Microsoft has recently announced plans to spend $1 billion on technologies that will help eliminate carbon from the atmosphere. It’s part of the company’s greater plan to becoming carbon negative in the next 10 years. Molly spoke to Lucas Joppa, Microsoft’s chief environmental officer, about this approach. Plus: Thousands of business leaders and lawmakers converse on Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum. We also look at the IMF’s 2020 economic forecast, Ireland’s housing crisis and negative perceptions of female CEOs.

Microsoft taking a $1 billion shot at climate change

Every weekday, host Kai Ryssdal helps you make sense of the day’s business and economic news — no econ degree or finance background required. “Marketplace” takes you beyond the numbers, bringing you context. Our team of reporters all over the world speak with CEOs, policymakers and regular people just trying to get by.

Business

Investing

Careers

Management & Marketing

Business News

Shopping

News

Today, President Joe Biden took a decisive step by signing a bill that could ban TikTok in the U.S. unless its Chinese owner, ByteDance, divests from the company within nine months. This move echoes a long history of limiting foreign ownership of communications companies, dating back to the founding of this country. Also in this episode: Boeing’s financial woes, the NBA’s media bidding war and New England’s free college frenzy.

Clock starts on TikTok ban

Expand, slow down, contract and recover. Businesses tend to make decisions based on what stage of the business cycle the economy’s in. The problem is, that doesn’t work so well anymore. We’ll get into it. Also: The hot U.S. dollar causes trouble overseas, college grad unemployment is up, and what other food programs can learn from WIC.

The business cycle is getting less cyclical

Many states are making it easier for homeowners to subdivide their single-family lots. But those with space to spare may not know how to develop it. Now, new companies are offering cash for the land. Also: Profits are up, but probably not because of “greedflation,” and federal grants aim to get solar panels on low-income families’ roofs.

A new spin on the yard sale

Thanks to a strong stock market and record home prices, asset owners are feeling richer, even if it’s only on paper. Today, we get into the “wealth effect” and how it may play out in the presidential election. Also: Higher prices slow Procter & Gamble sales, the “catastrophic” halt to a Baltimore port business, and why companies change the metrics they report to investors.

It’s a good time to be an asset owner

In the 1990s, companies that hoped to change the world using newfangled computer technology took off. Wall Street invested in some of them big time, and their stock market valuations ballooned before they showed evidence of delivering on their promises. Sound familiar? In this episode, a cautionary tale for the era of AI. Plus, film jobs leave L.A. and New York, Netflix doubles down on video game investments and small businesses’ pricing power is kinda lumpy.

Microsoft taking a $1 billion shot at climate change

Download our free app to listen on your phone