The slowdown in home improvement spending is continuing to undermine Home Depot's revenue — and the retailer expects it to get worse in 2024, Nathan writes.
Zoom in: Home Depot today reported that its comparable sales fell by 3.5% in its fiscal fourth quarter — and 3.2% for the full year.
"After three years of exceptional growth for our business, 2023 was a year of moderation," CEO Ted Decker said in a statement.
Non-fungible token brand Pudgy Penguins has upped its footprint in the Walmart chain by more than 50%, expanding from 2,000 locations to 3,100.
Why it matters: Actual holders of the NFTs, represented by its line of physical penguin toys, will directly benefit both financially and personally from the licensing of their products.
Fubo TV has filed a lawsuit in an attempt to block the planned sports streaming service from Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox.
Why it matters: The streaming joint venture surprised distributors and sports league partners and has prompted a range of criticism that will loom around the government's reported review of the deal on antitrust grounds.
In 2020, Twitter (now called X) devised a three-year business plan whose internal goals were extremely aggressive, in order to placate activist investor Elliott Management. That spelled the beginning of then-CEO Jack Dorsey's eventual exit, reveals a new book, "Battle for the Bird," by Bloomberg's Kurt Wagner.
Why it matters:Elon Musk's takeover of the social media company seemed sudden in 2022, but Wagner argues that a set of events and circumstances set the stage for the deal.
LionTree, the media advisory firm and merchant bank led by Aryeh Bourkoff, raised well over $1 billion in a new fund last year to support investments across media, entertainment, tech and gaming, sources familiar with the firm's efforts told Axios.
At least part of the fund includes Saudi backing, three sources familiar with the fund confirmed.
The New York Times is recruiting partners to test new ad-targeting solutions using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) beginning next quarter, executives told Axios. It plans to make the new tool widely available to marketers in the second half of the year
Why it matters: The Times started working on these efforts long before it filed a landmark lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, executives said.
Walmart agreed to acquire smart TV maker Vizio for $2.3 billion, in a deal aimed to boost the retail giant's ad business.
Why it matters: The agreement is a big bet on streaming revenue and customer data, and will make Walmart a major player in connected TV advertising, putting it in competition with Roku, Amazon and YouTube.
Court documents reviewed by Axios show just how alarmed Wall Street banks were by efforts to regulate their derivatives trading desks after the 2008 financial crisis.
Why it matters: These emails, presentations and internal memos illuminate the financial sector's attempts to shape the rules and shield key profit centers — a technique alive and well today. They were produced during discovery in an ongoing litigation and later seen by Axios.
Why it matters: A raft of data strongly implies workers are still productive outside traditional office confines. But some employees are balking at working continuously at home or in loud coffee shops.
If the Department of Justice decides to challenge the acquisition of Discover by Capital One on antitrust grounds, new research from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will surely play a prominent role in the complaint.
Why it matters: Even though some 4,000 banks offer credit cards, the top 10 issuers, including both Discover and Capital One, account for more than 80% of loans.
