Business News at a Glance

Twitter Expels Alex Jones

Apple, Facebook and Google’s YouTube mostly barred Alex Jones, the right-wing provocateur and creator of the conspiracy theorist website Infowars, last month for propagating hate speech. Twitter did not. On Thursday, though, Twitter said it would permanently suspend Jones’ account, as well as the account for Infowars. The social media company said Jones had posted messages within the previous 24 hours that violated its policies, which prohibit direct threats of violence and some forms of hate speech but allow deception or misinformation. Twitter announced its decision after weeks of will-they-won’t-they scrutiny on whether it would remove Jones and Infowars from its service.

Moonves May Leave CBS

Leslie Moonves, faced with an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against him as well as a bitter boardroom battle over the control of CBS, has for the past few weeks been negotiating his potential exit from the network he has run for two decades. Moonves, 68, has been talking to the board about his possible departure as chief executive, including terms of a payout that would be far less than $180 million specified in his employment agreement, according to three people familiar with the discussions. Should Moonves depart, his chief lieutenant, Joseph Ianniello, is likely to be named interim chief executive, two of the people said.

Trump’s Broadsides Against Companies Barely Register on Wall Street

Wall Street is learning to live with President Donald Trump’s criticism of prominent companies. Trump has made a habit of attacking well-known public corporations, including Amazon, Harley-Davidson and Google. In some cases, his supporters have piled on with threats to boycott the companies’ products or services. But a look back at months of critical presidential tweets, and their effect on stock prices, suggests that investors are shrugging off Trump’s broadsides. Nike is the latest firm Trump has singled out. The sportswear company confirmed this week that it had entered into a new marketing deal with Colin Kaepernick, the former NFL quarterback.

Former Official Sues the Fed for Rejecting a Plan for a New Kind of Bank

A former Federal Reserve official is suing the Fed, saying it is blocking his plan to create a new kind of bank. The lawsuit, filed in federal court, accuses Fed Chairman Jerome Powell of preventing the new bank, known as TNB USA, from operating. James McAndrews, who filed the lawsuit, asserts Powell directed Fed staffers to withhold permission for his bank to open an account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York — a necessary precursor for TNB USA to open its doors. TNB USA would not make any loans. Instead, it would put all of its customer deposits into an account at the New York Fed.

After Backlash, Burberry Stops Burning Unsold Goods

When the British luxury label Burberry said this summer that it had burned tens of millions of dollars of unsold goods — an announcement that prompted fierce criticism — the practice was justified as an effort to maintain its “brand value.” The practice, which is widespread across the retail and consumer industry, is often used as a safeguard to prevent unwanted items being stolen or sold at a significant discount and in that way eroding the high-end price tags they can command. On Thursday, the company said it would cease burning stock immediately. The company added that it would stop selling products that used real animal fur.

Apple Takeover of Shazam Clears Europe’s Regulators

European authorities on Thursday cleared Apple’s acquisition of the song-recognition app Shazam, after months of study into whether the deal would give the iPhone maker an unfair advantage over rival streaming music services. European regulators questioned whether the app held important information on Apple competitors. The focus on data transfer was a departure from typical antitrust enforcement, which tends to zero in on how a deal may affect customers. The case was a rare instance in which European antitrust authorities have passed on an opportunity to act against an American technology giant. The region has gained a reputation as the world’s strictest overseer of the technology industry.

Trump Administration Battles States’ Efforts to Police Student Loans

After Education Secretary Betsy DeVos started scaling back consumer protections for student borrowers last year, six states and the District of Columbia sped up their own efforts to crack down on abusive lending practices by companies that administer federal loan programs. Now DeVos is trying to stop them. Trump administration lawyers filed a “statement of interest” supporting a lawsuit from an industry trade group against the District of Columbia for creating a student loan ombudsman office. Administration lawyers accused the District of Columbia of violating the supremacy clause in the Constitution in a case that could determine the future role of states in consumer protection.