Saturday's economy stories

May 20, 2017 - Economy
All the bombshell Trump stories that broke this week
Even for the biggest political junkies, this week's twice-daily, jaw-dropping news scoops were hard to keep up with. The New York Times and Washington Post took turns dropping bombshell report after bombshell report on the President.
Some perspective: It was only two weeks and two days ago that President Trump, Mike Pence and Paul Ryan were celebrating outside the White House after passing the GOP's health care bill. It feels like a distant dream.

May 19, 2017 - Economy
Music streaming gets messy
In the past month, three of the largest music streaming companies all declared major business changes:
- Pandora, which has 81 million users, is reportedly in talks with SiriusXM about a potential acquisition. Pandora said last Monday it has raised money to potentially explore a sale next month.
- Spotify, which has 100 million users, is reportedly planning a direct listing on the NYSE as early as this fall.
- IHeartRadio, which has over 100 million registered users for its streaming service, announced last month it expects bankruptcy this year.
What it means: The business changes at each organization may not be related, but they point to a growing trend of competitiveness driving instability in the music streaming market.
- Earlier this year, Jay-Z sold 1/3 of his streaming service, Tidal, to Sprint after facing major losses in 2015.
- Meanwhile, Pandora and iHeartRadio both launched subscription services to compete with the likes of Spotify and Apple Music, who are leading the market in subscribers.
- And like we're seeing with the cable industry, all the players are facing messy disputes over licensing fees with the content creators.

