Business News at a Glance

A Record $2.5 Trillion in Mergers Were Announced in the First Half of 2018

More than $2.5 trillion in mergers were announced during the first half of the year, as fears of Silicon Valley’s growing ambitions helped drive a record run of deal-making. Four of the 10 biggest deals were struck in part to fend off competition from the largest technology companies as the value of acquisitions announced during the first six months of the year increased 61 percent from the same period in 2017, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters. That has put mergers in 2018 on pace to surpass $5 trillion, which would top 2015 as the largest yearly total on record.

Who May Suffer the Most From Auto Tariffs? Trump Voters

President Donald Trump has complained about seeing too many German cars on Fifth Avenue and threatened heavy tariffs on the companies that produce them. There is a good chance, though, that those Mercedes-Benzes and BMWs were not only made in the United States but also made by workers who voted for Trump. European companies have turned Alabama, South Carolina and Tennessee into auto manufacturing powerhouses in recent years, churning out cars not just for American buyers but also for export to China and Europe. Germany’s three biggest carmakers all have facilities there, and Volvo Cars, which is owned by a Chinese company but based in Sweden, began producing at a new plant in South Carolina just last month.

Obamacare Is Proving Hard to Kill

As health insurers across the country begin filing their proposed rates for 2019, one thing is clear: The market created by the Affordable Care Act shows no signs of imminent collapse despite the continuing threats by Republicans to destroy it. In fact, while President Donald Trump may insist that the law has been “essentially gutted,” the ACA market appears to be more robust than ever, according to insurance executives and analysts. A few states are likely to see a steep spike in prices next year, but many are reporting much more modest increases.

Yelp Can’t Be Ordered to Remove Negative Posts, California Court Rules

The California Supreme Court ruled Monday that Yelp, the local search and reviews site, did not need to remove negative comments posted by a user, in a case closely watched by the industry for its implications for online free speech. In a 4-3 opinion, the court said federal law protected internet companies from liability for statements written by others. The decision to remove posts is at the company’s discretion, the court said. Forcing a site to remove user-generated posts “can impose substantial burdens” on the online company, Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye wrote in the majority opinion.

New York Times Reassigns Reporter in Leak Case

Ali Watkins, the New York Times reporter whose email and phone records were secretly seized by the Trump administration, will be reassigned to a new beat in New York, The Times said Tuesday. Watkins, 26, had been the subject of an internal review after revelations that she had a three-year affair with a high-ranking aide on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which she covered for several news organizations before joining The Times in December. The aide, James Wolfe, 57, was arrested last month as part of a leak investigation in which the Justice Department also seized Watkins’ communications, an unusually aggressive move against a journalist.

Lyft and Uber Won’t Be Happy Until They’re Your One-Stop Transit Guide

Uber and Lyft came to prominence with their ride-hailing services. But increasingly they’re betting on other modes of transportation — with the aim of becoming the only service people need to get around cities. Lyft on Monday struck a deal to buy the core parts of Motivate, the parent company of CitiBike in New York and seven other bike-sharing programs around the United States. While Uber and Lyft have raised tens of billions of dollars to change the way people travel in cars, the future of urban transport doesn’t revolve just around automobiles. Bike-share programs have been popular in cities around the world for years.

Barnes & Noble Fires CEO Without Severance but Doesn’t Explain Why

Barnes & Noble fired its chief executive, Demos Parneros, for violating the company’s policies, the company said Tuesday without specifying the policies. Parneros was not terminated because of “any disagreement with the company regarding its financial reporting, policies or practices or any potential fraud relating thereto,” Barnes & Noble said in a statement. The company added that he would not receive any severance payment and that he had been removed from the board. Parneros is the company’s fourth chief executive to depart in five years. He had been in his role for just over a year.

Glencore Shares Plunge After Justice Department Subpoena

Glencore, a Switzerland-based mining and commodities trading giant, said Tuesday it had received a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice requesting documents in a money-laundering and corruption investigation. The subpoena is tied to Glencore’s dealings in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Venezuela from 2007 to the present day, and it seeks material related to “compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act” and with U.S. money-laundering rules, the company said in a statement. News that U.S. investigators were looking into Glencore’s businesses spooked investors, sending the company’s share price down as much as 13 percent at one point Tuesday.