Plus, the FTC proposes a ban on noncompete clauses.
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Bed Bath & Beyond (BB&B) warned that the company is running out of cash and is exploring its financial options, including filing for bankruptcy. The company expects a $385.5M loss for its fiscal Q3, a 40% increase compared to last year. Following the disclosure, BB&B shares fell nearly 25% in morning trading on Thursday. More: - BB&B said its Q3 sales are down 33%, pointing to inventory constraints and micro- and macro-economic challenges.
- BB&B said it is having trouble keeping its shelves stocked.
- BB&B will report its Q3 ended Nov 26 financial results on Jan 10.
- In a prior financial update, BB&B said it had around $850M in cash but had burned through $325M in Q2.
- BB&B has about $1.2B in unsecured notes, with maturity dates of 2024, 2034, and 2044.
- The company said it is exploring various financing options, including restructuring, seeking additional capital, selling assets, and filing for bankruptcy.
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U.S. jobless claims fell to 204,000 in the last week of 2022. The four-week moving average of weekly claims, which smooths out volatility, fell to 213,750, a decrease of 6,750 from the prior week. More: - Continuing claims fell to 1,694,000, a decrease of 24,000, for the week ended Dec. 24.
- Claims data point to a strong labor market even as the tech sector struggles with mounting layoff announcements.
- Amazon and Salesforces recently announced layoffs.
- The Department of Labor is expected to release its final jobs report for 2022 on Friday.
- Fed officials are expected to continue raising rates this year to tackle inflation.
- Fed Chair Jerome Powell has often pointed to the large gap between job openings and unemployed job seekers.
- There were about 10.5 million job openings in November.
- U.S. stocks fell Thursday morning following the jobless claims reports.
- The Dow fell more than 300 points or 1.12%, the S&P 500 lost 1.05%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 1.06%.
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Shares of crypto bank Silvergate Capital were down nearly 50% in morning trading on Thursday. The decline comes after the bank revealed a 68% drop in crypto-related deposits in Q4. Silvergate said it had to liquidate debts on its balance sheets to meet withdrawal demands. The bank lost $718M from selling the debts. More: - Silvergate revealed it laid off 40% of its workforce or about 200 employees.
- The firm said it also plans to cut back on its businesses.
- Silvergate has suspended its plans to launch its own digital currency and has written off the $196M it spent buying the technology backing Facebook’s Diem digital currency.
- FTX and its various subsidiaries accounted for $1B of Silvergate’s deposits.
- Crypto-related deposits account for about 90% of Silvergate’s total deposits.
- The bank keeps most of its deposits in cash or easily liquidated securities.
- Silvergate said it remains committed to crypto and has enough funds to handle a “sustained period of transformation.”
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The U.S. auto industry posted its worst sales year in more than 10 years in 2022 amid global supply disruptions. The U.S. auto industry sold 13.7 million vehicles in 2022, an 8% decline from last year and the lowest sales figure since 2011. Before the pandemic, U.S. auto sales had topped 17 million vehicles yearly from 2015 to 2019. More: - Analysts had expected total U.S. auto industry sales to decline by 7% to 10% in 2022 compared to 2021.
- General Motors was among the few to report a sales increase in 2022.
- The U.S. auto giant also reclaimed its title from Toyota as the top seller in the U.S.
- GM sold 2.27 million vehicles in the U.S. in 2022, up 2.5% YoY, including a 41.4% increase in Q4.
- Toyota sold 2.1 million in the U.S. last year, down 9.6% from 2021.
- Toyota sold 114,034 more vehicles than GM in 2021.
- Ford sold 1.9 million vehicles in the U.S. in 2022, down 2.2% compared to 2021.
- Ford sold more than 75,000 F-Series pickup trucks in December alone, up 20.1% YoY.
- BMW also reported a decline in sales in 2022. The German automaker sold 2.4 million vehicles globally in 2022.
- Its core BMW brand sold 2.1 million vehicles in 2022, down from a record 2.2 million sold in 2021
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Amazon plans to lay off more than 18,000 corporate employees, representing a 5% cut to that sector. Amazon has about 1.5 million employees globally, including its warehouse workers. Amazon began layoffs in November, cutting jobs in its device business, recruiting, and retail operations. More: - Earlier reports had estimated the e-commerce giant planned to lay off 10,000 corporate workers.
- Amazon has about 300,000 corporate employees.
- In a blog post published Wednesday, CEO Andy Jassy said impacted employees will be notified starting Jan. 18.
- This year’s round of layoffs would impact Amazon’s retail business and its human resources unit known as People, Experience, and Technology, or PXT.
- Amazon’s announcement comes amid broader layoffs in the tech industry.
- According to the tracking website Layoffs.fyi, the tech sector cut more than 150,000 jobs in 2022.
- Amazon shares were down nearly 2% by mid-morning trading on Thursday.
- Amazon lost more than $800B in market value in 2022.
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Coinbase has reached a $100M settlement with the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) over violations of anti-money laundering laws. Coinbase agreed to pay a $50M fine after financial regulators found that it let customers open accounts without conducting sufficient background checks. More: - The crypto exchange is also required to invest an additional $50M to strengthen its compliance program.
- New York regulators said they found problems with Coinbase’s anti-money laundering controls going as far back as 2018.
- As part of the settlement, Coinbase must work with a monitor for at least a year to improve its compliance operation.
- In a Wednesday blog post announcing the settlement, Coinbase’s chief legal officer Paul Grewal said the company remains committed to being a leader and a role model in the crypto space.
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- The FTC has proposed a ban on the use of noncompete clauses. The federal regulator said noncompetes are an exploitative practice that undermines a 109-year-old law prohibiting unfair methods of competition.
- Roku said it had passed 70 million active accounts globally. The announcement comes a day after the company unrevealed its first ever branded smart HD and 4K TV sets – the Roku Select and Roku Plus Series.
- Dubai announced an $8.7T economic plan to double the size of its economy in the next decade. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, said the UAE’s most populous city would become one of the top four global financial centers with over AED 650B ($177B) in foreign direct investment.
- Walgreens reported its fiscal Q1 2023 earnings on Thursday, topping analysts’ estimates. The pharmaceutical giant earned $33.38B in revenue and adjusted EPS of $1.16. Walgreens posted a loss of $3.7B, driven mainly by a $5.2B opioid-related settlement.
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 |  | Vanessa Omeokachie is a writer for Inside.com; she writes the daily Inside Business newsletter. Her interests include finance, technology, and entrepreneurship. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, attending concerts and music festivals, traveling, and exploring. Connect with her on Twitter @VanessaOmeo or on LinkedIn. |   | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 and 1972 Fords. | |
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