Walmart U.S. eliminating corporate jobs in Northwest Arkansas, West Coast at Talk Business. "Talk Business & Politics has learned dozens of employees in the areas of fresh produce and meat supply chain, real estate, logistics and transportation, global people, human resources and customer experience teams were also impacted from the ongoing layoffs which began Monday (July 27). Walmart has not provided a job cut total but sources tell Talk Business & Politics it is several hundred jobs in Northwest Arkansas and in West Coast offices." Read more   Amazon net sales increased 40% to $88.9 billion in the second [...]

  Read: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos testimony before House panel at The Hill. "My mom, Jackie, had me when she was a 17-year-old high school student in Albuquerque, NewMexico. Being pregnant in high school was not popular in Albuquerque in 1964. It was difficult for her. When they tried to kick her out of school, my grandfather went to bat for her. After some negotiation, the principal said, “OK, she can stay and finish high school, but she can’t do any extracurricular activities, and she can’t have a locker.” Read more   Alcohol delivery startup Drizly hit by a data [...]

  RUMOR HAS IT - Sycamore Partners has offered $1.75 billion to buy the 118-year-old department store chain with plans to merge it with Belk at NY Post. "Also in the running for JCPenney is Saks Fifth Avenue owner Hudson’s Bay Company, which offered $1.7 billion, and mall operators Simon Property and Brookfield Property, which have teamed up with a $1.650 billion offer, sources said." Read more   Rite Aid deployed facial recognition systems in hundreds of U.S. stores at Reuters. "In telephone and email exchanges with Reuters since February, Rite Aid confirmed the existence and breadth of its facial [...]

  Albertsons' same-store sales surge 26.5% at Reuters. "Net income rose to $586.2 million, or $1 per share, in the reported quarter, from $49 million, or 8 cents per share, a year earlier, when it recorded impairment losses." Read more   WEDNESDAY: Jeff Bezos to testify before Congress (remotely) at a hearing by the House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust at Reuters. "Four Big Tech CEOs — Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Google’s Sundar Pichai and Apple’s Tim Cook — will answer for their companies’ practices before Congress at a hearing Wednesday..." Read more   Google extends its coronavirus work-from-home [...]

  Amazon met with startups about investing, then launched competing products at Fox Business. "Ms. Braga is one of more than two dozen entrepreneurs, investors and deal advisers interviewed by The Wall Street Journal who said Amazon appeared to use the investment and deal-making process to help develop competing products. In some cases, Amazon’s decision to launch a competing product devastated the business in which it invested. In other cases, it met with startups about potential takeovers, sought to understand how their technology works, then declined to invest and later introduced similar Amazon-branded products, according to some of the entrepreneurs and [...]

  Verizon, Walmart partner for exclusive Yahoo Mail grocery shopping venture at Fox Business. "The partnership, which has been named “Groceries from Walmart,” is the first of its kind. Yahoo users will be able to add items to their virtual shopping cart straight from their email inbox as well as keep track of promotions, coupons and news, Verizon said in a press release Monday." Read more   Best Buy's online sales jumped more than three-fold in the current quarter through July 18, while overall sales rose about 15% since it started reopening stores on June 15 at CNBC. Read more [...]

  Walmart to pay $428 Million more in associate bonuses - will close Walmart U.S. stores on Thanksgiving Day this year "The bonus will be $300 for full-time hourly associates and $150 for part-time hourly and temporary associates. Drivers, Managers and Assistant Managers in stores, clubs, DCs, FCs and Health & Wellness will also receive a bonus." Press release   Amazon officially delays Prime Day in the U.S. until sometime later this year at TechCrunch. "It will also host a Prime Day in India next month, from August 6 through August 7." Read more   Men’s Warehouse owner Tailored Brands [...]

  Adevinta wins auction to buy eBay's classified ads unit for nearly $9 billion at Reuters. "Activist investors Elliott Management Corp and Starboard Value had been pushing eBay to sell the unit and also its ticket sales business, since last January, as part of a plan that could double the company’s value." Read more   Back-to-School Shopping Is Off to a Rough Start at Wall Street Journal. "The National Retail Federation projects parents with children in elementary school through college will spend a combined $101.6 billion this year, up from $80.7 billion last year...Other forecasts are more dire. Neil Saunders, [...]