From the corner office to the suburban mall, the past year will be remembered for its shattered molds and vanishing institutions.
The curtain of silence that obscured sexual harassment in the workplace fell emphatically. Stocks and Bitcoin both tore through benchmarks deemed insurmountable not long ago. And Amazon somehow managed to expand its empire to colonies even farther flung.
Amazon’s beleaguered rivals, retailers with actual stores, saw their once indelible status erode further. And the Trump administration began dismantling taxes and regulations aimed at safeguarding consumers in the name of unshackling businesses and America’s animal spirits.
Here are USA TODAY’s top 10 business and tech stories of 2017
1. Amazon’s Empire Building
Amazon bought Whole Foods, it dominates voice shopping with Echo and now it’s frightening the health industry by considering a move into drug sales. And by the way, cities are falling over themselves to woo the company’s second headquarters: 238 in the United States and Canada put in bids to host what Amazon says will bring 50,000 jobs to the lucky winner. The keystone of Amazon is still online retail, an arena it continued to rule in 2017. An estimated 42% of U.S. online sales were through Amazon this year, according to Slice Intelligence, an e-marketing analysis firm. That’s a big number, even if e-commerce still accounts for just 9.1% of overall retail sales in the United States. Amazon is also a leader by a less visible but vitally important measure: cloud storage. It has 52% of the market, with Microsoft at 21% and Google at 18%, according to a survey by LogicMonitor.
2. Sexual Harassment
A dam broke in 2017 following accusations that Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein harassed and assaulted dozens of women. Those allegations led to his downfall, fueled a movement of sexual harassment survivors dubbed #MeToo and empowered many more women to come forward with stories that have brought down some of the country’s most famous and influential men. The list of those accused of sexual misconduct includes Today co-anchor Matt Lauer, actor Kevin Spacey, hip hop mogul Russell Simmons and former Senator Al Franken. Many view this as a watershed moment, forcing long-overdue conversations about power imbalances at work and the need for more women in leadership roles. The accusations will likely continue in 2018, along with more complicated discussions about whether every inappropriate action warrants the same repercussions, the need to take on harassment in industries outside the public eye, and whether President Trump, accused of harassing more than a dozen women, should be held accountable.
3. An iPhone unlike any other
The past year was good for Apple’s iPhone — from its tenth anniversary, three new models being announced in September and the iPhone X’s big release in November. Out of all the news, however, the iPhone X was the device that stole the show. Its radical redesign (goodbye home button, hello FaceID) coupled with a sharper display and improved cameras, made it one of USA TODAY’s favorite gadgets of the year.Even its $999 starting price didn’t deter people from lining up to get their hands on one, proving that ten years after it began, the iPhone’s still got it.
4. Stocks and the economy march on
Wall Street’s second-longest bull, which turns 9 in March, generated a lot of money for 401(k) investors in 2017. The blue-chip Dow index made thousand-point jumps seem routine. It cracked 20,000 in January. Then investors cheered 24,000 in November. Uncertainty and political scandals in Washington didn’t deter them from buying stocks. Nor did fear of nuclear war with North Korea, or frothy stock prices. Driving the gains: resurgent economies in the U.S. and abroad which put more profits in the pockets of corporations. The U.S. economy notched its best six-month stretch of growth in three years and unemployment fell to a 17-year low. The “Trump Effect,” which juiced business confidence and aided a resurgence in capital spending, was also stock friendly. The buzz on Wall Street is more gains lie ahead in 2018.
5. More electric company?
Electric vehicles went from science experiments to the object of automaker infatuation. Mercedes-Benz declared it would offer EV or gas-hybrid options throughout its line-up by 2022. General Motors, an icon of the internal combustion engine days, will spend $4.5 billion to roll out 13 EVs in the coming years, while Ford Motor will launch 15 EV or hybrid models by 2025. All that buzz is thanks in large part to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has thrilled car buyers while puzzling analysts with a growing line-up of sleek but pricey electric sedans. Next year is critical for Tesla, and the larger EV revolution. Musk insists that production snags for his mass-market, entry-level sedan — the Model 3 — will be ironed out. And with 400,000 Model 3s already on order, he believes his company will finally prove that mainstream drivers are ready to be electrified.
6. Bitcoin Mania
Bitcoin, the mysterious digital currency, leaped into the public’s consciousness with a startling gain of1,700% in 2017. In just months, the nearly 9-year-old stateless cryptocurrency was able to transform itself from a novelty into an upstart disruptor that Wall Street skeptics can no longer ignore. Bitcoin’s rise has prompted a debate among investors: Is Bitcoin the mother of all financial bubbles or a misunderstood alternative to the dollar? The jury is still out.
7. Tax Cuts
Republicans in Congress and President Trump are poised to rewrite the tax code, giving large corporations a sharply lower 21% rate and providing businesses of all sizes more incentives to buy equipment and expand, hopefully to spur job creation and wage increases. But those benefits could be limited to increased payouts to shareholders, or could even fund takeovers that cost jobs. And even with assumed growth, the changes will add $1 trillion to the national debt over 10 years. For Joe Paycheck, the standard deduction would increase sharply while rates drop, and studies project a majority at every income level will pay less for several years. But some people will pay more as deductions they relied on are restricted or cut, and that could reduce home values in high-tax states. Rising deficits could also spur other budget cuts, possibly to Social Security and Medicare. Finally, tax changes for individuals expire after 2025, while corporate cuts are permanent, so this is not the end of the story.
8. Retail Meltdown
The industry is in the throes of a seismic shift as shoppers buy more and more things with their smart phones, and turn to Amazon for electronics and groceries. That transformation has left some of the country’s iconic companies struggling to boost profits or simply to survive. J.C. Penney and Macy’s shuttered dozens of stores in 2017. Toy titan Toys R Us sought bankruptcy protection. And Sears, whose catalogs and appliances were once ubiquitous in American homes, has been shedding real estate and borrowing cash to stay afloat. Meanwhile, restaurants are dealing with stagnant sales by joining forces. Among the most significant deals were Panera Bread’s purchase by investment firm JAB , Burger King’s owner acquiring Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Arby’s plan to pick up Buffalo Wild Wings. Look for more acquisitions in 2018, along with limited-time food and drink offers. And in the wake of record-breaking mobile sales this holiday season, retailers will continue whittling down physical stores, while ramping up same-day delivery and in-store pick up.
9. Hack & Attack
If Americans had any lingering naivete about the protections for online data, 2017 was the year that showed nothing was completely safe. Credit-reporting giant Equifax initially estimated that criminal hackers accessed personal data for 143 million U.S. consumers – and later raised the count to 145.5 million, roughly 45% of all Americans. Yahoo said it still doesn’t know who pulled off the 2013 hack that affected all 3 billion of its users, the largest internet breach in history. And Uber disclosed a year-old breach in which hackers stole personal information from an estimated 57 million customers and drivers. Instead of notifying consumers and regulators, Uber paid the hackers $100,000 to delete the data and keep quiet about the breach.
10. Regulation Roiling
The Trump administration and the GOP-controlled Congress rolled back hundreds of federal regulations large and small, dramatically limiting government oversight for years to come. By President Trump’s count, 1,579 proposed rules were killed before they were officially adopted. The cuts made good on his goal to repeal two regulations for every new one enacted. In December, he raised that ratio to 3-to-1. Trump effectively killed the U.S. Clean Power Plan by executive order. Consumers lost net neutrality, the principle that internet service providers should provide access to all legal content on an equal basis. They also lost the right to sue banks and other financial service providers in class-action lawsuits. A move to ax new limits on payday lenders is on the chopping block for 2018. Government watchdogs say the rollbacks will make Americans less safe. Trump says unneeded regulations represent a hidden tax that burdens workers and businesses. He also moved to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement and confront China on trade.
courtesy= usatoday.com
