Toyota (NYSE: TM) announced an additional $1.3 billion investment in its Kentucky factory to produce its new three-row all-electric SUV for U.S. consumers, the company said Tuesday, bringing its total investment to nearly $10 billion factory since 2021. The additional funds will support assembly of the new SUV and add a battery pack assembly line to the plant. The Kentucky facility is the company's largest manufacturing site, employing nearly 9,400 workers and has the capacity to manufacture up to 550,000 vehicles per year, including the Avalon, Avalon Hybrid, Camry, Camry Hybrid and the Lexus ES 350 models. Toyota's EV investments come as the carmaker has been criticized in recent years for falling behind other leading automakers in its EV offerings. The company currently has two EV models in the U.S. market -- the Toyota bZ4X and the Lexus RZ 4503 -- both of which are manufactured in Japan.

Snap (NYSE: SNAP) announced plans to layoff 10% of its global workforce, the company said Monday, representing about 500 employees based on recent headcount figures from the social media company. “In order to best position our business to execute on our highest priorities, and to ensure we have the capacity to invest incrementally to support our growth over time, we have made the difficult decision to restructure our team,” the company in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). “As a result, we currently estimate that we will incur pre-tax charges in the range of $55 million to $75 million, primarily consisting of severance and related costs, and other charges, of which $45 million to $55 million are expected to be future cash expenditures.” Snap said the majority of those costs will be incurred in the first quarter of 2024. The company is set to deliver its fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) officially launched its Vision Pro virtual reality headset in the United States on Friday, with customers now having access to more than 600 apps and games designed to be experienced in VR. The tech giant said Vision Pro has an "infinite canvas" for apps to be used within a three-dimensional interface that users can navigate using their eyes, hands, and voice. “With more than 600 new spatial experiences to explore in the all-new App Store, alongside more than 1 million compatible apps across iOS and iPadOS, users can discover a wide array of apps that expand the boundaries of what’s possible," said Susan Prescott, VP of Worldwide Developer Relations at Apple, in a statement. "These incredible apps will change how we experience entertainment, music, and games; spark our imaginations with new ways to learn and explore; unlock productivity like never before; and so much more. Developers are already capturing the promise of spatial computing, and we can’t wait to see what they create next.”

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) on Thursday announced the launch of its new AI shopping assistant named Rufus to the e-commerce giant's mobile shopping app, offering consumers a new tool to help find products, compare reviews and prices and receive recommendations on what to buy all in one place. The generative AI was trained using Amazon's product catalog, customer reviews, community questions and answers, and other information sourced from around the web relevant to shoppers' needs. “It’s still early days for generative AI, and the technology won’t always get it exactly right,” Amazon said in a blog post. “We will keep improving our AI models and fine-tune responses to continuously make Rufus more helpful over time. Customers are encouraged to leave feedback by rating their answers with a thumbs up or thumbs down, and they have the option to provide freeform feedback as well."

Walmart (NYSE: WMT) announced a three-for-one stock split and plans to add more than 150 large-format locations across the United States in recent news as the retail giant's shares rise near their all-time high. The company said on Tuesday the additional shares will be payable after market close on Friday, Feb. 23 to shareholders of record as of Thursday, Feb. 22, with CEO Doug McMillon saying in a statement that Walmart "felt it was a good time to split the stock and encourage our associates to participate in the years to come." On Wednesday, the company unveiled plans to build or convert more than 150 brick-and-mortar storefronts over the next five years in the U.S. Walmart is currently the country's largest private employer, with about 1.6 million employees working at its more than 4,600 stores. Moreover, about 90% of the U.S. population lives within 10 miles of a Walmart. The stock closed at $165.59 on Tuesday, slightly below of its all-time high of $169.94 reached in November.