INSURANCE
Mass. commissioner to leave for the private sector
Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner Daniel R. Judson is stepping down to take a job in the private sector. Judson will leave the Division of Insurance Feb. 24. He will begin a new job the following week as president of the Workers’ Compensation Rating and Inspection Bureau of Massachusetts, a private association of insurers. “Commissioner Judson has been a valued member of our office over the last two years. We thank him for his service to the Commonwealth and wish him well in the future,’’ John Chapman, undersecretary of the Office of Consumer Affairs & Business Regulation, said in a statement. Judson became insurance commissioner in April 2015. Before that he was president of Commonwealth Automobile Reinsurers, the high-risk pool for auto insurance in Massachusetts. He previously spent more than 15 years at the Division of Insurance, including as general counsel. The first deputy insurance commissioner, Gary Anderson, is set to run the division until a new commissioner is named. — PRIYANKA DAYAL MCCLUSKEY
AUTOMOBILES
Cadillacs are hot sellers, even overseas
The last time Cadillac dealers were as busy as they are right now, Ronald Reagan was president. Back then, one could buy a stately De Ville or a regal Fleetwood. But few of them made it across the ocean. Fast-forward to 2016: Buyers snapped up 309,000 Caddies worldwide, and almost half of those new owners were picking up their keys outside North America, according to General Motors Co. sales data released Tuesday. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
POLITICS
Trump tweets send workers to social media while on the clock
If it feels like all everyone at work is doing is talking about politics and refreshing Twitter for the latest inflammatory tweet from President Trump, it may be because some of them are. While every workplace is different, a survey commissioned by BetterWorks, a Redwood City, Calif., software company, offers a snapshot of the split-screen workday many Americans have experienced since the election and during the chaotic first two weeks of Trump’s presidency. It found employees reporting plenty of social media distractions, political discussions that have escalated into arguments, and even hours spent reading posts about politics while they’re at work. The recent online survey of 500 full-time employed Americans found that workers reported spending an average of two hours per day reading political social media posts. They reported reading an average of 14 political social media posts during the workday, with 21 percent of respondents saying they read 20 or more a day. And 20 percent of the full-time employees who responded said they’d attended a march or rally since the election. — WASHINGTON POST
REAL ESTATE
Priciest home in US on the market for $250 million
At $250 million, a new mega mansion in the exclusive Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles is the most expensive home listed in the United States. The passion project of developer and handbag tycoon Bruce Makowsky, the four-level, 38,000-square-foot mansion built on spec includes 12 bedroom suites, 21 bathrooms, five bars, three gourmet kitchens, a spa, and an 85-foot infinity swimming pool with stunning views of Los Angeles. There’s also a 40-seat movie theater, a bowling alley, and a fleet of exotic and vintage cars worth $30 million. According to Makowsky, only 3,000 people in the world could afford to buy it. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
INSURANCE
Lawsuit alleges MetLife didn’t pay overtime to claim specialists
A lawsuit alleges MetLife Inc. failed to pay $50 million in overtime to claim specialists across the country for the past three years. The complaint was filed Tuesday in federal court in Hartford by former claim specialist Stephanie McKinney, of Charleston, S.C. She previously worked at the insurance company’s offices in Bloomfield, Conn. The lawsuit seeks class-action status on behalf of claim specialists nationwide who worked on long-term disability insurance claims for MetLife and two subsidiaries. A spokesman for New York-based MetLife says company officials haven’t seen the lawsuit so they cannot comment. McKinney alleges she and other specialists worked up to 60 hours a week without overtime pay and often had to gather claims information outside of office hours. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter to hide content of abusive tweeters
Twitter Inc. says it has come up with new ways to make abusive tweeters less effective: hiding their content and preventing banned users from creating new accounts. The updates, detailed in a blog post, come after years of criticism that the company hasn’t done enough to combat abuse and harassment. It’s part of a new push under CEO Jack Dorsey to clean up the social media service. On Twitter, where people don’t have to use their real names, the same environment that encourages open discussion also helps Internet trolls thrive. The changes will make it harder for abusers to be heard because they’ll be hidden in search results and replies, possibly decreasing their motivation. Twitter won’t immediately delete the content that’s deemed harmful — it will just require more clicks to get to it. By preventing permanently blocked accounts from resurfacing under a different name, San Francisco-based Twitter may curb the number of users who create multiple log-ins just to attack others. Twitter’s failure to curb harassment has been a main complaint of users, and was one reason the company failed to get a bid from potential acquirers, including Walt Disney Co., when it was exploring a sale last year. When Dorsey became CEO in 2015, he named user safety one of his top priorities. The prior CEO, Dick Costolo, said last week at a conference that he regrets not solving the problem during his tenure. Several prominent people have been banned from the service, including Milo Yiannopoulos, the controversial British writer at the conservative website Breitbart News. Known as @nero on the site, Yiannopoulos was excluded for leading harassment of “Ghostbusters’’ actress Leslie Jones. Martin Shkreli, the brash former pharmaceutical executive, was suspended earlier this year after he harassed a female reporter online. But the more common trolls are those who hide behind anonymous user names and create new accounts whenever they’re blocked. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
ENERGY
Solar industry grows at strongest pace in seven years
US solar-industry employment in 2016 grew at the fastest pace in at least seven years, with growth in all sectors, including manufacturing, sales, and installations, as demand for clean power swelled. One of every 50 new American jobs last year was in the solar industry, which now employs more than 260,000 workers, according to an annual report Tuesday from the Solar Foundation, a Washington-based nonprofit. That was up 25 percent from 2015, and the biggest gain since the group first compiled such data, in 2010. That’s expected to continue, despite President Trump’s pledge to boost the coal industry, and will make clean energy a reliable source of employment, said Andrea Luecke, executive director of the Solar Foundation. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
ENTERTAINMENT
Disney dragged down by ESPN
Walt Disney Co.’s struggles with ESPN took center stage again Tuesday as the entertainment giant blamed falling viewership and advertising for lower sales and profit. Revenue at the company shrank 3 percent to $14.8 billion in the first quarter ended Dec. 31, Disney said Tuesday in a statement. That missed the $15.3 billion average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. A decline in profit at ESPN, which had fewer college bowl games and lower viewership, dragged down results in cable TV — which is by far Disney’s largest business. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
