Briefs: A bitter pill for Valeant; taking Black Friday off pays off for REI
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, under investigation by federal prosecutors over its accounting, pricing, and distribution practices, reported a dismal fourth quarter and slashed its profit and revenue forecasts for 2016. The Canadian drugmaker’s price hikes have alienated patients and insurers, and an acquisition binge has saddled the company with $30 billion in long-term debt. Avon Products will trim 2,500 jobs and move its headquarters from New York to the U.K. in a bid to rejuvenate its business. The announced changes came two weeks after the directsales cosmetics company sold its North American operations to private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. Avon’s sales have declined for four consecutive years. REI’s decision to shutter stores on Black Friday seems to have paid off. Riding a wave of positive publicity, the outdoor-gear retailer reported $2.4 billion in 2015 sales, a 9.3 percent increase from the year before. Sales at established REI stores ticked up 7 percent. Chipotle Mexican Grill warned that it will book its first quarterly loss as a public company in late April, as a food-safety crisis continues to damage its financial health. Last month sales at existing restaurants plunged 26 percent, more than ananalysts had expected. Goldman n Sachs agreed to buy Honest Dollar, a retirement-savings startup in Austin,n, for an undisclosed sum. For $8 to $10 a month, the year-old company connects cts small-business employees to companies hawking low-cost IRAs.
The starting price of an Apple car, as forecast by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. He predicts the tech company will start selling an electric vehicle in 2021.