DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Unilever's new CEO will inherit a company in flux
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Alex Bitter | Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Two of the five divisions remain focused on food products, an area that CEO Jope said Unilever considered spinning off. Food brands like Ben & Jerry's and Hellmann's would have become a separate company. Unilever's decision last year to spin off its tea business into a new company, Ekaterra, left many workers inside Unilever's food division nervous, the former employee said. One former Unilever executive pointed to Fernando Fernandez, who will assume the top job at the company's new beauty and wellbeing division. Fernandez has been Unilever's executive vice president for Latin America since 2019 and held other jobs with the company in the region before that.

☆ Sustainable Packaging Is Sometimes Doubling as Easier-to-Open Packaging
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Katie Deighton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

Sarah Ryan Hudson found the Barbie’s Dr. Jane Goodall packaging to be a welcome departure from the hard-to-open versions of her youth. The costs involved in overhauling packaging systems also made them reluctant to change for the benefit of a less-finicky opening experience. To be sure, shifts toward more sustainable materials haven’t made packaging easier to use across the board, and campaigners for widely accessible packaging say companies aren’t moving to provide it quickly enough. The company’s Gillette razor brand in 2021 began selling some razors in cardboard packaging with a pulp tray, rather than in plastic blister packs and trays. Colgate-Palmolive Co. in 2019 introduced a recyclable Colgate toothpaste tube, using a high-density polyethylene material without aluminum, said Greg Corra, Colgate-Palmolive’s worldwide director of global packaging and sustainability.

☆ U.S. FDA approves GSK's anemia drug
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday approved GSK Plc's (GSK.L) drug to treat anemia in some patients with chronic kidney disease. The FDA approved Jesduvroq tablets as the first oral treatment for anemia caused by chronic kidney disease for adults who have been on dialysis for at least four months. The treatment is not approved for patients who are not on dialysis because its safety has not been established in that population, the FDA said. The health agency's decision comes after its advisory committee recommended the treatment for some kidney patients in October. The approval for the anemia drug also makes it GSK's first since it spun off its consumer health business, home to Sensodyne toothpaste and Advil pain killers, last year.

LONDON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - GSK (GSK.L) chief executive Emma Walmsley on Wednesday made replenishing the drugmaker's pipeline of vaccines and therapies her number-one priority. But analysts say there is not enough in the medicine cabinet to keep the momentum going even beyond the next few years. Meanwhile, analysts say the market for Shingrix will eventually become saturated, further limiting the company's growth prospects. GSK shares lagR&D SPENDGSK's spending on R&D has long lagged behind its peers, something activist investor Elliott highlighted in a 2021 letter pressuring the company to make sweeping changes. Lucy Coutts, investment director at wealth management firm JM Finn, which holds GSK shares, there is hope the company will eventually deliver a streamlined and specialist portfolio of blockbuster drugs.

☆ Ginny Redington Dawes Starred as a Writer of Advertising Jingles
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( James R. Hagerty | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

As a singer and songwriter in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Ginny Redington struggled to win attention in an extremely crowded field. When she began writing advertising jingles in the mid-1970s, she rapidly became a star in that smaller arena by writing a peppy tune for McDonald’s Corp.’s “You, You’re the One” campaign. Her greatest hits also included ditties for dozens of other products, including Colgate toothpaste and Holiday Inn .

☆ Plastics Export: How I Keep My Family, Baby Safe From Toxic Microplastics.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Adrienne Matei | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Hardman does research on microplastics — tiny pieces of plastic debris that are broken down from larger plastic items. Microplastics are often too small to pick up or even notice, but they are everywhere: in the air, dust, and rain. Laura HardmanPlastic is a relatively new pollutant, so there's still a lot we don't know about it. In the lab, my team of researchers and I focus on the sources, effects, and fate of plastics in the ocean. The simple answer is we don't know what plastics might be doing to us, but I've started to get really concerned.

☆ Are digital wallets safe? Here’s what to know as the battle between big banks and Apple Pay heats up
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Jessica Dickler | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

"And it will be managed by the banks, which will in theory have better fraud protection than retailers." Now, 64% of Americans use peer-to-peer payment apps, although for young adults that jumps to 81%, according to a March 2022 survey by Consumer Reports. Users are vulnerable to fraud or scams or can lose money if they accidentally send a payment to the wrong person, a Consumer Reports analysis found. And peer-to-peer payments still have varying degrees of consumer protections, which could cause an issue when it comes to getting a refund. The Consumer Reports analysis included a call on policymakers to strengthen consumer protections.

☆ Walgreens exec: Security guards aren't there to 'protect product' after CFO called them 'largely ineffective'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Aidan Pollard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

CFO James Kehoe called the chain's security guards 'largely ineffective' in an earnings call this month. Security guards "are not there to protect the product," he said, per the Post. At the anti-theft summit, Stein said instead, locking up products has become an effective means for preventing theft at Walgreens stores, the Post reported. In October 2021, Walgreens CFO James Kehoe blamed the closing of five San Francisco stores on organized shoplifting. Kehoe also acknowledged that private security guards are "largely ineffective" and that police officers had more impact.

☆ Six stocks Goldman Sachs likes ahead of earnings
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Goldman Sachs' analysts have stocks they are confident about going into a new earnings season. The stocks we found are Amazon , ServiceNow , Colgate-Palmolive , Boeing , Microsoft and Cleveland-Cliffs . Colgate-Palmolive Analyst Jason English raised estimates ahead of Colgate-Palmolive's Jan. 27 earnings as headwinds from foreign exchange turn in to tailwinds. While English said the uncertain global environment could hurt Colgate's business, he still expects the toothpaste and soap maker to meet Goldman's 9% per-share earnings growth forecast for the year. Specifically, we are now forecasting AWS growth to decelerate to +21% YoY (vs. +27.5% YoY in Q3'22) with more subdued growth expectations in 2023.

☆ Procter & Gamble revenue and profit fall as company looks to higher prices to offset declining sales
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Rebecca Picciotto | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Procter & Gamble reported year-over-year declines in revenue and profit on Thursday, as higher prices struggled to offset declining sales volumes. All of the company's divisions reported declining sales volume in the quarter, despite seeing increases in organic sales as a result of higher pricing. P&G executives noted in a call with media that consumer demand is responsible for at least half the 6% sales volume decrease. But it warned those headwinds would continue to squeeze P&G's gross margins, which saw a 160-basis-point decrease during the second quarter versus a year ago. P&G is doubling down on its price hiking strategy even as shrinking consumer demand continues to erode sales volume.

☆ Stores say shoplifting is a national crisis. The numbers don’t back it up
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Videos of brazen shoplifting incidents, like this one posted to social media in 2021, have turned retail theft into a national issue. The metric incorporates inventory losses caused by external theft, including organized retail crime, employee theft, human errors, vendor fraud, damaged or mismarked items and other losses. Whatever the numbers say, though, retailers maintain that organized retail crime has gotten worse. Organized retail crime typically refers to large-scale retail theft and fraud by groups of professional shoplifters who conspire to steal and resell stolen merchandise. The NRF estimates that organized retail crime costs companies an average of just 7 cents for every $100 in sales.

☆ I'm an extreme couponer. Here's how I get the best deals on groceries and other items.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Jen Glantz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Kayla Burk, 27, is an extreme couponer who helps her 2 million followers on TikTok save money. After that, I made a TikTok account and posted videos about how people could save money on everything, from everyday items like soap to getting steep discounts at their favorite retail store. Courtesy of Kayla BurkWhen it comes to more expensive food items, like meat, pay attention to the expiration date. When items rarely go on sale, I'm strategic about themMy brother is having a baby, and diapers are hard to get on sale. When you see deals like this, that's when you should stock up on the items that rarely are discounted.

☆ Walmart strikes a deal with Salesforce to sell more of its tech to other retailers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Melissa Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Walmart Global Chief Technology Officer Suresh Kumar said the deal with Salesforce will help Walmart improve the experience for shoppers. For instance, as Walmart's GoLocal has more packages to deliver from more retailers, its drivers will have denser routes, he said. It began selling Store Assist, technology that its own store employees use, in the summer. In November, Walmart Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said Walmart added more than 8,000 sellers to its third-party marketplace in the fiscal third quarter. Walmart will stand out in its app store as a technology by retailers and for retailers, he added.

☆ Venator Materials' investor pushes for board change amid plummeting stock price
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Svea Herbst-Bayliss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

J&T wrote that it has tried to work constructively with the Venator board since May 2022 but has encountered "apparent delay tactics and gamesmanship." "We strongly urge you to immediately add myself and another independent director to be nominated by us to the Board," the letter said. Venator said it has an open dialogue with all shareholders and has worked to engage in "constructive conversations" with J&T. Venator was spun off from chemical company Huntsman Corp (HUN.N) and its share price tumbled 71% in the last 52 weeks. While Venator rivals have directors with broad experience, the Venator board's skills are focused mainly on the chemicals industry and have prevented it from creating "a go-forward strategy to restore confidence among investors," the J&T letter said.

☆ ‘Maybe we cried too much’ over shoplifting, Walgreens executive says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

“Maybe we cried too much last year” about merchandise losses, Walgreens finance chief James Kehoe acknowledged Thursday on an earnings call. Kehoe’s message is a notable shift from comments about theft from Walgreens and other retailers like Walmart and Target over the last nearly three years. Companies and retail industry groups have tried to draw attention to shoplifting and “organized retail crime” rings smashing windows and grabbing aisles full of merchandise off shelves, urging lawmakers to crack down. One of the shuttered stores that closed had only seven reported shoplifting incidents in 2021 and a total of 23 since 2018, according to the newspaper. Overall, the five stores that closed had fewer than two recorded shoplifting incidents a month on average since 2018.

☆ Amazon bulked up its advertising behemoth in 2022 — and its becoming an even bigger threat to Meta
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Lauren Johnson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Amazon's digital ad business is only behind Google's and Meta's — and it's already stolen budget from Meta. Today, that advertising business is no longer simply a way to drive product sales on Amazon. Amazon's ad business, which generated $9.5 billion during the third quarter of 2022, dwarfed Microsoft and Snap and ranked third behind Google and Facebook parent, Meta. There are now nearly 600 advertising partners in Amazon's advertising ecosystem, according to Amazon's directory of companies in the space. As part of its ambitions to grow advertising, Amazon also pitches a data clean room called Amazon Marketing Cloud.

☆ Dollar General's new Popshelf stores chase inflation-weary shoppers in the suburbs
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Melissa Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

In this article DG Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTwatch nowHigher incomes, higher profitsPopshelf is designed to drive higher sales and higher profits than the Dollar General store banner. Each Popshelf store is projected to hit between $1.7 million and $2 million in sales annually with an average gross margin rate that exceeds 40%. Inside of Popshelf stores, the brands and items on shelves reflect that customer. Dollar General is the fastest-growing retailer in the country by store count, according to Coresight Research, a retail-focused advisory firm. The company plans to open about 1,050 new stores in the U.S. in the coming fiscal year — including the Popshelf locations.

☆ Disney insiders are worried about how Bob Iger will remake former CEO Bob Chapek's business structure — here's what they hated about it and what they hope will change
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Elaine Low | Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Disney CEO Bob Iger has said he will put "decision-making back in the hands of our creative teams." Under former CEO Bob Chapek's structure, distribution and budgets were taken out of the hands of creative execs. Chapek's 2020 restructuring — which focused the company's firepower on boosting streaming subscriber growth at Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ — meant additional layers of approval for studio and network execs at Disney General Entertainment (DGE) to get projects made. That meant hands were tied across Disney's studios and networks, from Disney+ to 20th Century to Hulu. For creative execs whose careers were built on their ability to balance storytelling and business needs, losing control over the latter was frustrating.

☆ The biggest security risks of using fitness trackers and apps to monitor your health
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Cheryl Winokur Munk | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Fitness trackers, which help keep tabs on sleep quality, heart rate and other biological metrics, are a popular way to help Americans improve their health and well-being. Here's what you should know about the security risks tied to fitness trackers and personal health data. For example, fitness trackers generally connect to a user's phone via Bluetooth, leaving personal data susceptible to hacking. What's more, the information that fitness trackers collect isn't considered "health information" under the federal HIPAA standard or state laws like California's Confidentiality of Medical Information Act. Default social, location settings may need to be changedA fitness tracker's default settings may not offer the most stringent security controls.

☆ 27+ Best beauty and wellness deals on Black Friday 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Gabriella Depinho | Gabriella Depinho Is A Production Coordinator For Select On Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

SKIP AHEAD Best Black Friday beauty and wellness deals | Best Black Friday beauty and wellness salesTo help you make the most of the shopping holiday, we compiled some of the best Black Friday deals and sales on beauty and wellness essentials that we think you’ll want to know about. Best Black Friday 2022 beauty and wellness dealsBelow, we’re sharing the best Black Friday beauty and wellness deals based on our previous coverage and reporting. 4.2 star average rating from 4,398 reviews at Sephora. 4.7-star average rating from 601 reviews at ParachuteThis down duvet insert from Parachute is filled with 85% down and 15% down and feather fiber blend. Best Black Friday 2022 beauty and wellness salesHere are the best Black Friday beauty and wellnesssales that we think you’ll want to know about.

Vaping may increase a person's risk for cavities and tooth decay, preliminary new research suggests. Adding artificial sweeteners and flavorings to the sticky aerosol may create the perfect breeding ground for cavities. The new study, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Dental Association, is considered preliminary and does not prove that vaping causes cavities. But because e-cigarette usage is so rampant among adolescents — with 2.5 million teens vaping in the United States alone — the possibility that it could increase the risk for tooth decay in this generation is worrisome, experts who study vaping in young people said. Among these high-risk patients, e-cigarette users, Irusa found, were at a "significantly" higher risk of developing cavities, compared with those who did not vape.

☆ UN report details horrifying Ukrainian accounts of abuse and torture in Russian prisons
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Amanda Macias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON — A report commissioned by the United Nations found that Russian forces have committed widespread abuse against prisoners captured during the invasion of Ukraine. In some cases, the investigators found that Ukrainian forces tortured Russian troops, though those incidents were less frequent. In preparing the report, investigators conducted 159 interviews over the course of eight months. Some former Ukrainian POWs recounted sporadic incidents where Russian soldiers who had captured, transported or guarded Ukrainian POWs beat them in apparent retribution for military setbacks or in the immediate aftermath of battle. The women prisoners also said they were forced to undress and walk naked down hallways.

Others, like Target (TGT.N) and Barnes & Noble, sealed merchandise behind plexiglass or tethered it with steel cables to store shelves. One survey by the National Retail Federation (NRF) cited a 26.5% jump last year in "organized retail crime" carried out by groups of people. But it is unclear whether overall U.S. retail crime is on the rise, with little data available on the problem. Retailers rarely openly acknowledge the threat of theft or crime because they generally don't want to spook shoppers. "Along with other retailers, we've seen a significant increase in theft and organized retail crime across our business," Target CEO Brian Cornell told investors on a November 16 conference call.

☆ First TVs, now tortillas: U.S. companies set minimum prices to halt discounting
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Jessica Dinapoli | Thomson Reuters | New York-Based Reporter Covering U.S. Consumer Products Spanning Paper Towels To Packaged Food | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

read moreFor many years manufacturers set the lowest price at which retailers could advertise certain big-ticket items like TVs. read more As a result, consumers have struggled to find a lower advertised price anywhere else. This compels brands that sell huge volumes of goods on Amazon to set, and then enforce, a minimum price. "We have no role in creating them or in their continued adoption," the Amazon spokesperson said when asked about minimum advertised pricing policies. Amazon said in response that it does not prevent sellers from offering lower prices elsewhere.

☆ Walmart and Target’s quarterly results lay bare the retailers' stark differences
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Melissa Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Groceries account for 56% of Walmart's annual revenue, compared with just about 20% at Target, according to company filings. More customers turn to Walmart to fill out the bulk of their grocery lists, said Neil Saunders, managing director of retail advisory firm GlobalData. A man pushes his shopping cart past bread for sale at a Walmart SuperCenter store in Rosemead, California. Brown | AFP | Getty ImagesLow prices vs. Fun findsWalmart is known for its mantra of "everyday low prices" and its focus on value has become synonymous with its name. About 21% of sales at Target come from unplanned purchases, according to GlobalData research from before the pandemic.

Search resuls for: "toothpaste"

25 mentions found