Headlines From The Times

After a nearly year-long legal battle, the biggest merger in Hollywood history closed on Tuesday. The $111 billion deal combines Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery, and the mega media company is now called Skydance. In addition to the two legacy film studios, it includes the streaming services HBO Max and Paramount+, and two of the biggest news outlets in the country, CNN and CBS. Three...

For decades, American restaurants have been super-sizing their menus. Now, with about 30 million Americans on GLP-1 weight-loss drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic, many are scaling back. Customers who eat less are ordering less, often choosing smaller items like appetizers over full-priced entrées. McKinsey found GLP-1 users are buying fewer snacks and sodas, a sign the weight-loss drugs are changing h...

Nvidia is making a big bet on itself. The chipmaker authorized what it calls the largest stock buyback in history, adding $150 billion to its existing program and bringing its total authorization to $235 billion. Meanwhile, the Chargers are still looking for their 1st win after a 24-16 loss to Buffalo. L.A.’s defense forced 5 turnovers, but the offense turned those takeaways into just 10 points. T...

Diesel prices are hitting record highs, averaging $6.50 a gallon, up more than 70% since the start of the Iran war, according to AAA. The spike comes right as U.S. farmers are harvesting corn and soybeans, two of the country's largest commodities. Missouri farmer Jason Kurtz says he's paid twice as much for diesel this year. Farmers are also experiencing elevated costs for fertilizer and chemicals...

CNN, MS NOW and Politico are suing the Trump administration after their reporters were denied entry to the White House and stripped of their press credentials. The news organizations say the credentials were pulled without “notice or process,” while President Trump says he's blocking them over reporting he calls "fake news." The case has been assigned to the same federal judge who sided with CNN i...

House of Troy is a new podcast from LA Times Studios tracing the rise and fall of USC football, from coach Pete Carroll’s back-to-back national titles in the 2000s, to the Reggie Bush scandal, to the series of missteps that followed. It’ll feature exclusive interviews with coaches, players, and USC officials who saw it all up close — and shine new light on how a college football dynasty came undon...

The Federal Communications Commission approved Paramount’s request to allow foreign investors to take a substantial stake in the $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Three Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi plan to invest a combined $24 billion. Collectively, the funds would hold 38.5% of the combined company’s equity, while the Ellison family and RedBird...

For the first time since 1995, three American men — Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe, and Alex Michelsen — have reached the US Open quarterfinals. It feels like a milestone moment for American tennis. Now they're chasing history: no American man has won on home soil since Andy Roddick in 2003. On the women's side, Jessica Pegula, Emma Navarro, and 2023 champion Coco Gauff make up the most US women's qu...

A new one-dollar coin featuring President Trump's portrait is making headlines after the U.S. Mint put sleeves up for sale this week to celebrate the country's 250th birthday. The "heads" side shows Trump's portrait with "liberty" above it and the years 1776–2026, while the reverse features the Seal of the United States. Federal law generally bans living presidents from appearing on U.S. currency,...

Gloria Steinem, the author and activist who helped revolutionize the feminist movement, died Wednesday at her home in New York City. She was 92.  For more than half a century, Steinem fought for abortion rights, equal pay, and same-sex marriage, calling herself an "entrepreneur of social change." From her groundbreaking undercover exposé on the Playboy Club to becoming one of the most recogni...

A new Marsh survey finds employers expect health benefit costs to rise about 8% next year — the biggest increase in more than two decades. Employers are already eyeing ways to shift more costs onto workers. That's on top of a separate Aon report showing employees paid nearly 10% more in out-of-pocket care in 2026 than the year before, an increase of roughly $2,100. Meanwhile, Tiger Woods is Avoidi...

The U.S. Open is a big money maker for New York City. A consulting group working with the USTA says the tournament brings in about $1.2 billion a year, fueled largely by tourism, with over a million visitors attending last year alone. Restaurants, hotels, and bars all get a major boost, and businesses respond by hiring. The US Open creates an estimated 7,000 seasonal jobs each year, with many goin...

In his first major speech as Fed Chair, Kevin Warsh told the Fed's annual Jackson Hole conference that inflation — currently at 3.7%, above the Fed's 2% target — remains a top concern, and warned the central bank will act if prices don't ease. Warsh didn’t offer “forward guidance” on interest rates, signaling he wants a quieter Fed that lets economic data drive policy instead of public commentary....

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani has tapped a fifteen member Business Advisory Council with executives from real estate, retail, dining, sports, and healthcare. But missing from the council are executives from the city's largest financial employers, like BlackRock and JPMorgan Chase. There's been tension between Mamdani's democratic socialist platform and a skeptical business community, including his publ...

Meta has agreed to pay up to $16.7 billion to settle claims from California and other states that its platforms harmed the mental health of young users. The tech giant denies wrongdoing, but will roll out new daily usage limits and other measures on Facebook and Instagram. California alone could collect up to $2.1 billion.   LeBron James took out a nearly $300 million loan in 2018, right befo...

Bitcoin had been sliding for months, down 31% over the past year. Then last week, everything changed.   News out of Washington sent the crypto surging back above $77,000, jumping 20% in just a few days. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's plan to double long-term government bond buybacks pushed bond yields lower and pressured the dollar — and a weaker dollar sent investors hunting for alternatives,...

The world's largest retailer, Walmart, just reported its worst sales growth in more than six years. Last quarter, the Arkansas-based company saw its store sales rise just 2.6 percent. This comes as overall retail spending dropped in July, and according to the University of Michigan, consumer sentiment fell about 8% this August. Meanwhile, Disneyland is finally giving Tomorrowland the major makeove...

The U.S. national debt hit a record high this week, topping $40 trillion. That’s double what it was in 2016 at the start of President Trump's first term. Most of that spending is going toward rising military costs, programs like Social Security and Medicare, and Trump's tax cuts. The war in Iran has already cost the U.S. more than $34 billion, according to the Center for Strategic and Internationa...

A record number of kindergartners are starting school this year, without required vaccinations, with new federal data showing that exemption rates are hitting an all-time high for the fourth year in a row.   After nearly 50 years, the Buss family’s run as owners of the Los Angeles Lakers could be coming to an end. The family has reportedly agreed to sell its remaining stake to new majority owners...

New data shows 24 million Americans traveled to Europe in 2025 alone — a record high, led by trips to the UK, France, and Italy. But the boom isn't reaching everyone equally: the wealthiest households are driving the surge, and by age, travelers 55-64 led the way, followed by 18-24 year olds.   And, a new UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll, co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, sh...

Former Disney CEO Bob Iger and venture capitalist Josh Kushner are set to buy the Los Angeles Lakers for more than $12 billion — just over a year after Mark Walter took a controlling stake at a then-record $10 billion. The sale still needs NBA Board of Governors approval, which could take a few weeks.   And, federal health officials say jalapeños imported from Mexico are the likely source of a sal...

Nvidia is partnering up with six asset managers, including BlackRock and Goldman Sachs, to bring half a trillion dollars into AI infrastructure — chips, power plants, and data centers. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says the goal is to connect its customers with lenders for loans and credit, though key details about the project remain unclear.  BlackRock’s Larry Fink says the move reminds him of the crea...

The S&P 500 closed at a record high on Tuesday. Faith Pinnow from L.A. Times Studios breaks down what's driving the rally — from strong second-quarter earnings reports to growing optimism around a potential Iran ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Plus: a look back at how far the index has come since 1957.   California lawmakers have rejected a proposal that would have phased out...

President Trump is threatening to drop Todd Blanche as his pick for Attorney General until he can lock down Senate approval. The warning comes after Republican Senators Thom Tillis and John Cornyn signaled they'd vote no — both objecting to a deal Blanche struck settling Trump's IRS lawsuit, including a controversial "anti-weaponization fund" Cornyn says protects Trump and his family from tax audi...

Truth Social's new Truth API is set to launch August 1, offering paying clients real-time access to posts from President Trump and other top administration officials. The service reportedly costs $100,000 per month and is designed to help institutional investors react to breaking news in milliseconds.   L.A. Times Studios' Faith Pinnow speaks with former White House chief ethics lawyer Richard Pai...