Tipsheet: Meijer Scouts Twin Cities | Bezos Targets Spotify | Wendy’s Breach | T.Supply -1.4% | Alibaba +32%
Bezos set to expand empire to take on Spotify: sources by Claire Atkinson at NY Post. “The e-commerce giant has held meetings in the past few weeks to discuss licensing tunes for a full-blown subscription music service that would ape streaming music market leaders Spotify and Apple Music, several sources confirmed.” Read more
MEIJER SCOUTS TWIN CITIES FOR MORE STORES – Meijer has looked at properties in at least four Twin Cities suburbs, according to Business Journal sources who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect business relationships. The sources said Meijer has looked at sites in Brooklyn Park, Lakeville, Vandnais Heights and Lake Elmo.
365 by Whole Foods Plans First Chicago Store by Ryan Ori at Chicago Crain’s. “In the first known Chicago-area deal for a 365 by Whole Foods Market, the Austin, Texas-based chain leased 30,000 square feet in the new Evergreen Plaza Mall that is under construction in Evergreen Park just outside Chicago, according to people familiar with the deal.” Read more
Super Bowl 50 Complete Ad Chart: Who’s Buying Commercials in the Big Game at Ad Age. See the list
Tractor Supply Q4 Comp Sales Down 1.4% “…net sales for the fourth quarter increased 3.9% to $1.65 billion from $1.58 billion in the prior year’s fourth quarter…comparable store transaction counts increased by 0.6%” Read the release
Forbes: America’s Best Small Companies (Bi-Rite Market, Radio Flyer…) See the list of 20
Under Armour’s stock soars after results beat expectations, upbeat outlook by Tomi Kilgore at MarketWatch. “Earnings for the latest quarter rose to $105.6 million, or 48 cents a share, from $87.7 million, or 40 cents a share, in the same period a year ago.” Read more
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The Top 100 Companies For Remote Jobs (Amazon #3, CVS Health #83) by Laura Chin at Forbes. See the top 100 list
Wendy’s Probes Reports of Credit Card Breach at Krebs on Security. “When KrebsOnSecurity initially began hearing from banking industry sources about a possible breach at Wendy’s, the reports were coming mainly from financial institutions in the midwest. However, this author has since heard similar reports from banks on the east coast on the United States.” Read more
eBay ends the year with Q4 declines in sales and revenue by Fareeha Ali at Internet Retailer. “The gross value of goods sold on eBay Inc.’s marketplace fell 1.0% to $20.68 billion in the fourth quarter that ended Dec. 31 compared with $20.88 billion in the same period a year ago.” Read more
Google patents secure rolling box to receive packages from drones by Greg Sandoval at GeekWire. “Once the drone flies in and drops a package into the receptacle, the receptacle can move on its own power to a “secure location, such as a garage,” the patent said.” Read more
Danger signs at the mall? More empty storefronts by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. “According to research by Green Street Advisors, for the first time since the recession, occupancy at malls is declining…it now expects same-tenant sales will grow 1.2 percent between 2016 and 2019. That’s down from last year’s forecast for 2.6 percent gains over the same time frame, and represents a decline from last year’s 4 percent growth.” Read more
Facebook crushes Q4 earnings expectations with $5.8B in revenue and 1.59B users by Taylor Soper at GeekWire. “Facebook continues to grow at an impressive clip and now counts 1.59 billion monthly active users, up 14 percent from last year. The company also said it is has 1.04 billion daily active users — up 17 percent — and 934 million daily active mobile users, which is up 25 percent from last year.” Read more
Alibaba reaches milestone of over 400 million annual active buyers / Revenue jumps 32% Read the release
Caught on Video: Employees Extinguish Clothes Fire Set By Woman in Walmart via NBC 4 Southern California. See the video
Tipsheet Extra Stories
Wal-Mart stores offer free help before Sunday deadline to sign up for health insurance
A Scary E-Commerce Earnings Season for Companies Not Named ‘Amazon’
Re-Tooled: How Ray-Ban Brought Its Brand Back from the Brink
Inventor sues 3M over Post-it notes
Walmart has quietly become one of America’s leading health destinations