In the wake of last week's mass murder in Charleston, S.C., allegedly by a white supremacist, Walmart has pledged to remove all products bearing the Confederate flag from its shelves. The company made the announcement on Monday after South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley called for the removal of the flag from the Capitol grounds. "We never want to offend anyone with the products that we offer," said a Walmart spokesperson.

Forget author compensation by number of books sold. The new, digitally-driven model for paying author royalties may be based on how many pages are read, not how many copies are sold. It' is something Amazon will be testing this summer. Beginning on July 1, authors who self-publish through Amazon's KDP Select Program will become part of the experiment.

Sergio Marchionne is spending $6 billion and facing huge challenges in a bid to turn faltering Alfa Romeo into a brand to go against the likes of BMW and Audi. The lineup of three new models that will arrive by the end of 2017, with five more scheduled to follow by 2018, starts with the Giulia midsize sedan. The goal is to boost global sales from 70,000 vehicles last year to 400,000 by 2018, with about 150,000 of the sales expected in North America.

Major airline mergers like American Airlines and US Airways; Southwest Airlines and AirTran; and Continental and United are an issue, with legislators worrying that a shrinking airline industry means an anti-competitive industry. And that has led to a request for a federal investigation. In a letter to Assistant U.S. Attorney General William Baer, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., urges the Justice Department to investigate possible collusion and anti-competitive actions in the industry that could result in higher airfares for consumers.

Burger chains have been losing dominance over the course of the past couple of decades. Thanks to casual-dining restaurants, and fast-casual and coffee concepts for that. The latest Chain Restaurant Industry Review from GE Capital, Franchise Finance says that in 1990, sandwich chains represented nearly two-thirds of the top 25 restaurant chains. By 2014, that percentage had fallen to 54.5% as growth stagnated, and concepts like Starbucks, Chipotle Mexican Grill and Buffalo Wild Wings have grown.

Tesla designers brought women to participate in a focus group at its Palo Alto headquarters last year. The participants were asked to comment on Tesla's next vehicle, the third in Tesla's lineup: the Model X compact crossover, due out this year. The research seems to have paid off. Earlier this year, CEO Elon Musk said more than half of Model X pre-orders have come from women. Musk has said the new vehicle is meant to bring in more of an even mix, as the hot-selling Model S premium sedan is "a little too guy-centric."

Mark Wahlberg could wear Calvins. And maybe Beckham actually wears H&M. But in India, top Bollywood stars endorse more indie undie brands: Singh wears Rupa? Shah Rukh Khan in Lux Cozy? Kumar in Dollar Club? Why? Rupees. Same reason they perform at big Indian weddings, or appear at store openings of brands they wouldn't be caught dead wearing. Not too surprising. The Rolling Stones recently played a private party for a business brahmin for a cool two million. Jagger even got a custom jogging track.

Technomic Inc. which surveys consumers regularly as part of its ongoing Consumer Brand Metrics survey, asked consumers in late 2014 how different restaurant brands were performing in terms of technology. Early results are that tech features strongly influence the restaurant selection decision, particularly for Millennials. Highest ranked among biggest chains are Domino's at number one, Papa John's, Chick-fil-A, Pinkberry, Ben & Jerry's. And at number nine: Starbucks.

Less than a month after news broke that Amazon and publishing behemoth Penguin Random House might go to war over online book sales, the two entities have reached a long-term agreement. The two have reportedly entered into a new contract over both physical and e-books in the U.S. and U.K. "We are still in business with Amazon, and with all our retail partners, and will continue to be," Penguin Random House said in a statement. Penguin Random House was the last of the "big five" publishers to renew its contract with Amazon to sell titles online.

Toyota's top communications executive, Julie Hamp, was arrested yesterday in Japan for having imported oxycodone, a strictly regulated painkiller there. But she got strong support from her boss Akio Toyoda, who defended his "close friend" and global communications chief. A package to her labeled "necklaces" had been intercepted at the airport. Along with toy necklaces were dozens of painkillers. She was hired by Toyota three years ago.