Here is a rundown of Cheddar News' top market stories of the day.
BED BATH & BEYOND SEEKS BUYER
Bed Bath & Beyond is reportedly in talks with a number of potential buyers and lenders to help pull the retailer back from the brink of bankruptcy. The goal is to find a buyer that will keep the Bed Bath & Beyond name, as well as its buybuy Baby chain. Funding-wise, the company is seeking $100 million to stave off bankruptcy, which could still occur in the coming weeks.
APPLE INTRODUCES NEW HOMEPOD
Apple has announced the second generation of the HomePod. The original was discontinued almost two years ago, and Apple is touting a number of improvements in the new version, from sound quality to the ability to send notifications when a smoke or carbon monoxide alarm goes off. The company is calling the product "groundbreaking," but one critic from The Verge noted that the new model was strikingly similar to the last one.
AMAZON FINED FOR WORKER VIOLATIONS
U.S. regulators have fined Amazon more $60,000 for violations of workplace safety law. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration charged the company with overworking its employees at warehouses in Deltona, Florida, Waukegan, Illinois, and New Windsor, New York. "Each of these inspections found work processes that were designed for speed but not safety, and they resulted in serious worker injuries," said Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker in a news release.
NEW TWITTER PLAN
Twitter Inc has announced a new $11 price for a Twitter Blue subscription per month and a cheaper annual plan as well. The price is the same for Android and iOS subscribers, despite the latter coming with higher app fees.
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.
U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum “will not go unanswered,” European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Tuesday, adding that they will trigger toug
