Marketplace®

Daily business news and economic stories

Stacey Vanek Smith

Reporter, Marketplace

Stacey Vanek Smith is a former senior reporter for Marketplace.

Latest from Stacey Vanek Smith

  • The Fortune 500 2012 list ranking U.S. companies by revenue has Exxon Mobil at No. 1  and other oil firms near the top. So why are gas prices continuing to go up?
    Mark Wilson/Getty Images

    The Fortune 500 2012 list ranking U.S. companies by revenue has Exxon Mobil at No. 1 and other oil firms near the top. So why are gas prices continuing to go up?

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  • Remember when Oprah Winfrey gave away cars to everyone in her audience? One of those cars turned a dream into reality for Kiley Russell, one member of the audience that day.
    Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

    Seven years ago Kiley Russell sold the car she received as a lucky audience member at The Oprah Winfrey show. Today, that seed money has grown into a thriving cosmetics business.

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  • Greece's two main political parties suffered big losses in state elections on May 6, throwing into doubt the eurozone state's austerity plans after a strong showing by protest groups, including the neo-Nazis party Golden Dawn, which is set to enter parliament for the first time since 1974.
    SAKIS MITROLIDIS/AFP/GettyImages

    Parliamentary elections this weekend in Greece proved that voters there are fed up with the political parties imposing harsh austerity measures to deal with the country's severe debt crisis

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  • Supporters of Socialist Party candidate Francois Hollande celebrate at the Place de la Bastille in Paris on May 6, 2012 after the announcement of the first official results of the French presidential final round. Hollande won a runoff election with between 52 and 53 percent of the vote, ousting right-wing incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy.
    FRANCK FIFE/AFP/GettyImages

    In an apparent rejection of austerity measures to solve Europe's debt crisis, voters in France elected Socialist party candidate Francois Hollande over the weekend while Greek voters punished the country's two incumbent parties

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  • Supporters of France's newly elected president Francois Hollande celebrate at the Bastille Square in Paris on May 6, 2012. Hollande was elected France's first Socialist president in nearly two decades on Sunday, dealing a humiliating defeat to incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy and shaking up European politics.
    BERTRAND LANGLOIS/AFP/GettyImages

    The French elect a socialist president, and the Greek parliament gets a shake-up. It's all in a weekend for voters in Europe who took to the polls in what turned out to be a referendum on harsh austerity measures aimed at solving Europe's financial crisis. Also on the show, Disney avenges at the box office with a superhero blockbuster, college degrees as an employment perk, and Hollywood fights for California's State Parks.

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  • More than a decade ago, United Technologies made a pledge to pay for any employee's advanced degree. It's now paid for thousands of them. What could other U.S. companies learn from the program?
    Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

    More than a decade ago, United Technologies made a pledge to pay for any employee's advanced degree. It's now paid for thousands of them. What could other U.S. companies learn from the program?

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  • Mark Zuckerberg wasn’t there, but JPMorgan flew a Facebook flag as executives visited the bank’s headquarters ahead of Facebook’s IPO.
    Stacey Vanek Smith/Marketplace

    Mark Zuckerberg wasn’t there, but JPMorgan flew a Facebook flag as executives visited the bank’s headquarters ahead of Facebook’s IPO.

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  • Online giants like Yahoo, YouTube and Hulu create original programs to lure advertising dollars away from traditional television.
    Sebastien Nogier/AFP/Getty Images

    Online giants like Yahoo, YouTube and Hulu create original programs to lure advertising dollars away from traditional television.

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  • A US Airways tail rest on the tarmac near an American Airlines plane at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va. US Airways has won the support of unions at the bankrupt American Airlines for a proposal to fold the two companies into one giant carrier, US Airways CEO Doug Parker said on April 20, 2012.
    JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

    It's rumored that US Airways may soon merge with the bankrupt parent company of American Airlines. Mergers usually bring promises of frequent flier guarantees and hub airport assurances, but do they actually happen?

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  • Kimberly-Clark hosts a Facebook contest to select a nickname for its Cottonelle Fresh Care adult wet wipes.
    Cottonelle

    Bathroom humor reigns as Kimberly-Clark hosts a Facebook contest to select a nickname for its Cottonelle Fresh Care adult wet wipes.

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