Costco Q4 Comp Sales (Ex FE/Gas) +5.7%, September +6.2% "Net sales for the 17-week fourth quarter were $41.36 billion, an increase of 15.8 percent...Net sales for the 53-week fiscal year were $126.17 billion, an increase of 8.7 percent from $116.07 billion in the 52-week fiscal year of 2016." Press release   ...Reuters: Shrinking margins cloud Costco's profit beat, shares fall "Costco Wholesale Corp’s quarterly profit scraped past estimates, helped by a hike in membership fees, but a fall in gross margins fueled concerns of an intensifying grocer price war, sending shares down 3.6 percent in after-market trading." Read more   Costco debuts new [...]

  SELLER FLEX - Amazon is reportedly testing its own delivery service by Spencer Soper at Bloomberg. "The service began two years ago in India, and Amazon has been slowly marketing it to U.S. merchants in preparation for a national expansion, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the U.S. pilot project is confidential. Amazon is calling the project Seller Flex, one person said. The service began on a trial basis this year in West Coast states with a broader rollout planned in 2018, the people said. Amazon declined to comment." Read more   Whole Foods' parking [...]

  Kroger stock jumps amid acquisition rumors by Steve Watkins at Cincinnati Business Courier. "Bloomberg reported that Twitter speculation referenced Ahold reportedly has hired advisers to look into a possible bid for Kroger $32 a share, Bruno Monteyne, a London-based supermarket analyst at Bernstein, wrote in a research report Tuesday. But Monteyne believes any deal would have to be structured as a merger of equals." Read more (subs.)   Amazon said looking for physical stores, possible acquisition in France by Jeff Daniels at CNBC. "Amazon is on the prowl for approximately 15 store locations in France, especially in Paris, in the next two years, according [...]

  Berkshire Hathaway buys 38.6% stake in Pilot Flying J at CNBC. "Pilot Flying J is the largest operator of truck stops and rest stops in North America, with 750 locations and more than $20 billion in revenue. The company is 15th on Forbes' list of America's largest private companies." Read more   Walmart has acquired the logistics startup Parcel to help launch same-day delivery in New York City by Jason Del Rey at Recode. "(Parcel) handles scheduled and same-day delivery services in New York for online retailers like Bonobos and meal-kit companies like Chef’d and Martha Stewart’s Martha & Marley [...]