European markets were mostly lower, with Germany’s DAX down 0.4% at 17,277.27 and the CAC 40 in Paris 0.7% lower, at 7,098.89.

The FTSE 100 shed 0.4% to 7,974.44 in London.

Those modest declines and gains in Asia suggested a respite from the turmoil of the past two trading sessions, when the Nikkei lost a combined 18.2% and other markets also swooned. U.S. futures showed solid gains, with the contract for the S&P 500 up 0.5% and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 0.3%.

Monday’s plunge reminiscent of a crash in 1987 that swept around the world pummeled Wall Street with more steep losses,as fears worsened about a slowingU.S. economy.

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The Nikkei gained nearly 11% early Tuesday and bounced throughout the day to close up 3,217.04 points at 34,675.46 as investors snapped up bargains after the 12.4% rout of the day before.

“Calm finally appears to be returning,” Bas van Geffen of Rabobank said in a report. The Nikkei’s 10% gain didn’t make up for Monday’s loss, he said, “but at least it takes some of the ‘panic’ out of the selling.”

The dollar rose to 144.87 yen from 144.17 yen. The yen’s rebound against the dollar after the Bank of Japan raised its main interest rate on July 31 was one factor behind the recent market swings, as investors who had borrowed in yen and invested in dollar assets like U.S. stocks sold their holdings to cover the higher costs of those “carry trade” deals.

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea’s Kospi jumped 3.3% to 2,522.15. It had careened 8.8% lower on Monday.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gave up early gains to close 0.3% lower at 16,647.34. The Shanghai Composite index, largely bypassed by Monday’s drama, rose 0.2% to 2,867.28.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.4% to 7,680.60 as the central bank kept its main interest rate unchanged. Taiwan’s Taiex was up 1.2% after plunging 8.4% the day before and the SET index in Bangkok gained 0.3%.

On Monday, the S&P 500 dropped 3% for its worst day in nearly two years. The Dow declined 2.6% and the Nasdaq composite slid 3.4%.

The global sell-off that began last week and gained momentum after a report Friday showed that American slowed their hiring in July by much more than economists expected. That and other weaker than expected data added to concern the Federal Reserve has pressed the brakes on the U.S. economy by too much for too long through high interest rates in hopes of stifling inflation.

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But sentiment was helped by a report Monday by the Institute for Supply Management said growth for U.S. services businesses was a touch stronger than expected, led by the arts, entertainment and recreation sectors, along with accommodations and food services.

The U.S. economy is still growing, so a recession is far from certain. The U.S. stock market is still up a healthy amount for the year, with double-digit percentage gains for the S&P 500, the Dow and the Nasdaq.

Markets have romped to dozens of all-time highs this year, in part due to a frenzy around artificial-intelligencetechnology and critics have been saying prices looked too expensive.

Other worries also are weighing on the market. The Israel-Hamas war and other global hotspots could cause sharp swings for the price of oil.

Early Tuesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil was up 12 cents at $73.06 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, picked up 3 cents to $76.33 per barrel.

The euro fell to $1.0910 from $1.0954.

The pharmaceutical giant said its net profit came in at 20.05 billion Danish kroner ($2.93 billion) in the three months to the end of June. A LSEG aggregate forecast had projected the figure would come in at 20.9 billion Danish kroner.

In the first quarter of 2024, the Wegovy maker had posted a net profit increase of 28% to 25.4 billion Danish kroner year on year, it said in May.

Novo Nordisk also trimmed its operating profit outlook for 2024.

At the time, Novo Nordisk also raised its 2024 outlook slightly, bumping its sales growth projection to a range between 19% and 27% at constant exchange rates, as well as raising its operating growth forecast to a 22% to 30% interval. The adjustment was linked to prior-year growth net estimates in the U.S., the company said.

Novo Nordisk is facing increasing competition in the weight loss space, both from smaller companies and from pharmaceutical giants such as Roche, which last month shared promising early-stage trial data from its own obesity drug candidate.

Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy has also had promising news in recent months. The drug was approved in China in the second quarter, opening it for sale in the world’s second largest economy. Elsewhere, the U.K.’s and European Union’s medical regulators said it was backing Wegovy as a way to reduce risks of serious heart events among overweight and obese adults.

This breaking news story is being updated.

A federal U.S. judge ruled Monday that Google has illegally held a monopoly in two market areas: search and text advertising.

The landmark case from the government alleged that Google has kept its share of the general search market by creating strong barriers to entry and a feedback loop that sustained its dominance. The court found that Google violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act, which outlaws monopolies.

“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Judge Amit Mehta wrote in the decision.

The court homed in on Google’s exclusive search arrangements on Android and Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices, saying that they helped to cement Google’s anticompetitive behavior and dominance over the search markets.

The Department of Justice and a bipartisan group of attorneys general from 38 states and territories, led by Colorado and Nebraska, filed similar but separate antitrust suits against Google in 2020. The suits were combined for pretrial purposes, such as discovery of evidence.

This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.

The summer travel season is in full swing, often bringing more flight delays and cancellations.

But travelers may be out of luck when it comes to reimbursement for such disruptions, depending on the root cause and specific airline policy, experts said.

“In general, in the U.S., airlines aren’t really obligated to pay you anything, anytime,” said Eric Napoli, chief legal officer at AirHelp, which helps fliers claim compensation for delayed or canceled flights.

‘High’ season for flight delays and cancellations

Mid-June to the end of August typically marks “high season” for flight disruptions, Napoli said.

“This summer will see more planes in the skies, frequent bad weather and increased use of the nation’s airspace,” according to a Federal Aviation Administration webpage on summer travel.

Bad weather has accounted for 66% of total flight-delay minutes year to date, according to FAA data through July 21. In 2023, the share in that time frame was about 72%.

Such data presumably includes the global IT outage on July 19 that grounded thousands of flights.

“Volume” caused another 15% of delays this year, FAA said.

Summer generally brings a “higher volume of passengers and flights” with school out and “millions of Americans” on vacation, Hayley Berg, lead economist at Hopper, wrote in a recent analysis of travel disruptions.

Indeed, 8 of the 10 busiest travel days of 2024 were in June, July and August, according to FAA data as of Sunday.

What you can expect from airlines

There’s generally one overarching duty for airlines relative to compensation for passengers: Carriers owe a refund of the ticket price and fees if they cancel a flight or make a “significant change” in the flight — regardless of the reason, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Consumers are entitled to a refund only if they choose not to accept an alternative option from the airline, like rebooking on a different flight, the DOT said.

This obligation holds even for those who bought nonrefundable tickets.

One key caveat, though: The DOT doesn’t currently define what constitutes a “significant” change. That determination is based on factors like length of delay and flight and particular circumstances, the agency said.

Starting Oct. 28, airlines will have to “promptly” and automatically pay refunds to customers, due to a recently issued Biden administration rule, which also defines a “significant” change as a delay of three hours for domestic flights and six hours for international flights.

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More broadly, airline compensation policies vary for delays and cancellations.

A Transportation Department dashboard outlines major carriers’ promises to customers in the event of cancellations or delays longer than three hours.

Airlines are “required to adhere” to these promises, the agency said.

For example, all airlines do commit to rebooking passengers on the same airline for free and to providing a free meal if cancellation leads to waiting at least three hours for a new flight. Most of them offer a hotel stay for overnight delays. But none offers cash compensation for a delay of three or more hours.

Importantly, these compensation policies only apply to “controllable” delays and cancellations, meaning those attributable to airline operations. The same obligations may not apply to situations outside their control, like bad weather.

For example, the spate of delays and cancellations related to the global IT outage last month was deemed a “controllable” event. A failed tech update by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike impacted Microsoft services used by several airlines.

Passengers flying abroad may have more rights depending on international rules, experts said.

For example, passengers flying to and from Europe generally have more rights to compensation due to European Union law, according to AirHelp.

Tips for passengers

Experts recommend a few ways to minimize the odds of a flight disruption, and to better cope with delays or cancellations if they occur:

• Book the first flight of the day. Flights departing after 9 a.m. are two times more likely to be delayed than those scheduled between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m., according to Berg.
• Avoid connecting flights to reduce odds of a disruption. This won’t always be possible, depending on factors like ticket cost, airport and destination. If you do have a connection, leave ample time for a layover, Napoli said. At minimum, travelers should leave a layover buffer of at least 45 minutes for domestic flights and 90 minutes for international trips, Berg said.
• Build in a buffer day. Leave “wiggle room” at your destination so you don’t miss “big” events or plans in the event of a delay or cancellation, Berg said.
• Fly on days that are less busy. Traveling during weekdays like Tuesday or Wednesday tends to bring less flight traffic, Napoli said. Travelers may be less likely to see certain kinds of delays, and have more open seats if they need to rebook. Tickets tend to be cheaper on these days, too.
• Pack smartly. Those with a carry-on bag or personal item should pack strategically in the event of a delay or cancellation, Napoli said. For example, it may make sense to have a change of clothes, snacks, electronics, valuables, and a toothbrush on hand if your checked bag isn’t available, he said.
• Multitask while waiting. In the event of a delay or cancellation, use your time wisely, experts said. “Get in line to speak with an airline representative at the same time you call the customer support center,” Berg said. This way, you maximize your odds of talking to a representative more quickly if multiple passengers are trying to get through simultaneously.

The S&P 500 fell 3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 1,000 points, and the Nasdaq composite slid 3.4%.

That followed a 12.4% plunge for Japan’s Nikkei 225, its worst day since 1987. 

Worries about the economy are front and center after a series of disappointing reports, including a weaker-than-expected jobs report on Friday. Big Tech stocks, which have led the market to record after record this year, bore the brunt of the selling.

The scary Monday that started with a plunge abroad reminiscent of 1987 ‘s crash swept around the world and pummeled Wall Street. Nearly everything on Wall Street tumbled as concern about a slowing U.S. economy set off another sell-off for financial markets.

Monday was the first chance for traders in Tokyo to react to Friday’s report showing U.S. employers slowed their hiring last month by much more than economists expected. That was the latest piece of data on the U.S. economy to come in weaker than expected, and it’s all raised fear the Federal Reserve has pressed the brakes on the U.S. economy by too much for too long through high interest rates in hopes of stifling inflation.

Professional investors cautioned that some technical factors might have amplified the action in markets, and that the drops may be overdone, but the losses elsewhere in the world were nearly as neck-snapping. South Korea’s Kospi index careened 8.8% lower, stock markets across Europe sank roughly 3% and bitcoin dropped 12%.

Even gold, which has a reputation for offering safety during tumultuous times, slipped nearly 2%.

That’s in part because traders are wondering if the damage has been so severe that the Federal Reserve will have to cut interest rates in an emergency meeting, before its next scheduled decision on Sept. 18. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which closely tracks expectations for the Fed, fell to 3.74% from 3.88% late Friday and from 5% in April.

“The Fed could ride in on a white horse to save the day with a big rate cut, but the case for an inter-meeting cut seems flimsy,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. “Those are usually reserved for emergencies, like COVID, and an unemployment rate of 4.3% doesn’t really seem like an emergency.”

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Of course, the U.S. economy is still growing, and a recession is far from assured. The Fed has been clear about the tightrope it began walking when it started hiking rates sharply in March 2022: Being too aggressive would choke the economy, but going too soft would give inflation more oxygen and hurt everyone.

After leaving the federal funds rate steady last week, before several discouraging economic reports hit, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said officials “have a lot of room to respond if we were to see weakness” in the job market after raising their main rate to the highest level in more than two decades.

Goldman Sachs economist David Mericle sees a higher chance of a recession following Friday’s jobs report. But he still sees only a 25% chance of that, up from 10%, in part “because the data look fine overall” and he does not “see major financial imbalances.”

Some of Wall Street’s recent declines may simply be air coming out of a stock market that romped to dozens of all-time highs this year, in part on a frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology and hopes for coming cuts to interest rates. Critics have been saying for a while that the stock market looked expensive after prices rose faster than corporate profits.

“Markets tend to move higher like they’re climbing stairs, and they go down like they’re falling out a window,” according to JJ Kinahan, CEO of IG North America, who chalks much of the recent worries to euphoria around AI subsiding amid “a market that was ahead of itself.”

Professional investors also pointed to the Bank of Japan’s move last week to raise its main interest rate from nearly zero. Such a move helps boost the value of the Japanese yen, but it could also force traders to scramble out of deals where they borrowed money for virtually no cost in Japan and invested it elsewhere around the world.

U.S. stocks briefly pared their losses a bit Monday after a report said growth for U.S. services businesses was a touch stronger than expected. Growth was led by businesses in the arts, entertainment and recreation businesses, along with accommodations and food services, according to the Institute for Supply Management. Treasury yields also pared their drops following the better-than-expected data.

Still, stocks of companies whose profits are most closely tied to the economy’s strength took heavy losses on the fears about a sharp slowdown. The small companies in the Russell 2000 index dropped 5.5%, further dousing what had been a revival for it and other beaten-down areas of the market.

Making things worse for Wall Street, Big Tech stocks also tumbled sharply as the market’s most popular trade for much of this year continued to unravel.

Apple, Nvidia and a handful of other Big Tech stocks known as the “ Magnificent Seven ” had propelled the S&P 500 to dozens of all-time highs this year, in part on a frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology. They were so strong that they overshadowed weakness for areas of the stock market weighed down by high interest rates.

But Big Tech’s momentum turned last month on worries investors had taken their prices too high and expectations for future growth are becoming too difficult to meet. A set of underwhelming profit reports from Tesla and Alphabet added to the pessimism and accelerated the declines.

Apple fell 6.8% Monday after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway disclosed that it had slashed its ownership stake in the iPhone maker.

Nvidia, the chip company that’s become the poster child of Wall Street’s AI bonanza, fell even more, 11%. Analysts cut their profit forecasts over the weekend for the company after a report from The Information said Nvidia’s new AI chip is delayed. It has trimmed its gain for the year to 92.7% from 170% in the middle of June.

Because the Magnificent Seven companies have grown to be the market’s biggest by market value, the movements for their stocks carry much more weight on the S&P 500 and other indexes. Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon were the heaviest weights on the S&P 500.

Worries outside corporate profits, interest rates and the economy are also weighing on the market. The Israel-Hamas war may be worsening, which beyond its human toll could also cause sharp swings for the price of oil. That’s adding to broader worries about potential hotspots around the world, while upcoming U.S. elections could further scramble things.

Wall Street has been concerned about how policies coming out of November could impact markets, but the sharp swings for stock prices could also affect the election itself.

The market turmoil and concerns about a weakening economy are likely to scramble a presidential race that has so far been focused mostly on immigration and inflation.

The threat of a recession is likely to put Vice President Kamala Harris on the defensive. But slower growth could also further reduce inflation and force former President Donald Trump to pivot from his current focus on higher prices to outlining ways to revive the economy.

AP Business Writers Elaine Kurtenbach and Matt Ott contributed.

The Atlanta beverage giant said it will continue to fight and believes it will win the legal dispute stemming from taxes and interest the IRS maintains the company owes from 2007, 2008 and 2009.

“The company looks forward to the opportunity to begin the appellate process and, as part of that process, will pay the agreed-upon liability and interest,” it said in a statement. Coca-Cola spokesperson Scott Leith declined additional comment to The Associated Press.

U.S. Tax Court Judge Albert Lauber on Friday issued a two-sentence decision and order ending his look at the case. The dispute reached court in December 2015, shortly after the company said it notified the IRS that it owed $3.3 billion more in federal taxes and interest for those three years.

In its Friday statement, Coca-Cola accused the IRS of changing how it let the company calculate U.S. income based on profits amounting to more than $9 billion from foreign licensees and affiliates.

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An IRS spokesperson did not immediately respond Friday to a telephone message from AP about the case.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing in 2015, Coca-Cola said it had been following the same method to calculate its taxable U.S. income from foreign affiliates for nearly 30 years.

In a company quarterly report filed with SEC on Monday, which included guidance to investors, the company said it believes the IRS and Lauber “misinterpreted and misapplied the applicable regulations in reallocating income earned by the company’s foreign licensees.”

The publicly traded company said it expected that “some or all of (the $6 billion), plus accrued interest, would be refunded” if Coca-Cola wins its appeal. It has 90 days to file appeal documents.

Last week, the company raised its full-year sales guidance after reporting a stronger-than-expected second quarter, boosted by product price increases.

“It was essentially a [mini] porta potty,” Lin, now 17, tells CNBC Make It.

The experience was taxing and gross enough to prompt Lin to design her own cages: first on notebook paper, then with bricks and plastic in her backyard in Sunnyvale, California and now in a factory in Hangzhou, China.

Lin is the founder and CEO of GuineaLoft, a small pet accessory brand that sells on Amazon. GuineaLoft’s cages are made with acrylic walls and a disposable wax-coated paper bottom that makes them easier to clean. She launched the cages in November 2022 after about a year of prototyping.

This year, GuineaLoft has brought in roughly $71,000 a month in revenue so far, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. That’s up more than double compared to last year, when the company brought in $34,000 in average monthly revenue and made nearly $8,600 in profit per month.

Lin credits the explosive growth to one event: Last October, she won $10,000 from a pitching competition at BizWorld, a project-based entrepreneurship program. She used the funds to buy an acrylic laser cutter, which dramatically sped up production times and kept the signature cages in stock.

GuineaLoft employs six full-time workers to develop, build and test the products, but the business remains Lin’s side hustle. She recently graduated from high school and is moving to The University of Chicago where she plans to study economics in the fall.  

Here, Lin discusses how she built the side hustle and how she plans to maintain it as a college freshman.

Home-grown mentorship

GuineaLoft isn’t Lin’s first side hustle. Since age 7, she was “always trying out different ways to bring in little amounts of money” — from lemonade stands to selling hand-knit scarves — and was largely encouraged by her dad, a computer programmer who had worked with start-ups.

Once, on the way to water polo practice, Lin looked up a pair of Lululemon leggings and was shocked at the price. She recalls her dad asking “what do you think the markup is on this?”

The pair looked it up and found that most leggings made from similar fabric to a pair of Lululemon’s cost about $20 to produce. The conversation prompted TLeggings, another one of Lin’s side hustles, that brought in $300,000 at its peak in 2020.

“I think with a lot of parents, when kids are younger and they express an interest in start-ups with something trivial like yarn or slime, it’s easy to shut that down,” Lin says.

“My dad … always treated me as an adult, as somebody who was almost working alongside him.”

Running GuineaLoft

It took about a year to take GuineaLoft’s signature cage from prototype to Amazon, where Lin listed 100 of them. The first batch sold out within two weeks.

Sales have continued to climb, thanks in large part to the now three acrylic laser cutters used in manufacturing, increased marketing and an expanded line of pet products. GuineaLoft’s Amazon storefront sells hay feeders and no-drip water bottles for guinea pigs, but also acrylic cages and accessories for hamsters, rabbits and birds.

The expansion hasn’t come without challenges. While Lin considers herself to be a “veteran guinea pig owner,” she’s had to gain experience designing cages and products for the smaller pets.

The company went through “at least five iterations” of its hamster cage: “To be completely honest … it got bad reviews,” Lin says. Customers reported their hamsters were escaping, so GuineaLoft adapted its design.

‘I’m kind of just the guinea pig girl’

Outside of BizWorld, Lin’s friend circle is void of other entrepreneurs: “To them, I’m kind of just the guinea pig girl,” she says. “I like occupying a niche.”

For Lin, finding that niche has been the secret to her success. GuineaLoft is her first profitable business because she was able to fill a gap in the market and innovate on her original ideas, she says.

Currently, Lin works 30 hours per week on the side hustle, and is enrolled in two college courses. She originally thought she’d take a gap year to focus on GuineaLoft, but says she’s hoping to learn more and meet people who can potential help her grow the business.

Despite the company’s profitability, Lin hasn’t started paying herself a salary, she says. Her parents and a scholarship are covering her tuition at The University of Chicago.

Lin puts the money back into GuineaLoft, with plans to get products on brick-and-mortar shelves soon. “Opening in-person stores is a really big dream of mine,” she says.

“The ultimate goal that I have for GuineaLoft is just to be the recognized small pet brand.”

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The report, which draws information from a year-long Senate committee investigation into Amazon’s safety practices and relied on internal company data from 2019 and 2020, said peak shopping times – including the holiday shopping period – resulted in the “highest weekly injury rates” for warehouse workers.

The preliminary report complied by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which Sanders chairs, also was based on interviews with more than 100 current and former Amazon employees. This year’s two-day Prime Day event started Tuesday.

In a statement, Sanders said the “incredibly dangerous working conditions at Amazon” highlighted in the report are a “perfect example of the type of corporate greed that the American people are sick and tired of.”

“Despite making $36 billion in profits last year and providing its CEO with over $275 million in compensation over the past three years, Amazon continues to treat its workers as disposable and with complete contempt for their safety and well-being,” said the Vermont independent, who has been critical of Amazon and supports worker efforts to unionize at the company. “That is unacceptable, and that has got to change.”

Labor unions and safety experts have long criticized Amazon, alleging the company’s focus on speed and fast deliveries puts workers in danger. In recent years, some states have passed laws aimed at Amazon to curb the use of warehouse productivity quotas, though the company claims it doesn’t employ them.

According to the Senate report, 45 out of 100 warehouse at Amazon received injuries during the 2019 Prime Day event. The number included minor injuries the company was not required to disclose to the federal government, such as bruises and superficial cuts, but also serious ones such as concussions that should have been reported, it said.

Amazon disputed the finding.

“The claims that we systemically underreport injuries, and that our actual injury rates are higher than publicly reported, are false,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a prepared statement. “We’re required to report every injury that needs more than basic first aid, and that’s what we do.”

While Amazon “might make an occasional clerical error,” a six-month federal investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration found “no intentional, willful, or systemic errors” in the company’s reporting, Nantel said.

The report also alleged that Amazon had a practice of failing to refer workers for outside medical care because doing so could affect whether an injury should be considered “recordable” and referred to OSHA. Even when injuries were serious and might have required extra medical attention, workers often received first aid before being sent back to work instead of to a doctor, it said.

Amazon has acknowledged in the past that its warehouse injury rates had been higher compared to its peers. Federal safety investigators levied fines against the company in recent years following inspections at some of its warehouses. Some of the inspections arose from referrals made to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which is also investigating worker safety at the company through its civil division.

Last month, California fined Amazon a total of $5.9 million, accusing the company of violating the state’s Warehouse Quota Law at two facilities.

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A spokesperson for Sanders’ office said the committee relied on 2019 and 2020 workplace injury rate data because that’s what Amazon provided for the inquiry.

However, Amazon spokesperson Nantel complained that the Senate review ignored the progress the company has made since 2019 in reducing its rate of recordable incidents – those which require more care than basic first aid – by 28%. The company also has improved the rate of significant injuries that require an employee to miss at least a day of work by 75%, she said.

“We’ve cooperated throughout this investigation, including providing thousands of pages of information and documents,” Nantel said. “But unfortunately, this report (which was not shared with us before publishing) ignores our progress and paints a one-sided, false narrative using only a fraction of the information we’ve provided. It draws sweeping and inaccurate conclusions based on unverified anecdotes, and it misrepresents documents that are several years old and contained factual errors and faulty analysis.”

The report also says Amazon failed to adequately staff its warehouses during peak shopping times, which the company disputed. Amazon said in March that it allocated over $750 million to safety efforts for this year.

July sales events have become a seasonal revenue driver for the retail industry since Amazon launched its first Prime Day back in 2015. While consumers may be enticed by the advertised can’t-miss savings on some products, personal finance experts say shoppers should be careful not to fall for potentially misleading marketing or give in to impulse buys.

Amazon has drummed up expectations in recent weeks for its 10th Prime Day event, which will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday and is open only to customers who pay $14.99 per month, or $139 per year, to receive free shipping and other perks as Prime members.

Rival retailers tried in the past to capture some of the Prime Day excitement by offering their own discounts during the two-day event. This year, Walmart, Target, Kohl’s, and newcomers TikTok Shop and Temu launched summer promotions ahead of Amazon, hoping to siphon off some of the e-commerce giant’s savings-hungry shoppers. Meanwhile, Macy’s will be rolling out what it calls its “best summer deals” during an eight-day discount event that begins on Tuesday.

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July sales help retailers attract customers who are looking to get a head start on back-to-school shopping, which is the industry’s second-most important shopping season behind the winter holiday period. The markdowns also pull in some discretionary spending from shoppers who’ve had their eyes on gadgets, household products and seasonal items, such as a bikini or a new summer dress.

Discounts can help retailers combat “a summer lull in retail spending” as consumers shift their spending to summer vacations and services, like going out to eat at restaurants, according to John Mercer, the head of global research at Coresight Research.

“It drives a bit of excitement in that mid-year period,” when retailers may otherwise struggle to generate more revenue, Mercer said. Companies also have relied on discounts to drive consumer spending during the recent period of inflation and high interest rates, he said.

Amazon doesn’t disclose how much revenue it pulls in from Prime Day, but it has given some indications of its success. The company said last year’s event resulted in the “single largest sales day” in the company’s history, with customers purchasing more than 375 million items.

An estimate from market research firm Emarketer indicated Amazon’s global sales on Prime Day went up to $12.5 billion in 2023. The firm forecasts sales to jump roughly 7% this year.

It depends on who you ask.

Retailers hype up their promotions to pull people in. But the New York Times-owned product review website Wirecutter published an article this month saying most of Amazon’s early deals this year so far “stink.”

Santa Clara University business professor Kirthi Kalyanam, who is writing a book about Amazon, said Prime Day offers have been good, historically. That’s because the company was able to source discounts from well-known brands such as Apple and to incentivize third-party sellers to lower their prices by promising to feature them prominently on the Amandon website, according to Halyanam.

But Prime Day discounts may matter less these days because customers are getting accustomed to the ultra-cheap products sold by Amazon competitors Shein and Temu, which were both founded in China.

“Many of (the) deals may not be as competitive compared to Temu and Shien,” Kalyanam said.

At the same time, he noted rival retailers will most likely be looking at Amazon’s prices and trying to match them overnight. Last week, he said he saw Best Buy discount two products after Amazon revealed some of its early deals.

Consumer data company Numerator reported that a majority of the roughly 5,000 Prime Day shoppers it surveyed after last year’s event saw product discounts of up to 40%. Survey respondents said they saw a quarter of items selling at a discount of 60% or more.

Some shopping experts have said that some past Prime discounts were not as big as they appeared.

If you’re watching your budget, personal finance experts say you should exercise caution before you buy.

“Avoid the false sense of urgency of manufactured holidays,” advises Mark Elliot, chief customer officer at financial services company LendingClub. “The idea that ‘The more you spend, the more you save’ — that’s just definitionally not true.”

Dan Egan, a vice president at financial advising and investment company Betterment, says shoppers should make a list of what they need before the sales begin to be intentional about purchases. He also encourages consumers to avoid shopping late at night or out of boredom.

“Once you have a list, it’s less likely you’ll get distracted by things you don’t need,” Egan said. “If that list contains almost nothing, I would say to delete the (retailers’) apps off your phone for the next week or two. Or you’re going to get lots of notifications.”

Any shopper already carrying a credit card balance should keep in mind that the interest paid on that balance could end up cancelling out any perceived savings from a summer sale purchase, he added.

“A deal is not a deal if you have to pay interest on it,” Egan said.

While it may make sense for shoppers to try out free or temporary memberships to qualify for the best deals during the summer sales, those programs typically charge a fee to the customer’s credit card on file after a short period of time, noted Erin Witte, the Consumer Federation of America’s director of consumer protection.

“Set a calendar reminder to cancel if you don’t want to go through with that subscription,” Witte said. “Think about it right at the beginning. And remember that these companies design this product to make it easy to sign up, but more difficult to cancel.”

Consumer Reports also offers a few tips: Download Amazon’s app, sign-up for invite-only deals available for a select group of shoppers, and join the waitlist on limited-time offers that are already sold out.

Filling up an online Amazon cart is tempting for Prime members since they are paying for access to Prime Day deals. But it’s always a smart idea to compare prices across multiple websites before completing a purchase.

Unlike Prime Day offers, Walmart’s discount event this month was open to everyone. However, the company sweetened the deal for its Walmart+ members by offering them early access.

Target only offered discounts to shoppers enrolled in its Target Circle loyalty program and used the weeklong event to promote a new membership program that aims to rejuvenate sales and traffic.

TikTok Shop, the e-commerce arm of the popular video-sharing app, opened its summer sales event to everyone. The event started on July 9 and runs until Wednesday.

‘

The massive security breach involved call and text records between May 1, 2022 and Oct. 31, 2022, as well as some records on Jan. 2, 2023, according to an internal company investigation. Customers of mobile virtual network operators using AT&T’s wireless network, as well as landline customers who contacted those cellular numbers, were also impacted. 

While personally identifiable information and the content of calls and messages was not compromised, records did include phone numbers, which can be traced to customer names using online tools.

AT&T said it “does not believe that the data is publicly available.” 

Affected customers will be contacted, and AT&T said it has “taken additional cybersecurity measures in response to this incident including closing off the point of unlawful access.” 

The company’s wireless network alone has 127 million devices connected to it, according to its 2023 annual report. 

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As our reliance on technology increases, data breaches revealing sensitive information are becoming more common. However, there are measures consumers can take to protect themselves going forward. 

The basics include using hard-to-guess passwords and multifactor authentication. Following a breach, users should change their password and monitor their accounts for suspicious transactions or activity. 

Scammers may take advantage of data breaches and use phishing emails or phone calls that resemble official correspondence from the company involved. To prevent yourself from becoming a target, always visit a company’s website for reliable information.

Customers can also set up free credit freezes and fraud alerts through nationwide credit bureaus like Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, according to the Federal Trade Commission. 

There are six types of information that can be stolen from data breaches. 

What should you do if your Social Security number has been exposed?

If a company responsible for exposing your information offers you free credit monitoring, take advantage of it — this will alert you of changes that may indicate fraud or identity theft.

Check for accounts or charges you don’t recognize on your credit reports. You can order free reports from annualcreditreport.com.

A credit freeze can make it harder for someone to open a new account in your name. However, it means that the next time you apply for something that requires a credit check — such as a credit card or cell phone — you will need to take a few extra steps.

You can also place a fraud alert.

If the data breach happens near tax season, try and file your taxes early. Scammers can use your SSN to get a tax refund or a job. Filing your papers before the scammer does can prevent tax identity theft.

What should you do if your login and password has been compromised?

Change your password and, if possible, your username. If you use the same password elsewhere, change that as well.

If you can’t log in, contact the company and ask how you can recover or shut down the account.

If the login is for a site where your financial information is stored — for example, if you have a credit card saved — make sure to check your account for unfamiliar charges.

What should you do if your debit or credit card number has been exposed, or your bank account information?

Contact your bank or credit card company to cancel your card and request a new one. Make sure to check your credit report and review transactions regularly.

If any charges look incorrect, call the fraud department and get them removed.

Once you receive your new card, update any automatic payments you may have set up with your new number.

If your bank account information has been compromised, the same precautions apply. Contact your bank to close the account and open a new one.

What should you do if your driver’s license information has been exposed?

Report a lost or stolen driver’s license to your nearest motor vehicles branch. The state might flag your license number in case a scammer tries to use it, or they might suggest that you apply for a duplicate.

Check your credit report and keep an eye out for suspicious activity, as well.

What should you do if your child’s personal information has been exposed?

Depending on your state, you can request a credit freeze for your child. This will make it more difficult for someone to use your child’s information to open accounts. Follow the instructions provided by Equifax, Experian or Transunion.

Regardless of whether you can request a credit freeze, you can check if your child has a credit report through the credit bureaus. If they do, the bureau will send you a copy of the report. Instructions will be provided with the report on how to remove fraudulent accounts.

The Federal Trade Commission has more information on how to protect your child from identity theft.

Starting this month, the Minnesota-based retailer says it will no longer accept personal checks as a form of payment, a spokesperson confirmed to NBC Chicago.

The move was made due to “extremely low volumes,” the spokesperson said, adding that the retailer has taken “several measures” to notify customers in advance.

The change will go into effect July 15, several days after Target’s popular Circle Week event.

According to the spokesperson, Target accepts several forms of payment, including Target Circle Cards, cash, digital wallets, SNAP/EBT, credit and debit cards, and buy now-pay later services.

The move comes following other recent changes Target has made, including adding limitations to the retailer’s self-checkout policy.

Tractor Supply said it would be eliminating all of its diversity, equity and inclusion roles while retiring current DEI goals. It did not elaborate on what was entailed in eliminating DEI roles.

The company added that it would “stop sponsoring nonbusiness activities” such as Pride festivals or voting campaigns — and no longer submit data to the Human Rights Campaign, the largest advocacy group for LGBTQ+ rights in the U.S.

The Brentwood, Tennessee-based retailer, which sells products ranging from farming equipment to pet supplies, also said in a statement Thursday that it would withdraw from its carbon emission goals to instead “focus on our land and water conservation efforts.”

These changes mark a stunning shift in policy and messaging from Tractor Supply, which once touted its diversity and inclusion efforts. Just earlier this month, Tractor Supply President and CEO Hal Lawton maintained that the company remained “very consistent” in how it approaches its own DEI and ESG — environmental, social and governance — programs for a number of years.

“(We’ve) just been very consistent in our emphasis there,” Lawton said in a June 5th interview with The Associated Press, pointing to company web pages that he said reinforced and reported on those efforts. “We haven’t walked away from anything.”

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Thursday’s move appeared to reverse much of that — and arrives amid a wider backdrop of conservative backlash and litigation that has targeted companies across industries, as well as a wide array of diversity initiatives, including fellowships, hiring goals, anti-bias training and contract programs for minority or women-owned businesses.

Legal attacks against companies’ diversity and inclusion efforts have particularly been on the rise since June of last year, when the Supreme Court ruled to end affirmative action in college admissions. Many conservative and anti-DEI activists have been seeking to set a similar precedent in the working world.

Beyond the courtroom, some companies and brands — from Bud Light to Target — have been hit with online campaigns calling for boycotts.

Meanwhile, some other corporations and law firms have quietly altered their diversity programs, a stark contrast to the very public announcement on Thursday by Tractor Supply. In its statement, the company said “heard from customers that we have disappointed them” and “taken this feedback to heart.”

“We will continue to listen to our customers and Team Members,” Tractor Supply added. “Your trust and confidence in us are of the utmost importance, and we don’t take that lightly.”

A Tractor Supply spokesperson declined to provide further comment Friday.

This week’s move arrives after the company faced ample pushback online from conservative activists and far-right accounts across social media, including from the prominent right-wing account known as Libs of TikTok.

The backlash against Tractor Supply appeared to bubble up earlier this month. In a June 6 post on social media platform X, conservative political commentator and filmmaker Robby Starbuck told his followers to “start buying what you can from other places until Tractor Supply makes REAL changes and shows that they respect the majority of their customers enough to not spend the money we give them on causes we’re deeply opposed to.”

Starbuck and other conservative social media users continued to criticize Tractor Supply in the following weeks — and celebrated Thursday’s news from the company.

In contrast, others have expressed disappointment with Tractor Supply’s announcement — with some arguing that the company is giving in to hate and harming its customers by abandoning crucial principles. Many users on social media are also vowing to now shop elsewhere.

Eric Bloem, vice president of programs and corporate advocacy at the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement that Tractor Supply is “turning its back on their own neighbors with this shortsighted decision.” The organization had worked with Tractor Supply to create inclusive policies and practices for years, he added.

“LGBTQ+ people live in every zip code in this country, including rural communities. We are shoppers, farmers, veterans and agriculture students,” Bloem said. “Caving to far right extremists is only going to hurt the same folks that these businesses rely on.”

The lithium-ion battery in the power banks poses the risk of overheating, according to the CPSC.

Baseus received 171 reports of incidents, including 132 reports of “bulging or swelling batteries” and 39 fire complaints, according to the site. Thirteen burn injuries and about $20,000 in property damage have been reported. 

The recall covers Baseus power banks with model numbers PPCXM06 and PPCXW06, which are offered in white, black, light blue and light pink colors. The model number can be seen on the magnetic side of the device. 

It is important to note that the recall only involves these specific model numbers, as some power banks were listed on Amazon under PPXCW06.

The recalled electronics were sold online at Amazon.com, AliExpress.com and Baseus.com from April 2022 through April 2024 for between $18 and $55.

Consumers are asked to immediately stop using the recalled lithium-ion batteries and to contact Baseus. With proof of purchase, customers will receive a full refund, while those without proof of purchase are eligible for a $36 cash refund.

To submit a claim, head to the firm’s recall registration page. Baseus and Amazon are alerting all known purchasers directly. 

CEO Tim Wentworth told analysts Thursday morning that “changes are imminent” for about 25% of the company’s stores, which he said were underperforming. The drugstore chain currently runs more than 8,600 in the United States.

Wentworth said the company’s plan could include the closing of a “significant portion” of those roughly 2,100 underperforming stores if they don’t improve.

Company leaders said they’ve already closed 2,000 locations over the last 10 years. Overall, the company runs about 12,500 drugstores worldwide.

“We are at a point where the current pharmacy model is not sustainable and the challenges in our operating environment require we approach the market differently,” he said.

Walgreens and major competitors like CVS and Rite Aid — which is going through a bankruptcy reorganization — have been closing stores as they adjust to an array of challenges to their businesses. They include include years of tight reimbursement for their prescriptions and rising costs for running their locations.

Plus, analysts say they’ve also been hit by growing competition from Walmart, Amazon and other discount retailers over sales of goods sold outside their store pharmacies. Consumers also tend to grow more price conscious when inflation rises, and drugstores generally have higher prices than those discounters.

“Our customers have become increasingly selective and price sensitive in their purchases,” said Wentworth, who joined the company last fall and has been conducting a review of its business.

Walgreens also has been closing VillageMD primary care clinics it had been installing next to its stores in order to grow its presence as a health care provider. The company had launched an aggressive expansion of those clinics under previous CEO Rosalind Brewer. But Walgreens said in March that it was reversing course and closing around 160 of the clinics.

Primary care clinics like the ones VillageMD operate tend to lose money their first couple years as they build a patient base and improve health. Jefferies analyst Brian Tanquilut has said the new clinics were burning a lot of cash and racking up losses.

But Wentworth said Thursday those clinics were now on a “clearer path to profitability.”

The CEO also said his company is talking to pharmacy benefit managers to “ensure that we are paid fairly” and working to grow other parts of its business like specialty pharmacy. That helps people with complex or chronic medical conditions.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. also reported that it missed earnings expectations and cut its annual forecast.

The company earned $344 million in its fiscal third quarter, with adjusted results totaling 63 cents per share. Revenue rose nearly 3% to $36.35 billion.

Analysts were looking for earnings of 68 cents per share on $35.9 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.

Walgreens now expects adjusted earnings to range from $2.80 to $2.95 for its fiscal year, which ends in August. That’s down from a forecast of $3.20 to $3.35 per share that it had narrowed in March.

Analysts expect $3.20 per share.

That guidance cut was not “overly shocking to us as the company now begins the next leg of its turnaround,” Leerink Partners analyst Michael Cherny said in a research note.

But the overall results surprised investors. Shares of the Deerfield, Illinois, company plunged 24% to $11.89 Thursday morning while the S&P 500 index rose slightly. Walgreens shares have already shed more than half their value so far this year.

A social media account for the brand confirmed in an Instagram post that its relaunching in July, thought it’s not clear whether the brand will be opening its own brick-and-mortar stores or an e-commerce site.

“Here to tell you this is for real. Launching in July. #LTD2,” the post says.

Limited Too was launched in 1987 by the once-popular The Limited, selling products similar to their adult oriented brand. A favorite of young girls across America in the 90s and early 2000s, Limited Too stores were mall staples. At its peak, there were approximately 600 stores in 47 states and Puerto Rico, according to its then-owner Tween Brands.

Amid the 2008 recession, Tween Brands discontinued Limited Too and focused on its other brand, Justice, which also catered to tweens at cheaper prices. Many of the Limited Too stores were rebranded as Justice locations.

“This is a bold strategy to capitalize on the tremendous success of Justice and the changing trends in our economy and our customers’ preferences,” Tween Brands former CEO Mike Rayden said in a statement at the time. “Especially in these tough economic times, our customers are seeking the more value-oriented apparel available at Justice.”

In 2015, Brand management company Bluestar Alliance acquired the trademarks of Limited Too. At the time, it announced plans to distribute Limited Too-licensed products at department stores like Burlington Coat Factory and JCPenny, as well as online. In 2017, there was even a back-to-school pop-up shop in New York City.

On social media, millennial moms who now have kids of their own are rejoicing, and begging the brand for “adult sizes.”

“I don’t know if ya’ll understand how much millennials need this right now. Please be adult sizes,” one user commented.

“Just know if this is a kids only drop it will be the biggest missed opportunity of the year!!!! We want adult sizes!” another user replied in a post.

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The pharmaceutical giant said its net profit came in at 20.05 billion Danish kroner ($2.93 billion) in the three months to the end of June. A LSEG aggregate forecast had projected the figure would come in at 20.9 billion Danish kroner.

In the first quarter of 2024, the Wegovy maker had posted a net profit increase of 28% to 25.4 billion Danish kroner year on year, it said in May.

Novo Nordisk also trimmed its operating profit outlook for 2024.

At the time, Novo Nordisk also raised its 2024 outlook slightly, bumping its sales growth projection to a range between 19% and 27% at constant exchange rates, as well as raising its operating growth forecast to a 22% to 30% interval. The adjustment was linked to prior-year growth net estimates in the U.S., the company said.

Novo Nordisk is facing increasing competition in the weight loss space, both from smaller companies and from pharmaceutical giants such as Roche, which last month shared promising early-stage trial data from its own obesity drug candidate.

Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy has also had promising news in recent months. The drug was approved in China in the second quarter, opening it for sale in the world’s second largest economy. Elsewhere, the U.K.’s and European Union’s medical regulators said it was backing Wegovy as a way to reduce risks of serious heart events among overweight and obese adults.

This breaking news story is being updated.

Red Lobster was America’s largest casual dining operation, serving 64 million customers a year in almost 600 locations across 44 states and Canada. Its May 19 bankruptcy filing and closing of almost 100 locations across the country has devastated its legion of fans and 36,000 workers. The chain is iconic enough to be featured in a Beyoncé song.

Assigning blame for company failures is tricky. But some analysts say the root of Red Lobster’s woes was not the endless shrimp promotions that some have blamed. Yes, the company lost $11 million from the shrimp escapade, its bankruptcy filing shows, and suffered from inflation and higher labor costs. But a bigger culprit in the company’s problems is a financing technique favored by a powerful force in the financial industry known as private equity, NBC News reports.

The technique, colloquially known as asset-stripping, has been a part of retail chain failures such as Sears, Mervyn’s and ShopKo as well as bankruptcies involving hospital and nursing home operations like Steward Healthcare and Manor Care. All had been owned by private equity. Asset-stripping occurs when an owner or investor in a company sells off some of its assets, taking the benefits for itself and hobbling the company. This practice is favored among some private-equity firms that buy companies, load them with debt to finance the purchases and hope to sell them at a profit in a few years to someone else. A common form of asset-stripping is known as a sale/leaseback and involves selling a company’s real estate; this type of transaction hobbled Red Lobster.

In recent years, private-equity firms have invested heavily in all areas of industry, including retailers, restaurants, media and health care. Some 12 million workers are employed by private equity-backed firms, or 7% of the workforce. Companies bought out and indebted by private equity go bankrupt 10 times more often than companies not purchased by these firms, academic research shows. In a report this month, Moody’s Ratings said leveraged buyouts like those pursued by many private-equity firms drive corporate defaults higher and reduce the amounts investors recover when the companies are restructured.

The sale/leaseback that helped sink Red Lobster involved the July 2014 sale of premium real estate underneath 500 of its stores, which generated $1.5 billion. But that money didn’t go back into Red Lobster; it went instead to the private-equity firm to finance its purchase of the chain, Red Lobster’s press release said. That firm was San Francisco-based Golden Gate Capital, with $10 billion in assets.Golden Gate had paid $2.1 billion to buy Red Lobster in May 2014, so the real estate sale was crucial to the firm’s financing. 

“Red Lobster is an exceptionally strong brand with an unparalleled market position in seafood casual dining,” Josh Olshansky, managing director at Golden Gate, said at the time, a press release announcing the deal shows.

The $1.5 billion sale crippled Red Lobster. After the real estate was sold, Red Lobster had to pay rent on stores it had previously owned, significantly increasing its costs. According to the bankruptcy filing, by 2023 its rents totaled $200 million a year or approximately 10% of its revenues.

Asked about the negative impact the sale/leaseback had on Red Lobster, a Golden Gate spokeswoman declined to comment.

The company that bought the properties, American Realty Capital Partners, got a very good deal, the press release announcing the sale/leaseback said. It characterized the Red Lobster stores it had purchased as “irreplaceable locations” and “high-quality real estate located at main intersections in strong markets,” but noted the properties were sold “at below replacement cost.” Under the terms of the sale, Red Lobster would also see regular rent increases of 2% a year, the release noted.

American Realty Capital Partners was acquired by Realty Income in 2021. Realty Income did not respond to a request for comment on the sale/leaseback.

The sale of the Red Lobster stores hurt the company several ways. First, it meant the chain would not benefit from any upside in the commercial real estate market. In addition, the new owner of the real estate did not appear to give Red Lobster good deals on rents. As Red Lobster’s CEO noted in a bankruptcy court filing, “A material portion of the Company’s leases are priced above market rates.”

As is typical in private-equity buyouts, Golden Gate’s purchase of Red Lobster significantly increased the chain’s debt, adding higher interest costs to its burden. In 2017, Moody’s Ratings, an independent ratings agency, downgraded Red Lobster to a negative outlook from stable. Moody’s cited the chain’s “persistently high leverage,” or debt.

“Carrying a lot of debt and not owning your real estate puts companies at a disadvantage,” said Andrew Park, senior policy analyst at Americans for Financial Reform, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization advocating for a stable and ethical financial system. “Red Lobster is yet another example of that private-equity playbook of harming restaurants and retailers in the long run.”

In 2020, Golden Gate exited its Red Lobster investment, selling to Thai Union Group, a Bangkok-based company, and an investor group. Thai Union calls itself the “world’s seafood leader” and its brands include Chicken of the Sea tuna products and King Oscar sardines. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Regarding the bankruptcy, a company spokesman provided a statement saying, “Thai Union has a been a supplier to Red Lobster for more than 30 years, and we intend for that relationship to continue. We are confident that a court-supervised process will allow Red Lobster to restructure its financial obligations and realize its long-term potential in a more favorable operating environment.”

Bankruptcies of companies like Red Lobster have a multiplier effect on the overall economy and contribute to a sense of unease among consumers and workers, said Robert Reich, a former labor secretary under President Bill Clinton.

“One of the reasons people feel so insecure is you’ve got in the background, behind the curtain, a lot of these financial games that ultimately are making the very rich richer, and hurting America’s working and middle class,” Reich said in an interview. “All of the people who were supplying Red Lobster, all of the people who are essentially providing services to Red Lobster, the small businesses in the communities affected by mass layoffs, they are next in line, they are experiencing the ripple effect.”

Red Lobster’s employees are bearing the brunt of the collapse. Austin Hurst is one, a former grill master at a Red Lobster in Arizona. In an interview, he said he learned from a friend his store had closed and has not heard from his manager or any higher-ups at the company. He said he was told his store had been profitable until about 3 months ago.

“About a month before the close, the district manager came in and was like, ‘Yeah, this Red Lobster is looking really bright. And you guys are going to stay open for sure,’” Hurst recalled. 

Hurst said he was offered a job at another Red Lobster location but it requires a longer commute and pays $17 an hour, down from the $19 he was making before. 

Sen. Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, where eight hospitals operated by bankrupt Steward Health Care are, recently held hearings on private equity and health care. He has also proposed legislation that would require greater transparency from health care entities owned by private-equity firms, including the disclosure of sale/leaseback arrangements as well as fees collected by the private-equity firm, and dividends paid by the health care entity to the private-equity fund.

“My legislation is quite simple,” Markey said in an interview. “To make sure that these financial shenanigans don’t have a profound impact upon communities across our country, the Department of Health and Human Services has to determine whether or not the sale of the land underneath these hospitals and then having that land rented back to the hospitals isn’t having a negative impact on the provision of health care in that community.”

Private equity is emerging in all parts of our economy, Markey added, but its most profound impact is in health care. “The more private equity gets into the hospital business,” he said, “the more this is just a preview of coming atrocities affecting our health care system.”

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Target‘s weak quarterly earnings underscored why it cut prices on thousands of household staples: It’s struggling to win over bargain hunters.

The discounter is not alone.

Target’s first-quarter results on Wednesday not only show American consumers are more selective about spending in the face of sustained inflation that has squeezed their budgets for nearly three years. The company’s declining sales also illustrate how the battle for shoppers’ wallets has heated up as retailers — and even some restaurants — race to outmatch each other on low prices.

Walmart said last week that its grocery “rollbacks,” short-term deals on specific items, were up 45% year over year in April. The discounter also introduced a new premium grocery brand with most items under $5.

Elsewhere, Aldi dropped prices earlier this month on more than 250 items, including chicken, steak, granola bars and frozen blueberries. And even McDonald’s is debuting a limited-time $5 value meal in late June as some diners scoff at the price of fast food.

Target made its move on Monday, saying it has already reduced prices on about 1,500 items and plans to cut prices on thousands more this summer. Many of those items are staples such as milk, peanut butter and diapers.

Multiple major grocers and restaurants cutting prices or offering deals could offer relief at the checkout, at a time when consumer prices are still climbing more than 3% from last year. It could also give the Federal Reserve more confidence to cut interest rates. Even so, the revenue lost from lower prices could force businesses to cut back elsewhere — potentially on labor costs.

Analysts on Target’s earnings call on Wednesday asked about the timing and reasoning behind the price cuts and whether the retailer or its vendors are picking up the tab. The company declined to share details of that split, but Chief Growth Officer Christina Hennington said Target’s vendors know the company is committed to passing on savings to its customers to drive traffic.

Some businesses have held on to customers even with the same or higher prices: Chipotle and Sweetgreen, for example, have bucked the consumer slowdown.

Target vs. Walmart

Target’s earnings report revealed at least part of the reason why it is joining the race to cut prices. Sales of discretionary merchandise, such as clothing, dropped year over year. But so did sales of higher frequency items like groceries and paper towels.

Some customers may be making those purchases at Walmart instead. Transactions on Walmart’s website and stores rose 3.8% in the most recent quarter, and its e-commerce purchases shot up by 22% in the U.S., the company reported last week.

In an interview with CNBC, Walmart finance chief John David Rainey said the retail giant is gaining share from higher-income households. He added some consumers are coming to its stores for meals because of sticker shock at fast-food chains.

“We’ve got customers that are coming to us more frequently than they have before and newer customers that we haven’t traditionally had,” he said.

On Target’s earnings call, analysts asked tough questions about whether the retailer is losing ground with shoppers or is seen as too pricey, outside of sales events.

CEO Brian Cornell said Target is putting value front and center as it fights to get back to growth.

“We want to make sure America knows that Target’s a great place to shop and we have great value every time you engage whether it’s in-store or through our digital channels,” he said, adding the company is on track to reverse sales declines in the second quarter.

When Target cuts prices, customers have noticed and responded, Hennington said on the earnings call. For example, it noticed it didn’t have low-priced tech accessories that customers wanted, such as charging cables and phone cases, she said.

Those items became part of Dealworthy, a new private brand launched in February that offers Target’s lowest prices on basic items like laundry detergent and paper plates.

“When we introduced the right price points in Dealworthy, the guests noticed immediately and that drove unit and traffic acceleration in those categories and that’s what we’re doing business by business,” she said.

It’ll soon run a similar play with seasonal items, she said. After Target “took a hard look at some of the most popular products from last year’s summer assortment,” customers can expect to see cheaper pool noodles, floats and coolers.

— CNBC’s Amelia Lucas contributed to this report.

The seafood chain has been struggling with rising lease and labor costs in recent years and also promotions like its iconic all-you-can-eat shrimp deal that backfired.

Demand for one such recent promotion overwhelmed restaurants, reportedly contributing to millions in losses.

The seafood restaurant chain said in a court filing late Sunday that it has more than 100,000 creditors and estimated assets between $1 billion and $10 billion. The company’s estimated liabilities are between $1 billion and $10 billion.

The bankruptcy petition is signed by CEO Jonathan Tibus, a corporate restructuring specialist who took the top post at Red Lobster in March.

Restaurant liquidator TAGeX Brands announced last week that it would be auctioning off the equipment of over 50 Red Lobster locations that were recently closed. The store closures span across more than 20 states — reducing Red Lobster’s presence in several states, including New York, New Jersey, Illinois, California, Florida, Maryland, Texas and others.

Maintaining stability at the Florida chain has been problematic due to multiple ownership changes over its 56-year history. Earlier this year, Red Lobster co-owner Thai Union Group, one of the world’s largest seafood suppliers, announced its intention to exit its minority investment in the dining chain.

Thai Union first invested in Red Lobster in 2016 and upped its stake in 2020. At the time of the January announcement on its plans to divest, CEO Thiraphong Chansiri said the COVID-19 pandemic, industry headwinds and rising operating costs had hit the dining chain hard and caused “prolonged negative financial contributions to Thai Union and its shareholders.”

For the first nine months of 2023, the Thailand company reported a $19 million share of loss from Red Lobster.

Red Lobster’s roots date back to 1968, when the first restaurant opened in Lakeland, Florida. The chain expanded rapidly since then and runs more than 700 locations worldwide.

Whether it’s two people in a marriage or a company and a sports league, it’s not easy to break up a 40-year partnership.

The NBA and Warner Bros. Discovery‘s Turner Sports have been in business together for nearly four decades. The relationship is now in jeopardy, as Comcast‘s NBCUniversal is attempting to steal away its package of games with a $2.5 billion per-year offer, as CNBC has previously reported.

The league ended its exclusive window to renew a deal with its two current media partners, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, on April 22. Since then, the league has set a framework to renew with Disney, bring in Amazon as a new third partner, and sell its other package to either Warner Bros. Discovery or NBCUniversal, according to people familiar with the matter. The league stands to triple the total value of a new deal from about $24 billion to $76 billion or more.

Warner Bros. Discovery continues to have discussions with the NBA about keeping the rights, according to people familiar with the matter. The league could still decide to simply renew with its incumbent partner, but it’s not likely, said two of the people, who asked not to be named because the talks are private.

The more probable path would be for the league to sign papers with NBCUniversal, formally securing its bid. That would trigger a contractual option for Warner Bros. Discovery to match the offer.

This is where things might get thorny.

Both the NBA and Warner Bros. Discovery have begun poring over legal language to determine if the league can reject a potential match, the people said. The contractual wording is vague, and it’s unclear if the NBA has full discretion to walk away from Warner Bros. Discovery if it matches the bid, said the people.

If Warner Bros. Discovery decides to match, and the NBA moves to choose NBCUniversal’s offer, the sides may be headed for a lawsuit. Warner Bros. Discovery believes it’s fairly well protected by the contractual language, one of the people said.

Still, that remains hypothetical at this point. It’s possible Warner Bros. Discovery won’t match NBCUniversal’s bid, which would avoid potential conflict.

Some league officials are worried Warner Bros. Discovery’s balance sheet can’t handle spending $2.5 billion a year on the NBA, according to people familiar with the matter. Warner Bros. Discovery has a market valuation of about $20 billion and an enterprise value of about $60 billion, including $43.2 billion of gross debt, as of the end of the company’s fiscal first quarter. The company had a leverage ratio (net debt to adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of 4.1.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has both publicly and privately preached the importance of financial discipline for the company.

NBCUniversal parent Comcast has a market capitalization of about $154 billion and an enterprise value of $244 billion. Comcast’s leverage ratio is about 2.5.

NBA officials are more comfortable Comcast can pay what would amount to more than double the previous price for the package, according to the people familiar to the matter.

Warner Bros. Discovery had been paying $1.2 billion per year to air NBA games. The new package also includes fewer games than the current one because the NBA is likely to introduce a third partner — most likely to be Amazon.

Spokespeople for Warner Bros. Discovery and the NBA declined to comment.

The fate of Venu

Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney and Fox announced Thursday they plan to name their new sports streaming platform Venu, taking inspiration from where live sports are played. The new joint venture, one-third owned by each media company, will offer a bundle of sports networks and ESPN+ at a still to be determined price that’s less expensive than traditional cable. CNBC reported earlier this year the price could be around $45 or $50 a month. The service will debut in the fall, the companies have said.

The three companies haven’t yet formally signed paperwork on the venture as they await regulatory approval. If Warner Bros. Discovery loses the NBA, that will diminish the value of the service for consumers, as NBCUniversal and Amazon aren’t partners in the product.

Warner Bros. Discovery licenses the rights to other sports leagues and groups, including MLB, the NHL and the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s March Madness. The company will also have the NBA next year no matter what, as the new rights deal doesn’t kick in until the end of the 2024-25 season.

There’s been no discussion about shutting down the venture before it launches if Warner Bros. Discovery loses the NBA, according to a person familiar with the matter. Still, without the NBA, Disney and Fox would be contributing the lion’s share of sports content for the service. Disney’s ESPN and Fox own both college football and NFL packages, unlike Warner Bros. Discovery. The three companies plan to split revenue commensurate with the affiliate fees associated with their linear networks.

Warner Bros. Discovery could use the money it saves from not obtaining NBA rights to spend on other sports, such as more MLB games or bidding for UFC, which will likely begin renewal discussions with media companies in early 2025.

ESPN plans to launch its own “flagship” streaming service in the fall of 2025.

Disclosure: Comcast’s NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.

McDonald’s is working to introduce a value meal in U.S. stores to help offset an increasingly challenging environment for consumers, two people familiar with the matter told CNBC.

The people said the $5 meal could include four items: a McChicken or McDouble, four-piece chicken nuggets, fries and a drink. The value meal was first reported by Bloomberg News.

The potential new offering comes at a time when low-income consumers are beginning to pull back on spending, particularly at fast-food brands. Mentions of low-income consumers on company earnings calls are at their highest levels in nearly two years, according to data from Bank of America. Executives from McDonald’s to Wendy’s to Dave and Buster’s have all noted the restraint in spending. 

McDonald’s recently reported a mixed first quarter, with U.S. same-store sales slightly missing expectations. Higher prices helped grow average checks, but some consumers pulled back as a result of the steeper costs.

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“Consumers continue to be even more discriminating with every dollar that they spend as they faced elevated prices in their day-to-day spending, which is putting pressure on the [quick-service restaurant] industry,” CEO Chris Kempczinski said on the company’s earnings call on April 30.

He added that McDonald’s has to be “laser-focused” on affordability to attract diners.

On the call, Kempczinski said the company is working on a national value deal in the U.S., and the company’s Chief Financial Officer Ian Borden said the U.S. leadership team was working closely with owner-operators in this environment. McDonald’s corporate and franchisees, who run 95% of McDonald’s locations and weigh in on such offerings, are often at odds over promotions that could eat into owners’ profits.

An initial proposal by McDonald’s for the $5 value meal did not clear necessary hurdles, and additional details are now being discussed, according to a person familiar with the process. A second person said Coca-Cola added marketing funds to the equation to make the deal more appealing.

McDonald’s declined to comment to CNBC. Coca-Cola did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

— CNBC’s Amelia Lucas contributed to this article.

San Francisco-based Instacart said Tuesday that its U.S. shoppers will see a “Restaurants” tab in the company’s app in the coming weeks. Restaurant orders will be delivered by Uber Eats drivers.

Instacart said its Instacart Plus members – who pay $99 per year or $9.99 per month for free grocery deliveries over $35 – will also get free restaurant delivery for orders over $35. Regular Instacart members will be charged Uber Eats delivery fees.

Instacart said it will earn an affiliate fee with every order, but it didn’t reveal any other financial details of the partnership.

Instacart said most Americans shop for groceries — either online or in a store — at least once per week. But more than one-third also order takeout or delivery at least once a week, and it wants to help them meet that need as well.

The deal will give Instacart customers more benefits in the competitive grocery delivery market. Instacart currently controls around 25% of that market in the U.S., behind Walmart at 51%, according to YipitData, a market research company.

Other delivery companies, including DoorDash and Uber Eats itself, also have a small but growing share of that market.

Uber Eats said the deal with Instacart would drive more customers to its restaurant partners, especially in the suburban neighborhoods where the grocery delivery company has the most users.

In documents filed ahead of its initial public offering last summer, Instacart said it had 7.7 million monthly active users. The companies didn’t say how many of those customers are also Uber Eats users.

High-end fitness chain Equinox is launching one of the most expensive gym memberships in the world — a $40,000-per-year program aimed at improving overall health and longevity.

Equinox is teaming up with lab-test startup Function Health to launch “Optimize by Equinox,” a personalized health program that includes everything from personal training and nutrition plans to sleep coaching and massage therapy. The program, announced Monday, is part of the fast-growing market for longevity and wellness, where the fields of medicine, biotech, fitness and nutrition are merging in the quest to slow the effects of aging.

“It’s really a paradigm shift in how we’re able to live with vitality and avoid suffering,” said Jonathan Swerdlin, co-founder of Function Health. “It deals with what’s above the surface, your abs and glutes, which you can see in the mirror that are great. But it also deals with what’s below the surface and what you can’t see in the mirror. And that’s revolutionary.”

The Optimize program starts with a battery of tests. Function Health will test members for 100 biomarkers — everything from heart, liver and kidney health to metabolic and immune systems to cancer markers and nutrients. Equinox will then run its own battery of fitness tests, including VO2 max, strength and movement range. The tests are repeated twice a year.

An Equinox “concierge” pulls all the tests and data together and helps the member design a personalized plan to improve their overall health and fitness. Each member will have a core team that includes a fitness trainer, a nutrition coach and sleep coach as well as a massage therapist.

The Optimize membership includes three, 60-minute training sessions per week with a top-level trainer. It also includes two half-hour sessions a month with a nutrition coach, two half-hour sessions a month with a sleep coach and one massage therapy session per month. In all, the program amounts to 16 hours a month of coaching and training, according to Equinox.

“It’s the same as Formula One or an athlete, where you are given a team of top experts in all these different verticals, to design a program based on all the data that we collected,” said Julia Klim, vice president of strategic partnerships and business development at Equinox.

The move will mark a major test of Equinox’s continued efforts to expand beyond fitness into the broader health and wellness business, which has become a booming market among the affluent.

The company recently closed a new $1.8 billion funding round that refinances $1.2 billion in existing debt. It said its performance last month made for its second-best April in company history.

Equinox is planning to open new clubs in Philadelphia and the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles later this year, bringing its total locations in the pipeline to 27. The company currently operates 107 locations globally, according to its website.

Klim said Equinox has always focused on “the four pillars” of longevity: movement, regeneration, nutrition and community.

“I sometimes joke that we’ve always been in the longevity business and the science is catching up,” she said.

The new program will cost $3,000 a month for a minimum of six months. The fee doesn’t include an Equinox gym membership, which brings the total to about $40,000 or more for the year.

“It’s a human-first, highly luxury service meets data meets coaching program,” Klim said.

The Optimize program will initially be available starting at the end of May in New York City and Highland Park, Texas, and will eventually roll out to other states, according to Equinox. Members will be able to train at Equinox’s elite “E Clubs,” which are more like private gyms with higher membership fees.

Swerdlin said Function Health’s mission is to help people live “100 healthy years.” The company’s own program costs $499 for the tests of 100 biomarkers. Yet demand is so strong that it has a waitlist of more than 200,000 people. He said Function wanted to partner with Equinox “because they’re the leader in the category.” He said Function’s data is most useful when it can be applied, which is where Equinox, with its personalized fitness and health programs, comes in.

“Living 100 healthy years doesn’t happen inside of a doctor’s office,” Swerdlin said. “It happens in your daily decisions. And it also happens with the way in which you exercise, and Equinox really helps close the loop on that.”

The 60-year-old kicks off every day like a lot of people do: dragging his feet and scrolling on his smartphone, he recently told the “Lex Fridman Podcast.”

This appeared to shock Fridman, who’d just called Bezos “one of the most productive humans in the world.”

“I’m not as productive as you might think I am,” Bezos responded, in an episode first released in December 2023. “First of all, I get up in the morning and I putter. I have a coffee … and just slowly move around.”

Bezos also reads the newspaper and chats with his fiancé before heading to the gym for cardio and weightlifting, he said: “Most days, [going to the gym is] not that hard for me, but some days it’s really hard and I do it anyway,” he said.

The morning routine coincides with Bezos’ philosophy to embrace wandering, or doing things aimlessly. It’s a tenet that follows him to the office, where he said he encourages mind wandering sessions to brainstorm and dissect new ideas without letting time constraints stifle creativity.

His time for his morning routine comes from waking up early. Bezos didn’t specify what time he typically gets up, but said during an event in 2018: “I go to bed early, I get up early.”

The benefits of a chill morning

Bezos isn’t the only billionaire with a non-rushed morning routine. Mark Cuban wakes up between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m. each morning and checks his emails for about an hour before getting out of bed, he told comedian Trevor Noah’s “What Now?” podcast in January.

Then, he eats breakfast, works out and checks his email again. “Rinse and repeat,” said Cuban.

Slow morning routines can seem lazy or sluggish on the surface, but they can actually result in increased energy, creativity and focus, Geir Berthelsen, founder of the World Institute of Slowness, told the Wall Street Journal in 2019.

Spend at least 20 minutes every morning doing nothing, Berthelsen recommended — you could simply stay awake in bed after your alarm goes off, for example. Other experts suggest doing activities that require stillness, like meditation or breathwork.

“Business leaders need to take time to forget about time, and that helps them be creative when they arrive at work,” said Berthelsen. “That’s the goal of doing this before going into the workplace.”

Filling your morning with too many tasks or interruptions is “probably the biggest loss of productivity,” he added.

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The agency also said Monday that the deal, announced in August 2023, threatens to eliminate the incentive for the two companies to vie for employees and could depress employees’ wages and workplace benefits. The combined Tapestry and Capri would employ roughly 33,000 people worldwide, the agency said.

“With the goal to become a serial acquirer, Tapestry seeks to acquire Capri to further entrench its stronghold in the fashion industry,” said Henry Liu, director of the FTC’s bureau of competition in a statement.

The move is the latest by the FTC to take a more aggressive position on antitrust issues.

In February, the FTC sued to block the $24.6 billion merger between grocery giants Kroger and Albertson’s, saying the lack of competition would lead to higher grocery prices and lower wages for workers. The supermarket chains said Monday they will sell more of their stores in an effort to quell the federal government’s concerns.

Kroger and Albertsons announced their planned merger in October 2022. The companies said it’s necessary so they can better compete with Walmart, Amazon and other big rivals.

Tapestry’s and Capri’s portfolio of brands cover a wide array of items from clothing to eyewear to shoes. Tapestry has been on an acquisition binge for the past several years, and already owns Kate Spade New York, Stuart Weitzman and Coach. Capri owns the Versace, Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo brands.

Specifically, Tapestry’s Coach and Kate Spade brands and Capri’s Michael Kors brand are close rivals in the handbag market. The FTC said that they continuously monitor each other’s handbag brands to determine pricing and performance, and they each use that information to make strategic decisions, including whether to raise or reduce handbag prices.

Once completed, the new entity would be the fourth largest luxury company in the world, with a combined market share of around 5.1% of the luxury goods market, according to research firm GlobalData PLC. In the Americas, the company will become the second largest luxury player behind LVMH, with a combined share of 6% of the luxury goods market, GlobalData said.

Both Capri and Tapestry said they strongly disagreed with the FTC’s decision.

“The market realities, which the government’s challenge ignores, overwhelmingly demonstrate that this transaction will not limit, reduce, or constrain competition, ” Capri said in a statement on its website. “Tapestry and Capri operate in the fiercely competitive and highly fragmented global luxury industry. Consumers have hundreds of handbag choices at every price point across all channels, and barriers to entry are low. ”

Capri said it intends to “vigorously defend this case in court alongside Tapestry and complete the pending acquisition.” It said the U.S. FTC is the only regulator that hasn’t approved the transaction.

Tapestry said that “there is no question that this is a pro-competitive, pro-consumer deal and that the FTC fundamentally misunderstands both the marketplace and the way in which consumers shop. ”

“Tapestry and Capri operate in an intensely competitive and highly fragmented industry alongside hundreds of rival brands, including both established players and new entrants.” Tapestry said in a statement.

Columbus, Ohio-based Express, which is also the parent of Bonbons and Upwest brands, is shuttering a handful of its operations in the process. In an announcement addressing its Monday bankruptcy filing, the company said it planned to close 95 of its Express retail stores and all UpWest stores.

Closing sales at these locations, which were not immediately specified, are set to begin Tuesday. Beyond these closures, Express said that it “expects to conduct business as usual.”

Also on Monday, Express announced that it received a non-binding letter of intent from a group led by WHP Global to potentially purchase the majority of its stores and operations. Express said that it had filed for Chapter 11 protection “to facilitate the sale process.”

The consortium exploring the deal also includes mall operators Simon Property Group and Brookfield Properties, Express said. The Associated Press reached out to WHP, Simon Property and Brookfield for comment Monday.

In a prepared statement, Express CEO Stewart Glendinning said that WHP “has been a strong partner” of the company’s since 2023 — adding that the proposed transaction would give Express additional financial resources and “better position the business for profitable growth” while maximizing value for stakeholders.

According to Express’ website, the company currently operates about 530 Express retail and Express Factory Outlet stores in the United States and Puerto Rico, in addition to roughly 60 Bonobos Guideshop locations, 12 UpWest stores as well as online operations for these brands.

Express reported nearly $1.2 billion in total debts and $1.3 billion in total assets in its Chapter 11 petition, which was filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

The company said Monday that it had received a commitment for $35 million in new financing, which is subject to court approval, from some existing lenders. That would add to the $49 million in cash that Express obtained earlier this month from the Internal Revenue Service related to the pandemic-era CARES Act.

Express also announced a leadership update on Monday. Mark Still will become chief financial officer, effective immediately, after serving as interim CFO since November 2023, the company said.

They built the wooden cart with bicycle tires and a kickstand in her parents’ basement in 2016, maxing out her credit card’s $1,500 limit to afford materials, and called it The Nitro Cart. That summer, they took it to any event that would take them, from sheep shearing events to farmers markets across Rhode Island, serving small batches of nitrogen-infused cold brew.

“Sam and I had been popping up every day together, and when you’re not making any money and you’re also dating, that can get sort of frustrating,” says Finocchiaro, 30. “At the end of the summer, we were sort of like, we don’t want to do this anymore.”

A gaggle of college students changed their mind that fall, when Lancaster took the cart to Brown University. The cart sold out for the first time, bringing in $400 in sales in just 30 minutes, Finocchiaro says.

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They started going back every day, building a reputation on campus. To survive the winter, they partnered with local restaurants to install their nitro cold brew on tap.

Today, the business — now called The Nitro Bar — brings in millions in sales: $4.5 million over the past year, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. It has 50 employees at three brick-and-mortar coffee shops and a smaller coffee trailer, and its cold brew is available on tap at more than 50 other locations across Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

The co-founders are also married now, and their business has balanced profitability with expansion since its first money-making year in 2019, Finocchiaro says.

Here’s how they built The Nitro Bar, from 80-hour workweeks to some TikTok virality and a lot of luck.

An unexpected $100,000 in funding

Finocchiaro grew up frugal, and believed the cart would only last for one summer, she says. She and Lancaster didn’t fully realize they’d created a business model with scalable potential until the spring of 2017, when they were approached by a pair of venture capital investors who tried their cold brew at a farmers market and liked it.

One of the investors was a familiar face: Finocchiaro had previously worked for her. The investors created a spreadsheet to calculate what The Nitro Cart could grow into, based on projected number of carts and wholesale tap accounts.

“It was very, very scalable, and did pretty big numbers in not a lot of time,” says one of the investors, an entrepreneur who requested anonymity to protect her privacy.

One Sunday morning, the investors invited Finocchiaro and Lancaster to their home, showed them the numbers and offered them a $100,000 loan at a 10% interest rate to help them grow their business.

The investors retained a right to convert the loan into into a 10% equity investment in The Nitro Bar, says Finocchiaro.

“When we got the investment, it was so emotional because we had never seen anything like that in a bank account,” she says. “Now, it’s not just this little coffee cart. Someone gave us all of this money and we have to figure out how to grow it.”

‘Eventually it’ll catch up with you’

The $100,000 loan provided Finocchiaro and Lancaster with a financial cushion. It didn’t mean the co-founders could sit back and relax. They both worked “insane hours, usually seven days a week” to turn their cart into The Nitro Bar, says Finocchiaro.

Watching their cash flow rise and fall was particularly stressful in the early days, she adds.

“I would ask Sam, like, did someone steal money from our account?” says Finocchiaro. “There’s just so many costs that come with running your own thing.”

Now, Finocchiaro and Lancaster’s days begin at 5:30 a.m., when they run with their dogs before heading into their shops to check on employees. Then they create lists of tasks to complete in the coming week, like building out their production space or testing out new menu items.

When the clock hits 6 p.m., they stop talking about work, Finocchiaro says.

“You can work 80-hour workweeks every week, but eventually it’ll catch up to you,” she says. “And the recovery of finding balance after that catches up to you is so much more difficult than just finding a balance for you in the here and now.”

The power of social media

If any of this sounds familiar, it’s probably from TikTok: The Nitro Bar has more than 220,000 followers on the social media platform.

The account features aesthetic coffee clips and funny videos, where Finocchiaro asks baristas about the weirdest drink order they’ve gotten recently (an americano made with orange juice) and what they’d make Beyoncé if she walked in (a lavender lemonade with espresso).

Finocchiaro credits the brand’s TikTok popularity to something she calls “the Ben & Jerry’s effect.” The idea is to treat The Nitro Bar as “almost its own person,” and for that person to come off as someone who customers want to befriend, she says.

“When you buy Ben & Jerry’s, you feel like you’re supporting these two guys from Vermont, and I think that’s attributed to so much of their success,” says Finocchiaro. Sales are up 60% since The Nitro Bar started gaining traction on TikTok, she adds.

Finocchiaro also shares her journey as a small-business owner on her personal TikTok account, where she has more than 67,000 followers.

“I probably get 20 of those DMs every week from people wanting to do a similar thing, or asking questions about how they can do it,” she says. “Which is always very humbling and shocking that they’re asking me for advice.”

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The pharmaceutical giant said its net profit came in at 20.05 billion Danish kroner ($2.93 billion) in the three months to the end of June. A LSEG aggregate forecast had projected the figure would come in at 20.9 billion Danish kroner.

In the first quarter of 2024, the Wegovy maker had posted a net profit increase of 28% to 25.4 billion Danish kroner year on year, it said in May.

Novo Nordisk also trimmed its operating profit outlook for 2024.

At the time, Novo Nordisk also raised its 2024 outlook slightly, bumping its sales growth projection to a range between 19% and 27% at constant exchange rates, as well as raising its operating growth forecast to a 22% to 30% interval. The adjustment was linked to prior-year growth net estimates in the U.S., the company said.

Novo Nordisk is facing increasing competition in the weight loss space, both from smaller companies and from pharmaceutical giants such as Roche, which last month shared promising early-stage trial data from its own obesity drug candidate.

Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy has also had promising news in recent months. The drug was approved in China in the second quarter, opening it for sale in the world’s second largest economy. Elsewhere, the U.K.’s and European Union’s medical regulators said it was backing Wegovy as a way to reduce risks of serious heart events among overweight and obese adults.

This breaking news story is being updated.

Lululemon is planning to shut down its Washington distribution center and lay off 128 employees after opening a massive new warehouse outside of Los Angeles, the company confirmed on Friday.

The athletic apparel retailer filed a WARN notice with the state’s Employment Security Department on Thursday, notifying it of its plans to close its distribution center in Sumner, located about 35 miles south of Seattle, and cut 128 jobs. Layoffs will begin on June 21, the WARN notice said. The facility is expected to close by the end of the year, according to a Lululemon spokesperson.

“As we continue to deliver on our growth strategy to meet the needs of our guests, we regularly evaluate our distribution network to help shape and support the future vision of our business. Following a review of our current infrastructure and the evolution of our fulfillment strategy, which includes a multi-year investment to increase overall capacity and support our growth, we have made the decision to close one of our smaller distribution centers – located in Sumner, WA,” the spokesperson said. 

“While some employees will be retained and will relocate to other facilities, including our recently opened distribution center in the greater Los Angeles area, the optimization will result in the reduction of just over 100 positions within the existing Sumner distribution center,” the person added. “We are committed to supporting our impacted employees through this transition.”

The 150,000-square-foot facility has a lease that expires in July 2025, according to company securities filings. 

Lululemon first started operating a warehouse in Sumner in 2010, and it appears to be the first major distribution center the company opened in the U.S. after going public in 2007, according to securities filings. 

The closure comes after Lululemon more than tripled its warehouse footprint in the last few years to accommodate its rapid growth. 

As of Jan. 31, 2021, Lululemon leased and owned 1.12 million square feet of distribution centers across Canada and the U.S., filings show. By the end of this January, that footprint grew to nearly 4 million square feet.

The bulk of the growth comes from two new facilities Lululemon leased outside of Los Angeles and Toronto.

In 2021, it entered into a new lease for a 1.26 million-square-foot facility outside of Los Angeles in Ontario, California, filings show. In 2022, it leased a 980,000-square-foot warehouse outside of Toronto in Brampton, Ontario.

The Lululemon spokesperson said the California facility recently opened. The new Canadian facility is expected to be up and running in fiscal 2026, company filings show. The retailer previously expected the facility to be operational in fiscal 2024, the filings say.

Lululemon has spent the last decade dominating the athletic apparel space and becoming one of the most popular brands among teens. It has grown annual sales from $1.6 billion in fiscal 2013 to $9.6 billion in fiscal 2023.

But recently, its growth in North America – its largest region by sales – has started to stagnate. 

In March, it reported holiday earnings that beat Wall Street’s expectations, but it issued disappointing guidance after seeing slow sales in the U.S.

In the three months ended Jan. 28, sales grew 9% in the Americas, compared to 29% growth in the year-ago period.

— Additional reporting by CNBC’s Annie Palmer

Hyundai confirmed the pause in a statement to NBC News late Wednesday and said it was taking its brand safety concerns to Musk’s company. 

“We have paused our ads on X and are speaking to X directly about brand safety to ensure this issue is addressed,” Hyundai said in the statement. 

Nancy Levine Stearns, a freelance journalist and X user, posted a screenshot Wednesday of a Hyundai ad running on an X account that often posts Holocaust denial and antisemitism. Stearns has written about brand safety on X for Hill Reporter, a progressive news site. 

Joe Benarroch, head of business operations at X, confirmed the Hyundai pause in an email Thursday in response to questions. He said X was working with Hyundai’s marketers to put in place further brand safety controls. 

X also suspended the account that made the antisemitic posts. The account’s bio included antisemitic tropes that violated X’s policy against abusive profiles, Benarroch said. A note on the account Thursday afternoon said it was “temporarily unavailable” because it violated policy. 

Benarroch also said a Holocaust-denial post that appeared adjacent to a Hyundai ad would get a label as violating X’s policy on “violent event denial.” 

On Tuesday, an NBC News investigation documented how X has become a hub for pro-Nazi content. X’s policies ban glorifying violence and praising violent entities. 

Hyundai is the world’s third-largest automaker by sales volume, after Toyota and Volkswagen. Its headquarters are in South Korea, and its brands include Kia. 

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The recent Hyundai ad in question ran on the profile of a user who has defended Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and pushed antisemitic conspiracy theories. Before Thursday’s suspension, the account said it was based in Australia. It posted under a pseudonym and had more than 55,000 followers.

The account for months has had a blue checkmark signaling that it is a paid “Premium” subscriber. This month, X began giving blue checkmarks to some unpaid users with more than 2,500 verified followers, making it more difficult to determine who is a paid subscriber, but the account in question has had its blue checkmark for longer. 

NBC News reported Tuesday that under Musk’s ownership, X has become a thriving spot for explicitly pro-Nazi content, including speeches by Hitler or content praising his genocidal regime. NBC News found that at least 150 paid “Premium” subscriber accounts and thousands of unpaid accounts had posted or amplified pro-Nazi content in recent months, often in apparent violation of X’s rules. 

Some pro-Nazi content has spread widely, including a post last month with 1.9 million views promoting a false and long-debunked conspiracy theory that 6 million Jews did not die in the Holocaust. On Thursday, X added a label to the post, saying: “Visibility limited: this Post may violate X’s rules against Hateful Conduct.” 

NBC News found ads running on 74 of the 150 “Premium” accounts, either on their profile pages or in the replies below their posts.

Another X advertiser, IQAir, said it was adjusting its settings on the platform after NBC News found one of its ads running adjacent to Holocaust denial. IQAir, a Swiss company that makes air quality devices and software, said it was already using X’s features designed to let advertisers target certain audiences and exclude other audiences. 

“Our advertisements are set up so that ideally, they do not allow X to reach accounts beyond our target audience,” the company said in an email. 

“However, based on the screen shot you provided, it appears that did not occur in this case,” it said. The company said it did not know why its ad would appear next to extremist content. 

X offers advertisers a feature called “negative targeting” designed to stop ads from being placed near certain keywords. However, the system does not by default include all potentially problematic keywords. IQAir said it was adding a Holocaust denial hashtag to its list of excluded keywords, and X said it was demonetizing searches for the same hashtag. 

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“We do not condone our advertisements running in conjunction with this or any other form of extremist content,” IQAir said. 

X said it had suspended one account whose Holocaust-denial post had appeared next to an IQAir ad. The account had an abusive profile, Benarroch said. X also applied a label for “hateful conduct” to another antisemitic post, he said.

NBC News does not have a comprehensive list of advertisers that use X. Each account on social media sees different ads at different times, so it is unknown how many advertisers’ ads have run next to pro-Nazi content or Holocaust denial posts. 

X has faced a widespread advertiser backlash since November, when Musk embraced the “great replacement theory,” which says there is a top-down plot to replace the white population with nonwhite people. Musk responded to a post by a conspiracy theorist by saying, “You have said the actual truth.” 

Dozens of major advertisers, including Disney, Apple and Warner Bros., halted their advertising on X, and as of February many had not resumed. According to the research firm Sensor Tower, 75 out of the top 100 U.S. advertisers on X from October 2022 were not buying ads as of February. 

Musk visited Israel later in November and traveled to the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz in January. 

Musk, also the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, said after the Auschwitz visit that he did not know much about antisemitism and considered himself “Jewish by association.” 

“I must admit to being somewhat frankly naive about this. In the circles that I move, I see almost no antisemitism. … Two-thirds of my friends are Jewish,” he said.

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The firings confirmed by Google late Wednesday came a day after nine employees were arrested during sit-in protests at offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California, after the company called police.

The dissent roiling Google centers on “Project Nimbus,” a $1.2 billion contract signed in 2021 that calls upon Google and Amazon to provide the Israeli government with cloud computing and artificial intelligence services.

The protests are being organized primarily by a group called No Tech For Apartheid. Google says Nimbus isn’t being deployed in weaponry or intelligence gathering.

In a statement, Google attributed the firing of the 28 employees to “completely unacceptable behavior” that prevented some workers from doing their jobs and created a threatening atmosphere. The Mountain View, California, company added it is still investigating what happened during the protests, implying more workers could still be fired.

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In a blog post, No Tech For Apartheid accused Google of lying about what happened inside its offices during what it described as “peaceful sit-in” that received overwhelming support from other workers who weren’t participating in the protest.

“This flagrant act of retaliation is a clear indication that Google values its $1.2 billion contract with the genocidal Israeli government and military more than its own workers,” No Tech For Apartheid asserted.

The contract raising the ire of some Google workers runs within the company’s cloud computing division that is overseen by a former Oracle executive, Thomas Kurian.

Under Kurian’s leadership, cloud computing has emerged as one of Google’s fastest-growing divisions, with revenue of $33 billion last year, a 26% increase from 2022. A wide range of private-sector companies also buy Google’s cloud computing services, in addition to governments around the world.

Google workers have periodically staged angry protests over other deals the company has been working on and have also raised ethical concerns about the way it is developing artificial intelligence.

One of the previous employee uprisings resulted in Google deciding in 2018 to end a contract with the U.S. defense department called “Project Maven” that involved helping the armed forces analyze military videos.

But Google has continued to thrive, despite the internal misgivings about the way it is making some of its money. Its revenue mostly comes through digital advertising sold through an internet empire that depends on its dominant search engine as its main pillar.

Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., posted a $74 billion profit last year and now employs about 182,000 workers worldwide — about 83,000 more people than in 2018 when it abandoned Project Maven.

Alba will keep a seat on the company board, but Honest said that she will now focus on “new endeavors.”

The actress founded Honest in 2012 after she suffered allergic reactions to baby laundry detergents. The company went public in May 2021, with shares soaring 44% in their stock market debut.

Sales at Honest Co. have risen steadily, but the company has struggled to turn a profit. Late Thursday, the company put up its first profitable quarter since mid 2021.

“Honest has been a true labor of love for me – one that showed me what’s possible when you infuse purpose into business,” Alba said in a prepared statement.

Alba had early starring roles in Nickelodeon’s series “The Secret World of Alex Mack,” as well as the revival of the 1960s television series “Flipper.”

Shares of Honest Co., based in Los Angeles, fell slightly before the opening bell Wednesday.

The pharmaceutical giant said its net profit came in at 20.05 billion Danish kroner ($2.93 billion) in the three months to the end of June. A LSEG aggregate forecast had projected the figure would come in at 20.9 billion Danish kroner.

In the first quarter of 2024, the Wegovy maker had posted a net profit increase of 28% to 25.4 billion Danish kroner year on year, it said in May.

Novo Nordisk also trimmed its operating profit outlook for 2024.

At the time, Novo Nordisk also raised its 2024 outlook slightly, bumping its sales growth projection to a range between 19% and 27% at constant exchange rates, as well as raising its operating growth forecast to a 22% to 30% interval. The adjustment was linked to prior-year growth net estimates in the U.S., the company said.

Novo Nordisk is facing increasing competition in the weight loss space, both from smaller companies and from pharmaceutical giants such as Roche, which last month shared promising early-stage trial data from its own obesity drug candidate.

Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy has also had promising news in recent months. The drug was approved in China in the second quarter, opening it for sale in the world’s second largest economy. Elsewhere, the U.K.’s and European Union’s medical regulators said it was backing Wegovy as a way to reduce risks of serious heart events among overweight and obese adults.

This breaking news story is being updated.

Starting a five-day visit to China in one of the country’s major industrial and export hubs, she said she would raise industrial overcapacity and what the U.S. considers to be unfair Chinese trade practices during what will likely be tough talks with senior China officials.

“There are a broad swath of economic interactions” between the U.S. and China “that should remain uncontroversial,” she said at an event hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in China in Guangzhou. But, she said, there are “Chinese practices tilting the playing field away” from U.S. firms.

Yellen, the first Cabinet-level official to visit China since President Joe Biden met Chinese leader Xi Jinping last November, has telegraphed that she will raise what the U.S. considers to be unfair Chinese trade practices, a concern shared by many European countries.

“This includes the issue of China’s industrial overcapacity, which the United States and other countries are concerned can cause global spillovers,” she said.

After meeting the governor, Yellen spoke with U.S. business leaders at the American Chamber event and took questions from them in an auditorium of a marbled convention center in the Baiyun District of Guangzhou.

“I’ve heard from many American business executives that operating in China can be challenging,” Yellen said at an event hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in China on Friday afternoon.

Citing a recent survey by the Chamber that found that a third of American firms in China say they have experienced unfair treatment compared to local competitors, Yellen says the U.S. has seen China “pursue unfair economic practices, including imposing barriers to access for foreign firms and taking coercive actions against American companies.”

“I strongly believe that this doesn’t only hurt these American firms: ending these unfair practices would benefit China by improving the business climate here. I intend to raise these issues in meetings this week,” she says in her speech.

Earlier in the day, she also met with American, European and Japanese business representatives to hear their concerns.

Guangzhou is the capital of Guangdong province, a Chinese manufacturing and export hub that is home to telecom giant Huawei and BYD, China’s largest EV maker. Huawei has been hit hard by U.S. restrictions on semiconductor exports to China and is at the vanguard of Chinese efforts to become self-sufficient and a leader in technology.

Government subsidies and other policy support have encouraged solar panel and EV makers in China to invest in factories, building far more production capacity than the domestic market can absorb.

The massive scale of production has driven down costs and ignited price wars for green technologies, a boon for consumers and efforts to reduce global dependence on fossil fuels. But Western governments fear that that capacity will flood their markets with low-priced exports, threatening American and European jobs.

Yellen will head to Beijing next.

Eswar Prasad, a trade professor at Cornell University, expects Yellen to push Beijing to bolster domestic consumption and ensure fair competition in new technology sectors, especially green energy and electric vehicles, along with adequate market access for U.S. companies.

“Concerns about China attempting to export its overcapacity and simultaneously making a big push into these sectors will be top of mind for the U.S. delegation,” he said.

China has pushed back against the overcapacity concerns expressed by both the U.S. and Europe.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said earlier this week that the growth in Chinese EV and solar exports is conducive to green development globally and the result of the international division of labor and market demand.

He accused the U.S. of interfering with free trade by restricting technology exports to China.

“As for who is doing non-market manipulation, the fact is for everyone to see,” he said. “The U.S. has not stopped taking measures to contain China’s trade and technology. This is not ‘de-risking,’ rather, it is creating risks.”

Yellen said at the American Chamber event that “excess capacity is a concern that many countries share — from a range of advanced and developing countries and is not something that’s new.”

“This is not anti-China policy,” she said. “It’s an effort for us to mitigate the risks from the inevitable global economic dislocation that will result if China doesn’t adjust its policies.”

Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing — an alliance of businesses and the U.S. Steelworkers union — told The Associated Press ahead of Yellen’s trip that “there is a limited amount of expectations we should have about the Chinese government and how it responds; one thing that Yellen hopefully can and should say is that the U.S. is prepared to use all the tools that we have available through policy to ensure that China’s industrial overcapacity doesn’t negatively harm our economic and national security interests.”

The Alliance released a report in February that says the introduction of inexpensive Chinese autos to the American market “could end up being an extinction-level event for the U.S. auto sector.” The U.S. auto sector accounts for 3% of America’s GDP, according to the report.

Yellen told reporters Wednesday during an Alaska refueling stop en route to Asia that the U.S. “won’t rule out” tariffs to respond to China’s heavily subsidized manufacturing of green energy products.

___

Moritsugu contributed from Beijing.

According to documents published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the intermediate shaft and right front driveshaft of certain 2020-2024 Tellurides may not be fully engaged. Over time, this can lead to “unintended vehicle movement” while the cars are in park — increasing potential crash risks.

Kia America decided to recall all 2020-2023 model year and select 2024 model year Tellurides earlier this month, NHTSA documents show. At the time, no injuries or crashes were reported.

Improper assembly is suspected to be the cause of the shaft engagement problem — with the recall covering 2020-2024 Tellurides that were manufactured between Jan. 9, 2019 and Oct. 19, 2023. Kia America estimates that 1% have the defect.

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To remedy this issue, recall documents say, dealers will update the affected cars’ electronic parking brake software and replace any damaged intermediate shafts for free. Owners who already incurred repair expenses will also be reimbursed.

In the meantime, drivers of the impacted Tellurides are instructed to manually engage the emergency break before exiting the vehicle. Drivers can also confirm if their specific vehicle is included in this recall and find more information using the NHTSA site and/or Kia’s recall lookup platform.

Owner notification letters are otherwise set to be mailed out on May 15, with dealer notification beginning a few days prior.

The Associated Press reached out to Irvine, California-based Kia America for further comment Sunday.

Democrats in the state Legislature passed the law last year in part as an acknowledgement that many of the more than 500,000 people who work in fast food restaurants are not teenagers earning some spending money, but adults working to support their families.

That includes immigrants like Ingrid Vilorio, who said she started working at a McDonald’s shortly after arriving in the United States in 2019. Fast food was her full-time job until last year. Now, she works about eight hours per week at a Jack in the Box while working other jobs.

“The $20 raise is great. I wish this would have come sooner,” Vilorio said through a translator. “Because I would not have been looking for so many other jobs in different places.”

The law was supported by the trade association representing fast food franchise owners. But since it passed, many franchise owners have bemoaned the impact the law is having on them, especially during California's slowing economy.

Alex Johnson owns 10 Auntie Anne's Pretzels and Cinnabon restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area. He said sales have slowed in 2024, prompting him to lay off his office staff and rely on his parents to help with payroll and human resources.

Increasing his employees' wages will cost Johnson about $470,000 each year. He will have to raise prices anywhere from 5% to 15% at his stores, and is no longer hiring or seeking to open new locations in California, he said.

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“I try to do right by my employees. I pay them as much as I can. But this law is really hitting our operations hard,” Johnson said.

“I have to consider selling and even closing my business,” he said. “The profit margin has become too slim when you factor in all the other expenses that are also going up.”

Over the past decade, California has doubled its minimum wage for most workers to $16 per hour. A big concern over that time was whether the increase would cause some workers to lose their jobs as employers' expenses increased.

Instead, data showed wages went up and employment did not fall, said Michael Reich, a labor economics professor at the University of California-Berkeley.

“I was surprised at how little, or how difficult it was to find disemployment effects. If anything, we find positive employment effects,” Reich said.

Plus, Reich said while the statewide minimum wage is $16 per hour, many of the state's larger cities have their own minimum wage laws setting the rate higher than that. For many fast food restaurants, this means the jump to $20 per hour will be smaller.

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The law reflected a carefully crafted compromise between the fast food industry and labor unions, which had been fighting over wages, benefits and legal liabilities for close to two years. The law originated during private negotiations between unions and the industry, including the unusual step of signing confidentiality agreements.

The law applies to restaurants offering limited or no table service and which are part of a national chain with at least 60 establishments nationwide. Restaurants operating inside a grocery establishment are exempt, as are restaurants producing and selling bread as a stand-alone menu item.

At first, it appeared the bread exemption applied to Panera Bread restaurants. Bloomberg News reported the change would benefit Greg Flynn, a wealthy campaign donor to Newsom. But the Newsom administration said the wage increase law does apply to Panera Bread because the restaurant does not make dough on-site. Also, Flynn has announced he would pay his workers at least $20 per hour.

Beam reported from Sacramento, California.

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What was once a gesture of appreciation has quickly become a source of annoyance.

With the rapid rise of tipping culture post-pandemic, consumers face more opportunities to tip for a wider range of services than ever before, a trend also referred to as “tip creep.”

But recent surveys show shoppers are experiencing “tip fatigue” and starting to tip less — and resent “guilt tipping” even more.

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Nearly 3 in 4 Americans think tipping has gotten out of control, according to a recent WalletHub survey, especially when it comes to the predetermined point-of-sale options.  

That is up from two-thirds of Americans who had a negative view of tipping less than a year ago, a separate report by Bankrate found.

“Customers are being asked to tip at the more traditional service encounters [and] also app-based services, ride-share and delivery apps. This gives the perception that tipping is everywhere, which does seem the case,” said Tim Self, an assistant professor of hospitality at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee.

Indeed, the pressure to tip has increased over the past year, NerdWallet’s consumer budgeting report also found — a feeling now known as “guilt tipping.”

‘Guilt tipping’ is on the rise

Particularly when it comes to payment prompts with predetermined options that can range between 15% and 35% for each transaction, “the guilt kind of washes over you,” Self said.

However, “you are not obligated to tip,” Self added. “Ultimately, it comes down to the consumer making that choice and I think more people will get comfortable saying ‘no.’ That’s where I think a tip jar makes more sense.”

With inflation, shrinkflation and tipflation, consumers are getting squeezed at every turn, according to Alex Skijus, CEO and founder of True Life Wealth Management in Tampa, Florida, and many have had enough.

Too often, consumers feel obligated to tip, he said. “It’s based on basic guilt.”

Skijus advises shoppers, regardless of income, to consider tipping when you want to express gratitude, but not at every point of sale, even when prompted. In the end, he said, that will be what causes business owners to scale back on suggested tip amounts or eliminate tip prompts altogether.

“People have a fear of being ostracized,” he added, but “stick to your guns.”  

Some are already sticking to their guns. According to Toast‘s most recent restaurant trends report, tipping at full-service restaurants and quick-service establishments were both down in the fourth quarter of 2023 from five years earlier.

When adding a tip on a credit card or digital payment, guests at full-service restaurants left 19.4%, on average, down from 19.5% in 2018, while quick-service restaurant tips fell to 16% from 16.6%.

But it could also depend on the day. On average, guests tend to be the stingiest when tipping on Sundays and steadily tip more as the week progresses. Tipping peaks on Thursdays, then drops again on Fridays and Saturdays, Toast found.  

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Bean died Saturday, her business manager, Veronika Carlson, confirmed in a written statement Sunday. No cause was given.

“Linda was known for her amazing work ethic, entrepreneurial spirit as well as her pride and dedication to her home state of Maine and L.L.Bean, the company her grandfather founded,” the statement said. “Our hearts go out to her family and friends.”

Bean’s grandfather, Leon Leonwood Bean, founded the company in 1912. It grew through its popular catalogue, offering durable products such as rubber-bottomed boots that came with a lifetime guarantee.

Linda Bean served on the company’s board for nearly half a century. She also bought lobster dealerships, founded the Perfect Maine Lobster brand in 2007, and owned general stores, inns and vacation rentals on Maine’s central coast, where she lived in Port Clyde.

She helped lead the effort to have Maine’s lobster industry certified as sustainable in 2013 by a London-based nonprofit, the Marine Stewardship Council — a certification that was pulled in 2022 over concern about harm to whales.

Her philanthropic efforts included supporting LifeFlight of Maine medical helicopters and the Maine Botanical Gardens at Boothbay, as well as promoting the life of early 20th century illustrator and artist N.C. Wyeth, the father of the famous painter Andrew Wyeth, and preserving the family’s properties.

“Linda Bean loved the State of Maine. Its coastal communities, islands, and art, particularly by the Wyeths, had a special place in her heart,” Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said in a written statement Sunday. “Linda also was an astute businesswoman who promoted Maine lobster through her restaurants. Many a time while waiting for my plane in Portland, I had a cup of her famous lobster stew at her airport restaurant.”

Bean was also a big donor to Republican causes and twice campaigned unsuccessfully for Congress, in 1988 and 1992. She ran as an opponent of abortion rights, gay rights legislation and gun control, and she believed in cutting taxes to spur the economy.

She also supported efforts to repeal a Maine law outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation, and she urged the Department of Defense to overturn Obama-era policies allowing transgender individuals to serve in the military.

In 2017, the Federal Election Commission said Bean made excessive contributions to a political action committee she bankrolled to support Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. That prompted some liberal groups to call for a boycott of L.L. Bean — which she described as harassment by “a small kernel of hardcore bullies out on the left coast, West Coast, in California, trying to control what we do, what we buy, what we sell in Maine.”

Trump came to her defense, urging his supporters to buy the company’s products.

“While her politics did not align with mine, Linda and I found common ground in our mutual love of our home state, of the coast of Maine and our working waterfronts, of Maine inspired art and of the perfect Maine lobster roll,” Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, said in a written statement. “I enjoyed her company and admired her business acumen. On behalf of the people of Maine, I extend deep condolences to Linda’s family and loved ones and to the entire L.L.Bean community.”

No information about survivors was immediately available.

The company, which operates 31 casinos globally, began consulting financial advisors upon review of MGM’s share price, which has risen less than 5% over the last two years despite growth in sales and profit. However, the discussions are in their early stages and may not result in any sales, according to the person, who asked to remain anonymous.

MGM declined to comment.

The Springfield location opened in 2018, seven years after the state legalized casino gambling, but has been less successful than the company had hoped. In 2023, the venue made $278 million in gambling revenue.

Opened in 2019, MGM Northfield Park is located about 20 miles outside of Cleveland and features a horse track and a casino.

Both casinos are owned by Vici Properties, Inc., a New York-based real estate investment trust specializing in casino and entertainment properties. A spokesperson for Vici declined to comment.

MGM has been looking to expand its online gambling presence globally, Bloomberg reported. The company has been exploring the world of online sports betting since the launch of its online gambling platform, BetMGM, in 2018, which came three months after the Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, legalizing sports betting on a state-to-state basis. According to the American Gambling Association, 38 states and the District of Columbia have legalized sports betting since the ruling. Massachusetts authorized it in January 2023.

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The civil suit, joined by attorneys general for 15 states and the District of Columbia, accuses Apple of restricting its smartphone operating system in a way that drives up costs for consumers and prevents developers from successfully releasing products on other smartphone systems.

“Consumers should not have to pay higher prices because companies violate the antitrust laws,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a news release.

Among the suit’s allegations:

• Apple prevents the successful deployment of what the DOJ calls “super apps” that would make it easier for consumers to switch between smartphone platforms.
• Apple blocks the development of cloud-streaming apps that would allow for high-quality video-game play without having to pay for extra hardware.
• Apple inhibits the development of cross-platform messaging apps so that customers must keep buying iPhones. The DOJ specifically highlights the frequent consumer complaint of seeing a message sent from a non-iPhone device show up as green instead of the standard iMessage blue — and with fewer features than one sent between two iMessage users.

In a press conference Thursday following the release of the suit, Garland acknowledged Apple’s dominance as a company — noting its market capitalization was larger than the GDP of more than 100 countries — but that this success was not the result of its superior products, but rather through its “exclusionary” tactics.

Apple’s performance, he said, has come “not by making its own products better, but by making other products worse.”

In a statement, Apple denied the allegations and accused the government of overreach.

It said it was under no obligation to use designs or policies that may be preferred by competitors, especially when those designs would make iPhone users’ experience worse. 

For example, Apple said, it has not developed a version of iMessage compatible with non-iPhone devices because it would not be able to provide a comparable user experience that meets the company’s standards.

“At Apple, we innovate every day to make technology people love —designing products that work seamlessly together, protect people’s privacy and security, and create a magical experience for our users,” it said. “This lawsuit threatens who we are and the principles that set Apple products apart in fiercely competitive markets. If successful, it would hinder our ability to create the kind of technology people expect from Apple — where hardware, software, and services intersect. It would also set a dangerous precedent, empowering government to take a heavy hand in designing people’s technology. We believe this lawsuit is wrong on the facts and the law, and we will vigorously defend against it.”

The case is part of President Joe Biden’s broader antitrust crackdown on Big Tech. The U.S. Justice Department is already suing Google for allegedly monopolizing digital advertising services, while the Federal Trade Commission has a long-running anti-monopoly case pending against Facebook parent Meta, as well as a more recent one against Amazon. And in December, the Federal Trade Commission sought to block Microsoft’s now-closed acquisition of game maker Activision.

The suit against Apple represents the third attempt by an attorney general to go after the Cupertino, California-based tech behemoth — but the first to challenge Apple on such a broad basis.

“This clearly escalates the Biden Administration antitrust efforts against Big Tech giants and adds to the current ongoing antitrust case against Google and other various cases against Meta and Amazon,” Dan Ives, a managing director and senior equity research analyst at Wedbush Securities, said in an investor note.

The complaint goes on to allege that Apple’s monopoly also extends to web browsers, video communication, news subscriptions, entertainment, automotive services, advertising, location services and more.

“For years, Apple responded to competitive threats by imposing a series of ‘Whac-A-Mole’ contractual rules and restrictions that have allowed Apple to extract higher prices from consumers, impose higher fees on developers and creators, and to throttle competitive alternatives from rival technologies,” said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “Today’s lawsuit seeks to hold Apple accountable and ensure it cannot deploy the same, unlawful playbook in other vital markets.”

In a statement, the Chamber of Progress, a trade group funded by tech companies like Apple, criticized the suit.

“Consumers who buy iPhones like Apple’s highly curated mobile ecosystem,” said Chamber of Progress CEO Adam Kovacevich. “That’s not an antitrust violation, that’s why millions of people buy iPhones for security and ease of use. If DOJ forced Apple to open up its software and hardware, it would make iPhones more like Androids, depriving consumers of choice between two very different types of device.”

Earlier this month, Apple was hit with a $2 billion fine by the European Union for restricting competition for music-streaming services in the app store. Apple said it would appeal.

The full lawsuit is below.

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Dollar Tree plans to close about 600 Family Dollar stores in the first half of this year and 370 Family Dollar and 30 Dollar Tree stores over the next several years.

Dollar Tree acquired Family Dollar for more than $8 billion in 2015 after a bidding war with rival Dollar General, but it has had difficulty absorbing the chain.

On Wednesday, Dollar Tree said that it would record a $950 million impairment against the trade name Family Dollar, on top of a $1.07 billion goodwill charge. Family Dollar will spend more than $594 million closing or rebranding stores, essentially erasing profits from the holiday season.

“This dramatic cull is the coup de grâce in the rather botched acquisition of the Family Dollar chain, which has caused Dollar Tree nothing but hassle since it was completed back in 2015,” wrote Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData. “Basically, almost ten years on, Dollar Tree is still sifting through the mess it inherited and has not been able to completely turn around,” Saunders said.

Saunders said in an emailed statement that nearly 12% of current Family Dollar stores will be closing over the next three years.

Shares of Dollar Tree tumbled 14% at the opening bell Wednesday.

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For the three months ended Feb. 3, Dollar Tree lost $1.71 billion, or $7.85 per share. A year earlier the Chesapeake, Virginia, company earned $452.2 million, or $2.04 per share.

Stripping out certain items, earnings were $2.55 per share, which is still short of the per-share earnings of $2.67 expected on Wall Street, according to a survey by Zacks Investment Research.

Revenue climbed to $8.64 billion from $7.72 billion, a bit below Wall Street’s estimate of $8.67 billion.

Dollar Tree has been attracting consumers that have been stung by inflation as they seek to cut spending. During the quarter, sales at Dollar Tree stores open at least a year climbed 6.3%, with traffic up 7.1%. While more shoppers were heading to stores, they were closely watching how much they spent, with average ticket down 0.7%.

At Family Dollar, sales at stores open at least a year slipped 1.2%. Traffic edged up 0.7%, but average ticket fell 2%.

For fiscal 2024, Dollar Tree anticipates earnings between $6.70 and $7.30 per share. Revenue is expected in a range of $31 billion to $32 billion.

Analysts polled by FactSet expect full-year earnings of $7.04 on revenue of $31.68 billion.

Dollar Tree expects first-quarter earnings of $1.33 to $1.48 per share on revenue in a range of $7.6 billion to $7.9 billion.

Wall Street anticipates first-quarter earnings of $1.70 on revenue of $7.68 billion.

The pharmaceutical giant said its net profit came in at 20.05 billion Danish kroner ($2.93 billion) in the three months to the end of June. A LSEG aggregate forecast had projected the figure would come in at 20.9 billion Danish kroner.

In the first quarter of 2024, the Wegovy maker had posted a net profit increase of 28% to 25.4 billion Danish kroner year on year, it said in May.

Novo Nordisk also trimmed its operating profit outlook for 2024.

At the time, Novo Nordisk also raised its 2024 outlook slightly, bumping its sales growth projection to a range between 19% and 27% at constant exchange rates, as well as raising its operating growth forecast to a 22% to 30% interval. The adjustment was linked to prior-year growth net estimates in the U.S., the company said.

Novo Nordisk is facing increasing competition in the weight loss space, both from smaller companies and from pharmaceutical giants such as Roche, which last month shared promising early-stage trial data from its own obesity drug candidate.

Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy has also had promising news in recent months. The drug was approved in China in the second quarter, opening it for sale in the world’s second largest economy. Elsewhere, the U.K.’s and European Union’s medical regulators said it was backing Wegovy as a way to reduce risks of serious heart events among overweight and obese adults.

This breaking news story is being updated.

Oscar Mayer announced Wednesday the launch of plant-based NotHotDogs and NotSausages.

It’s a joint venture between Oscar Mayer parent Kraft Heinz and TheNotCompany, a Chile-based food-tech company backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The venture is called The Kraft Heinz Not Company, stylized as TheKraftHeinzNotCo.

“Oscar Mayer NotHotDogs and NotSausages offer the savory and smoky experience that brand fans have known and loved for more than 140 years,” the brand said in a release.

An analysis cited by Kraft forecasts the meat-alternative market to more than double by 2030. However, many meatless hot dogs and dinner sausages currently on offer have failed to capture consumers due to flavor and texture concerns, Kraft said.

“We know people are hungry for plant-based meat options from brands they know and trust,” said Lucho Lopez-May, CEO of The Kraft Heinz Not Company, in a release. “In launching the joint venture’s first product in the plant-based meat category, we saw an opportunity to satisfy these consumer cravings, leveraging NotCo’s revolutionary AI technology and the power, equity, and legacy of the Oscar Mayer brand.”

In addition to a traditional hot dog, flavors on offer from the new lineup include Bratwurst and Italian sausage. The new products may contain less saturated fat and cholesterol than a traditional Oscar Mayer beef product, but may contain more sodium, as well as more protein. 

In a follow-up statement to NBC News, the company said ingredients included in the new product lineup include bamboo fiber, mushroom, pea protein and acerola cherry, also known as Barbados cherry or West Indian cherry.

Kraft Heinz and Not Co have already launched plant-based cheese slices, mayo, and mac & cheese products.

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“So, that became a frustration for us — not having the ability to find what we had back home, which was cheap, available rum that was high quality that we could all enjoy,” said González, who, like Sucre, grew up in Venezuela. Darquea grew up in Ecuador.

González, Sucre and Darquea met at North Carolina State University, where they attended undergrad as international students. They each graduated and managed to find ways to stay in the United States before Sucre first came up with the idea, which he called “Tropicalation.”

The idea came to Sucre as he drank High Noon, a vodka-based hard seltzer brand, while listening to Puerto Rican reggaetón star Bad Bunny by his apartment’s pool during the pandemic.

“And I remember trying…High Noon, and there was a moment where I was like, this, this clicks, (but) there’s something missing here,” Sucre said. “I read that it was vodka soda. You look at the ingredients: vodka, sparkling water and juice. And I’m like, the drink that we grew up drinking after you kind of matured from the rum and coke is rum, sparkling water and lemon juice.”

“And it was like, there’s something here from a flavor standpoint,” Sucre continued. “There’s something here missing from a brand standpoint.”

Following his epiphany, Sucre began creating his first iterations of his rum-based hard seltzer using simple ingredients and a SodaStream machine he bought at the store.

The first few tries at making the seltzer did not differ all that much from what Casalú is now, Sucre said. It was just a matter of getting the right amount of ingredients, like rum and lemon.

After a few months, when González, who worked for the NC State Entrepreneurship Clinic at the time, got involved, the drink was pretty good, Sucre said.

They then partnered with their third business partner, Darquea, who had an uncle with experience in the hard seltzer space, and pitched their idea to the NC State Startup Accelerator, an investment tool for current students and alumni up to five years removed from the university.

They competed against 60 companies and were one of five to receive the $5,000 investment, which they admitted was not very much to get started. But they used it to rent an Airbnb in Miami and get a keg to make more of their rum-based seltzer.

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Now called Casalú, which comes from a fusion of casa (home) and salud (what people say when they toast in Spanish), the three burgeoning entrepreneurs headed to Miami — the city with the largest Latino population in the United States.

Not to mention, if Florida were its own country, it would be the sixth-largest consumer of rum in the world.

“We got a five-gallon keg. We did what we had to do to get customers to try our product and try what we were on to,” Sucre said. “And I remember the strategy was pretty simple: Let’s start crashing parties of friends and family members and anyone we know.”

“We started to become the special guest at people’s parties. Event managers from Miami and other bars found out and were like, ‘Hey, we want that product,'” Sucre said.

Casalú continued to pick up steam in Miami, and they eventually were able to get their product in every Total Wine & More store in Florida.

Since then, Casalú has continued to grow. Thanks to González’s connections through a professor at NC State, Casalú secured a $1.3 million investment from four members of the board at Caesars Entertainment, which also opened their product up to the Las Vegas market.

Now, Casalú has a team of eight people and is available in Florida and Nevada.

Looking ahead, the founders said they see the brand representing a new generation of Latinos that will go national and international in five years.

“We do see Casalú nationally rolled out, and definitely present in Latin America and in Spain, really overlapping. And then being able to say, ‘Okay, this is what the younger generation drinks. What they enjoy,'” González said.

González and Sucre were interviewed for Bísness School, a series that tells the inspiring stories of Latino founders. Subscribe to Bísness School wherever you get your podcasts to get future episodes automatically. Remember, business school is expensive; Bísness School is free.

Shares of WW International Inc. tumbled more than 23% in Thursday morning trading.

Winfrey, who told People magazine in December that she was using a weight-loss medication, has served on the company’s board since 2015. She will not stand for re-election at WeightWatchers annual meeting in May.

WW International said in a regulatory filing that Winfrey’s decision “was not the result of any disagreement with the company on any matter relating to the company’s operations, policies or practices.” The size of its board will go from 10 to nine members following its annual meeting, the New York company added.

“I look forward to continuing to advise and collaborate with WeightWatchers and CEO Sima Sistani in elevating the conversation around recognizing obesity as a chronic condition, working to reduce stigma, and advocating for health equity,” Winfrey said.

According to FactSet, Winfrey’s stake of about 1.1 million shares made her the company’s largest individual shareholder, with a stake of 1.43%.

Winfrey said that she will donate her interest in WeightWatchers to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. The company said that it supports Winfrey’s decision to donate all of her stake to the museum during WeightWatchers upcoming trading window in March.

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“Ms. Winfrey is making the donation to support the NMAAHC’s goal to promote and highlight the contributions of African Americans and to eliminate any perceived conflict of interest around her taking weight loss medications,” the company said. “In addition, Ms. Winfrey intends to donate the proceeds from any future exercises of her WW stock options to NMAAHC.”

Nearly a year ago, WeightWatchers said it too was getting into the prescription drug weight loss business with a $106 million deal to buy Sequence, a telehealth provider with annual revenue of about $25 million and about 24,000 members.

Everything is expensive right now. We’ve all heard that the price spikes are due to the unfortunate circumstances of 2020 and beyond: the quarantine, the worker crunch, the supply chain issues, the international wars.

“…Things got particularly expensive during that period,” said Ron Hill, a marketing professor at American University. “And some companies haven’t rolled back those costs at all.”

But the S&P 500 (the index that tracks stock price performance for the 500 biggest companies in the stock market) ended Feb. 22 with a new record high. And with corporate profits in the last quarter of 2023 higher than at any other point in the year, companies seem to be doing just fine.

After four years of time for the market to adjust around the issues above, inflation has only now started to slow. So, to many people, the climb of inflation being considered “natural” is starting to seem like nonsense. And to some, the more likely explanation seems like “greedflation.”

How costs impact companies’ estimated profits

In order to price goods and services at a level that will allow companies to make back the money they spend and make a profit, they have to estimate what stuff will cost in the future.

For example, if the previous year saw a lot of forest fires and higher gas costs, lumber may have been harder to come by and harder to transport across the U.S. That means a furniture company in D.C. would need to anticipate higher costs, and raise the price of their tables and chairs accordingly to make back what they spend running their business.

According to Hill, that whole process is not an exact science.

“We have to remember that prices, even though it sounds like it could be very scientific … most of it is really guesswork,” Hill said. “And so organizations typically determine their prices based on what they expect things to cost in the future, rather than what they’ve cost necessarily in the past.”

Some of the increases in price really do come down to supply chain disruptions and skyrocketing demand in ways that no company could predict (hello, toilet paper hoarders of 2020). The times really were unprecedented.

That’s the explanation Andrew Glover, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City, gave to NPR. Essentially, he believes that companies overshot their estimates of how much costs would increase from 2021 to 2022, creating a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy of inflation.

But some of the increases in price, Hill said, are not just misplaced estimates.

“Sometimes it is greed,” he said.

Hill, in addition to his time as a professor, has worked as a consultant for a number of corporations. He says that some of the statements companies make about their own profits are inconsistent, depending on the audience.

“When I look at most statements that companies, corporations, give to the federal government when they file their tax returns, they’re trying to say, ‘We didn’t make any money,'” Hill said. “And then if they’re trying to go out to their stockholders and other people, they’re trying to say ‘We made so much money!'”

Corporations are made up of people, and people are by and large trying to make a living from their jobs, Hill said. But most of the companies he’s worked with as a consultant or interacted with as a professor are focused on increasing profits year over year — sometimes to the detriment of other goals.

“The truth is, most organizations, particularly those that think of themselves as for profit, are constantly looking for ways to take more from consumers and to give less back to them,” Hill said. “And that’s the way in which they describe profit.”

How much does inflation come down to ‘greedflation’?

Many factors — a tight labor market, supply chain challenges, wars on the other side of the planet — contribute to inflation. That can make the amount that corporate greed contributes to the problem a little fuzzy and difficult to parse.

 So, what facts can we examine to determine what role soaring corporate profits play in high inflation?

There have been a number of reports on the phenomenon since prices started creeping up. One widely covered report released in January by progressive think tank Groundwork Collaborative came to a stunning conclusion:

“From April to September 2023, corporate profits drove 53% of inflation,” the group said on the webpage for the report. “Comparatively, over the 40 years prior to the pandemic, profits drove just 11% of price growth.”

The report argues that corporate profits have stayed high even as input costs (the expense of providing a good or service) have gone back to pre-pandemic levels. Furthermore, it says, corporate profits now make up a greater proportion of the U.S.’s national income, while the share of corporate income that workers see has continued to go down.

Other outlets and opinions columnists have other explanations. Those range from calling increases in profits a logical response to high demand, to arguing that price increases aren’t corporate greed because there’s also been an increase in workers’ share of national income, compared to the previous decade. But that ignores the fact that workers’ share had declined for most of the early 2000s and for the first half of the 2010s.

According to Hill, the timing of the price changes — and the areas those prices went up and stayed up — implies some profiteering.

“Following the pandemic, organizations were able to change their price structures to fit the fact that demand often exceeded supply,” Hill said. “It’s a natural tendency to increase things. What’s different is, they continue to do that. They continue to do it particularly in areas where the products were absolutely essential for people to buy.”

Over time, those increases became normal to us.

“We got used to seeing prices go up, particularly in certain food items and other kinds of products,” Hill said. “Housing went way up, et cetera. So what happened over time is, marketers and companies have decided they can continuously increase their prices, and they can do that particularly in goods and services that we absolutely need. So why not do that if you can get away with it?”

What can we do about ‘greedflation’?

The problem — especially for lower income workers, people on fixed incomes and young workers without much in savings — is that you can’t forego necessities. No matter how much of your paycheck it cuts into, you need food to eat, a home to sleep in, and transportation to and from your job.

“People are wondering why, under inflationary circumstances, people are continuing to buy such items,” Hill said. “They’re doing it because it’s the only way in which they can continue to survive and even hope to thrive.”

Some Americans were able to save more during the pandemic than they could under other circumstances, and those folks emerged from the months of quarantine with cash to burn. But many Americans, by some measures up to 78% of them, are living paycheck to paycheck, with no ability to save.

“When you can’t put nutritious food on the table, when you can’t pay your rent, when you can’t pay the electrical bill or your heat, when you can’t make the payments on your car, what do you decide to do with the money that is coming in for the most part? It’s triage,” Hill said.

“It’s like looking at physicians who are dealing with a catastrophic event. You’re trying to do what you have to do in order to survive in a particular moment, because that’s going to allow you to get by today. Maybe not tomorrow, but you’ve got to get by today to see tomorrow,” he said.

A large swath of the population that has to choose between saving for retirement or making rent is bad news for consumers.

So what can we do about it?

One piece is government regulation, Hill says, but it’s not exactly easy.

“We know that the government will often say it’s illegitimate to change prices over time if there’s some kind of natural disaster or some other calamity that causes people not to have access … but it’s very rare for our government to step in and say to a private company, ‘You can’t raise prices because we don’t want you to,'” he said.

A few members of Congress have introduced legislation related to “greedflation” since pandemic-related inflation took hold. Back in 2022, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and a handful of other lawmakers introduced a bill to prevent price gouging. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., tried again in February of this year with some of his colleagues, introducing the Price Gouging Prevention Act.

But such efforts have been slow-moving and mostly unsuccessful.

The other way to limit corporate greed, Hill said, is greater competition between companies.

“We don’t have what we would think of as a natural competition because there are what we call barriers to entry,” Hill said.

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For instance, it’s hard to start a new grocery chain right now, for example, because a new owner can’t compete easily with other chains that already have 500 locations.

“And when those barriers to entry are really high, then we end up having a handful of companies selling these goods or services to consumers … and the consumers don’t have a lot of options,” Hill said.

Consumers can’t pick an alternative to Coke or Pepsi, for example, because most fast food restaurants carry one or two particular brands, Hill said. And while there are lots of other sodas, a majority of them are owned by the Coca Cola company and PepsiCo.

But there are efforts in the federal government to change those circumstances.

As mentioned above, senators and members of Congress have brought forth legislation aimed at companies that price gouge and profiteer.

Increasing economic competition has also been a focus for President Joe Biden during his time in office. In July 2021, Biden signed an executive order that created the White House Competition Council, a group dedicated to efforts that “increase competition and deliver concrete benefits to America’s consumers, workers, farmers, and small businesses.”

“…When there are only a few employers in town, workers have less opportunity to bargain for a higher wage and to demand dignity and respect in the workplace,” the White House said on a webpage about the Council’s efforts.

The Justice Department has also brought antitrust lawsuits against several giants of the American economy, including Amazon, Google, and Penguin Random House and Simon and Schuster. There are also rumors of an antitrust lawsuit being brought against Apple as early as this March.

Such efforts might help increase competition and lower inflation and other price hikes when in technology, books, and groceries. But the biggest piece of most people’s monthly budget, housing, has a little more to it again. You can read more about that here.

News4’s Digital Managing Editor Carissa DiMargo and Digital Content Producer Sophia Barnes contributed to this report.

The popular frozen waffle brand Eggo has unveiled the Eggo House of Pancakes, a home that has received a makeover both inside and out to make it appear like a stack of flapjacks.

The Gatlinburg, Tenn. home will be available to prospective guests beginning Feb. 28 — also known as National Pancake Day.

The home, which is being listed on the vacation rental platform HomeToGo, features a chimney shaped like a stick of butter as well as breakfast-themed decor.

The inside of the home is covered in Eggo’s classic red and yellow color scheme. Everything from the cabinetry to the fridge to the sofas and beds are bright yellow. Even the pool table in the living room has a yellow felt surface and Eggo-branded billiards balls.

Guests at the House of Pancakes will arrive to a fully-stocked fridge full of Eggo pancakes. The company said that it chose to make the home pancake-themed instead of waffle-themed because Gatlinburg is the “pancake capital of the South.”

The home will be available for four separate three-night stays for up to eight guests during the following dates:

• March 7-10
• March 14-17
• March 21-24
• March 28-31

Much like previous unique stays at Barbie’s Malibu DreamHouse, Shrek’s Swamp and Gwyneth Paltrow’s guesthouse, this one will come at no charge.

Bookings will be available on a first come, first served basis, with each weekend going live 10 days before the start of the stay.

You can try to book your visit to the Eggo House of Pancakes at this link.

Want to land your dream job in 2024? Take CNBC’s new online course How to Ace Your Job Interview to learn what hiring managers are really looking for, body language techniques, what to say and not to say, and the best way to talk about pay. CNBC Make It readers can save 25% with discount code 25OFF.

At the same time the company signaled a pivot to luxury. It said it would open 15 of its higher end Bloomingdale’s stores and 30 of its luxury Blue Mercury cosmetics locations.

While adjusted net income and revenue topped Wall Street expectations, Macy’s offered a muted outlook for the year. Shares were essentially flat before the opening bell.

The department store chain faces a proxy fight from Arkhouse Management which nominated a slate of nine director for election to Macy’s board last week. Last month, Macy’s rejected a $5.8 billion takeover offer from the hedge fund and Brigade Capital Management, an investment manager.

Activist investors and pressure to increase sales are just two critical issues facing new CEO Tony Spring, who succeeded Jeff Gennette earlier this month.

“We are making the necessary moves to reinvigorate relationships with our customers through improved shopping experiences, relevant assortments and compelling value,” said Spring in a statement.

Even before the pandemic, department stores were facing intense competition from online rivals. Neiman Marcus and JCPenney both filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Consumers have proven resilient and willing to shop even after a bout of inflation, though behaviors have shifted, with some Americans trading down to lower priced goods.

Macy’s is maneuvering to shore up sales by accelerating the expansion of small-format stores that can provide more convenience to its customers. It announced plans in October to add up to 30 small-format locations through the fall of 2025, bringing the total number to roughly 42. The next round of expansion starts in the fall.

Yet Macy’s is still cutting jobs to bring down its costs. In January, Macy’s said it would trim about 3.5% of its total workforce, roughly 2,350 employees, and the iconic department store is closing five locations.

Arkhouse and Brigade offered $21 for each of the remaining shares in Macy’s they don’t already own. Macy’s said it had had concerns about the financing plan and the value of the offer.

Last week, Macy said that it was seeking additional financing information from Arkhouse and Brigade to potentially advance talks with its board. Rather than providing that additional information, Macy’s said Arkhouse sought to extend its director nomination window by 10 days.

Macy’s had a quarterly loss of $71 million, or 26 cents per share. Adjusted for one-time charges, Macy’s made $2.45 per share, topping Wall Street projections for $1.98, according to FactSet.

That compares with a profit of $508 million last year in the same period.

Sales fell to $8.12 billion, down nearly 2% from a year ago, but still better than the $8.09 billion that industry analysts had expected.

Online sales decreased 4% compared with the year-ago period, while sales at stores were roughly flat.

Comparable sales, which included sales at stores and its digital channels opened at least a year slipped 5.4%.

The company expects profit for the current fiscal year to be in the range of $2.45 to $2.85 per share, while sales should range from $22.2 billion to $22.9 billion.

Analysts were expecting a annual profit of $2.77 per share on sales of $22.81.

Pilnick posed buying cereal for dinner to save money on groceries in an appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” Feb. 21. He was responding to a question regarding how high food prices are and how more than 11% of disposable consumer income goes toward purchasing it, according to the most recent data available at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A clip from the interview is making the rounds online and has been met with what dissenters see as the irony in Pilnick’s proposal.

“The cereal category has always been quite affordable and it tends to be a great destination when consumers are under pressure,” the cereal company’s CEO said.

“If you think about the cost of cereal for a family versus what they might otherwise do, that’s going to be much more affordable,” he added. “We talk about making sure that we have the right pack at the right price in the right place. So having a different sized pack that’ll have a different price point, that’ll take some pressure off the consumer while they’re shopping. So, those are some of the things that we’re doing. But, in general, the cereal category is a place that a lot of folks might come to because the price of a bowl of cereal with milk and with fruit is less than a dollar. So you can imagine why a consumer under pressure might find that to be a good place to go.”

As this portion of the interview circulates online, social media users ripped into Pilnick for suggesting what they feel he would never regularly do himself.

“Greedflation is forcing families to make choices like eating cereal for dinner to save money. Kellogg’s CEO is bragging about it while they show the huge climb in corporate profits that helped create the problem in the first place. F— this sh–,” a critic posted on X.

Pilnick’’s annual salary is $1 million plus up to $4.4 million more in bonuses as of September 2023, per a filing with the SEC. The company reported $651 million in net sales as of Dec. 30, the end of the last quarter.

“Meanwhile, he’s eating at 5 star restaurants every night and when he isn’t, his personal chef cooks him dinner. Absolutely disgusting. Eat. The. Rich,” one person commented on an Instagram post of the clip.

“People: we don’t have dinner, we starving. CEO: then just eat cereals. People: but they expensive. CEO: We hear you! we’re making the packs smaller, so it costs less,” another person commented on the YouTube video.

“Im sorry but who and what ceo would even have the confidence to say something like this? I’m 30 something and cereal for dinner isn’t nutrition. Low income does this for something vs nothing,” another person wrote under the YouTube video.

WK Kellogg did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the full CNBC interview that aired, Pilnick was asked about “the potential” for his cost-cutting solution to “land the wrong way.”

“It’s landing really well right now,” he answered. “Over 25% of our consumption is outside the breakfast occasion. A lot of it’s at dinner and that occasion continues to grow. Cereal for dinner is something that is probably more on trend now and we would expect to continue as that consumer is under pressure.”

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The pharmaceutical giant said its net profit came in at 20.05 billion Danish kroner ($2.93 billion) in the three months to the end of June. A LSEG aggregate forecast had projected the figure would come in at 20.9 billion Danish kroner.

In the first quarter of 2024, the Wegovy maker had posted a net profit increase of 28% to 25.4 billion Danish kroner year on year, it said in May.

Novo Nordisk also trimmed its operating profit outlook for 2024.

At the time, Novo Nordisk also raised its 2024 outlook slightly, bumping its sales growth projection to a range between 19% and 27% at constant exchange rates, as well as raising its operating growth forecast to a 22% to 30% interval. The adjustment was linked to prior-year growth net estimates in the U.S., the company said.

Novo Nordisk is facing increasing competition in the weight loss space, both from smaller companies and from pharmaceutical giants such as Roche, which last month shared promising early-stage trial data from its own obesity drug candidate.

Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy has also had promising news in recent months. The drug was approved in China in the second quarter, opening it for sale in the world’s second largest economy. Elsewhere, the U.K.’s and European Union’s medical regulators said it was backing Wegovy as a way to reduce risks of serious heart events among overweight and obese adults.

This breaking news story is being updated.