GM: Recalls May Last Until Mid-Summer

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors is telling Wall Street that a recent spate of recalls may last until mid-summer as the company continues to review unresolved safety issues.

The news comes a day after The Associated Press learned that GM CEO Mary Barra told members of Congress that the company cannot make ignition switches fast enough to keep up with demand in its recall of 2.6 million small cars.

The ignition switch problem has been linked to at least 13 deaths in crashes involving Chevrolet Cobalts and Saturn Ions. Congress and the Justice Department are investigating why GM knew about the switch problem for at least a decade but only started recalling the cars this February.

Ford Names Mark Fields Its New CEO

DEARBORN, Mich., May 1 (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co said on Thursday that its chief operating officer, Mark Fields, will succeed Alan Mulally as chief executive officer, effective on July 1.

Mulally, 68, is credited with transforming the No. 2 U.S. automaker from a money-loser to a company that expects to realize a pretax profit of up to $8 billion this year. He joined Ford in 2006 after a career at Boeing Co.

The naming of 53-year-old Fields as the next CEO, which the company's board approved on Wednesday, was expected. Mulally said the transition was moved up from year-end because he felt the team and Fields were ready.

Warren Buffett Defends High CEO Pay: It's Not 'Out Of Whack'

Warren Buffett defended skyrocketing CEO pay and brushed off criticism for refusing to vote against a controversial compensation plan for Coca-Cola executives in an interview with Fortune published Monday morning.

“I don’t think [CEO pay] is out of whack with what the value is of an outstanding executive could bring,” the legendary investor and Berkshire Hathaway chief told Fortune’s Stephen Gandel. “If you run a multibillion-dollar company the difference between a 10 and an eight [in terms of CEO performance] is huge in terms of value.”

The ratio of CEO-to-worker pay in the United States has climbed rapidly over the last 30 years. In 2012, S&P 500 companies on average paid their CEOs 354 times as much as they paid their workers.

Ronald McDonald's 'Fresh' New Makeover Is Straight Out Of 1998

The Ronald McDonald of the Internet age is here -- and he's wearing cargo pants.

McDonald's unveiled a new look for the famous clown on Wednesday while announcing a new role the character will play in the brand's social media channels around the world.

Though Ronald's oversized clown shoes and red hair remain, the fast food giant gave the 51-year-old character a normcore makeover -- or makeunder. His not-quite-on-trend trappings include cargo pants, a vest and a rugby shirt.

But wait, there's more!

Some Countries Realize You Have A Life Outside Work. The U.S. Isn't One Of Them.

Working in the U.S. ain't what it used to be.

While other countries are coming up with new ways to promote work-life balance, such as France's latest move to limit after-hours email, the U.S. seems to be falling behind. It's been some time since the nation once responsible for creating weekends and the 40-hour work week made any sweeping changes to improve the working lives of its greatest living resource: people.

And it's not just because Americans are workaholics. Instead, it might have to with what has been called the productivity squeeze or speedup. High unemployment in the wake of the Great Recession has enabled companies to squeeze more out of fewer workers, all while paying them roughly the same amount. It's great for corporate profits -- which hit a record high last year -- but not so much for workers.

A WSJ Op-Ed You Might Actually Like Blasts Obama For Siding With Evil Cable Giants

Media mogul Barry Diller blasted the Obama administration for taking the side of the nation's biggest broadcasters against the company he is bankrolling, Aereo.

The startup, which streams live, over-the-air television to subscribers, has been locked in a legal war with broadcasters for two years, culminating in arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court next Tuesday. The networks, including CBS, Comcast’s NBCUniversal and the Walt Disney Company’s ABC, want Aereo either to shut down or pay them the same fees that cable providers pay to retransmit their shows.

A victory for the networks would be the end of Aereo, Diller has warned. A victory for Aereo could lead to broadcasters cutting off their signals, some have threatened.

This Is The Most Sexist Thing We've Heard On Live TV In A While

Clifford Asness, the co-founder of investment firm AQR Capital Management, joined Bloomberg TV’s Stephanie Ruhle on “Market Makers" Tuesday morning to explain why he's not worried about political turmoil in Ukraine.

In doing so, he dug himself in quite the hole, and then continued to dig and dig and dig. While discussing complicated quantitative investment strategies, Asness actually said the following. On air. To the host. In front of rolling cameras: “You’re giving me that look that I get when I talk to women about quant stuff."