Business briefs
Sears on verge of bankruptcy after years of financial decline
Sears, the struggling department store chain and iconic American retailer, has reportedly hired an advisory firm to prepare a bankruptcy filing. The filing could come as early as this week in anticipation of the company’s $134 million debt payment due Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported. A boutique advisory firm, New-York based M-III Partners, has spent the past few weeks working on the filing, the Journal reported.
After backlash, Amazon to boost pay for longtime workers
Amazon, facing backlash from longtime warehouse employees who say its $15 hourly minimum wage wouldn’t benefit them, will provide a bigger raise to those workers. The company said workers who already made $15 an hour will get more than the $1 an hour raise promised last week. When Amazon said it would boost its hourly wage, it also cut two benefits: monthly bonuses and a chance to own Amazon’s sky-rocketing stock, currently worth nearly $1,800 a share.
Canada set to become largest country with legal pot sales
Canada is poised to become the second country to legalize the adult use of marijuana. Sales begin next Wednesday, with residents able to purchase it in retail shops or order online and have it delivered. Uruguay is the only other nation with legal marijuana.
Starbucks adds subsidized backup child and senior care
Starbucks will subsidize up to 10 days a year of backup child care and senior care for its more than 180,000 U.S. employees, the company said. If an employee’s child care plans fall through, an employee can take their child to a day care center for $5 a day, or hire an inhome care provider for $1 an hour. Starbucks will pick up the rest of the cost. It is part of a package of pay raises and perks the company said in January would have an estimated first-year cost of $250 million — or about $1,390 per employee.
Hedge funds to buy sunken Titanic relics for $19.5 million
A company that owns 5,500 relics from the sunken luxury liner R.M.S. Titanic will sell the collection to a group of hedge funds for $19.5 million after an auction for the artifacts was canceled. The offer from the group of investment funds, led by Premier Exhibitions Inc. CEO and director Daoping Bao, was the only one for the collection, according to court filings. Premier owns the items acquired from survivors or salvaged from the ship, which sank in 1912.
Google’s Waze will expand carpooling service in U.S.
Google will begin offering its payto-carpool service throughout the U.S., an effort to reduce the commute-time congestion that its popular Waze navigation app is designed to avoid. The expansion builds upon a carpooling system that Waze began testing two years ago. Drivers willing to give someone a ride need Waze’s app on their phone. Anyone wanting a ride will need to install a different Waze app focused on carpooling.
Snap plans to release a dozen original shows on its mobile app
Snap Inc. will release a dozen original series on its mobile app, betting that a new entertainment lineup can maintain its grip on teenage users and provide an edge over Facebook’s Instagram. The idea is to keep users on the Snapchat app for longer periods of time — and sell advertising to companies looking to reach a youthful audience.