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      Walgreens Says It Will Close 1,200 Stores

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      The pharmacy giant said it would close the stores over the next three years and plans to “redeploy” the majority of the workers at the closed stores.Walgreens plans to close about 1,200 stores over the next three years, its parent company said on Tuesday, in an effort by the struggling pharmacy giant to cut costs and change focus.The chain, which is owned by Walgreens Boots Alliance, announced the closures in its latest quarterly earnings report, released on Tuesday.The closures will allow Walgreens to “respond more dynamically to shifts in consumer behavior and buying preferences,” Tim Wentworth, the chief executive of Walgreens Boots Alliance, told investors during an earnings call on Tuesday.There are more than 8,000 Walgreens stores in the United States, Mr. Wentworth said, and about 6,000 of those stores were profitable.“While the decision to close the store is never an easy one, we feel confident in our ability to continue to serve our customers,” Mr. Wentworth said, “and we intend to follow our historic practice to redeploy the majority of the work force in those stores that we closed.”About 500 of the closures will take place in the current fiscal year, which runs through September 2025, but the company did not say where they would occur.The company reported an operating loss of nearly $1 billion in the three months through August, roughly twice as much as the loss in the same period last year. Its stock price jumped more than 10 percent in early trading on Tuesday, as the results were slightly better than analysts had expected.Walgreens said in June that it would most likely close a significant amount of stores as part of a plan to turn around its business in the United States. At the time, Walgreens said spending by lower-income consumers in particular was lagging, driven by high inflation and depleted savings. The closures announced on Tuesday include 300 stores that had previously been approved to shut under that plan.Mr. Wentworth said that the company was also making changes to how it stocks its stores, by being “more selective” with the brands it carries, as well as expanding its own brands. This, he said, would enable the company to be “a destination for categories for which we believe we are uniquely positioned to lead, like health and wellness and, specifically, women’s health.” More

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      Profits Leap at Goldman Sachs as Banks See Steady Economy

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      The investment bank earned more than expected in the latest quarter, a theme for other big banks, too.Goldman Sachs on Tuesday reported a monster jump in its third quarter earnings, reaping $3 billion in profits — far higher than what Wall Street analysts had expected.How did the investment bank do it? The steadying economic environment helped — but so did a financial maneuver employed by Goldman’s chief executive, David M. Solomon, a few weeks ago.In early September, Mr. Solomon publicly sounded the alarm, saying many aspects of the bank’s business were stumbling in the third quarter. He warned that the bank’s upcoming earnings might disappoint.They didn’t — not at Goldman nor the two other major banks that reported results on Tuesday.Up first, a billion-dollar beatGoldman pulled in nearly $13 billion in revenue during the third quarter, over $1 billion more than projections. The bank’s $3 billion in quarterly profit was roughly equal to what it pulled in during the previous quarter, despite Mr. Solomon’s warning last month that profits might not hold up as well as they had in the first half of the year.A bank executive, briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity, said that trading activity — a core part of any investment bank — came in stronger than expected in September, the same period that the Federal Reserve announced a large cut in interest rates.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Nvidia Shares Tumble After Reports of a Chip Delay

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      Nvidia shares tumbled more than 10 percent in early trading on Monday after reports that the company would delay shipments of its newest artificial intelligence chip, but the stock later rebounded as investors’ concerns about the costs of the delay faded.The Information, a tech news outlet, reported on Friday that Nvidia would be shipping its latest graphics processing unit, or GPU, which make it possible to create A.I. systems, three months later than planned. Nvidia said in a statement that production for the chip, which is called Blackwell, was on track for later this year and added that customer orders and interest were high.Stacy Rasgon, an analyst with Bernstein who follows Nvidia, said there was no need to panic because cloud computing companies such as Microsoft and Amazon were continuing to increase their spending on A.I. data centers. That expansion means that Nvidia chips will be in demand, he said.“Nvidia’s competitive window is so large right now that we don’t think a three-month delay will cause significant share shifts,” Mr. Rasgon said.Nvidia has been one of the hottest stocks in technology, fueled by the frenzy over A.I. The company’s market value has increased to $2.43 trillion from $1 trillion a year ago, making it more valuable than Alphabet and Amazon. But its rise has been marked by volatility, as investors waffle between enthusiasm and skepticism about the potential for A.I. to generate new business. More

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      Berkshire’s Cash Stockpile Soars as It Cuts Its Stake in Apple

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      The conglomerate reported nearly $277 billion in cash in the second quarter. And while it sold about 390 million shares in Apple, it still owned about 400 million.Cash at Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate run by Warren E. Buffett, soared to nearly $277 billion in the second quarter as it sold a large chunk of its stake in Apple.Berkshire reported on Saturday that it had sold about 390 million Apple shares in the quarter, after selling 115 million shares from January to March, as Apple’s stock price rose 23 percent. It still owned about 400 million shares worth $84.2 billion as of June 30.The cash stake grew to $276.9 billion from $189 billion three months earlier largely because Berkshire sold $75.5 billion in stocks, including shares in Bank of America. The conglomerate said its stake in the bank was worth $41.1 billion as of June 30. It was the seventh straight quarter Berkshire sold more stocks than it bought.Second-quarter profit from Berkshire’s dozens of businesses rose 15 percent to $11.6 billion from $10.04 billion a year earlier. Nearly half of that profit came from Berkshire’s insurance businesses, which include Geico. The higher insurance earnings, it said, reflected increased revenue from premiums, rising investment income as well as the fact there were no significant catastrophic events.Berkshire’s net income fell 15 percent to $30.34 billion from $35.91 billion a year earlier, when it benefited from rising stock prices that boosted the value of its investments.Mr. Buffett has long urged shareholders to ignore Berkshire’s quarterly investment gains and losses, which often lead to outsize net profits or net losses.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Auto Sales Grew Slightly in Second Quarter

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      High interest rates, economic uncertainty and a cyberattack appear to have dampened sales in the three months between April and June.Most automakers on Tuesday, with the exception of Tesla, reported modest sales growth in the three months between April and June as high interest rates, persistently high vehicles prices, and uncertainty about the economy and the coming presidential election weighed on consumers.Sales in late June were also slowed by disruptions at car dealers stemming from a cyberattack on a company that supplies software and data services to dealerships.Cox Automotive, a market research firm, estimated that 4.1 million new cars and trucks were sold in the second quarter, up a little more from the same period in 2023. In the first six months of 2024, 7.9 million new vehicles were sold, an increase of 3 percent from the first half of last year, Cox said.Slow growth is likely to continue through the rest of the year, with consumers delaying big-ticket purchases until after the election, said Jonathan Smoke, Cox’s chief economist. “The market is roiled by uncertainty,” he said. “We probably can’t quite keep the pace of sales of the first half, but we aren’t expecting a collapse in sales, either.”Cox has forecast 15.9 million new cars and trucks will be sold this year. That would be an increase from the 15.5 million that were sold last year, but still well below the 17 million vehicles sold annually before the pandemic.General Motors said on Tuesday that it sold nearly 700,000 cars and light trucks in the United States in the second quarter, an increase of less than 1 percent from the same period last year. The company said it was its highest quarterly total since the fourth quarter of 2020.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Uber Earnings Disappoint Amid High Legal Bills, Weak Rider Demand

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      The company has racked up bills after long-running legal fights with regulators and cabdrivers.Uber reported earnings on Wednesday that disappointed investors, as mounting legal bills and weaker ride demand in some parts of the world led to a shortfall compared with analysts’ forecasts.Uber recently settled a lawsuit brought by Australian taxi drivers and is facing a new one from cabdrivers in London. Some regulators have also challenged the way it classifies workers, which shields it from providing drivers with some benefits.The company also cited softer-than-expected demand and took a hit because some of its investments had lost value during its latest quarter.Uber’s operating profit in the first quarter was $172 million. That was up from a $262 million operating loss in the same period last year but still less than half of what analysts had expected for that measure. It also recorded a net loss of $654 million for the quarter, worse than the $157 million last year and also far weaker than what analysts had expected.Uber’s shares dipped more than 7 percent in early trading.The ride-hailing app, which was founded in 2009, reported its first full-year profit as a public company last year, but it has sometimes struggled to grow at a pace that satisfies investors. As it moves into other areas, like freight and food deliveries, regulatory challenges have made growth tricky. Its main rival, Lyft, reported higher-than-expected earnings on Tuesday amid stronger demand.Uber’s gross bookings — which is the amount of money Uber collects from a ride, meal delivery or freight shipment — rose 20 percent from a year ago, to $37.7 billion, coming in slightly below analysts’ expectations.Uber is working to grow its restaurant delivery arm, Uber Eats. The company announced on Tuesday that it would partner with Instacart, allowing users of the grocery delivery app to order from restaurants through Uber Eats.Even with that partnership, the company still intends to expand its Uber Eats delivery capacity into grocery stores and retail, Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s chief executive, said in a statement on Wednesday. By allowing Instacart users to order through Uber Eats, the ride-hailing app can expand its base in key areas like the suburbs, he said, and better compete with rivals like DoorDash. More

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      Berkshire Reports Strong Earnings and Formidable Cash Stockpile

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      The company also disclosed in its first-quarter earnings that it had trimmed its stake in Apple, but Warren Buffett, its C.E.O., said he remained a fan of Apple.Berkshire Hathaway on Saturday reported strong operating earnings, which track the actual profit that its array of businesses produce, and a record pile of cash in the first quarter, underscoring the health of the conglomerate run by Warren E. Buffett.The results provided a positive backdrop for Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting in downtown Omaha, the company’s hometown. It is the first such gathering for Mr. Buffett’s business empire since the death in November of Charles Munger, Mr. Buffett’s longtime business partner and alter ego, at age 99.Saturday’s results underscore Mr. Buffett’s repeated admonition that the best way to judge Berkshire — a collection of businesses that includes a major railroad, a substantial power-generation business, insurance, consumer brands including Fruit of the Loom and more — is on operating earnings, not net income.For the first three months of the year, Berkshire reported $12.7 billion in earnings attributable to its shareholders, down 64 percent from the same time a year ago. Driving the drop was a steep fall in the paper value of Berkshire’s vast investment portfolio though Mr. Buffett has long warned shareholders to ignore fluctuations in the company’s stock holdings.Berkshire also disclosed that it had trimmed its huge stake in Apple, which Mr. Buffett has called one of his company’s most important holdings, by about 13 percent in the quarter. The value of its stake is now about $135.4 billion, down from $174.3 billion at the end of 2023. (Apple’s chief executive, Tim Cook, is attending the annual meeting.)But Mr. Buffett said that he remains a big fan of Apple, suggesting that the stock sale was to take some profits off the table. “I would say that at the end of the year it would be extremely likely that Apple would be the largest common stock holding we have now,” he told shareholders on Saturday.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Southwest Quits Four Airports in Cost-Cutting Drive

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      The airline expects fewer deliveries of Boeing planes than before, and cited “significant challenges” in achieving growth plans because of it.Southwest Airlines is ceasing operations at four airports, and reducing flights from others, in an effort to cut costs after its growth plans were curtailed by fewer than expected plane deliveries from Boeing.The airline, which flies only Boeing 737 planes, said on Thursday that delays from the embattled aircraft manufacturer were behind its struggles. Southwest reported a loss of $231 million for the first quarter, worse than analysts expected, sending its share price down 10 percent in early trading.To cut costs because of its curtailed growth plans, Southwest said it would cease operations at four airports from early August: Bellingham International Airport in Washington State, Cozumel International Airport, George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, and Syracuse Hancock International Airport. It would also “significantly restructure” its flights from other airports, most notably by reducing flights at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Chicago O’Hare International Airport.The airline’s woes were another ripple effect of the incident on Jan. 5, when a panel of a Boeing 737 Max 9 jet blew out midair during an Alaska Airlines flight. The event led to the temporary grounding of the popular jet model and a slowdown in production as Boeing has faced increased regulatory scrutiny over its quality control.Southwest said it expected to get 20 new Boeing jets this year, down from the 46 it had previously anticipated. The timing of the deliveries depends on the Federal Aviation Administration, which has capped Boeing’s production while it gets quality issues under control.“The recent news from Boeing regarding further aircraft delivery delays presents significant challenges for both 2024 and 2025,” Southwest’s chief executive, Bob Jordan, said in a statement.The airline said it would limit hiring and end the year with 2,000 fewer employees. It also said it planned to put fewer planes out of service than it previously planned.On Wednesday, Boeing reported a $355 million loss for the first quarter, a steep setback that was nonetheless less than analysts expected.Demand for travel remains robust, and while other airlines are trying to manage the production slowdown at Boeing, Southwest appears more adversely affected than its rivals, many of which also buy planes from Airbus.American Airlines reported a quarterly loss of $312 million on Thursday, but provided a better-than-expected forecast for earnings in the current quarter and maintained its growth target for the year.Alaska Airlines and United Airlines recently reported narrower losses than expected in the first three months of the year, and said that they would have reported profits if the Boeing 737 Max 9 had not been grounded. Delta Air Lines was the only major airline to report a profit in the first quarter. More