BIGGEST BIZ STORIES OF 2017,
Things go up, things go down, and sometimes they merge.
For Boston-based industrial conglomerate GE, 2017 wasn’t a return to earth, it was a crash landing. But while GE tried to find a new way forward, self-driving cars became a reality, bitcoin became mainstream and Wall Street refused to even consider falling.
Here’s a look back at some of the top business and technology stories of 2017:
• GE plunges: Shares of the industrial conglomerate plunged 45 percent this year, thanks to declining profits and an increasingly elusive path forward. CEO Jeff Immelt stepped down, and was replaced by John Flannery in August. The company delayed part of its new headquarters in Bos- ton, and now says the mas- sive development will be completed in 2021. • Amazon sells every- thing, even its new head- quarters: The online giant had a banner year across
the board — its acquisition of Whole Foods seems to have already faded from memory — but nothing the company did made more waves than when it launched the largest economic development race in history. The Seattlebased e-commerce giant announced in September it would allow cities and states to submit proposals for its new 50,000 employee, $5 billion second North American headquarters. Amazon got more than 200 applications, including more than 20 from Massachusetts.
• Who says stocks have to fall? If you just looked at Wall Street this year, you’d think world peace had finally been achieved and Democrats and Republicans decided that party squabbles were unnecessary. Instead, while there are political challenges across the world and at home, stocks only saw one way to go.
After hitting 20,000 with much fanfare in January, the Dow will close the year at nearly 25,000 with no signs of slowing down.
• The #MeToo movement explodes: Serial sexual harassment was exposed at companies spanning a range of industries, leading to the removal of high-profile executives in music, sports, entertainment and more. The movement may have picked up steam when The New York Times published a piece on Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, but the first wave of powerful men who left their jobs amid allegations of rampant sexual harassment were at Fox News, with Roger Ailes last year and Bill O’Reilly in April.
• Mergers become mega: Longtime corporate pillars decided two is better than one this year and found willing partners. AT&T and Comcast said they would combine in a deal worth $52 billion, Disney said it would acquire much of 21st Century Fox, also for $52 billion, and CVS and insurance giant Aetna said they will combine in a merger worth $69 billion.
• Bitcoin hits the bigtime: The digital currency had an up and down year, with the price soaring to new heights, and then falling, and then new heights, and then falling again. Even though bitcoin is up more than 1,347 percent this year, it has yet to find stability. That has led to regulators issuing new warnings to potential investors, including Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin. Still, the SEC green-lighted futures trading, a big seal of approval.
• DraftKings’ merger with FanDuel is called off: When DraftKings and FanDuel, the two leading daily fantasy sports companies, said in 2016 they would combine, it was no secret the deal could be scuttled by federal anti-trust regulators. This year, the decision came down, with the feds suing to stop the merger. A month later, the companies officially threw in the towel, and returned to what they have been for years: competitors fighting for every last dollar.
• Self-driving cars arrive: The future is here, and it stops at red lights like everyone else. A year ago, no self-driving cars had touched their tires to city streets in Boston. Now, two companies — with more on the way — routinely drive, or self-drive throughout the Seaport. One company, nuTonomy, is ferrying passengers through a partnership with Lyft. Months after announcing the Lyft deal, nuTonomy said it agreed to be acquired by auto parts supplier Delphi for nearly a half-billion dollars.