Money, Wealth & Power—A Daily Look at the Financial World
Wendy’s is embarking on one of the largest retrenchments in its history, shutting hundreds of U.S. restaurants and putting thousands of jobs at risk as it tries to reset its business for a harsher economic reality. The closures, which affect roughly 300 locations over this year and next, are expected to hit about 8,000 workers,…
Paramount’s new five-day office mandate was supposed to reset culture after a bruising merger. Instead, it triggered a mass exit that wiped out roughly 600 jobs and saddled the company with about $185 million in costs tied to those departures. The episode has become a high-profile stress test of the return-to-office era, showing how quickly…
America’s biggest fast-food names are quietly shrinking their footprints as the economics of a cheap burger grow harder to sustain. Rising food, labor and operating costs are colliding with customers who are finally pushing back on higher prices, forcing chains to close hundreds of restaurants and rethink what “value” looks like. The closures are scattered…
Foot Locker is preparing a sweeping reset of its U.S. footprint, with plans to shut hundreds of stores by 2026 and trim its workforce as it leans harder into a streamlined, omnichannel model. The retailer is betting that a smaller, more productive fleet, tighter brand partnerships and a sharper digital focus can offset the disruption…
Blue-collar workers were promised a revival of American industry and a new era of high-wage trades. Instead, the emerging contours of President Donald Trump’s second-term agenda point to a more precarious future for the people who build cars, pour concrete, and keep factories running. The rhetoric of a “worker-first” economy is colliding with policy choices…
Target’s latest round of corporate layoffs, cutting 1,800 office roles after 11 quarters of flat or falling sales, marks a sobering reset for one of America’s most recognizable retailers. The move caps a long stretch in which the company has struggled to reignite growth while juggling inflation, shifting shopper habits, and the lingering effects of…
Algoma Steel’s decision to eliminate roughly 1,000 jobs is more than a corporate restructuring, it is a stark example of how trade policy can ripple through a local economy and upend working lives. The company is tying the cuts directly to U.S. tariffs, arguing that the new costs have shattered its ability to compete in…
Merck & Co., one of the world’s oldest pharmaceutical manufacturers, is cutting 204 positions in its home state as part of a broader effort to strip out billions of dollars in costs in response to higher tariffs and mounting pricing pressure. The move shows how even a 133‑year‑old drug giant is reshaping its workforce and…
Elon Musk is on track for what has been described as a record $1 trillion Tesla pay package, even as he insists that serious philanthropy is “very hard” and that the reality of doing good rarely matches the optics. His comments land at a moment when his personal wealth, corporate influence and charitable footprint are…
Elon Musk is once again trying to reset expectations about what a “job” even means, arguing that artificial intelligence and robotics will advance so quickly that most people will not need to work at all within the next two decades. Instead of scrambling for a paycheck, he envisions a world where income is guaranteed, labor…