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Can Barnes & Noble Boss Save Traditional Bookselling?

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Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg investigates Barnes & Noble's plan to save traditional bookselling, led by CEO James Daunt. He reports: A year ago, John Radford had little control over the book selection at the Barnes & Noble store he manages in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Executives in New York decided which titles to carry. The retailer’s 600-plus stores were expected to follow that blueprint. Mr. Radford had to stock dozens of James Patterson and John Grisham books, even though there wasn’t that much local demand. Often, he’d have to return about half the inventory after a few months. These … [Read more...]

Opportunities in Commercial Real Estate Are Too Good to Resist for Some Buyers

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Esther Fung reports at The Wall Street Journal that some companies have begun taking a chance on buying historically inexpensive retail real estate. She writes: Struggling shopping malls are finding an unexpected boost from bargain-hunting retail operators. Such was the case in Stamford, Conn., where the Stamford Town Center mall lost popular tenants like H&M, Apple Inc. and Talbots to a competing shopping center that opened last year only 8 miles away. In October, home-furnishing company Safavieh purchased Town Center mall. Safavieh plans to open a home-design center and … [Read more...]

Steering One of the World’s Largest Food Suppliers Through a Pandemic

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Jacob Bunge of The Wall Street Journal tells us how David MacLennan of Cargill Inc. steered on of the world's largest food suppliers through Covid-19's world-wide spread. MacLennan is bracing for another surge, Bunge writes (abridged): David MacLennan steered one of the world’s biggest food suppliers through Covid-19’s world-wide spread in the spring. Now he is bracing for another surge. Cargill Inc., a 155-year-old company with 155,000 employees in 70 countries, straddles the global food- and agriculture-supply chains, processing farmers’ crops, packing meat and distributing sugar, salt, … [Read more...]

While US Continues to Recover, Europe Falters

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Paul Hannon and Amara Omeokwe of The Wall Street Journal reports: The U.S. economy continues to recover from the downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to business surveys that show services and manufacturing activity growing despite a rising number of infections. The U.S. performance contrasts with surveys showing the European economy is set for a fresh contraction in the final quarter of 2020, as lockdowns aimed at containing the coronavirus have led to a sharp decline in activity in the dominant services sector.   … [Read more...]

McDonald’s Is Cooking Up a Veggie-Burger War With Beyond Meat

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Barron's reports that McDonald's announcement of an initiative to create a plant-based "alternative-meat" burger has crippled Beyond Meat's stock price. Beyond Meat Stock Tumbles 20% Over Past Two Days The stock first dropped after McDonald’s (MCD) announced that it was getting into the alternative-meat game. The McPlant line of meat alternatives will launch next year, starting with a plant-based burger. Next came Beyond Meat’s third-quarter results on Monday evening. The company missed Wall Street estimates by a mile. Sales were almost a third below consensus, and Beyond Meat lost … [Read more...]

Detroit Fights Back Against Auto Tech Upstarts

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GM is hiring thousands of new tech employees to fight back against Silicon Valley upstarts who are trying to erode Detroit's dominance of the auto industry. Christina Rogers reports for The Wall Street Journal: General Motors Co. GM 5.36% plans to hire 3,000 new workers to bolster its engineering and software-development expertise, the latest auto maker to bulk up on tech talent as competition with Silicon Valley intensifies for the future automobile. GM said Monday the hiring will start now and continue through the first quarter of next year, focusing mostly on filling positions in … [Read more...]