Tesla Is First Green Tech Company to Pay Back Its Department of Energy Loan

AP

Tesla no longer owns the federal government a dime. On Wednesday the company announced it had repaid the outsanding balance of $451.8 million, with interest,  on its 2009 Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing loan from the Department of Defense. That means taxpayers earned a very, very small $12 million profit on the loan.

By Philip Bump

4:57 PM ET

Inside Darrell Issa's Sketchy Legal Rationale Forcing Lois Lerner to Testify

The Chairman of the House Oversight Committee would like a do-over. Rep. Issa plans to demand the IRS's Lerner return to his committee to testify, arguing that she waived her ability to plead the Fifth once she offered an opening statement. According to a lawyer we spoke with, he's almost certainly wrong.

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By Jen Doll

May 21, 2013

Shopping Under the Influence: A Guide

Stoical types will tell you that the only way to SUI well is to not do it at all, but there are some tips that can help you do it better. Because chances are, you are going to be exposed to a drink and a store, or a drink and your computer and an Internet connection, at some point in the very near future. You might as well be prepared, or as prepared as possible. Follow these rules.

Comments | 619 Views

By Connor Simpson

May 21, 2013

ESPN Has to Lay People Off Because It Pays So Much for Sports Rights

ESPN is an extremely profitable company and recently made two very expensive deals for television rights to tennis and college footbal. And yet, on Tuesday the network had its first round of layoffs since 2009. So what gives? 

Comments | 8,455 Views

By Abby Ohlheiser

May 20, 2013

Apple's Massive Tax Avoidance Scheme Was Probably Legal

Apple used an impressively complex network subsidiaries to avoid paying billions of taxes in a scheme that will pit the company against congressional investigators on Tuesday.

Comments | 2,887 Views

By Elspeth Reeve

May 20, 2013

The Koch Brothers' Foray into Media Has Already Been a Success

Billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch are quite entrepreneurial in their attempts to influence public policy in their favor.

Comments | 619 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

May 20, 2013

The Yahoo-Tumblr Panic Is Both Predictable and Meaningless

All this crying over how much this Yahoo acquisition will ruin Tumblr is a predictable part of the cycle of tech company acquisitions these days — no matter how smart or dumb the buy — and says nothing about how the impending marriage will do.

Comments | 1,856 Views

By Richard Lawson

May 16, 2013

The Call Sheet

Look at These Old Men Wild 'N Out

Today in show business news: Here's our first look at the old Oscar winners in Vegas comedy Last Vegas, HBO is heading to Silicon Valley, and The CW is trying to figure out Wonder Woman.

Comments | 1,237 Views

By Philip Bump

May 15, 2013

How Eric Holder Will Hold on Amidst the Fury in Washington

The attorney general probably wishes that this afternoon wasn't the afternoon one on which he'd agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee. It is, and right in the middle of several brewing controversies, but it's unlikely that the hearing will be job-threatening.

Comments | 412 Views

By Abby Ohlheiser

May 14, 2013

Watch Out, Spotify: Google Might Want In on Streaming Music

Google, possibly eying subscription music streamer Spotify's 6 million paying users, may be introducing a music streaming service of its own. 

Comments | 1,029 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

May 14, 2013

Media Diet

Emma Carmichael: What I Read

The new editor of The Hairpin treats mix-tapes like books and commutes by Instapaper.

Comments | 3,701 Views

By Abby Ohlheiser

May 13, 2013

Major Retailers Agree to Basic Safety Accord in Bangladesh

Some of the world's biggest clothing retailers have agreed to pay for improvements and monitor safety in the Bangladesh garment industry after the collapse of a crowded factory late last month killed over 1,000 people. 

Comments | 411 Views

By Connor Simpson

May 11, 2013

So What Were Bloomberg Reporters Using Those Terminals for Anyway?

Investigations are being launched by the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve to see if their employees were spied on by Bloomberg reporters, too. But they may find Bloomberg reporters didn't always use the terminals to get scoops. They used them for fun on slow days, instead. 

Comments | 2,859 Views

By Philip Bump

May 10, 2013

Why Billions Are at Stake in the Bloomberg Terminal Privacy Problem

Goldman Sachs was not happy to learn that Bloomberg News reporters had access to information about the working hours and news habits of its staff via the terminals it leases from Bloomberg. And given the money at stake, Bloomberg was probably even less happy.

Comments | 3,441 Views

By Esther Zuckerman

May 10, 2013

Jon Stewart Diagnoses Nancy Grace and Her IV of Human Tragedy

Stewart had some interesting ways to describe Grace and the perverse joy she seems to get from tawdry crime stories like the Jodi Arias trial: "That's not rouge on her cheeks," he said. "She draws youth and vitality from human tragedy."

Comments | 4,469 Views

By Richard Lawson

May 9, 2013

How to Meet Prince Harry in America

The most eligible bachelor in the solar system, has arrived in the United States — fully clothed this time, unfortunately. Yes, the ginger Windsor started a week-long American tour in DC on Thursday afternoon. To level the playing field for everyone, here are some universal tips on how to get to Harry while he's on his grand Yankee bride hunt.

Comments | 2,031 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

May 8, 2013

Believe It or Not, the Electric Car Business Is Actually Profitable

Despite a contentious New York Times review, the crushing weight of the oil companies on its back, and ten years of hard work, Tesla says it finally managed to turn a profit in the first quarter of 2013.

Comments | 4,655 Views

By Philip Bump

May 8, 2013

Here's One Way to Try to Avoid the FBI's Internet Wiretapping Proposal

The Obama administration is "on the verge of" signing off on a proposal from the FBI that would make it easier for the agency's to intercept online communications. Please allow us to offer a tip that may help you avoid the Feds' steely gaze.

Comments | 3,839 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

May 7, 2013

The Dow Is Doing Historically Well

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 15,000 for the first time ever on Tuesday. However, despite the record-breaking nature of the even, Wall Street seems sort of unimpressed.

Comments | 1,416 Views

By Richard Lawson

May 7, 2013

The Call Sheet

Michael Bay Is Coming to Television

Today in show business news: TNT is now in the Michael Bay business, Andrew Garfield books a prestigious role, and another movie musical is in the works.

Comments | 2,224 Views

By Jen Doll

May 7, 2013

The (Slightly More) Professional Guide to Working from Home

Are there ways to make your work-from-home routine a bit more productive, and you, yourself, ever so slightly more efficient, all the while remaining firmly planted upon your own couch?

Comments | 3,835 Views

Why an Online Sales Tax May Not Help Brick-and-Mortar Retailers, After All

With the Senate set to approve an online sales tax bill late Monday, its proponents argue that online retailers' unfair advantage needs to be eliminated. Research shows that taxes on Internet purchases won't necessarily make that happen.

Comments | 402 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

May 6, 2013

Why Instagram Really Chose Facebook Over Twitter

In this definitive telling of the history of Instagram we get CEO Kevin Systrom's reasoning for ultimately choosing Facebook's $1 billion offer over Twitter's $520 million—and it has less to do with money than you might think.

Comments | 2,412 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

May 5, 2013

Are You Ready to Pay for YouTube?

The Financial Times reports that the long-rumored paid subscription model is coming to YouTube as early as this week. The strategy will help YouTube compete not only with other online outlets but also with major networks like CBS.

Comments | 9,234 Views

By Connor Simpson

May 4, 2013

Niall Ferguson's History with John Maynard Keynes' Gayness

Harvard professor and prominent Daily Beast columnist Niall Ferguson is now apologizing for saying economist John Maynard Keynes' theories about surplus and deficit spending were somehow shaped by that fact that he was gay and childless. Which is great, except that it may not be that sincere. He's made the argument before. 

Comments | 15,422 Views

By Connor Simpson

May 4, 2013

Warren Buffett Won't Reveal His Secret Successor Just Yet

At Saturday's annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting, the 82-year-old CEO Warren Buffett announced that he knows who his successor is, but he's not ready to share the secret with the rest of us just yet.

Comments | 1,803 Views

By Richard Lawson

May 3, 2013

The Call Sheet

'Men in Black 4' Is Happening

Today in show business  news: Universal is making a "fourquel," Michael Caine is in the new Christopher Nolan movie, and a not-so-encouraging look at White House Down.

Comments | 4,150 Views

By Esther Zuckerman

May 3, 2013

Howard Kurtz Is Safe for Now at CNN

Following a rough day for Howard Kurtz in which the Daily Beast retracted his initially inaccurate Jason Collins story and then publicly parted ways with him, CNN has issued a statement saying their Reliable Sources host is maintaining his position at the network. 

Comments | 399 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

May 3, 2013

Huge Sighs of Relief as Unemployment Falls Again — and the Markets Soar

After having expectations significantly lowered by a week of depressing numbers, the monthly jobs report came in on Friday as a pleasant surprise. Here's all the good news, and why the sequester hasn't brought the economy to a stop. Indeed, the markets are loving this news.

Comments | 2,186 Views

By Abby Ohlheiser

May 3, 2013

Factories Are Now Getting Away with the Murder of Over 500 in Bangladesh

The mounting death toll is becoming harder and harder to ignore, but that's exactly what the country's garment industry might do in the long term, thanks in part to its extensive ties to figures in political power in Bangladesh, one of whom is now saying this sort of thing "happens everywhere."

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By Adam Clark Estes

May 2, 2013

The Corrections on The New York Times' Williamsburg Trend Piece Are Delicious

Hope you're hungry for schadenfreude, because The New York Times's recent Thursday styles piece on "Will.i.amsburg" was not only laughable, it was incorrect. And somehow, so are the corrections.

Comments | 4,373 Views

By Philip Bump

May 2, 2013

Angry Whiskey Drinkers and 'Skinnygirl' Lovers Are Making Beam Go Boom

Liquor-maker Beam (as in, "Jim") had a great first quarter, for two reasons. One was customers infuriated at a threat to dilute Maker's Mark. The other was Bethenny Frankel.

Comments | 2,186 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

May 2, 2013

@WarrenBuffett Won't Make You Money, but One-Liners Are in the House

Arguably the most influential investor of all-time has finally been persuaded to join Twitter, causing an online stampede to receive his financial wisdom. Don't bet on it.

Comments | 596 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

May 2, 2013

Facebook's Mobile Ads May Be Annoying — but You'll Be Able to Hide Them Soon

We have some good news for irritated Facebook phone users. In the coming weeks Facebook plans to add controls to let users hide all those pesky mobile ads if they so desire, a Facebook spokesperson told The Atlantic Wire this afternoon.

Comments | 1,186 Views

By Esther Zuckerman

May 2, 2013

Jon Stewart Calls Ted Cruz a Dirty Canadian Syrup Guzzler

After exploring the various insults lobbed by Cruz toward his fellow Senators, and then the insults thrown by everyone else toward the junior Senator from Texas ("wacko bird"), Stewart explained why, exactly, Cruz has been called "the most hated man in the Senate."

Comments | 4,347 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

May 1, 2013

L.A. Times Ban on 'Illegal Immigrant' Puts Everybody Else on the Spot

The Los Angeles Times announced late Wednesday that it would join the Associated Press in dropping the phrase "illegal immigrant" from its style guide.

Comments | 1,976 Views

By Connor Simpson

May 1, 2013

The Koch Is Hitting the Fan at the L.A. Times

The Times staff is in open revolt against Charles and David Koch's potential purchase of papers from Tribune Co. And the city council is apparently so petrified of the Kochs's lack of objectivity that it's threatening to pull funding for those staffers' retirement accounts. If you thought Rupert Murdoch was bad, the Kochs may already be contributing to what one local politician called "the end of journalism" — and they haven't even made an offer yet. 

Comments | 2,371 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Apr 30, 2013

Marissa Mayer's Maternity Policy Still Isn't Up to Silicon Valley's Gold Standard

Yahoo's new maternity and paternity leave policy would delight all those pro-family people who hated on Mayer's work-from-home ban... if only Yahoo's new plan for new parents was as good as the HR strategies at Google and Facebook.

Comments | 394 Views

By Richard Lawson

Apr 30, 2013

The Smart Set

Lindsay Lohan to Become a Blogger

Today in celebrity gossip: Lindsay Lohan might soon be writing for the Internet, Taylor Swift may have paid too much for her house, and Michael Jordan certainly paid a lot for his wedding.

Comments | 4,113 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Apr 29, 2013

Why Wall Street Is Still Better Work Than Tech Start-Ups (If You Can Get It)

The allure of Silicon Valley (and Alley) over Wall Street for would-be bankers makes sense in theory, but it's not really a better career bet. 

Comments | 786 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

Apr 28, 2013

After Months of Hunting, HuffPost Finally Found a TV Network to Give It Airtime

The Huffington Post is teaming up with Mark Cuban to take its newish, money-losing video channel, HuffPost Live, from the laptop screen to the television screen.

Comments | 1,963 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

Apr 25, 2013

Yahoo Chairman Steps Down So Let's All Talk About Marissa Mayer

Fred Amoroso resigned his position as chairman of Yahoo Inc., a position he'd held for only 14 months, on Thursday. Obviously, everybody immediately wondered what CEO Marissa Mayer did wrong.

Comments | 3,321 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Apr 25, 2013

Hyundai Finally Realizes Suicide Isn't the Best Way to Sell a Green Car

We see a man in his garage, rigging the grimly familiar suicide scene of exhaust pumped back into a car. Except the man walks out alive... because Hyundai's new iX35 has 100 percent water emissions. Get it? Neither did anyone else, but Hyundai is just now apologizing.

Comments | 1,953 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Apr 25, 2013

The New York Times Is Getting a Cheaper Paywall Because It Has To

The business drama behind the New York Times paywall is, at its core, this: can the news organization find new subscription revenue faster than it loses advertising revenue? And, while it has pioneered the paywall, signing up 676,000 subscribers through the end of the fourth quarter, the announcement that it will offer new, cheaper tiers shows that is not enough paying customers.

Comments | 6,625 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Apr 24, 2013

Why Can't a Female Leader Be Celebrated Until She's Bullied?

Jill Abramson, the executive editor of The New York Times and the first woman to hold that position, is literally a poster child for Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In mantra. And, yet, that doesn't seem to matter to many of her defenders today, who also happen to dislike Sheryl Sandberg and her Lean In movement because it only represents corporate power women just like Abramson.

Comments | 2,137 Views

By Dashiell Bennett

Apr 24, 2013

The Real Lesson of Fisker Auto's Failure

The executives and backers of Fisker Automotive are being called before Congress today to answer for the failure of the electric car maker that is being called the "Solydra" of the green auto movement. What happened to all that Department of Energy money?

Comments | 5,851 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

Apr 23, 2013

Is There a Mutiny Brewing at The New York Times?

Politico just published a rather startling exposée on the state of affairs at The New York Times, notably the collective bad attitude towards executive editor Jill Abramson.

Comments | 7,789 Views

By Esther Zuckerman

Apr 23, 2013

Marvel Has No Match for Superman Right Now

The first trailer for Thor: The Dark World begins the post-Avengers attack on the box office with character driven sequels bent on becoming legitimate franchises of their own. And yet, now that Man of Steel looks great again, it's hard not to wonder what the future for Marvel holds.

Comments | 5,043 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

Apr 21, 2013

Last Week, CNN Itself Became the Poop Cruise

As reactions to the media's handling (or rather, mishandling) of breaking news during a busy week continue to flow in, perhaps none is more condemning than David Carr's latest column in The New York Times.

Comments | 4,248 Views

By Adam Clark Estes

Apr 21, 2013

Twitter's Hashtag-Powered Comedy Festival Sounds Confusing

The entertainment industry's looking pretty experimental these days, with the announcement of a new five-day-long comedy festival on Twitter. Yes, there is a hashtag involved.

Comments | 969 Views

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