Interesting Business News

Apple paid a corporate tax rate of just 1.9 percent on its earnings outside the U.S. in the last fiscal year, according to a U.S. regulatory filing. The electronics giant paid $713 million on foreign profits of $36.87 billion in the year ending Sept. 29.
BBC.com

Nearly two-thirds of housing markets across the country are in worse shape now than when the bust began in 2008, according to a study of 919 counties by the research firm RealtyTrac. Worst hit are Atlanta, Tucson, Salt Lake City, and Cook County, Ill., where home prices have fallen nearly 20 percent in the last four years.
The Washington Post

United Airlines this week became the first U.S. carrier to fly paying passengers on Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner. United Flight 1116 flew from Houston to Chicago, to raves from passengers. One aircraft enthusiast called the roomier and quieter jet “just awesome.”
USA Today

Deadbeat parents owe more than $100 billion in unpaid child support, according to the Office of Child Support Enforcement. Half of these payments—some $53 billion-—are owed for the support of children on taxpayer-funded public assistance.
CNN.com

Goldman Sachs has trimmed the ranks of its richly remunerated partners to keep expenses down. The investment bank announced that it now has 407 partners, 31 fewer than it had in February. Goldman is completing a $1.9 billion cost-cutting program, but total pay is up 10 percent from last year.
Reuters.com

Selling cookies with social media
At 14, Olivia Ottenfeld felt she needed a new approach to selling Girl Scout cookies, said Victor Luckerson in Time. No longer one of those “pint-sized Brownies who can sell a box with an adorable smile,” she turned to social media “to reach the very outer limits of her family’s social circle.” This year many others among the nation’s 1.5 million Girl Scouts also connected to customers using email, text messaging, and Facebook, generating record-breaking sales of 214 million boxes, or “about 143 boxes per small businesswoman.” Ottenfeld sold 2,012 boxes, generating around $8,000 in revenue, three quarters of which goes to the Scouts. “Her business strategy is pretty simple: Appeal to a large customer base with a quality product.” Ottenfeld says she’s contemplating a career in business or public relations when her scouting days are over.