Business news 2020

In 2020 we can expect more concept stores, more pop-up stores, more "cord cutting," voice assistants in automobiles, huge growth in quantum computing and artificial intelligence, an increase in sales of secondhand goods and clothing, attempts to influence the Presidential election through deepfake videos.......and, possibly, the long-expected demise of Sears and Kmart. We shall see.

25 tech predictions for 2020
Much will be different, relative to ten years ago.

https://www.inc.com/christina-desmar...-for-2020.html

Here are Wall Street's favorite stocks for 2020

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/30/here...-for-2020.html

Experts reveal their biggest predictions for how retail will change in 2020

https://www.businessinsider.com/reta...s-2020-2019-12

Amazon does not release sales figures but did report that holiday sales in 2019 "broke all records." Bezos lost $10 billion last year. He'll easily make it up this year. Heck, maybe he already has.

Jeff Bezos lost more than $10 billion in 2019 because of his divorce – but is still the richest person on the planet

https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff...ichest-2019-12

Can flight attendants' uniforms really cause fatigue, nosebleeds and blurred vision? I highly doubt it. Anyone who believes that must have her head in the clouds.

Delta employees sue Lands' End alleging uniforms made them sick

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/02/busin...uit/index.html

Drug manufacturers raise prices every January just because they can. The price of 411 drugs just increased by an average of 5%. On July 31, 2019, the Department of Health & Human Services proposed a plan to lower costs by allowing imports of FDA-approved drugs from Canada. CEOs of American pharmaceutical companies immediately objected, warning that drugs imported from Canada could have been manufactured anywhere and may not even be safe to take. Their warnings are baseless. They just don't want to see their outrageously high profit margins diminished.

2020 is three days old and drug prices are already jumping

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/heal...ing/ar-BBYAZkv

On January 30, Amazon will issue its earnings report for Q4 2019. Amazon's sales in 2018 totaled $232.89 billion, a 31% increase over the previous year. Total sales in 2019 are expected to be 25 to 30% higher than in 2018. So.......does Amazon really need to open brick-and-mortar stores? I think not.

Amazon considers opening stores in Germany: report

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-a...-idUSKBN1Z30G3

The commercials proclaim, "Milk. It does a body good." A growing number of Americans no longer believe that and are switching to milk made from soy, rice or almonds. An estimated 2,700 dairy farms have shut down in the past 18 months. Dean Foods, the nation's largest milk producer, filed for bankruptcy last November. Borden, founded in 1857, filed for bankruptcy yesterday.

Borden becomes second big US milk producer to file for bankruptcy

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...for-bankruptcy

Our nation's obesity epidemic is caused in large part by people's lack of physical activity. Many people no longer go shopping; they buy things online and they have groceries delivered. Many people no longer go out to eat; they have restaurant food delivered. Many people no longer go to movies; they stream films at home. Soon they won't even have to get out of their car to pay for gasoline. What next?

'Alexa, pay for gas': ExxonMobil and Amazon team up at the pump

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/06/busin...xon/index.html

The first Pier 1 store, originally known as Import Cargo, opened in 1962 in San Mateo, California. There are now more than 1,000 Pier 1 stores in the United States and Canada. Today, after Pier 1 announced plans to close hundreds of stores and distribution centers and lay off 40% of the staff (around 300 people) at its Fort Worth headquarters, its shares (NYSE: PIR) fell $1.05 and closed at $5.17, a loss of 16.93%.

Pier 1 Imports to close up to 450 stores amid widening losses

https://www.wsj.com/articles/pier-1-...es-11578360169

Last August, President Trump bragged about his tariffs and his trade war with China: "We're collecting 25% on $250 billion of Chinese products and China is paying. Don't let anyone tell you we're paying. We're not paying." Let's leave Trumpworld for a few minutes and look at the real world:

American consumers, not China, are paying for Trump's tariffs

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/06/b...r-tariffs.html

Trump tariffs have hurt US manufacturing jobs

https://seekingalpha.com/article/431...facturing-jobs

US factory orders drop again amid manufacturing slump

https://markets.businessinsider.com/...0-1-1028800481

US manufacturing activity drops to weakest level since June 2009

https://markets.businessinsider.com/...0-1-1028793592

Yum Brands – was their name picked by a 10-year-old boy? – is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and owns more than 49,000 restaurants worldwide, including KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and WingStreet. Habit Burger Grill operates 245 restaurants in 12 states, China and the United Arab Emirates. The majority are in California.

Yum Brands buys Habit Burger Grill for $375 million, challenging McDonald's, Burger King

https://www.freep.com/story/money/20...king/40951167/

Could we say Apple's apps have appeal and approval and are apparently appreciated and applauded? Apple's stock price rose 100.9% in 2019 and right now is at $302.85, a gain of 1.5%. On January 28, Apple will report its 4th-quarter earnings.

Apple's App Store just brought in a whopping $1.42 billion in one week, setting a new record

https://www.businessinsider.com/appl...as-week-2020-1

Quibi – the name is short for "quick bites" – is a new mobile streaming service created by Jeffrey Katzenberg and scheduled to launch on April 6. Its first-year goal is to have 175 shows and 8,500 episodes. Quibi will cost $4.99 a month with ads or $7.99 a month without ads. Quibi has raised $1 billion from 11 investors and several movie studios, including Disney, which launched its own streaming service November 12. Quibi has just raised an additional $400 million from unnamed investors.

Quibi raises $400 million to make more bite-sized shows

https://www.latimes.com/entertainmen...ion-investment

In October 2018, a Boeing 737 Max crashed into the Java Sea, killing all 189 aboard. In March 2019, a Boeing 737 Max crashed in Ethiopia, killing all 157 aboard. In December 2019, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg was fired. On January 10, 2020, we learn Muilenberg won't need to look for another job until at least the 30th century. This is outrageous!

Boeing's fired CEO got his $62 million payout confirmed the same day 2,800 people in the 737 Max supply chain were laid off

https://www.businessinsider.com/boei...layoffs-2020-1

Albertsons, founded by Joe Albertson in 1939 in Boise, owns Vons, Safeway, Shaw's, Acme, Jewel-Osco and several other chains and is North America's second-largest supermarket operator behind Kroger, which owns Ralphs, Dillons, Roundy's, Fred Meyer, Food 4 Less and several other chains. Albertsons attempted to go public in 2015 and tried again in 2018. Attempt #3 is imminent and could value the company at $19 billion.

Albertsons prepares for an IPO, again
Private-equity owners look to take No. 2 US supermarket operator public amid strong stock market.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/alberts...in-11578941243

William Boeing and George Westervelt founded Pacific Aero Products Company in 1916 in Seattle. It became Boeing Airplane Company a year later. The first plane manufactured was the B&W Model 1 Seaplane. In 2019, Boeing saw more orders canceled than placed. The main reasons: trade wars and the crashes of two 737 Max planes.

Boeing had its worst year in 3 decades and lost the title of world's biggest plane-maker

https://www.businessinsider.com/boei...ve-2019-2020-1

What manufacturers need to do is develop a tube that allows us to gradually use all the toothpaste in it instead of having to discard it even though it isn't empty. By the way, what is now the Colgate-Palmolive company began in 1806 when William Colgate opened a store in New York City to sell soap and candles. Colgate began selling toothpaste in 1873. It originally came in a jar. Tubes were introduced in 1896.

Colgate finally launches a recyclable toothpaste tube. It's made from the same kind of plastic as milk jugs.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/15/busin...rnd/index.html

The cofounders said the decision to close all their stores is due in part to an "immense change in the way people shop." Translation: "Amazon."

Opening Ceremony, the high-end retailer beloved by millennials, is shuttering all its stores in 2020 – and it's just the latest victim of the retail apocalypse

https://www.businessinsider.com/open...8-years-2020-1

The Bose Corporation, founded in 1964 by electrical engineer and MIT professor Amar Bose, manufactures stereo speakers, headphones, aviation headsets, home audio systems and automobile sound systems. The first Bose retail store opened in 1993 in Kittery, Maine. Bose now has 249 stores worldwide and nearly half of them – all the stores in North America, Europe, Japan and Australia – will close.

Bose is closing 119 stores worldwide

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/16/busin...res/index.html

Memo to Disney CEO Bob Iger: It would have made more sense to drop the '20th Century' and call the studio 'Fox.'

Disney drops 'Fox' name and will rebrand its movie studio as '20th Century'

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/17/media...and/index.html

After the markets closed today, Netflix posted its fourth-quarter earnings. Globally, Netflix added more subscribers than they had expected. In the US and Canada, Netflix added fewer subscribers than expected. Blame Disney+. Netflix shares closed today at 338.11, a loss of 1.56 (0.46%). Disney fell 0.67 (0.46%) to close at 143.56.

Netflix crushed growth targets internationally during Q4 but missed in the US, where rivals such as Disney+ emerged

https://www.businessinsider.com/netf...nalysis-2020-1