After years of fighting with its rival Fitbit over fitness trackers, Jawbone, the personal electronics company that was once valued at almost $3 billion, is reportedly preparing to shut everything down and sell off all of its assets. [More]
we hardly knew ye
Office Depot CEO Roland Smith Stepping Down After Failed Staples Merger
By 8.22.16
The failed marriage of Office Depot and Staples has claimed another CEO. Nearly three months after Staples chief Ron Sargent made his sad exit, the Depot’s top exec Roland Smith announced his departure. [More]
Are These The Final, Doomed Days Of The American Mall?
By 5.13.16
Once upon a time, not terribly long ago, enclosed shopping malls were mammoth physical manifestations of the great American retail experience — just about everything you could want to buy all in the same sprawling building, anchored at various points by those glorious national department store chains. Then came the dramatic shift to big box stores, offering everything from TVs to hardware to clothing to groceries from one store, followed by the advent of online shopping, where all this shopping can be done in your undies and everything will be delivered to your door. One retail analyst says that recent underwhelming sales figures from Macy’s and other mall mainstays could indicate that many of these relics of the not so distant past are doomed. [More]
After 10 Years, Dos Equis Will Replace “Most Interesting Man In The World”
By 3.9.16
One of the more famous faces in advertising is set to change, as Dos Equis beer plans to retire the current version of the “Most Interesting Man In The World” and replace him with someone who is presumably of equal interest, globally speaking. [More]
Here Are The Walmarts That Are Shutting Down, And When They Will Close For Good
By 1.15.16
Earlier today, Walmart announced it would be closing 269 stores worldwide, including 154 in the U.S. We now have a state-by-state breakdown of all of the stores to be closed, and when they will close the public. [More]
Coke-Funded Anti-Obesity Group Goes The Way Of Crystal Pepsi
By 12.1.15
The Global Energy Balance Network, a supposed anti-obesity organization that was heavily criticized for not only receiving more than $1 million from Coca-Cola but for attempting to downplay the role of sugary drinks in the current obesity epidemic, has vanished from the Earth like a failed new soda product. [More]
SkyMall Files For Bankruptcy Because You’re Not Buying Enough Inflatable Movie Screens
By 1.23.15
The SkyMall catalog has always been good for a chuckle when you have absolutely nothing else to read during a flight and you just can’t sleep. Some people have presumably even bought stuff through the publication, as it’s difficult to sustain a business for 25 years if the only revenue is punchlines. But apparently not enough of us are doing our inflight shopping through SkyMall, as the company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. [More]
Target CEO Clocks Out In Wake Of Data Breach
By 5.5.14
After 35 years at the company — the last six of them as CEO — Target’s top exec Gregg Steinhafel has stepped down less than half a year after the retailer was the site of a massive data breach that compromised credit card and personal information for more than 100 million customers at the height of the holiday shopping season. [More]
‘Diet Coke Frost Cherry’ Dies Before We’ve Even Had A Chance To Complain About It
By 3.27.14
In February, Coca-Cola made a big announcement that Diet Coke lovers had maybe, possibly been waiting a long time for — that the top-selling low-cal cola would now be available in frozen form as something called Diet Coke Frost. But after only a few weeks of having trouble getting the stuff to freeze properly, 7-Eleven has pulled the plug on its exclusive, cherry-flavored version of Frost. [More]
Here Are The 20 Sony Stores That Will Be Closing
By 2.26.14
Sony, still trying to sort out its place in an electronics market in which it is no longer the biggest player, announced today that it will be closing 20 of its 31 retail stores in the U.S. Here’s the list of the locations that will be axed as part of the corporate “restructuring.” [More]
AT&T No Longer Paying For T-Mobile Customers To Switch Providers
By 2.5.14
Remember way back in January, when AT&T announced it would pay T-Mobile customers up to $450 to switch wireless carriers? Well, we hope those people who were interested in making that change weren’t taking too long to mull it over, as AT&T quietly pulled the plug on the promotion after only a few weeks. [More]
JCPenney Ends Ron Johnson Experiment, Sends CEO Packing
By 4.8.13
When Ron Johnson took over as CEO of JCPenney a little more than a year ago, he promised sweeping changes. A new image, an end to sales, everyday low prices, iPad-toting staffers, Genius Bar-like customer service. He tried all that, but the retailer still couldn’t shake its reputation as the place your mom dragged you to buy clothes you hated in 1984, and now Ron Johnson, he’s gone. [More]
JCPenney Ditches President After Only 8 Months
By 6.18.12
Last Fall, JCPenney’s new CEO, former Apple retail guru Ron Johnson, hired another retail biggie with a charmed resume, Target vet Michael Francis, as president. Francis was charged with the goal of righting the ship and steering JCP back on course. Continuing this nautical theme, Francis has now been put out on a dinghy and cut loose to drift in the sea of unemployment. [More]
FDA: Diabetes Drug Avandia To Be Pulled From Retail Pharmacies In November
By 5.19.11
For several years, prescription diabetes medicine Avandia has been at the center of a debate about whether the medication’s heart attack risk was high enough to pull it from pharmacies. Now, nearly eight months after the FDA announced it would be introducing strict restrictions on its sale and use, the agency has finally gotten around to announcing the specifics of those restrictions. [More]
GM Makes Profit, Loses CEO
By 8.12.10
Earlier today, General Motors announced the good news that it turned a profit of $1.3 billion last quarter — oh, and CEO Ed Whitacre will be leaving at the end of the month. [More]
