8B | 2021205 | AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN

BUSINESS BRIEFS tion, “Double Negative.” Americans spend again, and GM using expanded Super Cruise American Express profit surges on 6 vehicles next year

Spending at restaurants, shops and entertainment General Motors said Friday that it will include its venues is back in force as vaccines become more com- expanded, hands-free driver-assisted technology on mon, and it fueled a revenue surge at American Ex- six vehicles next year. press during the second quarter. GM’s “Super Cruise”-assisted vehicles can indicate That momentum picked up as the quarter pro- when a lane change is safe and initiate the maneuver. gressed, the company said Friday, particularly spend- Drivers can also go hands free while pulling a trailer. ing from younger customers. Model year 2022 Super Cruise-enabled vehicles in- “We saw card member spending accelerate from the clude the Cadillac Escalade, Cadillac CT4, Cadillac prior quarter and exceed pre-pandemic levels in June, CT5, Chevrolet Silverado2, GMC Hummer EV Pickup with the largest portion of this spending growth com- An uptick in spending at restaurants, shops and and GMC Sierra2. The capabilities will be introduced ing from Millennial, Gen Z, and small business cus- entertainment venues fueled a revenue surge at on the vehicles in the first quarter of next year. tomers,” Chairman and CEO Stephen Squeri said in a American Express. STEVEN SENNE/AP GM said that Super Cruise, which was launched in prepared statement. 2017, will be available on 22 vehicles by 2023, including Revenue, net of interest expense, jumped to on the Cadillac Lyriq and GMC Hummer. Other vehi- $10.24 billion from $7.68 billion last year, stronger ing plans to build what would have been the United cles that offer versions of Super Cruise include the than the $9.47 billion that Wall Street was looking for, States’ largest array of solar panels in the desert north 2022 Cadillac XT6 and the 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV. according to a survey by Zacks Investment Research. of Las Vegas. The New York company earned $2.28 billion, or “Battle Born Solar Project” developers this week TVA launches web series $2.80 per share, for the three months ended June 30. A withdrew their application with the federal Bureau of to promote electric vehicles year earlier it earned $257 million, or $0.29 per share. Land Management, which oversees the Moapa Valley The current quarter included $866 million in credit re- hilltop where the panels were planned, KLAS-TV Las The Tennessee Valley Authority is launching a five- serve releases. This easily beat projections of $1.64 Vegas reported. episode web series to promote electric vehicles, ac- from industry analysts. California-based Arevia Power told the television cording to a news release from the utility. station that its solar panels would be set far enough The series is called “In Charge: Life with an Electric Plans for largest US solar field back on Mormon Mesa to not be visible from the valley. Vehicle!” In episode one, country music singer Kelleigh north of Vegas scrapped But a group of residents organized as “Save Our Mesa” Bannen joins host Raven Hernandez to find out how far argued such a large installation would be an eyesore they can go on one charge, learn about the availability The push to transition from carbon-emitting fuel and could curtail the area’s popular recreational activ- and capabilities of different charging stations and dis- sources to renewable energy is hitting a roadblock in ities – biking, ATVs and skydiving – and deter tourists cover how much money electric vehicles owners can Nevada, where solar power developers are abandon- from visiting sculptor Michael Heizer’s land installa- save on fuel and maintenance.

penters Local 1266 Union Hall, built in 1949. Bunkhouse The Carpenter Hotel has 93 guest rooms in a mid- century carpenters’ union hall building, a tree-shaded Continued from Page 7B courtyard and pool, an event pavilion, and an on-site restaurant and coffee shop. the Barton Creek Greenbelt. Carpenter Hotel will be the ninth operating hotel in Bunkhouse’s new management deal marks the fifth Bunkhouse’s portfolio and its seventh in Texas. hotel the brand operates in Austin, and its first one In addition to Hotel San José, Bunkhouse operates outside of the South Congress area. the Hotel Saint Cecilia; the Austin Motel; Jo’s Coffee; Bunkhouse transformed the San José motor court and most recently, the new Hotel Magdalena and Sum- hotel on South Congress directly across from the land- mer House restaurants on Music Lane in Austin. mark Continental Club, into a trendy property with Other properties include the Hotel Havana and high-dollar room rates that continues to draw locals Ocho in San Antonio, El Cosmico in Marfa, Hotel San and tourists. Cristóbal and Benno in Todos Santos, Mexico and the In addition to Austin, Bunkhouse manages hotels in Phoenix Hotel in San Francisco. Marfa, San Antonio, San Francisco and Mexico. In 2016, Bunkhouse took over operations of the Aus- In taking over the Carpenter’s management, Bunk- tin Motel at 1220 S. Congress Ave. house said it plans design updates throughout the Austin Motel, a fixture on South Congress since the property. 1930s and long owned by the Dean family, had just Bunkhouse plans to renovate the hotel’s rooms, been purchased by Greenfield Partners, a Connecti- pool area, lobby and restaurant. New cultural pro- Bunkhouse Group has taken over management of the cut-based investment management firm. gramming, retail offerings and a swim club also are Carpenter Hotel and Carpenters Hall restaurant, In a statement at the time, Lambert said she planned. which is off South Lamar Boulevard and Barton planned to keep the Austin Motel’s “iconic identity, The development is on the former site of the Car- Springs Road. COURTESY character and spirit intact.”

1.27% from 1.26% late Thursday. For months, it has been than expected. Rallies sending a concerning alarm about the economy as it Such surprises have become the norm this reporting dropped from a perch of roughly 1.75% in late March. season. With roughly a quarter of all the profit reports in Continued from Page 7B But outside of Monday’s sudden swoon, the S&P 500 from S&P 500 companies, nearly 90% have topped Wall has mostly continued to plod higher. Street’s already high expectations for the spring. investors once again saw any dip in stocks as merely a Staffing provider Robert Half International jumped Companies in the index are on pace to report roughly chance to buy low. 7.4% for one of Friday’s biggest gains in the S&P 500 74% growth for earnings in the second quarter from a The economy continues to recover at a torrid pace, after it reported revenue and profit for the latest quarter year earlier, according to FactSet. That would be the with the question being how much growth will slow in that topped Wall Street’s expectations. strongest growth since the economy was exploding out upcoming months and years. A preliminary report from It led a widespread rally across the market, where of the Great Recession at the end of 2009. IHS Markit on Friday indicated U.S. manufacturing more than 80% of the stocks in the S&P 500 rose. Com- Gold for August delivery fell $3.60 to $1,801.80 an growth may be unexpectedly accelerating in July, munications stocks led the way after Twitter reported ounce. Silver for September delivery fell 15 cents to though growth in services industries looks to be slow- results that blew past Wall Street’s forecasts on grow- $25.23 an ounce, and September copper rose 6 cents to ing more than economists expected. ing advertising demand. It climbed 3%. Snap, the par- $4.40 a pound. The yield on the 10-year Treasury gave up some of its ent company of social media app Snapchat, soared The dollar rose to 110.56 Japanese yen from 110.16 gain following the release of the report, but it still rose to 23.8% after reporting results that were much better yen. The euro was unchanged at $1.1772.

decision to jettison its entertainment company, War- customers, which includes subscribers who have both HBO nerMedia, just three years after the company paid HBO television channel and HBO Max subscriptions. $85 billion to buy it. AT&T plans to spin off WarnerMe- The legacy HBO business has nearly 3.5 million cus- Continued from Page 7B dia to rival cable programming company, Discovery, a tomers. $43 billion transaction expected to finalize next year. Helped by HBO, WarnerMedia revenue increased Andy Forssell, general manager of WarnerMedia’s di- Since HBO Max’s May 2020 launch, the unit has 30.7% to $8.8 billion in the second quarter, reflecting a rect-to-consumer businesses, said in an interview. gained 10.7 million customers. return to a more normal environment. A year ago, War- “Our programming has been really strong.” It has become one of the industry’s most popular nerMedia suffered from the loss of live sports, shut- HBO released the hit “Mare of Easttown,” and HBO streaming services and, because of its higher price of tered theaters and an interruption in TV and movie pro- Max also benefited from the addition of five theatrical $14.99 a month, generates a higher rate of revenue per duction. WarnerMedia generates $4 billion from its movies, including “Mortal Kombat” and “In the subscriber than Disney+ and Hulu, according to the subscription businesses, which also includes the Tur- Heights,” during the second quarter. MoffettNathanson research firm. ner channels and CNN. Stocking the service with feature films was part of AT&T said domestic HBO Max and HBO collect an The company posted operating income of $1.7 billion WarnerMedia Chief Executive Jason Kilar’s controver- average of $11.90 a month in revenue per subscriber. In in the quarter, a 11.3% decline from the previous year. sial strategy to release Warner Bros.’ entire 2021 slate a recent report, MoffettNathanson estimated that in- Higher revenues were more than offset by the compa- on HBO Max on the same day the films arrive in thea- dustry leader, Netflix, collects an average $14.88 a ny’s investments in HBO Max and higher sports costs. ters. Next year, Warner Bros. plans to release 10 films on month in revenue, per subscriber. Disney+ ranks low- The company now expects to have as many as 73 HBO Max the same day they arrive in theaters. est in terms of revenue per user, generating an average million global HBO Max and HBO subscribers by year’s But premium television shows, including “Mare of $6.32 a month, per subscriber, MoffettNathanson end. Easttown,” have proved to be a major draw, Forssell found. “In the end, you are going to live or die by whether said. AT&T said Thursday that HBO Max has 12 million re- your programming team is killing it,” Forssell said. “And HBO Max’s progress comes on the heels of AT&T’s tail customers, and an additional 31.5 million wholesale our programming teams have been killing it.”

some exits blocked, investigations have found. stop immigration enforcement in Hall County, where Fines Six workers died from “asphyxia due to, or as a con- the hub of Georgia’s nation-leading poultry processing sequence of liquid nitrogen exposure.” Others were industry is heavily staffed by people who entered the Continued from Page 7B hospitalized from nitrogen exposure. country illegally. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board has previously said “During the course of this inspection we have had posed fine of $42,325. that a newly installed conveyor belt system that carried difficulty in reaching workers, particularly, many of the OSHA fines and citations are often lowered following chicken products into a liquid nitrogen bath malfunc- workers are immigrants, undocumented immigrants,” informal and formal appeal processes. tioned. said OSHA Atlanta Regional Administrator Kurt Peter- Foundation Food did not immediately reply to an The processing line that malfunctioned had been meyer. email seeking comment. shut down on the morning of the release, the board said Families of a number of dead workers have filed law- The plant takes chicken slaughtered elsewhere and Foundation Food Group had previously said it was suits against the German company that made the liquid prepares items such as patties and nuggets for food ser- “fully cooperating” with investigators, but OSHA offi- nitrogen system, Messer Group, and a Messer employ- vice operations, freezing them for shipment. cials said Friday that they had issued numerous sub- ee who visited the plant in the days before the leak to It was a new freezing line that went horribly wrong poenas for documents and testimony to compel coop- service the system. Those suits allege Messer and the on the morning of Jan. 28, sending a cloud of liquid ni- eration. worker are at fault for failing to properly inspect, test, trogen vapor into a room that was below the floor level They also for the first time acknowledged that they repair or shut down the system before the liquid nitro- of the rest of the plant. Workers tried to flee, but found had asked the Department of Homeland Security to gen release.