Tipsheet: McMillon @ Alfalfa Dinner | Trump Hits Schultz | Amazon Eyes Electricity

 

Amazon Mulls Building Physical Stores in London at Bloomberg via Yahoo. “The online giant selected a real estate agent in October, according to the Daily Mail. The stores will be built in London or counties including Surrey, Kent, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Essex and Middlesex, it said.” Read more

 

Walgreens, CVS And Rite Aid Among Winners At Shopko Pharmacy Auction by Bruce Japsen at Forbes. “Purchase agreements have been signed, or are in process, for the pharmacy assets at 120 locations, which are expected to generate proceeds of approximately $52 million for the debtors and their estates,” a Shopko spokesman said Saturday.” Read more

 

…Walgreens Is Big Winner at Auction for Shopko’s Pharmacy Assets by Becky Yerak at Wall Street Journal. “Walgreens Boots Alliance has been named the successful bidder at about half of the approximately 120 pharmacies at which bankrupt retailer Shopko auctioned off assets a few days ago.” WSJ subs.

 

Tesco says changes to UK business to impact up to 9,000 jobs at Reuters. “It estimated that half of that number could be re-deployed across the business. Tesco is Britain’s biggest private sector employer with a staff of over 300,000.” Read more

 

UK retailers warn no-deal Brexit would risk food security: BBC at Reuters. Read more

 

Doug McMillon & Jeff Bezos attend Alfalfa Club dinner in DC by Helena Andrews-Dyer at Washington Post. “It’s that time of year again: when the biggest of bigwigs don black tie garb and descend upon the Capital Hilton ballroom to bask in the collective glow of their stunning accomplishments — and consume lots of booze. It’s the 106th annual Alfalfa Club dinner and, despite the collective PTSD of the longest partial government shutdown on record, the party must go on.” Tiered subs.

 

Retail generic brands that customers trust the most (Costco wins easy) by Aine Cain at Business Insider. List/Read more

 

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Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture breaks ground on Alabama engine factory by Alan Boyle at GeekWire. Read more

 

Amazon Closes $13 Million Deal for Mindy Kaling’s ‘Late Night’ – It is the first major sale out of the Sundance Film Festival. by Brent Lang at Variety. Read more

 

Google, Amazon Seek Foothold in Electricity as Home Automation Grows by Bradley Olson at Wall Street Journal. “The technology giants aren’t interested in selling megawatts—at least not for now. But they are seeking ways to expand their smart speakers, internet-connected thermostats and other devices to harness information on consumers’ personal energy use.” WSJ subs.

 

Trump: Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz ‘doesn’t have the guts’ to run for president at CNBC. “Watched him on @ 60Minutes last night and I agree with him that he is not the ‘smartest person,'” Trump wrote. “Besides, America already has that! I only hope that Starbucks is still paying me their rent in Trump Tower!” Read more

 

Pentagon to examine possible conflict with Amazon employee in $10B contract at The Hill. “A new lawsuit filed by Oracle centers on Deap Ubhi, who worked at AWS and then the Defense Department before returning to Amazon.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

Germany to shutter all 84 coal-fired plants to fight climate change

Michelob Ultra targets Latino audience with Super Bowl ad

Quebec Burger King closes three months after it unionizes

Cadillac is resurrecting its subscription service

Couple won $26M by using ‘basic arithmetic’ to ‘crack the code’ of state lotteries

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

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