Goldman Consumer Head Is Leaving to Run Walmart Fintech at Wall Street Journal. “Mr. Ismail, who first joined Goldman nearly 20 years ago, was among a group of executives who came up with a strategy to expand into digital banking services in 2014. By the end of last year, that business generated $1.2 billion in annual revenue, had amassed $97 billion in deposits and held $8 billion in consumer-loan balances.” WSJ subs.

 

Walmart Lures Goldman Bankers in Bid to Fight Wall Street at Bloomberg. “David Stark, one of (Omer Ismail’s) top lieutenants at Goldman, will join him in the new venture, the people said, asking not to be identified as the moves haven’t been announced. “Our business has serious momentum and a deep and growing bench of talent,” said Andrew Williams, a Goldman Sachs spokesman. “We wish these two well.” Walmart didn’t immediately respond to calls seeking comment.” Read more

 

Biden urges workers to ‘make your voice heard’ as Amazon employees vote on union at Reuters. “Biden didn’t mention Amazon, but specifically referenced “workers in Alabama” in the video and a tweet introducing it. He said every worker should have a free and fair choice to join a union, and no employer could take that away. “It’s your right…So make your voice heard,” he said.” Read more

 

Could an Amazon union form in Iowa? The Teamsters say they’re organizing employees. by Tyler Jett at Des Moines Register via USA Today. “International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 238 Organizing Director Buzz Malone said Friday that he has been recruiting workers to organize since November. He said the union has approached “400 to 500″ current or former employees, primarily tied to Amazon’s distribution centers in Grimes and Iowa City.” Read more

 

KKR and Rakuten Complete Seiyu Share Purchase from Walmart “With the completion of the transactions, KKR owns a 65% stake in Seiyu and Rakuten DX Solution owns a 20% stake in the Company. Walmart retains a 15% stake in Seiyu.” Press release

 

At-home fitness company Tonal to open shops within 40 Nordstrom stores at CNBC. “It’s found a new partner in Tonal, a company that sells a wall-mounted workout station for $2,995…The 50-square-foot shops will be located in Nordstrom’s active department next to workout apparel and other fitness accessories. Customers will be able to demo the Tonal device and speak with a Tonal employee.” Read more

 

Costco to raise minimum wage to $16 per hour starting next week at Fox Business. Read more

 

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Costco, Whole Foods rise in Greenpeace rankings of grocery chains’ plastic use at Seattle Times. “Giant Eagle was crowned the best performer on plastics use for its commitment to eliminate all single-use plastics by 2025. Aldi, Sprouts Farmers Market, Kroger — which owns Fred Meyer and QFC — and Albertsons were the next-best chains.” Read more/Top 10

 

Sprouts Q4 comp sales +3.7% Press release

 

‘Nomadland’ spotlights Amazon’s RV workforce — here’s what it’s really like at CNBC. “The CamperForce experience depicted in “Nomadland” is a fairly realistic portrayal of what Martinez-Machen and others experience each year. CamperForce draws nomads from all corners of the country, many of them elderly, but increasingly younger and with families in tow, to a growing number of Amazon warehouses…” Read more

 

…Golden Globes: ‘Nomadland’s’ Double Wins Put It in Driver’s Seat This Awards Season at Variety. Read more

 

UPS Boss Preaches the Power of No at Wall Street Journal. “Ms. Tomé is taking more of a retailer’s approach to UPS’s 1.9 million customers, viewing them as a portfolio that needs segmentation.”…“Home Depot didn’t make much money on lumber. They made more money on the attachments that they sold on lumber,” Ms. Tomé said. “As we look at our customer mix, we run it like a portfolio, much like retail.” WSJ subs.

 

Etsy CEO hopes to build more e-commerce market share no matter what happens with Covid at CNBC. “If I look at 2020, e-commerce grew at a crazy rate. E-commerce grew at over 40% year over year, and yet Etsy grew 2.5 times the rate of e-commerce,” he said. “I don’t know what e-commerce is going to do in 2021,” he acknowledged, but added, “I hope and believe that Etsy will be able to continue to outpace e-commerce overall.” Read more

 

Amazon’s Lack of Public Disclosure on SolarWinds Hack Angers Lawmakers at Wall Street Journal. “While cybersecurity experts say it is nearly impossible to prevent hackers from misusing cloud services, as is alleged to have occurred in this case, they also say that Amazon is likely sitting on critical information that could shed light on the scope of the attacks and the tactics used by the cybercriminals. U.S. authorities say the intruders are likely Russian intelligence agents.” WSJ subs.

 

This California city banned the construction of any new gas stations at Fast Company. “In the California city of Petaluma, which covers less than 15 square miles, there are currently 16 gas stations. But there will never be another one, even if one of the existing stations goes out of business.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra

Local pharmacies say they need more COVID vaccines

Virginia is the 16th U.S. state to legalize marijuana

Amazon Kids adds new browser setting control to give children access to more sites

Krebs: How $100M in Jobless Claims Went to Inmates

Twitch, owned by Amazon, pulls Amazon’s anti-union ads

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