The Week's Top Stories is a guided tour through the biggest market stories of the week, from winning stocks to brutal dips to the facts and forecasts generating buzz on Wall Street.
MICROSOFT: YOU'VE WON!
After nearly two years of jockeying to win approval from regulators, Microsoft closed the deal to buy Activision Blizzard. The $69 billion deal means Microsoft now heads up the gaming division known for legendary games like Call of Duty, Diablo, and Overwatch. The deal finally went through Friday, just hours after British regulators approved plans that will purportedly help Microsoft avoid anti-trust concerns. Stock-wise, Microsoft ended the week up less than 1 percent.
SLEEK SONY PLAYSTATION
Speaking of gaming, Sony stock got a jump this week when it revealed its newest PlayStation, a slim new model - the first big upgrade since 2020. It's expected to hit store shelves November 10, just in time for the holidays. If you remember, the PS5 was the hottest item of the season when it first launched, so investors are hopeful this will reinvigorate the brand. The company also announced the new Access controller, meant to make gaming more accessible for people with disabilities. The stock closed the week up 3 percent.
DOLLAR GENERAL'S GENERAL
Wall Street cheered Friday on news that Todd Vasos, former CEO of Dollar General, will be returning to head up the discount chain. The company has had a rough year, with labor and safety concerns, earnings misses, and a stock that has plummeted 60 percent in 2023. Vasos has barely been gone a year, but during the seven years he served as CEO, the chain opened thousand of stores and increased its annual sales revenue by 80 percent. Dollar General closed the week up nearly 8 percent, with most of that coming after Friday's announcement.
DELTA FLIES
There was good holiday news from Delta Airlines, too. The company reported strong bookings for the end of the year and announced it made $1.11 billion in profits last quarter. If you traveled this summer, you know flights were backed and international flights were especially strong for the airline. The stock wasn't quite as popular this week, closing down nearly 5 percent.
BIRKEN*STOCK* INDEED
Birkenstock, the maker of comfy sandals and other footwear, marched on over to Wall Street this week and listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The IPO priced at $46, but sank about 10 percent on opening day. The stock closed down about 3 percent by Friday. (Note: The writer of this column is typing away in her beloved Birkenstocks.)
NEW WALGREENS CEO
Walgreens Boots Alliance announced that Tim Wentworth will be taking over as CEO. In his prior gig, Wentworth headed up Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit management company. He's filling the seat that opened up when Rosalind Brewer stepped down last month after less than three years at the helm. It was a tough week to take over: the stock dropped on Wednesday on a poor outlook and pharmacy staffers walked out over complaints that they are over worked as the pharmacies are short-staffed. Investors are jazzed about new management and boosted the stock nearly 7 percent this week.
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
William Falcon, CEO and Founder of Lightning AI, discusses the ongoing feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and how everyday people can use AI in their lives.
