LIBERTY OILFIELD SERVICES PLANS IPO
Liberty Oilfield Services plans to offer 10.7 million shares at between $14 to $16 a piece next week, according to a securities filing by the Denver-based company.
Liberty Oilfield said it plans to price its shares on Thursday evening, with trading to start Friday on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker LBRT. Depending on investor demand, the company expects to raise between $142.1 million to $161.3 million after expenses.
Producers contract with the company for hydraulic fracturing fleets to complete drilled wells. The company started with one fleet in 2011 and had 19 at the end of last year.
Healthgrades confirms layoffs.
Denver-based Healthgrades, which provides information and reviews on doctors and health care providers, confirmed Friday that it laid off an unspecified number of workers across the company.
“Healthgrades did make some changes this week to enhance our organizational effectiveness and realize operational efficiencies. A very small percentage of employees were affected across the company,” said Jen Newman, a company spokeswoman in an email.
The company’s workforce remains roughly around 800, which is about the same number it’s been for the past few years, she said.
Amazon dominates holiday season.
Amazon.com maintained its online dominance in the 2017 holiday shopping season despite increasing competition from Walmart, Target and Best Buy.
Amazon captured 89 percent of all online holiday spending in the fiveweek period beginning on Thanksgiving, according to an analysis of creditand debit-card transaction data by Earnest Research in New York. Walmart, which purchased Jet.com in 2016 for $3 billion, remained a distant second at 4.4 percent.
The data show market share has changed little from a year ago even as more spending shifts online. That suggests brick-and-mortar stores are keeping customers, even as more shoppers shift spending to the stores’ websites.
Tough holiday for Barnes & Noble.
Shares of Barnes & NEW YORK» Noble fell to its lowest price since 1994 after the bookseller said its sales slumped over the holidays. The struggles weren’t limited to its physical stores as online sales dropped 4.5 percent. That’s partly because Amazon continues to win more people to its Prime membership program. Barnes & Noble sank 90 cents to $5.60.
Powell worried about Fed bond buying in 2012.
Federal Reserve governor Jerome Powell supported an aggressive expansion of the Fed’s controversial bond-buying program in 2012 but expressed reservations behind closed doors over longer run risks, according to transcripts of central bank policy meetings released by the central bank on Friday. Powell will succeed Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen next month.
Company says 2018 will bring higher gas prices.
The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline is expected to go up about 8 cents in 2018, according to the annual Fuel Price Outlook put out by GasBuddy, a tech company that helps motorists find the cheapest gasoline in a given area.The average price in the U.S. is projected to rise to $2.57 a gallon.