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OpenAI faces more turmoil as another employee announces she quit over safety concerns. It comes after the resignations of high-profile executives Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike, who ran its now-dissolved safety research team Superalignment. Krueger wrote, "I resigned a few hours before hearing the news about @ilyasut and @janleike, and I made my decision independently. I resigned a few hours before hearing the news about @ilyasut and @janleike, and I made my decision independently. Kokotajlo said he left after "losing confidence that it [OpenAI] would behave responsibly around the time of AGI."
Persons: Ilya Sutskever, Jan Leike, Gretchen Krueger, Krueger, — Gretchen Krueger, Leike, OpenAI, Daniel Kokotajlo, William Saunders, Kokotajlo, OpenAI didn't Organizations: Business
New York CNN —Nestlé, the maker of frozen food brands like Stouffer’s and DiGiorno, is slimming down with a new line of meals for people taking GLP-1 drugs, such as Ozempic, for weight loss. However, a recent study on Wagovy significantly reduced heart risk in addition to helping with weight loss. An example of Vital Pursuit food. It also made a $100 million-plus deal to buy Sequence, a telehealth business that offers virtual prescriptions to patients for these weight loss drugs where appropriate. Food companies, like Nestlé, are also bracing for GLP-1 consumers to buy fewer sugary snacks and drinks.
Persons: New York CNN — Nestlé, It’s, Morgan, Steve Presley, Neil Saunders, Nestlé, it’s “, Saunders, , “ Nestlé, Sesame, WeightWatchers, ” Saunders, CNN’s Nathaniel Meyersohn Organizations: New, New York CNN, North, GlobalData, Lean, CNN, Companies, Costco, Equinox Locations: New York
AdvertisementIt's a rare admission from Altman, who has worked hard to cultivate an image of being relatively calm amid OpenAI's ongoing chaos. Safety team implosionOpenAI has been in full damage control mode following the exit of key employees working on AI safety. He said the safety team was left "struggling for compute, and it was getting harder and harder to get this crucial research done." Silenced employeesThe implosion of the safety team is a blow for Altman, who has been keen to show he's safety-conscious when it comes to developing super-intelligent AI. The usually reserved Altman even appeared to shade Google, which demoed new AI products the following day.
Persons: , Jan Leike, Ilya Sutskever, Sam Altman, Altman, Leike, Leopold Aschenbrenner, Pavel Izmailov, Daniel Kokotajlo, William Saunders, Cullen O'Keefe, Kokotajlo, Vox, OpenAI, Joe Rogan's, Neel Nanda, i've, Scarlett Johansson, OpenAI didn't Organizations: Service, Business, AGI
New York CNN —Businesses from McDonald’s to Home Depot are struggling to attract financially strapped shoppers. Walmart said Thursday that sales at stores open at least a year increased 3.8% during its latest quarter from the same time last year. The company raised its sales and profit guidance for the year, a sign it expects growth to continue. Groceries account for more than half of Walmart’s sales, and Walmart has benefited from its pricing advantage with prices around 25% lower than traditional supermarkets, according to analysts at Evercore IRI. Retail sales have slipped overall in recent months.
Persons: ” Neil Saunders, “ Walmart’s, , , Ian Borden Organizations: New, New York CNN, McDonald’s, Walmart, Evercore IRI, GlobalData, Locations: New York, United States
Jan Leike, the co-lead of OpenAI's superalignment group, announced his resignation on Tuesday. Leike's exit follows the departure of Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI cofounder and chief scientist. Leike co-led OpenAi's superalignment group, a team that focuses on making its artificial intelligence systems align with human interests. Leike announced his departure hours after Ilya Sutskever, the other superalignment leader, said he was exiting. In a post on X, OpenAI cofounder Sam Altman said, "Ilya and OpenAI are going to part ways.
Persons: Jan Leike, OpenAI's, Ilya Sutskever, , shakeup, Leike, OpenAi's, OpenAI, Sutskever, Sutskever's, Sam Altman, Ilya, Altman, Diane Yoon, Chris Clark, Yoon, Clark, Leopold Aschenbrenner, Pavel Izmailov, Daniel Kokotajlo, William Saunders Organizations: Service, Business Locations: OpenAI
New York CNN —Target is limiting the number of stores that will sell LGBTQ-themed merchandise for Pride Month in June following a boycott from right-wing activists last year that took a toll on the brand’s bottom line. About half of its 2,000 stores will sell the Pride collection, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the news. The changes are a “sensible approach,” Neil Saunders, managing director of retail for GlobalData, told CNN. Pride problemsLast year, Target pulled Pride merchandise from some stores after the company and its employees became the focus of a “volatile” anti-LGBTQ campaign, which included threats against its store workers. A Target executive said on the earnings call that there was a “strong reaction” to Pride merchandise and the reaction was a “signal for us to pause, adapt and learn.”–CNN’s Nathaniel Meyersohn contributed to this report.
Persons: Target, it’s “, ” Neil Saunders, , , ” –, Nathaniel Meyersohn Organizations: New, New York CNN, Pride Month, Bloomberg, CNN, Pride, Target, GlobalData, Wall Street Journal, Republican Locations: New York, Minneapolis
Read previewTwo OpenAI employees who worked on safety and governance recently resigned from the company behind ChatGPT. Daniel Kokotajlo left last month and William Saunders departed OpenAI in February. Kokotajlo, who worked on the governance team, is listed as an adversarial tester of GPT-4, which was launched in March last year. OpenAI also parted ways with researchers Leopold Aschenbrenner and Pavel Izmailov, according to another report by The Information last month. OpenAI, Kokotajlo, and Saunders did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
Persons: , Daniel Kokotajlo, William Saunders, Saunders, Kokotajlo, overton, Ilya Sutskever, Jan Leike, AGI, It's, Sam Altman, Diane Yoon, Chris Clark, Yoon, Clark, OpenAI, Leopold Aschenbrenner, Pavel Izmailov Organizations: Service, Business, Alignment Locations: OpenAI
New York CNN —Rue21, a mall staple for teen apparel, is going out of business and closing all 540 of its stores within the coming weeks. The retailer, which has about $200 million in debt and 4,900 employees, has been struggling financially in recent years despite a 2017 bankruptcy that the company hoped would turn Rue21 around. Its stores, which are located in 45 US states, will close within the next 4 to 6 weeks and “going out of business” sales are beginning soon. Express filed for bankruptcy last month and announced it was closing about 100 stores. 99 Cents Only Stores, a discount chain, also said in April it was going out of business.
Persons: New York CNN —, Michele Pascoe, Rue21, ” Pascoe, , Neil Saunders, , Rue21 didn’t, Joann Organizations: New, New York CNN, GlobalData, CNN Locations: New York, Pittsburgh,
The company said hours for remaining stores won't change and it will continue to accept orders and returns as usual. "The proposed transaction will provide Express with additional financial resources, better position the business for profitable growth and maximize value for the Company's stakeholders," Express said. "We are taking an important step that will strengthen our financial position and enable Express to continue advancing our business initiatives," he added. Last spring, Express acquired Bonobos' operating assets and related liabilities for $25 million from Walmart in a joint deal with WHP. The deal came as Express' "core business was weak, and cash was tight," GlobalData managing director Neil Saunders said in a Monday note.
Persons: , Stewart Glendinning, Neil Saunders, Saunders, Kirkland Organizations: Express Inc, Longtime, Express, WHP, Simon Property Group, Brookfield Properties, Les Wexner's, CNBC, Walmart, Powerhouse, Ellis, Partners Locations: New York, U.S
New York CNN —Trendy fashion retailer Express Inc. has filed for bankruptcy after consistently struggling with continued missteps over its merchandise mix that failed to get shoppers excited. The retailer filed with the bankruptcy court in Delaware and said it also plans to shutter several stores as part of the process. The company operates Express, Express factory outlets, Bonobos and UpWest stores under its corporate umbrella and said in a release Monday that it plans to close 95 Express locations (it operates more than 500 in the US) and all UpWest locations with closing sales at those stores set to begin on April 23. “With the company struggling to gain traction with consumers, it has been obvious for quite some time that bankruptcy was the inevitable destination for Express,” Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, said in a note Monday. “We are taking an important step that will strengthen our financial position and enable Express to continue advancing our business initiatives.
Persons: , Neil Saunders, GlobalData, , Saunders, ” Stewart Glendinning, “ WHP, ” Glendinning Organizations: New, New York CNN, Express Inc, Express, WHP Global Locations: New York, Delaware
New York CNN —Online furniture and home furnishings seller Wayfair is set to open its first-ever namesake store next month, the company announced Thursday. It will also feature an onsite restaurant called “The Porch,” the company said, taking a page out of Ikea’s store setup. Furniture stores need to always be advertising, Saunders added, because people generally don’t buy furniture very often. This is particularly important in furniture and finishings where people like to see and try out products before buying,” Saunders said. “If this store is successful then it could be the start of wider physical expansion for Wayfair,” Saunders said.
Persons: Joss, , Neil Saunders, Saunders, Wayfair, it’s, Niraj Shah, Wayfair “, “ It’s, ” Saunders Organizations: New, New York CNN —, GlobalData Locations: New York, Edens, Wilmette , Illinois
Citi says it may be too early to classify bitcoin as "digital gold" despite its safe haven properties and recent correlation with the yellow metal. Many bitcoin fans regard the cryptocurrency as a digital version of gold because of its finite supply and its function as a store of value. Citi analyst Alex Saunders acknowledged that it can and has displayed both safe haven and risk asset behaviors, but said the digital gold analogy isn't yet warranted. Bitcoin does not yet exhibit the 'store-of-value' properties of gold, despite both being limited-supply, zero-coupon-bearing instruments." "Adoption of the emergent blockchain technology will be key to the long-term utility of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies," he added.
Persons: Alex Saunders, , Saunders, bitcoin, Michael Bloom Organizations: Citi Locations: East
Arkhouse then launched its proxy fight and put forward nine nominees to Macy's 15-person board. Turning the tideOther department store chains have faced challenges from activists in recent years, and even when those efforts fall short, the pressure can bring about sweeping changes. That includes Macy's locations with stronger sales as well as its two chains that have outperformed the namesake brand, higher-end department store chain Bloomingdale's and beauty chain Bluemercury. Arkhouse claims Macy's refused to engage with it, and Macy's rebuffed Arkhouse saying it didn't have the financing for the takeover it proposed. Arkhouse, for its part, has said it plans to keep Macy's stores open.
Persons: Bing Guan, Tony Spring, Arkhouse, Neil Saunders, Macy's, Michelle Gass, Levi Strauss, Chip Bergh, Ben Hider, , GlobalData's Saunders, It'll, Gavriel Kahane, Kahane, it's Organizations: Macy's Inc, National Retail Federation, Bloomberg, Getty, Arkhouse Management, Capital Management, American, Brigade, Levi, Herald, Sears, CNBC, Macy's, Fortress Investment Group, One Investment Management Locations: Herald, New York, Macy's, New York City
Dollar Tree believed acquiring Family Dollar would help it compete against larger rivals. “When Dollar Tree bought Family Dollar, they didn’t really know what they were doing,” D’Arezzo said. Many Family Dollar stores were located too close to each other and cannibalized each other’s own sales, too, D’Arezzo said. Family Dollar “needs more work than the company originally thought.”A year later, an activist investor pushed for a sale of the “underperforming” Family Dollar business, and Family Dollar announced it would close 390 stores. Dollar Tree and Family Dollar executives say Family Dollar can still succeed, however.
Persons: Dollar, Ron Holman, ” Neil Saunders, GlobalData, , , David D’Arezzo, Rick Dreiling, Kelly Bania, Carl Icahn, Nelson Peltz —, ” D’Arezzo, D’Arezzo, Dreiling Organizations: New, New York CNN, Visalia Times, USA, Dollar, BMO Capital Markets, , Street, Justice Department, Bloomberg, Walmart, Costco Locations: New York, West Coast and Texas, West Memphis, , California , Nevada , Arizona, Texas, California
NEW YORK (AP) — It may not be too “appeeling,” but the price tags of some bananas are rising by a few cents. Trader Joe's recently upped the price for a single banana to 23 cents, a 4-cent — or 21% — increase from the grocer's previous going rate for the fruit that had remained unchanged for over 20 years. In contrast to other foods more heavily impacted by inflation, bananas have stayed relatively affordable over time — with average global prices never exceeding more than about 80 cents per pound (0.45 kilograms). Still, banana prices have seen some jumps in recent years. In the U.S., the cost of a pound of bananas averaged at about 63 cents last month.
Persons: Joe's, , we’ve, Louis, ” Neil Saunders, Saunders Organizations: Federal Reserve Bank of St, United Nations, Food, Agriculture Organization Locations: Monrovia , California, U.S,
Read previewThe collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore could have major effects on distribution and deliveries for businesses in the area. Baltimore's biggest bridge collapsed early on Tuesday morning after a cargo ship crashed into one of its support beams, prompting Maryland Gov. A spokesperson for Volkswagen said its operations were unaffected as its Baltimore facility was "located on the sea board of the bridge collapse." AdvertisementMcCormick, which manufactures spices and seasonings, said in 2020 that it expected its site at Tradepoint Atlantic to become its biggest distribution site. Local businesses prepare for ongoing disruptionThe Hard Yacht Cafe, located about a mile from the bridge, told BI that it wasn't yet clear how the collapse would affect its business.
Persons: , Francis Scott Key, Wes Moore, Kevin Cartwright, Neil Saunders, Baltimore's Francis Scott Key, Armour, McCormick, we're, Alexander DelSordo Organizations: Service, Maryland Gov, Baltimore Fire Department, Associated Press, Business, Bloomberg, Maryland Transportation Authority, Depot, FedEx, BMW, Volkswagen, Google, Amazon, Volkswagen Group, Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, CBS, WJZ, Bay Locations: Baltimore, Port of Baltimore, Sparrows, Europe, Mexico, Hawkins
Dollar General is sharply reducing the selection of products it sells in order to cut costs. The discounter previously stocked about 12,000 unique items, referenced by SKUs. AdvertisementSome Dollar General shoppers may see their favorite items disappearing from shelves as the discount retailer looks to control inventory costs. The move inches Dollar General closer to Costco's time-tested strategy for finding savings through simplicity — the wholesale club famously keeps its SKU count to around 4,000 in its warehouses. Last summer, Dollar General took a $95 million inventory write-down as it cleaned those stores up.
Persons: SKUs, , Todd Vasos, there's, Neil Saunders, Vasos, didn't, Gina Goetter Organizations: Costco, Service, Walmart, Aldi, Hasbro
Fabrics retailer Joann files for bankruptcy
  + stars: | 2024-03-18 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com   time to read: +2 min
New York CNN —Joann, the 81-year-old fabric and craft retailer, has filed for bankruptcy as it struggles with customers cutting back on discretionary spending. In a statement Monday, the Ohio-based company said it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and has secured $132 million in fresh funding that helps reduce its debt in half, which had ballooned to $1 billion. However, that has since faded, and inflation has soared, prompting customers to spend less on non-essential items. Joann’s stock was delisted from the Nasdaq and will become privately owned following the bankruptcy process, which it expects to happen as fast as next month. “The bankruptcy of Joann has been looming for a long time and was always a matter of when, rather than if,” said Neil Saunders, managing director and retail analyst for GlobalData, in a note Monday.
Persons: New York CNN — Joann, , Scott Sekella, Joann, Neil Saunders, , ” Saunders Organizations: New, New York CNN, Nasdaq, GlobalData Locations: New York, Ohio
Wall Street is not pleased that Under Armour founder Kevin Plank is returning as its CEO. Following the announcement, both Williams Trading and Evercore ISI downgraded Under Armour and lowered their price targets. Linnartz, a former Marriott International executive who took the helm last February, is the second CEO the company has cycled through in less than two years. Since she started at Under Armour, Linnartz had been focused on rehauling the company's C-suite, building out its loyalty program, UA Rewards, and pivoting the brand's assortment to a more athleisure-focused offering that had more stylish options for women. "All of the twists and turns have created a brand that has become increasingly confusing to consumers and to wholesale partners," Saunders continued.
Persons: Kevin Plank, Stephanie Linnartz, Plank, Evercore, Patrik Frisk, Armour, Linnartz, Plank's, Michael Binetti, William Blair, Neil Saunders, Saunders Organizations: Wall, Williams, Armour, Marriott International, Aldo, UA Locations: Houston , Texas, Plank, America, North America
Relative to bitcoin , the initial price action following the upgrade is even weaker historically, with ether underperforming 80% of the time in the first 20 days, Saunders added. Saunders warned, however, that the trading environment for crypto is different today than it was during previous Ethereum network upgrades. The scalability problem Dencun follows the "Shapella" upgrade from almost a year ago, which allowed investors to withdraw their staked ether from the network for the first time. This upgrade is focused on the longer-term goal of enhancing Ethereum's ability to handle more activity and transactions as the network grows. "The Dencun upgrade serves as an important step in addressing this congestion, which hurts users and developers alike."
Persons: Alex Saunders, Saunders, Philipp Zentner, bitcoin –, Duncan Ash, Michael Bloom Organizations: BTC, Citi, ETH, Metrics, Securities and Exchange Commission Locations: U.S
Following its success, the program has been extended to an additional four English regions with the aim of helping the UK recapture its industrial spirit. In 2017, an independent review board led by Jurgen Maier, then CEO of Siemens UK, made a startling proposal: If UK businesses adopted digital technology at a faster rate, the country's industrial productivity could increase by a remarkable 25%. "Long term, our objective is to boost UK growth and productivity, through increasing innovation and adoption of industrial digital technologies across the whole of manufacturing." "Our ambition is for the UK to be the best place in the world to start and grow a manufacturing business," Clark said. Learn more about how the UK can support your manufacturing business.
Persons: Jurgen Maier, Patrick Mroczak, Adam Hodgkinson, Patrick, Jake Wright, Lusso, Wright, Mackinnon, Saunders, Guillermo del Toro, Oscar, Peter Saunders, We've, Michael Clark, Clark Organizations: Siemens, Nutree, Auto, Netflix, Mackinnon, Manufacturing, UK's Department for Business, Trade, Insider Studios, UK Department for Business Locations: North, England
Some of the 800 new locations will be store conversions from its now-complete acquisition of Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarkets, with a “significant number” of those locations — largely located in the Southeast — ditching their respective names and being remodeled into an Aldi. Approximately 50 stores will be converted later this year, with a majority of those reopening under the Aldi name in 2025. However, the Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarkets names won’t completely disappear: Aldi said that a “meaningful amount” of locations will retain that branding. Aldi’s newest plan brings its store count to nearly 3,000 US locations, a notable expansion but still trailing against its rivals. If their merger is approved, Kroger and Albertson’s will have about 4,500 locations and Walmart, the nation’s largest grocer, has nearly 5,000.
Persons: Aldi, Winn, Neil Saunders, Saunders, ” Saunders, Albertson’s Organizations: New, New York CNN, Winn, Dixie, Harveys, Aldi, GlobalData, Kroger, Walmart Locations: New York, Northeast, Midwest, West, Southern California, Phoenix, Las Vegas
Stores are cutting back on how many varieties of products they opt to offer. Retailers are shifting to offering customers less variety on products with questionable success and doubling down on bestsellers, instead, Axios reported. Some chains like Macy's and Kohl's are slimming down their in-store product options and offering a wider variety of products online, Axios reported. Some retailers reported that customers didn't seem to mind that slashed products never returned to the shelves, The Wall Street Journal reported. Experts believe the slimmed-down choices could also help reduce stress for shoppers, Axios reported.
Persons: , Axios, Coke, Cherry, Neil Saunders Organizations: Service, Daily, Business, Street Journal
DC and Marvel are reprinting coveted crossover comics
  + stars: | 2024-03-01 | by ( John Towfighi | ) edition.cnn.com   time to read: +9 min
CNN —Comic-book store owner Jermaine Exum couldn’t believe his ears when a customer asked to reserve a copy of the upcoming 960-page “DC versus Marvel” comics collection. The "DC Versus Marvel Omnibus," to be released August 6, 2024, is a collection of various crossover comics, and just the second collaboration by DC and Marvel in two decades. From 1976 to 2003, crossovers between the DC and Marvel universes (“Superman vs. Uslan recalled similar “interplay” among the companies, citing a regular DC vs. Marvel softball match in Central Park as evidence of camaraderie. The comic "Marvel and DC Present Featuring the Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans #1", will be reprinted in the upcoming collection.
Persons: Jermaine Exum couldn’t, , , Lex Luthor –, ” Marvel, Exum, Michael Uslan, Carmine Infantino, Stan Lee, ” Uslan, Marvel, DC Walt Simonson, I’m, ” Simonson, Uslan, Walt Simonson, DC Ben Saunders, Denny O’Neil, George Pérez, Chris Claremont, John Romita Jr, Batman, Simonson, ” Saunders, Saunders, Federico Parra, James Gunn, Marvel’s, Peter Safran, Kevin Feige, ” Ethan Sacks, “ Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Bob Kane, Bill Finger, William Moulton Marston Organizations: CNN, Marvel, DC, Warner Bros, Discovery, Disney, Hollywood, ” Comics, Teen Titans, New Teen Titans, University of Oregon, Acme Comics, , Marvel Studios, Guardians, Galaxy, DC Studios Locations: Greensboro, North Carolina, Central, Greensboro , North Carolina, Venezuela, Caracas, AFP, Greece, Rome, Egypt
But department stores, focused on America’s middle class, are fading. The victims of shifting consumer tastes were not the department stores that anchored the local mall, it was the small, locally owned stores along downtown shopping districts that were closing their doors. And possibly even more than the big box competitors, department stores have suffered from consumers shifting to buying items online rather than in person. The steady closing of the department stores that once served as “anchors” of malls across suburban America has been another nail in the coffin of many malls, hurting the department stores that remained in hollowed-out malls with a fraction of their earlier traffic. Saunders said one of the primary problem for Macy’s is that its holding company, formerly known as Federated Department Stores, spent much of its resources on buying other department store brands, such May’s Department Stores, and Filene’s, rather than investing in the stores its held.
Persons: New York CNN —, Neil Sauders, , JC Penney, It’s, , Neil Saunders, Shannon Stapleton, Saunders, ” Saunders, Al Bello, Sunny Zheng, Macy’s, Tony Spring, Taylor, Brian Snyder, Eddie Lambert, Michael Brown, Kearney, ” Brown, Mike Segar, Richard W, Sears, Alvah Roebuck, Sears Roebuck, Bettmann, PhotoQuest, Jack Manning, Frank Scherschel, Owen, Lucille Jagusch, Arlene Hardt, Martin Luther King Jr, Michael Ochs, Ron Frehm, Ralf, Finn Hestoft, Mark Peterson, Seth Meyers, Hugh Jackman, NBCUniversal, Kaylin Wilson, Jim Cole, Rene Johnston, Maria Alejandra Cardona, Scott Olson, Cesar Villasenor, Mel Melcon, Sarah Blesener, Paul Hennessy, Patti Naleck, Naleck, Stacey Wescott, Brown Organizations: New, New York CNN, American, Walmart, Company, Department, Sears, Target, GlobalData, JCPenney, Research, RadioShack, Reuters Sears, Federated Department Stores, May’s, Reuters, Chicago History, Sears Roebuck, Roebuck, Hulton, AP, AP Soldiers, Michael Ochs Archives, Getty, Bettmann, Kmart, Bloomberg, Toronto Star, Reuters Residents, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Tribune, Service Locations: New York, GlobalData, America, Nanuet , New York, North Redwood , Minnesota, Chicago, El Paso , Texas, Jackson , Mississippi, Tucson , Arizona, Caracas, Venezuela, Niles , Illinois, Morton Grove , Illinois, Baltimore, White Plains , New York, Woodfield , Illinois, Hicksville , New York, Nashua , New Hampshire, Mentor , Ohio, Mississauga , Ontario, Hialeah , Florida, Janesville , Wisconsin, Santa Monica , California, Rockaway , New Jersey, Leesburg , Florida, Schaumburg , Illinois
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