Business News at a Glance

Hotel Workers Fear the Robot at the Front Desk

Thousands of Marriott workers — cooks and cashiers, bellhops and housekeepers — have voted to authorize their union to strike at dozens of locations from Waikiki to Boston and San Diego to Detroit. Alongside the usual demands for higher wages, the union is asking for procedures to protect workers affected by new technologies. With advances in machine learning and other innovations in information technology, many service jobs are now potentially in jeopardy. Compared with manufacturing, the investment needed to automate some tasks in the hotel sector — like front desk or concierge services — is likely to be relatively low.

Tariffs May Spook Companies, but Quitting China Won’t Be Easy

President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese products, which expanded to an additional $200 billion worth of goods on Monday, are prompting many companies to rethink their supply chains. As tariffs begin to make China look more expensive, many companies are considering cheaper places to make their products. Already, companies with significant American business like Steve Madden, the fashion designer, and Puma, the German sports brand, have said they will look to shift production out of China. But China will be hard to quit. Countries like Vietnam and Cambodia lack China’s vast supplier base and dependable roads.

NBC Executive Stepping Down in Latest Shift for Networks

NBC’s entertainment chief, Robert Greenblatt, is stepping down from the company after almost eight years in charge. Greenblatt, who took over when NBC’s prime time viewership was in the gutter, has been responsible for a remarkable turnaround. NBC finished the past television season No. 1 in the ratings for the fourth time in five seasons. The nearly unprecedented upheaval at the top levels of the broadcast networks is happening for a variety of reasons. But all of the networks are dealing with the same problems: a declining number of viewers and a diminished influence in the era of streaming services.

Starbucks Plans to Cut Back at the Top

Starbucks plans to thin out its executive ranks as part of a corporate reshuffling that it hopes will help revitalize sales and hasten its growth overseas. The global coffee behemoth will lay off some non-retail employees at the vice president and senior vice president level, a spokeswoman said Monday. In a memo last week, the chief executive, Kevin Johnson, notified employees of a reorganization meant to help the company expand internationally, particularly in fast-growing markets like China. Starbucks declined to say how many people would be affected, or how many employees held the senior vice president or vice president titles.

SiriusXM to Buy Pandora for $3.5 Billion

Satellite radio provider SiriusXM said Monday that it would acquire Pandora Media for $3.5 billion, in a bid to corral listeners who don’t want to pay for premium channels. Pandora rose to success with radio stations, tailored to users, that were sprinkled with ads. In recent years it has struggled to compete with rival services like Spotify and Apple Music, which offered paid on-demand content. Acquiring Pandora would give SiriusXM access to the fast-growing online segment of listeners, those who prefer streaming music through mobile phones. Fewer people are listening to traditional programming, whether over terrestrial or satellite radio.

Michael Kors Nears Purchase of Versace

Michael Kors is close to announcing a deal to buy Versace, the Italian fashion house, two people with knowledge of the matter said Monday. The sale would represent the end of independence for one of the most prominent stand-alone fashion houses amid a wave of consolidation within the industry. Versace, known for a flamboyant embrace of elegance, had long been considered a takeover candidate. For Kors, the purchase would burnish its ambitions to become an American counterpart to the European conglomerates such as LVMH and Kering, which have dominated the fashion industry with brands like Louis Vuitton and Gucci.

From Farm to Blockchain: Walmart Tracks Its Lettuce

When dozens of people across the country got sick from eating contaminated romaine lettuce this spring, Walmart did what many grocers would do: It cleared every shred off its shelves. Walmart says it now has a better system for pinpointing which vegetables might be contaminated. The retailer announced on Monday that it would be using a blockchain, the database technology behind bitcoin, to keep track of every bag of spinach and head of lettuce. When another food-borne illness hits — like the E. coli outbreak — the retailer would only have to discard the food that was actually at risk.

Sears Chief Warns of Bankruptcy Danger

Time is running out for Sears, the retailer’s largest investor and chief executive warned on Monday. With the company facing a large loan payment due next month, Edward Lampert, who serves as both Sears’ chief executive and its most influential shareholder, said it needed to drastically restructure its debts to avoid “alternatives.” Those alternatives include bankruptcy. Lampert’s hedge fund, ESL Investments, has proposed a series of deals that would reduce the retailer’s $5.6 billion debt load. They include selling off many of its remaining stores and asking lenders to exchange their loans for equity stakes in the beleaguered company.