Business

The Holiday Rush Won’t Save Big Lots

The retailer will be closing all of their stores.

While most stores are extra busy this time of year, others are shutting their doors for good. Big Lots announced last week that it’ll be closing all of it;s remaining stores. This comes after a failed bankruptcy restructuring plan. 

Big Lots, which is based in Columbus, Ohio, has 27,700 employees (who are losing their jobs around the holidays) and more than 1,300 stores throughout 48 different states in the country. 

The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September. Afterward, It leaned even more into the “extreme” bargains it has long considered its sweet spot. However, that still wasn’t enough to save or turn around the company. 

Then, Big Lots turned to closing stores in hopes of extending the life of the business, closing hundreds of unprofitable stores and arranging a $620 million sale to private equity firm Nexus Capital Management. However, that deal then fell apart, seemingly leaving Big Lots with no other options.

The company will be initiating going-out-of-business sales at all of its locations in the coming days. Maybe in time for some last minute Christmas gifts. 

Big Lots did say that if it can reach a last-minute company-saving deal with Nexus, or another entity, it will call off the liquidation. The company is hoping to complete a sale in the next few weeks.

“We all have worked extremely hard and have taken every step to complete a going concern sale,” CEO Bruce Thorn said. “While we remain hopeful that we can close an alternative going concern transaction, in order to protect the value of the Big Lots estate, we have made the difficult decision to begin the GOB [going out of business] process.”

And, sadly, Big Lots is not alone. Party City filed for bankruptcy protection over the weekend in Texas. The company has liabilities between $1-$10 billion. This came a day after the company announced mass layoffs. And then was followed by the company announcing it will be closing all stores by February.

Party City began 40 years ago and currently has more than 700 locations across the country.

It’s been a tough year for retailers. There had been 7,100 store closures through the end of November this year, a 69% jump from the same time last year, according to data from research firm CoreSight.

Starbucks Employees Boycott

They plan on striking through Christmas Eve, holiday shoppers will have to look elsewhere for their caffeine.

Starbucks union announced that baristas will embark on a strike of five days through Christmas Eve “unless Starbucks honors our commitment to work towards a foundational framework.”

The strike began on Friday in three key markets - Seattle, Los Angeles and Chicago. The move comes in response to Starbucks “failure to bring viable economic proposals to the bargaining table” and “to resolve hundreds of outstanding unfair labor practice changes.”

The union, which began in 2021, represents 525 stores and over 10,500 employees (Starbucks has more than 10,000 locations in total).

“Since February, Starbucks has repeatedly pledged publicly that they intended to reach contracts by the end of the year - but they’ve yet to present workers with a serious economic proposal,” the group wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “This week, less than two weeks before their end-of-year deadline, Starbucks proposed no immediate wage increase for union baristas, and a guarantee of only 1.5% wage increases in future years.”

Starbucks told NBC News that there has been “no significant impact” to its store operations from the strike so far. 

“We are aware of disruption at a small handful of stores, but the overwhelming majority of our US stores remain open and serving customers as normal,” company spokesperson Phil Gee said in a statement. 

About 10 of the stores did not open as planned on Friday. The union said that “Starbucks has yet to bring a comprehensive economic package to the bargaining table.”

“Right now, I’m making $16.50 an hour. Meanwhile, Brian Niccol’s compensation package is worth $57,000 an hour,” Silvia Baldwin, a Philadelphia barista and bargaining delegate, said in a statement referring to Starbucks’ CEO. “The company just announced I’m only getting a 2.5% raise next year, $0.40 an hour, which is hardly anything. It’s one Starbucks drink per week. Starbucks needs to invest in the baristas who make Starbucks run.”

“Starbucks can’t get back on track as a company until it finalizes a fair contract that invests in its workforce,” Baldwin added. 

Meanwhile, Starbucks argued that it offers a “competitive average pay of over $18 per hour, and best-in-class benefits,” such as health care, college tuition, paid family leave, and company stock grants. 

Starbucks called the union’s proposal for an immediate hourly wage increase of 64% unsustainable. Starbucks said it is ready to continue negotiations.

Meanwhile, strikes have also hit several Amazon delivery facilities, as we hit the peak holiday delivery rush.

Around the Water Cooler:

🎉 Party City to close its stores as company files for bankruptcy.

🏨 Why rich Americans are ditching their fancy hotels on vacation.

Tech

OpenAI releases new o3 model.

This on can deceive humans at an even higher rate.

Sing it with us: on the 12th day of “Shipmas,” OpenAI gave to us… new o3 models.

The company unveiled o3, the successor to the o1 “reasoning” model they released earlier this year, on Friday - the final day of its 12-day “shipmas” event. Along with the o3 comes o3-mini, a smaller, distilled model fine-tuned for particular tasks.

OpenAI claims that o3 approaches AGI, at least in certain conditions. 

So, why is it o3 and not o2? Well, according to The Information, OpenAI skipped o2 to avoid a potential conflict with British telecom provider O2. CEO Sam Altman essentially confirmed the report too.

O3 nor o3-mini are widely available yet, but safety researchers can sign up for a preview for o3-mini immediately. Meanwhile, an o3 preview will arrive shortly. Altman said the plan is to launch o3-mini toward the end of January, followed by o3. Altman has said that before releasing new reasoning models, he prefers a federal testing framework to guide monitoring and mitigating the risks of such models. 

And there are certainly risks. O1’s reasoning abilities make it try to deceive human users at a higher rate and it’s possible that o3 attempts to deceive at an even higher rate.

What’s New:

👀 CES 2025: What to Expect From the Massive Tech Bonanza.

📱 Apple’s App Store Puts Kids a Click Away From a Slew of Inappropriate Apps.

Economy

3 U.S. Banks Facing Fraud Charges

Over Zelle and not protecting the consumer.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has filed a lawsuit against Zelle and the three banks that own it (Wells Fargo, Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase), claiming they failed “to protect consumers from widespread fraud.”

CFPB claims the banks “rushed” Zelle to the market, enabling fraud that has cost customers more than $870 million since its launch in 2017. The lawsuit cites Zelle’s designs and features, suggesting it is easier for scammers to take over accounts, as well as hide their own identities or pretend to be other institutions. 

A scam where someone acts at a federal agency or financial institution to trick customers into sending them money has become so common on Zelle, that the banks have had to start issuing refunds to the victims. CFPB has been taking actions to tighten regulations around digital wallet apps and payment networks.

The CFPB also accuses Zelle and the trio of banks of failing to track and quickly stop criminals on the platform and not addressing the risk of fraud despite “hundreds of thousands” of complaints.

The DOW Popped On Friday

But had a very rough week overall.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average bounced on Friday to close out what was otherwise a tough week. The index plunged 1,100 points in a single day last week, completing its longest losing streak since the 1970’s.

The 30-stock Down gained 498.02 points (1.18%) to 42,480.26. The S&P 500 added 1.09% to end at 5,930.85, while Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.03% and closed at 19,572.60.

November’s reading of the personal consumption expenditures price index increased 2.4% year over year, which was a tad less than economists expected. All 11 sectors of the S&P 500 ended the day higher. Only 52 stocks in the broad market index closed lower on Friday.

More Money:

💰 A million taxpayers will soon receive up to $1,400 from the IRS.

📉 $73 Million Exodus: BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Suffers Record-Breaking Outflow.

Politics

Putin to Sit With Trump, End War in a Day

One campaign promise may deliver quicker than others.

Remember when President-elect Donald Trump said he would end the Russia-Ukraine war in one day? Well, with inauguration day just a couple of weeks away, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that he was ready to compromise in possible talks with Trump about ending the war. Putin also said he had no conditions for starting talks with the Ukrainian authorities. 

Putin dismissed an assertion that Russia was in a weak position, saying that they have gotten much stronger since he ordered troops to invade Ukraine originally in 2022.

“We have always said that we are ready for negotiations and compromises,” Putin said, also acknowledging that Russian forces were moving towards achieving their primary goals in Ukraine. 

Reuters had reported last month that Putin was open to discussing a Ukraine ceasefire deal with Trump, but ruled out making any major territorial concessions and insisted Kyiv abandon its ambitions to join NATO.

Putin said on Thursday that Russia has no conditions to start talks with Ukraine and was ready to negotiate with anyone, including President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. He also said any deal could only be signed with Ukraine’s legitimate authorities, which, for now, the Kremlin consider to be only the Ukrainian parliament. 

He also dismissed the idea of a temporary truce with Kyiv, saying only a long-lasting peace deal with Ukraine would suffice.

From The Hill:

🔥 Joe Manchin torches Democrats on the way out the door.

🤔 Ocasio-Cortez faces uncertain political future.