Author: News Room

The most powerful home page in entertainment is about to look a lot different.Beginning next week, Netflix will introduce a new home page design for television screens, the company’s first serious makeover since 2013. The redesign, which features fewer titles but more video and animation, is intended to present a sleeker look and get “people to press play, and stay,” the company said.The last time Netflix debuted a major home page redesign, the streaming service had just over 30 million subscribers and was only starting to make its own original programs. It now has more than 300 million subscribers, has…

Mickey Mouse is headed to the Middle East.In a new test for its singularly American brand, the Walt Disney Company said on Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with the Miral Group, an arm of the Abu Dhabi government, to build a theme park resort on the Persian Gulf. The property, the seventh in Disney’s global portfolio, will have a castle and modernized versions of some classic Disney rides, along with new attractions tailored to the climate and local culture.“It’s not just about ‘If you build it, they will come,’” Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, said in brief…

The New York Times Company said on Wednesday that it added 250,000 digital-only subscribers in the last quarter, and that digital subscription revenue during the period jumped more than 14 percent.Those results helped drive adjusted operating profit 21.9 percent higher from a year earlier, to $92.7 million in the quarter. Total revenue rose 7.1 percent, to $636 million.The Times had 11.66 million total subscribers at the end of the first quarter, the company said, including 600,000 print subscribers. The company has a stated goal of 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027.Meredith Kopit Levien, the president and chief executive…

The Federal Reserve is set to extend its pause on interest rate cuts on Wednesday amid concerns that President Trump’s tariffs will unleash fresh inflationary pressures while also hurting growth, a tricky combination that could lead to painful trade-offs for the central bank.A decision to stand pat would keep interest rates at 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent, a level reached in December after a series of cuts in the second half of 2024.Fed officials are in wait-and-see mode for now. They are closely tracking the incoming data for signs that consumer prices are rising again after a multiyear battle to…

WeightWatchers, a 62-year-old health and wellness company that has faced stiff competition from new weight-loss drugs and programs, filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday in an effort to reduce its debt by more than $1 billion while it expands its telehealth business.In its heyday, WeightWatchers shaped how millions of people in the United States and beyond ate and exercised. Oprah Winfrey was once a spokeswoman and board member.But the company has struggled to keep its customers as people turn to weight-loss medications, fitness apps and social media influencers.Under a bankruptcy plan filed in Delaware, WeightWatchers will be taken over by a…

China’s central bank cut interest rates and made it easier on Wednesday for banks to increase lending and pump more money into the economy, in the most significant policy steps taken by Chinese officials to limit the impact of the trade war with the United States.The central bank, the People’s Bank of China, cut short-term interest rates and the amount of funds banks have to hold in reserve in a series of 10 measures. In a series of steps intended to keep the economy moving and people spending, Chinese officials removed restrictions on auto financing firms and freed up more…

When Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, returned from the Group of 20 summit in Brazil last November, he made a stopover in Casablanca, where he was greeted with dates and milk, the traditional welcome for honored guests, and a meeting with Crown Prince Moulay Hassan of Morocco.The brief visit was a sign of the growing economic ties between China and Morocco, the largest automotive manufacturing hub in Africa and an increasingly crucial conduit for Chinese companies looking to get around tariffs for exports headed to Europe.In the last couple of years, investment in Morocco from Chinese energy and electric vehicle…

“TikTok is here — we are here,” Khartoon Weiss, the company’s vice president of global business solutions, told a packed warehouse of advertisers on Tuesday in Manhattan.“We are absolutely confident in our platform and confident in the future of this platform,” she declared.That statement was the closest TikTok advertising executives got to addressing the app’s uncertain fate in the United States in the company’s annual spring pitch to marketers. Under a federal law and executive order, the app is set to be banned in the country next month if the Chinese owner of the company, ByteDance, does not sell it.Hundreds…

As Israel faces a doctor shortage, Jonathan Gray, the president of the investment firm Blackstone, and his wife, Mindy, are donating $125 million to Tel Aviv University’s health science and medical school.The donation, through the Grays’ foundation, is the largest ever to Tel Aviv University, and is expected to allow the medical school enrollment to increase by a quarter. The funds will support, among other things, a new 600-bed dormitory, scholarships and new teaching facilities.Israel’s limited capacity for medical training has contributed to a persistent shortage of doctors. As of 2020, the number of doctors per capita was about 10…

Top officials from the Trump administration will meet with their Chinese counterparts in Switzerland this week, the first formal meeting about trade between the United States and China since President Trump raised tariffs on Chinese imports to triple-digit levels last month.Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, and Jamieson Greer, the United States trade representative, plan to meet with Chinese officials during a trip to Geneva, where they will discuss trade and economic matters, according to separate announcements from the office of the trade representative and the Treasury Department.A spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that He Lifeng, the…