reduction initiative. “We feel that as long as we stay in tune with the consumer, we’ll be OK,” he says.

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Business June 26, 2016

Clinton And Trump Channel 'Brexit' Reactions Into Campaign Messaging

The presidential campaigns were quick to weigh in on Britain’s vote to leave the European Union. NPR’s Linda Wertheimer speaks with correspondent Mara Liasson about what we learned and what’s ahead.

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

The move by British voters to leave the European Union comes just about four months before Election Day here in the U.S. NPR’s national political correspondent Mara Liasson joins us now to talk about how one could affect the other. Good morning, Mara.

MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Good morning, Linda.

WERTHEIMER: Now, Donald Trump happened to be in Scotland as the U.K. and the rest of the world were registering the Brexit decision. How did Trump play it, and what about Hillary Clinton?

LIASSON: Trump was triumphant. He was for the Brexit and in statements and fundraising letters he said it was a great thing. He said they took their country back like we’re going to take our country back. In a press conference on his golf course in Scotland, he said this would be good for his business. He said when the pound goes down, more people will travel to Turnberry, meaning that U.S. dollar would go up it would be cheaper to go to England and Scotland. He also was asked whether he’s discussed this with his foreign policy advisers, and he said there’s nothing to talk about.

Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, said in this time of uncertainty it only underscores the need for calm, steady, experienced leadership in the White House. So it’s pretty clear who she was not talking about in that statement. Her campaign also unloaded on Trump’s response. They called it pathological self-congratulation. They said his first reaction was what’s in it for me. So both candidates are using this earthquake event in Great Britain for their own purposes. But it would probably be a big mistake for either candidate or party to ignore the message of Brexit.

WERTHEIMER: Is there a message for American politics?

LIASSON: I think there is. The Brexit vote was a referendum on globalization. Donald Trump is the anti-globalization candidate. On Wednesday in that big speech attacking Hillary Clinton, he said there’s a wave of globalization that wipes out our middle class and our jobs. So America first, which is Trump’s slogan, is the equivalent of the leave campaign with its identity politics and populist nationalist anti-immigrant sentiment. So you could say the simplest prediction is that Brexit helps Trump, or at least amplifies his message. There’s another way this might affect the U.S. election, and that’s if the economic repercussions of the British divorce from the EU harm the U.S. economy. That would be bad for Hillary Clinton.

And then you have the fact that the sentiment against global elites has been consistently underestimated. You know, the markets had remain as the favorite to win, but there was, in the end, a decisive win for leave, and that suggests to many nervous Democrats here in the U.S. that maybe Trump’s support is also being underestimated.

So in this election, if Trump is the equivalent of leave and Hillary is the status quo, she has a big challenge, which is how to acknowledge this populism and nationalism, how to say to voters who are tired of slow growth and growth that’s not brief broadly shared that she has a plan for them.

WERTHEIMER: Now, Hillary Clinton’s message that she’s a steady hand in anxious times, you think that works for American voters?

LIASSON: I think it’s a strong argument. It’s also a reason why the Brexit vote may not be a direct parallel to U.S. elections. The U.S. campaign isn’t just a referendum on globalization. It’s also a referendum on Donald Trump. He has a powerful message, but he has a lot of deficits as a messenger. Another difference is that the anti-immigrant sentiment in Britain was in both parties, Labour and Conservative. Here in the U.S., the anti-immigrant sentiment is really only on one side – the Republicans.

WERTHEIMER: That’s NPR’s national political correspondent, Mara Liasson. Mara, thank you.

LIASSON: Thank you.

Copyright © 2016 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Business June 25, 2016

President Obama Acknowledges 'Brexit' To Silicon Valley Crowd

President Obama delivered a speech Friday at Stanford University, and remarked on the Brexit vote in front of a crowd of young, tech-forward, pro-globalization attendees from 170 countries.

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Heads of state are trying to figure out what the vote in Britain may mean for business, for politics, for the world. President Obama was careful with his wording in the speech that he delivered yesterday at Stanford University. NPR’s Aarti Shahani reports.

AARTI SHAHANI, BYLINE: President Obama was on stage at Stanford at an event called the Global Entrepreneurship Summit. It’s a conference for the young, tech-forward, pro-globalization crowd, people from 170 countries. And of course, the president had to start by acknowledging the major global event that just happened.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)

President BARACK OBAMA: I do think that yesterday’s vote speaks to the ongoing changes and challenges that are raised by globalization.

SHAHANI: While his remarks were intentionally restrained – his staff says he didn’t want to rock global markets – his world view was not. He pointed out that the world has shrunk. It’s interconnected.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)

OBAMA: All of you represent that interconnection. Many of you are catalyzing it and accelerating it. It promises to bring extraordinary benefits. But it also has challenges. And it also evokes concerns and fears.

SHAHANI: Andrij Zinchenko from Ukraine was indignant and pointed out it was after the vote – not before, but after – that people in Britain suddenly started searching online, asking Google – what is the EU?

ANDRIJ ZINCHENKO: They were voting without, like, proper knowledge what the hell they were voting for. That’s simple. They were searching after the voting.

SHAHANI: Vlad Suleanschi from Moldova says, quite idealistically, that in the future, the internet will help prevent the kind of nationalist mindset reflected in the British vote.

VLAD SULEANSCHI: All the notions of, hey, we are we – us against them. All this stuff will disappear immediately as soon as people get access to all the information in the world.

SHAHANI: He said young people, digital natives, mostly voted against leaving the EU because online, national boundaries matter less. Aarti Shahani, NPR News, Silicon Valley.

Copyright © 2016 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Business June 24, 2016

Brexit Created Many Losers, But Some Winners Too. Which Are You?

People watch stock prices on a digital broadcast outside the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday. Currency, equity and oil markets around the world are feeling the effects of the British vote to leave the EU.

People watch stock prices on a digital broadcast outside the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday. Currency, equity and oil markets around the world are feeling the effects of the British vote to leave the EU. Punit Paranjpe/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Punit Paranjpe/AFP/Getty Images

This much is certain: Friday was a lousy day to be a saver.

Thanks to United Kingdom voters who decided Thursday to exit the European Union, stock prices plunged all over the world.

Analysts said the so-called Brexit generated massive “uncertainty” that killed the appetite for stocks. No one knows what happens next as the entire U.K. — including England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — pulls away from the EU.

For decades, the U.K. has been one of the most powerful members of the EU, which encompasses more than a half-billion people doing business in a free trade zone covering 28 countries. So the loss of this key member raises complicated questions about trade relationships and economic stability.

The ultimate impact of Brexit will play out slowly as terms of the “divorce” emerge. But based on what we know now, here are some losers — and yes, winners.

LOSERS

  • People who invested earlier this week. No matter what shares you bought on Wednesday, you probably lost money by Friday. In Japan, the Nikkei stock average fell nearly 8 percent, marking the single worst trading day since 2011. The STOXX Europe 600 Index dropped about 7 percent. In the U.S., the Nasdaq composite index of stocks fell 4.12 percent; the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 3.39 percent.
  • Savers hoping for higher interest payouts. Overwhelmingly, economists now say the Federal Reserve won’t raise interest rates this year. Brexit is seen as an immense setback for global growth; the central bank can’t pile on the misery.
  • Companies pumping oil. Since spring, oil prices have been rising. The price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil, which had dropped below $30 in February, had clawed its way back to nearly $52 this month. But with the global economy looking shakier, the price has slumped back down to $47.61.
  • Businesses in poorer countries. Currencies in emerging markets — from Mexico to Hungary to South Africa — plunged in value as investors fled riskier assets. When your country has a weak currency, you can’t afford the imports you need to grow, such as Caterpillar tractors and Ford trucks.
  • British tourists coming to the U.S. The British pound plummeted after the Brexit vote, down nearly 8 percent to $1.37 — the lowest level since 2009. That means U.K. residents planning trips to Orlando had better figure on eating sandwiches in their rooms; their vacation costs have just jumped higher.

WINNERS

  • Homebuyers seeking cheap mortgages. The Brexit vote is pushing interest rates to record lows. So investors in safer U.S. mortgage-backed securities will be plentiful, which means interest rates can remain at very low levels.
  • Procrastinators considering a refi. People who have been thinking about refinancing their debt but keep putting off the task can take heart. You now have more time to fill out those forms because interest rates are not likely to rise.
  • TTIP opponents. If you hate free trade deals, then Brexit will help you put a nail in the coffin of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. The trade deal is being negotiated with U.S. and EU officials. But now EU negotiators are going to have their hands full working out a U.K. divorce. There are only so many hours in the day.
  • Supporters of the EU. OK, maybe this sounds crazy. But with economic chaos now enveloping the U.K., the remaining EU members may become more determined to pull together and make their joint project work better. Maybe they will cut back on the annoying bureaucracy and focus more on growth.
  • Smart cookies in the Silicon Valley. With interest rates so low and stock purchases looking risky, wealthy investors all over the world may see the United States as the best place to take chances on startup companies. They have to put their money someplace; the U.S. tech sector may be just the ticket.

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Business June 23, 2016

VW And Regulators Reportedly Near Emissions Scandal Deal

Volkswagen reportedly is near a deal with U.S. regulators to settle charges that it used cheating software to manipulate emissions test results on its diesel cars.

Volkswagen reportedly is near a deal with U.S. regulators to settle charges that it used cheating software to manipulate emissions test results on its diesel cars. Alexander Koerner/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Alexander Koerner/Getty Images

Details are beginning to emerge of a proposed deal between Volkswagen and U.S. regulators over the company’s diesel emissions scandal. June 28 is the deadline set by a federal judge for lawyers for the company and several U.S.-agency plaintiffs to come up with a deal.

VW has admitted to knowingly installing devices to deceive regulators about emissions from its cars’ diesel engines. According to publications including Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press, the company will agree to pay $10 billion to compensate customers. In addition, it is expected to pay $4 billion for environmental remediation and to develop cleaner vehicles. A Volkswagen spokesman refused comment, citing confidentiality agreements.

Both General Motors and Toyota have been forced to pay billions for their emissions and sudden acceleration recall scandals. With a market capitalization of $73 billion, the reported $14 billion price tag doesn’t pose an existential threat to Volkswagen. While VW is a very minor player in the U.S. market, worldwide it’s locked in a battle with Toyota for global automotive supremacy. And the company didn’t experience the U.S. economic crisis in the same way American companies did. And Germany’s economy allowed Volkswagen to acquire (and keep) rich assets that could go on sale on now. Porsche, Audi, Bugatti, Bentley, and the Czech car brand Skoda are all under the VW tent.

Critics are calling for more than financial penalties. “It shouldn’t require a federal judge to rule for Volkswagen to do right by its customers,” Democratic Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, both members of the Senate Committee On Commerce, Science, & Transportation said in a joint statement. The senators add, “we continue to call on the Department of Justice to vigorously pursue its criminal investigation against VW executives who knowingly and intentionally deceived regulators.”

Clarence Ditlow heads the Center for Auto Safety says the car companies like Volkswagen shouldn’t be allowed to write a check when they’re caught in wrongdoing: “The only thing that will really change corporate behavior in the auto industry is sending auto industry executives to jail not letting them write bigger checks.”

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Business June 22, 2016

Ticketmaster Issues Free Ticket Vouchers In Lawsuit Settlement

Ticketmaster is now making discounts and free tickets available as part of its settlement in a class-action lawsuit over fees. NPR checks in on how well that’s working.

Transcript

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

Remember, like, 20 years ago when you would buy concert tickets online and pay a lot of fees, like, to process your order or get your ticket mailed to your house? Even if you don’t remember it, Ticketmaster does. In 2013, the company settled a class action lawsuit about those fees. And now people who are eligible can access their piece of the settlement. NPR’s Rose Friedman reports on how that’s going.

ROSE FRIEDMAN, BYLINE: Free tickets – that was the buzz online this week. But how to redeem them and for what shows – it’s a little unclear.

CANDACE ARMSTRONG KOMAN: They are just really making this so hard for us.

FRIEDMAN: Candace Armstrong Koman of Washington, D.C., is eligible. So she went online to look at the list of shows available.

KOMAN: Some of them were things I might have interest in. Like, there were some artists on there that I like, but they were in cities that I don’t live in.

FRIEDMAN: And she found the system clunky. There are three forms of reimbursement. Two are discounts, which you can use the next time you buy concert tickets. There are also some vouchers for free tickets. Candace had both free tickets and a bunch of those little discount codes for $2.25.

KOMAN: And I was like, they couldn’t have made life easier for us and given us, like, one, like, $20-coupon or something like that? Like you have to enter these codes individually.

STEVEN BLONDER: Well, but hold on a second.

FRIEDMAN: Steven Blonder argued the case against Ticketmaster. He says those little amounts are not insignificant.

BLONDER: This person who gets $2.50, their whole claim may have been worth less than that. So they’re getting real value for their claim.

FRIEDMAN: And Ticketmaster hopes people will see it that way too. According to the settlement, the company has to pay out $42 million over the next four years. They’re actually supposed to do it through those little discounts. Remember, the whole lawsuit was over fees, which people paid in small amounts.

So if you’re someone who bought concert tickets online between October 1999 and February 2013, go on the Ticketmaster website. You might have discounts or even ticket vouchers in your account. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-serve basis to Steely Dan, Pitbull, Blink-182, Gwen Stefani, Weezer, Snoop Dogg and others, including the Barenaked Ladies, which means if you act fast, this…

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ONE WEEK”)

BARENAKED LADIES: (Singing) It’s been one week since you looked at me…

FRIEDMAN: …Might be in your future.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ONE WEEK”)

BARENAKED LADIES: (Singing) Cocked your head to the side and said I’m angry. Five days since you laughed me, saying get back together, come back and see me.

FRIEDMAN: Rose Friedman, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ONE WEEK”)

BARENAKED LADIES: (Singing) I realized it’s all my fault but couldn’t tell you. Yesterday you’d forgiven me, but it’ll still be two days ’til I say I’m sorry.

Copyright © 2016 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Business June 21, 2016

Tesla's SolarCity Bid Would Create One-Stop Shop For Clean Energy

Electric car maker Tesla Motors is offering to buy solar panel maker SolarCity for up to $2.8 billion in an attempt to create a one-stop shop for cleaner energy as consumers become more concerned about fossil fuels hurting the environment.

The all-stock deal announced Tuesday values SolarCity Corp. at $26.50 to $28.50 per share, depending on a review of the company’s books.

SolarCity’s stock surged $3.60, or 17 percent, to $24.79 while Tesla’s shares sank $25.61, or 12 percent, to $194.

The deal still requires shareholder approval.

That process could be complicated by Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s position as SolarCity’s chairman and largest individual shareholder.

SolarCity’s CEO, Lyndon Rive, is also Musk’s cousin.

Tesla is pursuing SolarCity 14 months after introducing a home battery system that stores solar energy.

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