Business news in brief

This photo shows the Patagonia logo on items in the brand section of a retail department store Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2018, in New York. Patagonia, an outdoor gear company, is passing along the $10 million it saved from tax cuts to non-profit environmental groups. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
This photo shows the Patagonia logo on items in the brand section of a retail department store Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2018, in New York. Patagonia, an outdoor gear company, is passing along the $10 million it saved from tax cuts to non-profit environmental groups. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Walmart tests same-day China delivery

Walmart Inc. is testing same-day grocery delivery at one of its stores in China as part of its battle against Amazon's Chinese rival, Alibaba.

Customers in the city of Xiangmihu access Walmart To Go through a mini-program inside WeChat, a messaging app developed by Walmart partner Tencent Holdings. The groceries will be delivered by app-enabled delivery service Dada-JD Daojia, in which Walmart and Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com jointly invested $500 million earlier this year.

Although Walmart has more than 400 stores in China, the Bentonville retailer continues to form partnerships and make investments that deepen its online presence there. Walmart sold its e-commerce business in China in 2016, but invested $50 million that year in JD.com to continue selling online.

Alibaba, which owns China's second-largest food delivery service and has a growing interest in groceries and household items, formed an alliance earlier this year with U.S. supermarket chain Kroger. Alibaba sells Kroger's Simple Truth organic food products through its Tmall Global online marketplace.

-- Serenah McKay

Closing Tunica Roadhouse, says Caesars

JACKSON, Miss. -- Caesars Entertainment of Las Vegas said Tuesday that it is closing the Tunica Roadhouse in Mississippi's Tunica County, citing decreasing revenue.

Caesars will keep open the 135-room hotel attached to Tunica Roadhouse, operating it with its neighboring Horseshoe Tunica hotel and casino.

The Mississippi Gaming Commission reported in October that Tunica Roadhouse had 377 casino employees and 36 hotel employees. Caesars says it could hire some workers at Horseshoe.

Caesars closed Harrah's Tunica Hotel & Casino in 2014.

Revenue has declined for years at Tunica County's eight casinos, partly because of increased gambling competition in Arkansas and other states. Arkansas voters earlier this month approved a referendum allowing four full-fledged casinos, including one in nearby West Memphis.

-- The Associated Press

U.S. accuses 8 people of online ad fraud

NEW YORK -- The U.S. Justice Department charged eight people Tuesday in connection with the takedown of two international cybercriminal rings that cost advertisers tens of millions of dollars.

"As alleged in court filings, the defendants in this case used sophisticated computer programming and infrastructure around the world to exploit the digital advertising industry through fraud," said U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue.

The ads were never viewed by Internet users, prosecutors said.

"In fact, the defendants faked both the users and the webpages: they programmed computers they controlled to load advertisements on fabricated webpages, via an automated program, in order to fraudulently obtain digital advertising revenue," prosecutors said in an indictment unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn.

In one of the schemes, prosecutors said, the defendants accessed more than 1.7 million computers belonging to individuals and businesses in the U.S. and elsewhere by using a global "botnet," a network of malware-infected computers.

"Meanwhile, the owners of the infected computers were unaware that this process was running in the background on their computers," prosecutors said.

Most of the defendants are from eastern Europe. Three were arrested overseas and are awaiting extradition.

As part of their efforts, prosecutors said seizure warrants authorized the FBI to take control of 31 Internet domains and information from 89 computer servers.

-- The Associated Press

Fearless Girl no longer staring down bull

NEW YORK -- The Fearless Girl statue that represented female empowerment has been plucked from its spot opposite Wall Street's Charging Bull and will be reinstalled in front of the New York Stock Exchange by the end of the year, officials said Wednesday.

The Boston-based financial services firm State Street Global Advisors said the sculpture of a defiant-looking young girl was moved Tuesday night. No date for its reinstallation at the stock exchange was given.

The hands-on-hips bronze statue was intended as a temporary display when State Street installed it in March 2017 to encourage corporations to put more women on their boards. City officials extended the statue's stay after it became a favorite with tourists, who lined up for selfies with the 4-foot bronze celebrity.

One person who was not a fan of the statue was Arturo Di Modica, the artist who created Charging Bull and installed it in lower Manhattan in 1989 without permission. Di Modica complained that his 11-foot-tall bull was meant to embody "strength, power and love," but having Fearless Girl face off against his work had turned the bull's message into something negative.

City officials, meanwhile, announced in April 2018 that they would move both statues about three blocks away to the stock exchange because the crowds of pedestrians clustered around the statues presented a traffic hazard.

-- The Associated Press

Patagonia's tax savings aid environment

VENTURA, Calif. -- Patagonia, the outdoor gear company, is passing along the $10 million it saved from tax cuts to nonprofit environmental groups.

Corporations received a windfall from the GOP's sweeping overhaul of the U.S. tax code passed last year, which slashed corporate rates from 35 percent to 21 percent.

The California company said Wednesday that the donation is in addition to 1 percent of sales it gives to environmental groups every year. The donation is being made on the heels of the recent National Climate Assessment, which Patagonia cited in its announcement.

The report warned that natural disasters are worsening in the U.S. because of global warming. It said violent weather and floods have led to costs of nearly $400 billion since 2015 and the potential for annual losses hundreds of billions of dollars.

Though economists agree with the general financial conclusions related to climate change, President Donald Trump has rejected the report's assessment regarding the potential economic impact.

Patagonia, based in Ventura, Calif., has joined a flurry of lawsuits challenging Trump's decision to chop up two large national monuments in Utah. It also endorsed Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana and Sen.-elect Jacky Rosen of Nevada in the midterm elections, both whom won against GOP incumbents. The company described them as champions of public lands and the outdoor industry.

-- The Associated Press

Business on 11/29/2018

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