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[ad_1] A sign hangs outside the Shein warehouse in Whitestown, Indiana, on Nov. 29, 2023. Scott Olson | Getty Images The chair of a powerful House committee is drilling down on Shein's data privacy practices and its relationship with the Chinese Communist Party as the fast-fashion giant moves closer to a U.S. initial public offering .  Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Washington Republican who leads the House's Committee on Energy and Commerce, sent a letter to Shein on Wednesday asking about the user data it collects and the communications it has had with the Chinese government. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., who chairs the panel's Subcommittee on Innovation, Data and Commerce, co-signed the letter. The lawmakers sent similar missives to TikTok, Temu and Alibaba.  "Media reports indicate that Chinese-owned e-commerce marketplaces are increasingly popular in the western world. This is a serious risk for e-commerce, consumer safety, and people's data privacy and s

[ad_1] Nicolas Jammet, chief concept officer and co-founder of Sweetgreen Inc., right, eats a salad during the company's initial public offering (IPO) on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021. Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images Sweetgreen on Thursday reported a narrower-than-expected loss in its first quarter after slowing its expansion to focus on profitability. The salad chain, which went public in November 2021, is aiming to turn a profit for the first time by 2024. Last quarter, it announced it would take a more conservative approach to entering new markets. It's also cutting support-center costs and simplifying its management structure. Sweetgreen shares rose 7% in extended trading. Here's what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv: Loss per share: 30 cents vs. 35 cents expected Revenue: $125.1 million vs. $126 million expected

[ad_1] "Store Closing" signs at a Buy Buy Baby store in the Brooklyn borough of New York, on Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. Stephanie Keith | Bloomberg | Getty Images Bed Bath & Beyond canceled a Friday auction for its Buy Buy Baby chain because it failed to secure a buyer willing to keep its stores running – but it's not quite over for the baby retailer just yet, CNBC has learned. Bidders backed out of the auction after they determined the chain was no longer worth buying because its value had deteriorated so much , but there are parties still interested in its assets, according to two people close to the matter who weren't authorized to discuss it publicly. While it would be unusual, Bed Bath & Beyond could still accept a bid for Buy Buy Baby early next week. The chain's fate won't be definitively determined until Tuesday, when a court hearing is scheduled to approve the sale of Buy Buy Baby's intellectual property to Dream on Me Industries. The com

[ad_1] TikTok has officially launched its e-commerce service TikTok Shop in the US.  Costfoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images Consumers are increasingly turning to social media for their shopping this holiday season, and TikTok's latest venture into e-commerce has emerged at the forefront. For some, it means weighing the convenience of mobile shopping and often low prices against ethical questions. The platform introduced TikTok Shop in the U.S. in September as an in-app shopping experience, capitalizing on the #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt trend. The shop gives opportunities to both content creators who could sell their own products and avid TikTok users who could buy directly on the app, following in the footsteps of other social media apps such as Instagram. Though TikTok Shop previously faced backlash and was forced to shut down in Indonesia, consumers are increasingly trending toward buying off social media. A recent Shopify-Gallup survey says nearly half of respondents ages 18 to 29 s

[ad_1] The Shein logo can be seen on a smartphone, while the Chinese online retailer's website is open on a laptop.  Monika Skolimowska | Picture Alliance | Getty Images China-founded e-commerce company Shein's hopes of going public in the United States are growing slimmer by the day, according to experts, as rising tensions between Beijing and the U.S. roil business and trade. The company, last valued at $66 billion, confidentially filed to go public in the U.S. in November. Since then, it has faced resistance as it tries to join the American retail sphere, including through numerous rejected attempts to become a member of the National Retail Federation, the industry's largest trade association, CNBC previously reported. The e-commerce upstart filed to go public while becoming a household name in the U.S. by offering low prices and a facility to offer new styles quickly. The company is poised to take major market share from U.S. retailers, particularly Gap , TJX C

[ad_1] Juul packages are seen on a shelf at Empire Smoke Shop on December 07, 2022 in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn borough in New York City.  Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images The Food and Drug Administration  announced  Thursday that it has reversed its ban on Juul e-cigarettes while it reviews new court decisions and considers updated information provided by the vape-maker. The FDA first stopped the company from marketing its products in 2022, but they have stayed on shelves pending an appeal. Juul has maintained its status as the No. 2 e-cigarette maker in the U.S. during this time. Now, the FDA says Juul's products are back under agency review — although it emphasized that this new status was not an indication they would be fully cleared. It said federal statutes barred it from disclosing additional information. In a statement, Juul said it appreciated the FDA's decision, adding it now looks forward to "re-engaging with the agency on a science- and evide

[ad_1] Peter Coker Jr., left, is issued search warrants from police at his villa on the southern resort island of Phuket, Thailand, Jan. 11, 2023. Crime Suppression Division, Royal Thai Police | AP NEWARK, N.J. – A former fugitive in the securities fraud case involving a New Jersey deli company once valued at $100 million renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2019, prosecutors revealed Thursday as they asked a judge to deny him bail. Peter Coker Jr. "poses a serious risk of flight, and ... there are no conditions or combination thereof that can assure his appearance at future proceedings," said the letter by the U.S. Attorney's Office to federal Magistrate Judge Edward Kiel. In the same letter, prosecutors said Coker Jr. had "stood to make tens of millions of dollars" from a hoped-for reverse merger of the deli company, which the goal of the "complex, long-term fraud' spanning at least seven years that grossly inflated its stock price. "And t

[ad_1] A man drinks a coke and eats a Big Mac at a McDonald's in Cologne, Germany, on May 25, 2015. Oliver Berg | picture alliance | Getty Images McDonald's has upgraded its burgers — but it's unclear if its sales will get the same boost. The fast-food giant has outperformed its rivals in recent quarters, helped by price hikes across its menu and higher-income customers trading down to its McNuggets and Big Macs. Still, McDonald's U.S. traffic dipped in the third quarter as low-income diners cut back their visits. When the company announces its fourth-quarter results Monday morning, analysts are expecting U.S. same-store sales growth of just 4.4%, according to StreetAccount estimates. That's an obvious lag compared with the third quarter's 8.1% U.S. same-store sales growth. McDonald's and rival fast-food chains will face pressure to grow traffic this year. Diners won't stomach the double-digit price hikes that fueled last year's sales. Instead

[ad_1] Daniel Zhang, chairman and chief executive officer Alibaba Group, said the company's financial year from April 2021 to March 2022 was impacted by the uncertainties around Covid, "new expectations" on China's internet sector and the "high frequency" of international geopolitical conflicts. Wang Zhao | AFP | Getty Images Alibaba Group said on Sunday that Daniel Zhang will step down as chairman and chief executive officer of its cloud business. Zhang had previously been concurrently serving in three roles, heading the group as well as its cloud unit. He handed over the role of the group's CEO to Eddie Wu on Sunday, who will also take charge of the cloud unit after Zhang's departure. [ad_2] Source link https://worldnews2023.com/top-stories/alibaba-says-daniel-zhang-steps-down-from-cloud-business/?feed_id=308249&_unique_id=667f96249b2bd

[ad_1] As retailers tried to win shoppers and boost sales in recent years, they made their online return policies more lenient than ever. But those changes have come at a cost. As more consumers shop online and send back more of those orders, retailers have moved to crack down on fraud . In some cases, shoppers can send back different items than the ones they bought, return stolen items or claim a purchase never got delivered when it really did. Retailers estimate 13.7% of returns, or $101 billion worth, were fraudulent last year, according to a survey by Appriss Retail and the National Retail Federation. The share of returns expected to be fraudulent during the peak holiday season was even higher at 16.5%, or $24.5 billion worth, the survey found. Those goods are still flowing back in, as many retailers extend return windows for purchases made in November and December through the end of January. As retailers field those returns, fraud has become their top concern, industry expert

[ad_1] New vaccine COMIRNATY® by Pfizer, available at CVS Pharmacy in Eagle Rock, California. Irfan Khan | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images It's déjà vu for some Americans looking for the latest Covid-19 vaccines. Certain people who were lucky enough to snag an appointment for the latest formulation are receiving cancellation notices or showing up to learn there isn't a dose available for them. Some are being told they need to pay more than $100 out of pocket because their insurance provider isn't covering the shots yet. The majority of CVS locations are able to honor scheduled appointments, but delivery delays to some stores are causing them to reschedule shots, a CVS spokesperson said in a statement. Most Walgreens stores have enough supply for existing appointments and more slots are being made available as the shots come in, a spokesperson said. Vaccine manufacturers Moderna and Pfizer said they have shipped millions of doses since the new versions were approve

[ad_1] A customer pushes a shopping cart full of groceries outside a Wal-Mart in Rogers, Arkansas, left, and a pedestrian passes a Target store in the Tenleytown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Getty Images Target and Walmart are both catering to thriftier shoppers, but the two big-box retailers have seen very different outcomes when it comes to winning their dollars. Target missed Wall Street's sales expectations for the fiscal second-quarter. Walmart beat Wall Street's revenue estimates for the three-month period. Target slashed its forecast for the year, while Walmart raised its outlook. The companies' diverging performances illustrate some of the retailers' fundamental differences. Walmart, the nation's largest grocer, makes more than half of its annual revenue from selling groceries — a category that shoppers buy even when times are tight. Target draws only about 20% of its yearly revenue from grocery, making it rely more on sales of items such as cl

[ad_1] Gap will lay off about 1,800 employees, more than three times as many as the 500 layoffs it announced in September , as part of a broad effort to cut costs and streamline operations, the company said Thursday.  The layoffs will affect roles at Gap's headquarters locations along with upper field positions, or workers such as regional store leaders who hold leadership titles outside of a headquarters office, the company said. CNBC reported Tuesday that the company would lay off more than 500 employees. The job cuts come as the apparel retailer struggles to return to profitability while sales sag. The layoffs are expected to result in annualized savings of $300 million, Gap's interim CEO, Bob Martin, said in a statement. Gap expects to see half of those savings in 2023, and expects to complete the layoffs by the end of July, according to a securities filing. "We are taking the necessary actions to reshape Gap Inc. for the future — simplifying and optimizing our

[ad_1] A customer leaves a Bed, Bath and Beyond store on August 31, 2022 in Oakland, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images Bed Bath & Beyond wants shareholders to approve a reverse stock split at an upcoming special meeting, as the retailer keeps working to avoid filing for bankruptcy , according to a securities filing late Wednesday.  The retailer's board is calling on shareholders to approve the reverse stock split at the May 9 meeting so it can have enough shares available to raise up to $300 million in equity from a stock offering announced last week.  Bed Bath's fundraising efforts have been hampered by its dwindling stock price, which has been on a precipitous decline and has been trading under $1 for the last few weeks. Shares of Bed Bath were trading around 30 cents Thursday morning, giving the company a market value of about $132 million. The company is concerned that if the plan isn't completed, it likely won't have enough equity to pay its de

[ad_1] Shoppers may get an early present this holiday season: falling prices in many gift-giving categories. On Thursday, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said deflation could be coming as general merchandise and key grocery items, such as eggs, chicken and seafood get cheaper. He said the retailer expects some of the stickier higher prices, such as the ones for pantry staples, to "start to deflate in the coming weeks and months," too. "In the U.S., we may be managing through a period of deflation in the months to come," he said on the company's Thursday earnings call. "And while that would put more unit pressure on us, we welcome it, because it's better for our customers." For more than a year, consumers have coped with inflation that peaked around four-decade highs and drove up the cost of nearly everything, including groceries, rent and utilities. But McMillon's comments echoed what the government and other retailers said earlier this week, o