2015 Event Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi encounters resistance to proposed labor reforms as 150 million workers go on strike for a day in protest; Modi is seeking to make the Indian business environment more attractive to investment by foreign companies 2015 Event The U.S. National Labor Relations Board rules that recycler Browning-Ferris has employer responsibility for contract workers supplied by an agency; the ruling may imply similar liability for franchise companies such as McDonalds 2015 Event The U.S. Federal Communications Commission approves net neutrality rules, which guarantee equal Internet access to all users; broadband companies had been seeking the ability to sell faster access to certain customers while slowing access for others 2014 Event U.S. President Barack Obama states his support for 'net neutrality', urging federal lawmakers to regulate internet service providers in a manner similar to utility companies in order to ensure open access to all internet users 2014 Event Automakers Kia and Hyundai are fined $100 million by the U.S. for claiming that emissions of greenhouse gases from its vehicles were lower than actual emissions, allowing the companies to fraudulently receive pollution credits 2014 Event Facebook and Apple are offering to pay the costs of freezing the eggs of female employees covered by the companies' insurance plans; the companies see the offering as a way to help women focus on their careers if they wish to delay motherhood 2014 Event Hewlett-Packard (HP) plans to split into two companies: HP Enterprise, focused on enterprise products and services, and HP Inc., focused on printing and personal computing; the move will be completed in 2015 2014 Event The U.S. Treasury is issuing rules to hinder companies from moving their headquarters outside the country to save on taxes; the rules may impact pending deals, such as Burger King's plan to move to Canada after merging with Tim Horton's 2014 Event Court documents have been unsealed for rulings in 2008 requiring companies to give customers' online data to the U.S. government with no warrant; the papers show that Yahoo! sued but lost, resulting in compliance by Yahoo!, Google, Apple, and others 2014 Event A U.S. lawsuit against IBM and Ford Motor Company, seeking damages for the companies' transactions with the former apartheid government, has been dismissed; the transactions were conducted by foreign units and are not under jurisdiction of U.S. law 2014 Event Multiple U.S. food chains in China drop meat supplier Shanghai Husi after reports that the company used expired meat and unsanitary processing conditions; companies include McDonald's, Taco Bell, Burger King and Starbucks 2014 Event The U.S. adds new sanctions against Russia, prohibiting certain Russian international businesses from accessing U.S. capital markets; the move extends previous sanctions targeting specific individuals and their companies 2014 Event Online travel reservation company Priceline has purchased online restaurant reservation company OpenTable, offering market expansion opportunities for both companies; Priceline paid $2.6 billion for the acquisition 2014 Event The European Commission (EC) is examining the tax status of Fiat in Luxembourg; Starbucks in the Netherlands; and Apple in Ireland to identify potential unfair tax advantages; the companies say they are in compliance with financial laws 2014 Event The Chinese and Russian state energy companies, Gazprom and CPNC, respectively, have entered a deal for Russia to supply China with natural gas; the deal provides a market for Russian gas as European countries seek to reduce their dependence due to Russia's actions 2014 Event Russian president Vladimir Putin bans cursing in creative works and media outlets, with fines on individuals and companies for using bad language; the stated purpose of the law is to protect Russian language and culture 2014 Event The Federal Communications Commission moves away from the idea of net neutrality, in which all Internet users are able to equally access and view content; the agency instead proposes to allow large companies to pay Internet service providers for access to faster-streaming 'lanes' 2014 Event Holcim Ltd of Switzerland and Lafarge SA of France, the two largest cement companies, are making plans to merge 2014 Event Greenpeace releases its annual energy efficiency report praising several Internet companies, including Apple, which scored poorly a couple of years ago; Amazon was noted as lagging behind in use of renewable energy for its data centers 2014 Event The Brazilian government is auctioning part of the nation's television bandwidth spectrum to mobile phone companies, providing much-needed capacity to meet wireless demand 2014 Event Exxon Mobil takes the initiative among energy companies to disclose its plans for dealing with climate change in response to a 2013 shareholder resolution; the company's move may set a standard for other energy companies to follow 2014 Event The U.S. Supreme Court rules that whistleblower protection under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act extends to private employees working for public companies under contract 2014 Event The banking industry is losing ground as non-banking companies such as Apple, Google and TMobile develop their own payment methods and financial products that circumvent the need for banking services 2013 Event Over two dozen companies will have U.S. sanctions imposed upon them as a result of their involvement in aiding Iran with its nuclear program 2013 Event In the U.K., the top 50 payday loan companies were sited for "widespread irresponsible lending"; the Office of Fair Trading gives them 12 weeks to change their practices 2012 Event Yahoo and Facebook agree to settle a patent dispute, dropping lawsuits against each other and now forming an advertising and content-sharing alliance that expands an existing partnership between the two companies 2011 Event The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers grants private companies the right to create new website domain suffixes 2010 Event Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission and the Tokyo Stock Exchange conduct an insider trading investigation of Japanese companies 2010 Event United and Continental air lines announce that the two American companies will merge, creating the world's largest airline 1995 Event U.S. Federal Court votes that Cable companies must carry local stations 1992 Event FCC rules companies can own 30 AM and 30 FM stations (formerly 12) 1984 Event AT&T's 22 owned Bell system companies divests into 8 companies 1982 Event AT&T agrees to divest itself of 22 Bell System companies 1971 Event Algeria nationalizes French oil companies 1965 Event Indonesia nationalizes all foreign oil companies 1941 Event Nazi occupiers of Holland forbid Jewish owned companies 1938 Event President Cardena of Mexico nationalizes U.S. and British oil companies 1912 Event Maurits Binger establishes 2 Dutch movie companies 1866 Event Paid fire department replaces volunteer companies
