In Brief: Senators call on Takata to recall all vehicles with their air bags
WASHINGTON – Two U.S. senators on Thursday called on auto-supplier Takata to voluntarily recall all vehicles with their air bags following reports that a side air bag canister exploded two months ago in a 2015 Volkswagen Tiguan.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said earlier this week it was looking into the incident, which occurred in a June 7 crash near St. Louis. It was the first reported incident in a VW, the first in a side air bag and the first involving newer versions of Takata’s air bags, according to the Associated Press.
Some 33 million vehicles are already part of a recall underway to address older Takata air bag inflators, which under some conditions have ruptured, killing eight people and injuring more than 100.
Thursday, U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Edward Markey, D-Mass., sent a letter to Kevin Kennedy, executive vice president of Takata in North America, saying that because the most recent incident involved a 2015 vehicle not under recall and outside an area of high humidity, the company should voluntarily recall all vehicles containing Takata air bags.
Smartphone sales slow in China for first time
NEW YORK – Worldwide sales of smartphones in the second quarter grew at the slowest pace since 2013 as sales in China declined for the first time, according to research firm Gartner Inc.
Gartner said Thursday that smartphone sales grew 13.5 percent to 330 million units in the second quarter compared with a year earlier. While demand continues to increase in emerging markets, Gartner said overall smartphone sales were mixed. Smartphone sales in China fell 4 percent year-over-year – the first such decline for the world’s most populous country and biggest market for smartphones.
China accounted for 30 percent of total smartphone sales in the second quarter.
NEW YORK – Mort Zuckerman, the owner of the New York Daily News, says the tabloid is no longer up for sale.
In an internal memo that was sent Thursday to the Associated Press, Zuckerman said after meeting with “several potential interested and well-intentioned suitors,” he’s withdrawing the paper from the market. He had said in February he had been approached by a potential buyer.
Twitter stock falls below IPO price
NEW YORK – Twitter’s battered shares dipped below their IPO price Thursday as investors worry about the company’s ability to grow its user base.
Shares of the San Francisco-based short messaging service fell 5.8 percent to close at $26, after trading as low as $25.92 during the day amid a broader market decline.
Twitter went public in November 2013 at an initial public offering price of $26 per share.
The stock is down 29 percent since Twitter’s July 28 earnings report, when it warned that boosting its user growth rate will take a long time.
The challenge for Twitter is broadening the appeal of its service to the mass market amid fierce competition from Facebook as well as messaging apps like WhatsApp or Snapchat. While many people are familiar with Twitter, the company has not been able to convince people that they need it.