Business

The Federal Trade Commission is in the early stages of opening an antitrust probe into how Google runs its online display advertising business, according to a report by Bloomberg News, citing sources who want to remain anonymous because the FTC has not announced the probe.

Media empire News Corp., parent of Fox and The Wall Street Journal, will be cleaved into two businesses starting June 28: a publishing arm and one for entertainment.

The plan was first announced a year ago. As we reported at the time:

California just unveiled a wide array of choices for the 5.3 million people expected to qualify to buy coverage through its online marketplace established by the federal health overhaul.

It's the first disclosure of prices in the nation's most populous state for individual health insurance that complies with the Affordable Care Act, and the menu of affordable options surprised some consumer advocates and analysts who had been expecting premiums to be much higher.

Irish banking officials should have known there were problems with the controversial 10-euro coin commemorating James Joyce, according to Ireland's RTE News. The coin misquotes the author's Ulysses, and bears an image of Joyce that his estate did not approve.

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NPR's business news starts with a comeback.

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MONTAGNE: Procter & Gamble made a surprise announcement last night. It's bringing back its former CEO as the company's new CEO. A.G. Lafley will replace Bob McDonald. Procter & Gamble is behind names like Crest toothpaste and Tide laundry detergent. The 170-year-old company has been struggling to grow in emerging markets. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

At the McDonald's annual shareholders meeting in Chicago Thursday, Hannah Robertson told CEO Don Thompson, "It would be nice if you stopped trying to trick kids into wanting to eat your food all the time." Hannah and her mother were part of a contingent from a watchdog group.

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The popular series "Arrested Development" returns this Sunday with 15 new episodes, released all at once. They're coming from Netflix, which earlier this year, released "House of Cards." Online video companies are producing more of their own shows - not just Netflix, Hulu and Yahoo are getting into the act, as well.

Now, Amazon also wants to join, but they're doing things differently, letting viewers help choose the new lineup. Here's what TV critic Eric Deggans thinks of that approach.

The U.S. stock market indices are up 15 percent so far this year. Renee Montagne talks to David Wessel, economics editor of The Wall Street Journal, about the week in stocks. What's behind the broader rally this year, and why did things get rocky this week?

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More now, on the new federal health care law. States are preparing for that law to take effect. In California, officials have now unveiled plans and prices from millions of residents who will be using a new health insurance exchange two purchase their coverage next year. This is a key test of the federal health law's ability to draw competitive bids from insurance companies.

Sarah Varney reports.

It's not every day that a 9-year-old girl chastises the CEO of one of the world's biggest fast-food chains.

Yet that's exactly what young Hannah Robertson did Thursday morning at McDonald's annual shareholders meeting in Chicago. When the meeting opened up to questions, Hannah was first up at the mic with a pointed criticism.

"It would be nice if you stopped trying to trick kids into wanting to eat your food all the time," she told McDonald's CEO Don Thompson.

Ouch.

Millions of students rely on loans and grants for their studies. But with universities strapped for cash, fewer schools are able to admit students regardless of their financial need. Host Michel Martin asks the President of Iowa's Grinnell College, Dr. Raynard Kington, why his school considered putting a halt to need-blind admissions.

Strong new-vehicle sales figures are causing industry analysts to revise their forecasts for North American production levels in 2013, with J.D. Power & Associates and LMC Automotive predicting 16 million units will be produced — a mark not hit since 2002.

More than 1,157,000 new vehicles are projected to be sold in May, the third month in a row to top the 1 million level. The growth is being helped by strong demand for full-sized pickups, which represent more than 11 percent of retail sales, according to a news release from J.D. Power.

There were 340,000 first-time claims for unemployment insurance last week, down 23,000 from the week before, the Employment and Training Administration reports.

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NPR's business news starts with some of the shine off the stock market.

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The big bank Goldman Sachs holds its annual shareholder meeting today. These meetings are a chance for shareholders to hear from the CEO and vote on key issues, like CEO's pay. Five years ago, during the financial crisis, Goldman's CEO was a poster boy for overpaid executives. To find out how much Lloyd Blankfein is making now, we reached Neil Weinberg. He's editor-in-chief of American Banker.

Thanks for joining us.

NEIL WEINBERG: My pleasure.

MONTAGNE: So how much did Mr. Blankfein make?

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The IRS has admitted to targeting conservative groups seeking tax exempt status. And yesterday at a House hearing the IRS director of exempt organizations said, quote: "I have not done anything wrong." She then declined to testify. Lois Lerner's brief appearance at the committee was just the beginning of a stormy, five-hour session filled with angry outbursts and allegations of political motives.

NPR's Peter Overby reports.

PETER OVERBY, BYLINE: Lois Lerner did read a statement that she had done her job properly.

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NPR's business news begins with a big payback to the Fed.

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GREENE: Three years ago President Obama's green energy loan program gave a $455 million federal loan to electric carmaker Tesla. Critics bashed the loan as risky. Yesterday, Tesla announced it had paid that loan back in full - and early. The company was one of five carmakers to get money into the program. Tesla was first to repay it. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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And our last word in business today is causing a bit of a stink in Venezuela, that would be a toilet paper shortage.

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Venezuela is rich in oil, but relies on imports for many basic goods - including toothpaste, soap and yes, toilet paper. For weeks now, the country has had chronic toilet paper shortage.

MONTAGNE: Lawmakers voted to approve a $79 million credit to the government to resolve the issue. They aim to initially import some 39 million rolls.

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You're listening to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News.

For those who closely follow decisions made by the Federal Reserve, today's marquee event was the testimony of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. He appeared on Capitol Hill before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress. And some lawmakers asked Bernanke about concerns of chaos in the financial markets once the Fed stops pumping money into the economy. NPR's John Ydstie explains.

Chuck used to sell marijuana in California. But the legalization of medical marijuana in the state meant he was suddenly competing against hundreds of marijuana dispensaries. So he moved to New York, where marijuana is still 100 percent illegal. Since making the move, he says, he's quadrupled his income. (For the record: His name isn't really Chuck.)

In the nearly impenetrable language that comes with his job, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress on Wednesday that even though the economy is doing better, the central bank needs to keep giving it a boost.

The key passage from his prepared testimony:

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And our last word in business on this Wednesday is: Mile High Book Club.

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

We're talking about an in-flight library offered by the Australian airline Qantas.

GREENE: They will still have movies on the plane, that right, Linda?

WERTHEIMER: Yes, David. But Qantas is telling passengers who want to read that they can ditch their Kindles and settle in with a paperback.

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NPR's business news starts with Home Depot raising the roof.

Home Depot got a boost from the housing recovery in its first-quarter net income. It rose 18 percent; that exceeds expectations. The company acknowledged yesterday that while cool and wet spring weather had a negative impact on some of Home Depot's seasonal business, its core business stayed strong.

Home Depot's stock price rose by 2.5 percent with the news. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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The wait is over for many Xbox fans. Yesterday, Microsoft unveiled its next generation Xbox gaming console. It's called Xbox One. It's the first major revamp of the gaming system since 2005. In our business bottom line, NPR's Laura Sydell reports the new Xbox is designed to be an all-in-one system, an entertainment hub for movies, TV and games that should appeal as much to grandparents as it does to children.

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Finding a parking space, probably not at the top of the list of things you like to do. Well, experts in parking think they might be able to change that. One key, they say, is for developers to think about the parking experience when they're designing malls or apartment complexes, instead of just treating it as an afterthought.

This came up in Florida this week, at the International Parking Institute's annual conference. Reporter Kenny Malone, from member station WLRN, was there.

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Here's some news for travelers. If you can't afford or don't want to pay the price for a hotel room, maybe you've used the cheap lodging site Airbnb. If so, you have to take New York City off your list. The popular website has suffered a major setback in court. A judge in New York ruled that an Airbnb user in Manhattan violated local laws when he rented a room to an out-of-towner.

From member station WNYC, Ilya Marritz reports.