US economy finished the year on strong note, but faces hurdles

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RETAIL

Costco Wholesale Corp. is raising pay for most of its hourly US workers to more than $30 an hour amid contract talks with unionized employees. The company will raise hourly pay for employees at the top of its pay scale over the next three years, chief executive Ron Vachris wrote in a memo to staff this week that was viewed by Bloomberg News. In March, these workers’ hourly pay will rise by $1 per hour to $30.20, with additional $1 increases coming in each of the next two years. Workers at the bottom of the scale will get raises of 50 cents to $20, according to the memo. The changes apply to employees at non-union locations. Costco, which is based in Issaquah, Wash., declined to comment. The company and the union that represents thousands of its workers are in negotiations over a new collective bargaining contract. The current contract is set to expire on Friday, and Costco Teamsters — which represents less than 10 percent of the company’s roughly 219,000 employees in the United States — has voted to authorize a strike, demanding better pay and benefits. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

NONPROFITS

Former Boston chief of health and human services Marty Martinez has been tapped to be the next chief executive of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay. Martinez currently leads Reach Out and Read, a national nonprofit based that helps doctors work book-reading into their medical practices, particularly to connect with younger patients. He worked for the city of Boston for about four years, initially recruited by then-mayor Marty Walsh. He stayed during Kim Janey’s tenure as acting mayor before leaving in late 2021, soon after Mayor Michelle Wu’s election. Martinez served as a key point person for both Walsh and Janey as their respective administrations navigated the COVID-19 pandemic, and was a regular fixture at pandemic-era press conferences. He’ll start as president and CEO of the Boston-area United Way on March 31, with a salary of $365,000, in a partially endowed position supported by the Ansin Foundation. He’ll lead a staff of 85 employees, and take over for Bob Giannino, who stepped down last year. The United Way of Massachusetts Bay distributed nearly $41 million in its last fiscal year, including to 124 nonprofit partners as well as additional community groups primarily with a goal of combating poverty. — JON CHESTO

INTERNATIONAL

Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel, saw a record 92.3 million passengers pass through its terminals in 2024, officials announced Thursday. The result cements Dubai’s bounce-back from the coronavirus pandemic, surpassing the previous record set in 2018 for the first time. Today, the airport feels like it’s bursting at the seams with aircraft movements and crowds moving through its cavernous terminals. Authorities plan to move operations in 2032 to the city-state’s second airport after a nearly $35 billion upgrade. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

DEI

Civil rights activists gathered outside the headquarters of Target Corp. on Thursday to call for a national boycott of the retailing giant over its decision to phase out its diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Target announced last Friday that it would join competitor Walmart and a number of other prominent American brands in scaling back their DEI initiatives, which have come under attack from conservatives and the new White House of President Trump. Nekima Levy Armstrong, a veteran civil rights lawyer in Minneapolis and founder of the Racial Justice Network, joined other local activists and their supporters at a news conference to urge people to begin the boycott on Saturday, the first day of Black History Month. Many of the participants were regular Target shoppers until now, she said. Levy Armstrong said they were “stunned” that Target, which increased its commitment to building a more diverse workforce in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis in 2020, backed away from its support of racial equity. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

ENERGY

Shell Plc said it has written off almost $1 billion and withdrawn from a US offshore wind farm as President Trump seeks to stymie the industry’s development with executive orders. It’s the latest illustration of the reversal experienced by the nascent American offshore wind sector, which was championed by former president Joe Biden but suffered from soaring costs in recent years. With Trump in office, developers face the added obstacle of a president who’s set out to halt the industry. In its quarterly earnings on Thursday, Shell disclosed a $996 million impairment related to an offshore wind farm known as Atlantic Shores. “We just don’t see that it fits both our capabilities nor the returns that we would like,” chief financial officer Sinead Gorman said on a call with reporters. “So we took the decision to effectively write that off and pause our involvement.” — BLOOMBERG NEWS

TECHNOLOGY

After Apple unveiled artificial intelligence features for iPhones last year, the company’s stock soared in anticipation that the new abilities would provide a jolt to a stale business. But a boom in sales hasn’t materialized. On Thursday, the tech giant said it sold $69.14 billion worth of iPhones in its most recent quarter, a 0.8 percent decrease from a year earlier and 3.5 percent below the quarterly sales record it reported in early 2022. The company’s sales of apps and services, such as Apple Music and Apple TV+, were up, helping to offset the modest performance of its iPhone business. Apple’s quarterly revenue increased 4 percent to $124.3 billion during the three months that ended in December. Its profit rose 7 percent to $36.33 billion, rebounding from the previous quarter when it paid a multibillion-dollar fine to European regulators. The results fell just short of Wall Street analysts’ expectations for $124.38 billion in sales but exceeded projections of $35.62 billion in profit. The company said it expected revenue to rise in the current quarter, which ends in March. Shares rose 3.5 percent in after-hours trading because of the company’s encouraging sales outlook. — NEW YORK TIMES