Monday’s business headlines

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Here’s a look at Monday’s business headlines.

Simon Mall

Mall giants Simon Property Group and Taubman Centers are headed to court over their $3.6 billion merger deal.

Simon struck a deal to buy Taubman’s 26 U.S. luxury malls in early February but in early June said it was terminating its agreement with Taubman, citing the novel coronavirus pandemic and alleging that Taubman has breached the parts of the merger agreement that govern its business operations.

If Simon and Taubman can’t reach a deal in mediation, the cases has to be trail ready by mid-November.

Microsoft

Microsoft is permanently closing nearly all of its physical stores around the world.

According to its website, Microsoft has 83 stores worldwide, including 72 stores in the U.S. and several others abroad where it showcases and sells laptops and other hardware.

The company calls this a “strategic change” for its retail business as sales increasingly shift online.

Microsoft has a store at the Fashion Mall at Keystone.

Starbucks

Starbucks announced it was immediately suspending all of its advertising on “all sosical media platforms,” becoming the latest company to suspend social media advertising in the wake of criticism that companies aren’t doing enough to protect users from hate speech.

Civil rights organizations like the NAACP, Color of Change and Anit-Defamation League have called on major companies to suspend advertising on Facebook following the May 25 police killing of 46-year-old George Floyd in Minneapolis and ensuing nationwide protests over police brutality.

Rent

Rents are softening nationwide but some places are seeing a bigger drop.

Apartment List, a rental listing platform, says over the past year, rents are up only two-tenths of a percent, even though this is the time of year when rent appreciation heats up.

San Francisco and Orlando lead the country in terms of rent declines.