Finally! eBay puts more women on its board

EBay (EBAY, Tech30) recently came under fire for having just one woman on its board of 17 directors.

Some investors demanded change. New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and Trillium Asset Management filed a shareholder proposal in November calling for eBay to boost board diversity.

Just four months later, the group is withdrawing its proposal because eBay responded by adding two women to its board and committing to actively seek out highly-qualified women and minorities for its board.

"EBay put action behind its words and rapidly brought in new board members. The company deserves to be commended," DiNapoli said in a statement.

Related: Meet the sisters who shattered the CEO glass ceiling

He said he hopes and expects eBay to continue its commitment to diversity as it spins off its PayPal payments business into a separate public comppany.

DiNapoli and Trillium were joined in the proposal by Pax World Mutual Fund, The United Methodist Church Foundation and the Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica.

Activism pays off: The news highlights how shareholder activism can bring about corporate change.

After the proposal was filed, eBay announced the appointment of Bonnie Hammer, chair of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, to its board in early January. Earlier this week, the tech company said it would appoint American Red Cross CEO Gail McGovern to its board.

That gives eBay three female directors, including Kathleen Mitic, a startup veteran who has been on the board since 2011.

While female representation on boards in the tech industry has increased, it's not even close to the 50/50 breakdown of the workforce. Apple, (AAPL, Tech30) for example, has two females on a board of seven. Google (GOOGL, Tech30) has three women on its board of 11 directors.

Related: Still missing: Female business leaders

"Trillium applauds the company for increasing board diversity as it looks to the future," said Susan Baker, vice president of Trillium Asset Management. "Yet, many companies in Silicon Valley and around the country remain laggards on board diversity."

By the numbers: All of this is important because corporate boards are in charge of hiring and firing CEOs. Only 14.2% of the top five leadership positions at the companies in the S&P 500 are held by women, according to a CNNMoney analysis. That's a low figure given how much attention this issue has received in recent years, especially with Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In campaign.

Moreover, research shows companies with more diverse backgrounds bring fresh perspectives to decision making and can even boost financial performance.

Related: Wall Street's most powerful woman jumps to Google

CNNMoney (New York) March 26, 2015: 10:22 AM ET

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Bad news: Stocks likely to fall further

That's one of the main reasons why stocks have been on a mini-losing streak lately. Thursday is shaping up to be the fourth straight day of declines.

Analysts predict that profits for the S&P 500 companies will be down 4.6% from the first quarter of 2014, according to data from FactSet Research. This would be the first time profits have fallen since the third quarter of 2012.

No wonder the market is jittery. Can the stock market really support keep climbing if earnings aren't strong?

Related: Dow tumbles 292 points as economy shows cracks

On top of that, more people are warning about high valuations for tech and biotech stocks in the Nasdaq. Mixed signals are also coming out about the health of the U.S. economy.

This could just turn out to be a blip. But it could be a turning point after the six-year rally for the stock market.

Here's what to watch for in the coming weeks:

Weak oil + strong dollar = lousy earnings. Oil prices tumbled from over $100 last summer to under $50 in January. The energy sector has unsurprisingly taken a big hit.

Cheap gas was supposed to spur consumers to spend more. The average American household is expected to save about $750 this year. But so far, consumers and businesses are just pocketing the savings. They aren't buying much. Overall sales are expected to fall nearly 3% during the quarter.

Intel (INTC, Tech30) and Tiffany (TIF) have cited weaker demand this month when they cut forecasts. So did railroad Kansas City Southern (KSU) and flash memory storage chip maker SanDisk (SNDK).

Related: What the stock market needs now: American spending

The strong dollar is also to blame. The greenback has surged against the euro so far this year. This may be good news for consumers looking to take a vacation overseas or buy imported goods. But it hurts companies doing big business internationally.

Big multinational firms like Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30), IBM (IBM, Tech30), Procter & Gamble (PG) and Caterpillar (CAT) warned that the strong dollar is a major headwind when they reported fourth quarter results in January. Profits take a hit when translated from weaker currencies back to dollars.

Related: This is the U.S. dollar's fastest rise in 40 years

Better times ahead? The earnings deluge is set to begin in a few weeks. JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Netflix (NFLX, Tech30) and General Electric (GE) are some of the most well-known companies set to report first quarter results during the week of April 13.

Investors will be paying close attention to what these and other companies say about profits for the rest of the year. There are some faint flickers of hope in that regard.

Related: Just buy it? Nike soars to all-time high despite strong dollar concerns

Oil prices have rebounded from their lows, although it's hard to celebrate the reason behind it: Saudi Arabia's air strikes against Yemen.

It's also not yet clear if the energy sector has worked through the supply glut issues that led to the big drop in the first place.

The dollar has started to lose some of its mightiness lately as well. So that could bring some relief to the big brand-name blue chips with significant operations in Europe and Asia.

Related: Oil surges after Saudi strikes in Yemen

For the full year, analysts are still expecting profits to grow, albeit by a modest 2.5%. And revenues are expected to dip slightly from last year. The numbers look even better for 2016. Analysts are predicting an earnings increase of more than 12% and sales jump of 6%.

Related: The great tech debate: Are we in a bubble or not?

Too much optimism? But Wall Street is notoriously too bullish. At the end of 2014, analysts were actually predicting a profit increase of 4% for this quarter.

So it may not be a good idea to trust 2016 projections just yet -- especially since higher interest rates from the Fed could weigh on profits too.

"Earnings estimates are still too high for this year and next," said Eddie Perkin, equity chief investment officer at Eaton Vance. He thinks investors should reasonably expect earnings growth of about 6% for 2016 and the next few years.

Here's the bottom line (literally): Earnings (aka the bottom line) are what drive the market. If earnings aren't growing much, it's hard to imagine how stocks can do that well.

A temporary breather for the market would not be the worst thing in the world either. The S&P 500 is up more than 200% since the bear market low in March 2009.

And it's worth remembering that this rotten week for stocks follows a great one last week. The S&P 500 remains just a little more than 3% from its all-time highs.

Many experts think a correction -- or 10% pullback -- is needed to restore some sanity to the market. And we haven't had one of those in nearly three-and-a-half years. We are long overdue.

"I wouldn't mean seeing a bigger pullback so we could finally get some real bargains," Perkin said.

Related: Warning signs in the housing market

Related: American cash is flooding into European stocks

Related: Surprise! Euro shows signs of life against the dollar

CNNMoney (New York) March 26, 2015: 11:22 AM ET

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An iPhone for people who hate Apple

The curved aluminum edges, the placement of the volume and on/off buttons, the bumped-out rear camera and pretty much everything else about the Galaxy S6 is the same as the iPhone 6 -- right down to the fingerprint-sensor home button. If imitation is the highest form of flattery, Apple's design team should be blushing right now.

Samsung's oft-criticized design got a nearly complete reboot for the Galaxy S6. The new Galaxy is a beautiful phone that feels great in your hand. It is made of high-end Gorilla glass (no more plastic!) and metal (no more plastic painted to look like metal!). Gone are Galaxy trademarks, such as additional storage, a removable battery and waterproofing, but those are compromises worth making.

Though it's undeniably better than previous Galaxy S phones, there's nothing terribly original about the S6's design either. All smartphones kind of look like one another these days, but it's as if Samsung's team purposefully designed the Galaxy S6 to be an iPhone for people who hate Apple (AAPL, Tech30).

That's because when you turn on the Galaxy S6, you discover that the similarities to the iPhone are almost purely superficial. Inside, the new smartphone is pure Samsung. That means crazy features upon wacky tools upon whiz-bang tricks -- some of which are unbelievably stunning, and others that just get in the way.

Related: Samsung live-streamed a virtual reality birth

Speed. The Galaxy S6 is noticeably fast, which is remarkable during an era when even the cheapest of cheap smartphones feels like a racehorse. There are no hiccups or jitters when you swipe through screens and open up apps.

While most phones feel like they pause to think for a split second every so often before executing your commands, the Galaxy S6 is so fast that feels like it's anticipating your taps and swipes before you make them. It's like an extension of your fingers.

Display. The screen is also jaw-dropping. It's bright, the colors are brilliant, the viewing angles are tremendous. It feels like a 4K ultra-high-definition TV in your hands -- because it kind of is. Its resolution is four-times more pixel-dense than standard HD displays.

Camera. The cameras are awesome. The Galaxy S6's 16-megapixel rear camera is among the best on any smartphone, and the 5-megapixel front camera might be the best selfie camera on the market.

The camera's shutter speed is super-fast, which means you can take rapid-fire photos without any noticeable lag. Also increasing the speed of phototaking on the Galaxy S6 is a new feature that lets you double-click the home button to launch the camera in a pinch -- even when the phone is locked or the screen is turned off. When taking a selfie, you can tap a sensor on the back of the camera, which lets you hold the camera in a more stable position.

The phone's thinness means the camera bumps out a bit -- more noticeably than on the iPhone 6. But unlike the iPhone's off-to-the-side camera, which causes Apple's smartphone to shake a bit when it's resting on the table, Samsung positioned its camera in the center, giving it a bit more stability when lying on its back.

Other features. The fingerprint reader is super fast and only requires a touch to unlock your phone (you used to have to swipe your finger).

The turbo charger is exceedingly fast -- plugging your Galaxy S6 in for 10 minutes gives you four hours of battery life.

You'll also get a minimum of 32 GB of storage on the Galaxy S6, which is double that of most smartphones. And you'll get wireless charging and an IR blaster, for those of who hate plugging in their phone and like using it as a universal remote.

Software. Being "pure Samsung" is not always a good thing.

Samsung's notoriously horrible software got an upgrade for the Galaxy S6 -- namely that there's less of it. Samsung claims that it cut down on its add-on software by 40% for the Galaxy S6, and the phone does let Google's excellent Android Lollipop software shine a bit more than previous Galaxies.

Yet the Galaxy S6's "TouchWiz" interface is still a mess of confusing, unnecessary features and app add-ons. The cartoonish icons and menus from Galaxies past remain, and they still look like they were designed in the flip-phone era. And there's still the un-eraseable bloatware, including Samsung's Milk music apps and and handful of Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) apps.

Should you buy it? If you're not an iPhone person but want the quality and attention to detail that Apple gives its smartphones, then the Galaxy S6 is worth consideration. Its ridiculous add-on software really gets in the way at times, which is a shame because Samsung doesn't need crazy software features for its phone to stand out in a crowd.

The stunning display, lighting-fast speed, tremendous camera and top-of-the-line fingerprint reader make the Galaxy S6 one of the best smartphones on the market. Looking like the beautiful iPhone 6 is a nice touch as well.

The Galaxy S6 costs $650 ($200 on contract), and will go on sale April 10.

Related: Google is becoming a wireless carrier

Related: Apple's iPad sales keep falling

CNNMoney (New York) March 26, 2015: 11:03 AM ET

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Starbucks sells Birthday Cake Frappuccino to celebrate Frap's 20th

Starbucks is celebrating 20 years of putting coffee and ice in a blender with a limited edition Birthday Cake Frappuccino, which will be sold at all stores from March 26 to March 30.

Starbucks first started experimenting with frozen coffee concoctions at its Los Angeles store in 1993. Two years later, the company was selling coffee and mocha Frappuccino drinks at all of its 500 stores in United States and Canada.

Today, the Frappuccino comes in a variety of flavors and is sold throughout the world at Starbucks' 21,000 locations.

To celebrate, Starbucks is offering a pink version of the drink made with vanilla, hazelnut and "raspberry-infused" whipped cream.

Starbucks (SBUX) recalls the origins of the Frappuccino in a wistful press release.

It all started in Los Angeles during a particularly hot summer in 1993. That's when Dina Campion, who oversaw 10 Starbucks stores in Southern California, noticed that other coffee shops were selling blended coffee drinks.

"A couple of store managers and I felt there was a huge opportunity for Starbucks," says Campion, who is now part of Starbucks digital team.

Related: Starbucks stops writing 'Race Together' on cups

Starbucks did not come up with the name "Frappuccino." It acquired the name when it bought The Coffee Connection, a Boston coffee shop that made a drink called the frappuccino in a soft-serve machine.

Starbucks says the Frappuccino helped transform the company by bringing in customers during warm weather, when demand for hot coffee slumps, and attracting people who weren't coffee drinkers but craved something sweet.

"With Frappuccino, we were able to level out the dips in store traffic in the summer," Campion said.

Starbucks sold 200,000 Frappuccino drinks in the first week, twice what it had expected, according to Dan Moore, director of brand management at Starbucks. That summer, the Frappuccino accounted for 11% of sales and helped drive Starbucks stock to a record high.

One year after it launched, Starbucks teamed up with Pepsi (PEP) to sell bottled Frappuccino.

Related: Starbucks wants to be the 'Willy Wonka of coffee'

CEO Howard Schultz was so confident that the drink would be a hit that the company didn't bother to do any market testing, according to his book, Pour Your Heart Into It.

"Pepsi ramped up production as quickly as possible, but even then we could supply only West Coast supermarkets for the summer of 1996," Schultz writes in the book. "We couldn't make it fast enough."

From there, Starbucks expanded into Frappuccino drinks made without coffee or tea and custom flavors with soy milk, syrups and toppings.

Today, the Frappuccino has become part of the popular culture zeitgeist, judging by its social medial presence. It has 10.9 million fans on Facebook (FB, Tech30), 67,000 followers on Twitter (TWTR, Tech30), 219,000 followers on Instagram.

Related: Starbucks is morphing into a tech company

CNNMoney (New York) March 26, 2015: 12:03 PM ET

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Charney probe cost American Apparel $10 million

American Apparel spent more than $10 million on an investigation on a probe before firing founder Dov Chaney as CEO.

That's a lot of money for a company that reported a $27.6 million loss and ended 2014 with only $8.3 million in cash.

Charney was the company's founder and largest shareholder before he was removed as CEO in June. However he remained with the company as a consultant as he tried to engineer his return. The always controversial Charney faced a series of sexual harassment suits filed by employees in recent years, and reportedly conducted some interviews and company meetings in his underwear. American Apparel's co-chairman referred to evidence of "disturbing misconduct" when asked why the board removed Charney.

Related: How Dov Charney got fired from American Apparel - twice

The company announced Charney had been fired for cause in December, citing "misconduct and violations of company policy." His lawyer issued a letter calling the investigation into his behavior "a complete sham" and said the board denied him any reasonable opportunity to respond to the charges.

Charney continues to fight to return to the company, but he could face more legal problems. The company's filing said it has turned over the results of its internal investigation to the Securities and Exchange Commission and that the SEC notified it on Feb. 5 that it has issued a formal order to investigate Charney's actions.

Related: American Apparel hires investment bank to weigh 'strategic options'

CNNMoney (New York) March 26, 2015: 8:32 AM ET

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Walgreens cashiers no longer have to say: 'Be well'

Walgreens cashiers are no longer required to tell customers to "be well."

Walgreens spokesman Michale Polzin confirmed to CNNMoney that the "be well" campaign had run its course.

"We felt that it had accomplished its goal of enhancing our branding and it was time to evolve that," he said.

The "be well" greeting will be replaced by a new set of guidelines for greeting customers, but the company hasn't decided on anything concrete, he said.

Walgreens (WBA) operates about 8,000 pharmacy stores nationwide.

Related: Your new credit card will be an epic fail

Related: RadioShack trying to sell data of 100 million customers

CNNMoney (New York) March 26, 2015: 9:32 AM ET

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Singles pay more for car insurance

A single 20-year-old pays 21% more than a married 20-year-old for the same policy, a new study from InsuranceQuotes.com found.

To an insurer, it comes down to statistics -- and singles get into more accidents.

Married drivers might be more cautious since they're more likely to have kids, said Laura Adams, an analyst an InsuranceQuotes.com.

Drivers in their 20's who are married actually get bigger discounts than married drivers in their 30's, who only get a roughly 3% break.

Gender and age also play a big role in what drivers pay.

Men pay more than women when they're younger. A 20-year-old man pays 22% more than a woman the same age for the same policy, the report found.

Related: Teen drivers: Buckle up and lower the volume, Dad's monitoring you

The good news: Car insurance costs for both men and women decrease every year until age 60.

The report used data from the largest insurance carriers in each state and D.C. In its comparisons, it assumed the drivers were employed, had a bachelor's degree, a clean driving record, an excellent credit score, and drove a 2012 sedan.

Hawaii is the only state that prohibits insurance companies from considering marital status in rate calculations. And age cannot be a factor in either Hawaii or California.

Related: New Ford car automatically obeys speed limits

CNNMoney (New York) March 26, 2015: 10:05 AM ET

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It's getting harder to afford a home

These markets have the highest ratio of price appreciation to wage growth, according to RealtyTrac.

Home prices are rising 13 times faster than wage growth nationwide, according to a report from RealtyTrac. From 2012-2014, median home prices climbed 17% while median wages rose 1.3%.

"The bounce back has taken home prices in some markets out of reach of the ever-important first-time homebuyer we need to continue the momentum," said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac.

Home prices climbed faster than wages in 76% of the 184 markets analyzed.

While wages aren't keeping pace with home prices in many markets, low interest rates have helped keep buying a viable option, according to Blomquist. "It is a concerning trend, but the good news is we are at the juncture where it hasn't become a housing bubble yet. If the trend continues, we will be in a bubble in the next year or two."

He added that markets experiencing 30% or higher home price appreciation run the risk of becoming unaffordable for many buyers.

RealtyTrac used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics from the second quarter of 2012 to the same time in 2014 to determine wage data, while median home prices were measured from sales deeds recorded in December 2012 and December 2014.

Tool: What will your mortgage payment be?

Merced, Calif., Memphis, Santa Cruz, Calif., and Augusta, Georgia were the markets with the highest ratio of price appreciation compared to wage growth, according to RealtyTrac.

On the flip side, wage growth was stronger than home price appreciation in 24% of the markets analyzed.

Sluggish wage growth has hit millennial-aged workers particularly hard, explained Patrick Newport, an economist at IHS Global, which has led to slower activity among first-time buyers. "Young people aren't playing as big of a role as they used to in the housing market, their real income is down ... and they have more student debt."

Related: Worst cities to be a renter

First-time buyers tend to purchase starter homes, which according to Blomquist, have faced the biggest deficit in inventory.

Homeowners who lost equity on their homes during the crash are likely cheering the rapid increase. At the height of the crash, 13 million people were underwater, said Blomquist. Now it's down to seven million, he said. Higher home prices could incentivize more people to list their homes and help ease tight inventory levels.

"They are finally above water, but they need a certain price to justify selling their home," Blomqust said. "If they can't get that, they aren't going to sell."

CNNMoney (New York) March 26, 2015: 10:25 AM ET

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Meerkat who? Introducing Periscope

Periscope, acquired by Twitter (TWTR, Tech30) in January, lets users live broadcast from their mobile devices. Sound familiar? It's comparable to Meerkat, which was a breakout hit at this year's SXSW.

Similar to Meerkat, users can live broadcast on Periscope by downloading the iOS app and connecting through Twitter. Your followers get a push notification and can watch your livestream.

Co-founder Kayvon Beykpour told CNNMoney he envisioned the app being used in a number of scenarios: from live events and protests (think Ferguson) to more personal moments -- a baby's first steps or a pet's burial.

Related: The great tech debate: Are we in a bubble or not?

Beykpour and his co-founder came up with the idea when contemplating whether to go forward with a planned trip to Istanbul during the 2013 protests.

"I wanted to see a picture or a feed of what's happening on the street that my hotel is on," Beykpour said. "Joe [Bernstein, his co-founder] and I kept talking about how there's probably thousands of people who walk by that street everyday with smartphones and high-speed network connections. Why isn't there a way for us to see what's happening right now, right there?"

Their solution has more options than the current version of Meerkat.

Periscope users can opt to share a stream publicly or only share with a select group of users. They also have the option to live broadcast within the app or on Twitter. The app prompts users to send hearts if they like what they're seeing and provides better options for discovering new streams.

Related: 7 big changes coming to Facebook

Since launching at the end of February, Meerkat has made a big splash with early tech adopters, attracting users like Jimmy Fallon and Snoop Dogg. Periscope, which launches out of beta Thursday, already has an assortment of beta users: from the Department of the Interior to celebrity chef Mario Batali.

And while Meerkat may currently have the buzz, Periscope has one big advantage: full access to Twitter's social graph.

This makes it easier for people to connect with their friends using the service. Meerkat initially had access but it was quickly curtailed. Founder Ben Rubin told CNNMoney the move was "a speed bump," but says the company has plans to release a new discovery tool.

While livestreaming is nothing new, better technology combined with the wide adoption of social networks has created a new way for apps to take advantage.

"Software and hardware is at a place where developers can do fantastic things," Beykpour said.

CNNMoney (San Francisco) March 26, 2015: 11:14 AM ET

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'Deliberate crash' a huge blow to Lufthansa

French prosecutors said Thursday that the co-pilot locked the captain out of the cockpit before crashing the Airbus A320 into the French Alps Tuesday, killing all 150 people on board.

"We at Lufthansa are speechless that this aircraft has been deliberately crashed by the co-pilot," Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr told reporters.

Germanwings is Lufthansa's (DLAKF) low-cost subsidiary.

The revelations about the likely cause of the disaster will deal a huge blow to Lufthansa's reputation as one of the world's safest and most reliable carriers. It was ranked among the world's top 10 safest airlines by Aviation website AirlineRatings.com in January.

Before Tuesday's crash it was also rated Europe's second safest major airline after Dutch rival KLM.

Shares in Lufthansa dropped 3% Thursday, extending their losses since the crash to about 8%.

The co-pilot -- 28-year-old German national Andreas Lubitz -- was "100% fit to fly" and had a spotless performance record, Spohr said. He declined to speculate on what could have prompted Lubitz to crash the plane.

And he fended off questions about the group's hiring and training practices, describing the horrific crash as an isolated tragedy.

"I continue to fully trust our pilots, they are and remain the best in the world, that's what we believe in Lufthansa." he said. "They are a very important part of our brand."

Germanwings operates nearly all of Lufthansa's short haul operations, with the exception of flights from its Frankfurt and Munich hubs.

Some Germanwings pilots were too distressed to fly Wednesday. The low-cost airline also had to cancel six flights on Thursday, as a number of its crew withdrew from service due to "emotional distress." The airline has chartered 12 aircraft from other companies to operate its flights.

Related: Germanwings pilots refuse to fly

Lufthansa is likely to face lengthy and expensive legal action from victims families. In addition, the company itself could face prosecution under French corporate manslaughter law. Prosecutors said Thursday that it was too soon to say whether they would press charges.

Lufthansa said it was providing immediate financial support to relatives of the victims but declined to comment further.

It has also offered passengers the chance to cancel or rebook their flights free of charge, a service they would normally have to pay for. The airline did not reveal how many passengers have canceled flights.

The disaster comes in the middle of a long-standing dispute between Lufthansa and its pilots over retirement policies. Its operations have been disrupted by the dispute in the past few months -- most recently last week, when strikes grounded around 1,600 flights carrying over 220,000 passengers.

The pilot's union has suspended the strike action for the time being due to the crash.

Related: How safe are European airlines?

CNNMoney (London) March 26, 2015: 12:00 PM ET

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NPR taps new boss for news operation

Oreskes, who has been a top editor at The Associated Press for the past seven years, will become NPR's senior vice president of news and editorial director at the end of April.

His appointment was announced on Thursday following a lengthy search. NPR's last newsroom leader, Margaret Low-Smith, left for a job at The Atlantic last July.

Oreskes, 60, has a reputation as a respected, hard-charging editor. He spent more than two decades at The New York Times, ultimately as a deputy managing editor. In the mid-2000s, he became the executive editor of the Times' International Herald Tribune newspaper. Then he moved to the A.P. in 2008.

Jarl Mohn, the CEO of NPR, said Oreskes's "deep experience in international coverage, digital platforms and adapting to fast changes in news consumption will help ensure that NPR remains a vital news organization, engaging new audiences in new ways, for years to come."

NPR, like other established news outlets, is having to figure out how to adapt to the digital age, and the evolution hasn't been easy. The public radio organization has churned through CEOs.

Mohn, who came aboard last June, has tried to stabilize the organization and stem its annual losses. The hiring of Oreskes is one of his biggest steps so far.

One of NPR's former CEOs, Vivian Schiller, wrote on Twitter that her friend Oreskes is "exactly what NPR needs. A superb journalist, leader, change-agent, innovator."

There are big differences between NPR and the A.P. NPR is best known for its radio news reports, while the A.P. is best known for providing wire copy for newsrooms around the world. But NPR is increasingly writing stories and making videos, while the A.P.

has big radio and television businesses.

In an interview with his new employer, Oreskes said "time and space" used to be the main constraints for journalists -- "space in a newspaper, time on the air."

But now, he said, "the really controlling force in the world right now [is] how long you can keep your audience, your followers, consuming the journalism you're creating. They have just so many other places to go, so many things pulling on them and so many demands on their time that our goal is to create journalism that holds them. And I don't think anybody in journalism right now does that better than NPR."

CNNMoney (New York) March 19, 2015: 12:24 PM ET

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'Mein Kampf,' signed by Hitler, goes up for auction

Signed copies of "Mein Kampf," Hitler's magnum opus of hate, are up for auction. They were the Fuhrer's Christmas gifts to one of his senior Nazi officials.

Each book in this two-volume set of hate literature is autographed by the Nazi führer and addressed to Philipp Bouhler, the 12th person to join the Nazi Party.

Hilter's blueprint for German domination will be auctioned off by the Nate D. Sanders auction house in Los Angeles on March 26, with a starting bid of $35,000. Participants can bid online.

Bouhler was involved in the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923, which was Hitler's initial failed attempt to overthrow the German government, a decade before seizing power through elections.

Hitler wrote "Mein Kampf" while doing time in prison after the Putsch. The rambling racist tract is rife with caustic references to Jews, who he blames for all of Germany's woes. It also outlines his vision for Nazi Germany.

The auction house said that Hitler gave the volumes to Bouhler as Christmas presents after Hitler got out of prison. The first volume was presented in 1925, and the second in 1926.

The books contain handwritten messages from Hilter to Bouhler, "in grateful recognition of your loyal work for our movement" and "as a sign of recognition of your performance of duties."

Related: Two guns a minute sold in $1 million auction

Bouhler became a senior Nazi official and oversaw the extermination of 70,000 disabled children and adults, even though they were considered Aryan and therefore members of Hitler's so-called master race.

The program was meant to eliminate people who were considered a burden to society. But it was controversial, especially when rumors surfaced that German soldiers who had suffered brain damage were being euthanized. It is one of the few instances where the German public successfully resisted the Nazi government, shutting down the program and calling into question the notion that the German people were powerless to stop the Holocaust.

Hitler, "who did not want to be publicly identified with the project," chose Bouhler to lead it because he was "considered absolutely loyal" to the Führer, according to Robert Lifton, author of "The Nazi Doctors."

In addition to the books, the lot includes a propaganda pamphlet that Bouhler wrote in 1938.

Sanders says that another pair of Hitler-signed "Mein Kampf" volumes, which were given to SS officer Josef Bauer, sold at auction for $64,850 last year.

Related: Hallmark pulls "swastika" gift wrap amid social media uproar

CNNMoney (New York) March 19, 2015: 10:00 AM ET

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Greece needs to behave like a startup

The brain drain is perhaps the most devastating effect of the economic crisis in Greece that has left the country fighting to stay in the eurozone. Highly skilled people are fleeing the country for a better future abroad.

This is depriving Greece of precious human resources and undermines its potential for growth. Can it all be reversed somehow? Can the vicious circle of recession and talent depletion be broken? I believe it can, if it behaves more like a successful startup and deploys three key "growth hacks."

Facebook (FB, Tech30) and Dropbox famously used "growth hacks" to exploit the power of social networks and Internet search engines to snowball their campaigns and quickly grow their user base. Dropbox went from zero users to millions, armed with a great product and a viral business model of offering free disk storage to users who brought others onboard.

Related: Greece vs. Germany: It's getting really ugly

How is all this relevant to Greece? Well, my belief is that the government should adopt a growth hacker mentality, focusing on measures that bring multiplier effects while incurring minimal costs. It should target startups and entrepreneurship, while ruthlessly aiming to win back lost talent. And Greece has its own very special social network to hack in; it's called the diaspora. So here is what can be done:

1. Offer tax incentives to invest in startups

Venture capitalists and angel investors are not exactly queuing up to invest in Greek companies. However, several have managed to attract capital, and to foster this Greece should offer investors tax breaks. This would help create jobs, and spawn a virtuous circle of further investments. The cost of this hack is negligible, and it can bring immediate as well as long term benefits for the budget.

The diaspora can help promote this activity: I personally know several Greek expats in the investment community who are always looking for ways to help.

2. Fast-track payroll subsidies for skilled workers

Greece has received several billions of euros from European Union funds aimed at boosting employment and competitiveness. But this money should not be thrown into a black hole of bureaucracy, and should not be spread too thinly. It should be targeted at knowledge workers, to give rise to innovative, export-driven businesses.

Adding highly skilled people to the workforce creates lower wage jobs too; software engineers need meals, hotel rooms, groceries and haircuts.

3. Incentivize R&D spending

Greece should shamelessly copy the incentives other countries offer to businesses that lean heavily on research and development. Canada is a famous example, with a program that subsidizes as much as 80% of the R&D payroll. Other measures may include deductions on income from patents, tax exemption for R&D grants and a favorable tax regime for Intellectual Property licensing.

These would also encourage multinational companies to run more sales though their Greek subsidiaries, thus generating more revenue for the government.

Related: Is Greece running out of money?

Taken together, the cost of these "growth hacks" is not negligible. Highly skilled people are required to run and audit them, so that they don't become vehicles for tax evasion or abuse of subsidies. But costs could be brought down by further "hacks," such as contracting Greeks in the diaspora as program managers and auditors.

They could offer their services in exchange for tax breaks or even dividends from future tax collections, taking a direct stake in the success of Greek business and the country's sorely needed growth.

Opinion: The eurozone is broken. Will Greece pay the price?

Editor's note: Sotiris Bantas is founder and CEO of Centaur Technologies, an industrial Internet-of-Things company based in Volos, Greece. He has a degree in Electrical Engineering and a PhD in Microelectronics. The opinions expressed in this article are solely his.

CNNMoney (Volos, Greece) March 19, 2015: 11:15 AM ET

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Body found where Wall Street Journal reporter mysteriously vanished

The Morris County Prosecutor's Office said the unidentified body was retrieved on Wednesday from the Passaic River.

Denise Arseneault, deputy chief in the Morris County Prosecutor's Office, said Thursday morning that the body still hasn't been identified.

The family of David Bird was notified Wednesday night of the discovery, according to a family spokeswoman.

"Until there's any positive identification, until there's anything definitive, the family has no statement to make right now," family spokeswoman Carolyn Buscarino said.

Bird vanished on Jan. 11, 2014 after going on a walk in Millington, New Jersey. He left his home that day without his cell phone or the medication for a liver transplant that he needed to take twice a day.

Bird, a reporter of more than 20 years who most recently covered energy markets for the Wall Street Journal, was 55 at the time of his disappearance.

In June, Dow Jones & Co., the Wall Street Journal's publisher, put up a $10,000 reward for information leading to Bird's rescue. Dow Jones continued to pay Bird's salary until August of last year, when his status changed to unpaid leave of absence. The Wall Street Journal's union donated $10,000 to Bird's family in December.

Hours before the unidentified body was found on Wednesday, Bird's family unveiled a website, FindDavidBird.info.

The website provides details about Bird, as well as a map of the area where the family believes he went missing. It also includes a page where visitors can make a financial contribution to Bird's family.

In January, around the one-year anniversary of his disappearance, Bird's wife, Nancy Bird, said she still held out hope.

"Somebody must know something," she said. "I relive Jan. 11 every day. I'm hopeful that others, especially in this community, will also relive that day — that it'll jog their memories."

CNNMoney (New York) March 19, 2015: 11:27 AM ET

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What's next for AT&T? Apple pushed it out of Dow

Ma Bell was replaced in the Dow 30 by Apple (AAPL, Tech30) ... a company that ironically has helped boost AT&T's (T, Tech30) sales over the past few years thanks to the success of the iPhone.

But AT&T's stock, which was down nearly 1% Thursday, has underperformed the Dow and its top rival Verizon (VZ, Tech30) for a while now.

AT&T's shares are up just 27% in the past five years, compared to a 66% gain for the Dow and 73% increase for Verizon.

So what's next for AT&T? Some market experts joke that getting tossed from the Dow is actually a blessing in disguise and that Apple could outperform since it's now keeping company with some stodgier stocks.

The Dow is not as relevant to hardcore traders and fund managers because it's only 30 stocks -- and a lot of them are older, more mature companies. Think IBM (IBM, Tech30), GE (GE), Coke (KO) and 3M (MMM).

Some former Dow components have actually done quite well once they got booted from the average. Alcoa (AA), Kraft (KRFT) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ, Tech30) come to mind.

Related: 131 years of the Dow. What's in and what's out

But it may be tougher for AT&T to become a stock market darling again.

For one, the wireless business is brutally competitive. The industry is in a full-blown price war, with T-Mobile (TMUS) and Sprint (S) leading the way as they try to gain market share from AT&T and Verizon.

Lower costs for monthly plans are great for consumers. But not investors. Wireless profit margins are thinner than the new Oppo R5 smartphone. (4.85 mm versus 6.9 mm for the iPhone 6 if you are keeping score at home.)

Related: T-Mobile will pay $650 for you to switch carriers

This is a big reason why analysts think AT&T's earnings will increase by less than 5% annually -- on average -- for the next few years.

AT&T is trying to find other ways to grow its business. It's making a giant bet on video with last year's plan to buy DirecTV (DTV).

That deal would also give AT&T access to the extremely lucrative Sunday Ticket programming that DirecTV offers to its customers. Sunday Ticket subscribers can watch any NFL game they want as opposed to just the ones airing on broadcast TV.

AT&T could make a killing by extending this package to its mobile subscribers.

Still, the DirecTV merger is currently stuck in regulatory limbo -- along with Comcast's (CMCSA) proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable (TWC).

The Federal Communications Commission is going to take a long hard look at what these mergers might mean for consumers, especially in light of the FCC's new net neutrality rules.

Related: FCC hits pause on Comcast and AT&T merger reviews ... again

There are many concerns about the growing power that AT&T and Comcast will have in cable and satellite TV as well as broadband Internet access. Any further delays could make AT&T investors nervous.

Nonetheless, AT&T is still one of the most widely held stocks in the world. Many investors own it because it pays a gigantic dividend that currently yields 5.7%.

The stability of this dividend has made AT&T a popular investment for so-called widows and orphans -- people who want the security of a quarterly dividend payment.

Related: AT&T is still a stock that many CNNMoney readers love

But even that dividend might not be enough to keep investors satisfied. After all, many investors now prefer to reinvest dividends back into the stock instead of cashing the dividend check.

What's more, Verizon also pays a solid dividend. It yields 4.5%. And Verizon's stock has been a better performer because its earnings have grown at a faster clip than AT&T's. They are expected to keep doing so.

Heck, Apple has now emerged as a viable stock for dividend-hungry investors too. Its yield is 1.5%.

So AT&T may not enjoy a post-Dow bump. If its stock was doing better, it probably would still be in the Dow. Verizon could have been kicked out to make way for Apple.

Related: AT&T says it will sue the government

Related: Google is becoming a wireless carrier

CNNMoney (New York) March 19, 2015: 11:35 AM ET

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GoDaddy IPO values company at nearly $3 billion

Get ready to shell out $17 to $19 for a share of GoDaddy, according to an updated regulatory filing Thursday. The company plans to raise $418 million in an IPO, although it hasn't set a date yet for its stock debut.

NASCAR driver Danica Patrick, the company's spokeswoman, might want to change her car number from 10 to 3. If the IPO goes through, the company would be valued at nearly $3 billion.

But don't pop the champagne bottles yet: GoDaddy is losing money out the wazoo.

An IPO is the first peak into a company's finances, and GoDaddy's numbers are hurting. It lost $143 million last year. That's less than in years past, but GoDaddy hasn't made a profit since 2009.

Related: Profitless IPOs are all the rage. Bubble alert?

GoDaddy, which opened for business in 1997, is the world's largest website registrar, with nearly 60 million domains under management by the end of last year. The company promotes itself as a hub for small-business Americans to launch their own websites.

Although some experts anticipate 2015 being another great year for IPOs, one internet company hasn't fared so well thus far. Box (BOX), a data storage company, opened to much fan fare in January, jumping 66% above its IPO price to $23. But its stock has since slumped back to $17.

GoDaddy is a bigger brand name than Box though, and that name recognition could help it perform better with investors. Known for its Super Bowl commercials, GoDaddy plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "GDDY."

Related: Bad dog! GoDaddy pulls puppy commercial from Super Bowl

CNNMoney (New York) March 19, 2015: 11:43 AM ET

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Sign up for CNNMoney's Market Madness!

But this year, it's not just about picking which college basketball team will win the NCAA championship. CNNMoney is asking you to select what stock you think will do the best over the next few weeks.

We've set up a bracket featuring a Sweet 16 of well-known companies, including Apple (AAPL, Tech30), Google (GOOGL, Tech30), Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) and Netflix (NFLX, Tech30), that are soaring so far this year.

The challenge is simple. You choose which stock you think will wind up with a better return in head-to-head matchups over a set period of time. You get points for each correct pick.

Click here to play (no sign up required)

The rules: The first round will last for the whole week of March 23. On March 30, the eight winning stocks face off in four head-to-head matchups that will track their performance through April 2. (The market is closed on April 3 for Good Friday.)

Our Final Four participants square off from April 6-April 9 and the overall winner will be determined based on how the remaining two stocks do on April 9 and April 10.

The pride: We realize that picking how stocks will do over three weeks is not the same thing as investing for the long haul. But this is all for fun ... and bragging rights.

We have four "celebrity" stock pickers making selections. See if you can beat me, CNN's Chief Business Correspondent Christine Romans, Howard Lindzon of StockTwits and J.C. Parets, founder of Eagle Bay Capital and the popular blog AllStarCharts.

Top stock picks: For what it's worth, I've chosen Under Armour (UA) to win it all. The stock has a lot of momentum. And the company's sneakers could be featured prominently in the tournament. What's more, three well-known teams -- ACC champ Notre Dame, Utah and Maryland -- all wear uniforms made by Under Armour. (CEO Kevin Plank is a Maryland alum.)

Kroger (KR), Gilead (GILD) and Starbucks (SBUX) are my other Final Four picks. J.C. also thinks Under Armour will be the champ while Christine is going with Apple. Howard is taking Gilead. All four of us have Gilead and Starbucks in the Final Four.

But who do you think will win? Play along. And here's hoping that your brackets (for this and the NCAA) don't get busted too quickly!

Note: CNNMoney's game does not require a log in, but it does track your performance by using cookies to remember your selections.

Related: Hot stocks during March Madness

Related: Why I'm still bullish on stocks

Related: Should I bet it all on Buffett?

CNNMoney (New York) March 19, 2015: 11:53 AM ET

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Now airports want to hike fees

New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Fliers already have to pay the airlines for extra leg room and checked bags. And the TSA collects its fees.

Fliers also pay a facility fee to use the airports every time they buy a plane ticket. Congress set a cap for them at $4.50 in 2000. Now the airports say they need more money, and they're lobbying lawmakers to hike those fees to as much as $8.50.

The additional funds would help pay for things like better terminals and new runways, according to airport executives.

Airport executives say the federal government isn't filling the gap between what airports need to build and the funds available to do it.

Related: Low-cost airline plans $15 flight to Europe

Construction costs have jumped, according to American Association of Airport Executives President and CEO Todd Hauptli. "Airports can buy roughly half of what they did 15 years ago with that amount," he said.

Raising the fee by $4 is "a very modest request in a time of baggage fees and other airline charges that can total hundreds of dollars," added Joel Bacon, the group's public affairs officer.

And AAAE points out that even if the cap is increased, that doesn't mean every airport will charge passengers the maximum of $8.50.

Airport executives argue the improvements will save travelers money in the long run. For example, if an airport builds a new runway and expands a terminal, it could bring another airline in to serve that city. That could translate into competition and lower ticket prices.

Related: Airlines get $1 billion from baggage fees

But airlines say the additional airport fees aren't necessary and consumers shouldn't have to pay more. The industry group Airlines for America says higher fees would amount to a tax hike.

"Under the current system, airports collected $2.8 billion in revenue in 2013 from facility charges alone," said the airlines. "Even with all this revenue, the airports are claiming it's not enough. They're asking Congress to hike this tax nearly 90 percent and to have it increase automatically every year."

Airlines for America argues that plenty of improvements have been made to U.S. airports: "Since 2008, more than $70 billion in capital improvement projects have been completed, are underway or have been approved by U.S. airlines and their airport partners at the country's largest 30 airports, not to mention hundreds of other airports across the country. "

The legislation that dictates the cap expires on September, which is why airports are gearing up now to try to convince lawmakers that a fee hike makes sense.

Related: Related: Legroom -- how the airlines compare

Related: Why flying stinks, and you're still paying more

Related: Most hated airline fees

Related: Malaysia to launch new airline: flymojo

CNNMoney (New York) March 19, 2015: 11:54 AM ET

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From suits to the slopes: Retiree becomes a ski instructor

Overnight, he went from earning a six-figure salary to raking in $12 an hour -- and he couldn't be happier about it.

"I carry skis instead of a briefcase. My office is outside. And I'm surrounded by other passionate people," said Watson, who started his new job on Dec. 27th, the day after he retired.

Watson's plan has been in the works for years.

He spent most of his career working for the credit card divisions of American Express, MasterCard and GE Capital. Later, he returned to Utah to run corporate cards and travel for Rio Tinto, a large multinational mining company.

Throughout his career, Watson always put away between 6% and 16% of his salary in his 401(k). But he also built up an impressive nest egg through a series of smart real estate transactions.

Related: Sailing around the world in retirement: How we did it

Some of his investments weren't as successful, however. In the 1990s, he decided to experiment and trade investments in his IRA. He had some big wins with tech stocks. But, when the market tanked in 2000, he had some big losses as well.

"I lost 75% of my gains in the market, and I was lucky it wasn't more," Watson said. "I went from a very speculative/high-risk trader to the most conservative."

He quit trading on his own and, with the help of a broker, steered his portfolio into a healthy mix of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, annuities and some real-estate investment trusts.

Craig Watson on the slopes.

Real estate has long been a good investment for him. Since 1978, Watson has always owned at least one rental property, which he would often sell when home prices rose. He would then use the proceeds to buy another property to rent out, providing an extra stream of revenue and sometimes even a tax write-off, he said.

In 2009, he had an especially impressive windfall. He sold a longtime rental condo in Park City, Utah, making $685,000. It was enough to pay off the mortgage on his own home and his car loan. He sank the leftover money into a new rental house in Salt Lake City, which now brings in $1,200 a month.

With enough set aside for his 16-year-old son to get through college, Watson began hatching his big retirement plan.

Related: Volunteering, living abroad: 6 retirees shares their stories

While his father chose to work until he was 84, Watson wanted to retire earlier so he could spend more time with his son. So less than 10 days after his 66th birthday, he left the corporate world and went to work for Deer Valley, teaching young kids how to ski.

"It's a lot of fun, but it's a lot more challenging than I thought, both mentally and physically," Watson said.

He only makes $11 to $12 an hour but sometimes he get tips. He also gets passes to ski Deer Valley and other nearby resorts.

"I wanted to do this even if they didn't pay me, because I love to ski so much," Watson said.

He recently got his ski instructor certification from the Professional Skiers Instructors of America. And he's thinking about getting the next couple of levels of ski certifications, which would allow him to teach more advanced teens and adults.

Watson plans to work through the end of ski season, April 12th, and then he plans to rent a boat in Saint Lucia to go scuba diving in the Grenadine Islands in the Caribbean with his girlfriend. In the summer, he may go to the Grand Canyon, as well as go white water rafting with his son in the summer.

"It's been so nice to finally plan some trips," Watson said.

CNNMoney (New York) March 19, 2015: 12:01 PM ET

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'Empire' finale brings in show's biggest audience

"Empire" has been a runaway hit, growing with each passing episode.

Roughly 16.5 million viewers tuned in for the two hour long season finale of Fox's hit sensation making it the highest rated episode of the season.

The show's 16.5 million total viewership also means that "Empire" never dipped in ratings, growing in audience for 10 consecutive weeks, a truly remarkable television streak.

This number was an 11% audience increase from last week's 14.7 million viewers, which was the highest rated episode of the season.

In the 9 p.m. hour (the show's normal time slot) "Empire" brought in even bigger numbers with 17.5 million viewers.

As for the prized advertising demographic -- viewers aged 18 to 49 -- the show hauled in a preliminary 6.4 million. And those numbers will most likely grow even larger.

Fox's musical drama brings in a healthy live audience, but also gets a boost when accounting for delayed viewing via cable video-on-demand and DVR services.

Case in point, "Empire" has been the No. 1 TV series on Comcast's video-on-demand since premiering in January.

That January premiere itself brought in 9.9 million viewers with an extra 3.1 million viewers within three days of the broadcast thanks to delayed viewing. This made it one of Fox's biggest ratings successes of the season.

Yet, after going up in viewership each week that big number now looks somewhat miniscule.

Along with a sizable delayed audience, "Empire" was also propelled by a strong African-American viewership.

According to Nielsen, 61% of the show's audience is African American -- another astonishing feat that no other prime time series has been able to match.

The "Empire" finale was also a huge hit on social generating 2.4 million tweets and 15.8 million likes, comments and shares on Facebook over the two hour finale.

If you want to catch up with "Empire" online, don't expect to head over to Netflix to find it.

Hulu announced on Thursday that it grabbed the exclusive subscription video-on-demand rights for the show via a deal with Twentieth Century Fox TV.

All episodes from the first season were already available on the service, but with the new deal all future episodes will now be hosted on the site.

CNNMoney (New York) March 19, 2015: 12:35 PM ET

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Couples now spend more than $30,000 to get married

Click on the image above to see average wedding costs in your area.

Couples spent an average of $31,213 on their big day last year, according to latest study from The Knot, up more than 4% from $29,858 in 2013. The venue eats up the biggest portion of the budget with an average of $14,006, followed by the engagement ring at $5,855 and the band at $3,587. The average catering price per guest rang up at $68 in 2014.

Of the 19 budget items The Knot surveyed, two categories went down in spending compared to 2013: invitations ($439 compared to $443) and favors ($275 from $281). The rise of electronic save-the-dates and invitations and use of wedding websites to distribute information are reasons for the drop in invitation spending, according to Dhanusha Sivajee, executive vice president of marketing for The Knot.

Couples tying the knot in Manhattan faced the biggest tab, the survey showed, spending an average of $76,328, but that's a lot less than the $86,916 average in 2013. Those in Utah spent the least with an average of $15,257.

When it comes to footing the bill, the bride's parents covered 43% of the costs last year with the couple also contributing the same amount, according to Sivajee.

See average wedding costs in your area

Couples may be spending more on their weddings, but guests have reduced their gift spending recently.

This year, an attendee will spend an average of $106 on a gift, according to research from American Express Spending & Saving Tracker. That's less than 2014 average of $109.

Guests in New York will spend an average of $172 on a gift this year, while those in Florida will dish out $148 and Californians will expend $116.

Gifts also depend on the guest's relationship to the couple. Invitees will spend an average of $142 on family, and $90 for friends and colleagues, according to American Express.

One third of guests plan to gift cash to the newlyweds while 32% will pick something off the registry. Gift cards, non-registry gifts, money for the honeymoom or a donation also made the gift-giving list.

Related: Creative (and painless) ways I cut my wedding costs

With wedding season just around the corner, experts said guests can expect more personalized ceremonies and receptions.

"[Couples] are looking for ways large and small to make their wedding their own," said Lauren Iannotti, executive editor at Brides magazine. "Oftentimes, that means re-inventing things."

She said some couples are hiring artists to paint a custom backdrop for the ceremony or reception or a local artist to "live paint" the party. And there's a new metal infiltrating the wedding scene. "Wedding markets are often affected by the home market, and the copper craze in homes, we are now seeing in weddings."

Wedding cakes are also getting upgraded. It's not enough for the outside to look good. "Creative cake interiors are something we are seeing," said Iannotti. "Ombre insides or something artful underneath the frosting."

But as couples strive to create a bespoke wedding day, that doesn't mean they don't want to share the special moments with the world. According to Kim Forrest, editor at WeddingWire, couples are hiring social media consultants to make sure photos are getting up and tagged properly.

WeddingWire recently launched a hashtag generator that uses information about the couple and their wedding to come up with 26 hashtags. "You can live tweet the wedding," said Forrest.

Related: Honeymoon hotspots

CNNMoney (New York) March 12, 2015: 11:34 AM ET

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Lumber Liquidators talks to investors. Stock up 13%

Lumber Liquidators stock has been on a wild ride since a "60 Minutes" report accusing the company of failing to comply with formaldehyde restrictions on its laminated flooring from China.

Lumber Liquidators (LL) stock rose 13% by mid-morning Thursday, after notching a 10.6% gain Wednesday. Despite these gains, the shares are still down 50% for the year.

The hardwood flooring provider held a conference call with investors Thursday morning and released a 50-page "business update" on its safety record.

"We stand behind our products and know they are safe," declared Lumber Liquidators, in its statement. "Because media reports provided very little context, customers are understandably concerned."

The call was a reaction to a March 1 "60 Minutes" probe from CBS, in which CNN's Anderson Cooper revealed that the company's laminate flooring sourced from China contained high levels of cancer-causing formaldehyde.

Related: U.S. senator wants investigation of Lumber Liquidators

The company also said that net sales dropped 7.5% in the nine days since the broadcast.

Nearly 20% of the company's business is in laminates. The report caused the stock to plunge earlier this month. Shares dropped 25% on March 2 and was halted from trading.

In its report, the company stressed that its products are safe and downplayed the perceived dangers of formaldehyde, which is described as a "natural byproduct found in many plants and is found in virtually all homes and buildings."

"Formaldehyde does not accumulate in the environment or in the body and is broken down quickly," the company said.

The company also detailed its compliance process, explaining how the flooring is tested to make sure it's compliant with California's strict laws of formaldehyde levels.

Related: Lumber Liquidators stock pummeled after '60 Minutes' probe

Cooper, in his "60 Minutes" report, notes that formaldehyde is legal in flooring, but there are concerns about breathing in emissions, particularly in confined spaces like homes. He said that high levels can cause respiratory issues and some forms of cancer, including leukemia, which is why California has strict standards on it. The federal government is preparing to adopt similar standards.

His report accuses Lumber Liquidators of buying laminated flooring from China that is marked as compliant with environmental laws, even though it is not.

This isn't the first time the company has run into trouble. Federal agents raided the company's offices in 2013, and the company acknowledged that it was related to importing wood products.

CNNMoney (New York) March 12, 2015: 10:50 AM ET

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Do your employees need to learn some manners?

That's why, after spending years shielded behind computer screens and user names, modern professionals are seeking out more traditional advice on manners and social niceties.

"People are really great with technology and social media, but unfortunately, many can't communicate effectively because they've been glued to electronics," said Rachel Isgar, an etiquette consultant who teaches classes through her business Please Pass the Manners in Los Angeles. "But great manners never go out of style, and respect is so important in getting ahead."

When Isgar officially launched her business three years ago, she saw a lot of professionals who were anxious about what to say and how to handle in-person interactions.

So she developed corporate etiquette workshops that focus on making a good first impression. One of the biggest areas of discussion is the business lunch, for which Isgar goes over table manners and protocol, like whether to order one or two courses (take a cue from the person who has more power) and knowing what to order (nothing messy like spaghetti, and never the most expensive or least expensive item on the menu, she said).

Related: How much should you tip housekeeping? A travel tipping guide

Elaine Swann, another etiquette expert in Los Angeles, also works with professionals on knowing how to work a room, particularly at important networking events. She said while people feel comfortable talking about work, one of the things they get most hung up on is making small talk. In her classes, she teaches easy conversation starters and basic etiquette.

"I tell people what they're supposed to do if they're holding a wine glass in one hand, a plate of food in the other and someone comes up to shake your hand, or if you're stuck in a corner with one person and you want to get away," Swann said. "I give specific advice and tools so that they're confident enough with all the small things that they can focus on why they're really there."

There's another big demographic looking to brush up on professional etiquette: job seekers. People who have lost jobs and mothers looking to re-enter the workforce have sought out help from Dianne Marsch of the Etiquette School of Manhattan.

"I work with them to go over how to maximize their strengths and minimize their weaknesses, and of course the basic topics like introduction skills and greeting skills that are crucial to their futures," said Marsch. She also has women bring a suitcase filled with clothes so they can identify what looks best on them.

"I'll share what I suggest for them, since the rules have changed and what's acceptable in the workforce now is different."

Related: Re-gifting is fine...if you follow these rules

Marsch also runs a class for nannies in Manhattan so that they can teach proper etiquette to the children they care for. The course, which takes place on weekends, teaches the nannies proper table manners and conversational skills and how to impart them on kids, how to eliminate temper tantrums, basic social and behavioral skills and how to encourage shy children.

But parents without manners-certified nannies send their kids to etiquette coaches for help.

Swann said she often sees kids who can't complete a declarative sentence or make eye contact when their parents introduce them, so shows them how to feel comfortable making conversation. Isgar said that when parents ask how their child's day at school was, so many kids simply give a one-word response and go back to their phones. She said she teaches them to give more feedback and ask questions in return.

Marsch focuses on explaining that there are human feelings behind every username and hashtag. She said she uses Kanye West and his rudeness to Taylor Swift as an example to teens.

"I try to teach everyone that niceness and kindness are more than just elementary concepts," she said.

CNNMoney (New York) March 12, 2015: 10:12 AM ET

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ABC and Yahoo expand partnership

ABC's Ben Sherwood and Yahoo's Marissa Mayer

The deal now involves the network news division's parent company, the Disney/ABC Television Group, according to a joint announcement on Thursday morning.

One of the perks for ABC: its entertainment programming will now be promoted on Yahoo's site.

One of the perks for Yahoo: the heads of its new "digital magazines" will get air time on ABC's top-rated "Good Morning America."

There was an example of the new synergy on Thursday's morning show when two stars of ABC's prime time drama "Scandal" interviewed each other. It was billed as an "ABC/Yahoo! exclusive," and viewers were directed to a longer version of the interview on Yahoo's site.

According to the two companies, more such behind-the-scenes material from ABC shows will be streamed by Yahoo. This is valuable for ABC because Yahoo has a giant fire-hose of web traffic.

Yahoo will also "feature ABC News content more often across the Yahoo network," the companies said, helping the news division reach "a substantially greater audience."

That was one of the original intents of the 2011 deal, called a "strategic alliance" at the time. It gave ABC's news division more online visibility.

On ABC's side, the players haven't changed: the 2011 deal was struck by ABC News president Ben Sherwood, and Sherwood is now the president of the entire television group.

But on Yahoo's side, Marissa Mayer inherited the ABC arrangement when she took over Yahoo in 2012.

She is now trying to mount a turnaround of the Internet giant, partly by creating and rejuvenating sections of the site covering style, health, food, and technology.

As the original ABC deal was approaching its expiration date, Yahoo talked with other potential partners, including ABC's main rival, NBC. But the two companies wound up wanting to renew.

Terms were not disclosed on Thursday. But one of the most significant additions seems to be "Yahoo Your Day," a daily segment on "Good Morning America." It will showcase Mayer's new sections and their top editors, like Joe Zee of Yahoo Style and Bobbi Brown of Yahoo Beauty.

The morning show will incorporate Yahoo-owned sites in other ways too -- for instance, "Flickr images will be integrated into Good Morning America's weather reports," the companies said.

And ABC will continue to pick up some of Yahoo's material. Last December, Yahoo's Katie Couric scored an exclusive interview with Stephen Collins, the actor accused of child molestation. Couric's interview appeared on both Yahoo's home page and ABC's television newscasts.

Couric's deal with Yahoo, however, does not preclude her from considering other possible television jobs.

Related: Will Katie Couric get a second chance on NBC?

CNNMoney (New York) March 12, 2015: 10:24 AM ET

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Apple investors dream of Tesla tie-up

Apple (AAPL, Tech30) CEO Tim Cook was asked recently if he would consider buying Tesla (TSLA), bringing two of the world's most innovative tech companies under one roof.

The question was raised twice at Apple's annual shareholder meeting earlier this week.

"Quite frankly, I'd like to see you guys buy Tesla," one shareholder said during the question and answer period of the meeting. The audience responded with a mix of laughter and applause, according to Bloomberg.

Cook gave an evasive answer, saying "we don't have a relationship with Tesla."

He did say that Apple would "love" to have Tesla adopt Apple's in-car software for the iPhone, CarPlay.

Related: Billionaire Carl Icahn can't wait to drive an Apple car

This was probably not what shareholders wanted to hear, and Cook acknowledged that he had dodged the question.

"Was that a good way to avoid the question?" he asked. "Hey, there are some perks to being CEO."

But that was not the end of the conversation. Another shareholder tried a different approach, saying he has been a fan of Apple since putting down a deposit for his first computer in 1984.

"There's something else I'm in love with that's not Apple -- that every time I see it just blows my mind -- and that's when I open my garage and see my Model S," said the investor. "Am I insane to imagine something might happen here?"

That got a laugh out of the crowd, but Cook stayed on message.

"We are very focused on CarPlay," he responded.

Related: Is it time to ditch Tesla stock?

At first glance, it's hard to see many similarities between a smartphone company that just got into the watch business and a start-up that makes electric cars.

But the idea may not be as farfetched as it seems. Apple is rumored to be working on an electric car of its own. Billionaire Carl Icahn, one of Apple's biggest shareholders, recently wrote that he looks forward to driving an Apple car "in the distant future."

There has also been widespread speculation that Apple might use some of its excess cash to buy up other big companies. Apple currently has $178 billion in cash -- more than the market value of any of these major companies: Disney (DIS), IBM (IBM, Tech30), Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) and Netflix (NFLX, Tech30).

CNNMoney (New York) March 12, 2015: 10:38 AM ET

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Apple's IPad sales keep falling

A new forecast by tech consultancy IDC predicts that iPad sales will fall this year and continue to slump through at least 2019.

Since iPad sales fell last year too, that means that 2013 might be remain the best year ever for the iPad ... at least for the foreseeable future.

IDC tablet analyst Jitesh Ubrani called the iPad "the weakest link" in the tablet market. He expects 2015 iPad sales to fall to 60.1 million units, down 5% from 2014. That would be the fewest iPads Apple sold since 2012.

IPad sales have shrunk for four straight quarters and in five of the past seven quarters. During Apple's record-setting final quarter of 2014, iPad was a noticeable weak point, with sales tumbling 18%.

Even as the entire tablet market slumps, the iPad has fared even worse than its rivals. Apple is forecast to command just under 26% of the tablet market this year, down from 29% a year earlier. By 2019, IDC expects the iPad's control of the market to fall to just 23%.

Tablets have become less popular as giant "phablet" phone sales have soared. Why buy an eight-inch iPad Mini when you can get a six-inch iPhone 6 Plus?

To combat the trend, many tablet makers are slashing prices and adding voice calling features to lure customers away from phablets. That is expected to help overall tablet sales grow about 2% this year -- a modest increase, but an increase nonetheless.

"Despite the growing popularity of phablets, there still remains a portion of the market that wants to use a larger device so they can tailor their experience to the appropriate screen size," said Ubrani.

Meanwhile, Apple has been rumored to be working on a 12.9-inch iPad, and it is expected to unveil it in the fall. Apple is looking for untapped markets for the iPad (after all, the iPad is still a $9 billion business), and a large version would likely appeal to business customers.

Related: You'll have to wait for your giant iPad .. but it'll be worth it

Related: Apple iPhone import ban sought by suit

CNNMoney (New York) March 12, 2015: 11:07 AM ET

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Krispy Kreme has a bacon hot dog donut. Yum or yuck?

If so, prepare for a symphony of saturated fats in Delaware next month. Krispy Kreme is partnering with a minor league baseball team in Wilmington to sell a bacon donut hot dog.

The Wilmington Blue Rocks, a single-A affiliate of the reigning American League champion Kansas City Royals, is even asking fans to name this crazy culinary concoction -- which also has raspberry jam on it.

My suggestion? The Suicide Squeeze.

If this new sweet and salty treat is a hit, could it find its way to the more than 980 Krispy Kreme (KKD) stores around the world? Krispy Kreme apparently needs to do something to attract more customers.

Shares of Krispy Kreme (KKD) fell nearly 6% Thursday after the company reported that its latest quarterly sales missed forecasts.

This is the fourth consecutive quarter that traders were not pleased with Krispy Kreme's results. This pattern has led me to wonder if investors were glazed and confused and if the doughnut craze was over.

Related: Dunkin' to remove titanium dioxide from powdered sugar donuts

It looks like that way on Wall Street. The stock has missed the market rally of the past year. It is down more than 2% since this time a year ago.

The only consolation for investors? Rival Dunkin' Brands (DNKN) is doing even worse.

But is the sell-off an overreaction? If you look more closely at the company's results, they weren't really bad.

Overall revenue rose more than 11% in the fourth quarter. And same-store sales, one of the most important measure of health for restaurants and retailers, were up nearly 7%.

Brian Sozzi, an analyst for Belus Capital Advisors, said that investors should not ignore this growth.

"Krispy Kreme, amidst outcries by people to fast food companies to use antibiotic free chicken and beef, organic veggies, and remove sugar and salt content, just baked up nicely positive sales," he said.

Related: High calories = high stock prices?

Sozzi pointed out that the company also is making the smart move to cut back on gimmicky promotions.

Giving out free donuts to people who say "Aargh" on Talk Like a Pirate Day might be a fun marketing ploy, but too many of those discounts tends to put a hole in your profit margins.

As for that bacon hot dog donut, Sozzi said this is proof that the company still wants to sell "overly indulgent" treats. And that could help position it in the breakfast wars against Dunkin' and Starbucks (SBUX).

Of course, it's troubling that Krispy Kreme still hasn't figured out a way to satisfy Wall Street's sweet tooth for better-than-expected sales and profits.

And the stock's latest slide is proof that the honeymoon period for new CEO Tony Thompson, who left Papa John's (PZZA) last year to take the top job at Krispy Kreme, is over.

Perhaps Krispy Kreme should partner with Shake Shack (SHAK), whose stock was also falling Thursday after it reported a bigger loss than forecast, on another new decadent product -- a twist on the so-called Luther Burger.

A SmokeShack nestled between two donuts sounds delicious ... and also disgusting. Although isn't that the point?

Related: Shake Shack gets burned

Related: McDonald's to put kale on menu?

CNNMoney (New York) March 12, 2015: 11:10 AM ET

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West Coast port labor dispute flares up again

The port reported that its container terminal was shut when unionized workers refused to work due to a staffing dispute.

The Oakland port handles the third greatest volume of containers of any West Coast port, after only the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which are the nation's largest ports. It is the sixth largest container port nationwide.

The West Coast ports are linchpins to trade between the U.S. and Asia.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which has 20,000 members at 29 West Coast ports, and the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents management for ports and shipping lines there, reached a tentative agreement on a five-year contract on February 20.

The talks dragged on for nearly a year, and during the last four months traffic through the ports slowed to a crawl. Management accused workers of illegally taking action to slow traffic, a charge the union denied.

But two days after the settlement, an arbitrator ruled the union was engaged in an illegal strike that shut down most of the Oakland operations. Wednesday's dispute affected the container terminal -- the key operation at the port.

Related: Labor secretary says damage was done by port dispute

Management representatives charged that the union local in Oakland is demanding three workers for every crane used at the terminal, even though every unionized terminal has two workers per crane.

Union spokespeople and officers with Local 10 were not available for comment early Thursday morning.

CNNMoney (New York) March 12, 2015: 11:26 AM ET

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Putin drops his American PR company

The door is that way -- Vladimir Putin fires his PR company.

Ketchum, part of global marketing group Omnicom (OMC), worked for the Russian government for nine years. But that relationship is now over, apparently a victim of the growing hostility between Russia and the West triggered by the conflict in Ukraine.

"We decided not to renew the contract because of the anti-Russian hysteria, the information war that is going on," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told CNNMoney.

Ketchum said it no longer represents Russia in the U.S. or Europe but will keep an office in Moscow. It declined further comment.

The firm was hired by Russia in 2006 -- ahead of the G8 summit in Saint Petersburg -- to help the Kremlin reach Western media.

Its biggest success was a controversial opinion piece in The New York Times written by Putin himself. The 2013 article criticized "American exceptionalism," and sparked a media backlash against the agency.

Related: Ukraine hires internet army to fight Russian trolls

Ketchum charged Russia nearly $30 million for its services over nine years, according to company filings with the U.S. Department of Justice.

The filings show how Ketchum reached out to western media, including Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal and Washington Post, to promote a summit of the BRICS -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Ketchum was also involved in campaigns promoting the Sochi Winter Olympics and Russia's membership in the World Trade Organization.

"If you spend a lot of money on communication, you want it to be fruitful -- and that is not possible in this hateful environment," Peskov said.

Ketchum's work for Russia had already fallen off sharply. The firm made $1.5 million from its campaigns for the government in 2013, and just half that in 2014.

A separate contract with Russia's Gazprom (GZPFY) is still running, although the firm didn't bill the state gas giant for any work in the six months to November 30, 2014. Ketchum has received about $30 million from Gazprom since 2007.

Related: How billions of rubles flow secretly into the U.K.

CNNMoney (London) March 12, 2015: 12:51 PM ET

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Powdered alcohol gets Washington OK

The federal government has legalized Palcohol, the powdered alcohol. Now comes the hard part: getting the states to allow it.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau has approved Palcohol for sale. However, spokesman Tom Hogue said despite approval at the federal level, the product is still subject to state regulations.

Lipsmark, the company which makes Palcohol said it aims to get it on the market by the summer.

But clearing state hurdles could be tough. Alaska has already prohibited it, and six other states have taken regulatory action against it, including Louisiana, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia.

And Senator Charles Schumer from New York on Thursday introduced a bill against powdered alcohol. "I am in total disbelief that our federal government has approved such an obviously dangerous product," said Schumer, in a statement. "Congress must take matters into its own hands and make powered alcohol illegal."

Schumer detailed some of the "brazen" statements on Lipsmark's original website, which have since been removed, where "the company suggested illegally bringing Palcohol to stadium events to avoid overpriced drinks" and "even explained that Palcohol could be snorted to get drunk 'almost instantly.'"

The company said in a statement that it will "write to legislators to explain why a ban is the wrong action to take."

Creator Mark Phillips explained in a web video that some "edgy wording" on the company site had given the false impression that the product might be used illegally "and everything went nuts."

The company had a false start in April of 2014 when it was initially approved. But regulators switched the green light back to red, albeit temporarily, over concerns that it might get abused by kids. But this week, the product was okayed again.

Phillips said that, contrary to popular opinion, it's not easy for kids to get a hold of it. It will be sold to customers over 21 years of age. He also said that it's not easy to surreptitiously spike drinks with it, because it takes too long to dissolve to be able to do something like that secretly.

Related: Popularity of American whiskey grows overseas

Phillips also said that people should not try to snort it.

"Because of the amount of alcohol in powdered alcohol, snorting it is very painful," he said Phillips in his video, as he holds a glass of white powder. "It burns a lot. It hurts. Why would someone spend an hour of pain and misery snorting all of this powder to get one shot into their system?"

He insisted that the powder is "perfect for hiking and backpacking."

"You can drink right out of the bag," Phillips said, pouring water into a bag of powdered vodka and then shaking it before taking a sip. "Ah! It's wonderful."

Related: Snoop Dogg pitches Blast, rival to Four Loco

Related: Russian brewer buys Pabst Blue Ribbon

CNNMoney (New York) March 12, 2015: 12:43 PM ET

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It's time to put a woman on the $20 bill

An organization called Women on 20s wants to replace Andrew Jackson with a woman who's integral to U.S. history, like Eleanor Roosevelt or Rosa Parks.

So says an organization called Women on 20s, which is trying to convince President Obama and Congress to replace the controversial seventh president with a woman.

The group, which also calls itself W20, lists 15 candidates to replace Jackson. They include Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rachel Carson, Margaret Sanger and Susan B. Anthony.

Anthony used to adorn the dollar coin, which now bears the image of Sacagawea. But there are still no women on paper currency.

W20 is petitioning the president and Congress to put one of these women on the $20 bill by 2020, the 100th anniversary off the ratification of the 19th amendment, which granted women the right to vote. Anthony, an abolitionist and suffragist, campaigned for the passage of that amendment.

Related: Jane Austen's face replaces Darwin on £10 note

W20 is inviting people to vote on its web site for their favorite candidates to grace the $20 bill.

A vote for Tubman -- a key player in the Underground Railroad, helping slaves escape from the antebellum South to the North -- would be a stark contrast to Jackson, who owned a slave plantation in Nashville.

A fervent believer in Manifest Destiny, Jackson is also infamous for having supported the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the forced removal of Native tribes from the Eastern states to Oklahoma.

A group called Women on 20s wants to a woman's face on the $20 bill instead of Andrew Jackson, who is infamous for engineering the Trail of Tears.

"Commonly known as the Trail of Tears, the mass relocation of Indians resulted in the deaths of thousands from exposure, disease and starvation during the westward migration," said W20. "Not okay."

The Bank of England did something like this in 2013, when it replaced Charles Darwin on the £10 note to make way for Jane Austen.

CNNMoney (New York) March 5, 2015: 9:59 AM ET

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Print's not dead. Here's proof.

But startups are questioning this idea.

"It's just like in retail [where] people are saying stores are dead," said Ethan Song, co-founder of menswear startup Frank & Oak. "[Stores] used to be the main thing, and they're not anymore. But they're still very impactful."

Frank & Oak, which is headquartered in Montreal, is pouring resources into the supposedly antiquated medium of magazines. The three-year-old firm has a team of 10 people who exclusively create content for its biannual magazine, Oak Street, which launched last year.

"We looked high and low, but couldn't find a magazine that covered all the things we're passionate about," wrote Song in the inaugural Oak Street issue. "We are building a community of artists and entrepreneurs with a desire to make a small dent in the world."

With thick paper stock and roughly 100 pages, the magazines consists of fashion photography and original interviews with entrepreneurs, designers, artists and chefs. There is some Frank & Oak product placement throughout, but it feels more like a coffee table mainstay than a catalog.

The startup distributed 15,000 copies of the first installment and 40,000 of the second.

"It's really a lifestyle and culture magazine," said Song, of Frank & Oak's magazine, Oak Street.

The magazine retails at $12 -- it's sold widely on newsstands in Canada, but Song said they plan to introduce it in the U.S. this year.

"We do generate revenue from the cost of the magazine. ... It's not very costly for us [to produce]," he said, declining to give further specifics about revenue. "We don't see it as advertising. We see it as a product -- an extension of the brand."

Song, who has always been interested in film, said that from day one, he wanted storytelling to be a part of the business. Tellingly, one of the firms he cites as being a leader in this space is e-commerce fashion site Net-a-Porter, which also recently introduced a magazine.

"We couldn't ignore a medium that was still important," said Tess Macleod-Smith, vice president of publishing and media at Net-a-Porter Group.

In one year's time, the glossy magazine has joined the likes of Vogue, Marie Claire and Glamour on newstands. Published six times a year, high-profile cover models have included Gisele Bundchen and Lady Gaga.

"Women who love fashion, who spend money on fashion, cited print as being the key influencer in purchasing decisions," said Macleod-Smith. "We felt we needed to reinvigorate the model."

Frank & Oak, too, is changing up the traditional model. The firm, which has raised $21 million in funding, diversifies its revenue streams as a way to expose a variety of customers to its brand.

Last year, the company launched a limited home goods line in partnership with Etsy (many of the products sold out). It also has a subscription-based service called the Hunt Club, a personal style adviser service called SELECT, and six storefronts in Canada.

Companies like Airbnb are also entering the world of print.

In November 2014, the firm announced its own magazine, Pineapple. Similar in its paper stock, beautiful images and editorial content, the magazine -- which Airbnb plans to roll out quarterly -- highlights three cities in each issue.

The focus is less about promoting the Airbnb brand and more about inspiring people to travel (which by extension would encourage them to use Airbnb).

Pineapple relies heavily on contributors but has an internal staff of about 14, including editors, designers and photographers.

Airbnb's magazine, Pineapple, focuses on three cities (Seoul featured here) in each issue.

It retails for $12, although the first issue was distributed mostly for free. The company declined to comment on sales.

According to Rebecca Lieb, analyst at Altimeter Group, sales aren't the best factor to gauge impact.

"Objectives aren't always, 'How many units do I sell?' she said. Magazines can also serve to reinforce the brand and generate new leads.

"You can create much more differentiation and expertise when you control your own content," she added.

Related: 6 fashion startups to watch

Related: Wedding dresses women want, backed by data

Related: Forget smart watches. Solar dresses are the future

CNNMoney (New York) March 5, 2015: 10:54 AM ET

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