Professional & Business Services

New York – September 07, 2026 -- Only 48.2% of individual contributors believe their organization is "on the same page" during change initiatives, compared with 79.4% of leaders, according to a new white paper from Dale Carnegie. The 31-point gap illustrates how transformation strategies can lose coherence as they move from executive planning into daily execution, the training firm found.

Leadership credibility gaps widen among frontline staff

Just 27% of employees strongly believe their immediate leader's actions consistently align with stated messages, a figure that drops to 18.5% among individual contributors. Dale Carnegie's report, titled "Leading Organizational Change: The Human System Behind Successful Execution," argues that this divergence between words and actions leads employees to question whether a change effort is credible enough to warrant sustained support.

London – – September 07, 2026 -- Crowell & Moring has appointed Chiraag Shah as a partner in its London office, strengthening the firm's International Dispute Resolution practice with more than 25 years of high-stakes arbitration experience.

Shah brings a Chambers-ranked and Legal 500-recognized arbitration practice to Crowell

Shah joins from Morrison & Foerster's London office, where he served as Global Head of International Arbitration and Head of the Africa Desk. He previously held a partner role at Kirkland & Ellis and worked at leading law firms in Kenya before relocating to the UK.

San Mateo, Calif. – September 07, 2026 -- California Pool Partners (CPP) has formally launched an owner-centric platform positioned as an alternative to traditional private equity roll-ups in the pool service industry, with operations now established in Los Angeles and San Diego and a third California market targeted for expansion this fall.

CPP acquires Payan Pools, a business built from a $23,000 route in 1987

The platform's recent acquisition of Payan Pools, described as one of San Diego County's most respected pool service companies, illustrates its approach. Founder Javier Payan grew the business over nearly four decades after purchasing the original route in 1987 and was not actively seeking a sale when CPP approached him.

"If I was to write down what it would take for me to sell this business, it was all right there. They checked all my boxes," Payan said of the deal.

Redmond, Wash. -- September 01, 2026 -- Halfpricesoft.com priced its updated ezPaycheck 2026 payroll software at $169.00 and added a direct e-file 941 feature that lets employers submit quarterly tax forms straight to the IRS through an authorized electronic system. The Redmond, Washington-based developer made the release available with a 30-day free trial ahead of year-end payroll compliance work for small businesses. The update covers payroll tax tables for all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

ezPaycheck 2026 Routes Form 941 Directly to the IRS

The e-file 941 tool inside ezPaycheck 2026 allows businesses and tax professionals to file federal quarterly tax forms electronically rather than mailing paper submissions. Halfpricesoft.com built the feature into the core application rather than as a separate purchase. The company also sells ezW2, ezACH and integration paths with QuickBooks that connect to the same payroll data set used for the 941 filings.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING — July 03, 2026 — Bonner Wirtschafts-Akademie (BWA), a Bonn-based personnel development and outplacement consultancy, has warned that Germany faces job losses of historic scale as an energy cost crisis and rapid AI adoption compound one another. BWA managing director Harald Müller pointed to a recent survey from the Institute of German Economy (IW), which found companies plan to cut nearly 30 percent of positions this year, calling that figure only the starting point of a larger shift. He argued the combination of rising energy costs and AI-driven automation will eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs across both industrial and office roles, layered on top of losses already underway in the automotive sector.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING — June 17, 2026 — Tokyo-based developer White Owls Inc. has confirmed that Hotel Barcelona, its action-horror roguelike from Hidetaka Suehiro and Goichi Suda, moved from a "Mixed" to a "Positive" user-review rating on Steam. The shift follows a multi-month "Under New Management" relaunch built around a full gameplay rebalance, an interface rebuild, and sustained community and media outreach. Publisher Dark Product directed the repositioning and platform strategy, while agency Goldpact Goblins ran the global campaign across creators, streaming, and editorial coverage. For marketing and communications teams, the case offers a concrete look at how coordinated execution across development, publishing, and outreach can repair a damaged product reputation without a ground-up relaunch.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING - December 18, 2025 - Motor Presse Stuttgart is kicking off a year-long anniversary cycle for its flagship automotive media brand auto motor und sport, marking 80 years of publishing with a premium-format XXL issue and a 2026 editorial program designed to deepen reach across print and digital channels.

An anniversary issue designed as a premium brand statement
Motor Presse Stuttgart is launching the jubilee year with an oversized special edition of auto motor und sport featuring a refined additional cover, larger format, and an expanded 232-page scope. The move signals a deliberate positioning strategy: in a fragmented media environment, special-interest publishers are increasingly using premium "event issues" to reinforce brand authority, extend dwell time, and create high-impact inventory for partners.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING - December 10, 2025 - Monks, S4 Capital's unified, digital-first global brand, is sharpening its AI media strategy in Europe, the Middle East and Africa with the appointment of Thiago Correa as Senior Vice President of Media for EMEA. From his base in London, Correa will help brands redesign their media architectures around algorithmic performance systems that tightly integrate media, data, creative and measurement.

AI as the new engine of media economics

Monks positions Correa's hire squarely in the context of an industry where the leading AI innovators-Google, Meta and Amazon-are also the world's dominant media platforms. As performance increasingly depends on AI-driven bidding and optimisation, the agency sees manual, line-item trading as both a margin sink and a growth constraint for advertisers.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING - December 10, 2025 - Koelnmesse Inc. is initiating a carefully planned leadership transition in North America, with long-time President and Managing Director Mette Petersen set to retire on June 30, 2026, and 22-year company veteran Darrin Stern taking over the top role on January 1, 2026. The structured handover is designed to safeguard continuity while positioning the U.S. subsidiary for its next decade of portfolio growth and international expansion.

Structured transition protects continuity and relationships

From 1 January 2026, Stern will assume the role of President and Managing Director, while Petersen will continue through the first half of the year in an advisory capacity. During this period she will mentor key team members and support strategic initiatives with Koelnmesse's headquarters in Cologne, Germany.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING - December 8, 2025 - Investors in Perrigo Company plc (NYSE: PRGO) are weighing next steps after The Schall Law Firm announced a putative securities class action alleging the consumer healthcare company misled the market about the condition and turnaround costs of the baby formula business it acquired from Nestlé. The case highlights ongoing governance and disclosure risk around carved-out assets in regulated consumer categories.

Allegations Center on Underinvestment in Nestlé Baby Formula Business