FAST FOOD
McDonald’s plans summertime hiring binge
McDonald’s Corp. and its franchisees plan to recruit as many as 375,000 workers across the United States this summer in what the burger chain says is its biggest hiring spree in years. The Big Mac seller is gearing up to serve more customers as the weather warms up and the company expands, according to an announcement Monday. McDonald’s said in 2023 that it would open 900 US locations over the following four years. The positions aren’t intended to be seasonal or temporary. Roughly 800,000 people work at McDonald’s restaurants. About 95 percent of the chain’s more than 13,500 US locations are franchised, meaning they’re run independently by operators who hire their own staff and set wages. The hiring announcement follows a disappointing first quarter for McDonald’s, with executives pointing to consumer economic distress. Third-party data suggest that US trends have improved in April, thanks in part to the launch of a limited-time Minecraft meal. McDonald’s estimates that about one in eight Americans have worked for the chain. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
AIR TRAVEL
Flying through Newark? Keep waiting
Most flights destined for Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey were being delayed at their origin airports by more than an hour and 40 minutes Monday because of a shortfall in air traffic control staffing. The Federal Aviation Administration said in an advisory that it was delaying the incoming flights from all US airports and some in Canada. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Limited staffing, software and hardware problems, and runway construction have caused sometimes lengthy delays at Newark in recent weeks. While incoming flights were being held, few flights to or from Newark had been canceled, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking firm. Delays can have cascading effects on flights around the world. Monday’s delay is the latest in a string of setbacks for Newark, one of the nation’s busiest airports and a large hub for United Airlines. On Friday, an air traffic control facility that guides planes at the airport had a brief radar outage. A similar outage earlier in the month had left controllers unable to communicate with pilots for about 90 seconds. The Trump administration has also promised to install new fiber-optic cables connecting the airport and the facility, which was recently moved from Long Island in New York to Philadelphia. — NEW YORK TIMES
FUND-RAISING
US clean-tech firms are eyeing the exits, expert says
Clean-tech companies that were eligible for support under former president Joe Biden are now considering leaving the United States as the Trump administration pulls the plug on financing, according to the former head of the program that vetted the firms. As director of the Loans Programs Office at the US Department of Energy when Biden was president, Jigar Shah helped select roughly 400 companies with development plans to receive grants and loans upwards of $100 million each. Shah, who last year was included in Time magazine’s list of the most influential people for his contribution to advancing the clean-energy transition, said that since the inauguration of Donald Trump in January, many of the companies that benefited from Biden-era programs are now looking to shift all or part of their business outside the United States. Against that backdrop, Shah said in an interview that he’s been talking to officials in Brussels about re-domiciling companies in Europe. About two-thirds of the businesses are currently headquartered in the United States, he said. Among clean-tech industries represented are nuclear power generation, suppliers for heat pumps and batteries, carbon capture and storage, and hydrogen. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
ECONOMY
N.Y. wind farm developer gets no help from White House visit, may kill project
Equinor ASA got no new signals that the Trump administration would reconsider the halt imposed on the Empire Wind project when its CEO met with a top White House official last week. Now the company must decide whether it will kill the project. “If no progress is made within days, Equinor will be forced to terminate the project,” Molly Morris, president of Equinor Renewables Americas, said Monday. “We are still fighting every day to find a resolution.” That came after there was no indication of a change in stance from US officials when the Norwegian oil and gas company’s chief executive Anders Opedal and other top officials met with US National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett on May 6, spokesperson Magnus Eidsvold said Monday. A termination would cause the company to lose much of its $2.7 billion investment on the project. “It would be a direct impact to Equinor and our balance sheet,” Morris said. The $5 billion project was halted in April when Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the Biden administration had rushed its approvals. Empire 1 was fully-permitted and slated to start commercial operation in 2027. Its 54 turbines were designed to power 500,000 homes. The halt on Empire is bigger than Equinor or even offshore wind, Morris said. “It’s about honoring contracts and financial investments made in the US,” she said. “They are setting a dangerous precedent by stopping a project in mid-execution.” — BLOOMBERG NEWS
TECHNOLOGY
Trump, Apple CEO Cook speak as phonemaker weighs first major price hike since 2017.
President Trump said he spoke with Apple Inc. chief executive Tim Cook on Monday, just as the iPhone maker was reported to be considering price increases later this year. Apple is weighing whether to raise prices for an iPhone lineup coming in the fall, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter whom it didn’t identify. The company is exploring whether to “couple” price increases with new features and designs, while trying to avoid the perception that any hikes are tied to US tariffs, the Journal reported. Apple didn’t respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment. A few hours after the Journal report, Trump said he had spoken to Cook. He didn’t address the potential price increases, instead focusing on how he thinks the company will end up raising its US spending plan beyond the $500 billion that it had pledged in February. “He’s going to be building a lot of plants in the US for Apple,” Trump said. Consumers and analysts have been bracing for Apple price increases for more than a month. Apple hasn’t changed the starting price of its flagship iPhone model since it debuted the iPhone X in 2017 — keeping it at $999. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
