Consumer Products and Services

Natura takes a bath to pass on Body Shop stink

14 Nov 2023

The Brazilian beauty giant is selling the shower gel retailer for around $260 mln six years after buying it from L’Oréal for $1.1 bln. The 80% price discount reflects the eco-friendly brand’s loss of relevance. For buyer Aurelius, restoring glow requires applying a lot of polish.

Farfetch turns from Richemont blessing to curse

9 Nov 2023

The $65 bln Cartier-owner hoped to fix a problem by flogging part of digital arm YNAP to the US-listed marketplace in a stock deal that involves extending $450 mln in credit. But Farfetch’s stock has dived and its finances are stretched. Its woes risk infecting the bling giant.

Capital Calls: Regulating crypto

7 Nov 2023

Concise views on global finance: The US Securities and Exchange Commission is struggling to hire digital token experts, partly because prospective recruits aren’t willing to acquiesce to the agency’s requirement that they sell their holdings in bitcoin and beyond.

Capital Calls: Starbucks’ wages

6 Nov 2023

Concise views on global finance: Only US baristas with five years of experience will get above-average raises in 2024. Despite more than 9,000 organized workers, Starbucks is dodging the labor pressures faced by shipping firms and automakers this year.

Vans owner VF is due a wardrobe refresh

6 Nov 2023

The $6 bln apparel empire’s debt soared as shares sank 40% under its ex-CEO, whose costly deal for Supreme ran counter to its modus operandi. New boss Bracken Darrell’s cost-cutting plan has promise. Selling the streetwear brand and investing in known hits is the best next step.

Bezos makes third losing bet on real estate

3 Nov 2023

The founder of $1.4 trln Amazon is relocating to Miami from Seattle, in part to be closer to his space venture. His new neighborhood could be underwater before he turns 90. Like hampered plans for a HQ in Virginia and conquering the cosmos, this latest move is a dud.

Capital Calls: Paramount’s stricter streaming

3 Nov 2023

Concise views on global finance: The media stalwart’s shares popped 10% as boss Bob Bakish predicted that losses from its costly streaming push have topped out. But the company still faces a cutthroat market full of better-resourced rivals.

Starbucks will benefit from kicking coffee habit

2 Nov 2023

When the economy slows, as is increasingly expected in the $115 bln company’s key US and China markets, consumers brew more java at home. In 2008, its profit fell 53%. Food and customized drinks are the sorts of small affordable luxuries that should now provide a better cushion.

Broker disruption can grow beyond housing

1 Nov 2023

A $1.8 bln verdict against real estate agents could cut into commissions and deflate sky-high home prices. Industries with similar middlemen were already disrupted. Residential brokers are due for a reckoning. Others, like investment banking, could use dismantling, too.

Aussie winemaker ferments risky US deal vintage

1 Nov 2023

Treasury Wine is spending $900 mln on California’s fast-growing Daou. It’s the latest step in the Penfolds maker’s recovery from Chinese tariffs that corked a third of earnings. But listed US rivals have struggled. And the $5.5 bln buyer has suffered American hangovers before.

Capital Calls: Ford, Amazon

26 Oct 2023

Concise views on global finance: The loss per car at the $45 bln automaker’s electric-vehicle unit has jumped 51% in a year. So-so earnings at the $1.2 trln e-commerce giant’s cloud division beat the even lower bar set by rival Alphabet.

Hess deal would be higher-octane with cash added

25 Oct 2023

The takeover target’s rich valuation grants it a chunky stake in an enlarged Chevron. But the $53 bln merger now offers no premium and only shares in an underperforming acquiror. Chevron CEO Mike Wirth may have to bid against himself by throwing in a sweetener with hard currency.

If Amazon, why not Walmart?

25 Oct 2023

Lina Khan’s FTC argues the e-commerce giant’s dominance leaves sellers and customers little choice, even though shopping habits vary. The agency also targets common pricing strategies. By this logic, it’s hard to see what’s so different from the Walton family’s mega-retailer.

Alphabet’s present looks brighter than its future

24 Oct 2023

Revenue at the Google parent rose more than 10% for the first time since mid-2022 because of a recovery in online advertising, its bread-and-butter. But a stumble in its fast-growing cloud computing unit suggests it will be tough for Alphabet to catch up with weightier rivals.

GM earnings give its restive workers an inch

24 Oct 2023

The automaker’s strong third-quarter earnings have raised the stakes in a strike costing it $200 million a week. The union continues to push aggressively. But with Detroit’s gas guzzlers doing relatively well, a tough-but-survivable compromise seems possible.

Capital Calls: P&G’s pricing power

18 Oct 2023

Concise views on global finance: The $350 bln maker of Pampers diapers and Pantene shampoo charged another 7% more on average for its stable of products, but it can afford to keep squeezing shoppers because of the $1.1 trln Americans have in the bank.

Rite Aid can do more wrong in bankruptcy

17 Oct 2023

Ill-advised acquisitions, mismanagement, and the growth of more diversified rivals contributed to the drugstore chain’s demise. But its role in the US opioid epidemic was the real killer. Rite Aid wants to restructure, but an eventual sale may be the end game.

Stolen genetic data points to mutating cyber risk

17 Oct 2023

Biotech firm 23andMe may have fallen victim to hackers, joining other sabotage targets Clorox and MGM. Companies can strengthen their systems, but human error plays a role too – with customers and employees as potential vulnerabilities. That adds a new front to an ongoing battle.

Rubik’s Cube owner solves eternal M&A puzzle

13 Oct 2023

After Spin Master agreed to buy toymaker Melissa & Doug for up to $1.1 bln, its shares jumped 10%. Defying screen-time culture is a risky deal game. But paying a discount to where rivals trade for a company growing faster than the market is the way to play well with investors.

Capital Calls: Birkenstock flop

11 Oct 2023

Concise views on global finance: The sandal maker took a tumble, as its shares opened more than 10% below the IPO price, leaving questions about its venue and valuation.