>>Citigroup To Cut 10% Of Its Workforce
(New York, NY) -- Citigroup is cutting ten percent of its workforce. The nation's third-largest bank said about 20-thousand employees will be let go over the "medium term" as part of a restructuring plan. It made the announcement during a fourth-quarter earnings presentation. Citigroup has about 200-thousand workers on the payroll.
>>FAA Opens Investigation Into Boeing's Quality Control After Alaska Airlines Failure
(Washington, DC) -- The FAA is opening an investigation into Boeing's quality control. That comes after a door blew off an Alaska Airlines flight last week. The FAA said in a new statement that the door plug failure "should have never happened and it cannot happen again." The investigation will focus on whether the company failure to make sure its products adhered to approved designs.
>>NASA Slashes Jobs After Federal Budget Cuts
(Pasadena, CA) -- Federal budget cuts could force NASA to postpone some upcoming missions to space. The space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory was hit hard, resulting in the layoff of 100 contractors last week. Less funds now pose a threat to NASA's ambitious Mars Sample Return mission, which is the first-ever effort to bring pieces of Mars to Earth. JPL officials say the MSR mission budget may be capped at 300-million dollars this year, which is just over a third of last year's budget.
>>IRS Announces Tax Dates
(Washington, DC) -- The IRS will begin accepting 2023 tax returns on January 29th, 2024. The tax agency said it is expecting over 128- million individual tax returns to be filed ahead of the April 15th deadline. This year, the IRS is rolling out new tools it says will make filing taxes easier. To give some taxpayers a head start on putting together their returns, the IRS Free File, which is available to anybody who earns less than 79-grand, is now available.
>>Microsoft Briefly Passes Apple As World's Most Valuable Company
(New York, NY) -- Microsoft briefly overtook Apple as the world's most valuable company on Thursday. Apple soon reclaimed its number-one position, where it's been since 2021 because of the iPhone. Shares in the company have been off to a weak start in 2024 while Microsoft shares have risen sharply, partly because of A.I. technology. Microsoft shares closed half-a-point higher yesterday, and it's value rose during trading making it worth over two-point-nine trillion dollars for a time.
>>Hertz Replaces 20,000 EVs With Gasoline Cars
(Estero, FL) -- Hertz is replacing 20-thousand of its electric vehicles with regular gasoline cars. The car rental company is backtracking after pushing into the EV market. Executives said electric vehicles are hurting Hertz financially, as collision and damage repairs can sometimes be about twice what it would have been with a combustion engine vehicle. That's what CEO Stephen Scherr said in an analyst call.
