Retail sales were up in March

LABOR

The United Auto Workers is on the cusp of a significant milestone in its audacious effort to grow by 150,000 people across 13 automakers, including Tesla, BMW, and Nissan. This week, a Volkswagen factory will vote on whether to become the only foreign commercial carmaker unionized in the United States. It would also be the first vehicle plant to join the UAW since last fall’s strike led to record-breaking wage gains, giving the union a key foothold in the South. The UAW has been banking on one victory to spawn others, like how the Starbucks union used a win at a New York State cafe in 2021 to help organize hundreds more. Other UAW efforts are underway in various stages at dozens of plants across the United States, including Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, Toyota, Rivian, and Tesla sites. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

VIRTUAL REALITY

Meta Platforms Inc. wants to bring its virtual reality headset into classrooms. Students as young as 13 years old could take a trip to ancient Rome or tour the Metropolitan Museum of Art from a classroom in the Midwest, according to the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, as it prepares to launch its new educational product. The push comes as Meta and other social media platforms face congressional scrutiny over the lack of protections for kids online. Meta’s foray into education is the latest prong of the company’s massive, expensive pivot to virtual and augmented reality. While uptake of the technology has been slow, the company hopes that introducing it into classrooms could help boost visibility and familiarity, especially among younger users. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

CONDIMENTS

If you thought Barbie mania was over, think again. It has certainly not concluded for Kraft Heinz Co. Nine months after the release of Barbie, which brought in more than $1.4 billion to become the highest-grossing film of 2023, the food maker has partnered with Mattel to produce “Barbiecue” sauce. The condiment is appropriately pink hued and emblazoned with the pony-tailed doll profile. If star Margot Robbie had worked a grill in the movie, the product would have had prime placement. Heinz is launching Barbiecue, which is discretely labeled on the back of the squeezable bottle as “Heinz Vegan Mayo with BBQ Sauce,” in just two countries, the UK and Spain. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

SOCIAL MEDIA

Shares of former president Donald Trump’s social media company plunged more than 18 percent Monday after the company filed to register the potential sale of tens of millions of additional shares. Trump Media & Technology’s stock fell 18.5 percent, erasing hundreds of millions of dollars from the company’s market value — and putting a dent in Trump’s majority stake, worth more than $3 billion. Since a surge in its first days of trading as Trump Media, which lifted the value of the company to about $8 billion at one point last month, the company’s shares have dropped by more than 50 percent. In the filing, Trump Media — the parent company of Truth Social — registered more than 146 million shares of stock that could be sold, along with 21 million shares that were converted after the exercise of warrants, which enable an investor to buy shares at a preset price. When a SPAC goes public, it issues warrants to investors that can later be converted into shares. Even though the company said the investors weren’t planning to sell those shares immediately, investors reacted to the notion that if a flood of new shares were to hit the market, they could depress the company’s stock price. — NEW YORK TIMES

SMARTPHONES

Global smartphone shipments rose nearly 8 percent in the first quarter, according to preliminary data from International Data Corp. It’s the third straight quarter of shipment growth and marks the return of Samsung to No. 1. There were 289.4 million units shipped in the period, according to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. Claiming the top spot was Samsung, with 60.1 million units shipped in the quarter, down about 0.7 percent from last year. Apple came in second, with 50.1 million units shipped, down 9.6 percent from last year. Apple was at the top spot in the last quarter of 2023. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

AUTOMOTIVE

General Motors is planning to move its downtown Detroit headquarters across the city to the Hudson’s building, a new 1.5 million-square-foot project being developed by billionaire Dan Gilbert, said people familiar with the matter. For GM, the deal makes the automaker a long-term fixture in the revival of Detroit’s downtown, which Gilbert has been spearheading by acquiring and developing 45 major office, retail, and hospitality properties. It would give Gilbert, chairman of mortgage lender Rocket Cos. Inc., an anchor tenant for the office portion of the $1.4 billion building. By committing to Detroit, GM will continue to be the only major automaker still based in the city. The carmaker has about 5,000 employees downtown and thousands more in its Tech Center about 12 miles north of its current headquarters. GM has one factory in the city, its Factory Zero electric vehicle plant. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

AIRLINES

The union for American Airlines pilots warned members to be vigilant amid a “significant spike” in safety- and maintenance-related problems at the carrier. The Allied Pilots Association cited “problematic trends” in a memo sent April 13, including instances of tools being left in airplane wheel wells and an increasing number of collisions between aircraft while they’re being towed. The union, which represents about 15,000 pilots, implored its members to avoid rushing while doing their jobs and to not be pressured into doing anything unsafe. American didn’t immediately comment. The union message underscores the heightened scrutiny on airline safety following an incident in January in which a panel blew out of the side of an Alaska Airlines plane mid-flight. United Airlines in particular has garnered unwanted attention over a series of headline-grabbing mishaps, including a wheel falling from a plane after takeoff and an aircraft running off an airport runway. — BLOOMBERG NEWS