The fast-food value wars are taking a bite out of Wendy's, as the chain plans to close hundreds of U.S. restaurants amid plunging sales.

• Why it matters: Wendy's is one of the largest restaurant chains in the U.S. with nearly 6,000 locations.

Zoom in: The company will shutter 5%–6% of its U.S. restaurants, interim CEO Ken Cook said on an earnings call today, providing more details on a closure plan first teased in November.

• That includes 28 locations that closed in Q4. The rest will shut down in the first half of 2026, Cook said.

By the numbers: Wendy's today reported a crushing 11.3% decline in U.S. same-restaurant sales in Q4.

• That's the worst quarterly performance for Wendy's since at least 2007, according to Restaurant Business Magazine editor-in-chief Jonathan Maze.
• Same-restaurant sales were down 5.2% for the year in the U.S.

The big picture: The fast-food industry is engaged in a feverish value competition, with Wendy's arch rival McDonald's making especially aggressive plays to attract customers.

• McDonald's on Wednesday reported a 6.8% increase in same-store sales in the U.S.

What's next: Wendy's plans to roll out new chicken sandwiches "in a couple of months" after recently delaying the revamp, Cook said.

• It's also launching a new cheesy bacon cheeseburger next week, "and you'll continue to see hamburger innovation" throughout the year," he added.
• But Wendy's is taking a step back on breakfast. Cook said it will allow franchisees to stop the offering because "we recognize it may not work in every restaurant."

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Narrative violation alert: Tech giant IBM plans to triple entry-level hiring this year — including software developers, Axios' Emily Peck writes.

• Why it matters: The dominant storyline in corporate America is that AI obliterates the need for both entry-level workers and software engineers.

Zoom in: What IBM is doing is "pretty provocative," Nickle LaMoreaux, the company's chief HR officer, said earlier this week at Charter's Leading With AI Summit.

• "The entry-level jobs that you had two to three years ago, AI can do most of them," she said. The idea now is to create "totally different jobs."

How it works: In the past, an entry-level developer would've spent 34 hours a week coding — now they're working on marketing, or out with clients or building totally new products versus simply maintaining old ones, LaMoreaux said.

What we're watching: AI is getting the blame for a brutal job market for new workers — but some economists say it's a more familiar story: high interest rates cooling the economy after pandemic-era overhiring.

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"Sustained regulatory uncertainty threatens U.S. leadership in innovative medicines. This can also result in transformative medicine developed by U.S. companies becoming available to patients outside the U.S. before reaching American patients.

💼 Anthropic named former Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell to its board of directors. He also served as White House deputy chief of staff during President Trump's first term. (CNBC)

📉 Pinterest shares plummeted nearly 17% after the social media company said large retailers have reduced ad spending to protect profit margins due to tariffs. (WSJ)

Sex workers at a legal brothel in Nevada are seeking to become the first brothel in the nation to be unionized, AP reports.

🪧 Inside the room: Workers at Sheri's Ranch last week filed a unionization petition with the National Labor Relations Board.

• The Communications Workers of America — which also represents news organizations like the New York Times and AP — would rep them under the local name of United Brothel Workers.

Zoom in: The workers are particularly concerned about a new independent contractor agreement that "would give the brothel power to use the women's likeness without permission, even if they no longer work there," AP reports.

• 🫣 "This is how you end up the face of a Japanese lubricant company without ever having signed a document," a worker with the stage name Jupiter Jetson said.