Business
Looking for positive and inspiring business stories? From green operations to employee rights, from innovative corporate structures to diversity and inclusion, the Business section at The Optimist Daily has got the latest innovative solutions from the corporate sector.
Lyft announces huge Midwest expansion, launching in 54 cities and four new states
Good news, residents of Sheboygan, Wisconsin! Lyft, the ride-hailing company not currently plagued by a sexual harassment scandal, is coming to your town — as well as 53 other cities. Most of the cities are concentrated in the Midwest, with a few on the East Coast and Southern states. It’s the Read More...
In Seoul, a sharing economy takes hold that leaves Uber and Airbnb in the cold
Seoul mayor Park Won-soon wants to make the South Korean capital a global role model for the sharing economy, but he’s defending the city fiercely against the very startups that have shaped the concept. Ever since the second-term liberal mayor entered office in 2011, the 60-year-old Park—whose Read More...
Seattle is ditching Wells Fargo due to funding of Dakota Access Pipeline
Citizens as consumers are powerful. Here's a good example. Due to the fact that Wells Fargo plays a role in funding the Dakota Access Pipeline, as well as taking part in a fraudulent banking scandal, the Seattle City Council has decided to pull its money out of the bank when its current contract Read More...
India set to become world's second largest economy by 2050, report predicts
A new report titled “The World in 2050” projects that India will be largest economy in the world after China. India’s rapid population growth partly accounts for the forecasted jump over the U.S., but what plays an even greater role is the drastic improvement in terms of per-person Read More...
Airbnb wants to house 100,000 displaced people in five years
Airbnb was one of several tech companies to take a firm stance against Trump's immigration ban last weekend, but the company has since expanded its assistance beyond just those affected at American borders. In a blog post titled #weaccept, Airbnb's founders outlined a goal to provide short-term Read More...
Volvo creating carsharing business unit
The Swedish auto manufacturer Volvo has announced that it will be creating a new business division based around its carsharing work. While this will technically be a new enterprise, Volvo has actually been running a carsharing service known as Sunfleet for nearly 20 years now (since 1998), so the Read More...
The company behind Mercedes is providing self-driving cars to Uber
Uber has turned a “frenemy” into a partner. Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, today announced a partnership with Uber that will see the German automaker providing self-driving vehicles to the ride-hailing app in the “coming years.” To date, Uber has partnered with Volvo and Read More...
Uber passes Starbucks as business travelers' no. 1 expense
A new study found that 6 percent of all business travel transactions in 2016 were with Uber, making the ridesharing company the most common expense, in terms of transactions. Uber grabbed the honor from Starbucks, which remains the most popular meal expense. Certify, a provider of travel and Read More...
Lyft is about to launch a massive expansion across the US
Lyft is rapidly expanding the number of US cities it operates in this year. The ride-hailing company plans to launch in 100 new US cities by the end of 2017, bringing the total number of cities it serves to 300, Jaime Raczka, the head of early stage markets and expansion at Lyft, told Business Read More...
There are big opportunities in the world's big challenges
In every threat to the planet, there's a potential opportunity either to avert that threat or mitigate its impact. Take climate change. Rising seas and deeper droughts are enormous long-term risks, but there's also opportunities for new infrastructure and different types of agriculture, innovations Read More...