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    Laura Sanicola

    Laura Sanicola

  • Here's how much an inauguration costs, and who pays for it

    President Barack Obama made headlines with his record-setting inauguration costs in 2009, totaling an estimated $170 million, according to ABC News. This year, President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration could cost between $175 million to $200 million, according to the Washington Post. Inaugurations are typically expensive, though it’s tough to determine exactly how much they cost, according to a 2013 report by the Congressional Research Service.

  • Why 2017 is the wrong year for Trump to mess with China

    President-elect Donald Trump has recently recruited a couple of China hawks onto his trade team, potentially provoking the nation yet again at a less than ideal time. President-elect Donald Trump has taken a hard line on China, but an upcoming political transition means Chinese President Xi Jinping could be easily provoked.

  • NFL ratings dip forces TV networks to repay advertisers

    The NFL’s television ratings decline this season is beginning to make a dent in the bottom line for major networks. Broadcasters like CBS and NBC saw sharp increases in audience deficiency units (ADUs), or “makegoods,” which are payments they must make to advertisers when ads do not receive the promised volume of impressions. In other words, fewer people watching football means fewer eyeballs to see ads, and the networks that broadcast NFL games are paying the price.

  • How Gap can turn things around in 2017

    With mall attendance rapidly declining amid e-commerce disruption, an expansive physical empire like Gap’s has become less of a competitive advantage and more of a burden. “While the assortment at Gap has improved under the helm of new management, regaining traffic in retail is a tough task,” JPMorgan (JPM) equity research analyst Matthew Boss wrote in a November research note, calling the mall “a battlefield” in the wake of capacity issues, off-price expanding and fast fashion. To start, Gap may have to consider turning away from its heavy discounting strategy and transition back to full-retail pricing, according to UK retail analyst Richard Hyman.

  • The most improved state of 2016

    “Oregon tends to outperform the nation as a whole during expansions,” Tim Duy, the co-director of undergraduate economics at the University of Oregon, tells Yahoo Finance in an email. It doesn’t hurt that personal incomes in Oregon are up nearly 5% since October of last year, according to FindTheHome. Oregon may also be “most improved” because its economy can be more volatile than other states’ economies.

  • 8 undergrad business programs whose new grads make more than $70K

    At the Wharton School, graduates earn significantly more than the national average starting salary. In an inaugural list, Poets & Quants, a publication that covers business schools, ranked undergraduate business programs on admissions standards, the academic experience as judged by alumni, and employment outcomes. The study revealed eight undergraduate business programs whose graduates earn an average starting salary of $70,000, which is at least $20,000 more than average college grad starts out making in the US.

  • CNN's newest effort to woo young viewers and cord-cutters

    Amid a rapidly changing digital climate, CNN has bought the video app Beme and plans to launch a new video company using its technology, the cable network announced this week. The acquisition is an effort to “future-proof” the network, said Andrew Morse, general manager for CNN Digital, in a CNN memo shared with Yahoo Finance. The Wall Street Journal reports that CNN shelled out $25 million to acquire Beme and its 11 employees, including co-founder and YouTube star Casey Neistat, who has nearly 6 million followers on YouTube and nearly 1 million on Twitter.

  • The NFL looks to virtual reality to grow its audience

    Amid an ongoing ratings decline, the NFL is delving deeper into the virtual world.

  • Connected TVs could be the 'next frontier' in digital advertising: analyst

    Facebook wants to sell ads that will be seen on TVs. Targeted advertising may soon be appearing on your connected TV. Facebook (FB) will begin using its advertising tool Audience Network to sell advertisements on connected devices such as Apple (APPL) TV and Roku TV apps, according to Recode.

  • Is your cellphone number as important as your Social Security number?

    It may be time to guard your cellphone number a little more closely. Companies, banks and government agencies have always used numbers to identify people, but now are opting for the 10-digit code you constantly carry around in your pocket, explains Yahoo Finance’s David Pogue. Cellphone numbers are more or less secret, unique and likely to last your entire life.

  • How a fake Chinese holiday turned into the world's biggest shopping event

    China’s biggest shopping day of the year is Friday, and lonely souls are already indulging in a lot of retail therapy. Singles’ Day — a twist on Valentine’s Day — is celebrated annually on 11/11 by those embracing the single life in China. What began as an informal holiday created by single male university students in the 1990s celebrating their single lifestyle generated a Guinness World Record breaking $14.3 billion in transactions for Alibaba last year.

  • 10 of the most prominent business leaders who want Trump elected

    With just days until the presidential election, Republican candidate Donald Trump has garnered considerable attention from US business leaders. Some, like billionaire Mark Cuban, have spoken out against Trump, while others like Peter Thiel are enthusiastically backing the Republican candidate. Here’s a look at 10 of the most prominent business people backing Trump.

  • Goldman Sachs alumni who went on to wield real power

    President Donald Trump tapped Goldman Sachs banker Jim Donovan as deputy Treasury Secretary on Tuesday, in the latest nomination that makes his administration look a lot like “Government Sachs.”