Business
January 19, 2022
This Lockhart Greenhouse Wants to Grow Your Salad Using Robots
Iron Ox, a San Francisco–area company with a Texas-bred CEO, builds greenhouses that use data to yield pretty produce.
Business
Reporting and commentary on Texas businesses and the trends and innovation happening in our state
Op-Ed
January 18, 2022
How to Stop the Migrant Caravans That Are Headed to Texas
When I opened my morning paper a few days ago, the front page featured an article about yet another caravan of Hondurans heading to Texas. Many are fleeing the violence in that country, which suffers from one of the highest murder rates in the world. But why do they come
Business
January 12, 2022
Southwest’s New Skipper Buckles Up
Robert Jordan takes charge as the Dallas-based airline faces the most difficult challenges since its launch.
Business
January 10, 2022
Regenerative Ranching Is Better for the Environment, but Can It Be Profitable?
These Texans think so.
Energy
January 6, 2022
This Gas-Burning Power Plant Near Galveston Bay Could Change the Future of Clean Energy
NET Power says it can deliver zero-emission electricity to the Texas grid, but is its sustainable-energy business sustainable?
Libations
January 5, 2022
Troy Aikman’s Light Beer, Eight, Is Only Available in Texas
We cracked open a cold one with the former Cowboy to learn about his latest business venture, a beer aimed at the calorie conscious.
Business
December 27, 2021
Will Elon Musk Austin-ify Brownsville?
Some folks in Texas's poorest city see a new downtown mural funded by the billionaire's foundation as the writing on the wall.
Business
December 15, 2021
Can This UT Professor Clean Up Outer Space?
Moriba Jah, a self-proclaimed “space environmentalist,” has joined a new effort to map the millions of bits of discarded debris orbiting the Earth.
Business
November 16, 2021
In Praise of . . . Enron?
Twenty years have passed since the notoriously corrupt energy-trading company collapsed. Maybe it’s time to acknowledge that it wasn’t all bad for Texas.
Business
November 12, 2021
It’s Time to Take Texas Cheese Seriously
There’s more to Texas cheese than queso. The unique terroir of the Lone Star State makes locally made cheese special—and major national manufacturers are taking notice.
Technology
November 8, 2021
Can Virtual Reality Make Older Adults Happier and Healthier?
A Plano company believes immersive VR is the future of eldercare.
Business
November 4, 2021
Why American and Southwest Airlines Canceled Thousands of Flights
Don’t blame vaccines, but do blame the pandemic. And hope the airlines have fixed their problems by the busy Thanksgiving travel season.
Business
October 28, 2021
No Signs Yet of a Tech Texodus
But recruiters warn that the state’s abortion restrictions could prove a barrier to attracting top talent, especially among women.
Sports
October 27, 2021
How Mattress Mack Pays For His Sports-Related Mega Giveaways
If the Astros win the World Series, buyers win free mattresses—and Mattress Mack cashes the biggest winning ticket in sports-betting history.
Libations
October 22, 2021
Everything We Know About Elon Musk’s Tesla Beer
The billionaire announced the launch of Cybertruck-inspired "Giga Beer," and a Texas brewery may or may not be planning to sell it.
Business
October 21, 2021
Texas Hemp Business Celebrates Itself Amid Setbacks
The nascent industry is celebrating itself amid a series of setbacks, including having its most popular products deemed controlled substances by the state.
Health
October 13, 2021
A Dallas Startup Aims to Build a Big Business—and Transform Lives—by Curing Rare Diseases
Taysha hopes to commercialize UT Southwestern’s groundbreaking gene therapies to benefit its shareholders—and desperately ill children.
Business
October 8, 2021
Why Tesla Is Moving to Texas
Elon Musk’s company aims to transform the energy business. So, of course, it’s relocating to the energy capital.
Business
October 5, 2021
At Heritage, Pokémon Cards Are the New Bitcoin
The collectors are younger, the payouts are bigger, the collectibles are … nerdier. Dallas-based Heritage Auctions has entered a wild new era.
Energy
September 24, 2021
Natural Gas Prices Are Surging. Why Aren’t Texas Drillers Taking Advantage?
The state’s shale fields are quiet, keeping supply tight and energy bills higher.
Business
September 16, 2021
Inside the Extremely Hot Business of Bitcoin Mining in Big Spring
A Minnesota company is hunting for cryptocurrency on the eastern edge of the Permian Basin—with plans for a big expansion in Texas.
Business
September 15, 2021
How Mark Cuban Plans to Dunk on the Drug Industry
The billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks has teamed up with a polymath and put his name on a company that aims to change the pharmaceutical game.
Business
September 13, 2021
This Texan Aims to Resurrect the Woolly Mammoth to Save the Planet
Ben Lamm’s latest company, Colossal, hopes to reverse climate change by reintroducing the long-extinct creature to the Arctic. What could go wrong?
Energy
September 12, 2021
Fracking Has a Bad Rep, but Its Tech Is Powering a Clean Energy Shift
Texas start-ups are harnessing know-how born of the shale boom in pursuit of a greener future.
Education
September 2, 2021
Who Is Bud Brigham, the Man Behind UT’s “Liberty Institute”?
With taxpayer money now committed to the project, alongside private pledges, the oil billionaire’s push to create a conservative think tank on the Austin campus nears the goal line.
Business
September 1, 2021
The Delta Variant Is Denting Texas’s Construction Industry
Supply-chain disruptions and an increase in COVID-19 cases at job sites are slowing down employment in building.
Business
August 26, 2021
Elon Musk Wants to Sell Texans Electricity
Tesla has filed to become a Texas power retailer in a move that could shake up an already fast-changing market.
Business
August 26, 2021
Inside the High-Stakes Hustle of Small-Business Salsa
For a small salsa company to succeed, it takes a lot more than a Texan grandmother's recipe for great dip.
Business
July 29, 2021
House Hunting in Fort Worth With a Wealthy Californian
What the luxury buyers flocking to Texas, and the agents helping them, say about the super-charged real estate market.
Business
July 27, 2021
How COVID-19 Transformed Match Group’s Online Dating Empire
The Dallas-based industry leader adapted to the pandemic with features that remain popular even as social-distancing recommendations have eased.
Business
July 22, 2021
How This Sad Barbecue Tray Became a Meme, Then an Artwork, Then a Cash Cow
After years of online mocking by barbecue fans, “Brooklyn BBQ” is now being auctioned as an NFT. The starting bid is about $10,000.
Business
July 15, 2021
The Return of Liz Lambert
She was born into West Texas ranching royalty and found fame by building a hotel empire. Then she was ousted from her company. Now, for her next act . . .
Technology
July 14, 2021
Art Blocks Brings Big Money to Artists Who Paint With Code
The Houston-based website makes use of blockchain technology—and an element of surprise—to attract a sizable new audience for computer-generated works.
Business
July 9, 2021
Remote Work in Downtown High-rises Is Killing the Businesses in Houston’s Tunnels
The city's subterranean shops are still feeling the pandemic’s toll.
Business
June 29, 2021
The Delivery Robots Are Your Friends, Says Delivery-Robot Company
Our intrepid reporter biked behind the human whose job it is to follow, and help train, Austin’s new pizza-delivery robots.
Business
June 29, 2021
New Luby’s Owner Won’t Tear Up the Menu (or Hold the Mayo)
The Chicago investor buying 32 of the beloved and beleaguered Texas cafeteria chain's remaining locations says the "food is not the problem.”
Business
June 24, 2021
How Gary Kelly Changed Southwest Airlines
The longtime CEO is stepping down. With apologies to Herb Kelleher, it's Kelly who may be the most successful chief executive in the company’s history.
Energy
June 9, 2021
Griddy Argues It Was, in Fact, a Champion of Consumers
The much-maligned—now bankrupt and outlawed—electricity provider offered just the sort of experiment Texas’s energy deregulation sought.
Business
June 3, 2021
Hot Pants, Love Potions, and the Go-go Genesis of Southwest Airlines
Fifty years ago this month, the Dallas-based carrier first took flight. It’s reflecting on its past as it confronts a pandemic-shaped future.
Business
June 1, 2021
Inside the Greater Houston Partnership’s Tense Fight Over Voting Rights
Before a Democratic walkout blocked the passage of an "election integrity" bill in the Texas Lege, members of the partnership had split over how to respond to the legislation.
Energy
May 27, 2021
ExxonMobil and Its Rivals Learn They Can’t Ignore Climate Activists
Major setbacks this week may force the oil giants to speed efforts to curb carbon emissions and invest in renewables—and perhaps even abandon the search for new fossil-fuel plays.
Energy
May 20, 2021
Texas’s Oil and Gas Industry Is Defending Its Billions in Subsidies Against a Green Energy Push
The state's energy business has long counted on tax breaks and other largesse. Whether renewables or fossil fuels get more depends on how you do the math.
Film & TV
May 18, 2021
Eva Longoria’s Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Movie May Be Based on a Frito-Lie
Plano probably had more to do with the invention of the snack than Richard Montañez's inspirational tale did.
Business
May 18, 2021
AT&T’s “Cowboy Swagger” Led to Its Hollywood Misadventure
With its WarnerMedia announcement, the Dallas-based telecom tacitly admits its latest bold acquisition—by a Texas company built on them—was a mistake.
Business
May 12, 2021
Elon Musk Is Turning Boca Chica Into a Space-Travel Hub. Not Everyone Is Starstruck.
Residents of the South Texas beach town say SpaceX’s billionaire owner is ruining their “little piece of heaven.”
Business
April 29, 2021
Amid a Bitcoin Boom, Texas Leaders Get Cozier With Cryptocurrency
A resurgent mining industry is lobbying the Legislature to make the state friendlier to the blockchain.
Politics & Policy
April 17, 2021
Why Have Texas’s Restrictive Voter Bills Received Less Corporate Pushback Than the Ones in Georgia?
A few of Texas's big businesses have publicly criticized efforts to make voting more difficult. But many more, fearful of Republican retribution, are trying to keep their heads down.
Business
April 14, 2021
Outdoor Voices Is Not F***ing Around With Austin Bar Little Brother
The athletic wear giant threatened legal action over the bar’s parody of its famous blue hat.
Health
April 9, 2021
This COVID-19 Vaccine Plant Shows Texas Is Becoming Biotech’s Third Coast
With the pandemic spurring officials to keep more high-tech drug manufacturing on U.S. soil, the state stands to benefit.
Business
April 8, 2021
How Austin’s Start-up Sector Won the Pandemic
The city’s tech industry enjoyed big-time growth despite—or because of?—the nation’s difficult past year.