Lauren Tuck

2 weeks ago | lipperalpha.refinitiv.com | Lauren Tuck

Home Depot says it won’t bring the hammer down on customers. They might take a nasty hit all the same. The $375 billion home-improvement retailer led by Ted Decker is the latest to maintain its guesstimate of where full-year financial results will end up, as it plans to keep prices stable despite the cost-increasing effects of tariffs. While CEOs might be able to lessen their own impact, warning signs of an impending consumer slowdown are flashing.

3 weeks ago | lipperalpha.refinitiv.com | Lauren Tuck

Dick’s Sporting Goods is taking a dangerous step. The U.S. retailer of everything from golf clubs to soccer balls agreed to buy sneaker chain Foot Locker for $2.4 billion, expanding its presence internationally and giving it greater negotiating power with vendors. At the price it’s paying, however, boss Lauren Hobart cannot afford any stumbles. This would be the biggest acquisition in Dick’s 77-year history, adding a network of 2,400 stores across 26 countries.

3 weeks ago | lipperalpha.refinitiv.com | Lauren Tuck

Even UnitedHealth will struggle to overcome parasitic medical costs that Warren Buffett once called a tapeworm eating away at U.S. economic competitiveness. The $300 billion healthcare conglomerate reinstalled Chairman Stephen Hemsley as CEO and yanked its financial guidance. After abruptly losing about half its market value, however, any potential recovery will be long and painful. UnitedHealth stayed hardy for decades.

1 month ago | lipperalpha.refinitiv.com | Lauren Tuck

A nation populated by all those alive thanks to Bill Gates and his philanthropic organization would be the world’s 20th biggest, with 80 million residents. The Microsoft co-founder on Thursday vowed to redouble his efforts by giving away nearly all his substantial wealth over the next two decades. Despite the ambitious generosity, his money is having to stretch much further because of President Donald Trump’s unhumanitarian policies.

1 month ago | lipperalpha.refinitiv.com | Lauren Tuck

OpenAI is inviting a fresh round of queries about its large-language model. The owner of the groundbreaking ChatGPT artificial intelligence chatbot scrapped a controversial plan to become a fully for-profit company and opted to leave its nonprofit entity in charge. Who serves on that controlling board and how much clout backers Microsoft and SoftBank get are unanswered questions that will be vital to the technology’s fate.